Psalms

In my Biblical Foundation class, we are talking about the Psalms. One of the first things that we talked about is that Psalms are reflections of the people of the time. The Psalms addressed what people were feeling and going through over 2000 years ago. I found this something that helps us connect with the Bible. It is very easy to hold the Bible to a higher standard and think highly of the people in the Bible. Then you go and read the Psalms, and you read of their cries for help, and their praise and they seem human. Not only just that but we in the 21st century can relate to what they are feeling. We understand pain and suffering, but we also understand of joy and gratitude and trust. The cool thing is to is that since Psalms are reflections, they don't have to stop at Psalms 150. We can write our own Psalms as we reflect on our lives. Our homework for this class is to write our own Psalms, and I would like to share mine with you amd it is my pray for this post. I encourage you to write your own. Enjoy.

Psalms 151 -Kaitlyn Frye

Lord, I am scared.
I am the sheep who has wandered away,
Fallen into the same pit.
Taken by my enemies.

It's hard to stay on the path.
Without you rod and staff,
Who knows where I would be.
Consumed by the beauty of the world,
Yet dying on the inside.

Lord, thank you for your love.
It leads me back to my place
Time and time again.
I am a sheep
Protected by my shepherd. 

Best Part About Atlanta

This is going to be my last post about my week in Atlanta serving at God's Farm. Probably the thing I am going to take away the most from the week in Atlanta are the great people I met and got a chance to know. I am not the person who is going to be followed around by a swarm of people, so whenever I can get the opportunity to spend time away from the routine of life and get to know people I otherwise wouldn't have known, I totally love it. There is so much that I learned from these folks in just a weeks time.

1) I remember that one of the first nights together, we went around to each person, and we said what each person was good at, for it is easier for other people to see your strengths than you can sometimes. I remember when they were talking about me, someone said outgoing. I couldn't believe what they were saying. I am not outgoing. But I got to think about it. For the longest time, I always thought that I was so shy and quiet. I started to wonder what would happen if I thought that I was outgoing. Ever since that night, I have been trying to think of myself as outgoing, and I can say that I have stepped out of my comfort zone and had conversations with people, which is huge for me.

2) I also learned that you can disagree and still be friends. So many people today end friendships after a little disagreement. We would have Biblical debates and we may not have agreed at the end but we respected our differences, and it didn't cause a rift in the group. Those kind of people are the people who are fun to hang around for you can grow in your belief without losing a friend.

3) For one of the first times this year, I felt like a college student. The beginning of the year, I kept to myself and stayed in my dorm. But that week and the week after, I started to get out more and hang. Last night we went to a donut shop in the next town over to get donuts at midnight. It was a total blast. I realize I can have fun and just hang out and not compromise on school work. Both of them can be accomplished.

There is so much more that I learned from them too, but I feel like my post is already getting too long. And if any of the people from my PLIA team is reading this, you guys made an impact on my life. Thanks.

Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you so much for my PLIA team. Help me to take all that I have learned from them and put it into practice in my life, so I can have the same effect on the people around me. Thank you, Lord, for a great week serving in Atlanta, Georgia. Amen

Working in the Garden

On the last day of working on God's Farm, we worked in the garden. We tilled the land by hand, then we spent the rest of the day picking out weeds. It was a lot of hard, but we all learned so much from that experiance. We worked along side the gardener, Rusten, and he taught us so much. One if the biggest things that we all took from the day is what one of my team mates said after Rusten left. He left and they said, "I bet that is what Jesus looked like." In a way he did look like him, with the long hair and the tan skin. But we got to talking about how we should see everyone as if they were Jesus. For we all learned that we are eached in made God's image from the book of Genisis. We then hear Jesus talking about what ever we do for the least of these, we do for Jesus. We are all made to reflect Jesus, so we were thinking about what would happen if we loved people as if they were Jesus. They way we look at people, and they way we interact with them will change. The cool thing about this is that you don't need to travel 17 hours in a van to do this. All you have to do is to step out of your door, for there is a plethera of people that you interact with everyday that God made in his own image.

Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you for making each one of us in your image. Help me Lord to treat these people as if they are you, and to just love on them Lord, like how you love me. Amen. 

Back From Atlanta-Lake at Night

As I am continuing to talk about my trip to Atlanta, I want to go back to speak of the lake.One night during the week, my friends and I walked to the lake at night. She was going to do devotionals, and I was going to listen to Christian music while sitting on the dock.  I took my socks and shoes off so I can dangle my feet in the water. At first, I couldn't reach the lake. So I moved closer to the edge of the dock, and my toes touched the water. It was dark outside because it was night so that I couldn't see the water, but I knew it was there. The same thing happens with God. We can't see God, but we are aware he is there. We have to trust that he is there.

Another part of the-the lake is that when you disturb the water, ripples are created. We know this because when we throw stones in the daylight, we can see the ripples. The same thing happens at night, and we just can't see them. Except every once and a while. It was a clear night outside, so I could see the reflection of the stars on the lake. When I touched the water and sent ripples out, I could see these stars move just a tiny bit because a ripple is just passed by the reflection. I feel like the same thing happens whenever we do anything. Every action we have has a ripple effect on the people around us. We may not always see it, though. There are times that we do it see the ripple, and it is important to note what mark we are leaving on people. Are we affecting them in a way that glorifies the Lord, or is we leading them down the path of sin?

An example of this is found in the people we met at God's Farm, where we worked. They were so full of God's love that they impacted us. Then when we got back, all we could talk about was the people we met because of the impact they had on our lives. The ripple then continues out from there. We don't always know who the ripple is going to affect. So whenever we do or say anything, we have to pay special attention to what is going to be the ripple effect.

Dear Heavenly Father
Thank you for placing people in our lives that impact us. I pray that whoever I meet, that I can leave a positive influence that will ripple through the people they met. Amen. 

Back From Atlanta-The Lake

Last week was my spring break, and I spent it doing a service project in Atlanta, Georgia. It was one of my favorite week of freshman year yet. Over the next couple of posts, I am going to try my best to relay what I learned and experienced from the week.

Today I want to talk about the lake that was one the campsite on where we stayed. I woke up early one day and there was mist on the lake, and the water was clear enough to reflect the scenery around the lake. It was really beautiful, and a great way to wake up in the morning. Below are just a few of the pictures that I took.

When I was thinking about it, the way the lake reflects the surroundings can be compared to our relationship with God. God is the surroundings of the lake. He is the trees, sky, plants, and animals. He is on all side of the lake. We as believers are the lake. On the days when we are on fire for God, we can create a pretty good reflection of who God is for the world to see. When we rely on ourselves more than God, that reflection becomes distorted. Now it is important to remember that we can never be a perfect reflection, for that belongs to Jesus. He was the only one who lived a perfect life, and he can be the only one to reflect God perfectly. However, we can learn from Jesus, and his teachings to see what it means to reflect God. Then with some time, and dedication, the reflection will become clearer and clearer as we shift our focus from ourselves back onto God.

Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you for the beauty found in this world. I pray that I can reflect the beauty and love that you give me. I know that my reflection is distorted from who you are, but I pray that you can still use my distorted reflection to draw people closer to you. Amen.

Poem #3

The Three Words of a Christian

Light that

Overcomes the

Veil of

Evilness

Freedom from

A bondage over our lives

In which

The only escape is by believing in

Him and his love

His love

Overcoming the

Problems presented on

Earth.

Poem #2

The Day I Was Freed

My cell is located in the back left corner.

There are no bars,

The door is wide open,

Yet I can’t escape.

I am bound to these walls,

The walls knows all my failures,

They know all my sins,

And they use them to keep me here.

They remind me constantly,

Of how I am not worthy,

Of how no one could love me,

And they tighten the bonds to make sure I will never go free.

I hear footsteps down the hall, and they turn into my cell.

His face is warm and kind,

His hands are outstretched to me,

And he calls me by name.

He tells me about who he is, and who his father is.

He tells of his forgivenss,

He tells of how he can set me free.

But the walls remind me of how unworthy I am.

After all this time in the cell,

I want to be free,

I want to live my life,

So I trust this man at his word.

I trust his strength.

I ignore the whispers form the walls.

I find peace in this strangers embrace.

I forget the lies the walls have told me.

I receive his forgivness.

I forgive myself of my past sins.

He breaks my chains that bound me.

He helps me to my feet.

He guides me out of my cell.

And even though I want to go back to my comfort zone,

I keep my eyes trained on him,

And he frees me,

Gives me life to the full,

Pours his love out over me,

For the first time in my life,

I can say that I am truly free,

And I don’t want to find myself trapped

In that cell again. 

Poem #1

I love writing poems and I haven't shared any with you recently, so for the next couple of posts, I am going to share one of my new poems. Enjoy!

Being Their Voice

They have eyes to see

their world crumble to pieces,

their friends burn in the flames,

the light fade to black.

They have ears to hear

the screams of their children,

the cursing of their adults,

the crackling of bones of their dead.

They have a nose to smell

the rotting flesh,

the burnt wood,

the fowl mess in their streets

They have hands to feel

the splinters piercing their skin,

the gravel tearing their feet,

the scars that will never heal.

They lack a mouth

to tell of the horrors of their world,

to ask for help out of their hole,

to relay their stories.

The Bible is filled with stories of

God impacting the lives of

the underdog,

the meek,

the loser,

But someone had to tell them,

someone had to write them down.

there was someone then,

who cared for their stories,

to write them down.

what about now?

who is going to step up

and tell their stories.

whose going to spread God’s love,

by telling of God’s love in their lives.

The strong,

the powerful,

the wealthy,

benefit from listening to

the stories of the poor.

Are you going to be the one to tell them?