Challenging Normal

So Thanksgiving was good.  It was good to be with family, eat tons of awesome food, and take a break from reality.

Had a great Thanksgiving week.

I want to introduce you to some of my close friends.  They not only encourage me and love me, but they also inspire and challenge me.  Let me introduce you to some awesome blogs.

I heard a song this morning that was my favorite when I was a teenager. As I listening to the words and reflected on my early teen years, I realized the song was not that great and neither were the words. My mind began to reflect on my teen years and how different life was then. Back then, my goals and aspirations were so different. I was a different person, unashamed of being me, but never really grasping who I was and what I was capable of.

God has begun to use my experience this morning to challenge me with some things. My past is not another world away from my present and my future. Rather, God has started a deep process in me to blend my worlds together and show me the evolution of Paige Gordon. There are dreams and goals that God has planted in me and I am in a growing process. Sure there are days when I feel like God is plucking dead leaves from me, while other days I feel like I have grown 2 feet in one day. No matter what the season looks like, the process continues.

Without even realizing it, I am beginning to live out my first "Remix." There are things from my past that have acted as a catalyst to my present. My prayer is that each day God adds new people, things, and experiences to my life. This "Remix" is going to be better than the original.

As you count your blessings this week, make sure and thank God for all those things in your past that you have forgotten or are ashamed of or you treasure. What does your "Remix" look like? Who are you becoming?

I am thankful for the call that God has placed on my life.  I get to work with the generation that is going to change the world and I get paid to do it.  There is a passion in my heart like never before for students.  Uth Force are hands down the best students around, I can not wait to see how they are going to impact the South Atlanta area.

1. Best Youth Convention in several years.

We are in Macon this weekend for Youth Convention

That not all people express their love and care the same way. I need to give them the space to be different than me.

Passion should never over ride the plan. When you hear God speak and lay out a plan, STICK WITH THE PLAN! Do not get ahead of yourself or God.

I want to come from a very personal place this week and be transparent with some of my own issues. Currently, I teach foster parent classes for the Department of Family and Children's Services. As part of our curriculum we teach on separation, grief and loss. As my co-trainer taught, my mind wandered to my own situation in life. Through the moving process and transition in my family, I realized that I have encountered a deep separation and as a result grief. It hit me like a ton of bricks! I am in the grieving process and it is a natural part of life. God began challenging me to stop denying myself the opportunity to grieve what I have lost and those I have been separated from.

The stages of grief are very different and are not concrete. You can move forwards and backwards through the stages and even become stuck in one stage. The stages are:

• Denial (this isn't happening to me!)
  
• Anger (why is this happening to me?)
  
• Bargaining (I promise I'll be a better person if...)
  
• Depression (I don't care anymore)
  
• Acceptance (I'm ready for whatever comes)

So I wanted to share some blogs that I have read this week....

It was a busy week and next week does not look to let up.

I had the privilege of playing and singing at a funeral today and my mind has been ruminating ever since.  Life is so short and I take so many things for granted.  As I sat and listened to people talk about the deceased, I began to wonder what would people say about me when I am gone one day?  What legacy am I leaving?  Am I really enjoying each day or are the days just a blur in space and time?

The encourager - someone who always has kind things to say. Someone who will always lift your spirits no matter what. It might be with a phone call, text message, email, notes, or a smile. They have this natural instinct of knowing when you need encouragement the most.

The more I progress in life, the more I am understanding that life is about two things. Relationships and choices. Think about it. I believe that the key to being successful and the key to finding happiness is wrapped up in those two things.

What a great weekend, it went by way to fast.

Really enjoyed my bike ride to the mountains. Got some rest, did a lot of thinking and brainstorming. Heard God keep reminding me to "stick with the plan."

Posted a few pics from the ride on my last post. Some of the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen in the mountains.

Week went by really fast because of my trip.

Have our fist Leader's Meeting tonight. I am so excited to share ideas and vision. Got a lot to do between now and then.

Wednesday night was really cool. Had a different feel to it, but was good.

The election feels like a lifetime ago. A lot of people have been rocked by the results. Do they thing God is that small or has never been in control. He is not caught by surprise.

I am really shocked at how fast it all happened Tuesday night. I was thinking that it was going to take a couple of days.

Met with a friend on Tuesday to plan our annual Broomball night in January. Should be a blast.

Hope everyone had a good weekend.

This weekend I am in the mountains with my Dad, my brother-in-law, and some really good friends on our motorcycles.  It will be a couple of days of riding, relaxing, and clearing my mind.  The company is going to be good, the scenery awesome, and I am expecting God is speak so awesome stuff to me.  I will post some pictures when we get back.  See you then.

I had the pleasure of meeting some new people this week and our discussions have spawned some thoughts in me that I would like to share. Our discussions about life in general, getting married, finding a job, having children, establishing in a community, have led me to question the status quo. Have you ever felt like there was a certain thing you were supposed to do by a certain age? For example, you have to graduate from college by age 22 and get married by age 25? Or maybe even you have to start your family by age 30 or you might be too old for children and career?

Who makes up these rules and why do we keep badgering ourselves and others with these figures? I came to the startling realization this morning that life does progress in stages, but our uniqueness and our path for life is not easily compartmentalized. God created us to be beings created for worshipping Him, loving on others, and to serve the world. How did we come to create this formula for life that strays so far from God's intended purpose with us?

Well, I have decided that I am going to continue challenging the status quo and I am not going to live up to these societal trends of compartmentalizing my life. I want to enjoy my life, my marriage, my ministry, my (future) career, and my (future) children. No longer do I want to be enslaved by someone else's idea of what my life should look like and how I should progress on this journey. God has given me big dreams and promises that I want to see come to pass. So just because it doesn't fit the mold, doesn't mean it isn't right or beautiful.

Are there things in your life that challenge the status quo? Are there society imposed goals that you have been holding on to rather than the dreams God has for you? Please be encouraged today that God's dreams and plans for you are far greater than a societal formula for life. So dream big, love deep, and believe God for an awesome journey.

The older I get the more that I realize that life is tight rope.  The problem I believe is not walking it, the problem comes when we stand still on it.  There are a lot of issues that seem to be rolling around in my soul right now that I wrestle with.

Let me start off by saying that insecurity is something that I wrestle with on a daily basis. I worry about what I look like, I worry about what people are thinking about me or saying about me. I worry if I am doing a good enough job or not. Insecurity has been an issue in my life just about all of my life. God is speaking to me lately about this issue. The problem with me is where I find my security. If I only find my security in myself, then I have every right to be insecure, but if my security is found in Him then insecurity is not an issue.

I am looking for some good Youth Ministry Blogs. Anyone know of any? I keep up with about 30 blogs on a daily basis and only about 4 of the are Youth Pastors, so if you got the hook up - SHARE!

This week can be describe as two words.....organized chaos!