The Sunsets on the ACT bathroom

Did anybody else see the Sunset last Tuesday (10/23/07)? It was amazing, I love God so much! Sunsets have got to be one of the main ways that I feel/see God's love. I guess it could be said that sunsets/sunrises are God's way of showing me how much he loves me! Man last Tuesday God was really trying to get His point across! I was awed by the sunset's glory and power. Every couple of minutes it would be a different color that illuminated the hemisphere! When the sun set farther, the crimson glow was so rich and dark, i have never seen such a sight (and I saw African sunsets).

Okay, okay, sorry, I will stop talking about the sunset (but it was raw and amazing)! Saturday was ACT day, I really do not know how I did, but i DO KNOW that GOD'S will was done and I have nothing to worry about. I will let ya all know my score in a few weeks, when I know. A side note that I do not recall telling anybody, but is applicable food for thought, The first time I took the ACT's I prayed that God would help me receive the score that would get me into the college he wanted me to go to. The 21 ruled out the University of Iowa, the college I really wanted to attend not only for their performing arts major (dancing) but also for their football team GO HAWKEYES, yet the 21 was score that helped get me into Bluffton University (a college that I was not even considering at that time). hmmm, funny how God works sometimes and we don't even realize it until we stop and take time to look back and reflect.

I painted my bathroom today! No more light blue paint with stick on fishey's. It is now purple with a light purple ceiling! Actually I think the color is Mikaela or something like that, whatever, I like it. I am not a fan of trimming, yuck, but I did not do too bad of a job. Tomorrow I will get a better look at how i did when their is light.

I think that was all i had to update....maybe not....even-so it is all that I remember right now. Sorry, about the randomness of this blog, just look at it as a nice variety. Where else will you read about Sunsets, ACTs, and Painting Bathrooms?

Smile Jesus loves you so very much,
~Brooke Anne Gugel

"Follow Me"

I am calling out for the power of prayer. This past summer (summer of 07) I worked at Camp Luz in Kidron, Ohio (3 hours from home). It was during this summer that i felt God calling me to major in Youth Ministry at Bluffton University. I have since applied and been accepted into Bluffton University. Here is the clincher, I need to receive a 23 on the ACT's this Saturday (October 27 8am-noon) to financially afford Bluffton (I received a 21 in April, the first time I took the ACT-a 36is a perfect score). Bluffton (a private Christian University) has a Scholarship equalization program that will give me $11,360 per year (for the 4 years of college), this scholarship makes Bluffton cost the same amount of money that the average state-funded university costs. I qualify for this scholarship in every way except for the ACT score (I am not a very good test taker even though I am a good student in High School). I have been praying a lot, if this is truly where God is calling me to go (as I believe it is), and what God is calling me to do,(as I believe it is) I have full faith that HE will help me receive AT LEAST a 23 (I am not going to put limits on God). Your prayers would be most appreciated throughout this week, and Saturday morning.

This ACT test is also my fleece. It is my final confirmation for college (as I have already had other signs) or my sign to take a huge step back and re-evaluate what God is calling me to do (if the 23 is not received). I know that I cannot receive a 23 without God's divine intervention.



God is in control. I have put all of my faith in him. Today Wendell Nofziger (my youth pastor) gave the sermon (wanna hear it? mp3). It was entitled "Follow me" it gave six points of what it means to follow Jesus (not all of the ways); his sermon spoke right to me and encouraged me in my way (especially this week) it encouraged me-- let me know that I am doing the right thing.
1) We TRUST Jesus. "Trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not on your own understanding." Proverbs 3:5
-- Hey, I am trusting God fully, and I know that my own understanding will not get me far enough on the ACT's.

2) We don't KNOW all the DETAILS ahead of time.
-- Nope, it is true I don't, but I trust God, and Follow him anyways. He knows best --not me!

3) We will do things that are BEYOND our own ABILITIES. "A God-sized assignment is one that you cannot do on your own. If God doesn't help you, you will fail." - Henry Blackaby
-- Timed tests --like the ACT's-- are not my forte, I WILL FAIL WITHOUT GOD'S HELP.

4) It will require FAITH. "Without faith, it is impossible to please God." Hebrews 11:6
--ain't that the truth, i want to please God and I feel that Youth Ministry is where He wants me, so I am stepping out in faith with the ACT. But I also trust that if God doesn't help me receive the 23, he will still be helping me, and be with me, during the test. --he doesn't leave or forsake us, ya know, it says so all over the bible: Deuteronomy 31:6,Deuteronomy 31:8, Joshua 1:5, 1 Kings 8:57-- and so if he doesn't help me receive at least a 23 He will show me what he wants me to do and where he wants me to go, re-direct me in a different way down a different path, or the same path just a different route that i can't see.

5) Jesus will be our MODEL. The wrong question "what can I do for God?" a better question: "God, where can i join you in your work?" It says in John 5:17, 19-20 "Jesus said to them, 'My father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working. I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. Yes, to your amazement he will show him even greater things than these.'"
-- I really desire to fit into God's will, and that is one reason for ACT fleece. If I am right on track with God's plan, he will provide at least a 23 on the ACT's (or the money some other way, that I cannot see), if I am not seeing God's will, He will not help me achieve at least a 23 on the ACT's. I believe that Youth Ministry is where God wants me to join him in his work, I truly enjoy working with teenagers!

6) Following Jesus means we will respond, "Yes, Lord." Luke 6:46 "Why do you call me 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what say?" Wendell says " If we say 'No, Lord, I can't possibly do that' then you're saying much more about what you believe about God than what you believe about yourself!"

--I am trying to do what God says, but I know that I cannot do it on my own. I cannot achieve a 23, but God can work through me and achieve so much more than a 23.

I think i mentioned is above but just in case the sermon notes were taken from Wendell Nofziger's super sweet sermon, that pushed me to sacrifice the ACT's even further, with even more faith, and hope. Romans 5: 3b-5 says "...but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us..." --I may not be suffering, but I am sacrificing pushing, stretching, and growing in faith.

His sermon is not the only place I got this message today, The VeggieTales my mom wanted to watch (Mo and the Big Exit) is a take from Moses and his faith in God to deliver the people--Moses could not deliver them by himself. In the Sunday School class that I taught today (by the by, that went very well, but that could be another blog) we discussed Leah and how she trusted God to fill her need to be loved, Jacob, her husband, did not fill this need, it says in Genesis 29:31 "...the Lord saw that Leah was not loved..." Leah was blessed with four sons and she gave God the glory for this, she loved and worshiped God "...Because the Lord heard that I am not loved, he gave me this one too..." (Genesis 29:33b), she is referring to the birth of Simeon, her second son. Leah could not be happy, loved, without God--without faith and dependency on God, life just seems impossible.

God is simply wanting me to experience some divine intervention! hey, I am game for that, sounds like a roller-coaster that has not chance of making me second guess the decision, no long lasting consequences; in the end God wins! woo-hoo! I say after this ACT/finance thing-a-ma-jig their will be an Ice-cream party to celebrate how great God is....no matter what the outcome!

okay, I am done, I hope that is all makes sense to you, it does to me, but i wrote it...

Faithfully striving to follow God and do HIS will
-Brooke

Homecoming

Homecoming was last night, the theme was the Wizard of Oz', it was Loads o' fun!
I took three gorgeous girls (Nicole, Jamie, and Sarah) in my amazing Honda civic (stick shift, of course) to Applebee's. After we ate we went to Meijer's because Jamie's camera needed AA batteries. I bought my dates a bouquet of daisy, they each picked a color from the bouquet and were thrilled! (I had yellow left over, which was perfect because my mom loves, daisies! Hope you like your flowers mom!)

We still had a whole bunch of time left and so Sarah suggested that we go and meet her aunt and uncle, who lived nearby, her aunt and cousin were super psyched and took a crumb load of pictures and promised to text me the score of the Indians game so that I would not be uninformed.

We got to homecoming around 8:30, which in my opinion was perfect timing (if you get there when homecoming dance starts, nobody is there and it is lame until more people arrive). Most of the music was rap (sad day, most of us cannot dance to rap, but that doesn't stop us), but they did play some good tunes.

Evan had a glass of water of the dance floor (not quite sure why, oh well) and Samantha smacked it and knocked it all over. I got pretty wet, and I wasn't even dancing in their group. Evan apologized and explained what happened, but Sam just kinda walked away. I am not sure if she did it on purpose or not, but oh well, I got over it and dried while dancing with my buddies!

Dance ended at 11pm; Jamie's mom picked up her and Sarah, so Nicole and I headed homeward jamming to Family Force Five! We decided that Family Force Five would be sweet to dance to at homecoming, and would promote more pg rated dancing! (Nicole and I are not fans of the whole "sex with clothes on" dancing style that is "in")

Comfort Zone alert

I spent most of this past weekend writing a persuasive speech entitled "Beautiful Body" (posted yesterday) it deals with the media and how it's double message of eating a butt-load of food and being really-super thin is bogus and we should be happy with our healthy bodies just the way they are. It was really interesting to research; I learned a great deal about eating disorders and also gathered a lot of stats that were shocking and some depressing.

Life, outside of my speech, has really picked up। I am singing up front with the MYF band on Wednesday evenings. This is WAY outside of my comfort zone as I have never thought that I had a good singing voice, sure I have been in musicals, but only as nameless characters with NO big singing parts (only nice a sized chorale and the whole cast). But the youth group girls all agreed that our band of guys needed female singers to help lead worship and silly me told my friend that is she went up there I would sing with her…after MYF she was pulled up on stage and she forced me to fulfill my promise. I am looking at it now as need to step outside of my comfort zone to keep from getting too comfy in life.

Saturday I received a phone call asking me to head Kid Connection for the 3rd-8th graders (A huge age gap in my opinion) in November at my church. Basically The Sunday school classes gather in one room and have their bible story presented to them in drama, or some other interesting manner. The high school Sunday class was asked to take over November and my peers all told Deb that she should call me. It is a big task, and I do not have the information yet, I should get it Wednesday at MYF.

I was asked Sunday to teach my Sunday school class in a few weeks, the twist, I am the youngest in this class by far (next person is 35ish and then probably 75 and up) and I have only been attending the Sunday school class for a few weeks, they are all very excited to have me teach their class, and I am thinking what do I have to teach these people? They have been through so much more than I have...


I also was asked by the leader of SADD to talk at our school assembly Wednesday about something to do with a banner that people can write the names of people who have died in car accidents on, but I do not know exactly what he wants me to say… my story?? Hmmm…. I’ll have to let you know later what I am wanted to do I guess.

All of this has come to me within a few weeks…. I am not sure what to think of it. Singing in the youth group band, leadership roles in the church and public speaking in front of my high school, they are all new things for me… is this God working? Or am I just being stupid by saying yes and agreeing to go through with these new events?
Hey, I am just a kid trying to figure life out…maybe I am wrong, but I suppose that I will learn from my mistakes if I am……….

Beautiful Body

Eat, eat, eat and be extremely thin; this hypocritical message is flaunted by the media. We should ignore this contradicting message that is destroying so many lives and be happy with our own body image. The extremely thin look that is plastered all over the media is causing discontentment with body image in millions of Americans with some cases becoming so great that they lead to eating disorders. It is important to eat three balanced meals a day, with a few light healthy snacks to keep the body healthy and strong.Tall and thin has not always been the “in” image. In the middle ages large people were accepted and looked up to as their great size was a sign of wealth, they could afford a lot of food. But as time went on this view changed steel corsets were used in the seventeenth century to keep women’s bodies small and thin. As newspapers and magazines become increasingly popular and people moved into cities and towns, the thin image was pushed as the attractive and acceptable body.Since this time the Western media has taken the tall and thin image and ran with it. Television and magazines are covered with tall, very thin oval faces. According to Eating Disorders, a recent book by Ruth Bjorklund, the average female model is 5 foot 11 inches tall with a weight less than 120 pounds. For someone who is that tall 120 pounds is underweight and unhealthy they should weigh at least fifteen pounds more. It also sends the negative message “you are not good enough” to the average american woman who is only 5’4” and who weighs 140 pounds, a healthy weight. Still magazines covers are coated with new, amazing, and fast acting weight loss programs. By age 13 fifty-three percent of american girls are dissatisfied with their bodies, this percentage increases to seventy-eight percent when American girls reach the age of seventeen. Most men in the media are tall, extremely strong, and overly muscular; this is not reality as the majority of men do not have this body type.Half of the commercials aimed towards males involve men being aggressive, according to media family, while half of the commercials geared towards females involve being physically attractive. The average child views ten-thousand food commercials per-year, yet only two percent of these commercials encourage fruits, vegetables, or beans. In one year Pepsi spends 2.1 billion dollars on advertising, says the department of Washington, and McDonald’s spends 1.2 billion dollars on advertising. No wonder people are torn between being super thin or buff and eating a lot of unhealthy food.Healthy eating is essential to a person as it is a source of energy and health. Ruth Bjorklund’s book, Eating Disorders, reminds us that nutritious foods help our bodies fight disease, grow, make energy, think clearly, and balance moods. On average the teenage girl needs 2,000 calories a day and the teenage boy needs between 2,500 and 3,000 calories a day. The number of calories needed is higher for those who exercise more than half and hour a day (mypyramid.gov). Remember portions are important; the body needs protein to build and mend muscle, vitamins to stay healthy, carbohydrates to fuel the body, and fats to keep the skin moist.The struggle to fit into the media’s depiction of “normal” and “attractive” has caused millions to turn to eating disorders for help. One million males and seven million females in the United Sates have an eating disorder; sadly an additional fifteen percent of the population has unhealthy eating habits according to Bjorklund. Anorexia Nervosa means the loss of appetite because of nervousness; even though, those with anorexia actually ignore their appetites rather than lose their appetites. People with anorexia are terrified to gain weight and so they do not eat, or they eat extremely little. It is important to remember that during puberty, a time when most eating disorders form, it is common and healthy to gain around forty pounds (Eating Disorders). Bulimia Nervosa is the eating disorder in which a person overeats a lot and then purges, commonly by vomiting, using laxatives, or diet pills, to rid their bodies of the food. This eating disorder is not usually a successful weight loss as more food is consumed than it is possible to purge. Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa, along with other eating disorders such as anorexia athletia, night eating disorder, Binge- Eating disorder, Prader-Willi Syndrome, and Pica are all extremely dangerous and have caused the death of many people. Karen Carpenter was a famous pop star of the eighties; she died after eight years of being secretly anorexic. She is quoted in Eating Disorders, “It was just a few innocent comments about my weight and body that stung like a bee.” Negative comments geared toward the physical body is only one of the many reasons people turn to eating disorders other reasons include low self-esteem, lack of support, trauma, relationship stress, and the want to “fit in” and be popular; there are other ways to cope with these issues such as talking to a trusted and caring adult who can provide guidance and support.Now is the time to take a stand against the two-faced message that is ruining so many lives and find satisfaction in the attractive healthy body. The media may send out a message calling people to eat large amounts of food and still be super-thin; however, this message is unrealistic and misguiding. Millions have become so dissatisfied with their body image that they have turned to eating disorders to fit into the idealistic world created by the media. There is a better solution, eat healthy, and be content with the beautiful, strong, and healthy body you already have.

THE SUPER AMAZING AND EXCITING WORKS CITED!

Works Cited

Bjorklund, Ruth. Eating Disorders. New York: Marshall Cavendish Corporation, 2006.
“Media Wise.” National Institute on Media and the Family. 6 Sept 2002. 6 Oct, 2006. .
“National Eating Disorders Association.” National Eating Disorders Association. 2002. 6 Oct 2007. .
“Teen Health and the Media.” Body image and Nutrition. 6 October 2007. .
“United Sates Deparment of Agriculture.” “mypyramid.gov.” 6 Oct, 2007 .
“Weight-control Information Network.” Weight-Control Information Network. 2004. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. 6 Oct 2007 .