Book Review: Sandcastle Kings

As June was quite uneventful with the exception of Vous Conference which I already blogged about, I'll jump right into my book of the month.  This month, I started two different books, both of which I could not get through!  This has never happened before especially with my goal oriented mentality where once I start something I must finish!  Seriously though, I couldn't get through the others, so I settled on Sandcastle Kings by Rich Wilkerson which I got as a gift from Vous Conference!

This book was an easy read and I enjoyed the personal stories Pastor Rich shared throughout because they were relatable and quite humorous!  I enjoyed the format of how the book was written by telling a few stories from the Bible and then highlighting Jesus' character and Christian values from those stories.  I most appreciated him explaining the meaning of Jesus dying on the cross for us as I think for those who didn't grow up in the church, that could be a difficult concept to grasp so having it dumbed down brings a little more gravity to the sacrifice that was made.  I recommend this book! 

Here is one of my favorite videos of Pastor Rich describing his shopping experience with his wife.  So ridiculous, but oh so true!

 

Balayage Debacle

This past weekend, I decided to subtly lighten my hair for the summer with a trendy balayage.  I have done it once before at a salon that specializes in balayage, but due to distance, I decided to ask my stylist whether she could color my hair for me.  This lady has cut my hair for at least a decade, but I have never asked her to color because frankly, I didn't know whether I could trust her.  I am one of those who will cry if my haircut turns out poorly.  I guess my first mistake was still moving forward after she said she didn't know the term balayage.  I proceeded to explain to her what it was I wanted...lighter highlights that didn't start at the root of my head, but blended into my natural color to minimize future maintenance.  She assured me that she knew what she was doing.  4.5 hours later, I went home with the worst hack job EVER.  The color was not blended in at all and my hair looked like it had grown out over the past 6 months and I had no time to touch it up.  She spent 2 hours trying to fix it, and I finally asked her to stop trying because I could tell it was hopeless.  

The next day, I bit the bullet (well, I really didn't have a choice) and headed to the salon I had once been to before and asked them whether they could fix it.  This young girl was so confident she could, so I decided to move forward.  2 hours later, I think I'm almost blonde and though it was better than the previous day, you could still see the blunt line that was there before.  The stylist told me that I would have to come back multiple times to break through that line since it was so prominent.  Why didn't she tell me that to begin with?!  To which she responded was her bad...well her bad doesn't make up for the fact that my hair is still not presentable and I would have to live with it for a while to let it recover from the 8 hours of damage it had just undergone!  And of course, she took my money.  At least the stylist the day before had the decency to just charge me for the products she used since I wasn't a happy customer.  Here are the photos:

(Left) Seriously, I think I could have done a better job!

(Right) Look how much lighter my hair turned out and you can still vaguely see the drastic color change even after the "fix"

So, I have to attempt to hide the hideous by curling my hair everyday

Or putting it into a braid, which seems to be the popular look these days

Lesson learned: Do not be lazy when it comes to hair.  Pay the extra $$$ and travel the extra mile(s)!

 

Vous Conference

I randomly decided to attend Vous Conference, a conference held by a church led by Rich and DawnChere Wilkerson in Miami, FL this month.  It was the quickest long distance turnaround trip I have ever done, and in many ways it was worth it.  We heard from 4 amazing speakers, and I mean AMAZING where even I wanted to stand up and yell "Amen!" or "Preach it!" all whilst pumping my fist, but of course shy me kept my bum glued onto my seat.  The Vous Church blog gives a great summary of the weekend, but here is my quick snippet and what I got most out of Vous Conference.  All my photos were pulled directly from their blog.

Friday night started out with worship and then we heard from Pastor Rich Wilkerson who preached on the topic of Even If...

 Pastor Dawnchere and Rich Wilkerson

• Sit with someone.  Stand for something because if you don't stand for something, you will fall for everything.  Walk through everything.
• When life heats up, that is when God shows up
• You can't change what you can't tolerate
• Worship from a blessing, not for a blessing
• Favor is not found in where you are, it's found in who you are
• If you are too big to serve, then you are probably too small to lead

On Saturday, we heard from his wife Dawnchere who preached on the topic of "Let It Shine".  Let me tell you, this young lady can preach!

• Most people pray for patience, self control, understanding, etc...but what they don't realize is that these are all fruits of labor from a relationship with Jesus and are not "sold separately".  So we have to ask ourselves, do we want a relationship with Jesus and what do we do to build that relationships?

We also heard from Robert Madu who preached on the topic of "From Water To Wilderness".

• Water was likened to getting Baptized, or the beginning of your walk with Jesus.  Wilderness referred to your life journey after making that commitment, meaning that just because you devote yourselves to God doesn't meant that everything is smooth sailing from there on out
• After you experience in the water, how are you going to win the war in the wilderness?
• You have to know where you are (what season of life are you in?)
• The word is your weapon
• You have to know what's at stake
• Know where your help comes from

Next up was my favorite pastor of all time, Erwin McManus.  He leads Mosaic, a church now based in Hollywood.  He was the first Pastor I ever heard speak and I followed him for several years.  It was such a treat to know that he was making a special appearance at Vous Conference.  It really moved me to see him thanking Pastors Rich and Dawnchere for inviting him there, but more importantly, he professed that until his last breath, he would be forever grateful for their role in his son's life, who had fallen away from God/Church until they spoke prophetically into his life, changing the course of his life completely. 

• What do you want from God and what do you have?  Ask God for what you want and let Him let you know when you've asked for too much.  Don't limit God!

Finally, we heard from Christine Caine, whom I haven't heard of but the audience seemed to really look forward to her sermon.  If I were to pick one moment that resonated with me the most, it would be a moment that came from her message which I've written in blue in my summary below.

• You're going to live out a story for a while before it becomes a testimony.  The devil isn't afraid of a story, he is afraid of a testimony
• Being more than a conqueror means you come out of the battle, then you go back in to bring other people out
• Favor is for service, not for purpose
• God will always interrupt your own plans with His purpose
• What you have to fight is the "what if".  Replace what you don't know about the future with what you do know about God
• Impossible is where God starts

A photo posted by @trulyblessedssl on Jun 12, 2016 at 8:47pm PDT