Where did it go?

Is it really almost 2010? When did that happen?

I very clearly remember teaching six little students and having to remind them to write 2009 on all their papers.

I also very clearly remember getting excited for Shannon as a propoasal was coming up.

I'm sure it was only a few days ago that I left for a month for MWF.

And yet the calendar is telling me that that was five months ago!

Now I have a whole new class that I have to teach to write a new year on their papers.

Shannon is, at this very moment, moving the boxes out of her room to move to the apartment on Tuesday. The big day is 13 days away!

And I'm anxiously waiting to find out what play has been selected for this year at MWF.

Yeah, I guess it has been a year. The Lord has been so good!

And the winner is.....

After writing out the names and piling them together

I reached in and pulled out

Congratulations, Bernie! I'll contact you for your address!

Thank you all for entering. I had a lot of fun.

Tiffany

Reminder

I wanted to remind everyone that I'll be doing the drawing today at around 4 o'clock. This is your last chance to enter! :-)

Tiffany

Take the First Step

I mentioned before that I was able to go to an amazing Christian theatre festival this summer. I met some really and truly wonderful people there and we've been keeping up since then.

Masterworks is an amazing place, really. You spend four weeks preparing and performing a full lenth play. That means days of rehearsals, more rehearsals, and yet more rehearsals (btw, that's sounds insanely fun to me:-). The leader is Rich Swingle who provides many wonderful Masterclasses for the students and we are privileged to be able to spend time (on top of rehearsals :-) learning with some of the most amazing Christian performers.

As if that weren't special enough, Masterworks is dedicated to showing Christian artists how to use their art for Him. So each day there is a Quiet Time and an evening Bible Study. On Sunday morning we all gather together to worship the Lord. As wonderful as all the technical experience and learning is, it truly has touched my heart each year (this was my third year) to see how God uses those who give themselve completely to Him.

And it's easy......at Masterworks, where your whole life is centered around your art (they have dance, music, and sometimes opera concentrations as well) and you are constantly reminded of Him.

But then you get home, and suddenly things aren't so easy anymore. It's not that you've forgotten that God is with you, or your faith has been shaken, or you don't want to spend so much time with Him anymore. It's just hard when everyday life comes in to remember how completely and wholly the Lord took care of you there and will continue you do so at home.

At Masterworks, it was easy to take the first step the Lord directed you to take, because you could usually see the second step looming ahead. With everything being so focused on your art and Him, you could be fairly certain the second step had something to do with one of those. So you followed what He told you to do.

But here at home is much harder. Your life isn't just focused on your art and Him. You have a family, a job (that may or may not have anything to do with your art), you have friends, you have other responsibilities. When God asks you to take a step, you don't necessarily see the step after that He's going to ask you to take. That's scary. I mean really, really scary.

I was chatting with one my friends from Masterworks a while ago about this difference. They said something that really stuck with me.

"God doesn't tell us what the second step is. He just tells us to take the first one."

I can't tell you how much I've quoted that to myself these past months. It's still hard, but sometimes just knowing that God knows the second step is enough to remind me to trust Him and take the first step.

So, remember in all you do today, to take the first step......He'll show you the next one.

Tiffany