Pastor Kolke

It is amazing the ways God works. One of my first days at work, I had this elderly gentleman ask me where our pond stuff was, so I showed him. We talked for a long time, and he told me about his life. He survived the holocaust. His hands were mangled from being too near an explosion in Canada, and through all the hardships he has faced, he still has so much faith in God. When he left, he asked me if I blogged, and I said yes. He reached into his wallet and pulled out a card that said "STOP and Think Ministry. Daniel A. Kolke. www.kolke.com." This card has been sitting in the pocket of my apron for the past two weeks, until I found it a couple days ago. I just went to his blog, and this man is amazing. I invite you all to share in this man's wisdom, and his faith.

Everyday when I go to work, I listen to Kim Walker. When I get there, I sit in my car and I pray that God will use me to bless people that day, even if I never know about it. I really don't enjoy my job, but it's just for the summer, and if God can use me to touch one person, then it will be worth it. Whenever someone askes me for help lifting something because they had surgury, or they have some physical ailment, I pray a silent prayer for them. When a man yelled at me at work, I got upset, but then I prayed for him. God is really working on me to live how I would at Simpson while at home. It's been difficult, but I have grown a lot. And Pastor Kolke was the beginning of my journey,

Reminiscing

Today was a much needed day. Since I got back from Simpson for the summer, I really hadn't seen much of anyone. Kelsey, one of my best friends from high school, just got out from WWU last week, and is home for a week before heading off for her summer plans. Today we spent a day together. We got our favorite take-out and junk food, we watched cheesy movies, and we looked at old pictures and yearbooks from "back in the day." We randomly got an urge to talk to a friend of ours, Jared, from high school, that we had a lot of drama with at the end, last time we saw each other, our friendship was redeemed. So as we went to contact him, he actually contacted us first. So the three of us went to the park at night and laid on the dock, talking about our lives. It was so nice to be with both of them again, and I hadn't truely realized how much I missed Jared until today. Today was a day for friendships, and I loved it.

The Sanctity of Marriage

I was flipping channels today and ended up at the beginning of Dr. Phil. The first thing he did was he had a group of women in the audience stand and asked them if they would divorce their husband if he got them into X amount of debt, and to sit if they would. As he kept listing higher and higher numbers, more and more women sat down. This fact deeply disturbed me. How could any woman that loves her husband choose money over him, and then reveal that to the world with no shame? Yes, the show was about a couple who was over $600,000 in debt. The wife was blaming her husband, and wanting to divorce him because she didn't want to deal with it anymore, and she would be getting an inheritance when her parents died and she didn't want him to touch it.

What has happened to the meaning of marriage? With the debate of gay marriage, it is something too sacred that it must be kept between a man and a woman, and yet it's something that people throw in the towel when it gets hard? Now I'm not saying that I agree with gay marriage, that's not what this blog is about. What happened to the vow "For better, for worse?" Yes, to one couple worse may be very different that another couple's worse, but there are no guidelines when it comes to what exactly "worse" entails. It breaks my heart to see something so sacred and so binding be something that people can throw away if it doesn't suit them at that moment. What really is money worth? Is it really the thing that determines our lives? Does money or love determine our happiness? And is true marriage something determined by the state or determined by God? Is it the marriage license or the vow before God that truly means you're married? When I get married, divorce will not be an option. I will stay with him through good or bad, because I made that vow. I wonder what the world would be like if everyone truly thought of marriage like that?