Just Call Me Rev

This Christmas, my sister-in-law decided to label all my presents “The Rev.” I think once she realized that I am actually Reverend Melissa Boyer, she went nuts! I think it’s totally cute.

I’m excited for 2013 and my duties as a reverend. In April, I will be credentialed into the second level in the Assemblies of God, so I will be a licensed minister. In July, I get to do my first wedding! I’m so excited to be a part of someone’s special day when I don’t have to purchase a dress I’ll only wear once!

Then again, it’s me. You know I’m gonna’ buy a new dress.

Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about what it means to be called a minister. I’ve been meditating on that “sovereign” word reverend. It’s such an unbelievable thing in my life, even now. I never imagine I would be a missionary, let alone an actual Assemblies of God minister. It’s so exciting to look back and see where God has quite literally numbered my steps.

I was filling out paper work for this next level of credentialing, and they gave me this prompt A minister must be able to show that he or she can “Implement effective personal health, growth, and time management plans.” As strange as I thought the question was at first, I think I came up with a very good answer.

"I would say the past 12 months have been the best of my life as far as personal health. I realized that I kept saying, “Lord, anytime, anywhere,” but my physical body would not have been able to do that. Since January of 2012, I’ve lost 45 pounds and begun to work out regularly. Part of it was the idea of fitting into smaller clothes (I am a woman, as well as a minister), but the majority of it was being able to accomplish what God’s will for my life is.

Personal growth has also been an area of increase the past year. I begin my mornings with constant prayer. I like to have an ongoing conversation with the Lord throughout my day. I spend my time before bed in the Word and praying/meditating on what I read. I frequently journal as a way of connecting to God. If I write down my prayers, I can look back and see when He answers them.

As for time management plans, I am very organized. My planner is my right hand. Since the atmosphere of Chi Alpha is a go-go-go situation, I have to be on top of things. I’ve learned that sometimes you have to say no to a situation so you make sure God and time with Him is priority. I’ve also learned that it’s incredibly important as a minister to have leisure/personal time. As a single minister, my parents and close friends are very important to me, so I make sure to manage my time with them as well. My mentor, Missi Trask, frequently looks at my schedule to make sure I’m not overloaded, and leaving adequate room for my growth in Christ."

Now, I have since received an e-mail that says my District Superintendent approved my form and I will receive credit for this particular part, which is incredibly exciting.

See, all of those things (health, time management, growth) are something ALL of us should do, not just ministers. So, I want to encourage you. Make a plan to improve your life. Not because I’m telling you or because Oprah is telling you, but because God deserves the best version of you that can exist. And, for those of you who think you can’t be a minister or make a difference in the world, think again. If someone as silly and random as me can become a licensed (I hope!)* minister in the Assemblies of God, who’s to say you can’t grow to a deeper place in Christ?

Peace Out, Home Fries.

Reverend Missy :o)

*I say “hope” because I still have to finish two classes, take a fairly difficult test and pass an interview with four or five ordained, AG, male ministers. Prayers are appreciated! Thanks!

Minds, Weapons and The Ultimate Question

I use to say, "Guns don't kill people. People kill people."

Now, I'm not 100% sure I even agree with my own statement. I've read several columns, editorials, and blogs the last three days about the horrific events on Friday. I find myself agreeing with all of them even though most contradict each other.

Am I wishy-washy? Am I a pushover? Do I have any real opinion of my own?

The answer to the latter is obviously 'yes,' otherwise this blog wouldn't exist. Truth is, in a situation like this, I think there is only one thing to agree on.

Horrific events like this must end.

I don't care if that means better mental healthcare, gun control laws, less gun control laws, etc. I don't know what "it" is that's going to fix this, but something must be done.

In the meantime, I'm going to continue to pray. Pray for the victims. Pray for the mentally disturbed. Pray for our nation.

I'm just gonna' pray.

May peace be with us all.

Missy :o)

Here are some links to the opinions I've been reading.

On the mental health issue...

On the painful truths of guns...

On asking, "Why God?"...

Dear Steve...

I am so glad I ran into you to day at Get Lost Book Shop. It's nice seeing faces from my J-School past. Good to know you have another book coming out soon.

On to the point of this particular post. As I wrote down the Web site for my blog, it dawned on me that you were once my professional writing instructor. You know me as the girl who stalked an Entomologist for six months just to get a story; a really good one, though. You knew me as someone with a future in writing, and you even pushed me to pursue it. I always appreciated you for that. Because, let's be honest, everything I know about telling someone else's story, I learned from you. (Everything I learned about telling my own stories, I learned from Mary Kay...who just happens to be your best friend). They don't call it the best Journalism school in the world for nothing.

I must admit...you will probably not recognize that fresh-faced student in the rest of these blog posts. You will probably see/feel/hear the voice of a mid-twenties, single reverend who is a little obsessed with losing weight. (Yes, my official title is Rev. Melissa Boyer, now. I can even perform weddings, funerals, and baptisms - preferably not in that order.) As a matter of fact, that voice is exactly what I desire for you to see/feel/hear. I enjoy writing about my life. And, since it is in fact my life, it's in my voice.

I promise I always re-read to check for grammatical errors. Hopefully, you will notice that I usually follow AP Style (that will never leave my brain). I'm just not as serious as I once was...I'm actually a little goofy.

Having said all that, please enjoy the crazy rantings on Jazzercise, spirituality, friendship and love of a former J-School student. Who knows? Maybe someone will find it so interesting that I will need your advice on the publishing world.

Keep writing well.

Missy :o)

P.S. - The posts in early June have some flair. I was going for more of a "syndicated column" feel. As it moved on, it just became random thoughts. Professor Bentley taught me that random thoughts are often the best beginnings to stories.

Hey, Ho! Ho Hey?

I'll warn you, I'm tired right now.

Every time my BFF (yep, I’m in 3^rd grade) calls me I answer the phone, “Hey, ho!”

I have no idea why.

It’s something she started a long time ago. She actually usually says, “hoochie ho” or “ho bag” or something seemingly derogatory, lol. Some of you probably think this is awful. I happen to find it hilarious. I think it’s because neither of us are any of those things.

The song “Ho Hey” by the Lumineers came out this summer, and I can’t help but think about Em every time I hear it. It’s like “Stuck Like Glue” all over again, haha. I'll tell you that story later.

I don’t really know the point of this particular post other than to say that she’s been on my mind lately because I miss the crap out of her. (Come see me, soon,! K?) And, I really love the song, too. I mean, hope is kind of the anthem of my life. Hope of the future. Hope of who is in that future.

Yeah, that ‘who.’

Whoever “who” is, I want him to say these words to me….

“I don’t think you’re right for him. Look at what might have been…I belong with you. You belong with me. You’re my sweet heart. I belong with you. You belong with me in my sweet heart.”

"Love. We need it now."

"Let’s hope for some."

Word, Lumineers. 

Word. 

That’s all for now... maybe I shouldn’t blog past midnight, haha.

Peace Out Hoochie Fries.

Missy :o)

God just did that.

I must warn you...the NyQuil is just about fully set in. This cold thing is getting worse, and I swear the heat is radiating off my body from a fever.

However, I HAD to tell you what happened yesterday because God just continues to BLOW my mind away...far, far away.

So, remember my previous post about losing $200/month in support in one fail swoop? Well, I was just getting past the whole "personal/not personal" side of it and really moving on. That's when God walked in.

I came home yesterday to a slew of packages. (I should have known not to order off Amazon before Thanksgiving Break.) There was one little one NOT from a store that had a very familiar return address and name. It was from a dear friend I met my first year of college. She had just gotten married and was finishing up her last year of school. I don't know why we connected so well...ok, it was God, but it was still very odd at the time. There was just this kindred spirit between us that I knew would last a lifetime.

Anyway, I open the package to find two worship CDs and a little note. I begin to read the note and barely make it to the second sentence before literally bursting into tears.

"Missy, I am so grateful that God brought us together! You have been on my heart so much. Know that I am praying for you and will continue to! I knew God had been leading us to support you. I approached (insert husband's name here) and he was immediately on board. I asked him how much he felt led to give (not having told him what you emailed to me) and he gave me a number that matched supporting you the $200 a month you lost for the next year. We believe in the work and ministry you are providing with Tim and Missi and want to see you continue to grow and reach others. I believe he has big things in store for you in 2013 and I cannot wait to hear about them!"

WHAT?

I mean, WHAT?!?!?!?

About two weeks after the whole thing went down, she e-mailed me out of the blue and said that I'd been on her heart lately. She asked how she could pray. I told her the whole story about how hurt I was and how I was just feeling so attacked. (I was actually so brutally honest, that I almost regretted the word vomit-ing, haha. But, I also felt God was guiding me at the moment.) Anyway, yes, she knew about the $200 missing, but her husband knew nothing of the story.

HOW COOL IS GOD?

I am so pumped right now! Do you know what this means? It means there's once again a slight safety net...my savings account can grow! It means if something comes up, I don't have to call a church (or Mom and Dad, lol) to help out. I'm back up to $1450 a month! WOO HOO!

God is so good. I thank Him daily for the people He had put in my life. I thank Him for speaking to them. I thank THEM for listening.

My friend was right...2013 is going to be a HUGE year for me! I CANNOT WAIT to see what happens!

Love you all!

Peace Out, Home Fries!
Missy :o)

Like I would NOT post this now. Maybe God is pushing you to help the cause!

Trust In The Lord - Bible Study Lesson

A few weeks ago, I mentioned a small group lesson I was working on, but I never posted it. Here it is. It's written from a leader's perspective to be delivered to others, but you could still probably work through the whole thing yourself.

Opening Questions

·      Would you consider yourself a daredevil? Would you jump from an airplane? Bungee jump?

o   What if you were told beforehand that the cord was going to break? What if the dude running the thing said, “This is faulty, and it won’t work. You will plummet to your death.” Would you still do it?

·      In that situation, you would be desperate for the worker to tell you, right? You would want to know that it wasn’t gonna’ work.

What’s the point?

The point, ladies, is that our plans fail. Planning our lives the way we want is like saying, “Yes, I know the bungee cord is gonna’ break, but I’ll do it anyway.” That might be a little extreme, but do you get the point I’m trying to make? God’s plan for us will always, always, always come through.

Last week, when I asked, “Do you think God wants to help you, most of you said, “Yes, but…” or “Yes, however…” All of you say you believe God is for you, but you always have a rebuttal. Is it because He isn’t “for you” in your timing or in the way you want Him to be?

Truth is, God is for us. Period. No ifs ands or buts. God wants good for us.

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28

·      Do you believe this? Like, do you actually believer this?

Crazy Biblical example of how God will provide

READ Numbers 11:4-6

·      Back Story – This is after Moses led the Israelites lead then out of Egypt and parted the Red Sea. They are now in the dessert waiting for God to send them to the Promised Land. Remember, when they were in Egypt they were slaves. Yes, they had food, but they were slaves.

o   Are we desperate for the right thing? Is our perspective on track?

§  If I were just freed from years of slavery, I think food would be the last thing on my mind.

READ Numbers 11:10-15

·      Clearly, Moses was desperate here. He needed the Lord to help in in this situation. He was at his wits end with these crazy people.

o   Side note on why God was so angry – these people keep turning from Him.

READ Numbers 11:18-24

·      So, not only did God hear Moses, but also He promised Him even more than He needed.

·      Please note that Moses then rebutted God and basically asked How?

o   Did you ever think that God is answering your prayer, but because it’s not exactly how you wanted it, you aren’t seeing that He answered it?

·      Then, notice that Moses accepted it, then told his people.

o   Think about this…God just promised to send the people meat…in the middle of a desert. And, not just meat for one meal, but meat for a month. How the heck is he gonna’ do that?

§  Don’t you think that this was the hardest message/sermon/whatever that Moses had to give to these people? They would totally think he’s crazy.

o   He’s crazy. How would God do this?

Don’t get where I’m going with this? Hold on. Go with this flow, and let me show you how awesome God can be.

READ Numbers 11:30-35

·      The area the Israelites were in was about 50 miles inland from the Mediterranean Sea – 50 miles southwest of the Dead Sea. Significance? Quail tend to live by water and they don’t fly long distances. They would not have made it to the Israelites if it weren’t for a supernatural wind.

o   It’s literally as if the clouds burst open and began to rain quail.

·      When quail get tired, they dive-bomb. No, seriously, look it up. And, quail aren’t graceful like pretty geese. I picture the quail as dive-bombing from the sky like hail.

·      The verse says that in some places, quail was about three feet deep. So, listen to this

o   “Based on the Hebrew system of measurement, ‘a day’s walk’ was approximately fifteen miles in any direction. So if you square the radius and multiply by pi, we’re talking about an area that was almost 700 square miles. To put that into perspective, Washington, DC, is 68.3 square miles. Not only was this an area ten times larger than the nation’s capital, but the quail were piled three feet deep.” Circle Maker, pg. 53

o   It says that once it stopped falling, the Israelites started gathering and each of the 600,000 gathered no less than 10 homers. The math on that is 6 million homers at a minimum. With a homer equaling roughly 200 liters that’s somewhere in the neighborhood of 105 million quail.

o   God doesn’t provide in a dramatic fashion, he provides in dramatic proportion.

·      Do you think Moses felt foolish now? Do you think he could have anticipated the answer to this prayer?

Something to Think About

 This miracle has nothing to do with the Israelites – God was answering Moses’ prayer. The Israelites were complaining and going against God all the time. This miracle proves that God answers prayer. Not only did He free the Israelites from Egypt, but He then blessed them with things they didn’t even need, let alone ask for.

            “Do you think that I like to see wicked people die? says the Sovereign Lord. Of course not! I want them to turn from their wicked ways and live.  However, if righteous people turn from their righteous behavior and start doing sinful things and act like other sinners, should they be allowed to live? No, of course not! All their righteous acts will be forgotten, and they will die for their sins.” Ezekiel 18:23-24

Sometimes, we need to quit doing the arithmetic of the situation and just start believing that He’s going to do it.  When we pray, there are two things I think we face when we pray.

1.     We don’t really know what to pray for. We ask God for direction, we ask God for peace, we ask God for a soul mate.

a.     God doesn’t answer vague prayers. WHAT? Listen, sometimes we pray things so generically that we won’t even know it when He answers it!

b.     Could we be a little more specific? God, show me whether I should go to Grad school or not. God, give me options in the soul mate area?

c.     Start asking God as if you truly believe He’s gonna’ do it. Then, pray as if it’s in God’s control and work as if it’s in His. Get that? Pray so hard like God is gonna’ do it, but keep working as if you aren’t gonna’ get a thing.

2.     We stop praying right before He answers.

a.     We think it’s gonna’ happen one way, then we change our thinking. We get frustrated because it’s not in our timing.

b.     “I’ll put it in God’s hands, then I’m done.” Well, yes, that means you shouldn’t stress or have anxiety about it, but it doesn’t mean you can quit praying.

The bottom line I want you girls to see through this lesson is that you CAN and you SHOULD trust God. He is for you. He wants good things for you. He’s not gonna’ leave you wanting more…well, more of Him and His presence, but He’s not gonna’ leave you lacking.

Extra Encouragement

“Trust in the Lord and do good. Then you will live safely in the land and prosper. Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you your heart’s desires.” Psalm 37:3-4

·      trust – batach (verb) 1. to trust; to have confidence, be confident; to be bold; to be secure 2. To feel safe, be careless.

·      delight – ‘anag (verb) 1. To be soft, be delicate, be dainty. 2. To be of dainty habit, be pampered; to be happy about, take exquisite delight; to make merry over, make sport of.

·      desire – mish’alah (feminine noun) 1. Request, petition, desire

“I waited patiently for the Lord to help me, and he turned to me and heard my cry.” Psalm 40:1

·      wait – qavah (verb) 1. to wait, look for, hope, expect; to wait or look eagerly for; to lie in wait for; to wait for; linger for 2. to collect, bind together.

·      cry – shav’ah (feminine noun) 1. cry for help

“But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.” Isaiah 40:31

·      but those who trust – same word as qavah used above

·      will find new strength – chalaph (verb) 1. To pass on or away, pass by, go through, grow up, change, to go on from; to pass on quickly, to vanish, to come anew, to sprout again; to change, to substitute, alter, change for better, renew; to show newness

Challenge for Week/Conclusion of Lesson

·      What do you need from God? Share it with the group.

·      Memorize one or all of these verses so you remember that you can trust in God.

·      Daily pray for what it is you are asking God for. 

It's not personal...

I hate that phrase. I feel like every time someone uses that phrase they use it because they know that "it's" (whatever 'it' is) is personal.

Reminds me of You've Got Mail. There's an excellent scene where Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan are talking. Hanks' character just put Ryan's character out of business.

I love that. "What's so wrong with being personal?"

A few weeks ago a situation came up that I took very, very personally. Without going into details, a very large, very close supporter decided to drop me from monthly giving. I get it. Things happen, new bills come in, you "go a direction," whatever. It wasn't about the money. It was the fact that I was informed of this change in a note - a two sentence note that didn't even end in goodbye or God Bless.

I was hurt. I immediately called the parties involved to make sure I hadn't done something wrong. I wanted to make sure there wasn't something they disagreed with. It's been about three weeks, and no phone call back. I received a short text message that included the phrase "nothing personal." I also received a FB message that included the phrase "it wasn't personal."

That stung a little.

See, any time I use the phrase "nothing personal," I say it knowing that the other party is going to take it personal. It's usually something silly like, "That belt doesn't match those shoes." Or, "your 'famous' spaghetti was not good," haha. As well as I can remember, I've never used it in a way that would actually cause hurt feelings.

Now that I've been on the other side of it, now, that I've had to go through this "pain" of sorts, I will be very careful how I use that phrase. People may say I wear my heart on my sleeve (although, I usually don't), but this made me feel personally attacked. Like, someone had something against me. And, the fact that I still don't have 'real' answers, makes me feel that way even more. What did I do?

Missy, why are you sharing this?

Well, one, you guys (whoever you are) like to read about my life. Secondly, I think we need to learn to be more personal. Think of others. And, not just in giving, but in our actions. How will this make (insert other party's name here) feel?

I've been teaching a lot about selfless love this semester. I have the girls ask two questions. Does this spread love? No? Is this just mean? Yes? Then do I need to say it?

Sometimes we talk for the sake of talking - not caring who or what feelings are in our war path. I still struggle with this at times. There are a few people in my life who say what they want to say when they want to say it - even if it's hurtful or, well, rude. I struggle being around that. I struggle turning back into "The lesser version of the Missy I want to be" every time I hear how "hip-y" J-Lo is. Or, how "annoying" so and so is. I just feel like there is already so much negative crap in this world. Why should I contribute to it?

So, what do you think? I think the world needs a little less cynicism that drives us to being rude and down right mean We need a lot more love. What about you, personally? Are you spreading love? Are you taking the feelings of others into consideration? Or, are you throwing around the "nothing personals"?

Just something to think about, friends.

Peace Out, Home Fries
Missy :o)

In case you're interested. You can help fill that $200/month void here.