The Loop

Well, I am finally in the loop. I've been out of it for a while because as my room mate so eloquently put it, the loop has nothing to do with me. You see as the Augusts are graduating this week the Januaries aren't at the forefront and our schedule is less of a priority and we have no idea what the Augusts are doing because everything here is on a need to know basis and apparently we just don't need to know.

Unfortunatly wwe really do need to know and it has caused great amounts of frustration in the past couple of weeks. But we had a nice meeting this morning where Mr. Hasz, the director of the HA gave us a detailed outline of what our lives will look like for the transition. Its nice to be in the loop. Now I know how insane life is going to be for the next month.

Its good to be informed about my life.

Well, I'm not the best blogger ever I guess...

I know its been a billion years since I last posted...but I'm getting back on track!

Teen Mania is preparing to enter a phase called "Transition" That means that about 90 percent of the people that are working right now will be leaving, or training for a new position in the month of August, and the remaining 10 percent will be running the entire ministry.

I am part of that 10 percent. I have decided to start blogging more regularly now because after talking with a few people who have lived through the transition I will want to chronical my thoughts and feelings and the crazy things that will happen. So prepare for some fun entries!

I have moved into the Acquire the Fire (ATF) call center now. I work with youth pastors, calling and inviting them to the Chicago Acquire the Fire. For those who don't know Acquire the Fire is a 27 hour event for Jr and Sr high students designed to present them with the opportunity to make a decision to take the next (or first) step in their walk with God and give practical pattern breaking challenges to walk that decision out in their everyday life. This years theme is Encounter, and we're focusing on encountering the love of God and how that will change our perceptions of the people around us, and even of ourselves.

I really love my job a lot, like, its my life. ATF has changed my life so much, I love that I get to be a part of it this year!

Looking forward to actually updating in the future!

The Body of Christ, we are the RIBS

So, here at the HA we have a group called a family core. This group functions as our family while we are interns. Each family has a name and ours is RIBS. RIBS stands fro Really Intense Bold Servants, what we want to be for Christ. It also represents the role of the Bible and a relationship with God in our lives. Both of those things protect our heart from the things of this world, just like the rib cage protects our hearts from damage.

Today the RIBS family banded together as a perfect illustration of the body of Christ!

One of our brothers was financially dismissed this morning. He owed over $300 on his account and needed it by 6pm tonight. His Core Advisor emailed us about the situation and we all banded together to save him! An anonymous donation came in that helped us a ton! And by each donating what we could, $10 here $5 there and some help from our own extended biological families we raised even more than he needed! And got it in by 4:48pm!

God is so good to bless us all so that we could bless our brother! He has been re instated and we are all eating dinner tonight to celebrate!

I love it when Christians can all band together just like the early church and live out what our faith says we should be doing!

World Awareness

This past weekend we had an LTE called World Awareness. The focus of this weekend was to learn about the persecuted church and current world events such as the genocide in Rwanda. As Christians we are called to pray for our brothers around the world and for the unreached and suffering everywhere, this weekend taught me so much and enabled me to really pray effectively for those people. We spent the weekend living away from the comfort of our beds (we were well taken care of I promise) and with meager portions of rice as our main food source (those with dietary problems were provided for though) and by doing this we learned just a portion of what people go through around the world every hour of every day. We also watched several movies and discussed things such as genocide, persecution of the church, the invisible children in Uganda, and the morality of attempting escape from these situations. Through these movies I learned so much about the world.
God spoke to me the most through one of the lines in the movie Beyond Borders, one character -the head of a relief organization doing medical work in Sudan - says "I don't call you by name because I know I might lose you. I lose so many people every day that if all of them had names I wouldn't be able to stand it." I realized that thats how God feels. His heart breaks everytime He loses someone and He loses thousands upon thousands everyday, and He knows each one perfectly.
I now feel fully equipped to pray for my suffering brothers around the world and am now realizing how many comforts I have taken for granted. I feel more grateful than ever for the things I have and I am learning to see things with an accurate perspective.
Other than that, two of my room mates moved into the room next door so there is now a ridiculous amount of free space in our room.
I will be recieving a new job in a couple of weeks as promotional calling for Global Expeditions will be ending and missionaries begin arriving on campus in less than 30 days! My new job will probably be helping with the missionaries in some form or another. I hope to work in their cafeteria, so I can see all of them and meet the ones I called! Please be praying for safety as the missionaries travel and for successful trips!
Please be praying for me as finals start next week and I am having trouble finding time to finish my coursework and study!
I am currently fund raising for my HA account as well as a mission trip to New York. My mission trip is a graduation requirement, so it is very important that I raise the money! Please consider donating and if you would like to, copy this link into your browser: http://www.honoracademy.com/index.cfm/PageID/2120/cfid/13108/cftoken/99890585/index.html and enter ID# 2520198, even a $5 donation will help!

Realization

I realized this week that my internship year is almost half way done. I can hardly believe that its already May. But when I really think about it I can barely believe that It's only May. Since January I have done so many things, most of which I never thought I would ever do.
I have run in a 10K, in 1 hour 17 minutes. That alone is enough accomplishment, but I have reached a level I considered unrealistic in my relationship with God. I am more in tune with the Holy Spirit than I ever have been and I feel like every step is guided by Him. I feel like I am finally right in the center of His will where I belong. I have grown academically, which is an area of my life that I have neglected for the last year or two. I now work upwards of thirty hours a week and I have filled out over 100 applications for missions trips.
That is really my favorite thing about being here. I average about one application a day, and each of those applications is another missionary going out to the nations this summer to present the gospel of Jesus Christ. I love talking to teens and adults about the work God has done in their lives and the opportunities I get to encourage and pray for them, and the encouragement I recieve from listening to the amazing testimonies I hear each day. I am one of the few lucky Americans out there who enjoys my job.
I am reminded each day of the song by Leeland, "Yes You Have" The bridge says simply, "This is all for You, You're the king of the world" Thats what my life is. Its what Christians are really called to live like, this life, our jobs, our free time, our lifestyle, our words, our relationships, our everything, its all for Him. And I'm finding that as I spend time with Him each day the chorus of that song becomes the song of my heart, "You've stolen my heart, Yes You have!" I am so glad that He has stolen my heart, that He is holding it now and keeping it safe from harm. I am thankful everyday that I can let Him steal my heart, and that I am freed by the simple fact that He loves me.
Those of you readers on my email list will get this asecond time, but as always, my ability to stay in the program is dependant on my tuition payments. If you are interested in supporting me financially please head over to http://www.honoracademy.com/donate.php and type in ID# 2520198 and you can make a donation via credit/debit card. While Financial donations are appreciated more than I can really express in type, your prayers are eternally appreciated. I thank God for your support and prayers every day and I pray that He will continue to bless you for everything you do!
So than kyou for reading and praying and sharing this experience with me. Stay tuned for more updates. Exciting things to come this month!!
Signing off then,
In through and by His love,
~Lori Burleson

Birthdays and Fundraising

Hello all!
Yesterday was my room mate Victoria's Birthday! Victoria told us that she had never really had a special birthday before, so we rallied together to remedy the situation! We gathered money a dollar or two at a time from all of her friends and succeeded in surprising her throughout the day with various candies and drinks, and cards, and emails. We got her breakfast in bed and we had a small party with balloons and snacks in our dorm room last night. We also left a stuffed giraffe (her favorite animal) on her bed for her to find when she went to sleep. All in all it was a good birthday and she now has a happy birhtday memory! Mission accomplished!
The Call Center has been given a new director this week. It is very sad to lose our parmer fearless leader, but I support our leadership and think that if they made the decision it has been prayed about heavily and that God's will is in this. I am hopeful that the change will be entirely for the good, and am doing my best to continue growing as a caller. Please be praying that God would be working in the lives of the teens we are calling and preparing them for missions this year.
As many of you know I am still raising money for my internship, as well as a mission trip to New York. My friends and I are working on scheduling a fund raiser at a couple of the restaraunts here in town and I am optimistic about those! The way payments work, I need $820 by May 10th for my Honor Academy Account, and $744 by May 26th for my mission trip. Donations for both of these can be made at: http://www.honoracademy.com/donate.php Please consider supporting me financially as I finish out this year. God has been speaking so much to me about His vision for my life in helping to restructure and refine foster care and adoption in America. And in supporting me here at the Honor Academy you are supporting everything I will do after and becoming a part of helping these kids who desperately need it! Thank you so much for your prayers and your continued support!!

Grandparents day

We dressed up in a different them each day this week, and todays theme was grandparents day. It was funny. My room mates borrowed a bunch of my clothes, I'm not sure if I should be insulted or not, apparently I have a very granparenty wardrobe.
We have started working Saturdays now and we will be working Saturdays until Missions Trips begin in June. Please be praying that we can all maintain all of our responsibilities with the added pressure of working six days a week.
It was a very relaxed day at the office, 55 calls each and we were allowed to sign off, no technological break downs, no catastrophies or random dance parties.
The Protland Acquire the Fire is going as I type, be sure to pray for all the youth there, that God will move and their lives will be changed!
This week God has been reminding me that every little thing I do affects the people around me. And because all humans are going to be alive for eternity, every little thing I do affects eternity. It reminds me of George Bailey in It's a Wonderful Life. Each phone call could be a conversation that changes someone's life. It is really inspiring me to think about my actions and my words, because I want to bring heaven to Earth with my life, not defer people away from it. I would encourage you all to consider the affect your actions have on those around you, be someone's George Bailey today! (Yes Laura, I read your letter today :))
Thats about it today, I hope to talk to y'all soon!
Signing off! <3

Hello Everyone!

This is my first blog, but I think I can handle it. I just wanted to start things off by introucing myself and explaining the meaning of the title and url of this blog.

I am an intern at Teen Mania's honor academy. The Honor Academy is a one year program designed to teach high school graduates how to live a disciplined and honorable life. Teen Mania is a Non-Denominational Christian organization whose heart is to reach out to our generation and show them the transforming love of Christ!

At the internship I am learning more about my relationship with God each and every day, as I grow closer to Him and stronger in my faith. I am taking classes including Apologetics (defending the Christian faith through logical and scientific arguments) Worldview (what the Bible says about the world we live in and how it should shape our view of the world) New Testament survey, and an English class. I am also working full time in the call center for Global Expeditions. Global Expeditions is another branch of Teen Mania, focused on global evangelism. We send thousands of teens on short term missions trips all over the globe every summer!

For more information on the internship look at www.honoracademy.com also check out www.globalexpeditions.com for info about our missions trips!

The title of this blog, "Life in the Middle Bunk" comes directly from my life. As an intern I live on campus in dormitory style housing, with five room mates. We have twosets of triple bunk beds and, you guessed it, I'm in the middle bunk. The middle bunk is an interesting place to be and provides several advantages. First off I can talk with everyone in the room comfortably from my bed, I do not have to lean out and nearly fall off, nor do I have to get out of bed and stand. I have also seen added development of my calf muscles from climbing into it each and every night. It does hold some disadvantages, such as my roomies occasionally setting their stuff down on it and leaving it there, but I love it nonetheless.

I have been at the internship for almost four months now, and I wanted to document the remainder of my year and share the AMAZING things God is doing in my life and the lives around me! So stay tuned for the next shot of: Life in the Middle bunk.

Signing off!