#1,000

There she iiiiiiisssss, Miss One Thoooouuuuuusaaaaannnddd...

So, for Miss One Thousand, Sarah Ashton Harris, I decided to do a 1,000 word blog!

It’s incredible to find out that Sarah was the one to be number one thousand, because she was the first person to ever leave me a comment on my blog.

I met Sarah a little over a year ago. I started dating Anna Beth August 11, 2008. Then I started attending Monaghan Baptist a few weeks later. In March 2009, I took a job with Monaghan and became a member. Sarah is a long-time member of dear ol’ MBC. Thus, this tale begins…

Sarah Harris is a funny girl. Sarah has an infectious laugh. She finds humor in things that… are not really all that funny, but because she sees most things as “half glass full” and doesn’t let on if she’s discouraged, she somehow laughs. It’s amazing to see someone get giddy and pump her fists over something as simple as a meal at a camp, but that’s Sarah. Also, she can laugh at herself. This is a great quality in any person. So many of us (me included sometimes) can make fun of others and tease others, but get offended when we are put on the chopping block. Sarah Harris has the ability to say, “Yeah that was me! I’m the dumb one!” Case in point, a few weeks ago during youth group, Scott asked the question, “Now, who is the ‘Prince of the air’?” Sarah yelled, “JESUS?!” Scott, with a smirk on his face, responded, “Nooooo… its Satan… and this is one of our adult leaders!” Sarah laughed harder than anyone else… at herself.

Sarah Harris has a blog that I like to read. http://sah624.wordpress.com/ is her blog. She talks about real stuff, life, desires, dislikes, letdowns, memories, Christ, people, etc. She has a gift. She knows how to relate through her typing, through her words on the page. A lot of peoples’ blogs seem fake or as if they’re trying to be deeper than they really are. Sarah’s writings have an honesty about them that is hard to find. Also, she doesn’t try too hard. If she can say something in five words, she doesn’t waste her space or your time with using the thesaurus to fancy it up. She’s got skills.

Sarah Harris is dedicated to the ministry of music. Sarah is an active member in the choir at our church. She is one of those people that you actually like to see singing, because she smiles. I have even caught Sarah raising a hand or two, from time to time. Sarah seems to always be involved in whatever the choir is doing, as well (i.e. the Passion Play). Sarah is also involved in my music ministry. I do Praise and Worship down in the youth room on Wednesday nights at our church. Sarah Harris does my power point. For those of you who have never been involved in this type of ministry, it may not make sense to you… but for those of you who have, you understand why this is a huge deal. Youth especially have a hard time expressing themselves in worship. This time of their lives is an awkward time for many reasons, but especially when it comes to singing and acting like you are enjoying yourself around those who are obviously NOT enjoying themselves. When I sing with no words… I sing with no people. If the people don’t have something to read off the screen, chances are, they ain’t singing! That’s where Sarah Harris comes in. She provides a much needed part of this ministry by going through the lyrics on screen for the songs that are being sung. I have told her this precisely 5,843,921,682,9002,453.867 times, but it bears being mentioned again: “Sarah, you putting those words up on that screen are as important (and in my opinion, more so) than any note I play or sing.” Sarah Harris, as I mentioned before, loves to sing. If she has to focus on making sure the words go up correctly, she can’t let herself focus as much on Jesus. I know that it is possible, and I truly believe that Sarah is worshipping when she does this, but the point is this: She sacrifices being able to be a part of a crowd, worshipping in some other way, so that others can worship. Thanks for this Sarah.

With the last point in mind, it should be noted that Sarah Harris is an encourager. Sarah Harris likes to brighten peoples’ days. Sarah Harris likes to see other people smile. Sarah Harris is good at both of those things. I am so glad that Sarah works with the young girls of our church. She keeps their heads up. I will speak more of her workings with our church later. For me, though, Sarah Harris recently encouraged me greatly. We had “Revival” services at our church recently and some friends and I led worship for one of the nights. Sarah, of course, ran the power point. Afterwards, Sarah came to me and said, “Bo! I am so proud, you hit every note! And for me being the ‘words girl’ that’s such a good moment!” I honestly did not know if anyone noticed I sang the songs a little better than usual. Shockingly enough, I did hit some of the notes I usually can’t… and Sarah noticed and encouraged me. It meant a lot.
Sarah Harris works with our youth. Sarah is a good teacher. Sarah is a good example. Sarah believes in “modest is hottest.” Sarah stays up super late and gets up super early for events. Sarah is a warrior of a woman. I won’t go into great detail here, but Sarah Harris does a great job with our youth.

Sarah Harris dates a black guy. Jamal, her boyfriend, is a Godly man with whom I have the utmost respect. He is my brother in Christ and I love him. Sarah Harris has dealt with great turmoil and oppression because of this fact… and yet, she continues on. I was the best man in an interracial wedding, and I make absolutely no excuses for such. The Bible does not say one word about it being wrong to marry someone of another race. For the sake of time, let me just go ahead and give a short answer to most of the arguments ignorant people will give: Deut 7:3-no Jew/Gentile marriage in the old covenant; Ex 12:48-49-not foreign women, but foreign women who worship a different god; 2 Cor 6:14-don’t marry an unbeliever. There is plenty of verses, actually, that speak in the offense of racism: Acts 10:34, 1 Tim 5:21, Jam 3:17, Acts 17:24-26, and many more that I will not list at this time.

I love Sarah Harris as my dear sister in Christ. This blog is for you, Sarah Harris. I hope you enjoyed it. Congratulations on being my 1,000 reader. Thanks for being a bunch of other numbers too.