Romans 12:10

Alas, my second blog post!

I thought starting the blog would be the hardest part, but it turns out that consistently updating (or updating at all!) has been harder!

Since this is my first update since the Forge officially started, the major thing to note from the past 2 months would be our covenant. All 25 of us had to discuss how as a community how we would define our relationship to things like cell phones, music, movies, TV, etc. But before we could even do that, we wanted to settle on a mission statement that would help guide the time we would be spending together here. It would also work as a filter as we tried to determine how things like television and internet usage would help us complete our mission statement. It was surprising how difficult it was to get 25 people, who are all believers, to agree upon a mission statement! After spending some time in 1 Peter and 1 John, we finally settled upon Romans 12:10 which says, “Be devoted to one another in brotherly affection. Honor one another above yourselves.”

Once we got the mission statement down, we discussed how we could use things like television and cell phones to be devoted to one another and honor each other above ourselves. Again, it was surprising to see how difficult it was to have 25 people agree on something! After many intense talks and some MAJOR help from Matt and Jenn, we finally landed on a frame of mind that really helped ease the process for us. There were lots of long days and late nights spent trying to hammer out the details, but we finally got it completed around mid-October!

I have already learned so much during my time here just because of our covenant. Being devoted to someone and honoring them above myself is HARD. I didn’t realize how selfish I was until I started trying to devote myself to the people here. I have no doubt that the Lord will continue to use Romans 12:10 to refine me throughout my time here at the Forge, and even after the Forge is over.

And that’s all for my second post! Here’s hoping that it won’t take me over 2 months to update again!

there's a first time for everything!

Well friends, here it is... my very first blog!

A quick update on my life... I recently moved to Tyler, TX to participate in a leadership training program through Pine Cove called the Forge. I will be spending the next 8 months investigating how the Lord has specifically designed me to bring Him glory. I live in close community with 24 others who are in this program as well. We eat together, work together, learn together, and apparently play lots of ultimate frisbee together too! It has only been two weeks and the Lord is already teaching me so much through each one of these people!

I am excited to share this experience with others, so there will certainly be many more updates to come over the next 7 1/2 months! But for now, I am headed off to start my first day of class!


 Also, I would like to give credit to Adrianne Miller for coming up with the name of this blog! I like to think I'm witty, but I'm not that witty!