more than an assignment.

bear with me. i've got a lot to say.

so, this weekend (at turkey day) i got some much needed answers. i knew what God had done in my life, but i was stuck. well, i'm still not really un-stuck, but i'm getting there. i realized that my drought was caused my ineffectivness. what was i doing with my faith? absolutely nothing. sure, i have chosen a certain lifestyle that reflects Christ--i hardly ever listen to secular music, i don't swear, drink, smoke, etc.--but how was i using those choices beyond giving myself a good repuation. the question often comes up, "well, what kind of music do you like?" instead of using that to explain that i listen to worship music almost constantly because it keeps righteous thoughts in my head, i would just blow it off and say, "oh, whatever." like usual, i'm not sure where i'm going next with this part of the post, but... well, yeah. i don't know. goal: i need to be more effective

part two: yesterday in my oral comm class, we were assigned the topics for our final speeches next week. my topic: Christian Missions. there are so many places i can go with that. but honestly, i am more excited about doing research for this 8 minute speech than i have been about any other school project. ever. it's giving me a reason to finish Radical by David Platt, and it's also reminding me of many things that were said at onething last year. i'm really being pushed to look into the Biblical call to global missions, and the progress of the Great Commission. the Joshua Project has a website that sort of tracks the unreached people groups around the world. there are just several interest facts that show just where we are on the completion of reaching the whole world. there are several people groups that are unreached or barely reached, but they only account for a small percent of the population. there is only 3% of the world that does not have some sort of gospel recording in their language. THREE PERCENT. the makers and distributors of the Jesus Film have predicted that, at the rate of progress today, the whole world will be reached by 2020. in case you didn't know. that's basically nine years from now. NINE YEARS. i will be 26. will i have done anything to help the progress? i sure hope so. i hope i can look back on this speech and say it gave me insight into the call for global missions, and i hope i can sucessfully inform my class on the Biblical commands and the excuses Christians today use to disobey those commands.

this whole thing is a big slap in the face, really. but that's okay. i need it.

in other news, i was accepted to Belmont! let's party! now all i need is a chance to interview in February, to ROCK that interview, and to be awarded one of five full-rides. i'll keep you updated. there is a decision to be made in March.