More Irony.

Youth Pastor

You are called to raise the next generation of Christians. You have a gift for staying level headed in the midst of chaos. You are challenged and delighted by new ideas and even a little drama. You can stay up all Saturday night during a sleep over and go to church on Sunday morning. You are willing to be challenged by parents and children alike. You are an idealist who knows that the youth are the key to make a difference in the world.

So I know life should not be defined by a facebook quiz.... but yeah...

Now I have to tell a story. For those of you that know me, you will know that I love working with Youth. I have done ministry work and gone on 2 missions trips that involve nothing but youth work...

Guess what? I hated Middle-schoolers until I was 15 years old. Actually I couldn't really stand anyone younger then myself at that point.

Yep. Get off the floor, the world is not coming to an end. Funny how Ironic God is, isn't it?

The long and short of it is, that when I became a "real" Christian 3 years ago, I was challenged with everything I wanted to do. Some things I had planned were completely out of God's will. I still believe that. I had always known what I wanted to do. Photography and writing my book.  I was never going to leave the East Coast, go to college and I was never going to get married. If I did, it would have been to my friend. But that would be weird... so I would be single.

Then on March 17th 2007,  I promised God he could do whatever he wanted in my life. So out went all of those ideas.

Within a month, I was doing Youthwork. I hated it. I was a jr leader on a trip, and I had done it to please my mother.

By August I had fallen in love with Middleschoolers. Then God called me to Northern Ireland. To do youth work. I'm not talking about on  whim here, I mean I didn't even know these wonderful 6 counties were separate from Ireland. I had no idea that Ireland has a split... I had never heard of it before.

I still remember that conversation with my mom. Right after I returned from the trip with the Middleschoolers.
Emily: Mom, God is calling me to N. Ireland. I'm only supposed to do youth work. and I'm supposed to go for at least 2 weeks.
Mom: There are no trips to N. Ireland like that! (God: Laughs)
Emily: Ok then... (goes to dump laundry in laundry room, then goes to change. 15 minutes pass)
Mom: Hmm... Biola...
Emily: I'M NOT GOING TO COLLEGE ON THE WEST COAST (God: laughs)
Mom: what is YFC??? (clicks) Project serve? (clicks) Europe? Maybe I convince her to go somewhere else! (Clicks) *silence* (mom comes down hall) I just found you a trip...

That was the end of that. Within 2 months I had raised over half of my money for the trip.

Then in December, Moody Bible Institute entered my life.

Skip to April. Day One at Moody. This is where I heard of Spokane. My Mother fell in love with the idea of Spokane, while I was so anti leaving for college that I was still irritated about being here... then made a mistake... and fell in love with Moody. Instead of going to World Missions, I found myself at the Youth Ministry Table... Interesting...

I ended up applying for youth ministry... and then I ended up doing a youth internship at my church.
I left my heart in N. Ireland twice, and got into Spokane.

I came here determined to do two things.
1. Get only my Associates Degree,  then move back to Ireland.
2. If I decided I liked College, I would not stay at Spokane.

Again I made a dreadful mistake. Well two actually.

I discovered I was smart, and again, I fell head over heels in love with a different Moody.

When I was seriously considering applying to Moody Chicago,  I found an interesting major.

A degree in communications/ Electronic Media. I swear, this was not on the list of majors when I looked.

That was what I wanted to do with my life since I was 10. I still want to do that with my life. It's what I am good at....

But that means leaving here... And honestly, I think God has bigger plans for me here with my interdisciplinary in Youth Ministry then in Chicago with a Electronic Media Degree.

I ended up deleting my application, after finishing the whole thing, and getting ready to submit it.

So here I am... I can't even recognise myself from the past.. things have changed so much.

So here's to a new adventure... I know I'm on the right path.

Katydid out.