Celebrity Encounters

Ok, when I get excited about things, I get REALLY excited about things. My mother calls it dramatic, but that's honestly how I feel. Why should I hide what I feel inside? (not exactly the lyrics to Mulan, but close enough)

At IWU, we have a society of World Changers which basically means one person every year is honored for doing awesome things for God in the world. They get an award and a chapel to talk about their awesomeness and they get a bronze bust in the library. The artist who makes the busts was in chapel which was really cool!

Today, this very day, Kirk Cameron was on our campus. That's right, ladies and gents- the 80's teen heart throb himself. Okay, so he's done a lot more than than. He became a Christian in 1989 and has been married to Chelsea for 21 years. They have 6 kiddos which is really cool and his oldest son, who is 15, was on campus with him today. Also, Chelsea played Mike Seaver's girl friend on Growing Pains but she was not obsessed with Mike Seaver. She got to know the real Kirk and did not have a Mike Seaver pillow case. Note to all fangirls- memorabilia is not the way to his heart.

Jessica and I watched the first disc of season 1 of Growing Pains last night in order to prepare ourselves. I was glad people cheered a little when Mr. Cameron talked about the show because I wanted to "Woo!" too :) When he was talking about the Make-A-Wish foundation things they got to do on set, he said kids wanted to meet Mike and Carol and Ben and sit on the Seaver couch- I was proud Jessica knew what he was talking about!

Kirk was named after Captain Kirk on Star Trek because it was his dad's favorite TV show (who knew?) and the family joke was that his sister, Candace Cameron (DJ on Full House!) was going to be named Spock.

Mr. Cameron had some great things to say and I was jotting them down as fast as I could. They aren't exact but you will get the idea.

When he was talking about his faith and walk with God, he said "I'm not where I could be and I'm not where I should be, but I'm not where I was." That was incredibly encouraging. I like that one a LOT.
Recently, Mr. Cameron was sort of slammed in the media for calling homosexuality "unnatural" and when he was talking about that, he talked about how tough a situation he was in but that he hopes other Christians will not wimp out. He hopes they will stick to what they believe and that he would have thought the controversy would be bigger if he had contradicted himself, not if he said what he believes in. When discussing the media, he had an interesting take on main stream media values. He said they have a god of political corecteness, and when someone (Kirk Cameron) or anyone else blasphemes it, they (the media) feel the need to defend it. Similarly, when someone blasphemes the one, true God, Christians feel the need to defend Him. People stand up when the thing they are loyal to is attacked.

Then Kirk talked about other World Changers a little bit and said "God uses nobodies from nowhere with nothing to offer but a fully surrendered heart" to build up His kingdom. It was a cool encouragement to students and he mentioned Moses and a few other Biblical characters who, by the world's standard, had nothing going for them, but God used them in big ways.

Kirk talked about that he knows "who I am and who's I am" (whose? I never know) and that when we are climbing to success, to make sure your ladder is propped up against the right building. If you are climbing the corporate ladder, are you doing it for the good of the Lord? If you are working hard to be the mom of the year, are you doing it to further the Kingdom? That part was really cool.

I took this photo! Wahh!

 After chapel, I sat at McConn with Jessica and Dr. Smith got coffee with Kirk Cameron! Jessica chased them down the mallway and I took her picture. He was in a rush, otherwise I would have taken a photo as well. Here are all the photos I took during Chapel. Some of them it's tough to tell where he is, but I'll do my best to explain them.

Just to the right of the harp is Mr. Cameron

Wahoo for jumbo screens!

Instead of giving a speech, it was interview style. 

That way, it was much more personal and interactive.

Aww Kirk and Chelsea! He commented that he did not have any say in the photos in the slideshow and that 80's hair was bad. 

There's President Smith at the microphone

President Smith is giving Kirk the award.

Woohoo awards!

Liz took this photo for me before chapel.

I couldn't resist.