ForeverLOVEd

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead 1 Peter 1:3 Tonight I was at my brother's senior basketball banquet. Just as the evening was coming to a close, the coach mentioned the word ALOHA which came to him as he looked at the beautiful flowers they flew in from Hawaii to decorate the tables for the evening! Fancy I know! But it hit me, there and then, the perfect reflection of that team of basketball players, of the life lessons they have faced over the past year, and of the life lessons we all seem to come to know over our lives can be summed up in the word ALOHA, hello and good bye. All of our lives are a summation of beginnings and endings. Marked are these moments in our life and everything else, who we are, who we become, who we encounter, develops from these moments. The classic example of a beginning is birth. A natural

24 but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD who exercises lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things,” declares the LORD. Jeremiah 9:24 How many times do you go to a doctor when you're healthy? How many times do you wake up in the morning and make a check list of all the things that feel well on you? But, in return, how many times when you're ill do you see a doctor? How easy is it for us to make a list of all the things that hurt or are making us feel unwell? We as humans can so easily identify when we are feeling sick, but little do we identify ourselves as feeling good. Our health, like our lives, is taken for granted in so many ways. We don't appreciate what it means to be healthy until we find ourselves in that position where we feel unhealthy. We'd rather not seek out a doctor until we are absolutely desperate and the only hope we have for feeling healthy again is in the

24 Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win. 25 Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishablewreath, but we an imperishable. 26Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as notbeating the air; 27 but I [a]discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified. 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 Everyone knows the story of the tortoise and the hare. Slow and steady wins the race. My entire life I've always felt like the tortoise in this scenario. I was born two weeks late, and for the most part, everything in my life happens, let's just say, about two weeks later then it does for everyone else. I can't be pushed to do stuff just because it's the natural time everyone else does it. When I'm ready I know and I do it! And this is something I lik

You provide the fire. I’ll provide the sacrifice. You provide the Spirit. I’ll open up inside. Fill me up God. Fill me up God. FILL ME UP GOD. Fill me up. “Fill Me Up” by Jesus Culture I have to admit I'm a big fan of shopping in general and I always love shopping at Target! Maybe it's because no matter what we are going there to buy, my mom and I can manage to fill our carts every single time! We aren't the type to just run into Target grab one thing, and run out. We have a routine down. We have to peruse the aisles, see what's new, and check out the sale items! We can spend hours filling our carts with things we really don't need. Perhaps the fact that we fill our carts with all the little random junk we don't need isn't a good habit. But what we have become very fond of over our years of becoming experienced shoppers, is the purging we do right before we hit the check out line. You see, in this process we go through our cart full of stuff and w