LOVE.

This is a topic that's been on my mind a lot throughout my Christian walk, and is something that's just come up recently in some discussions I've been in.

What is love? When we think of this word, the thing that probably comes to mind for most of us is probably romantic love.  We have desires to be married, desires for attention, desires for love.  We think of love being something someone shows when they know us and care about us and would do anything for us.  But is this what Christ considers love?

In Matthew chapter 22, Christ addresses the greatest commandments.  He says "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind."  This is actually a passage that was taken from the Old Testament.  In Deuteronomy chapters 5 and 6, Moses is instructing the Isrealites of the laws set out my God in their covenant.  These were rules that were set in place in order to help the Israelites.  They were to do these things so that they would prosper.  I look at these as "helpful hints" that God is giving them to help them live their lives to the fullest.  In the beginning of chapter 6, God instructs them as follows… "Listen, Israel:  Yahweh is our God; Yahweh is One.  Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.  These words that I am giving you today are to be in your heart.  Repeat them to your children.  Talk about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down, and when you get up.  Bind them as a sign on your hand and let them be a symbol on your forehead.  Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates."  Wow, he really wanted them to know this!  More than anything we do, the most important thing that we should consider all day every day is to Love God! With everything! Not just our alone time spent with him, not just our Sundays.  Jesus wants us to turn to Him all day every day, in every situation.

The second rule is similar:  "Love your neighbors as yourself."  Jesus also took this from the Old Testament.  In Leviticus chapter 19, the Lord is again speaking to Moses on instruction to give to the Israelites in their journey.  If you skip down to verse 18, you will see the passage Jesus is referring to.  It says "You must not harbor hatred against your brother. Rebuke your neighbor directly, and you will not incur guilt because of him.  Do not take revenge or bear a grudge against members of your community, but love your neighbor as yourself; I am the Lord."  This is tough stuff! According to this, no matter what other people do to us, regardless of situations, we aren't supposed to hate others, take revenge out on others, or hold grudges.  And not only this, but we are supposed to love them?!  I know when I consider my own life, I can think of a few people who maybe I hold a grudge against.  They have hurt me in the past, and it's hard to let those things go.  I hold grudges, and I tell myself it's ok because of the things they did to me in the past.  But that's not what God says.  I am supposed to love them.  If I were to see them again, in the grocery store, chances are I would do all I could to avoid eye contact. But is that showing love?

These are hard concepts to grasp, at least for me. And like the Scripture says in Deuteronomy, we need reminders!  We should be writing this on our mirrors, putting this on post-it notes, writing it on our hands, doing all we can to remember that our two primary goals in being a Christian and living out a Christian lifestyle is to love God and love everyone, in all situations, regardless of anything!  

I recently went to see the movie Frozen that just came out.  I'm not gonna lie, it's so good, I saw it twice.  Awesome movie!  If you haven't seen it, you should.  I'm going to try not to give too much away, but the main tagline in the movie is that "An act of true love will thaw a frozen heart."  All I can say to that is "Amen!"  There is so much truth to that!  But with it, we must consider what "true love" is.  To me, true love is the love of Christ.  This is the most perfect love.  So when we show someone the love of Christ, that is the purest, most perfect type of love we can show.  We should love as Christ loved us.  And when we do that, hearts will thaw.  Maybe that person that I hold the grudge with, if shown the true and perfect love of Christ, maybe their heart will thaw and they will learn to accept the love of Christ.  Maybe their lives will be changed, just because of a simple act of true, Christ-like love.  

This brings me to my one and only criticism of the entire movie.  It's in the final few minutes of the movie, and the "bad guy" of the movie enters the scene.  I don't remember the exact words, but something is said about a character having the coldest heart of all.  Anna then punches the character in the face, causing him to fall off a ledge into water.  I think that this is a perfect depiction of what happens to us as Christians! We know that love is the most important aspect of our Christian lives.  We hear it at church, we read it in the Bible, we know it's there.  But sometimes, without the daily reminders that the old testament tells us to put up around us, we forget and we are quick to go against that love.  And yes, I know it would have been so corny, cheese, whatever… The right thing for Anna to have done was to show him an act of love that would melt his frozen heart and turn him from a "bad guy" to a "good guy."  If the moral of the story was that an act of true love thaws a frozen heart, why would she not love Hans to "fix" him?  

So there's my rant.  I hope anyone reading this has gotten something from this. But even if no one reads this, it is nice just to have my thoughts on the topic off my chest.  I have a few other topics that I need to get out, so more blogs might be coming in the near future.  But as for now, it's bedtime.  Please leave comments on ideas, thoughts, anything really.

Captain Phillips (Spoilers!)

I know, I know, weird topic. But it's on my mind, and I'm in the mood to write what I'm thinking.

Today, I watched the movie Captain Phillips.  I didn't think it'd be my kind of movie, but I actually really enjoyed it! Tom Hanks was an amazing actor and played the part wonderfully.  If you haven't seen it, I suggest you watch it! And if you haven't seen it, you might not want to read this unless you want some of it ruined for you.  

The basic plot of the movie is that an American Navy supply ship gets overtaken by Somali pirates eager for money.  This is a film that is based on a true story that happened in 2009.  After failing to keep the pirates off the boat, the ship is quickly overtaken and the majority of the crew are either under gunpoint or in hiding.  In trying to convince the pirates to leave, they offer them $30,000 and the escape ship to return to their country.  When they leave, however, they leave the Somali captain on the main ship and take the American captain with them under hostage.  In short, after being in a cramped escape boat with limited air, water, food for hours upon hours, Captain Phillips is finally located my American Navy ships.

After finishing the movie, I was shocked at the things these Navy soldier had to endure.  I started contemplating on how much of the movie was actually comparable to the real event.  I came upon this website: http://www.historyvshollywood.com/reelfaces/captain-phillips.php.  I was a bit set back when the article talked about how it was kind of Captain Phillips fault that the ship was overtaken and how none of the crew actually looked at Phillips as a hero.  However, even if it was his fault, this movie reminded me of how much respect we should have for our veterans and active military.  

Even though this severe of a circumstance doesn't necessarily happen every day, they still sign up for this.  They realize that these scary situations are going to happen, and they are willing to do what they have to do to defend their country.  They leave their friends, their family, and their safety and put themselves in absolutely terrifying situations for our nation, and for that, they deserve our utmost respect.  And not only should we take time out of our days to thank them, but as Christians, we should remain in prayer for not only the military, but also for their families.

My encouragement for you today is this:  Take 5 minutes out of your schedule to just thank God for these willing men and women that defend our country and to pray for their safety and their families.

God bless!  Kayce

A Weekend in St Louis

Abigale, Dad, and I are in Downtown St Louis for the weekend since Abigale is on spring break. We started our journey with a check-in at our hotel, followed by a lovely Italian meal at Charlie Gitto's. I had some bread, a few toasted ravioli, a side salad, some fettuccini (split with Abigale), and some chocolate cake to finish it off. I am soooo full. But it was soooo worth it. If you are ever in the downtown St Louis area looking for a good Italian meal, give it a try.

On Saturday, we ate breakfast at a restaurant called Rooster, which is amazing. I recommend the French toast. SO good! We then headed to the St Louis Zoo. After a few hours there, we decided to look for some good lunch. My phone led us to a place called Sweetie Pies. As we drove by, we weren't sure if it would be good, but decided to give it a try. As we walked through the doors, we were greeted by a line wrapping all through the inside of the restaurant. We knew it had to be good, so we decided to wait. While standing in line, we noticed some camera men, and overheard they were filming for a show on the Oprah network. I looked on my phone, and it turns out this restaurant will have its own reality show on the Oprah channel. How cool. So if you ever see it on, look for me. Haha. We waited in line for about 30 minutes, and it was well worth the wait. Amazing fried chicken, Mac and cheese, green beans, mashed potatoes, and of course cornbread. Mmm.

With our bellies full, we headed to the city museum to work it all off. Or sweat it off, rather. Always an enjoyable experience, except when you have a headache. That was not too fun.  So, after a few hours of playing, we headed back to the hotel to get medicine in me for my headache and rest a little. After about an hour, we headed back to the museum for round two.

When returning to the hotel, Abigale spotted a horse-drawn Cinderella carraige that she wanted to ride, so we did. It turns out we had a trainee, as well as the "professional." What an experience. I'm glad we survived. He tended to enjoy pulling out into lanes of traffic without looking first. I'm surprised we didn't die. Haha.

And finally, on Sunday morning, we concluded our trip by having breakfast, (or brunch), at the 12th Street City Diner.  Mmmmm, so good.  We then loaded up the car and headed back to Greenville to drop me off, and then Dad and Abigale returned to Nashville.  What an enjoyable weekend.

Here are some pictures from the trip...

Abigale and I in our hotel room.

The clouds on the way to St Louis were absolutely incredible. So weird.

Abigale discovered a hole in the middle of the menu. Such a goofball.

Yep, we're weird and proud.

I just thought this was really cool. My iPhone camera focused on the raindrops instead of the clouds in the background.

Yes, we pulled an "Elf" in the elevator and lit up the buttons like a Christmas tree.

The view from our hotel room.

 Abigale seemed to have an obsession with shoving her headphones up her nose.  She would proceed by yelling "Fire in the Hole!" and blowing the out. What a goof. Gotta love her.

 The family that brushes together, stays together.

 Abigale and I and the bloated figurine.

My airbrush tattoo. It didn't last long. :/

Elephant at the St. Louis Zoo! 

 Abigale and I. She had her face painted like a peacock. Too cute.

 Sweetie Pies, and the hour-long line.

 Our Cinderella Carriage.

Giraffe, too cute.

Honduras Reflection

So, the whole blogging every night didn't exactly work out. So sorry if anyone was keeping up with it. I know I had several people ask me about it.

Upon my return from Honduras, I have had many thoughts running through my head about my future.  I am not 100% sure about this, but I truly feel that I am called to Honduras.  During the last few days of the trip, our team went out and viewed some property that was for sale.  As we looked at the land, Richie, our group leader, was saying the possibilities of what we could do with it.  A few missionary houses here, a few other houses here, fix up this house here.  I began to get so excited because it just felt so right.  I felt as if it was where we were supposed to be as a team.  Actually, while we were walking the property, Diana came up to me and said "What do you think? Can you see us here?"  My response: YES!  I feel that if we are to purchase land there, we would be able to make such a large impact in Choluteca.

So since we've been back in the US, my mind has been on Honduras all day every day.  I just keep thinking of different possibilities of what I can do with my life.  And here's what I'm thinking, as of right now.  I know it's a big decision, but I really feel like it's what I'm supposed to do, as of right now.  But maybe things will change. We'll just have to see what God has in store as the time gets closer.

So, after graduating from Greenville with a degree in Elementary Education, I'm thinking I might move to Honduras, IF our team purchases land. (and obviously, I would have to take all of this up with the mission team as well. Keep in mind, this isn't anything for sure, this is just me writing down thoughts going through my head.)  Also, if the team has a lot of land, I would like to open up a children/teen after-school program.  It would be sort of like a safe haven, or a safe place where kids without adequate shelter, food, supplies, etc, could come and work on schoolwork.  We could offer things such as tutoring, counseling, bible studies, free meals, shower centers, etc.

So, there you have it. That's all I've thought of so far. As far as paying for it, I was thinking maybe I could get a few churches to sponsor it. Obviously, if I'm going to teach down there, that's NOT going to be enough money.  But I have faith that if this is what God has in store for my life, he is going to work things out in his time.

With that, I would LOVE to get responses. Ideas, opinions, suggestions, anything. So go. (:

Honduras 2012 - Day 4-6

So I'm really bad at this blogging every night thing.  It definitely isn't working.  And I don't remember what happened three days ago to go back and do them all in detail, so here goes nothing...

Basically, our plan coming down here was to go into a community, spread the news of Jesus Christ, and get information on families to provide them with necessary supplies, such as food, shampoo, toothpaste, toothbrush, etc.  Then on the next day, we would go to a safe location in the area that the people could get to and set up all of our stations for giving out supplies and also providing a children's church and adult church service.

The first community we went to was in the area of the house we built for Leonel.  In the blog for day three, I told about going door to door there.  And on day 4, we went to a local school to have services/give out supplies.  It was quite hectic, but the first time always is.  We had quite an experience with trying to play soccer.  It turns out the got into literal fights over the soccer balls.  Oops.  And for some reason, our soldiers never showed up. :/ There must be something political going on, because apparently none of them are answering their phones and they are not able to contact them.  So without soldiers, things are hectic.  We don't really have anyone to keep people out of areas where they are not supposed to be.  So trying to get in and out of the classrooms was nearly impossible.  Oh, and my little friend Kevin from last year was there. It was sooooo good to see him.  He still gives the best hugs in the entire world.  I just wish he would have brought his brothers.

The second community we went to was probably the poorest of the poor in Choluteca.  But man was it rewarding.  My favorite story of the day of evangelism... We arrived at this one house where they were selling snacks and drinks (this is common in Honduras.)  Upon approaching them, they were interested in getting our supplies and such, but did not want to hear about the gospel.  But of course, we started a conversation with them.  It was a kind of older gentleman and woman.  When we started talking about God, the man got up and left, but we were still able to talk to the woman.  She listened, nodded, and talked back to us, but if I remember correctly, she was not ready to accept Christ.  So we got her information to give her the supplies she needed, and moved onto the next house.  We came upon the older man, who had left the last conversation, and two younger guys, I'd say around the age of 20.  They all shared with us that they had not accepted Christ, but had been "baptised" when they were younger.  After talking with them for quite some time, their hearts were definitely softened.  You could just sense it in their tone of voice and their expressions.  When asking them if they wanted to be saved, they accepted.  After praying with the first younger guy, the second one accepted.  We then asked the older gentleman, he smiled so big and told us that he prayed in his heart with the second of the two boys.  What a change of heart in such a short amount of time.  God is good.

Honduras 2012 - Day 3

Day 3 started off the same as day 2, devotional and breakfast.  After breakfast, we loaded up in the van, separated into our groups and went into a very poor village in Choluteca.  In my group was Beth, Uncle Jessie, Bridget, and Richie.  When we arrived, we went door to door around the village sharing the gospel with the families and assessing their needs.  We were able to lead two people to Christ, and what a blessing it was.  The first house was my favorite.  When we approached them, they gladly invited us into their house (made mostly of cardboard, mud, and sticks), and found places for us to sit.  The house belonged to a mother, a grandmother, and several kids, one of which I'd say was under the age of 1.  And you know me, I had to get my hands on him.  So while Richie translated Uncle Jessie sharing the message, I had the pleasure of entertaining the cutest little boy.  He was so smily and giggly, I just love it.  When talking with the mother of the family, she shared that she had been saved, but we shared a little of Gods word with her anyway.  Towards the end of the conversation, she said she wanted us to pray for her to be able to find a job, and started crying as we prayed for her.  It was so touching. <3  We then gave her her tokens to come tomorrow for food, and moved on to the next house.  Along the way, I found my best friend from last year Asael.  He is such a sweetheart, and was so willing to help.  He stuck with our group the remainder of the time, which was nice.  After lots of walking, lots of talking, and lots of holding hands with sweet kiddos, we loaded  on the bus and headed to Pizza Hut for some lunch.  When we got back to the hotel, we started going through some of the totes, preparing them for tomorrow, and packing food that we would be handing out.  And might I say, I am so excited to get out there and start handing stuff out.  Today was such a blessing being able to share God's word with them individually, and tomorrow will be a blessing when we are able to see their smiling faces when they get all of the supplies.  God is so good, and this trip is such a blessing.  And it's only day 3!  Oh, and I'm not even done.  We then got ready and headed to the local church for the night service (because it's much cooler than during the day).  How amazing that service was.  Though I couldn't understand what they were saying, they recognized each member of the group and were so thankful for all we were doing.  And the service couldn't have been any better.  What a God-filled service.  They sang and sang, as usual. And then the preacher seemed good, though I could not understand him.  At the end of the preaching, he asked for all of the Americans to gather around the front (kind of like the alter area), and pray with the Hondurans who wanted to come up for prayer.  So we all gathered in the front of the church, praying and singing praises to our maker.  How amazing.  Seeing their hands raised, crying, and praising Jesus was just so awesome.  I could not have asked for anything better.  It was perfect.  Great way to end the night.  So we loaded up, headed back to the hotel, and went for another night swim.  Such a good day. Can't wait for tomorrow.  (:

Honduras 2012 - Day 2

Day 2 is probably the most uneventful day we will have on the trip, but I enjoyed it while it was here.  To start off the day we had a devotional at 7 and breakfast at 7:30.  After our eventful night the night before, we were quite tired. So since nothing else was planned into the schedule, we returned to our beds. (:  Around 10, we took a trip to the local grocery store.  Not a walmart, but they had the basics. We also stopped at a local cell phone shop and the Wendy's for some lunch.  When returning to the hotel, we basically had some down time.  Sadly, I should have posted this blog last night, because I'm drawing a blank as to what we did until that night. But anyway, I guess it wasn't anything too important.  That night, I took a night swim with some friends on the team, and when returning to the room, one boy decided he wanted his hair shaved.  So guess what we did... we shaved it.  Bri did most of the work.  She first parted it into a mohawk, and then shaved the sides.  The funny thing was that we were trying to decide how we were going to do it, and we sent him off to find some scissors.  We told him if he could find them, we would cut his hair.  And sure enough, he found them.  So after Bri parted his hair, we got a razor and started at it, which was going to take ages.  After she had been working for about 10 minutes (and hadn't gotten very far), another guy on the team brings up the fact that his dad has clippers.  I don't think we've ever been so mad. He couldn't have thought about it a good hour earlier.  Things would have been so much easier.  Oh, and before we did his mohawk, the kid also let us put makeup on him, which was quite fun.  I don't think our team leader was too thrilled, but it definitely happened.  And the scary thing was, I'm pretty sure he enjoyed it. And so, that's pretty much the end of the fantabulous events of the second day.  Nothing too thrilling, but some memories I had to get down before I forgot them.