Wednesday, November 12, 2014

The World of Private Texting...

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Hey Kanakuk Friends,
I was so sick to my stomach...no I'm not pregnant. I was simply driving one very early morning to yoga and on the radio I hear an ad for the hottest new app. It's amazing and everyone should have it the ad claims. Then it continues to share what the app is...and I am so sick. It's the newest craze I'm sure that I'm just now catching wind of. It's an app (and honestly I can't remember the exact name) that basically is for private texting. Texting where you can hide everything...who you are (they give you a fake number to text anonymously to people), self destruct certain texts within seconds (I think much like snapchat), or encrypt certain text/contacts so deeply that no one can get to them on your phone...anyone else sick like I was?

This is scary...for a lot of reasons...mostly because we know was believers anything kept in darkness is not a good thing. It breeds shame, guilt, sin, wounds, junk and secrets. Not good. As I researched the apps before typing this up...there's hundreds. Cover Me was the one app that really made me want to just...well, I don't know what but I was not happy...the app brags on the folders it's hiding of "hot girls" and "ex-gfs." The text is from a girl in a bikini with a message that reads "hey babe, i cannot come out this week. miss you." It's so scary...



So should I just be scared...(mom thought)
     So should I not use this app...(college staff or teenagers thought)

Here is where all I know to do as a mom and director in the thick of this with staff and teens...here is what Jesus says about secrets, things hidden and darkness (ie. Cover Me and every other app that hides things and allows you to have a hidden life)

Ephesians 5:11-14English Standard Version (ESV)

11 Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. 12 For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. 13 But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, 14 for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says,
“Awake, O sleeper,
    and arise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you.”

What is light? Or maybe I should say WHO is light? Darkness will always be exposed to light. Hidden lives always come to the surface and the internet never really destroys any text, video or photo. I, as a mom and director, can't live in fear of this world of technology...I will not live in fear of it because I know the Sword to which I can fight back with.

Staff/Teens: Oh my heart just breaks...breaks for truly how this social media world is pulling at you constantly. Please hear me that if you have this app or other apps because you have this "other" life this is hidden from your parents, friends, church groups or whomever...bring it to the light. There is freedom there...I promise...well actually He promises.

Romans 8:1-4
     John 8:32
          Ephesians 2:8
               John 8:12
                    Psalm 119:105

Let's live our lives in full light...THE light of Jesus. His light. His love. His grace. His mercy. His heart. His will. His treasure.

Adventure and Wonder,

kanakuk ashley robbins
ashley@kanakuk.com
No Phones at Camp! Woohoo!

Friday, November 7, 2014

To "Simply" Be Known...

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Hey Kanakuk Friends,
I was writing tonight. It's a list. A list of things I want to remember...somethings when I'm parenting teens, somethings when I'm a mother-in-law with my kids' spouses and somethings when I have grandchildren...just things. Just a list. I wrote something down that just made my heart pause. Then I read one word I had written....KNOWN.

We all want to be known. Known for just being us. I think about my littles and I want to know them. Know their day to day thoughts, their emotions, their favorites of everything and their deepest thoughts...which right now entails choo-choos, princess dress up and snack time. But none the less...I want to know them.

If me, as a jacked up, crazy sleep deprived mom of 4 loves my kiddos that much and desires to know their every moment...how much more so does the God that made each hair on their head. As I type this I just pause...mystified by that reality. Do I even grasp it? I'm not sure. I just know it's bigger...more...deeper...and more unconditionally than even a mother's love.

I love Timothy Keller's quote...

“To be loved but not known is comforting but superficial. To be known and not loved is our greatest fear. But to be fully known and truly loved is, well, a lot like being loved by God. It is what we need more than anything. It liberates us from pretense, humbles us out of our self-righteousness, and fortifies us for any difficulty life can throw at us.”


Are you known my a God that loves you more than anything...more than past, more than mistakes, more than choices and more than your comprehensible self can understand? 

Are you known by people...toughie? Do you allow people to know you? Truly...

Adventure and Wonder,

kanakuk ashley robbins
ashley@kanakuk.com
Summer camp...Yes please!

Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Wednesday Rewind...

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Hey Kanakuk Friends,
I'm 33...almost 34. It's been almost 12 years since I graduated from The University of Arkansas. Go Hogs! In so many ways I feel like it was yesterday...but in most ways it feels like a lifetime ago.

For the staff from Kanakuk that read this blog...this is probably mostly for you. You have been on my heart. I think of each of you often...my small groups from summers, the leadership teams, the programs girl that is dear to my heart...I think of college gals often...and pray often.

I guess my heart and message is this...BE MORE. Don't hear me wrong right off the bat. Don't do more...or try and be all...or even know more. BE more. Be more of who your Creator made you to be. BE the one that stands out. BE a voice for those that have none. BE Jesus to your classmate that is hungover from the night before. BE okay with just being. It's amazing that college has changed in so many ways, just like high school for that age group. But in so many ways it's exactly the same. We all want to be different but don't want to stick out in those differences. For me, I pray often that your difference would be how you show Jesus, His love, His compassion, His life to every person you interact with...professors, deans, friends, sorority sisters, boys you date and boys you don't date. BE MORE of who He has made you to be.

Don't let college be about Patagonia furry jackets, leggings and the newest monogrammed clutch...let it BE MORE.

Adventure and Wonder,

kanakuk ashley robbins
ashley@kanakuk.com
Want to work where you can BE MORE! Click here! 

Monday, November 3, 2014

Nothing Good Ever Happens After Midnight...Except...

Hey Kanakuk Friends,
I remember growing up and hearing my mom and dad always say, "Nothing good ever happens after midnight." Maybe it was a southern baptist preacher and high school teacher parenting thing. But I remember it. For the most part they are 100% true...especially if you are reading this and you are a beautiful teenage sweetie and your hormonal boyfriend wants to hang out till 3 am...this statement is very true for you.

But for the new anxious mommy...
     mommy of 1 tween, 1 toddler and 1 brand new baby...
          mommy of 4 kids under 5 years old...
               any mommy who is ever up past midnight rocking a little one because of a storm, nursing for the 5th time in 7 hours, snuggling a feverish little bug or just up with the morning light with an energy ball of love...

Whatever the reason...AMAZING, Magical things can happen after midnight...What if we captured these moments? It's amazing as much as I have been in the little, newborn stage in the past 5 years of life I already am forgetting...forgetting their breath on my chest. Forgetting who woke up the most or was the hungriest. Who switched day time and night time around (that was a hard season) and who slept through the night first. I'm forgetting...and I don't want to.

So hold on my sweet mommy...hold on to little coo's. Rock peacefully while you nurse knowing that you will make it...sleep deprived and all. You will...why...because God loves these moments. Think about it. It's still. It's quiet. It's total surrender to another life. Hmmm...I wonder if God knows anything about that? Caring about someone so much you would do anything, anything for them. Feeling so much love for that little being that your heart may explode. Hmm...I wonder if He knows anything about that at all?

You can do this mommy world! You can...remember their breath. remember their nails that can scratch your neck skin like no other even though their are no nails on their fingers. remember their bald heads. remember their chubby rolls or chicken legs. just remember...not with your phone, but with your heart.

Adventure and Wonder,
a

kanakuk ashley robbins
ashley@kanakuk.com
Camp! It's awesome!