Friday, May 16, 2008

Going, Going, Gone...


Sunday I will be heading to Camp Vesper Point for the summer! I love every minute of my time there, but it is always great to get a little note from my dearest friends ( I am cut off from the world 24 hours a day 6 days a week)! With that being said, I would absolutely LOVE to hear from you this summer...sometimes the smallest note of encouragement can turn a day upside down! Here is my address:

Kasey Gabhart
c/o Camp Vesper Point
3216 Lee Pike
Soddy Daisy, TN 37379

I will definitely be updating my blog over the summer, but I will only have access on the weekends! Thanks!

Friday, May 9, 2008

Faithfulness is better than the "AMERICAN DREAM"

I never knew that graduation would truly be as bittersweet as I have experienced it to be. Sweet in knowing that I am no longer bound to Western Kentucky University to fulfill degree requirements and bitter in realizing what the world expects of me as a college graduate. In my mind I am free to fall where the Spirit leads me to do his work and to live for him, but I must confess that the pressures of the American Dream are pressing hard down on me. You wouldn't believe the looks I get when I tell people that I really have no idea what I will be doing or where I will be going after the summer. I proceed to give them the answer they are looking for.."of course I will be working very hard this summer to find a dental office in Bowling Green or Chattanooga and I will have it figured out before I leave camp." While it is very true that I will work very hard to find a job, I do not intend to know for sure if that is where God will place me. My intentions are to work at camp where I am being called and to continue following the Lord's direction from there.

John Piper's sermon "Faithfulness is Better Than Life" penetrated my heart and brought all of my thoughts for the week to a head. All week I have been thinking about and praying for those close to me who have fallen for the American Dream and are now experiencing a "life isn't all its cracked up to be" kind of reality. I realized that their lives were missing one key component--The fear of a God who has power to save and grace to all who seek his face. That is the one element that I had to remind myself of when I was faced with the "after graduation" questions. Paul serves a perfect example in Acts 20:22 when he speaks to the elders saying:

" And now, behold I am going to Jerusalem, constrained by the spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me. But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God."

so, what am I doing after graduation? I am going to Chattanooga for the the summer to Invest in other believers and share Christ with kids who are lost, not knowing where he will send me after that; only knowing that money will probably be scarce and it will still be hard to live in this world and to reject the American Dream. I do not do this for myself, but to finish what the Lord has sent me to do; to testify the gospel of the grace of God.