Making friends

I was really expecting my classmates at GRCC to be really lame. It's just the stereotype of community college students that I had. I mean, everyone at West Shore fit the description. As it turns out, I think my classmates are really cool. Maybe it won't be so hard to meet new friends outside of camp people (no offense camp people, but I need to get out more).
On the same note of meeting new friends, Kris and I went to Berkley Hills Wesleyan Church last Sunday and we both loved it. I'm pretty sure that I'm done searching for a church down here. Everyone says that "church shopping" is so hard. Every time I've done it, I've found where I want to go on the first or second try. I thought it was funny that we met a bunch of Kuyper students there. Kuyper is a reformed college (which is opposite of Wesleyan). Just a little humor for my day. The church is less than a mile from my house, so I'm really excited about living right in the neighborhood of my church. I think driving 30 minutes to church defeats part of the purpose of church.

I watched Invictus last night. I would just like to say that I think it is stupid that we do not learn about this kind of stuff in public school. All they care about in public school is American history (it builds patriotism after all). We never learned about foreign issues and world history. The story behind that movie is incredible. If I could choose to have witnessed one sporting event in history, it would have been that.
I'm guessing that we don't talk about Nelson Mandela in American schools because he is famous for criticizing the US saying "If there is a country that has committed unspeakable atrocities in the world, it is the United States of America. They don't care."
But I would have to agree with him.

9/11

Today is September 11th, if you didn't already know.
This day is a little weird.
All year we fight and bicker as a country
but then on this day people forget about it
as we come together and remember our common enemy
We set aside a couple minutes on this day to pray
for the families of those who've lost
It sounds all well and good, but it's so fake
Tomorrow we will forget again
Tomorrow we will begin fighting and bickering again
and what about the other tragedies?
did we stop to remember the 2000 people who died in Katrina?
did we pray for their families?
do we even remember the date that it happened? (Aug 29th)
How about the 200,000 people that died from the Tsunami?
or the 200,000 people that died in Haiti last January
are we going to stop and remember them?
Probably not
So why 9/11?
Because behind 9/11 is the enemy, an actual tangible foe
Someone we can retaliate against.
we can't take revenge on a hurricane or an earthquake.
If we can come together against a common enemy we build patriotism.
and every good tax paying, ball park loving, consumeristic American loves their patriotism.

But what if we're told to love our enemies and pray for them (Matt 5:43,44)?

Stormy Stormy night, and improvement on Van Gogh

Well, all of my classes are underway. It's going to be very difficult, but I think I'm going to make it. I just have to work on my priorities.
Roommate life is going well. The roomies are finally getting busy so they are less of a distraction. When none of them had classes, I was having a difficult time getting work done. My largest concern at the moment is that, with my insane amount of school work, keeping up with spiritual disciplines is increasingly difficult. So I would appreciate your prayers in this area. I can already begin to see my lack of getting into the Word and prayer affecting my thoughts and decisions.

I have to say that I am excited for autumn. Summer is my favorite season, and I hate winter with a burning passion. This has been a very long and hot summer (which I thoroughly enjoyed), and I am excited about the prospect of wearing my hoodie and drinking hot chocolate. In a perfect world the seasons would go from summer to fall to spring. Sometimes I become sad in the fall because it reminds me that winter is coming.

Also, I absolutely love storms and I wish that I was on the east coast right now.

GR life begins again

Howdy.

My online classes started on Tuesday. It looks like it's going to be a lot of work, but so far no sign of big papers. I'm taking research writing at the CC, so that is going to be a big enough source of large papers. If you could continue to pray for my time management, I would appreciate it. It's not something that I am naturally good at, so it will take some work.

Last week was my "fun week" before I headed off to GR for school. Unfortunately, I was really down about some stuff right when the week started, and it sort of made the week less exciting. Thursday was a real pick-me-up, though, because I got to catch up with some old friends who had great reports of their walk with the Lord.

Now, I begin the process of searching for a church to attend in GR. I found what seems to be a nice Wesleyan church right down the road that I am going to check out. One of the things that I am looking for is proximity. I really want to find a church that is really close to where I am living. Driving 30 minutes or more to church is lame. Obviously, the church must have sound doctrine. I am also looking for a church that is abnormal. Normality is overrated. There are lots of things that could qualify for this. Maybe it's multicultural, maybe it's a house church, maybe they are just willing to think way outside the box when it comes to ministry, or maybe their worship service isn't your standard 3 songs, meet and greet, offering, sermon, another song to close and then leave.
I'm not going to leave a church because I'm not being "fed" adequately by the pastor, if I felt that way I would just listen to sermons from John Piper online. I'm looking for a church where I can connect, love people, be loved by people, and serve along side loving people in ministry.

Putting my face in the dirt

I was driving home from a wedding rehearsal tonight and in the process I listened to two separate sermons on the radio. They were from two different pastors, one out of the book of Job and one out of Romans. They had a common theme, and one that I needed to be reminded of again.

What is our view of God? No, he is not here to help us live a better life in 10 easy steps. Life is not about us and what we can get out of it. Life is about God. God is immeasurably greater than us, almighty, most holy. Why do I not often find myself face down in the dirt, prostrate, bowing down to God's reverence. Not metaphorically, not just a state of mind, but physically in the dirt. How often do we realize our state of depravity and break down, tears running down our faces, unable to do anything but proclaim God's majesty? Too often I take God's grace for granted as I continue to cut corners and sin here and there (it seems ok, because they're not the "big" sins). I should fall flat on my face in tears of repentance every time I disobey the Lord in the small things. We serve a God far greater than any of us can imagine, yet we neglect to give him the praise he deserves.

This thought began earlier this summer when a friend, in tears, opened up to me that this is where he is. As we sat and talked in a mosquito infested swamp for two hours, He said that even the mosquitoes obeyed God's command, yet we cannot. We do not even deserve to kill the mosquitoes biting us right now, because they obey God and we don't. Thanks friend; I thought I was there to help you in that moment, but you don't realize how much you changed my life.

Life Transitions

So I haven't posted on here in a long time, but now that the camp season is coming to a close I'd like to get back into it.

It's an odd thing when something you've known for a long time comes to an end. It's just a strange feeling. Not necessarily sad, but strange. Leaving high school was strange, leaving Cornerstone was strange; and now, leaving camp is strange. Camp is a place that has been a massive part of my life for the past 5 years. It has definitely been the best experience of my life so far. It is where I have met and had fellowship with some of the strongest Christians I know. I've also had so many joyful opportunities to disciple younger people. Spending the extra time to get to know the high school volunteers this year was amazing. I could have coasted through my last summer and just got by with the minimum required of me, but I ended up having an amazing summer because I invested my time in people. I hope that I impacted their lives as much as they impacted mine.

So now I leave on Saturday, with no intent to work here again. The excitement of the unknown awaits me. I am pumped for whatever God has in store for me in the future. This fall I will be busy with 21 credit hours at school, plus a ministry, plus the friends that I have promised to invest time in. I would appreciate prayers for time management, it's going to be crazy. Lord willing I will be graduating with a BS in Biblical Studies next summer. I'm totally filled with joy knowing that I have no idea what I'm going to do after that. College and Camp is what I've known for 5 years. Being done with both of these, I could go anywhere, and that excites me. My plan is to continue serving God with all I have.

It's funny how God changes people. 10 years ago, if you told me that I should go serve God in a remote village in South America, I would have said you were crazy. Now, I'd be down with it.

Random thought of the day: Some of the most important things that I've learned in life have been taught to me by those that I was placed in authority over. Are you willing to learn from those under you? Because, maybe in reality, they are above you.

Life

14We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. 15I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature.[c] For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 20Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

21So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22For in my inner being I delight in God's law; 23but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. 24What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.

I would like to say that I suck. God, thank you for your saving grace,... please help me to suck less and live more like Jesus.