My Ocean City Summer Project 2011 Journey: It's all a blur...

I am seriously running off no sleep. I have probably pulled five all nighters in the last week and a half. There aren't enough hours in the day to do all the things that need to get done! I have had the most fun these last two weeks of project, though...despite the lack of sleep.

Monday night, one of my very favorite ladies on project (Kristin Reents), spoke about faith, hope, and love (Colossians 1:1-14). She talked about looking to the gospel for faith, hope, and love in order to be a blessing to others. When we speak of the hope that comes from the gospel it provides us with faith. Within those truths, we are able to grasp Jesus' love (agape). Using his example of what true, genuine love looks like, we can love others. In one of my early updates I mentioned Bob Fuhs introducing the phrase, "Lord, I can't, but you can." I don't know about you all, but loving others is generally difficult for me. I get annoyed rather quickly and I don't enjoy being around those who have the ability to get under my skin. Kristin reminded me that I can't, but he can. When I encounter those I have a difficulty loving, it is my goal to pray for them and pray that the Lord provides me with them ability to love them well.

"Out of the Lord's blessings in our lives, we can be a blessing to others."

Our schedule this week has been so funky, due to it being our last. You all know that I'm a part of the Heritage Team and one of our duties is to make project shirts and leave a gift for next year's project. These are the reasons I have lost so much sleep! Wow, we did not think they would be as time consuming as they were. But at the end of the day, they are both finished and we are so thrilled. I'm going to tell y'all a story about these two projects. Okay, so we came up with this design for the project shirt and thought it was going to be a hit. So we went to a place on the boardwalk and had a sample shirt made...horrible. We got it back and hated it. So at 1:00 a.m., we started from scratch. After a few hours, we had a new design! We ordered the shirts and after being delayed a day after they were supposed to arrive, we have them and are handing them out at the Farewell Banquet tonight. I really hope everyone loves them as much as we do.

Now onto the project gift. Basically the same thing went down with the gift that went down with the shirts. We had an idea, got it approved, then decided against it. Our original idea was to get speakers for the porch so that during the day we could have music playing, but I'm sure you're thinking what I'm thinking: that would get abused. We nixed that idea and came up with one blew everyone's expectations out of the water. We decided to redesign the entire Heritage Room, no big deal. Lies. This was not a little rearrange the couches, organize the pictures, and vacuum the floors task. No. This meant spackling the walls, painting them (twice), painting a mural & a Bible verse, organizing the plaques & project pictures, getting new lamps and couch covers...oh and then all the other things I listed in the previous sentence. At approximately 5:45 this morning...our room is complete. Everyone on project LOVES it, which makes these all-nighters so much more worth it. I'm so excited for next year's project to enjoy this room. We want it to be a room where memories are made and people actually enjoy hanging out in it.

This a week of "lasts". I had my last Sunday at OCBC, Impact Group, Action Group study, and shift at McDonald's. Two have already left project and more are leaving tonight. The numbers are dwindling. Most semester students leave Saturday, so that calls for another all-night Friday night. I don't leave until Sunday, so I get to see everyone off. I don't plan on packing to go home until Sunday morning, I just can't bring myself to start yet. I am traveling home with Katelyn Phillips and Rick Brown and Katelyn and I definitely need to warn Rick that will are going to be emotional wrecks on the way home! I can already see it...the first half of the journey home will be us girls crying because we're leaving project...then when we reach Minneapolis and have to sit there for a five hour layover, we will be crying because we can't wait to be home. That young man is not going to know what to do with us. I hope he doesn't mind lending his hand to hold and a shoulder to cry on. ;)

I really wish I could express to everyone how much I have enjoyed project. It has changed my life and I have formed so many relationships that are so deep. My craving for a relationship with the Lord has been magnified this summer. I can't wait to see how he uses all the things I've obtained this summer for my movement back at home. I can't believe I only have a few more days left; this place has become my home and these people have become my family. I feel blessed to have been, "predestined to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will"(Eph. 1:5). We have made an impact here and we now have the ability to go home and make and impact there and wherever else the Lord leads us.

It all comes back to the verse that lead me to Ocean City, NJ:

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, "The righteous shall live by faith.'" Romans 1:16-17