Because of Who You Are

A few weeks ago in church, we sang a song called Because of Who You Are. I love it. It's one of those songs you just can't get out of your head because not only is the tune good, but the lyrics are killer. 

Often we tend to worship God for all things He's done for us, which is totally Biblical. In fact, a lot of times we forget what God has done and get discouraged and think we can do things in our own strength. But there is something so powerful about just worshipping God for who He is. 

Here's the song that's been circling in my head for over two weeks now:

Because of who You are I give you glory
Because of who You are I give you praise
Because of who You are I will lift my voice and say,
'Lord, I worship You because of who You are.' 

Jehovah Jireh, my Provider
Jehovah Nissi, Lord You reign in victory
Jehovah Shaalom, my Prince of Peace
And I worship You because of who You are!

Hope Deferred

When friends come to visit and go to your church with you, usually I have (and have found many other people have) this thought: "Oh God, please help it to be the senior pastor preaching and please let it be good!" Fickle, yes (as if God can't speak through a guest speaker or associate pastor), but so true. 

Anyway, Courtney and Lea made the journey across the desert to visit me this weekend and got to come to church with me.  And I prayed the prayer, "Oh Lord, please help it to be good."

Haha...it wasn't good. It was life-changing. I'm still blown away and it's five days later. 

Please listen. It's worth the time. You will be blessed. And look, my friend Habbakuk showed up again!

Pastor Art Evans: Hope Deferred

I'm so excited...and I just can't hide it...

One of the coolest parts about serving at Palm Valley for 3 years is you get to know families. I taught 2 out of 3 Gregg kids, 3 out of 4 Rohlingers and 2 out of 3 Slonigers. I have to say I was partial to the last two since they were so fun, but also because their mom, Jen, has a great blog. I've been able to follow their family's journey to adopt a little boy from Ethiopia. It's been a long wait and it's not even my kid!
But today, yes, TODAY WAS THE DAY! They got their referral with the first picture of their son!!!!!
So head on over to Jen's blog to watch the video. It's worth every second.

Congratulations!!!!!!!!

Standing on holy ground

There are times in your life when the presence of God completely overwhelms you. In those time, I feel like Moses who had to remove his sandals and later wear a veil because God's glory and power was so evident.

Wednesday morning I had a take-your-sandals-off moment. The high school I'm teaching at is the same one I graduated from 7 years ago. Still, many of the stalwarts, the best of the best, are still there. These are the people that inspired me to teach. These are people who are spiritual giants in my world. And every Wednesday morning they pray before school together. For the first time, I got to sit in on it.

For 30 minutes, I heard the genuine heart-felt cries to God from people I love dearly. I started to cry when I realized I was surrounded on both sides by cancer survivors. Terri was stage 4. She was supposed to be dead 5 years ago. Linn was told there was nothing they could do. And here both of them were, preserved by God for a greater purpose. Then there's Karen who has done nothing but encourage me and laugh with me for two weeks straight. Kris, who I've known for 17 years of my life whose daughters were my friends in tough times, I could go on and on.

I think what the Church today is missing is that overwhelming feeling of real community. Surrounded by a literal "cloud of witnesses" who rely on God for every single breath they take and walk alongside of you. Their lives in everything point directly to the Savior. It's a humbling to life-giving experience.

I feel so blessed and in awe of God's sovereignty. Never would I have thought I could be a part of something as big as this. I am truly thankful and know that next week, I need to wear sandals.

Lessons learned from my first week as a high school teacher

1. High school teaching means short, intense bursts of creative genius
In elementary school, I had 6 hours in which to impart knowledge. In high school, I'm a 50 minute segment in a long stretch of information. It has to be memorable and concise. In other words, I have to be smart and quirky. There has to be a hook that by the end of the day when they are doing their homework, they'll go, "Oh, I remember that. Miss Ernst explained what adultery was. THAT was awkward."
PS: We're reading The Scarlet Letter so I'm not a complete perv.

2. In high school, they talk back...in a good way.
I'm used to elementary kids talking back in inappropriate ways. High school kids (at least my fabulous Korean and Chinese kids) talk back and make me laugh. Case in point: I was told by an administrator I talk too fast for ESL students. So I talked slower. And here was the conversation that ensued:
Sam: Miss Ernst, where are you from?
Me: San Diego, but I've lived in a lot of different places.
Sam: Why do you talk so slow?
Me: Hahaha...should I talk faster?
Sam: YES!
Me: How'boutthis? ShouldItalkthisfast? Canyouunderstandme? Yagoodyagood?
Sam: (laughing) YES, YES!!

3. I can have conversations that have nothing to do with Hannah Montana.
Thank God. I can have real conversations during passing periods. I can sympathize with their frustration at not knowing where anything is. I remember what it was like to forget your homework assignment on the first day and feel like the world had collapsed.

Hopefully I'll continue to learn more about this strange and fun world called high school ESL. My department head has been astounded at how well I've adapted considering I had two days to prepare. I'll keep you updated with any more epiphanies that happen to bonk me on the head.

Now...I'm off to learn my own language so I can teach it...past present progressive tense anyone?

Grandma Jean

My Grandma Jean passed away a week ago. Her burial was today in Phoenix.

Grandma Jean, me, Grandma and Christian

Technically, she wasn't my "real" grandma, but she really was a grandma to my brother and I. She was my paternal grandmother's best friend and the two of them did shopping trips to San Diego, lunches and all the fun stuff that two gals named Jean and Betty can do in Hemet, California.

Grandma Jean had several loves in her life: playing the organ at church, collecting bells (she had thousands), offering her opinion with a toss of the head and fabulous intonation, rooting for the Dallas Cowboys(she had the official football phone!) and loving Jesus.

Our family is going to miss Grandma Jean a lot. She filled a gap in our family and we filled one in hers. When her daughter-in-law went to put together the pictures for the funeral bulletin, 3 out of 5 of them are of her and our family. Right now I just can't believe that she won't be coming down for her annual birthday dinner at Seaport Village. Or sending me cards with her meticulous handwriting. Or coming down to visit the Christmas tree at the Hotel Del.

Please pray for our family as well as Grandma Jean's family through this time. Especially pray for my grandma. I can't imagine losing your best friend of 30 years. It's going to be hard for her.

God has a sense of humor(aka I have a job!)

When I graduated from college, I told my mother two things:
1. I would never teach high school
2. I would never teach in her district

Let's just say I've been laughing for the past 24 hours at God's sense of humor. I'd like to think He's laughing along.

I got offered (and accepted) a job yesterday teaching part-time high school English to international students. In my mom's district.

It's crazy reflecting on how perfect this position is. Who else but God would take a 5th grade teacher and plunk her with no experience, no credential in a high school classroom. I start Monday. As in 48 hours.

The class is all set up. The lesson plans are done through the semester. I'm only teaching two classes of advanced students.

My biggest fear was that I wasn't qualified for it. I wrestled with God for a good hour, but decided to take the step of faith and go for it. As I'm looking through the lesson plans and what I'll actually be teaching, it's stunning. It's what I taught in 5th grade.

In elementary, I guess I always thought of myself as an average teacher. I was effective, yes, but never really thought I was anything exceptional. Until last night. When I realized I was teaching my 5th graders high school vocabulary and writing skills. I taught 10 year-olds MLA formatting. I taught a kid who had almost no English language skills how to use the word "juxtapose" correctly in a sentence.

Dang. I'm good.

I'm still looking forward to teaching internationally someday, but how perfect, how terribly and wonderfully perfect is my position right now. It's preparing me for the next step.

I keep reflecting on what Pastor Greg said a few months ago that has just stuck with me:
God will prepare you for what He has prepared for you.

This is true. So very true. God has an amazing sense of humor.