Funny Morning

I hate the first few hours of the school day. Mostly because I'm not a morning person. However, this year is different. I've never laughed this much this early in the morning.

I have 8th graders first hour. They walked in to see a long rehearsal order and new reed prices (a significant increase) posted on the board. Then I heard this from a GSM student,

Student: (quite loudly) Oh my Lord!
Miss Koutz: Uh, would you like to try that again?
Student: (same volume) Oh my Holy Spirit!

I couldn't hold back the laughter. I tried but it just didn't work. The entire class was full of funny comments. There is no way I could write them all down. Most of them include inside jokes for our class and if you aren't familiar with middle school students you wouldn't laugh anyway.

After class, I told two girls they needed to pick up the pace or they would be late. One of them thought I told her to pick up her pants. Her response:

Student: (Tries to pull up pants) I know I was already pulled over for them being too long.
Miss Koutz: Not pants, pace. You need to hurry up or you'll be late.
Student: Oh! I thought you were talking about my pants because I was pulled over this.....
Miss Koutz: What!? You really did just say pulled over!? Were you driving your car down the hallway?
Student: Yea I got a ticket too.

She really did explain her dress code violation as if a cop had pulled her over on the road. Then I met with my principal about some upcoming transitions and I'm pretty sure she cracked jokes about every Old Testament story there is including calling herself Abednego. We walked out of her office so hard people turned and walked the opposite direction rolling their eyes.

Okay so only about two of you really understand how funny those conversations are and why it is so funny to me I would dedicate an entire post to it. The rest of you will have to just deal with it because it is my blog. I sure hope the rest of the day goes this well. I'm teaching double duty this afternoon.

Living Examples of Jesus, Part 10

I love camp!!!! Over the last year or so I've had the chance to reconnect (Thank you facebook!) with some of the faculty members that allowed God to use them to impact my life when I was a camper. Their obedience to God literally shaped the rest of my journey. And yes I stole all of these pictures from facebook. Stop judging me!

TODAY'S LIVING EXAMPLES OF JESUS: Camp Faculty Members

Don Stowell (you should add a picture to facebook so I can steal it)
When I was in middle school I insisted on attending the 8th & 9th grade camp lead by Don. At first it was because it was closer to being high school week than the 7th & 8th week but after that it was because the week was so incredibly amazing! Every time you walked by Don at camp there was a high five or a hug followed by incredible words of encouragement. I imagine Jesus was much like that, encouraging the people he came in contact with. I remember one summer I was frustrated and didn't think there was really anything I could do well. I don't know if he had caught wind of this or not but one night he pulled me aside and listed the things I had done that week that had impacted someone else. He even gave me a nickname the reflected that. Reminds me of when Jesus gave Peter his name.

Tracy and Wendy Tooley
At one of those weeks of middle school camp, Tracy and Wendy Tooley were my family leaders. WOW!!! Talk about one incredible family group. I never thought I would meet people who were so passionate about Jesus and knew how to have a ton of fun. I remember family discussions about God's forgiveness and unfailing love. Every time we had verses ready to recite to them, Tracy will drill us with questions about the meaning of the passage. Tracy and Wendy understood the value of taking family time and pouring into a group of students. They shared so much wisdom with us and I tried to soak in as much as I could. I'm sure the conversations and silly things we did were much like the times Jesus sat around with his 12 disciples.


DJ Weiss
When I was a high school camper, DJ lead the high school week. I also considered him my adopted youth minister. We did a ton of things at our church when I was in high school but we didn't have an official youth minister. DJ followed up with how things were going through out the school year. He would invite me to come along on trips or join Bible studies with his youth group. More than anything he always challenged me to spend more time in the word. He would ask how things were going and then immediately ask how my time with God had been. It was that accountability that helped me develop the discipline to spend time studying and praying daily. He never judged me when I got lazy. He just always pointed me back to the Father, just like Jesus.

Matt Schantz
I first remember meeting Matt when my brother, Matthew started attending CMU where Matt is the campus minister. I remember tagging along with Matthew to hang out with friends from His House or sit in on a Bible study. Then I went to high school week and Matt was there. Matt is another one of those incredibly encouraging people. I'll never forget the summer I was the only girl who decided to play ultimate frisbee. After the game Matt pulled me aside and said, "You're a pretty good frisbee player. Don't let anyone else ever tell you you can't do something because you are a girl. You have special gifts. Use them." Over the next few summers at camp and the times I saw him during the school year he helped me discover some leadership skills I didn't know I had and taught me how to start embracing them as a gift from God. Kind of reminds me how Jesus pulled out the gifts in some crazy fishermen.

There are many more stories and many more people. Check out some of the previous posts in this series or stay tuned. There will me more to come!

Living Examples of Jesus, Part 9

I know I have been talking about adding to this list for months now but I'm actually going to do it this time. Thanks to a little encouragement from a friend to pick up the pace of my blogging. Look out ya'll!

TODAY'S LIVING EXAMPLE OF JESUS:
Tom and Jill Neyhart

(I stole this picture from Lowell Kosak, who should start a blog.)

There is no other way to put it. These two are simply amazing! I first met them at camp several years ago and I have been challenged by them every summer since then. How many people would drive several hours to come prayer over the college campuses in your town?!

Tom has encouraged me over and over again to keep pursuing the gifts God has given me. At times when I feel like I don't have what it takes he is quick to offer a word of encouragement and a swift kick in the rear end to get me moving again. Plus he is a Reds fan, which makes him even more amazing.

Jill is full of so much wisdom and faith. I've learned so much from watching her lead in her own unique way. She has taught me the value of knowing when it is time to be hands-on and when it is time to be hands-off. I'm always amazed at how well she does that too. She has taught me about the value of pouring yourself into others even if you don't understand the whole situation.

Over the last year or so God has really stretched Tom and Jill and their faithfulness through it all is a great testimony to God's faithfulness. I listen to their stories and am blown away. All God calls us to do is to be obedient and he'll take care of the rest. Tom and Jill are such incredible examples of that truth. I'm so grateful for them!

Thanks for showing me Jesus friends!!!


------------------------------------------------------------
Part 1: Jeffrey Myers
Part 2: Michael and Jeannette Cox
Part 3: Nellie "Granny" Hubbard
Part 4: Eric and Mary Christian
Part 5: Jason Miller
Part 6: Wally Lowman & DJ Olson
Part 7: Lois Koutz-Carver
Part 8: The Inner Circle

An "Only Sarah" Story

This evening I was sitting in my apartment rather bored. I thought I need to call Tia and hang out. So we make plans to head to her place and hang out. There were some other random people there and her dad build us a wonderful bonfire to sit and chat around.

We sat there for quite some time sharing stories about the different camps we had all been to and the things God did during those weeks. Around 11:30 or so Tia decides it is time for a good roof sitting party. I was a bit nervous when she told me I had to climb a TV antennae since I had just tripped on the gutter. I climbed up anyway. (Don't tell my ankle doctor!)

Three of us were on the house sitting when we noticed a call pull up. At first I thought they were going to ask for directions but the man gets out of the car. I realize pretty quickly it's a cop. Tia and her sister head over to talk with him and another friend informs the two of us on the roof we should get down.

I'm thinking, "Great, we are too loud and someone called the cops on us. Fantastic. Here I thought we were being pretty quiet. Well, except for when I tripped over the gutter." We get down only to hear the officer tell us we need to go inside and lock the doors. Evidently the video store behind the house was robbed at gun point and the man fled on foot by the house.

So we head inside and lock the door. But first Tia runs out the back door to find out what the screaming in the back ways. However, the cops shined her down with a flashlight and she took off running back in the house. Here we are chilling in the living room watching out the window when the cops come running by with dogs, which appeared to be following a scent they did not like.

We finally decided we should wake up Tia's parents in case the police wanted to ask questions or come inside. Good thing we did because not long after the police were at the door asking what we saw or heard. We weren't much help though. We watched them search the area some more. Tia got pretty angry when one of the dogs urinated on their mailbox. We probably should have found a safer place than by an uncovered window, but we were content.

Even after the police had cleared the area we said inside and let our imaginations run wild with what if's. What if we had gone to the roof about ten minutes earlier? Would we have seen the whole thing? What if our friend Sarah would have shown up ten minutes earlier to the house? Would he have run right by her? What if we would have gone to rent a movie like we talked about? What if the guy was under our cars? What if he would have stolen the cars? What if he would have demanded to hide in the house? Our imaginations soared and we laughed at the whole thing. All while being amazed at how timing is everything and God protected us.

These are the types of stories I love to tell when I go home because people can't believe it actually happens. These are the stories I tell and then are immediately asked if I ever get scared living and teaching in South Bend.

Truth be told I'm not scared. After all I am the one that ran out of my apartment to chase the two punks who were trying to break into my car. These things make for great stories and we'll share the memories for years to come. As my family would say, "Only you, Sarah. Only you."

Chicag09 Pictures

Here are some pictures from our trip. Even though we only had one camera we took a ton of pictures.



You can see Jeff's from day 1 before our equipment was stolen here.