Worship Internship

*Song of the Day* "You Hold me Now"- Hillsong United- An amazing song looking forward to heaven, and the beauty and purification it brings. Something encouraging and something to look forward to :)

As a worship music major we are required to do an internship at a church. Whether it is helping out with leading youth group in musical worship, bible studies, or the main congregation. There is a lot more to the internship requirements, and I won't bore you with them. Basically, the point is to put us, as worship leaders, "out there" to learn about how particular churches run their Arts Program, or Worship Ministries, whatever you want to call it. If I'm going to be honest with all of you, this part of my major has been one that I have tried to avoid and never looked forward to. Obviously it is unavoidable, when it has to be done in order for me to graduate. What I mean is that I have waited until my very last semester at Biola to fulfill this requirement. And if you know me at all, you'd know that I tend to procrastinate with things like this. Even in my procrastination and attempt to avoid the inevitable, God is still faithful. I've never been comfortable with "putting myself out there" with what I can bring to the table, and along with that, I'm not incredibly confident in the "leading" aspect of worship. I have been apart of worship teams, and it's a huge reason as to why I became a worship major. But leading a congregation, makes me a little nervous. All of this said, I need to find a church that will take me, for the amount of units I need, (6 units=12 hrs/week) this next semester. Along with that, ideally I would like to intern with a youth group, rather than the main congregation, because I have such a heart for kids, I would love to learn and grow along with helping out with jr/high school kids. SOOOO with ALL of that said...back to stating that GOD IS FAITHFUL! I have a meeting with the jr. high pastor at the church I have been attending for a couple of months, and the internship coordinator. I need to remember that this is just a meeting, and we'll probably just discuss what I can bring to the table, and if they want to mentor and teach me this coming semester. I am so excited, but actually kind of nervous. I feel like it's sort of a job interview even though they know I need to fulfill this requirement for school. The meeting is Monday, Nov. 2 at 10:30 AM, and any prayer would be appreciated. This church would be my first choice to intern at especially with the youth group :). Also any tips on how to "put myself out there" without going the "arrogant" route would be so helpful too. Thanks for tips and prayer. I know the meeting isn't for another week, but I just got the email today to meet with them! And I'm really excited/nervous!

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The Beauty of Feeling at Home

*Song of the Day* "One Time"- Justin Bieber- This is a 15 yr old kid, who is like a mini Jesse MCCartney. This is what I get for coming home and listening to music with my 14 yr old sis. But it's such a cheesy fun song :) Enjoy!

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I could go on and on about how great it is to have such an amazing family and friends. I'll just quickly post that I came home to Turlock this weekend and it was a great time to relax, reflect, laugh with my family, and catch up with friends. Instead of boring you all with the random things I did this weekend I'll just show pictures of, not this weekend, but merely of what Turlock brings when I come home :). (Some of these pictures are old..forgive me if you hate them lol). Momma and sister

Fun times just relaxing

Seeing my newly married bestie Megan Creel



*Lifelong Friends*

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People Suck

For some reason a stupid comment someone made on my Facebook wall really made me mad, and I feel the need to vent. Even typing it out I feel like like the comment has defeated me, and it shouldn't because I'm better then that. And I also don't need to prove anything to anyone!! For this reason of me being pretty heated right now, I won't be posting this particular blog on Facebook....but whoever reads it...well I don't care.

I guess I want to say, for the record, that I am really happy where I'm at in life. Yeah I happen to be the girl who, basically, all her friends are either married or very close to it. Believe it or not, I've had the most amazing time seeing my friends get married, and some move on to totally different lives. It's seriously a joy! I've never been the type of person to do something just because everyone else is doing it. Sure, we've all conformed to certain things that people do, but never in the same way, and hopefully for different reasons. I just hate that someone made me feel like I was "odd" for not being married or close to it just because most of my friends are there. I know it's stupid, because the person who said it doesn't know what's going on in my life. But that's also why I'm mad...they DON'T know what I'm doing in life, they DON'T know where I'm going, or ANYTHING!! I know I'll get over a comment like this.....but it's hard not to be mad, when I've definitely had my moments of wondering why I'm not in the same place is, it seems, everyone else is. Like I said, I'm happy. And it's all because God is so faithful to remind me that He has a plan for MY life, and it doesn't matter what everyone else is going through.

UGH! This is just me venting...you're welcome to see the comment on Facebook...I've already commented on the post, somewhat sticking up for myself :)

God is good, and He has a plan!

And people are stupid sometimes!

Love ya :)

*Song of the Day* "Rock and Roll" Eric Hutchinson- My new favorite song, that will definitely put you in a better mood....definitely needed today :) (3rd track on link)

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The Narrow Path

*Song of the Day* "Dream On" Kelly Sweet- She covered this song by Aerosmith, and it's totally in her own style, very blue-sy. I'm also singing this song for my voice lesson :)

Prayer is such an amazing thing. I feel like I pray so much throughout the day God gets sick of hearing my voice. I know that's not true. Anyways, what I know I need to work on is constantly being in the Word everyday. When I pray, I know and feel that God is listening, but in this past week of being more in the Word I was able to hear God speak to me more then ever, and I've forgotten what that feels like. Yeah it's hard to admit that I'm not a diligent reader of the Word, but it's obvious that God is showing me that I need to hear His voice through the Word, just as much as I need to come before Him in prayer everyday. Another hard thing to admit is that, sometimes, I don't know where to go when I open my Bible. So any suggestions, or comments about your favorite books/passages in the Bible would be great :). WOO God is good!

Something that has been on my brain for a while now, has been the fact that I'm going home to Turlock for a couple days next week, and I'm sooo excited!! I've been pretty homesick for a while, and I'm ready to go home and see friends and family! It's funny, but the more and more I go home to visit the more and more I appreciate my home, my family,my friends there, and even the small town life. I really miss it. And I'll be getting into this more and more, but I'll probably find myself heading back to Turlock after I graduate in May. Don't quote me on that, but at this point I'm not seeing it any other way. I need to save money, and I might have to go back home in order to do that. God is so good, and I've been feeling really okay about the whole idea, especially because I have no money to my name. Enough about that...bottom line is I miss Turlock...people from Turlock probably think I'm crazy for saying that, but it's true! I still have amazing friends there, a great church, and my family. I've made the most amazing friends down here in LA, but I think after 4 years of living in the city, I'm gonna be ready for small town life again :). We'll see what God has! Even saying all of this, and what my expectations are, I know God is saying right now, "You have no idea what kind of plans I have for you, and how great they are." So either way, I'm excited for the future, even though it's scary!

This is a long post..but thanks for your input about anything :)

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A Quick Thought

*Song of the Day* "New Beginnings" Ayeisha Jones- A fabulous Jamiacan Gospel singer who can rock it on a live stage!

First off I wanna thank God for the rain He's given LA today. He knows how much we need it, and I busted out my suede flat boots this morning for work...yay!

For the past day I have been working on studying for my music history midterm and it's starting to stress me out! I honestly hate the era we're studying right now, Medieval/Early Baroque Period. The songs I need to know all sound the same and have the similar "story line" of Christ or Christmas or wrath. I've been dreading the studying process because I don't appreciate this particular music period. However, just with making my study guide, I'm learning more and more, and finding out that so many composers in the early 11th-14th Centuries invented the ideas and concepts composers have been using for so many years. Yeah...it still sounds pretty boring...believe me it is. All I know is that I need to sit back and thank God that I get to study music, listen to music, and analyze it for a grade. Now the only thing I need to learn is discipline when I don't want to study. Thanks for reading....wish me luck :)

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Song of the Day!

Today at work I realized that music is all around us. For the most part we listen to music everyday, whether it is in the car, on our iPod, in our room, or on TV. Music really is everywhere. Besides the fact that my Lord and Savior gets me through each day, music also gets me through each day. It puts me in a great mood when that great song comes on the radio, or when I just got to my piano and start playing anything that comes to mind. Music is also my personal form of worship.
The reason I am saying all of this is because I want to share with everyone my "Song of the Day" each time I post a blog. It might be a song everyone has heard, or it might be a weird genre no one has ever heard of. I like all kinds of music, so we'll see what I think of each time I post. It might be a song that I haven't heard in a while that just popped into my head, or a popular song that everyone's heard. Who knows. But I am really excited to share with everyone my musical taste, and who knows, maybe you'll look one of the songs up and end up loving it! That really is my goal here. To share with everyone my musical notes :) haha.

To start things off....
*Song of the Day* "I Hope That's Me" Brad Paisley- My favorite song off of his new album :)

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First Blog!

Hi Everyone!! So...I am very new to the blogging world, but I'm really excited to start this up and share with everyone what's going on in my life. I realize I'm starting this blog during the start of my final year of college, so I fear that my blogs will only be about boring classes, and nothing more than that. So, with that, I'll try my hardest to write about things a bit more interesting then my daily routine of school.
However to start things off I want to talk about how great my roommates are that I'm currently living with: Jennifer, Kimi, and Kristen! They are so much fun, and so sweet. We can always find time to laugh at the most random things, and it's so easy living with them! I'm so thankful for the friendships that have been built through living with them.
There is definitely a long list of all the things I am so thankful for, and everything God has given me, but I'm going to go help Jen make us dinner :). I'm excited to keep blogging...follow me :)

Cassie

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