Only You

   Have you ever done something so incredibly dangerous, daring, adventurous, and bold that you can only look back on that moment and wonder how you acquired the guts (and dementia) to play out that action?

I haven't.

   You see, I'm not really the bold, outgoing, and (sometimes) brainless type that do those kinds of things. I'm more level-headed, and if I think there's a better chance of me dying than there is of me surviving, I will not do it. I will never skydive, bungee jump, eat anything with eyeballs still on it, have a pet spider, keep my eyes open through a whole horror movie I've never seen (or seen for that matter), or really anything requiring a brave, adventurous soul.

   Today I did something slightly above my level of comfort. You're all going to laugh when you hear what I did and say, "Oh Emily! I've been doing that since I was old enough to make fun of wimps like you!" So what did I do?

I went down some insane rapids with a crazy drop-off and underwater suction strong enough to drown a skinny white kid with freckles.

Maybe that was slightly exaggerated.

   What really happened? Well my church's baptism/picnic was today (I'll get to a more inspirational part of the day later), and where we had this baptism/picnic, there were some rapids going through the creek. Well a kid from my youth group was all like, "Ohmygosh!Iwassuckedunderandthewater'sliketenfeetdeepandIalmostdrownedexceptCameronpulledmeoutintimeandit'scrazy!"

   Of course I was curious to see if this account was actually true. So I swam to the end of the rapids and apparently past the whole drop-off/sucking waters area and surveyed what I was up against. After staring at the water for several minutes in deep thought, I decided to test these waters. I went a little ways into the rapids. No sudden disappearance of me. So after several more of these tests in different areas of the water, and sending several young, new CLEAR members down the rapids to be sure it was safe for myself, I determined it to, in fact, be safe for someone of my caliber of swimming skills (I've been swimming since I was two. I'm pretty awesome.). So I found a random spot of treacherous waters and was forced went in out of my own free will into the dangers ahead.

   The result was me hitting my buttocks, knees, and toes off rocks, yelling that there was no dro- finding the drop-off, struggling to keep myself un-drowned, washing up on shore, and then crawled strode pridefully back to the boy who told me of the terrors of those waters and told him to go back to the kiddie pool. Well, that last part is false. I'm not that cruel to the younguns' of our group. I just told him he must be either an very crappy swimmer to barely be able to survive that, or have a fantastic imagination and, if so, should think of going into writing.

   And then I went down those rapids many times after and survived to tell the story. The End. Now for the more inspirational part of our story mentioned previously.

   So. The baptism. I don't know what y'all believe in regards to baptism. I know views differ greatly when it comes to this. I believe it's something done after someone has been born again and accepted Christ as their Savior and is ready to make a public declaration of their faith a decision to boldly follow Christ and display that in their life, along with some other reasons I won't go on about. It's amazing to see God at work in people's lives. It always gives me chills to see what amazing thing has been revealed to a person, and I always want to dance like a little girl in her ballerina costume after that person rises from the water. So many situations - good and bad - can draw a person to Christ. For one person baptized today, it was the sudden passing of a friend that really set him on fire. For another, it was being invited to a Christian conference for young adults. The next, the passing of his sister threw him back, flat on the ground, but now his eyes have been opened, due in part to a wonderful aunt, to God and all His glory and grace. And for a little girl, a simple but serious conversation with her mom on God and His saving mercy.

   God can use every situation out there for His good. The worst, most tragic, and the most beautiful, heartfelt moments can be used for His purposes. Sometimes people need an eye-opener to really get them out and on fire for God. But why wait for some amazing or horrible experience to enter your life? I have to admit, I've never really had something like that happen to me. Why wait till then to start your relationship with Jesus when you can start now? Get out there, start a fire, feed it, and make it grow. BIG.

   Just my little tidbit for you :)

Cheers♥

Photos found on http://weheartit.com/

Random Photo for y'all ;)

FYI this is Chloe sleeping on my foot ;)