January 22, 2012
I got to come home for Christmas for like a little over a week and it was just a really sweet trip. A couple of my friends had babies in the last couple of months and I got to hang out with them and meet their new babies, I got to hang out with some people that I love and miss dearly, and then most of all I just really enjoyed my time with my family. Then it was back to Kansas City the day after Christmas to get ready for the Onething conference. Onething was very different this year because I had to remain on nights because of the CEC job. Normally I would just switch to days and then switch back when it was over. I also served in a new area this year. Last year I ushered every day practically all day so even though I was serving, I was still able to be in the sessions and participate in worship and hear the teaching. But this year because I was on staff with CEC I got to serve in the CEC tracks. I was only there for the evening sessions and I was with the kids so I actually didn’t get to go to any of the conference. But it was really fun working with the kids. I had always wanted to but never knew how to do it. I thought it was so appropriate since the whole thing that started this journey of mine was a sign at the first onething conferece I went to in 2005 that said Children’s Equipping Center. You know the rest is history. I still got to be in there for New Year ’s Eve though. It just doesn’t get better than worshipping Jesus with 30,000 other people to ring in the New Year. Then after onething was over, I switched my schedule to the new nightwatch schedule.
This is definitely a season of change. Back in August, the director of the Nightwatch proposed a new schedule. The old schedule, which had us wake up at 4 pm and then stay awake to do midnight to 6 am in the prayer room and then get to bed by 6:30 or 7 am, had us doing our prayer room time at the end of our day. However this new schedule is very different. On this schedule you go to bed between 2 and 3 PM and you sleep until about 10 or 11 PM, depending on how much time you need to get ready for your day. Then you do the prayer room from midnight to 6 AM, but now you stay awake and do the rest of your day until you go to bed again at 2 PM the next day. I know it makes your head spin just thinking about it. The reason the schedule was proposed was because the people that been doing nightwatch the whole 12 years since IHOP started were starting to feel it take a toll on them and decided if they wanted to do this for longevity, something needed to change. So leadership did some research and felt this new schedule was the best option. Now I have to be honest and let you know that from the beginning I have not been excited about this switch. The nature of the nightwatch already lends itself to feeling like you are missing out in general, and now with this schedule, you are asleep when basically anything social happens. So because it was announced right before school started students were not able to switch because school only worked for the old nightwatch schedule where classes were in the afternoon, but they told us their goal was to have it in place for students by January, and they were definitely on the ball. Now we have classes in the morning from 10-Noon instead of 4-6 PM.
So it was actually the Lord’s kindness that He gave me like 3 months to prepare myself and my heart and ask for grace to help me switch because everyone that wasn’t a student just switched immediately. I have been on the new schedule 3 weeks now and so far I have not had any problems! It took me about 3 days to get my sleep right but since then I haven’t had any difficulty going to bed. I even bought a sleep mask since the sun is like its brightest when it’s bed time. I feel kinda high maintenance wearing it, but it actually works wonders. I was so scared that this new schedule was going to be just miserable, but it turns out, I am actually enjoying it. It is really nice to see the sun in the morning, especially in the winter. I come home and open all the curtains and let the sun shine in. I have also been much more productive on this schedule. I got a groupon for a really good deal for a two months trial at a curves gym. 3 days a week it opens at 6 AM so as soon as I am done in the prayer room, I go home, change and then go work out. I don’t know if I will continue after February, but last winter it was so cold that all I did was stay in bed and I just knew I couldn’t do that again. It’s funny because since I go at the butt crack of dawn the only other people there are little old ladies. I kinda like it! So I will have to see if they can work me with after February and go any cheaper but if nothing else at least I am out and exercising.
School starts on Monday and I am super excited! I have enjoyed my time off, but we have been on a 5 week break and I am so ready to get back into the swing of things. This quarter my classes are the foundations of Biblical Eschatology, which is basically just a study of the end times and the books in Bible that speak of these future events, and Basic Christian Beliefs. School has been really hard. Last semester I think I thought about quitting like every day. We have so much reading and the papers just about killed me. However, even though I failed almost all my daily quizzes, I still walked away with straight A’s for the semester. I even got A’s on all my papers! I felt pretty proud of myself. I think this is probably the biggest challenge I have ever taken on, and although it’s hard and I want to quit on an almost daily basis, I am so proud of myself for sticking in there. And to top it all off, my church Grace offered to pay another semester of my tuition! God is so good. I told Him last semester sometime that even though I am still only taking my life a semester at a time, I would really like to do all 4 years if He would continue to provide. So far all signs point to go =)
Speaking of prayer, I would really appreciate it if ya’ll would partner with me in prayer. As you know I had a great tutoring job, but because of this new schedule it won’t work out to that this semester. Nobody is going to want tutoring at 6 in the morning! So that was a good chunk of change that I really needed. Then on top of that, I found out just this week that starting in March I will no longer be getting paid for the CEC job. We all know the economy is just terrible, and as it turns out, IHOP was no exception to the financial shaking and they no longer have the funds for my position. This is a huge bummer because I was so excited to see the Lord finally break in to my finances and I was actually completely funded for a good 3 months! But God is still on the throne. He has always been Jehovah-Jireh, my provider, and since He doesn’t change, that doesn’t change either.
