Question About Serving the Lord

For my daily devotion I read 1 Samuel 11 and 12. Two passages stuck out to me and made me question the true meaning of serving the Lord.

1 Samuel 12:20, "'Do not be afraid,' Samuel replied. 'You have done all this evil; yet do not turn away from the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your heart.'"

1 Samuel 12:24, "'But be sure to fear the LORD and serve him faithfully with al your heart; consider what great things he has done for you.'"

In present time, I thought that serving the LORD meant to volunteer at church, but in these passages, and other passages, it says to serve the LORD with all your heart. I am interested in getting feedback on what people believe that phrase to mean. You can write your opinion or if you can think of examples from the Bible that would be awesome as well!

~Drew

Faith is Like a Water Balloon

Well, today for work we played the good ol' water balloon toss. It is a fact that to play this game there needs to be a proper supply of water balloons which must first be filled up. This requires an able bodied man that has the skill and charisma of a saint. Needless to say I was the privileged one that filled up the water balloons. I grabbed our clear, plastic tub, threw a chair over my shoulder, clutched onto the tall cylinder containing the water bombs, and set off to fill the balloons. As I sat there wrapping the top of the balloon around my finger to tie them off the Parable of the Seed popped into my mind, pun fully intended.

The Parable of the Seed can be found in Mark 4:3-8: "Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. ⁴As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. ⁵Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. ⁶But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. ⁷Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. ⁸Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, multiplying thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times."

If you have not filled up water balloons then you have missed out on a real treat, but I will try to help you understand how I thought of the Water Balloon Parable. First, it is obvious that a water balloon needs to have water. Jesus is the source of Living Water (John 4:10) and He is the Author and Perfecter of our faith (Hebrews 12:2). You must allow  Him to fill your life, like water fills a water balloon.

When filling a water balloon you will notice that some automatically have a hole. They will do one of two things. They will either slowly leak out until all of the water is gone, or they will pop. This agrees with Scripture that some people will hear the word of God, but will be carried away with the birds, not having a chance to let the word soak in. If you get past the filling part, the next step is to start tying off the balloon. Some of the balloons make it through this process, but others do not and they pop.  This represents those that received faith, but had shallow ground. When the times of hardship, stress, and persecution come they fall away. 

Next, when you have the balloon tied you place them in some sort of container. If you are planning a large water balloon fight then you will see a lot of water balloons that start to clump together like the picture above. This may even cause some water balloons to pop because they are so sensitive. In a sense they get choked out. Some people's faith get choked out by the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth, and the desires for other things. However, there are those that pass all of these tests. They stay firm and ready until the right time comes. The kids grab the water balloons and throw them around. It brings much fun and happiness for them. They always keep coming back for more. Faith that survives these tests are similar. It brings about "a return of investment" of sorts. It gives people a true joy, and it keeps others coming back for more. When faith is truly invested in you, telling other people about Christ becomes natural. You learn how to love, care, and pray for all the people around you, and Christ brings you into a deeper relationship with God the Father. 


Where are you in your faith? I struggle with the worries of life. I want to be the one that provides for my family that I start to wonder how I am going to do that. It is hard to let go of that sometimes. However, I must remember that it is God who gives life, and He is the true Provider. 

Pirate Putt Putt

School: Well, according to my current records I am over half way complete with my internship hours! It has only been a month and I cannot believe I am this far along. I am sorry for not updating very regularly. I find myself working between 45 to 50 hours a week so I get a little tired when I come home.

Fish Print T-Shirts

Oil: The oil has hit Panama City Beach. I am not sure to what extent, but I do know that some of my other co-interns found tar balls close to their condo. If it hit where they are at then I know it has hit my resort. I talked with my manager about this because I have been worried whether or not they would keep me on as an intern. He stated they would not get rid of us. With people not being on the beach, they will more and likely come to the pool deck and will need things to do. Our job is to make sure they have fun no matter what.

Death by Paint

Church: I believe the last time I wrote I talked about how difficult it has been for Kristina and I to not have a church here. I am not sure if it was a week or two ago, but we just realized that there is an oppressive spirit in this area. It was affecting us and so we had to pray about it. We also prayed for God to show us a good body of believers to find encouragement with. Yesterday, Kristina and I tried a church called Lynn Haven United Methodist, and right now we feel really good about it. This church actually used Jesus' name in the first few minutes of the message! A novel idea. The people are very friendly as well and one couple that I had met accidentally earlier in the week invited us out to lunch with their kids.  Unless you have been church seeking before, you really have no idea how wonderful it is to connect with other believers like that. They are a wonderful couple and are looking for God's direction in their life right now.

Massive Shaving Cream Fight (Notice the Dad on the Right)

New Directions: Since we are getting close to the end of the internship we are both starting to look for where God is working and where He can use us. We are open to anything that God might call us to. We just ask for prayer as we start considering options that we might have.

Week 1

Hey Folks sorry I haven't posted in awhile. This past week has been a little crazy, but it has also been a lot of fun. Not to mention Kristina and I do not have internet at home anymore. We ordered internet yesterday and should be here by Tuesday so updates should become more regular.

 I want to say that right now we could really use your prayer. There is a lot going on right now with being down here in Florida. First, the Louisiana oil spill is affecting resorts in this area. A resort group unaffiliated with my internship company has cut their entire hospitality and recreation internship program which leaves 30 interns without an internship. Again, this has not affected Kristina or me, but it is a reality that it could. Second, please pray that we find a good body of believers. It will be impossible to replace our church family back at home, but the need to find a good body of believers to grow with has been a challenge.

Now moving on to some fun news, Kristina and I have been able to go on a couple adventures this past week. The first adventure was with the internship company. They took all of the interns to Adventures Unlimited www.adventuresunlimited.com and let us go kayaking and canopy zip lining. The stream that we kayaked down was spring fed so it was nice and cool on a hot, humid day. There was a tree swing about halfway down the river that we all stopped at. It was just fun to be there with everyone. The canopy zip line was just awesome! We went up 65 feet and zip lined from tower to tower. I wasn't able to get any pictures of it because I did not want to risk losing my phone! I had an adrenaline rush every time I was clipped in!

The last adventure was yesterday. Kristina bought a couple passes to go parasailing! The people were so friendly and the view was awesome. It was amazing to see stingrays through the water and they were really close to people that were swimming around in the waves. This area is so beautiful and it is a blessing to be able to live here for the time that we get to.

We hope everyone is doing well!

~Drew

First Day on the Job (so hard!)

To all those people that thought I would only be playing games. You're pretty accurate! :) 

Water slingshot + Bucket + Round ball = Awesome

This is the pineapple derby that took place. On the right you will notice a pineapple that is not on wheels.   That would be my team's car. It won because we just turned it on its side and rolled it. My belief is work smarter not harder. 

St. Andrews Bay

Hi all! So while Drew has been gone this week, I've done a bit of exploring of our new home! Today after my run (I just started the Couch to 5K program, it is awesome!) I was walking around our condos and found this lovely little strip of beach, complete with chairs! I will definitely be visiting this area a lot :) I also had to go to Panama City Beach (about 10 mins away) to grab some paperwork for my job and I found this place called Pier Park! It is this huge street filled with different shops, restaurants, etc... AND it had live music! I had such a great time walking around! While there I stopped in a place called Kilwin's Handmade Chocolates & Ice Cream. The name alone should tell you how amazing this place is, but if it didn't let me tell you-YUM! I got a cup of the Banana Fudge Pie Ice Cream, and it was sooo good! It has been really nice becoming more familiar with the area, I can't wait to find out what else they have here! While it has been a lot of fun exploring, I can't wait until Drew comes home and we can explore together! :) I miss my sweet husband!

Hope this week has been wonderful for you all and that this weekend brings fun and rest :)

~Kristina

"Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen." ~Ephesians 3:20-21

Caribou

Love me some Caribou

A Walk by the Beach

So Kristina found this shell by the water. We weren't sure if there was a crab inside or not. Kristina was the brave one that went to touch it. The thing was very much alive and when she touched it, it jolted and went back into its shell. It startled us both a little bit. 

Panama City International Airport

I am currently sitting in tbe smallest airport I have ever seen. The control tower is almost half the size as the entire building! There is only one room that contains all the gates for departures and arrivals. One of the airplanes outside have seen better days I believe. The nose of the plane seems to be losing parts of its paneling. I hope that is not mine. I look forward to arriving in Atlanta :-)

Trip Pictures

These are the pictures I took on our way down from Oklahoma. I am not sure if you can read them and I forgot to take a picture of the Arkansas. Tomorrow I head to South Dakota to see Peder get married!

To All Our Homies

We Arrived!

  Just to let everyone know we made the trip to Florida safely. We got in around 2:30 A.M. on Sunday morning. The condo is gorgeous, we are right off the water, and today we visited the white sandy beaches. It is so white that I made the comment that it reminds me of snow. It is so awesome! We have everything out of our cars. It is such a blessing to be in a place that is fully furnished, and we thank God for opening this place to us.

  Another new piece of information is that Kristina will no longer be working as an administrative assistant. She will now be working as an intern at Rosemary Beach which is a town that was developed as a resort area.  She will mainly be working at the kids camp called Camp Rosemary. To learn more information about her resort you can visit http://www.rosemarybeach.com/default.aspx.

  I will post pictures later, but right now I'm too tired to do it.

~DrewP

Last Day of Packing!

   The last day of packing is finally here! I had to run to the storage unit this morning to make room for all the stuff that we are taking to Florida. The cars are crammed! I had to use a little more effort shutting the trunk of my car after finishing up :) We also forgot a couple of ice packs down at church on Sunday so I had to run down there to grab them.

  On my way there I felt compelled to give OCPD a donation, and met one of our fine Oklahoma City police officers. Following a concise chat with the young gentleman, I came away with a pinkish looking slip that said I owed the city a $161 for speeding. Honestly, I was not meaning to speed. I was driving Kristina's car and it does not feel like you are going 70 mph when you are going 70 mph. Anyways, so I had a nice little detour home and paid the ticket since I was already downtown OKC. Isn't it amazing how God works these things out! Trust me those ice packs were SO worth it! ;) 

  Kristina and I watched the new Office and Community over a nice Fazoli's lunch. I am not much of a Community fan, but this last episode was absolutely hilarious. If you haven't watched it you should head over to Hulu or something and see it. 

  This will probably be the last time I blog before we get to Florida! I will make sure to take photos of the trip and of the condo. It will be like you were riding along side of us! Here are some pictures of what our apartment now looks like completely cleaned out. 

My Mom the Seamstress

Just a cool picture of my mom and me after she hemmed my pants :-)

Packing Day #2

Here are some pictures of our apartment after moving a majority of it out yesterday. Tyler helped us out a lot and we cannot thank him enough!

This is our kitchen without any bowls, cups, plates, etc., but we still have our coffee maker, tea pot, and toaster. We are set for life.

Although this may look like a random picture I assure you it is not. In the corner of the room you will see the pieces of a desk. One of those pieces is now in smaller pieces then when it was originally assembled. It was a rather sad event where I thought I would be able to do something by myself and turns out I should have asked for help. A costly, yet effective, lesson.

These last couple pictures are just pictures to show how much we have moved out and how much we have left. We can handle this :) 

Again, we want to thank Tyler for helping us move most of the big stuff yesterday and for his dad lending us the truck! During the next couple of days I get to go apply for another social security card (this will be my second time in 7 months) and deep clean the apartment! 

Packing Day #1

We actually started packing today! Drew's mom is a little skeptical of whether or not we will be able to complete all the packing we have to do. However, we have done a lot in a little amount of time! Kristina emptied out all of the cupboards in the kitchen and pretty much everything kitchen wise is packed minus a few items that we need to survive. Drew got to patch up the little holes left from the nails. He was a little hesitant at first since he has never had to do anything that resembles patching up holes, but the challenge was met with success! What a handy guy :)  We have also moved a few things over to Drew's parents' house for storage. Later, we will add pictures of what the place looks like!

We know that everyone is dying to hear what we are packing tomorrow so we will tell you! Tomorrow the Petersons move some furniture to the storage unit! Aren't you excited? We thought so. Stay tuned for our Packing series that will unfold throughout the week.

Written with love by Drew

Drews birthday

My cake :-)

Gettin' Ready

Kristina and I continue to smooth out plans for moving to Florida. Our current quest is to find a storage place for a reasonable price. We believe we may have found one and later today we will be visiting a place that has a student discount!

It is so surreal to both of us that we will be leaving Oklahoma City in less than 2 weeks now. Yesterday, I made up a meeting that was held three weeks ago with my internship coordinator. The meeting was announced via school e-mail and since I didn't go to school this past semester I haven't checked that account and missed the original meeting. I received quite a bit of paper work that needs to be filled out by Thursday.

On the other end, my internship company sent out an e-mail saying that we were supposed to have all corporate paperwork finished and turned in by this Thursday as well. I never received it. So, needless to say, there is a lot of paperwork to do in a short time span. I will survive! Kristina will make sure of that! :)

Yesterday, we had the blessing of a good friend come by and visit with us, Abi Bolay. She is leaving Oklahoma City soon as well and we wish her well with what she is doing!

Hope all is well with everyone!

~Drew and Kristina

Golfing

Well, this is what happens when you let Drew golf. One man holding another man by the belt trying to retrieve Drew's missing ball, which happened to not be his ball after all.

Settlers Night!

The game of Settlers. If you haven't played it then we need to schedule a time to do so.

                                                 Kyle and Sierra...Formidable Opponents

Kristina and I posing after the game is finished

Drew's Internship

    This is a map of Edgewater Beach Resort in Panama City Beach. This is where I will be doing my internship at. It is rather large and has a lot of cool stuff. I will be working with one other intern and her name is Kathryn.

    Many people have been asking what I will be doing for my internship. I will tell you what I was told by the company. I will be planning, designing, implementing, and evaluating recreation activities at the resort. 

   Hope this helps explain things! I have to get going to play golf! 

Welcome

I would like to welcome you to the new blog by Drew and Kristina. We will be posting updates on a continuous basis to keep you informed on the happenings of our lives.

Enjoy.