NEXT-itude

Last weekend I attended the Next Conference put on by Sovereign Grace Ministries in Baltimore, Md. The conference used to be called New Attitude & sometimes I get confused about what to call it. Either way, it was as incredible as ever. The theme of the conference was Jesus. Well "duh!" you might say, it is a Christian conference after all. But let me explain, the first message by Josh Harris was on Christ's preeminence. Followed by DA Carson on Christ's incarnation, Kevin DeYoung on Christ's life, CJ Mahaney on Christ's death & 2 messages by Sinclair Ferguson on Christ's resurrection & return. (you can download all the messages for free from the website) It was such a refreshing time, which is what I was praying for. As I learn more and more about my Saviour, my love for Him continues to grow. I am so amazed at His complete power and sovereignty coupled with His love for me and willingness to become both fully God & fully man and suffer complete seperation from the Father on my behalf. One thing I am also more and more aware of is what it meant for Jesus the Son to be forsaken by God the Father. Jesus Christ had always known communion with the Father, even in His time on earth. He suffered seperation from the Father on my behalf when he was put to death on the Cross - that is the punishment that I should know, but because of His mercy, I to can experience communion with God the Father. And Praise be to God! not only did he die for my sin, but he conquered sin & death so that we can live in freedom & faithfully await His return.

One of the other things I love about this conference is spending time with people from my church as well as seeing friends from other churches aroud the country . I was really looking forward to spending time with some of the girls from bible study and the Lord was so kind to really grow our friendships during this trip. I feel so much closer to these lovely ladies and am so thankful that they are in my life.

Here's a few pictures from the trip....all 3 that i took...

Got a 'lil cap'n in ya?

I don't even know what's going on in this picture....

because its tradition, we took our self portrait...

SURPRISE!

On Thursday of this past week Michael surprised me when I came home from swim practice....
and I was almost a jerk about it.

We had planned to hang out on Thursday after I got done with practice. However, I wasn't expecting him to be over until about 7:30. I left the pool in enough time to get home & showered before he came over. While I was on my way home, I got text from Michael asking me when I would be home because "he got done with things early and was already over at the house." My internal reaction was "dang it! why don't you tell me when you are gonna change plans! I need to know these things in advance."

So when I got home, I yelled to Michael (he was in the back of the house), "I'll be down, I have to shower," and ran upstairs, showered, put on some sweats & a t-shirt....no make up....barely brushed my hair (he's lucky, I know). When I walked into the kitchen, I saw the following: Michael in the kitchen putting the finishing touches on parsley potatoes, steaks on the grill, a salad on the table on the back deck, candle lit & wine poured. Needless to say, I felt like a jerk for having a bad attitude in my head...and to add to it, Michael said he knew that would be my reaction. However, we had a LOVELY evening and I'm so appreciative that he put all the planning & effort into the evening....especially since he is notorious for not being the best cook. Dinner was delicious and the company was perfect.

I would love to put up some lovely pictures of Michael & me from our weekend (we went to the drive in movie theater in Belmont - I highly recommend it) but I'm an idiot & accidentally erased all my pics on my camera. So you'll just have to keep guessing what we look like as a couple ;)

Heartless

I'm a big American Idol fan. However, I was not so passionate about anyone in the top 3 until Tuesday night. I think all of them have great voices & are fun to listen to, but I was getting kind of bored with it all, until this happened.....

@ Yahoo! Video

Thank you Kris Allen for making me believe in you. You got all my votes on Tuesday night and now you are in the final two. One side note to all you ladies falling all over Adam & Kris and screaming like wild banshees for them: a. Kris is married, don't try to be a home wrecker (and his wife is beautiful, you don't stand a chance anyway); b. Adam is gay. You also don't have a chance with him.

Finally, I played Kris Allen's version of "Heartless" for my 1st period class, most of whom groaned and said it was not even close to Kanye's version of the song. At which point, I proceeded to school them and drop a little music knowledge on their hip hop infested brains. What they don't know, is that half of the hippity hop they listen to steals their hooks from classic & punk rock songs. Lil Wayne's newest song "Hot Revolver" samples Greenday's "Basketcase." For the love, Sean Kingston sampled Led Zeppelin's "D'yer Mak'er" (which really bothered me, by the way, b/c he ruined an incredible song). Now don't get me wrong, I love me some hip hop, but it is not the only genre of music, nor is it exclusive from other forms of music out there. Just recognize fool!

School's NOT Out For Summer

Contrary to my student's belief....school is not out for summer...unfortunately. Whenever I think of school being over for the year, the scene from "Grease" the movie pops into my head where all the kids are running out of the building and jumping down the stairs & the sun is shining so brightly....

As much as I love teaching, there comes a point in the year that it becomes hard to stay focused when the weather is so warm and all I want to do is grab a good book, a cold drink & sit by a body of water (pool, lake or ocean - ill take any of the three). So, I very much understand how my students feel right now, I can even sympathize with them. However, right now it's my job to motivate them. So, motivate I will....but first I have to find a way to motivate myself. After a wonderful Sunday afternoon at the church picnic with family and friends, I was not trying to come back to work today. But, I trust that the Lord will provide the motivation, patience & perseverance to finish out this school year.

34 DAYS AND COUNTING (down).....

Tyler Hansbrough Can Touch MC Hammer

It could be because I have a small obsession w/ Tyler Hansbrough & the Tar Heels....but I thought some of these were funny. For all you Tyler haters out there, you will think this one is funny at least: "Tyler Hansbrough once ate an entire bottle of sleeping pills. They made him blink. Once."

Tyler Hansbrough is Chuck Norris?

Nothing But the Blood

Today was a pretty tough day at school. I got a phone call from a coworker around 6:30 am telling me that a Ashbrook High School student was an innocent victim of a shooting on Thursday night. Keeaira Pendergrass was shot in the neck and killed when an argument broke out in her home in Gastonia. It goes without saying that the students took her death hard. She was well liked by students and teachers at AHS. I am told by other teachers that she had really turned her life around when she came to Ashbrook last year and had made an impact on a lot of people. Although I had never taught Keeaira, it breaks my heart to see someone lose their life at such a young age. It is also heartbreaking to see my students have to work through the anger, grief, confusion, & fear of losing a friend to such a violent & unnecessary crime. As Norkeithus simply said to me, "Man, Ms. Kleber, it really makes you think. I was just talking to her yesterday. Makes you really think about who you hang out with." I think what also makes it so hard to process & comprehend is knowing that this kind of violence happens all the time and in many cases, violence like this simply leads to more violence. The spirit of anger, hatred & revenge cause people to take matters in to their own hands, simply perpetuating the system. Violence begets violence.

I would be lying to say that I have some brilliant plan to end this cycle of violence, but as I turned to scripture to find some perspective, the Lord so kindly pointed me to Hebrews 12:22-24 "But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the sprits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel." Charles Spurgeon says of this passage, "The blood of Jesus is the life of all vital godliness...We are full of sin, but the Savior invites us to lift our eyes to Him, and as we gaze upon His streaming wounds, each drop of blood, as it fall, cries, "It is finished; I have made an end of sin; I have brought in everlasting righteousness." Spurgeon later says, "...only a current coming to Christ can give us joy & comfort." Here, in this passage, death is so clearly on display, but this death is unlike any other. The blood that was shed was more innocent than we will ever know. Here on the cross is the only man who lived a sinless life, the only life that did not deserve death, but yet Christ willingly gave up his life so that I can commune with my Father in heaven, bringing about joy & comfort. That is the only solution to ending violence & saving us from our sin...salvation in Christ that leads to sweet communion with our Heavenly Father. I think Matthew Henry's commentary gives even more insight, "This is speaking blood, and it speaks better things than that of Abel. First, it speaks to God on behalf of sinners; it pleads not for veangance, as the blood of Abel did on him who shed it, but for mercy. Secondly, to sinners, in the name of God, it speaks pardon to their sins, peace to their souls; and bespeaks their stricktest obedience and highest love and thankfulness." Here we see that Christ's blood did so much more than the shed blood of other men could ever do. The death of Christ was not for the sake of vengeance, but for the sake of MY salvation so that I may be pardoned & my soul may be at peace. I cannot "solve" the problem of death and violence by the worlds definition of problem solving. But I do know that my solution to the problem is the death of Christ on the cross, and His resurection from the grave. Just as Acts 2:24 says, "But God raised Him (Jesus) up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power." When we see the power of Jesus over sin & death, that is when true change happens, and that is when we are freed from the chains of this world.

Winding Down

Well, Ker-Joy and Shay-Ray are on their last leg of their Boston adventure; as I speak, Kendra is dutifly packing her suitcase, and I clearly am not. The last 2 days have been full of even more adventure. Yesterday we didn't leave the hotel until about 1:00 - much to the maid's confusion. We made our way over to Fenway Park to see the home of the Red Sox. There was a 1:30 game going on & it was a lot of fun to see the hustle & bustle of the park during the game. {however, I must say that I think Wriglyville in Chicago is even cooler than Fenway} Obviously since Kendra and I wanted to do FREE things in Boston, we did not have tickets to the game. Instead we found a bar right beside the ball park, had a few drinks & a massive plate of nachos, watched the game & chatted with some M.I.T students (one of whom is getting his masters in aerospace engineering - yes, he is a rocket scientist).

We then strolled on over to the public gardens because it turned out to be a beautiful day. It was so nice just to lay in the grass & soak up the warm sunlight. It was also fun to watch Kendra feed a 1/2 bag of pretzels to the ducks. That might have been one of the highlights of the day
Today Kenni got her hairs did. They look most excellent - but will not be unveiled until her return to Charlotte. Therefore, I will not be posting any pictures of said haircut. After the salon experience, we made our way back up to the North End. We had discovered North End on the first day in Boston & fell in love with it. It is very Italian & very awesome. We had lunch at Pizzaria Regina. The only thing this place serves is pizza. Literally. No sides, no pasta, no salad. Only pizza - and when you eat there you will see why. It would be a shame to even try to eat anything at this place that wasn't pizza. One of the best pies I have ever had.
Then we hit up our favorite bakery for one last savery taste of Mike's Pasteries - specifically the cannolis. I wish I could bring one home for everyone. You have not tasted cannoli until you have eaten one of these. I tried the chocolate mousse one today - it was so smooth and creamy & the cannoli shell was perfectly crunchy - seriously people, so good when it hits your lips.
We spent the rest of the day shopping on Newbury Street. It was a great combination of upscale shopping, vintage/second hand stores & stuff that I can afford. Kendra & I went a little bit crazy in the two story H&M - but can you blame us, we don't have one in Charlotte or anywhere in NC for that matter. We also found a vintage cowboy boot store - it was nice to see a little bit of the south in New England.

It feels like I have been in Boston for a very long time - and I mean that in a good way (although I am very much starting to miss my family & Michael). We have had the opportunity to do so much while we are here and I am so thankful for it! Three cheers for Baston, Mass....you were a most excellent host for 2 almost southern girls taking a spring vacation.