It has been a busy few weeks here at the Prebish household. As soon as school got out, my mom and I spent some time up at school because I had to move my classroom. I am so excited to say next year I will be moving down from teaching 3rd grade to 2nd. Although, I will be breaking the Prebish teacher tradition, I am very excited. Not only did I originally have my sights set on 2nd grade but I have enjoyed 3rd grade for the past 8 years and am excited for a new experience. I am thrilled to be working with a great team and have some new challenges other than our state test.
After that I got my bags packed and headed to Orange Beach with the youth group at our church. For those of you who saw my earlier post, thank you for your prayers. We all made it down AND back safely. We took about 180 people to the student life camp down there and had an amazing time. There was great work done in our students and leaders through our pastor (Chad the one who married us), the leaders, the speaker for the week and the band we worshiped with. Tonight is the first Wednesday night youth group we have since returning and I am excited to see how many students have made the decision for Christ and will be getting baptized tonight. We enjoy working with the students and leaders but we especially love to see people getting their life turned around and moving in the right direction.
School oh joyous school...on top of all of that, we have both been heads down in the books. We are both currently working on our respective masters programs and are projected to graduate next summer. This summer has presented some academic challenges for both of us. Jon's class load has been a little more tricky and mine has increased. We are both at the half way point and looking to keep ourselves going toward the finish line. I have finals next week and then will be done until the Fall semester starts in August. Jon will be done with his classes current July and will have a break through August. We are both ready to enjoy a little bit of summer and a more relaxed lifestyle, even if it is just for a few weeks. You never realize how precious your spare time is until you don't have much of it.
I know there were many pictures for this one, we are sure to have more to share after this weekend. We will be celebrating my 30th (eeekkkkk) birthday with many friends and family this weekend. I am excited to spend time with a great group of people who are all so important in our lives. I hope this finds everyone well and stay cool until next time.
-Courtney
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Thursday, June 16, 2011
LOL.
This post is more about the video than it is about what I say. Every quarter, I have to attend a “Safety” meeting at work. If you aren’t familiar with these, they can be a bit mind numbing. It is an hour long presentation of sorts on being aware of certain safety issues. The majority of the time it serves as a forum for the company to remind people of common sense. Unfortunately , common sense is not that common, so I can see why a large company would do this sort of thing. They usually go over things like, don’t try to replace an outlet if you haven’t turned the breaker off and you just washed your hands and forgot to dry them off. Russian Roulette is not a good strategy for long life span. You know, useful stuff. I exaggerate, but the point is that the most recent one came up, and mentally I was preparing for learning how to park a car or something. They did their normal thing but then showed a video at the end of the meeting on texting and driving. The video they showed is a little bit longer than I normally post on here, but I think is worth 10 minutes.
Needless to say, it caught my attention and reminded me of the accident Courtney and I saw a while back. I discussed that accident and its impact in the post “Every Time You Run”. I think from that video above you can draw your own conclusion on whether or not texting and driving is worth it. They went through some stats up there that texting and driving has been found to be the equivalent of driving with .08 blood alcohol content. They also mentioned that people talking and driving are 4 times more likely to get into an accident. Using Bluetooth is apparently no safer as it is the conversation itself that is distracting, not the location of your hands.
This post is simple.
Is it worth it?
Perhaps LOL should have a new meaning…Live Out Life…
Jon
Needless to say, it caught my attention and reminded me of the accident Courtney and I saw a while back. I discussed that accident and its impact in the post “Every Time You Run”. I think from that video above you can draw your own conclusion on whether or not texting and driving is worth it. They went through some stats up there that texting and driving has been found to be the equivalent of driving with .08 blood alcohol content. They also mentioned that people talking and driving are 4 times more likely to get into an accident. Using Bluetooth is apparently no safer as it is the conversation itself that is distracting, not the location of your hands.
This post is simple.
Is it worth it?
Perhaps LOL should have a new meaning…Live Out Life…
Jon
Sunday, June 12, 2011
I am not Religious
I’m not religious. You may find this statement to be strange if you have read my previous posts to this Blog. I’ve been asked on occasion if I was “religious”. I always hesitated, which probably conveyed a sense of doubt about any matters of Faith I might believe in. The truth is, I am very secure in my Faith. The Faith I speak of is simple. I am a believer in Jesus. I believe the resurrection is a historical event that can be defended on logic. I believe it is the final proof of Jesus’ divinity, and he is the only path by which you and I can find eternal salvation.
Wait, that sure sounded like a lot of religious stuff right there for someone who isn’t religious…
The word religion has been misused. You can refer to “The Christian Religion”. The problem is that the Christian religion includes, according to the government, Catholics, Mormons, and “born again” Christians all in the same category. If you compared these three, you would quickly discover they are different. Religion in the eyes of man is an organization or rules pertaining to a belief system created and run by men. Atheists today will point to the numerous atrocities, wars, and regional conflicts that have been done in the name of “religion” as proof that we don’t need religion. People who are confused about what religion is and isn’t, take these arguments against religion and stare blankly back with no counter argument and end up looking foolish, which further empowers the atheist to thinking they have won. This is a tragedy in my book. Atheists claim to be truth seekers. The reality is much darker, they are seekers of independence, specifically independence of God. Truth sometimes gets in the way of that, and debating an atheist can quickly devolve into emotional snipes on a personal level. But this is a topic for another time.
My Bible (NIV) mentions the word “religion” twice. That is it. Does that surprise you? In that same Bible, the word “Christian” is only mentioned once. For all I know, that one reference is a translation error and used only to allow it to register with a modern audience. So what does that tell me? The terms Religion, and Christian are creations of man in order to label people. The Bible is much more interested in other things. For example, around 30% of the Bible is prophecy. (if only Harold Camping read some of it…) It is easier for the world to view us as “Christians” or put us into “Religious” categories. Are you a Muslim, Jew, Morman, Catholic, Budaist, Atheist, Agnostic, Christian, etc. The God I know does not see us in categories except for one; believer or non-believer. So then what does the bible actually say about religion?
James 1:27 – Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
So am I religious? By that definition…no, I am not very religious, and I can only hope that one day I can change that answer. This is the only verse that defines religion in the eyes of God. One sentence, but what a difficult challenge it is!
I do not know if you share my beliefs or not, you may read a few paragraphs and roll your eyes and stop reading. If that is the case, there is probably very little that I can say to cause you to pause and think beyond your sphere of influence. The rest of this is not about trying to “convert” you, it is about humanity and getting over our internal selfishness. Earlier this year I was shown a series of videos that explained to me that Houston, my home, is the number one place in the US for Human trafficking and the sex trade. Houston. That was something I wasn’t truly prepared for. This wasn’t some 3rd world country, it was places I drove by oblivious for years.
Did you catch that?
25% of Sex Trafficking in the United States is in Houston. 50% of Sex Trafficking Victims are Children. Those children are predominantly orphans. They are orphaned either by their parents dying, or their parents selling them into this for money knowingly or for the promise of a better job in the US.
On occasion we might hear about human trafficking. Another video I saw, someone said, “I think that is when they try and sneak people across the border”. This isn’t illegal immigration we are talking about. It is slavery. In the Ukraine, if a female is an orphan and is not adopted there is an 80% chance that they will end up as a prostitute. If these things do not absolutely break your heart, I do not know if anything I say will.
I am not calling for everyone to adopt a child. For some this might be the option. What I hope, is that this brings a small bit of awareness to the world wide problem of orphans, human trafficking, and the sex trade. Get involved, support those in need, those who are less fortunate than yourself. I have not begun to speak about widows in this post, but with the number of wars we find our nation in, I would bet that the widow is a statistic that is much larger than we realize. Perhaps you know of one.
Religion isn’t a set of rules to follow and rituals to do in order to satisfy a supernatural being. Clinging to worldly things such as necklaces, bracelets, and rings are symbols. They can’t help cure anything. They don’t magically open a communication channel to God. It is clear what needs to be done, and it is a job so staggering that it is difficult to comprehend.
I know one thing, I have never met or heard of a family who has adopted a child who didn’t not find a great sense of blessing and joy come from that child, whether it is because they couldn’t have children of their own, or because they wanted to make the difference in one child’s life.
Hope is a universal thing. It crosses ethnicities, government borders, and systems of faith. It is something that we should all be able to get behind no matter what. The first step, is just being aware of the problem. I pray that this inadequate post only serves as a seed for you to discover more about what I am alluding to. I do not have the words to express how dire the situation really is.
I’m not a fan of what the world calls religion. According to the Bible, I’m not very religious. Maybe one day I will be able to say that I am doing what I can to “look after the orphans and widows in distress”. Maybe on that day…I will claim to be religious.
Jon
Wait, that sure sounded like a lot of religious stuff right there for someone who isn’t religious…
The word religion has been misused. You can refer to “The Christian Religion”. The problem is that the Christian religion includes, according to the government, Catholics, Mormons, and “born again” Christians all in the same category. If you compared these three, you would quickly discover they are different. Religion in the eyes of man is an organization or rules pertaining to a belief system created and run by men. Atheists today will point to the numerous atrocities, wars, and regional conflicts that have been done in the name of “religion” as proof that we don’t need religion. People who are confused about what religion is and isn’t, take these arguments against religion and stare blankly back with no counter argument and end up looking foolish, which further empowers the atheist to thinking they have won. This is a tragedy in my book. Atheists claim to be truth seekers. The reality is much darker, they are seekers of independence, specifically independence of God. Truth sometimes gets in the way of that, and debating an atheist can quickly devolve into emotional snipes on a personal level. But this is a topic for another time.
My Bible (NIV) mentions the word “religion” twice. That is it. Does that surprise you? In that same Bible, the word “Christian” is only mentioned once. For all I know, that one reference is a translation error and used only to allow it to register with a modern audience. So what does that tell me? The terms Religion, and Christian are creations of man in order to label people. The Bible is much more interested in other things. For example, around 30% of the Bible is prophecy. (if only Harold Camping read some of it…) It is easier for the world to view us as “Christians” or put us into “Religious” categories. Are you a Muslim, Jew, Morman, Catholic, Budaist, Atheist, Agnostic, Christian, etc. The God I know does not see us in categories except for one; believer or non-believer. So then what does the bible actually say about religion?
James 1:27 – Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
So am I religious? By that definition…no, I am not very religious, and I can only hope that one day I can change that answer. This is the only verse that defines religion in the eyes of God. One sentence, but what a difficult challenge it is!
I do not know if you share my beliefs or not, you may read a few paragraphs and roll your eyes and stop reading. If that is the case, there is probably very little that I can say to cause you to pause and think beyond your sphere of influence. The rest of this is not about trying to “convert” you, it is about humanity and getting over our internal selfishness. Earlier this year I was shown a series of videos that explained to me that Houston, my home, is the number one place in the US for Human trafficking and the sex trade. Houston. That was something I wasn’t truly prepared for. This wasn’t some 3rd world country, it was places I drove by oblivious for years.
Did you catch that?
25% of Sex Trafficking in the United States is in Houston. 50% of Sex Trafficking Victims are Children. Those children are predominantly orphans. They are orphaned either by their parents dying, or their parents selling them into this for money knowingly or for the promise of a better job in the US.
On occasion we might hear about human trafficking. Another video I saw, someone said, “I think that is when they try and sneak people across the border”. This isn’t illegal immigration we are talking about. It is slavery. In the Ukraine, if a female is an orphan and is not adopted there is an 80% chance that they will end up as a prostitute. If these things do not absolutely break your heart, I do not know if anything I say will.
I am not calling for everyone to adopt a child. For some this might be the option. What I hope, is that this brings a small bit of awareness to the world wide problem of orphans, human trafficking, and the sex trade. Get involved, support those in need, those who are less fortunate than yourself. I have not begun to speak about widows in this post, but with the number of wars we find our nation in, I would bet that the widow is a statistic that is much larger than we realize. Perhaps you know of one.
Religion isn’t a set of rules to follow and rituals to do in order to satisfy a supernatural being. Clinging to worldly things such as necklaces, bracelets, and rings are symbols. They can’t help cure anything. They don’t magically open a communication channel to God. It is clear what needs to be done, and it is a job so staggering that it is difficult to comprehend.
I know one thing, I have never met or heard of a family who has adopted a child who didn’t not find a great sense of blessing and joy come from that child, whether it is because they couldn’t have children of their own, or because they wanted to make the difference in one child’s life.
Hope is a universal thing. It crosses ethnicities, government borders, and systems of faith. It is something that we should all be able to get behind no matter what. The first step, is just being aware of the problem. I pray that this inadequate post only serves as a seed for you to discover more about what I am alluding to. I do not have the words to express how dire the situation really is.
I’m not a fan of what the world calls religion. According to the Bible, I’m not very religious. Maybe one day I will be able to say that I am doing what I can to “look after the orphans and widows in distress”. Maybe on that day…I will claim to be religious.
Jon
Friday, June 10, 2011
Headed to the beach
As many of you know, Jon and I have been working with the high school youth group for about a year and a half now. The high school students take a summer trip to Gulf Shores, Alabama for their summer camp. They go with the student life program and have so many wonderful opportunities. This year I will be going as a leader and unfortunately Jon has to stay home :(. Although I will miss him lots, I am looking forward to the things God will do in my life and the students' lives. This is always an amazing time for the kids to get unplugged from the world and tuned into what God is trying to tell them. I put this up and ask for your prayers this next week. Pray for the leaders as they face a variety of situations, give them guidance to help the lost youth and most of all to grow in their walk. Pray for the speakers and the band that they will be able to catch the attention of the students and share what God is saying. And most importantly, pray for the students that their lives will be changed.
We will be leaving early Sunday morning and driving most of the day. We will have 3 wonderfully packed days on the beach and then we head home on Thursday.
We will be leaving early Sunday morning and driving most of the day. We will have 3 wonderfully packed days on the beach and then we head home on Thursday.
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