A Different Adventure

          One year ago yesterday I was the most scared/ nervous/ anxious I have ever been in my life. I was also about to embark upon a life changing experience that I could never forget and would always yearn for. If circumstances had worked out, right now I would be at RAMP preparing for another YouthWorks summer. I find myself craving the YW life and wishing I had been able to make it fit into my summer. I know I most likely wouldn't have been placed back in WV & the mountains, but I sure do miss those mountains and the culture there that is so vastly different from anything I've ever experienced in the US. I will miss the nervousness, the excitement, the heartbreak, the friendships made and strengthened, the learning, the growing, the spiritual overflow, the daily miracles and answered prayers, a community of fellow believers in the same age group as me with their own ways of loving, worshiping, and serving God.

         Instead, this summer I will have the pleasure of becoming acquainted and hopefully become friends with a great staff on campus to man the dorms as week long camps come in for various functions. I am also enrolled in two online classes which I definitely wouldn't have been able to do on a YouthWorks summer. Instead of working for YouthWorks this summer, I have the opportunity to work through YW! On our site in WV last year, we were blessed with a really awesome, gracious group for our first week of participant groups. They were all really close to our ages and we hit it off with them like crazy. I don't want to call favorites, but if I had to choose one group, one week of participants, week 1 definitely got me in the heart. I cried when they left. This group is so awesome they invited Maggie (the other girl staff member on my site last year who became one of my best friends, I love her to death) and I to go on their mission trip this summer to Bayou La Batre, AL on July 1-5. So Maggie and I talked it over, we were both really interested, and it turns out we were both able to go. So after a year of only phone chatting with Maggie about once a month, I will get to see my sister-in-Christ from NC for 5 whole days! I couldn't be happier about that. And I will be getting to serve God and others, while spending that time with people I already know that I love!

              Despite my immense excitement for that trip, the thing I am most looking forward to, and really the whole reason why I didn't apply for YW again this summer, is that most of July I will be able to spend 24/7 (with the exception of when I'm working) with my wonderful, loving boyfriend, Ben. Ben is deployed to Afghanistan right now, but has a full time stationed base at Grafenwohr, Germany. He has been deployed since the end of July last year. In a matter of just over a week, he will be beginning his journey out of Afghanistan and back into Germany. I cannot wait even for that step. It's hard to understand unless you have experienced it yourself, but worrying about the one you love almost every second of every day, whether they will live till the next sunrise, is an extremely trying burden to endure. I pray every day to God for his safety. As soon as he is back in Germany it'll be as if a weight has been lifted from my shoulders. No matter how much I worry about him though, I cannot overlook how thankful I am to be blessed with such an amazing man. I'm guessing anyone who actually reads this blog has probably never actually met Ben. I hope to change that in July. He can't wait to visit UABC and meet all my church family because he knows how important you all have been in my life. It won't take you long to recognize how special he is and how crazy I am about him and vise versa. I've never met anyone so accepting, loving, and caring of other people..and that definitely carries over into how he treats me. I have never been treated with more respect and acceptance of who I have been, who I am, and who I want to be. He dotes on me, he spoils me, he treats me like a beautiful princess that deserves all the effort in the world. It's impossible to describe just how he understands me and accepts me more than anyone ever has. We connect on so many different levels that are really important to me. We have so much fun together and I can't wait for all the adventures to come. I know we'll make some really great memories this summer :)

Julie & Julia; Jenna & Jesus: Day 1 (Belated)

Well here we go. On Tuesday, in my blog, I said that I would be starting my "Jenna & Jesus" that very day. Well I'm 2 days late, but here I am! I will prevail!

So today I wanted to feel a good sense of accomplishment, as if I were really getting somewhere in the process of reading through the whole Bible, even though today is Day 1. I accomplished this by choosing to read completely through one of the smaller Old Testiment books. The name of a woman sounded good, so I chose Ruth, which only has 4 short chapters. Here we go, let's dive right into Ruth.

Chapter 1: Naomi & Ruth

In Bethlehem, there was a man named Elimelech and his wife, Naomi. They had two sons, Mahlon and Kilion. It became hard for them to live in Bethlehem because of a shortage of food, so they moved to Moab. In Moab, Mahlon and Kilion married two locals named Orpah and Ruth. After 10 years in Moab, Mahlon and Kilion died. Naomi heard that the Lord had brought food to Bethlehem again, and decided to return there, bringing her daughters-in-law, as they were part of her household now. On the road to Bethlehem, even though she knew she would be dreadfully lonely without them, Naomi told Orpah and Ruth to go back to their families in Moab. They refused, they did not want to leave Naomi alone. Finally Naomi convinced Orpah to go home. Ruth said her home was with Naomi and where Naomi went, she would follow. Where Naomi died, Ruth would die and be buried.

When they reached Bethlehem, the people were overjoyed to have Naomi home. She told them to call her Mara because the Lord had taken all she loved and left her bitter.

Chapter 2: Ruth Meets Boaz

We are told of a man named Boaz in Bethlehem who is a relative to Naomi through her husband, Elimelech. Boaz is said to be a man of standing (what I imagine to mean Upper Class) as he owns fields of barley and wheat and has servant women who harvest them. He also has men working in his fields.

Without men to provide for them, I imagine Naomi was worried about how they would get by. So she ordered Ruth to follow the servant women's job in the fields and pick what was not taken so they had something to eat.

Ruth worked a field that was owned by Boaz. When Boaz showed up to the fields, he asked who she was. His foreman told him about Ruth. She begged Boaz to let her stay and gather the left overs and discarded barley. He told her to stay in his fields, and he told all of his men not to touch her. (In any other man's field, I imagine that the men who worked it would have the right to find Ruth stealing the left over part of the harvest, and possibly harm her.) He told her that she could drink the water that was provided.

Boaz liked Ruth as a person because of her goodness to Naomi and the fact that he knew she was a child of God. He invited her to eat lunch with him until she was full and had left overs. That day, she went home with a whole bunch of barley and the left overs from lunch. She told Naomi of Boaz and Naomi told Ruth that Boaz was a relative. She told Ruth to stay only in his fields, and Ruth did so.

Chapter 3: Ruth & Boaz @ the Threshing Floor

Naomi wanted to find a new man and a home for Ruth to be taken care of. She told Ruth to go to Boaz at the threshing floor.

(According to Wikipedia, a threshing floor is a specially flattened surface made either of rock or beaten earth where a farmer would thresh the grain harvest. The threshing floor would either be owned by an entire village or a single family. It would be located outside of the village in a place exposed to wind. Here is a picture to help you imagine the story setting:

Also, threshing is the process of loosening the edible part of cereal grain from the chaff that surrounds it. It is done by beating the grain using a flail on a threshing floor. Here is a picture of a flail so you can imagine the process:

Naomi told Ruth to wait until Boaz had eaten and drank and laid down. Then she was to uncover his feet and lay at them. (I guess it was her doing him a pleasant, comforting, caring service & in doing so, offering herself to him.) Boaz woke to find Ruth at his feet. She explained herself saying that she had chose him because he was a kinsman-redeemer.

(Explanation of kinsman redeemer: If a poor person who was forced to sell part of his property or himself into slavery, his nearest of kin could step in and buy back what his relative was forced to sell. [Leviticus 25:48.] The kinsman redeemer was a rich benefactor, or person who frees the debtor by paying the ransom price.)

(What this means is that by the misfortune of the death of her husband and sons, Naomi could not provide for herself and Ruth and she was forced to sell some or all of their property, possibly themselves. As someone of relation, Boaz had the chance to keep that from happening, and paying the debt himself.)

He blessed her and acknowledged her kindness that she had chosen him over any younger man. He wanted to do what was right and told her that there was another kinsman-redeemer that was closer relation to her than he was. He said that he would talk with the other man, and if that man did not accept the offer, that Boaz himself would.

He sent her on her way in the early morning because they did not want anyone in the village to know that she had been there (that would look bad, especially if the other kinsman accepted the offer).

He loaded her shawl with barley and sent her back to Naomi. Naomi told her to be patient and that Boaz would not rest until the matter was resolved.

Chapter 4

Boaz Marries Ruth

Boaz met with the other kinsman-redeemer and also brought elders from the town. He gave the man the chance to buy the land. The man agreed.

Once Boaz told him that in order to buy the land he would have to receive Ruth as his wife. The man refused and gave his blessing for Boaz to do so.

Boaz, in front of the elders, redeemed the land and therefore took Ruth as his wife.

The Geneology of David

The Lord enabled Ruth to conceive. He enables us when He wills there to be life. The women praised the Lord. Though the Lord takes away, he gives again. He provides for us always.

The women of the town said to Naomi ," May he become famous throughout Israel."

When the elders watched Boaz redeem the land and Ruth as his wife, they said to him, " May the Lord make the woman who is coming into your home like Rachel and Leah who together built up the house of Israel. May you have standing in Ephrathah and be famous in Bethlehem."

Boaz + Ruth

\_____/

\/

Obed

\/

Jesse

\/

David

Perez->Hezron->Ram->Amminadah->Nahshon->Salmon->Boaz->Obed->Jesse->David

-> means "father of"

So as you can see from my outline. The blessings from the elder men to Boaz, and the women of the village to Naomi came through. David was a Ruth & Boaz's great-grandson. David was King. Jesus was a decendent of David. Tah-dah, famous!

Julie & Julia; Jenna & Jesus: Introduction

Hello all, long time no blogging for me. In my slight hermit-ness of the past few months, I've come to be sick several times. On my last sick leave from work, I spent the day watching 4 movies and one whole season of TruBlood (can't quit watching it....I'm addicted to the book series and TV). One of the 4 movies I watched that day was Julie and Julia. If you have never seen the movie and don't know the story, a young woman named Julie was having some unhappiness in her life and found joy in cooking. Julie admired Julia Child and decided to read through and cook all of the recipes in Julia Child's cook book in one year while bloggin about it. I have a similar admiration and longing. I admire Christ Jesus, the author and perfector of my faith and salvation. I have devised a similar goal to Julie's.

The Plan: To read all the books of the Bible
The Timespan: One year
The Goal: To finally read the entire Bible, follow God's will for my life, and to blog about my experience.

So there it is. I start today. Any suggestions and advisement are well welcome. Hope you stay tuned for the process!