My peach colored hands, that hold this pen

Your loving hands, that hold the world

My blue eyes, that see imperfection

Your all seeing eyes, see potential in all

My heart, that longs to beat for you yet clings to things of this world

Your heart, has all of the world, but your jealous and crazy about me

My hands, that, can help or can hurt

Your hands, formed me; every fingertip and crease

You said, "I am created, fearfully and wonderfully"

Yet you, never created, but always was,

are more fearful and wonderful than anything that could every exist

You made me who I am,

You know my name,

You call me your child,

And do I bother to ask why you even know the number of hairs on my head?

Your son died for me

Was whipped, beaten, and hung

on a cross.

Just so that the mistakes I've made can be erased and wiped clean

Why?

Because you're God.

Because you choose:

To love me.

To love you.

To love us.

Crazy Love

I'm reading the book, Crazy Love, by Francis Chan. It is such an amazing and influential book even though I'm only 60 pages into it. Today, as I was reading this book it talked about a girl named Brooke. I wanted to share with you the essay she wrote when she was 12 and about what Chan wrote about her from the book.

“Since I Have My Life Before Me”
By Brooke Bronkowski

I’ll live my life to the fullest. I’ll be happy. I’ll brighten up. I will be more joyful than I have ever been. I will be kind to others. I will loosen up. I will tell others about Christ. I will go on adventures and change the world. I will be bold and not change who I really am. I will have no troubles but instead help others with their troubles.

You see, I’ll be one of those people who live to be history makers at a young age. Oh, I’ll have moments, good and bad, but I’ll wipe away the bad and only remember the good. In fact that’s all I remember, just good moments, nothing in between, just living my life to the fullest. I’ll be one of those people who go somewhere with a mission, an awesome plan, a world-changing plan, and nothing will hold me back. I’ll set an example for others, I will pray for direction.

I have my life before me. I will give others the joy I have and God will give me more joy. I will do everything God tells me to do. I will follow the footsteps of God. I will do my best!!!

Brooke Bronkowski was a beautiful fourteen-year-old girl who was in love with Jesus. When she was in junior high she started a Bible study on her campus. She spent her babysitting money on Bibles so she could give them to her unsaved friends. Youth pastors who heard about this bought her boxes of Bibles to give away. During her freshman year in high school, Brooke was in a car accident while driving to the movies. Her life on earth ended when she was just fourteen, but her impact didn’t. Nearly fifteen hundred people attended Brooke’s memorial service. People from her public high school read poems she had written about her love for God. Everyone spoke of her example and joy. I shared the gospel and invited those who wanted to know Jesus to come up and give their lives to Him. There must have been at least two hundred students on their knees at the front of the church praying for salvation. Ushers gave a Bible to each one of them. They were Bibles that Brooke had kept in her garage, hoping to give out to all of her unsaved friends. In one day, Brooke led more people to the Lord than most ever will. In her brief fourteen years on earth, Brooke was faithful to Christ. Her life was not wasted. The words from her essay seem prophetic: “You see, I’ll be one of those people who live to be history makers at a young age.” Sadly, many people die while living selfishly…. The truth is, some people waste their lives…. I think it’s easy to hear a story like Brooke’s and just move on, without acknowledging that it could just as easily be you or me or my wife or your brother whose life ends suddenly. You could be the next person in your family to die. I could be the next person at my church to die. We have to realize it. We have to believe it enough that it changes how we live. A friend of mine has a particularly wise perspective on this subject. He was asked if he weren’t spending too much of his time serving and giving too much away. His gentle but honest response was, “I wonder if you’ll say that after we’re dead.”

I know lots of old people or at least lots of people older then me, alive. People say they will go to college, get a good job, marry a wonderful spouse, have lots of kids, make lots of money, grow old, and to simply live a great life.

Is that really how it works? Not in reality.

I may sound like a downer but you just have to know that tomorrow isn't granted. The interactions that you have with the people around you may be the last you could have with them in your lifetime, is the truth. What if we stopped concentrating on what time we needed to be someplace and when the next event is on the schedule? Instead we started to slow down the pace of life to make conversations, friends, and to share the love of Jesus Christ? If we stopped grumbling about how long the line is at Starbucks or how dumb school is but enjoyed the moment and lived it to be the best that it could possible be. To stop living a selfish life and to become selfless. To not look at our interests all the times but take interest in others. To loose our identity, our hopes, our dreams but instead to find them in God.

I don't know...it's just an idea.

Butterflies have Wings Too

Blue Skies and Summer Breezes

What is one thing your grateful for today?

That's one of my favorite questions to ask myself. Everyday could be different answer but everyday could be the same. I feel like we don't take enough time to pause in the middle of our days, let alone think of something we appreciate.

Yesterday, I spent the day out in St.Paul at a friend's house. We had fun touring the neighborhoods, driving around, and gawking at the houses on Summit Ave. We went downtown and bought fresh food from the farmers market and brought it back to her vintage decorated house to prepare a meal for us to sit down around a table and eat. We all come from different backgrounds of families. One left his parents. Another has parents but they don't play the role of parent. One has a mom and dad who loves and cares and another has the same just it's her moms who raise her without any dad.

We sat sipping our soup and forking our salads, as a cool summer breeze blows though the kitchen. We made small talk about the weather and how everyone's weekend was until I asked, when the awkward silence began, "What is one thing your grateful for today?"

To not make it anymore uncomfortable for people I told them that I would start first. I shared how much I was enjoying the cool weather and how it's nice not to have it so hot for a change. The next person who went was thankful for the food we made and how delicious it was. Another person was thankful for the friendships that she had and the fact that she can bring friends from different parts of her life together. After mentioning our gratitudes there was almost a peace of contentment surrounding our table. Like a sudden thought of, hey, maybe life isn't that bad.

I guess the moral of the story is to be thankful for what you have. So, what are you grateful for? I'll give you a few examples, here are seven things I'm grateful for about my summer.

1. My Niece- She brings so much joy to our family not to mention a lot of excitement and random-dance-parties-of-entertainment.

2. Classic Disney Movies- Great memories, good time with friends, and the movies, they just never get old.

3. Kids- They're beautiful, so innocent {sometimes}, and make the best comedians.

4. Wonderful, real, genuine friends-There are only so many "real" people you can find in this world. I'm glad I found most of them.
(P.S. I apologize if you didn't make it in this picture BUT you were obviously thought about as being placed in the blog under most Spoko Amigos)

5. Blue Skies and Crisp Breezes-Lovely, need I say more.

6. My Trip to Poland-May it never be forgotten.

7. And Last but not least, I'm thankful for Ice Cream - yum.

July 31st, 2011-The Story of My Summer

Minnesota. A sweltering hot, tropical 98 degree Fahrenheit day. In Warsaw right now, I bet the weather would be about 17 degrees Celsius. I miss the cold.

The weather isn't the only thing I'm having a hard time adjusting to. Day three of being back, that would be last Friday, was probably one of my hardest days. Life here in america is so different. So not Polish. All the things I was complaining about when I first was in Poland I now miss. I hated it, at first, how unstructured things were. How I didn't know what I was doing until the day of or maybe even a half hour before. Back home, I have all of this week planed already and I didn't even really plan it. Tuesday I have cross country in the morning then I'm going to Maya's house and hanging out with friends. Wednesday night I'm running with the Augsburg cross country team. Thursday I have cross country with Washburn. Friday I'm going to grandpa and grandma Olson then I get back on Sunday night and I help with my churches VBS.

The first day I was at camp for breakfast I found it very disappointing that there was no fruit. All breads. All carbs. All day. I miss that too. I love having fruits and veggies again, in fact that's basically all I've eaten the past week I've been back. This evening I sent my dad to go buy tomatoes, cucumbers, and hard bread so I could make an open-faced sandwich for dinner with a cup of tea.

I eat like a European now. I eat almost everything now not with just a fork but with a knife and fork. I even ate Ice Cream Cake like that without even thinking twice what I was doing.

Above all the quirky things that I miss about Poland, what i miss the most is all the relationships, bonds, and friendships I had with the people there.

Earlier today I was reading a combination of my journal, blog post, and prayer entries and began putting them inorder of when I wrote them. Reading over the summary of my trip though my writing really showed me how God worked during my trip.

The first week through the middle of the second week I truly felt like I didn't belong in Poland. I though, ya, this is a good trip and maybe God will show me something but I don't think Poland is the place for me. Good experience for Morgan. I also felt like I shouldn't have even come. I felt bad for raising so much money because the things I was doing at Zako I could have done at any other camp in american. At least then I would have been able to talk to the kids and they would have been able to understand me.

But God said, Morgan, be still, and know I am God. (Psalms 46:10)

He knew what he was doing and knew that I felt like. He knew that I would do anything for him but what I didn't know is what he had planned.

I feel like the first talent show is where I could really see him use me. I did a interpretive worship dance to the song that my friend wrote. God used my talent of dance and the following week I taught dance everyday to a group of girls at the camp.
That same week I fell in love with Jesus, again. You know the song by Bruno Mars, "I would catch a grenade for you, throw my hands on the blade for you, I'd jump in front of a train for you, you know I'd do anything for you..." That song came to mind that night. The theme of the message was, "People do crazy things when they're in love" and to realize that Jesus loves me more than Bruno Mars could love any other chick or any other person could love me is pretty outstanding.

That same week there was a girl, nine years old, who refused to eat her food because she thought it would make her fat. My friend Jenna and I tried to talk to her but she didn't speak much english. So Jenna got up and out of all the other people in the room got Estera. Estera talked to the little girl, scared her by telling her how she doesn't want to be really thin. Told her that she would lose her hair and be really cold all the time and have bad finger nails. I thanked Estera and ended up talking to her later about her story, and I shared mine. We both cried.

The following Tuesday, we lead a walk to a field where Estera and I and an unexpectedly high number of kids joined us to hear about our battle with eating disorders. Thirty kids came out to the field that day and we told them if they needed anyone to talk to they could talk to us. We had a follow up with four girls.

God showed me how if I didn't go to Poland I wouldn't have been able to meet with the people that I met that week. He showed me how he used the relationships I had with people that week to transform other people's lives and help break down walls people had created in their lives.

The most significant things I think that God showed me during my time in Poland was 1. Actions speak louder than words-During the first two weeks, when the kids didn't speak much english I really learned how to be there for people with out feeling like I need to give advice say anything. Instead he showed me how to love people through teaching dance and smiling and through being Christ-like example to others. 2. How important relationships are. Most of the time when we think if mission trips we think of serves and how we are going to go someplace and do all these good things for people. I feel like this mission trip ministered to me as much as I ministered to other people. I can't emphasize enough how much I am changed by hearing the testimonies of other people on this trip and how important it was that God brought together all the friendships that I have Poland.

Leaving Poland was hard but being back in the U.S. is harder. As I said before, I miss Poland so much. I went to a Polish Festival yesterday with my dad. It was behind this house that was owned by the Catholic church across the street. It was small but being there I felt at home with the Polish language being spoken and the food that reminded me of the campfire at Zako. I didn't know any of the people there but when I started to talk to some of them I felt like they were my long lost family members.

Maybe I'm getting ahead of myself, I mean I've only been back for a week. But the warm fuzzy feeling I have for Poland now, I hope it doesn't leave. Who knows, maybe God wants me there. It's amazing how He works. A little country. A difficult language. I felt like I didn't belong and now I can't stand to be away.

Philippians 1:6-"And I am certain that God who began the good work within you will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns."