Bites, Burgers, and Buffet Lines

So I know it's been a week, but life has been so crazy here in the Dells!  Every day is a brand new adventure all in it's own and God is touching so many lives.

When I heard about this opportunity, I knew I had to take it.  At this point, it didn't matter who was attending or who wasn't attending. I just knew that my summer was going to spent in the Dells. Funny thing is, I never prayed about my decision whatsoever, and who knows why that was.  Right around March, my motivation changed quite a bit. I ended up having the Dells be the reason I could completely keep myself busy so I wouldn't have to think about something or someone else.  I then had an amazing talk with Sherry, one of our campus directors, who told me, "We all have selfish motivations for going, but no matter what, God will work in you and you will grow so much in your faith."  My motivation changed soon after and I was super stoked to be going to the Dells to grow in my walk with Christ. Now that I'm here, my motivation has once again steered itself in another direction.  Not only do I want to grow in my walk and in my faith, I want to help others start or deepen their walk with Christ.  My motivation is seeing the daily growth of the people I am interacting with, especially my brother team and the girls on my team.  God is working through us and it is absolutely beautiful.

You may be wondering about the interesting title... let me tell you, that is exactly what my week has been about!!!

Bites- this Tuesday we spent the entire day at Devils Lake which is about half an hour away from the Wisconsin Dells.  My team started out the day hiking.  While a few went rock climbing, a couple of us just hiked our way up.  (Let me tell you, this hike was way more strenuous than Harney Peak!)  The three of us hiking had completely different views on what we were doing.  One girl really enjoyed the hike and loved doing it.  I was the one who wanted to do it, did not like a lot of it, but wanted to complete it just for the satisfaction of completion.  The last girl is not a nature fan at all and for some reason she was a magnet for every single bug in those woods.  This hike taught us a lot about ourselves and who we are.  It also facilitated some amazing discussion about our personalities and how we can serve one another like Christ would serve. After the hike, we went to the park and played for the rest of the day.  I swam in the lake, played Frisbee, played two-man or WOman touch football, and also played volleyball.  It was great to develop closer bonds with the others here at STP.  It also helped that my volleyball team was the "champion" of the day.  We were unstoppable. :)  Throughout the day, I must have accumulated many bug bites.. because today I am itchy beyond belief... and of course the thing I forget to buy is anti-itch cream! Silly Rachel...

Burgers- as you all know by know.. I am working at Culver's for the summer.  I absolutely LOVE my job.  In fact, I have never found more joy in one place.  The owner is amazing as are all my coworkers.  Everyone has such positive attitudes and we get along so well.  The Lord has blessed me beyond belief by providing me with a job where I can be humble and work hard.  My prayer daily is that I am a humble servant of Christ's.  I only hope to glorify him through all that I do at Culver's.

Buffet Lines- Although this seems like an odd subject.. let me tell you, it does make sense!  On Monday evening, a bunch of us attended a chapel service.  The message was basically about the authority of Scripture.  It conveniently correlated with what we are discussing in our Quiet Times with our team.  I loved the analogy that the pastor used.  He said that some people use the Bible as if it is buffet, they pick and chose what they want to eat/take to heart, and leave what they don't want/or what they think doesn't apply to them.  Its so interesting to me because how many people do we know that do that?  There is no verse in the Bible that says ,"Only believe part of God's word and just read it, don't absorb it."  In fact, the Bible is very clear about that not being the case.  In Psalm 119:160  it says, "All your words are true; all your righteous laws are eternal."  The Bible is God's word to us.  And it is clearly telling us that every inch of it is true.  The pastor also said that many thing the Bible becomes outdated because it was written 2000-some years ago and the world is so very different from how it was then.  The verse above clearly states that it is eternal.  If that verse doesn't suffice, Hebrews 4:12 says, "For the word of God is alive and active." The whole talk from the pastor was so good because it showed me how I was really acting towards God's word.  I knew that I needed to read it  and memorize it, because that is the Navigator way.  But I have really learned that in order to grow in my walk with Christ, I need to do it for myself.  And I have been and I feel really great about where my walk is heading.  I also learned from that talk that when faced with something I may disagree with in the Bible, I need to stop and pray about it and ask myself, "Why do I disagree with this?" "What is causing me to think this way?"  In the end, I've come to the conclusion that we all should crave, grasp, and consume every single item on the buffet line.

Some prayer requests:  I and so many others are so close to reaching our fundraising goal of $2400.  Please pray that God provides the funds needed to support ourselves through the rest of this trip.  The daunting number can be discouraging to many, so please pray that they rely on Christ and His strength.  Also, keep praying for the students we encounter.  As many of us learned the other night, it is not only the international students we should be reaching out to, it is people from our country as well who do not know the Lord.  May God use us as a means to show all of these students a love they have never experienced before.

"I can do all this through Him who gives me strength"  Philippians 4:13


In Christ's love,

Rachel Marinka