Christian Education

I was asked to give a speech this morning about Christian Education and what it means to me -- particularly Bible Study and Sunday School. Considering it was Easter Sunday, EVERY seat was filled and people were standing in the back. There were over 400 people there! So much for a little girl who is scared to talk in front of people!! This is the gist of what I said --

"I’m Kylie Suddendorf and I have been coming to Cornerstone 17 years. When Kim Copeland asked me to speak this morning about Christian Education, I was enthused. I have been attending Sunday School since I was 2, and Bible Studies are often the highlight of my week – of course I would love to talk!

Sunday School has always been something that has been important to me. When I was really little, I went for that Sunday morning donuts, apple juice, and coloring pages. As I grew older, I found more meaning in the lessons, and loved how my teachers could correspond the lessons to my life. Each year the meaning behind Sunday School grew and expanded upon itself, always teaching me something new and showing me not only how to be a better Christian, but what exactly being a Christian means. I’ve had numerous teachers and I know it is thanks to people like the Dorman’s, the Bohlen’s, and the Witherspoon’s who came back week after week, regardless of how active and loud our class could be, to show and teach us the love of Christ .

I’ve been attending Bible Study every week for the past 6 years ever since Laura Hensley began to encourage me to come. It is a time when we can all come in the middle of a crazy week juggling school, athletics, band, jobs, and whatever else seems to grab our attention, and take some time to refocus on what is really important in our lives. It’s an hour where we don’t have to be anybody but ourselves, when we don’t have to impress anyone. We are able to de-stress, and devote an hour to learning about something other than math or science—an hour where we can learn about our Heavenly Father. Right now we are going through Hosea, and we are able to realize through Hosea and Gomer’s story just how real and unconditional our own God’s love for us is. That is probably my favorite thing about Bible Study, how we can read a passage out of the Bible, talk and discuss it, bounce ideas off each other, and ultimately realize how that story which was written hundreds of years ago can relate to our own lives. I always leave on Wednesday nights with this feeling of being renewed, and sometimes I think it is thanks to Bible Study that I’m able to make it through 2 more crazy days at school. Bible Study is one of my favorite parts of my week, and I know that I have learned and become who I am today due in part to Bible Study.

Christian Education has made a huge impact in my life, and I know if you welcome it , it can make a difference for you too. Thank you."

And I ROCKED it! Although I was shaking like crazy, nobody could tell. I think I kept my voice relatively un-flustered too and read SLOW... big accomplishments for me! After I finished EVERYBODY was clapping, and a little boy I taught how to swim who normally avoids me at all costs (he wasn't a fan of swimming...) stood up on his chair and yelled "She taught me how to swim!" PRECIOUS. I was so excited :)

If God Can Turn...

Good Friday hundreds of years ago. Imagine the pain and suffering that engulfed that day, the pain for all involved. God watching his precious and only Son who lead a perfect life being murdered. Mary watching her baby die a sinners death. Jesus feeling the sheer agony of hanging on that cross. Jesus lived a perfect life, and yet he was brutally murdered. If you have ever seen Passion of the Christ (or ever heard anybody talk about that movie), then you can picture exactly the suffering and agony that took place on that dark day.

3 Days Later - Easter morning. We all know the miracle that happened, and simple human words cannot even come close to describing it.

If God can turn that dark, agony-filled, horrid Friday into something as amazing as Easter, just imagine what He can do with our bad days.

Happy Easter weekend! Don't just "go through the motions" this Easter, take time to think EXACTLY what each day means.

All The Time

"Only God can turn a mess into a message, a test into a testimony, a trial into a triumph, and a victim into a victory. God is good all the time"

"Write your sorrows in sand, carve your blessings in stone"

"Once you choose hope, anything is possible"

I was looking online for something to get my favorite teacher this year (the one who has retaught me that there are such things are teachers who care about their kids as opposed to just their kids grades), and I saw these plaque things. My teacher also leads FCA and so when it's just me and her talking we get to talk God stuff which is awesome. It's so amazing to have a person like that at school!

So, when looking I found some of these quotes... Absolutely love them! Especially the first two!! Hope you enjoyed them as much as I do!

Now That I'm Not Constantly In The Pool...

Now that I'm not constantly in the pool, I LOVE taking baths! I used to sit down to a warm bath, and only think about how I was sitting in an itty-bitty swimming pool... It wasn't fun or relaxing, more like just a "dead" time where I could think and be to myself, but I was never relaxed or calmed down by it.

WELL... let me tell you! That has CHANGED! I decided to take a bath tonight, now that I'm not working and have officially checked out of school (well, it feels like it), I have time to waste! So, I resorted to turning the water as hot as it could and just sitting there. Oh my goodness! I have NEVER felt so relaxed! I think I might resort to having study dates with my AP books by taking a bath now. So calming!

Although I did end up with my fingers starting to prune after about a half hour... guess I'm losing that swimmers' way of never pruning...

Rollercoaster.

Last week on facebook I described this past month as a roller coaster. I didn't even know at the time how true that statement was about to come with the coming weekend.

Friday morning was regions polo. I played well (I even started throwing elbows--Dad was excited!), but as a team we struggled and didn't make it past the first round of the regional tournament.

Friday afternoon we set up for RFL and I was really excited! Everything was going as planned (minus the fact that the head guy of volunteering for the entire event didn't show up until 5 hours after he was supposed to), and I was stoked. Opening ceremony was awesome, and seeing the Hettiger family there was special. Luminaria Ceremony was moving- I should've known when they opened with "Amazing Grace" that I had no hope of staying tear-free. I bawled. Luckily, so did a lot of people. Getting surprised with the biggest ice-cream bowl ever was exciting. Things were going great until about midnight, then went downhill VERY quickly and the remaining 6 hours was a struggle to stay positive about.

Saturday morning I got home from RFL and went straight to bed. Sleep is always good! I woke up and went to dinner with Dad and Kole, and went back to bed in a hurry. Saturday night redeemed itself from the first 6 hours of Saturday.

This morning I woke up bright and early and headed off to Cho for the day. As always, simply amazing. I knew leaving today that I definitely needed that time to re-energize, refocus, and motivate me to finish out the year. When I got home before I even got to say hi to my Grandpa (dad's dad) who is in town, I was confronted with bad news. Grandma Jen (mom's mom) is in the hospital. Spent some time trying to navigate through the hospital phone system in order to talk to her and hear her voice.

I really want this up and down, loopdy-loop, crazy insane roller coaster to turn into a baby roller coaster with only minor bumps every once in a while, rather than huge mountains around every corner!!!

Flop.

For all wondering, RFL was a flop. I'll be brief.

-There was a new committee so everything was confusing and a mess
-The DJ had no clue what was going on
-It was cold, windy, and disgustingly humid
-There were no kids that wanted to play at our Carnival
-Nobody wanted to volunteer, even though they were there for service hours
-People weren't in to it
-Several people cheated on their hours
-We would start to clean up, and everybody would sit there instead of helping

It was a real bummer. After all the work that Mina, Andrew, Coach Hawkins and I put into the event, it felt like we wasted our time. I mean, until about midnight we had a good time, but the midnight-6 AM when we finally said forget it and told everybody to go home, that was horrible.

I'm still planning on making a video full of pictures and clips, so I'll end up posting that.

On a brighter note--tomorrow is going to be a GREAT day! I'm going to camp and then when I get home my grandpa will be here! Looking forward to seeing him!

RFL is Friday... Today is Monday.

AH! In 4 days RFL will be in FULL SWING, and I feel as if I have so much I need to do!

There are 185 Cy-Falls students attending RFL on Friday night.

Those 185 students all need to have a t-shirt passed out to them.
Those 185 students need to know what they can/cannot bring to RFL, and must know EXACTLY what is expected of them that night.
Those 185 students must sign up to volunteer/work at various Carnival games and other stations to help out at the event.

We have to set up and run a carnival for all of the children at Relay.
We must organize an area so that all these high schoolers will have a place to sit and gather.
We need to provide some sort of entertainment for that night.
I need to figure out ways to capture all of the moments of RFL.
I have to make double platted ribbons for each of the people showing up for RFL under Cy-Falls' teams.
Mina will be making bandannas for everybody.
We have carnival games to set up and make sure that we have prizes to be awarded for each game.

I know I'm forgetting plenty of things, but just wanted to document what all is happening this week!

As of today, Mina, Andrew & I have accomplished:
-we have all of the prizes bought
-we have a general idea of the games we are going to host at the Carnival
-we have supplies bought/located for all of the games
-we have created a master excel spreadsheet with everybody's name, t-shirt size, 1st & 7th period teachers, along with blanks for check in, check out, and where they want their volunteer hours to go towards
-we have secured tents and tables for the night
-we have also found coolers for water and fruit punch for our team

And that's about it. Be waiting for the list to grow as we get closer to the day!!

One Month... really?

On March 3rd I was so excited for the next day. March 4th, the day Carley and I had been counting down for weeks. It was the day that she would drive up from League City and spend the afternoon in Houston. We'd go out for our typical fajita dinner and then go to Hillsong together. Kristen would meet us afterwards and we would have a wonderful night together, valuing the time that we would get to spend in each other company.

March 4th wasn't how I expected. Yes Carley came up, yes we had fajitas, yes we saw Hillsong. Then my life spun into hurricane mood.

Tomorrow is April 4th, and I honestly don't know what to think. Parts of me are dreading tomorrow as it marks the one month since Gramma met Jesus. Part of me though is also looking forward to it, marking the crucial "we survived one month mark" yes, but something more important. You know how when you are a baby you are always known by how many months old you are? And how one month is kinda special just because you've been around for one whole month? I like to think of Heaven that way too. That as of tomorrow, Gramma would have been in Paradise for one entire month! Dancing with Jesus, chatting with her sister, and challenging everybody to a wicked game of hand and foot. That is something so wonderful!

It's definitely not easy on this side of things, but I take comfort knowing how wonderful it is on her side!

Ms. Douglas told me that I needed to download Steven Curtis Chapman's most recent CD, and so I did. The lyrics are wonderful on every song, and are so true and comforting. My absolute favorite right now is "See", here are the lyrics, I think you'll know why I love it!

"Right now all I can taste are bitter tears
And right now all I can see are clouds of sorrow
But from the other side of all this pain
Is that you I hear, laughing loud and calling out to me?

Saying "See, it's everything you said that it would be,
And even better than you would believe.
And I'm counting down the days until you're here with me,
And finally, you'll see."

But right now, all I can say is "Lord, how long
Before you come and take away this aching?"
This night of weeping seems to have no end.
But when the morning light breaks through,
We'll open up our eyes and we will see

It's everything that He said that it would be
And even better than we would believe

And he's counting down the days 'til He says "Come with me."
And finally he'll wipe every tear from our eyes
And make everything new, just like he promised
Wait and see, just wait and see, wait and see

And I'm counting down the days until I see
It's everything He said that it would be
And even better than we would believe
And I'm counting down the days 'til He says, "Come with me."
And finally, we'll see. We will see.

Oh taste and see that the Lord is good, the Lord is good
The Lord is good. Oh taste and see that the Lord is good
The Lord is good. "

We'll see how tomorrow goes... I have planned out nearly every second of my days for this entire week, so hopefully staying busy will provide for an easier week. But regardless, God is with us and we will all make it through!!