Dear Mr. Potter

The Joy of Community

Summer is a weird time for me now that I'm in college.  I didn't really try to stay in touch with my high school friends once I graduated.  That plus a move, makes coming home from college very different.  I don't really have any friends here, so it's a lot of working and hanging  out with my family, which I must admit, I'm completely okay with.


However, I am starting to hear a lot about the early church in Acts and that's starting to make me wonder if we as Christians have everything wrong.  I've always known how the church in Acts worked, I've heard about it over and over growing up and I know a lot of churches try to base themselves ater it.  However, recently it's been brought up in conversations multiple times and today my Bible reading took me straight to Acts.  So, I feel like it's something that I'm really supposed to be focusing on.  Anyway, I came across this verse and it really struck a chord with me:


"They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.  Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles.  All the believers were together and had everything in common.  They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need.  Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved."
-Acts 2: 42-47


These people lived together!  They talked, fellowshiped, studied God's word, prayed together, ate together, and did ministry together.  Their lives were intertwined!  And so it got me thinking how incredible this would be.  How amazing it would be to live with other Christians, to spend all my time with them, to be able to talk and pray together at a moments notice, because we were always together.  How beautiful this would be.  And I realized, I have this opportunity everyday at school.  I live with Christians, I eat with Christians, I go to class and to church with Christians.  My life is constantly spent with Christians.  And yet, it is so far from this picture of the early church.  We hardly ever talk about God and our "christian" lives, we never pray together, we hardly ever study God's word together.  There is no openness, no vulnerability.  I don't know my friends struggles and they don't know mine.  I'm not sure exactly how to change that, how to make our lives be more like the early church in Acts, but I know that if we do, God will use us, and what more could we want in life?!  


Anyway, continuing on, the author of Acts speaks about sharing your burdens with one another in the hope that they will be lifted.  I am so blessed with this, because I have such incredible people in my life that are always ready to listen and pray.  I was recently matched with a mentor from The Good Women Project, which if you haven't every been there, you should check it out!  Anyway, they as do I, believe that to become a Godly woman, you must be poured into and mentored by someone that has been through and understands your struggles. So I signed up and have been emailing back and forth with this wonderful women of God who is serving Christ in Spain.  I feel so joyful for having met her!  She is incredible and has really helped me in the past couple of weeks that we have been talking.  She encourages me to pray and stay in the word, to overcome my struggles, and to rest in the fact that God loves me no matter what.  I finally feel like I have a glimpse of what God intended for the church to be.  


It should be open.  We should stretch across borders and barriers.  We should love each other no matter what, because God loves the church no matter how many times it/we turn on back on Him.  We should pray for each other.  We should encourage one another.  This relationship with my mentor has given me a picture of what a christian college should like, of what my life at school should look like.  I pray that God would open my eyes as to how that will happen.  I pray that He would use me and that before I graduate, my campus looks more and more like the early church in Acts.  

Just a thought for the day.

Pallet Sign.

As promised, here is the first craft of the summer! I saw this on pinterest and I really wanted to make it, but I was unsure where to find wood that wasn't falling appart.  Well, lo and behold, our neighbors where cleaning out their house and had a dumpster in their driveway.  Mom and I went over and "dumpster dived!"  It was tons of fun!  Anyway, I found to cabinet doors that were made out of planks of wood and they were in great shape.  So I took them home and made my sign. 

 How I felt dumpster diving. (not actually me)

 Since the doors were already made for a cabinet, they had holes cut in them.  I used the existing holes for the screws.  If you're doing this with random wood you found or new wood, you can just drill holes.

 We bought some wood and I sawed it so that it will would fit lengthwise across the salvaged wood.

 I then sanded the edges so that there wouldn't be any splinters. 

 Next, I marked where the holes were in the salvaged wood.  This way I would know where to drill holes in the new wood.  You can't tell from the picture, but the salvaged wood is slightly skewed.  I did this so that it wouldn't look "perfect."

 I then drilled the holes where I had marked then on the new wood. 

Next, I screwed in the screws.  

 The last step was paint!  This made me nervous, because I knew that if I messed up there was no going back.  But I love how it turned out!  I just used some leftover paint that we had from painting out walls.

 
Here's the finished project!  The words are from a song that we sang in church on Sunday.  It was the first time that I had heard the song, and I absolutely fell in love with it.  Here are the lyrics.  Enjoy and keep crafting!


I lie down and rest,
Cause I work no longer.
I breathe in, refreshed no more soiled in disgrace.
I look up at him to whom I am kneeling,
And I see delight there in my Father’s face.

I’m a son of God, and love is my freedom.
I can ask anything of my Father the King.
I’m an heir, I’m adopted and my brother is Jesus.
I’m a son of God and my soul is at peace.

I am last and low,
Cause I fight no longer,
To be right, or good or to prove my own worth.
I’m not driven or pushed or weighed down with duty.
I am filled with release that Christ did all for me.

I’m a son of God, and love is my freedom.
I can ask anything of my Father the King.
I’m an heir, I’m adopted and my brother is Jesus.
I’m a son of God and my soul is at peace.

I stand up in faith,
Cause I fear no longer,
And I pray and wait for God to provide.
I lean all of my weight on him who is able,
And I set aside every effort of mine.

I’m a son of God, and love is my freedom.
I can ask anything of my Father the King.
I’m an heir, I’m adopted and my brother is Jesus.
I’m a son of God and my soul is at peace.

I know now, I’m safe,
Cause nothing can harm me,
Or break in and take what’s stored up for me.
I need not to cling to dead helpless idols,
They no longer can hold any comfort for me.

I’m a son of God, and love is my freedom.
I can ask anything of my Father the King.
I’m an heir, I’m adopted and my brother is Jesus.
I’m a son of God and my soul is at peace.