Retreat!

This week is the last week of j-term and honestly, I'm a little bummed out. It's been quite nice having only one class every day, getting out of said class at 10 am and having the rest of the day to do things I enjoy (reading, playing guitar, going on runs). It's also been great to have lots of quiet time to spend with God. We've had some good times together this month. I hope to continue that time into next semester, maybe during a nice break between classes.

This month has been filled with new things for me and it's been very rewarding. As I said in my last post, I started to help lead worship at Athletes in Action. I'm so glad I decided to do it. I'd really been wanting to play guitar in a setting like that, but up until now an opportunity hadn't come up. I hope to start playing on Sunday nights on a pretty regular basis. I'm learning new songs, playing guitar more often, and my fingers toughened back up (win!) It's also helped me get over my fear of singing in front of people. I do have the ability to sing, contrary to my previous thoughts of not being able to carry a tune very well.

I've also been getting to know people that I wasn't able to spend much time with last semester and it's been such a blessing. I love talking and connecting with people and learning about their lives. I just love people.

Now, some of you reading this might be thinking, "why did she title this post retreat? There's nothing about retreating or anything." Be patient, I'm getting to it.

This weekend is the Athletes in Action winter retreat in Xenia Ohio. We'll be with lots of sports teams from other colleges that have an Athletes in Action. I'm very excited because 1) I haven't been on a retreat or anything of that nature in a long time, 2) I'm excited to see how God will work during that time, and 3) This weekend is also the beginning of j-term break! Be looking for a post next week about how it all went.

Now, on to something warm and fuzzy. As in animals. I've decided that when I have my own place, I'm going to get a bengal cat.




I've never been a huge fan of cats, especially since I'm allergic to them. But these cats are special. Besides from looking like small leopards, which is awesome, they are extremely intelligent and playful and like being around people. They also have a very specific fur type, which means that people with cat allergies, like me, can own one without having any reactions! How cool is that? If it's a boy cat, he shall be named Benny. Still trying to come up with a name for a girl cat. Suggestions are welcome!

Washed Away

I'm part of a group called Athletes in Action at my school. Every Sunday night, a bunch of us from all the sports teams get together and have a little church service. We have a time of worship, and then someone from one of the teams shares a message, and then we break off into small groups and have a Bible study that pertains to the message. I'm so blessed to be a part of it and have been meeting some amazing people.

Last night I helped lead worship for the first time and I was a little nervous. I was going to sing a song by myself to close the evening out, and until that point I had never sang in front of people before. When Seth and I were preparing the songs, I said that I wanted to play the song Washed Away by Aaron Gillespie to close our time together. I didn't really know why I wanted to do that song, but when the speaker started giving his message and testimony, I knew exactly why I wanted to. It was nothing short of God's doing. He talked about the story of David and Bathsheba and how sin only needs a foothold in our life to start consuming us. Sin got a foothold on David when he saw Bathsheba. All it took was a look. From there, it started to consume his whole life. And he tried to hide it, going as far as having one of his military officers killed on the front lines of battle.

Hidden sin is a huge burden for someone to bear. He went on to talk about how he had hidden sin in his life in high school that consumed everything he did. It wasn't until one of his friends called him out on it that he realized what he was doing. He gave it all to God, and now it is no longer a part of his life. He then went to the story of Jesus and the adulteress woman. Most of you probably know this one. Jewish law said that since she was caught in adultery, she had to be stoned. Jesus said "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone." One by one, the people left until it was just Jesus and the woman. Jesus looked at her and said, Woman, where are your accusers? Is there no one to condemn you?" "No one, my lord." the woman answered. "Then neither do I condemn you. said Jesus. Go and leave your life of sin."

He paralleled his life to that of the woman. Jesus took away his accusers and brought him out of his sin. It was an incredible and moving story. He ended with talking about how if we let God enter our lives, He will lift us out of our brokenness and shine His light. He will then consume everything we do.

The song I sang fit exactly. It's a simple song about our need and desire for God's presence in our lives. How we want to overtake us until we are "washed away" in Him. This is the chorus:

Just to see Your face and to feel Your embrace
Wrap us with your love and mercy
Come fill us, we're so thirsty
For your touch, God we need you so much
Let your glory fall like rain,
Till we're washed, washed away in You

It was a beautiful night to be part of. God showed up and impacted people. I give Him all the glory.

You Hold Me Now

The Sunday before I went back to school, my pastor gave a sermon about heaven. I feel like a lot of pastors don't do messages on heaven. It was so refreshing to hear someone talk about it, and it answered a lot of questions I've always had about heaven. He emphasized how we can't imagine what heaven is like because there's nothing like it here on earth. There will be no pain, sadness, suffering, conflict, it will be perfect. After his sermon, the band played a song that perfectly summed everything. The chorus went like this:

No weeping,
No hurt or pain,
No suffering,
You hold me now, You hold me now

There was a family sitting in front of me with a small daughter. By the end of the sermon she had fallen asleep, so when we stood up to sing, her father picked her up and held her. We sang the chorus again and I looked up at this little girl. It hit me. This was a small image of heaven. This little girl, asleep in her father's arms, she was content. She had no pain or sadness. Her father was holding her. It brought a tear to my eye. Such a warm reminder of how wonderful heaven is going to be.

Oh, and if anybody knows the name of that song and who sings it, I'd be eternally grateful.

I Promise I Won't Forget About My Blog This Time

That's my New Year's Resolution. I normally don't make any resolutions, but I intend to keep this one. I'm not making any excuses for my lack of posting. I just simply stopped for some reason. I'm not sure why, because I really do like writing this blog. So, I promise you, reader, that I will not leave you hanging for months on end, waiting anxiously for another post (okay, only like six of you read this anyway, but still, I promise).

It's J-term here at Mount Vernon, which means I only have one class for the whole month of January and I have it every day. I'm taking public speaking. So far it doesn't seem too bad, although this was only the first day of class. We'll see how it goes. But the benefit of only having one class is that I have a lot of extra time, which means that I'll be able to more things! Like blog more often, read my new C.S. Lewis book, learn songs on my guitar I've been wanting to play for months. Awesome stuff like that!

So, I, Kathleen Finley, pinky promise that I will not forget about my blog, and will try to write a new post at least once a week.

Remember to eat your veggies.

I'm a College Athlete?

I sincerely apologize for not writing about this sooner. College is very clingy and wants all of my attention, but we've been having some talks and agreed to give each other some space. I hope that joke makes you smile, otherwise I'll feel weird for writing it. Anyway, I moved into school 2 weeks early for cross country camp and haven't looked back! It's still a little strange for me to think that I'm a college athlete. I never thought I would get the opportunity to do something like this, but God opened the door and I went through. And I am LOVING it!

My team is amazing. I can't believe how well we all get along, but we really do. Everyone is so supportive of each other and encouraging during practices. I love being able to spend time with them every day. And my coach is awesome. I couldn't ask for a better coach. He's so encouraging and really brings out the best in you. This is the part where I would post a picture of the team, but unfortunately I don't have one of all of us yet.

Our first race wasn't exactly an official race. It was more like a scrimmage. We didn't run a full 5k course. Usually, the girls run 3 miles and the guys run 5 miles. In this case, the girls ran 2 and a half miles and the guys ran 3 miles. It was at Kenyon college and we faced Denison, Ohio Wesleyan, and of course, Kenyon. Our times weren't scored so no one officially won the meet. It was a good way to kick off the season, especially for someone like me who hasn't run a cross country race since my freshman year of high school. It was extremely hot that day and I don't run well in the heat. The course wasn't too bad. I was doing ok as I ran down a hill....and then I went the wrong way. I started around a bend when I heard someone yelling at me. I turned and it was the Kenyon girl who had been behind me, who was now beating me, telling me to come back the other way. I grumbled my frustration and got back on the right part of the course. I wasn't crazy about the time I got, but I was very proud of the fact that I successfully finished my first college race.

Our first invitational was at Ohio Wesleyan. Well, it was hosted by them. The course was at a park. I was really nervous, but after a good talk with my coach (and a little nap) I felt a lot better about the race. The weather was beautiful. Nice and cool, perfect for running. The course had a strange layout. There were a lot of twists and turns and all of us were pretty sure they hadn't measured it out correctly because it felt like we had run more than what we had to. It wasn't my favorite course, but I could tell I was stronger during this race and I felt really good when I finished. Afterwards coach took us to Noodles and Company for lunch (if you've never been there, stop reading this, look up a location near you and go. Now).

I love being part of this team. There will most definitely be more posts to come about my running adventures. Stay tuned!

Questions

Not to sound cliche, but life is full of questions. And a lot of times we don't know the answers. I think most of you know about the awful shootings that happened in Copley last week. I didn't know any of the people, but some of the families of the victims go to my church. On Sunday my pastor was talking about when things like this happen, it brings up so many questions about why did this happen and why did these people have to die and why does God have these situations take place. I loved his honesty when he said, "I have degrees in God and have studied for many years, but I don't know the answers to these questions. I did five funerals this week. It was miserable. I'm exhausted. There are so many questions and things about God that we don't know or understand. But our questions will be answered one day, on the other side of heaven."

This life is hard. There's suffering and tragedy everywhere. But I have to believe that there is a reason to all of this. God is using this for something. I have many questions that I wish I had the answers to. Questions about everything. In 1 Peter, Peter addresses the fact that there will be hard times in our lives, but that God will bring us out of it.

"And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast." 1 Peter 5:10

Don't give up hope. We will overcome this. I personally can't wait for the day that I will stand in front of my beautiful Father's throne and it will all make sense. I will finally understand.

What to Say

How do you respond when someone calls Jesus an "extreme left socialist?" This question has been bothering me ever since a guy in my creative writing class said it during fall semester. I don't remember how we got on the topic of God, but it became very clear that I was one of the only people in my class with Christian beliefs(this was when I was still a student at Kent State). As I was listening to him talk, I began to think about what I could say to back up my beliefs. I couldn't think of what to say. I regret not speaking up during that discussion, but it frustrates me that I still don't know what I should have said in that situation.

As a Christian, I've had many experiences where people have criticized and made fun of me because of my faith. A lot of times I would just ignore it, but other times it would hurt. The incident in my creative writing class bothered me, not because my classmates were directly putting me down, but the fact that I stayed silent while I listened to them tear apart my beliefs and values. I didn't know how to respond.

Sharing my faith with someone who's not a believer is something I wouldn't consider myself good at. I can talk about God with my brothers and sisters in Christ for hours on end. When I was younger, my fear was that I would come off as a "Bible thumper" and then the person would be completely turned off by it. I would never shove my beliefs down someone's throat. You can't force people people to believe something.

I want to be able to have a conversation about God without it turning into a debate or argument. As Christians, we're called to bring others to Christ. I want to do that, I just feel like I need to learn some more about evangelism. And if any of you guys come up with a good response to "Jesus is an extreme left socialist," let me know.