Two things.

First, I mailed in my writing portfolio yesterday.  Ever since September, I have been working on revising three essays and one short story to be entered in a contest held by the Alliance of Young Artists and Writers, a non-profit organization that provides recognition, publication, and awards to teenagers with “exceptional artistic and literary talent.”  These works have consumed me, and almost everything else has been put on hold.  Yesterday, one day before the deadline, I uploaded my files and mailed my fees and forms.  Come January 31 we shall see whether I have exceptional literary talent.  

bites nails 

 Now that that is done, one of the next things on my agenda was to look for a job.  I spent last summer working at a local frozen yogurt parlor (which is delish by the way – I’m glad I didn’t work there longer or I would have gained so much weight).  I really enjoyed working there; it was a great first job.  But I’ll have a bit more free time this semester, and I was considering trying something a bit different, just to have some new work experience to put on my resume.  I was thinking about maybe Target or something of the like.  Then today, only minutes after I got home from mailing in my contest forms, my mom mentioned Big Creek.

 Big Creek Missions is a non-profit organization that reaches out to families in Leslie County, Kentucky.  They hire a few staff to be there all summer, and then volunteers from churches all over the south come and work for a week at a time.  The program runs for around 11 weeks, and they do things such as holding day camps for kids, visiting nursing homes, fixing up peoples’ houses, and doing community service projects such as cleaning school buildings.  My church first got involved when I was in eighth grade.  I’ve been three times, assisting with day camps twice and visiting nursing homes once.  It was always an awesome experience. 

 So, I went to the website to check out the job opportunities.  And here is a perfect of example of my absent-mindedness:  At first I was disappointed because they only hire high school graduates.  Then I remembered that by the time summer comes, I will have graduated high school.  (Woot woot!  It still doesn’t seem real.)  Heh heh.  Maybe it’ll stick by the time I begin college. 

 Anyway.  The job looks amazing.  I had wanted to find something that would strengthen my relationship with God, and Big Creek definitely would – they do mass worship every day both morning and night, and do smaller group Bible studies before going onto the mission field.  How can you not focus completely on God?  Plus it would totally stretch me and strengthen my leadership skills.

 But I’ll admit I’m afraid.  I would be gone the whole summer – 11 weeks is the maximum one can work, and the website states that they pay more attention to applicants who can work longer.  It’s the longest I’ll have been away from home (although it may be a good transition to college) – and that’s assuming I’m accepted.

 I need to pray about it, and talk to some friends as well as my parents.  If anyone is reading this, please pray that I will see God’s guidance clearly and that He will give me boldness and courage.  My new year’s resolution was to grow my relationship with God, and this may well do it.   I feel so excited at what God may be doing in my life!  Strange that excitement and fear mix so often.

 Pardon me while I go scream.