I Almost Jumped in a Lake!

Yesterday I had the privilege to spend quality time with my Mommy, made extra special because it happened to be a few days after Mother’s Day. She was asked to give a presentation for work here in Dallas, so she took a halfday and was able to spend it with me. We went to Escape and she experienced the goodness of bubble tea (she didn’t like it), her faces were most amusing as she tried it. “They feel like snot!” she exclaimed with a sickened expresion on her face. To which I responded “Oh, but it tastes amazing!” and happily slurped up a few of the “pearls” through my straw.

Next we went to the lake in the huge community near where I live and we relaxed near the water’s edge enjoying the gentle breeze and the mist it carried from the fountain in the middle of the lake. Soon we were joined by a few mallard ducks. There were about 6 males who were chatty and then a female appeared with her ducklings in tow. Upon seeing the female approach, the males swarmed her and proceeded to chase her as she was tried to keep her ducklings in line. It was a very funny scene to watch, and we pretended to speak for the ducks:

“Hey! Leave me alone! I’m just trying to take my kids for a swim!” – Female

“Hey! HEY!!! Look at me! Can I help? HEeeellloooooo Gorgeous!” – Males speaking over each other

“That’s it children, we are never coming back to this lake…. talk about rude.” – Female to ducklings

As we were laughing about the ducks we hear this scream “LUUUUCY! LUCY GET BACK HERE! LUUUUUCCCCYYYYY!!!!!”

We look over startled at this teenage girl yelling for a small dog that had broken off its leash and started chasing the Canada geese in the lake. The geese were none too happy and started freaking out trying to intimidate the dog. We got up and went over to the girl to see if we could help at all, but the dog was getting further and further from shore and the geese were getting angrier. I thought for a second that if the dog started to have issues, I would jump in after it, but only if it got that bad. I didn’t want to see a dog drown or get killed by a goose.

We tried to help calling for the dog, but then a teenage boy comes up near her and takes his shoes, socks, shirt, and hat off, takes his phone out of his pocket and dives in after the dog. He doesn’t have much luck as this little dog was booking it. So the boy came back to shore. By this point in time, the dog had made its way over to a dock that was nearby and the girl ran over to take it out of the water. That boy sure got some major brownie points.

Over all it was a rather eventful day and I thankfully didn’t have to jump into a lake.

Nerf Wars!

This past Saturday a group of us GFA peoples went out to have a nerf war at a playground near one of the familie’s house. It was a great form of exercise, and I rediscovered some muscles that have long since been dormant in my body. Pushing through the pain, I must say that playing with nerf guns outside when it’s slightly windy is a challenge. I had near perfect aim… when we were inside… but then add the element of teams, adrenaline, and wind… I was lucky if I could hit one person each round!

Though I did find out that Tim and I make a pretty good team. We played where if you were shot, someone on your team had to come and tag you to unfreeze you, but if both of you were shot, then your team was out. So much like how a medic in Team Fortress 2 stays right by a heavy so you can annihilate your foes without much harm done to the dynamic duo, I was Tim’s medic and we made a really good team! (see you can learn practical applications from video games! Like…. how to survive in an all out Nerf war!)

I’m looking forward to the next nerf war, and I’ve even brought my nerf gun to my desk at work, and it’s already played a big part in the sanity of our little web department. Here’s the story:

Adam came by to work on my computer and while he was here, I was playing around with my nerf gun. Natalya sees Danny down the hallway and says “aw! Danny was just in the hallway… I know! I’ll email him!” So she proceeds to email Danny (the vice president of our organization). Her email was something along the lines of “I need you! unless you’re doing something really important”. A few minutes later, Danny comes into Web and I release a stream of nerf darts at him. To which he says “I knew there was something up, Natalya never emails me that, I should have come around the other way so I could have seen you too! (referring to me standing near my desk out of view of the door)”

You know you work in an awesome place when you can shoot the vice president of the organization with a nerf gun and he thinks it’s cool.

My weapon of choice

Haven’t I Already Learned That God?

There are many times in my life when I think I have learned as much as I can in a certain area, and since God has grown me and healed me, I don’t ever need to come back to that area. Yes, the Lord has healed me, and I’m not saying that His healing wasn’t perfect and what I needed at that time, but there is always room for growth and it’s my own pride to say I don’t need to grow anymore in that area.

Recently I have started a Bible Study called The Hem of His Garment, and have also started reading the Bondage Breaker with Tim. Before starting these I was a little weary because I know the Lord has healed me from my past and I’m moving forward in my relationship with Him because of it. I was under the impression that since I know the Lord has healed me, I’m invincible (in a sense) to what may come up regarding my past. But that was my pride speaking, and a lie from the enemy in his attempt to keep me from seeking the Lord continuously in that area of my life and continuously taking each thought captive that I may stay in the light and not stray from the Truth I believe.

So far in the study I have learned about the wrong and right guilt and shame, about righteous and unrighteous anger, and more about Jesus’ anguish on the cross as He willingly laid down His life for me.

I always find it interesting how the Lord speaks into my life. I’m not sure if it’s because I have a thick skull to get through, or if it’s just His way of solidifying a certain message, but He always relates everything in my life to what He is showing me. So, I am learning about all these things at the same time, going through trials that relate to the things I’m learning, and then reading about the life of Jesus and how much He loves me, all at the same time. I guess that learning things in threes to make it permanent really is valid!

Anyways, that is where I am right now and I’m sure the Lord has more for me to learn through these studies. Please pray for my heart to be open and soft to His molding and teaching. Also that I will have patience with myself as I am a slow learner sometimes. Thank you all for your prayers!

Peace in the middle of Chaos

The past couple of weeks has been full of many opportunities to serve. I travelled to Tennessee with a group of GFA staff and students to work a booth at the National Religious Broadcasters conference (NRB). Although it was a tiring 6 days, it was also very enjoyable to spend time in fellowship with people I wouldnt normally hang out with.
Everything from the 12hr drive there and back, to meeting people like Kay Arther who stopped by the booth, made the lack of sleep and long hours worth it. Not to mention I ended up sponsoring another Bridge of Hope boy!
After getting back from NRB, preparations began for Gospel for Asia’s Renewing Your Passion conference that is happening from the 15 – 17th of march (this weekend). I have been asked to man the myGFA booth during breaks, lead one of the two video teams who will be recording the sessions, and I volunteered to help out with registration because my best friend Katie (who is over the registration part of the conference) is a man down. Even though there will be a lot on my plate (as well as everyone else’s) it will be great to meet the different ministry partners and extended family of the ministry, as they all gather in our office.
With RYP coming up, there is also the other tasks I am responsible for day-to-day. Such as writing copy for the weekly email digests, posting the twitter statuses, writing the copy for the World Water day landing page, etc.

Even though there is a lot going on, I still feel at peace. I am thankful that I am not on my own through this stressful time. The Lord already knew this time would come around, AND He promises to be with me through it all. He never gives us anything we can’t handle through His strength. Praise God for a body of believers who work together for the furtherance of His Kingdom.

A Little Taste of Heaven

I am so blessed to serve with a Body of Believers who are really like the Church in Acts. We are all here for two purposes: to grow closer to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and to proclaim His name and His glory to those millions who havent heard His name.

The reason I write this post is because I have been struggling with headaches consistantly everyday for the past… 7 months? And when I walked down the hallway today, someone stopped me to see how Im doing, when I mentioned the headache, they stopped what they were doing and prayed for me right then and there. This is not an uncommon occurance, actually it happens all the time. We are a people who pray together constantly, are transparent with one another as the Body should be, we are there to encourage and give of ourselves (out of the strength of God) to help others, we love others even when its hard to do. The staff here at Gospel for Asia are living out what it means to be the Body of Christ. And I am so encourged by it.

Im sure there are other places out there that are similar. But Im blessed to be a part of this family.

New Life

Praise God for new life! Yesterday, January 23, 2013, my newest cousin entered the world. As cute as his name, I think he is the most adorable newborn Ive ever seen. Welcome to the family Cooper Isaiah Mullarkey. Praying that your life is so blessed by the Lord and that you grow up to be a mighty man of God. Love ya little one.

At The Range Again

This past weekend I had an amazing time at the gun range with some friends of mine. I forgot how fun it is to shoot guns and actually take time to work on my aim. Unfortunately I wasnt able to shoot my ww2 russian mosin nagat rifle because the range doesnt allow full metal jacket rifle ammunition, but the others guns I was able to shoot were fun!

My Walther P38 was a pretty accurate shot, need to get a new magazine though because the spring is kinda older in the current one. Which makes sense since it was actually used in ww2. 9mm

Tim’s 1911 was fun to shoot too, even tried one handed and still got a bullseye! Its a .45 caliber

Alex’s shotgun was probably my favorite to shoot. Did both skeet shooting and fired it once with a slug. I think the shot gun is my favorite because of the kickback you get from it. The slug made me have to take a step back because of the power behind it. Fun times. I think it was a 12 gauge

Steward’s revolver was interesting. Ive never really been a fan of revolvers, but was interesting to shoot it. Not sure what kind it was. Other than it was .22 caliber.

Looking forward to the next time we go shooting, but I will need to get some more ammunition first… On to the next gun show!