Hi all,

    So, I had a boring week. My weekend, though, turned out to be much better.

    On Saturday, I ran a demo from 10am to 4pm, giving away samples of some new Kellogg's cereals. Tiger Power and Frosted Mini Wheats Vanilla Cream. Julie called me a "cereal killer". ROFLOL! Even my best friend, Nicki joined in on that.

    Anyway, after my demo, Julie drove me down to Nicki's house. I was spending the night there cause Nicki and I were going out with the youth from church. They originally planned to have youth last Saturday but it got rescheduled. I have been trying to go to these things all month but everytime, it seems I have to work. This time I was able to work earlier and get down there.

    We got to youth around 6pm and walked around outside. The meeting started about 6:30 and we opened with praise. Some of the songs were ones I knew but most were songs I'd never heard before. I did learn them quickly. We had notebooks with words to all the songs so that was neat. I recognized one of them as soon as I saw the name. "Better Is One Day" I love that song. I have it on a CD. I sang that whole song without having to look at the words. Later we also sang "He Is Exalted" but it too me a few min to realize I knew that one. It wasn't the one by Carman and the words didn't look familiar but once we started singing it, I remembered the song. It's a cool song too.

    After praise, we moved on to prayer. Each had a turn to offer things that we needed prayer over. One asked for prayer about getting a new car, the youth leader's wife asked for prayer about pains she'd been having in her side, and I asked for prayer about lots of issues going on at home. We were led in prayer and each of us even said our own prayers as well. Soon we went on to the lesson.

    We read several different verses from the New Testament, mostly from the Gospels of Mark, John, and Luke. The stories covered John (the baptist) and Peter (Jesus' disiple). We noted how evertime John encountered the Spirit of God, he was always lifted in spirit and seemed to jump for joy. Even when he was still in his mother's womb and had not yet been born, John lept with the same joy as Jesus' mother, Mary greeted Elizabeth. This was soon after Mary had learned that she would be with child. Neither baby had been born.

    We then talked about John being thrown into prison and was later beheaded. We discussed how Jesus must have felt after hearing the news that his cousin had just been killed. We related how each of us would have felt. It is written that Jesus had walked out into wilderness to be alone but a great multitude of people gathered and followed him. Most of us agreed that none of us would have wanted those people around us but then read on to find that instead of turning them away, Jesus insisted on feeding them. It was said to him that the only food available were 2 fish and 5 loaves of bread. Jesus took this and prayed over it, then started breaking each into fair pieces and handed them out. He kept going until all had been fed of both bread and fish and were full.

    I am very awed by this reaction to the people who followed Jesus. I am so humbled by the fact that he fed them rather than making them leave. I pray that I would have the strength to be so kind even in such a grieving moment as was this.

    Of course, the lesson didn't stop there. We soon talked about what happened later. Once the whole crowd had been fed and entertained, Jesus blessed them and sent them home. He then headed out to be alone and prayed. While he did this, his disiples went out in their boat. They were fishing when a storm come up and they looked up to see someone walking toward them along the rough waves of the water. They were very afraid, saying,  "this must be a ghost!" Jesus then addressed them saying not to be afraid for it was he whom they had just been eating with. Peter called out to him saying if this was true he asked to be invited to come out to Jesus. Without hesitation, Jesus said, "come" and Peter obeyed. He walked along the waves to meet Jesus but the waves got worse and he started to worry. He was no longer able to walk and began to sink into the water. He cried out for Jesus to save him and Jesus imediately reached out and took his hand, pulling him up.

    We further discussed this thought. We agreed that a lot of people first see the miracle of Jesus walking on the water but we then decided there was yet another part of this story in which was a miracle. When we examined this some more we noticed that Jesus did not wait even a second before pulling Peter out of the water. He didn't allow time for Peter to try to swim or let him become even more afraid. He reached out the very second Peter asked him to. This tells us that walking on the water was just one miracle but indeed there was another to be seen. The very fact that Jesus saved Peter was the miracle we observed. I find that pretty amazing.

    So, anyway we talked on that for a while and then finally said a prayer to close the meeting and then headed out to dinner. We went to O' Charley's, which was very busy so we had to wait about an hour before getting a table. There was about 10 of us total. It was so crazy! Two of the guys sitting across from me kept teasing one girl who sat at the end of the table. She was getting so mad at them but later she got back. She had a camera and asked another girl to get a picture of her and the guys. She wrapped her arms around one of the guys' neck and was holding him for the picture. The other girl was ready to take the pic but then her cell phone rang and she had to answer it. The whole time, the guy was just blushing! It was so cute! They did get the picture taken and also took others of the rest of us. I had a hard time deciding what to get but finally picked a combo with steak and ribs. The combo came with a salad and I got french fries as my side. I ate most of my salad, all of my ribs, half my fries, and all but a few bites of the steak. It was so good! I wanted to get something for desert but didn't have enough money. My meal alone came to nearly $15! Eeek!

    We got back to the house really late. I think it was almost 12 midnight when we got to bed. Sunday morning we got up around 8am and got dressed for church. Church started around 10 and lasted until after 12pm. We drove to the house to change clothes and then went out for lunch at Captain D's. I got a fish and chicken meal and ate almost all of it except for my cole slaw and one piece of chicken.

    When we got back home, Nicki and I watched the movie Garfield. That was so funny! My cat, Tigger is just like Garfield! We hung around the house for a while after the movie and then went out to meet Julie at Waffle House so I could go home. I spent the rest of the afternoon on the computer and then went to bed.

    So, that's my weekend. Hope you had just as good a weekend as I did. God bless!

-Elizabeth