I Left My Heart in New York City

New York flew by so fast! I feel like I blinked and we were back! Well here's a recap for you all with photos included. Enjoy!

Started off the trip by watching the team leave a day before me as I stood in a wedding.

Monica and I stayed behind and made sure Laurie was all good and married and then we peaced out and hopped on a plane to New York to meet up with the team.

We were pretty excited when we got there.

This was the view from our hotel.

The first morning we got to go check out Hillsong NYC for a Sunday service. It was pretty legit.

Hillsong NYC meets in theaters and while one service is going people line up outside the door and wrap around the building to wait to get in the next service.

Then we spent the rest of that day and the next day checking out New York and shopping.

I found the biggest Barnes and Noble I've ever seen in my life. 4 Storys!

 Of course we hit up Times Square

It was pretty crazy how many people were there just hanging out.

The next day we hopped on a ferry to go see Lady Liberty and visit Ellis Island. (you can't take knives or tasers on those btw in case you were wondering)

It was funny to see all the things in New York that you see in movies and feel like you're reliving hundreds of movies. They're really there!

We went to the 9/11 Memorial. (Which you also cannot take knives or tasers in btw)

They have these big pools where the twin towers used to be and the names of the people that died are engraved on the outside of them.

The new buildings they're building to replace them are going to be pretty aweseome

One of the most awesome things about this trip was getting to see my long lost friend Jil Smith. We have known each other since we were probably 6 years old. Our parents have been best friends since then and used to lead worship together at our church. I go waaaaaaay back with this girl and hadn't seen her since I graduated highschool with her 4 years ago. She's in New York interning with a fashion designer and doing awesome things with her life. I was so encouraged after getting to talk to her for even just the hour and half that we did.

After 2 full days of sight seeing and shopping I was very ready to get to work. We got to Metro and got settled in and everything and then they took us out on a prayer walk on the Brooklyn Bridge. It was really cool. The city is so pretty at night.

The next day we hit the ground running. We, along with a couple other teams that were there to work with Metro too, toured the facility that Metro has and heard all about what they do and then it was time to go out and invite people to the carnival we would have the next day. We walked up and down streets going door to door and talking to people, inviting them to the carnival. It was really cool to see the reputation that Metro has there with all the people that recognized the ministry by the tshirts we wore and would yell down the street "Yogi bear Sunday school! I went to that when I was a kid!"

One night we had a change of plan and decided to have our own church service. I got to lead worship. My fav:)

The carnival was a huge success.

 I taught the kids how to play Ninja.

We had a pretty great team.

We also got to do some street evangelism that was very cool. It was incredibly intimidating at first but got to have some really cool conversations.

By far the best part of this trip for me was getting to meet and hang out with some of the staff at Metro. They are incredible women and God is using them in incredible ways. I was so blessed to get to know them and I can't wait to see them again.

I've never been very sad to leave when a missions trip is over. Not that I'm sick of being there but usually by the end of a trip I'm ready to go home.

I was not ready to go home this time. I would have totally stayed if I could have. But goodbyes had to be said and we had to leave so we got in our 15 passenger vans and started the long trek back to Arkansas.

I got to drive one of the vans for some of the trip back. I was so excited. We made it back to Arkansas safe and sound, but I think I left my heart in New York City.

Trucks and Fences and Pianos, Oh My!

Wow! What a week it has been! 

First of all, I've been getting to drive this baby all week! I told Grandpa that he might not get his truck back after this.

Uncle Steve and his crew came in town for the weekend. I helped him build Grandma a fence. It went something like this:

And just like that it was done! (lots of sweat, a day and a half, and a couple of sunburns later) 


In honor of extra family being in town we had a cookout and then us girls played cards. Gotta get some practice in for the reunion! Danielle and I will dominate. 

Sunday we had church in the living room. My family is full of preachers.

After church I took a trip to Starkville to spend some quality time with my good friends Danielle, Ben, Jerry, and Shrek and enjoyed my first mountain dew in a month!

And then it was time to get back to work. 
 

I took all the keys off all the pianos and knocked the lead out of each one and took the pin out. 

Very tedious and time consuming but worked out well as a project to do inside in the afternoons when it was stupid hot in the warehouse. 

My least favorite part of this whole process is taking the strings and pins out. That's a lot of strings. And a lot of pins. 

 Did the first one completely by my own strength and a little wrench thing and it took me almost all day...Then we decided that was dumb and we got some reinforcements. 
 DeWalt and I quickly became friends.

I managed to do all of them with very few casualties although, sometimes strings pop .

We are only going to be able to get half of them done while I'm here this time so we moved the 4 finished ones to the door to be picked up. (that's right, grandma and I moved 4 pianos, we are pretty hardcore)

 Look at all the space we have now!

 I bet my Grandma has more tools than your Grandma.

By far my favorite part of being here has been getting to hang out with my Grandma and see where certain character traits and quirks of mine come from and why I am the way that I am.

She never seems to come across something she can't move or a screw she can't unscrew (even if I couldn't get it loose) or a project that she can't accomplish. If she sees something that needs to be done, she does it. She doesn't ask anyone else to do. 


"It's pretty amazing the things you can accomplish with a sledge hammer!" -Grandma







We've had a blast. I've learned so much from this woman in just a week and a half.











If I live to be 75 years old, I hope I'm even half as awesome as her.

The Incredible Adventures Of ZuZu Ford!

This will be a series called the Incredible Adventures of ZuZu Ford: Mississippi edition. 

I will be in Mississippi for about 2 weeks working for my grandma doing all kinds of different projects. 
Now, something you should know about my grandma is that she is no ordinary 75 year old woman. She does things most 25 year old women would never think or dream of doing. She's pretty much one of the coolest people I know.

Including changing light bulbs. (I climbed up and she held it this time)

 Of course we were super careful.


Another project grandma and I started was uncovering their pool.

It's pretty bad so cleaning it out will be another project I get to do. 

 Grandma has 8 pianos that she used for parts back in her piano technician days and she wants to get rid of them. But first, we're going to scrap them for all the metal inside.

 The part that takes the longest so far is taking off each of the strings and then getting the pins out.

 It's pretty dirty work. 















Today we took grandpa's truck (I got to drive it=) to get lumber.
Tomorrow a new kind of hard work begins. Fence building with uncle Steve. 

Stay tuned. 

 

The Latest Happenings

I'm really only posting right now because I'm procrastinating on my next task of running....

It's amazing how productive I can be when running is on my to do list.

So life has been pretty crazy lately...
Best friends getting engaged...

 Brother graduating highschool...

Unintentionally ending up with blue hair...

Cadre class of 2011-2012 graduated and my girls moved out...

I watched the Anne of Green Gables trilogy with Laura who had never seen them before...
The last one we watched at Skoog's house.
Here is the progression of how it went...

I experienced a farmer's market for the first time...

It was pretty awesome, it'll definitely need to be a common occurrence for my life

Well that's all for now.. I need to actually go run for real this time.
Tune in next time to hear the latest happenings on ZuZu's job and living situation. Big changes to come, you won't want to miss it.

Surprise?!

Because I needed more excitement in my life....


 Sunday evening I was sitting on my couch, trying to decide what to do that night and Monday because I have the day off.
My options: 1. Go to Elevation (the college service) and come back and sleep
                    2. Go to Mississippi...why? you ask? Why not?

So I called up my grandma and asked if they were doing anything tomorrow and if I could come over...I was on the road 30 minutes later. I decided to not tell Danielle (my cousin) that I was coming and just show up at her apartment and surprise her. (I like surprises)

Now every time I decide to leave town either to go to my parent's house or my grandparent's house, it seems to rain. (No joke, the last 4 times I've road tripped, God has decided to open the heavens and unleash a torrential down pour of rain on the route that I happen to be traveling.)

It was raining pretty hard the whole drive. But I was determined to not let the weather slow me down and keep me from getting to Danielle's apartment in a timely fashion. She was going to be going to bed soon and I didn't want to wake her up from too deep a sleep.
I was driving pretty fast; as fast as I could go and still be able to see with all the rain. Then it started to rain harder. And of course all the other cars on the road slowed down dramatically which just frustrated me more. I started pleading with God, "please make the rain stop!" I even tried a, "In the name of Jesus, I command the rain to stop!"

...Nothing happened....

Just more rain...

I started to hear the words, "You need to slow down."

"No, just make the rain stop!"

"You need to slow down."

"No God, You just need to make the rain stop like I asked!"

"You need to slow down."

Rather than try to win a battle of stubbornness with God I decided to let Him win. 

"Fine...."

I slowed down to 55 or 60. (I hate driving that slow on the interstate) And I kept driving that speed for a while. (I had a great attitude about it too)

Then around 11:15pm, I'm honestly not completely sure what happened because it all happened so fast. But I do remember a burst of water hitting my windshield and then spinning.
In what was probably only a couple of seconds, my thought process went something like this...

"Oh crap"(I give myself points for not cussing)

"This is going to mess up my car"

"I'm not going to make it to Danielle's on time"

"Dude, I could die!"

"Ok Jesus, I'm ready! Take me now!"

The car eventually stopped. I was in the middle of the grassy wet median.

After the disappointment of not being in heaven passed, I tried to drive back to the road. Aaaand I was stuck. I got out of my car and walked around to take a look. (It had been a good idea to wear skinnies and trail runners because it was very muddy) The median was lower in the middle and it was just steep enough and just wet and muddy enough to prevent the necessary amount of friction needed to drive out...

Cali's (my car...yes I named my car) front bumper popped off a little on the drivers side but that's been messed up for a while. Other than that she was completely fine. Well, other than being stuck in the mud that is...

After a few minutes of trying to decide what to do, who to call, etc. A man in a truck pulled over and asked if I needed help.
Yay!
He tried to pull Cali out but snapped both of the straps he had. We needed something stronger. So he called roadside assistance to send a tow truck. (Did I mention that it's still pouring down rain?)
The tow truck finally came and pulled me out and then followed me to their shop to check Cali out and make sure she was ok to drive the rest of the way.
The guy zip tied some stuff that came loose on the underside of the bumper and she was good to go.

Then it was time to pay....

Apparently my bank thought it odd that I bought gas in Memphis and decided to freeze my account to make sure it was really me. Yes, of all times to make sure there is not fraud happening on my card, this would be the night!
So I try and give him my parent's credit card. Of course Discover chose the same night to do the same thing to my parent's card, because of some unusual charges they made in the last few days.

So there I am, in the middle of nowhere Mississippi, $2 cash, two frozen credit cards, a check book that does me no good because they don't take out of state checks, and a $225 bill to be paid for getting me out of the ditch...
So I did the mature, grown up thing to do...
Called my Mommy.
Through a long drawn out process that is really stupid and frustrating so I'll spare you the details, my parents were able to convince Discover that there wasn't fraud happening on their credit card and that they really did want to charge $225 to their card in the middle of nowhere Mississippi and I was finally back on the road by 1:30am

By this time, my whole Mississippi family along with everyone they know in the area are aware of what happened because they all tried to find someone to come pull me out, including Danielle...

3:00am I pulled into her apartment and there she was standing at the door waiting for me....Surprise?!

Venting and Cliche's

Cliche' - anything that has become trite or commonplace through overuse.
Trite - lacking in freshness or effectiveness because of constant use or excessive repetition; hackneyed; stale: 


Common cliche's 
-Beggars can't be choosers
-Bigger they are, the harder they fall
-The early bird catches the worm
-Sread like wildfire
-Better late than never


Just because something is a cliche' doesn't mean that it is no longer true or relevant. 


For some reason, when we hear something or see something over and over again it loses its effectiveness in our brains and we check out. It loses it's value to us. 


Think of the first time you saw the ocean. Or the first time you saw real mountains. The first time you heard a song you really like. The first few months of a dating relationship. Your very first cell phone. 


After a while we get used to these things and they're not as incredible as they were at first. They become normal. They've lost some of their value; their effectiveness. 


The problem is that this is not only the case in these instances but also in our relationship with God. 


For a lot of us, God is now a cliche'. Or maybe not God Himself but church, or worship, or praying, or having quiet time. 


Especially for those of us who grew up in church, we've heard all the sermons, seen all the illustrations, heard all the analogies, read all the famous Bible stories, used all the Bible sayings. And to us they've become "commonplace through overuse."


We've been to so many church services and read our Bible so many times that it's began to "lack in freshness of effectiveness" It's become stale. 


Phrases like, 
"God is in control"
"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me"
"Jesus loves you"
We say them all the time but do we really believe it? Do we really live like it's true to us?


When things become familiar to us, we get comfortable and we start to go through the motions and coast. 


One area that I see this a lot that I am so passionate about is worship. A lot of our worship songs have become cliche's. Think about the song Amazing Grace. Everyone and their dog knows this song. You could probably sing it in hundreds of different languages in hundreds of different countries and they would be able to sing along with you. We've heard it over and over. Some of us are probably not the most excited when we hear it on a Sunday morning. 
"Ah, this song again?" 
You know you've had those thoughts don't act holy. 


But think about the words in that song. 


Amazing grace, how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost but now I'm found
Was blind but now I see


That is incredible! 
Think about those words for a second without humming the tune in your head. Forget it's a song for a second and think about what those words mean. 


There are so many worship songs that have incredibly powerful lyrics but after we've heard them so many times we don't think about the words anymore. 


How great is our God
How great is our God
Sing with me, how great is our God


Amazing love how can it be
That you my King would die for me?


I'm so guilty of this. I will get tired of a song and every time I hear it I cringe. "Please not this song again." I forget about what the words are saying. I forget why we're singing it. 


I think that's why God put things in His Word like, 

Sing to him a new song; play skillfully, and shout for joy. ... Sing a new song of praise to him; play skillfully on the harp, and sing with joy- Psalm 33:3

Praise the LORD! Sing to the LORD a new song - Psalm 149:1

Sing to the LORD a new song, his praise from the ends of the earth, you who go down to the sea, and all that is in it, you islands, and all who live in them.- Isaiah 42:10

He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. -Psalm 40:3 I think God knew we would have this problem. That we would get bored with songs and need something new.

That's why I love when bands come up with new versions of old songs. Because the words are still amazing. But it lost its effectiveness because we got so used to it. So you change it up and bring it back. 

That's why I love different translations of the Bible. When you've heard the same verse a bajillion times and it's just words, check it out in the Message version or in the New Living Translation or even in the New King James version. Hearing it a different way makes the same verse new. 

We have got to find ways to keep ourselves from looking at God and the things of God as cliché's. 

I never want to feel or think in the back of my mind that my relationship with God is "lacking in freshness or effectiveness, because of constant use and repetition and become stale and commonplace"

Really think about it...

The God that created the universe loves you. You. The person who stands there joking around with your friends during worship and paying no attention to what's going on. You. The person who stares at the worship team with a blank stare and your hands in your pockets. You. The person who smoked pot before coming to church. You. The person who slept with your boyfriend/girlfriend last night. 

Me. The person who got frustrated about what songs we were singing for worship because I was tired of them. Me. The person who had the thought of getting up to read my Bible this morning but decided to sleep in instead. Me. The person who says that I will do anything and go anywhere for God but doesn't tell the lady at the check out in WalMart about Him because I'm too busy. Me. The person who yells at the person who cuts me off going 60mph on i40. 

He. Loves. Us. Anyway. 

And what do we do when we come into His presence for worship? We stand there and check out because we heard this song last week. 

We will go to concerts and go nuts when the band starts playing but stand there with a blank stare at the worship team. 


It's not just about how good or bad the band is. If the band was terrible it doesn't mean that we don't need to enter into worship. If they're not playing your favorite song it doesn't mean that we don't need to enter into worship. If our favorite worship leader isn't playing this week doesn't mean that we don't need to enter into worship. 


I've been on missions where the church is a room with a dirt floor and the only instrument is a guitar with 4 strings and the worship leader is singing the song in 3 different keys and none of them match what he's playing on the guitar. 


I've been to a conference at a ginormous church with thousands and thousands of people where the band was incredible and the lights were awesome and the chairs were so comfortable and everything looked good and sounded good. 


We should worship just as hard at the church with the 4 string guitar as we do at the conference!

God is the same in both places! 

We should respond to Him with the same amount of reverence and excitement in both places!  


What if we approached worship in a church service as if we were actually going to encounter God instead of as the background music for you to walk into church late to?

What if when we sang songs in church, the words were our prayers and thanksgiving to God because that's how much we need and love Him? 

What if we didn't just go to church to go to church but we went expecting God to do something? What if we went to church because we just love to be in His presence? Because we can't get enough of Him.




I realize this post is kind of all over the place. Just needed to get this out before I exploded. Feel free to leave any thoughts you may have.

Where do I begin??

I feel like I have so many passions and desires inside of me that I have no idea how I'll ever be able to do them all in a lifetime. 

             Here's a few....

I want to explore, see the world, take photos of it and bring them back to show people at home and tell them the stories. 

I want to lead people on mission trips so that they can have a total perspective change on life and God can rock their world. 

I want to make coffee for people that is better than they can make for themselves and make them happy.

I want to disciple people and watch them go out and disciple 

I want to know God so intimately that it causes me to see people the way He sees them and love people the way He loves them, and because of it people will want to know Him more intimately too. 

I want to play music that draws people closer to the heart of God and creates an atmosphere for them to experience Him. 

I want to ride elephants 

I want to start a school where young people can be discipled, learn discipline, leadership, worship, and then go out and change the world. 

I want to live in another country and own a motorcycle as my form of transportation 

I want to become so familiar with the Bible that I actuality live out, believe, and can speak from experience to people about its truth and power. 

I want to write things down so that maybe, just maybe, someone won't have to make all the same mistakes I made and can instead learn from them and do better. 

Now where to begin....