Favorite FOCUS Conference Moments

1. John Leyendecker's Keynote Talk the first night. John began his talk by sharing a quote - "heart speaks to heart." He hoped that by sharing his testimony, our hearts would be touched. And I know mine was. He has been through such suffering in his life, and Jesus helped him overcome it. It was truly an inspirational talk (I cried),  and I am glad to have been able to hear his story.

2. Pre-Screening Martin Sheen and Emilio Estevez's film, The Way. Oh my goodness, was this an inspirational film. It is about a man (Sheen) who looses his son (Estevez) and chooses to walk El Camino de Santiago to honor his son. He meets many friends along the way, and the story that is told through their relationships is heart warming. I totally support this fantastic film, and hope that everyone goes to see it. After watching the film, we were able to dialogue with Emilio Estevez about the making of this film. It was a great experience.

3. Audrey Assad's concert. This girl can SING. Man. She has a beautiful voice and was so funny. She is truly using her gift to honor God. Everyone should check out "Restless." I was able to talk to and connect with God when we sang this together. Beautiful.

4. Curtis Martin's talk with the student leaders. He said "we must first build relationships to show people the love and joy of God in our life." Yes. He told us spreading God's word is first about loving people.

5. Being challenged to cut the noise out of my life. Curtis Martin spoke of cutting listening to music in the car out of his life and the impact it has had on his prayer life. One of Rob Bell's nooma videos is about this; it questions how can we except to hear God in the loud noises in our lives. Sister Mary Gabriel echoed this in her keynote, saying that everyone must go on a spiritual diet. She says certain things (noise) must go in our lives. Lisa Cotter challenged the women to cut out the emotional noise (love songs, chick flicks, etc) out of our lives. This is all hard to do. But so worth it.

6. Adoration, confession, and praise and worship on Saturday night. Connecting with God is always so good.

7. Father's homily on Sunday afternoon was fantastic. I can honestly say it was the best homily I've ever heard. He talked how in baptism we have become "little Christ's" (or "Christitos" - like a chip!) and are called to spread the word. He challenged us "if not you, then who" and talked about the bystander effect. It is our responsibility to change lives.

FOCUS

Things I have learned so far at FOCUS Conference.

1. God will not text you or facebook message you or tweet you to tell you what you should do with your life. In fact, he will not even tell you what to do. You, with Him, will choose it, own it, and commit to it. It's cool knowing that He wants me to do what I like.

2. God gave you passions and talents for a reason. If you're good at something, or love to do something, it could have to do with your call.

3. There are thousands of things you can do to serve God. 

4. Those who follow Christ must prepare themselves for an ordeal.

5. Women were made emotional, and "the strength of a woman lies in her emotional life." The devil tempts us through emotional things (chick flicks, love songs, etc).

6. Laziness is the biggest challenge when it comes to living out your faith.

Also, to all my Futures Quest friends, just thought you should know that our keynote speaker this morning told us to "look at your life, and there you will find your choices." Good thing I already knew this, thanks to Pete.

The biggest piece of advice I've heard so far is to "make your life a gift." I want to live my life in that sort of honor, loving and serving the Lord. As Shauna Niequist writes in Cold Tangerines, "I want a life that sizzles and pops and makes me laugh out loud...I want my everyday to make God belly laugh, glad that he gave life to someone who loves the gift." This year, I want to spend time daily talking to God, learning about my gifts and how He wants me to use them.

A Journey.

My journey as a Futures Quest mentor ended today.

It's funny, really. We started off as strangers. Most of us knew no one. Yet in two and a half days, thirty fraternity men from around the country came together as more than friends; they came together as brothers. They do not wear the same letters. They hold different values closest to their hearts. Yet, they share a common bond. A bond of Ritual, a bond of brotherhood, and a bond of striving for excellence. They came to Futures Quest unsure of what to expect. They left better people, who are more committed to their values.

Never in my life have I been inspired by men my age. Yet these past few days, I have experienced more inspirational moments than ever before. These men came in, became vulnerable to each other, trusted the process, and grew. They made commitments to themselves, to their fraternity, and to each other. I am proud of each and every one of them.

They have truly given me hope for the future of the fraternal world. I am blessed to have known them.

Their journey at Futures Quest may have ended today. But their journey of changing the world has just begun. I was reminded that my journey has barley begun as well.

Delta Gamma is for hope. Delta Gamma is for strength. Delta Gamma is for life. My voice will not go silent, and I will continue to change the status quo. I will inspire Drake Greeks to become excellent men and women. Because being anything less is unacceptable.

I am excited to see what these men will do.

(PS - pictures will be added when i get my cord)

Why Do Values Matter?

They define who you are. What you stand for. They define what you will do when the going gets rough. If you are inconsistent with your values, will you be able to live with your decisions? Probably not. You will not have that inner peace knowing you had the courage to stand up for what is right. Values give you a firm foundation to stand upon, they give you things to build an organization, a camp, a family, a person on. They give you hope and challenge you to be congruent in your actions. They give life purpose. They are the reason for fraternity and sorority.

"It's a ball, it'll roll!"

Life is so so so great right now. Here's why:

1. I got to spend time with four amazing women last night.
2. I'm in Indiana.
3. I'M AT CAMP. This is the best place in the entire world. There is just no other way to describe it. Murphy drove me here, and when we pulled in, she sighed and said, "home." It's just so true. This is my second home. This place radiates God's joy, love, and peace. You just can't help but be happy when you're at camp.
4. I got to see Tom, Mike, Jordan, Adam, Bonnie, and Joel this morning. It was literally only for one minute (I ran down to the office before my conference started), but it amazing how refreshing it is to say "hi, I think you're great, I'm glad I know you, and it's so so genuinely good to see you" to camp people.
5. We have an amazing team of mentors for this conference. There are 10 of us (3 women, 7 men), and we are all here to initiate values based living and change in greek life. Our purpose these next three days is to introduce living your ritual. It's so good to meet people who"get it" and understand greek life the way that you do.
6. We got to do team building. I LOVE team building. I love how it can bring people together, how it relates to real life, how it pulls out the strengths in everyone, and how every person involved is important to achieving the end goal.
7. Jordan came up and visited for a bit when we were done with mentor training for the day. It was so good to catch up and talk with him. He is such a great person and friend.
8. I got some wonderful texts from my friends Arielle, Sarah M., and Sarah W. today. The three of them are so great and I really love them.

I am really looking forward to the next three days. Future Quest is going to be an amazing experience. I can't wait to get to know the participants, and to bond more with this mentor group.

(Sad news. I left my camera cord at home. I will have to add pictures to my posts from this week when I get home.)

I am so excited!

Today, I fly to Indiana. Paige is picking me up at the airport, and then we are driving to Kokomo where we will get to see Murphy, Holly, and Jess. It is going to be so fun. I love friends.

Future Quest starts tomorrow. I know camp has Internet access, but I am not sure if I will be able to post the next few days. I will try my hardest to!

11 Things I'm Looking Forward to in 2011

1. Future Quest

2. Seeing my pledge class take the “big” leadership positions in DG. We have such a strong class and I totally support all the officers on CMT. They are going to do great things and take our chapter to the next level.

3. Getting more involved with FOCUS – whether it be the FOCUS Conference[s], discipleship, or going to/leading a Bible study – I’m excited to get more involved and meet more friends.

4. Spring Break! It's my sister's senior spring break, so we're going to Mexico. I'll just get to hang out on the beach with my mom. It'll be wonderful. My birthday will also be in Mexico!

5. Making new friends – staff and campers – at camp.

6. Being a senior in college. Actually, this is a really scary thing. But I am looking forward to it!

7. Continuing this blog & making more dents on my life list. I’ve had a lot of fun with this already, and even if no one reads it, I’m holding myself accountable to it.

8. NeedtoBreathe, Taylor Swift, and HP7pt2. over the summer with friends.

9. Living on my own for the first time!

10. My sister’s graduation trip. My mom, Steph, & I will be heading to New York City at the end of the school year. We took one right after I graduated, and now it’s Steph’s turn. I can’t wait to go shopping with them, see Broadway shows, and see the city from Kerry’s perspective!

11. The new Panhellenic Council. It will be weird not having my old friends on council, but I am so excited for the opportunity to lead these extraordinary women. I can’t wait to see what they’re going to do.