My eyes are changing

Don't be alarmed, my physical eyes are not changing, and it is not my M/S acting up. This change is completely inward and Spiritual. Check this out.I was sitting in dinner the other night. And, well one of the interns brought the sky to my attention. As I gazed out the window of the dinning hall, I was just taken by the beauty of the sky. Now, Mikey of the past may have said, "ohh, that's pretty," or "that would make a good calendar picture," or even "hummm, I wonder what different colors can happen in the sky at dusk." But not so much anymore. As soon as I saw that sky, I knew I had to go outside and get a better look. So, that is exactly what I did. As I stared at that beautiful sky, I thought to myself, "God, you never cease to amaze me. You created this, you crafted this sky and you are allowing me to enjoy your splendor." I felt quite fortunate and blessed. My eyes are changing, my heart is changing too. I have been spending a lot of time thinking about those guests from Jordan that came to visit Lost Canyon. I have really been holding a lot of contempt in my heart. Not outwardly though. For instance, whenever we have had opportunities to talk about them, I always keep my mouth shut. Maybe it's because I think, "well, if you don't have anything nice to say, then don't say anything at all." That cold and possibly confused part of me is learning a very valuable lesson. I have all these excuses in my heart, things like, "well, they are part of a very confused religion that denies the sanctity of Jesus Christ, and they only hurt the world. BUT, that is not how Christ would have approached it. Christ would have loved them no matter what they believed. I CAN NOT SAVE A SOUL! I must do my part, and that part is to love them in a way that will have them looking back thinking, "there was something different about him. The rest of the world will hassle them, I want to love them in a way that will infect them. Maybe that is the lesson I was supposed to learn from our Jordan guests. For that I am very thankful. A hard heart is not a heart of Christ. And that is what I want, it really is, more so than anything. I will slowly learn and transform. I want to be so driven by the Holy Spirit, that I never even have to rely on my own personal thoughts. Sounds scary? Not to me.Now, this blurry picture you see above was from today. Ya see, it was the last day today for the campers. They have an opportunity before they leave to go home to speak out about their week. Anyone can say whatever they want. Usually it goes like this. You give your name, where you are from, and share briefly what God did for you during the week. It all comes from Psalm 107:2. It is a powerful opportunity for the kids to take that first step out in faithfulness. To outwardly express what is going on inside. Similar to a baptism, but in a different way. It is very powerful for those watching such as myself.

I had such a good day today. I got to be really crazy with my ODC (out door crew) guys, and we got a lot of work done. Today was a really really good day. :0)

Good day

Every morning this month/session will start out in this room or a room/location similar. This is Bible study with my ODC work crew/summer staff. Right now we are going through Acts and learning about what it means to be in a Christian community. It's been really good so far, and filled with lots of great and honest questions about life and the Lord. That is the best kind of Bible study in my opinion.Sorry for the quality of this picture, it was really bright out and he was moving quickly. Anyways, this is Trevor and he loves the song Free Falling. I was finishing up with lunch, when one of his leaders motioned for me to come over. Of course I was happy to meet some new capernaum friends. So, I walked over and learned their names. Then Joe (was a Work Crew boss last session) had me lean over and said to me, "hey, go put on Free Falling through the speaker system, it will make your week." I did just that, and boy was he right. Trevor started dancing and singing like crazy. Every time the chorus came on he would somehow prop his leg behind his head, and fling it out with his arm and it was amazing. I am so blessed at the happiness capernaum kids have dispite their situations. I need to be able to find that joy. Actually, I have found that joy, I just need to continue to allow it to infect every part of my soul/body.

Today was a good day.

Another day @ LC

Today was one of those days that you can look back on and really feel like something got accomplished. Also, I had an opportunity to share my testimony with this new group of work crew and summer staff guys. It really surprised some of them. I heard several, "I would have never guessed!" And as far as work goes, we really got a lot done. We were doing weed and crap removal from a huge ditch. It smelled so bad, but the more weeds we removed, the more the water could actually start to move out. We got some rain today. They say this is just the start of rainy days. Monsoon season IS HERE!! I can't wait for some killer thunder. The day ended very beautifully.What a beautiful camp Lost Canyon is. I love it here. I am really starting to miss my guys from last session though. I miss the friendship, company, and work ethic of Andrew (summer staffer), and all the cheap laughs of Larz. I guess it is time to really pour into the new guys though. I could tell they were impacted by my testimony, and wow is that such a neat feeling. To know that God is making good of a lot of crappy experiences (crappy at the time, good now that I can chalk them up as experience and water under the bridge).

Janice sent me some pictures, I really want to share one of them. It is bright, but I really super like it.I love the laugh's, and I love the body language. It is a very funny picture to me. It seems super genuine. I sure am glad Janice came into my life. What a blessing she is.

Jordan guests

Today was a little different towards the end of the day. I fixed a broken pipe, and did some other things. . . . then we had some guests. Ya see, we had guests from Jordan (Middle East Jordan). Well, as you can see in the picture we were set up in a circle with guests, mostly which were Muslim. They wanted the Christians to believe that we hold a common belief and that we are not all that different. I kept thinking in my head, (I am right, you are wrong). That is how i'm built, it is so clear to me. I love every person in that room tonight. . . . But, Jesus Christ was our main difference. I believe that Jesus was/is the Son of God, and they do not. If anything, I was challenged on how I am suppose to view them and love them. It was a little bit frustrating, but in a good way I suppose. I need to process this information more though.

-Grace&Peace

crap backed up

skydiving

I stepped out of the plane. The wind was going by my leg at 80 miles per hour. It was difficult just getting my feet on the step outside of the plane. It was easily the most intense thing I have ever experienced.The next thing I knew, Karl (my tandem instructor) and I were falling towards the earth at 120 miles per hour!! It was such a thrill. If you look closely, you will see a huge wad of snot on my nose. I guess while I was screaming it cleared out my sinuses. LOL!! It was funny though.Next thing I knew was the parachute deploying. It was pretty intense. We went from 120MPH to around 15-20MPH. Talk about some serious deceleration! I had such an amazing time. I know this will not be the last time I go skydiving. Everyone who does not have a heart condition needs to try this. What made it especially amazing was that I went in Sedona. The ground and mountains all around were so beautiful!! Then there was the landing. It was very smooth. Karl has jumped over 4,000 times!! He is amazing, and really made all of us feel at home with his wife and husband skydiving place.

After skydiving was over, the day only got better. Ya see, we actually took off from a small town in the dessert called Cottonwood. Well, near Cottonwood, there is an old mining town called Jerome. It is referred to as the Ghost town. They told us it had a booming 15,000 population during the mid 1800's, but after the gold ran up, it dropped down to 400. Me and the Gal's stopped for food at the Haunted Hamburger in Jerome, then we explored the city for a bit.
The city was soo cool. It had many different levels, and you could climb up these neat stairs. There were closed off mine shafts with these super super old trucks right at the fronts of um. It was a really neat town.After we left Jerome. We went to the beautiful Sedona, home of the reddest rock you have ever seen. We laid out by a river and just had ourselves a good time.

When I got back to camp, the new summer staff and work crew people were there. I went to an all camp worship time, and then PASSED OUT!!

Today was a good day. :o)

Janice

There of course is Janice. What a gift from God, getting to know her has been. God has given me this relationship, and God has been put first through it. So I had to say goodbye, but I know I will see her again. I'm not talking about Heaven. . . . although we will be there, i'm talking about seeing her again on Earth. When is my first break from school? ;o)

P.S. I AM GOING SKYDIVING TOMORROW!!!!! Can't wait to share that experience on here. :o)

Andrew

I have been goofey with friends. This is Andrew, and he is only 4 days younger than me. We worked hard all month together.

-Grace&Peace

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testimony with WILL

The session ended today. Things I have done are tell and hear testimonies with good friends. This is Will and we have very similar stories. I love that I am here this summer. God has truly blessed me greatly.

-Grace&Peace

food @ KATIES

Today was very difficult work wise. Sometimes we/I get into these projects that turn into some seriously long and drawn out whoopty ha's. That happened 2day. An irrigation breaked turned into this whole crazy and drawn out project. It ended with me gettin 'er done though.

When I got off work I talked with Mark Booth (intern coordinator) about how emotionally I reacted when my birth mom requested my friendship on facebook. I think I got some things for me to chew on mentally, emotionally, and spiritually reguarding the matter.

The night ended with me, 2 male interns, and and Mark going to Katies (property staff) house for shiscabob's [spelling?]. It was an awesome ending to an LONG day.

-Grace&Peace

B-Mom

This will be brief. Something that possibly should have been seemingly insignificant turned quite emotional. I just got done blogging not too long ago &now i'm in bed. But, i checked my facebook & my biological mother requested me as her friend. I started crying. It brought back like this flood gate of emotions and pains that I had always done a good job of keeping hidden. Maybe it's time I sought some further counsel and tried digging into these feelings/this issue.

G'Night

-Grace&Peace

attitude

Okay, so today is SUNDAY, but I am just getting to posting about it. It was worth the wait though. Just in case you are thinking, "jeeze Mikey, what could possibly be so important?" Well, GOD is once again working for the good of those who love Him. All day on Friday, I had this horrible attitude. I will tell you why too. Ya see, I have met this girl, Janice. And well I know for a huge fact that God has used me to speak into her life, and that is awesome. I mean, I have done this kind of thing before, even for cute females, but this time was different. Not only did God use me to speak to someone, but then I felt this emotional attachment. Strange, and while I was trying to figure out why I got this bad attitude I found out I kind of had a bit of a beef with God. This is what a bad attitude looks like here at Lost Canyon during a normal work day. I woke up at 5:30 and was at work @ 6. I had trouble doing all the little things that I usually LOVE. Things like working in the field, and cutting grass, and things like that. Well, it just was not going away, and I knew it was because I was frustrated with my emotions towards Janice, and kept questioning God on why these were so getting to me. So, I did something that I have never done before. Seriously, 22 years of girl friends and such, and this was the first time I ever have called my mother and asked for her advice on the subject. She GAVE ME AWESOME ADVICE! THANKS SO MUCH MOM, I love you like crazy. It seems like I love my parents more and more as time goes on here. I just see how lucky I am to have them in my life. So, the day gets over but my attitude does not leave. I am praying and praying at this point for God to take it from me. . . . but nothing. SO, I go with the Interns to someones house, and they make spaghetti. I eat it and have some thing revealed to me about the subject. . . . I want to go back to camp, and I ask my friend (and fellow intern) to take me. She says, "Okay, but will you drive?" I said, "yes of course." On the way home, I guess I was going 37 in a 25. I had no idea the speed limit changed, and I got pulled over. As soon as the cop took my information, I knew I was getting a ticket. I prayed out loud, "God, please don't let me get this ticket, but if I do, please don't allow it to make my attitude worse." I meant it so much too. The cop took 15 minutes to come back to the window, and asked everyone in the car (2 girls) except me, to vote on whether or not I get a ticket. They voted no, and he did not give it to me. My bad attitude was lifted. GONE!! GOD ANSWERS PRAYERS!! I won't even go into depth on how crazy it is that I did not get that ticket in the small town of Williams AZ. God is so good. But, even when things are going horribly, God is still good. My life may look all smiles and happy trails on my BLOG, but, believe it or not, I go through lots of difficulties. I just try my hardest to give them to the Lord.Janice made this bracelet for me. I dig it.

sharing life

I wanted to start off by sharing a picture that is really quite amazing. It was from a couple of days ago when the interns and myself went to the top of a mountain in Flagstaff called San Francisco Peak or something to that effect. It is the highest point in Arizona at an amazing 11,500ft!I'm the one farthest off in the picture (I NEVER WEAR SHIRTS WITH SLEEVES). It was so amazingly beautiful on top of that Mountain, and the view just screamed GOD!! I was in total amazement. It was a real bonding time for me and my fellow interns. It was so awesome. We had an opportunity to sit just as INTERN's and talk things over. I got some real guidance from one of the interns, her name is Kailey Jensen, and ultimately here dad is my main boss.Here is a picture I took yesterday of THE CREW. There is Anthony (ODC BOSS), Andrew (summer staff), John, Jake, Conner, and Isaiah (all work crew). This is a picture of us rock digging. It is odd, I feel like we have made it as a group of servants/workers in Christ once we start digging for rocks on the side of the mountain. To me it is a level we have arrived at as a group. It really means nothing, but to me, I suppose it does a bit. They are all an amazing group of guys that really longs to serve the Lord. It is quite amazing also to see what devoting a month of your summer to serving the Lord can do for you. Hey MOM, I just thought I would tell you that God connected me with this lovely lady above. Her name is Janice. It is really very amazing how we met. There was just a willingness to open up and a vulnerability that allowed honesty to come out. I would say God used it in a big way. In revealing things that needed to be revealed to her, and by reminding me that I must always be willing to be used. As well as me being so incredibly blessed by the Amazing God we serve. She is a really nice girl mom. She lives in CA though. . . but it has been really sweet having an outpouring from both of us. In a way that I have never really experienced before. I wanted you to know because I have never really let you in on this part of my life. I'm not saying that i'm dating Janice at this time or anything, but I wanted to give you the heads up ya know? LOVE YOU MOM!!

God is so bright here. This is something that I have experienced so strongly here that I know it will carry back into "the real world" (world outside of Lost Canyon).

small groups & stars

Today was great. I feel like every day here is great, even a day that is a ummmm, "not perfect day" is still totally wonderful. I am starting to see everyone here for how truly wonderful they are. Wow, 1 Peter 4:1-6 really spoke to me. More like the Holy Spirit spoke to me through those words. It is amazing how pride can fall away if you are just willing to wilidly love unconditionally. I am coming in to that. It is allowing me to love in a way that really serves my heart and place in this internship in a big way. Anyways I just wanted to share that all this personal time in small groups and inward reflection has really been super healthy for me. I am going to go look at some stars with a summer staff girl named Janice now. SMILES!

-Grace&Peace

CAPERNAUM

This is BO. Bo made my BLOG last year. If you go to June 13th of 2008, you will see him. BO really brings a lot of joy to me. Bo is also a part of YOUNG LIFE CAPERNAUM kids. You can ~CLICK HERE~ to learn more about what CAPERNAUM is all about. But basically this week was a camp full of kids with mental/physical disabilities. It is so amazing to be able to love and interact with these kids. I am impacted by their outlook on life greatly. They are so open to love and fun. I know all too often, I can be so closed off to experiencing things or even experiencing love from others. They are so honest too. So much joy comes out in me just seeing their disposition. It is so easy to love them because the love is recripricated so greatly. It is truly great training for loving people who are not so easy to love back. I made many friends this week, kids like J.R., Brent, Veronica (will be in a wheel chair the rest of her life but is never seen without a veyr infectious smile), and of course. . .JASEN!! This guy brought me so much joy. We just connected right away. His legs are very weak, and he has to wear leg braces, and he does not really speak. He can sort of speak, but he communicates mostly with pointing and hand motions/gestures. One night we played Ping Pong. It was me serving to Jasen, or Jasen serving himself, but that means he would just BLAST IT and I would run to pick it up and do it over again. He would laugh and smile and was just so overwhelmed with joy. I just felt like my joy tank was topped off every second I spent with him. Something so easy on my part really meant the world to him. The other thing that is seriously amazing is the leaders that come with them. Most of the kids, especially the ones who have higher levels of disability have to have a leader for each camper. The capernaum leaders are servants through and through. Christ shines in and around them in a very big way.

heading back

So today I am BLOGGING very early because I had a very early start. This morning I am reminded of several things; firstly the worth of a good nights sleep is great in my book. And secomdly, I cannot ever, EVER thank my parents enough for all they do for me. Let's just take today, out of the bajallions of times they have put me before themselves. It was probably 3:30AM when we (yes both of my parents took me to the airport. . . even though my mom can't walk yet) stopped at Steak & Shake for some early morning grub. Then we continued to the Indianapolis International Airport where my flight will leave @ 6:37AM. I am BLOGGING from the concourse B and about to get on.

I am excited to get back to Lost Canyon so I can be with my peeps. I want Arizona heat back!!! Ta Ta INDIANA!

-Grace&Peace

WINDY GAP

Yes, Windy Gap is the name of the camp I just got back from. It was the camp I took my area Fort Wayne Young Life kids to in North Carolina. I have some pictures to share. I took many, many, many pictures. BUT, these were the ones I wanted to share the most. Check them out.Yes, that's right that is Nicky and he is smiling. We were just about ready to go out for WESTERN night, and he drew on that mustache on himself. Can you believe it?Here are some of the good'ole boys from my cabin.Here is Daniel. We had some really good times this week. I believe God is really working in his life in a big way. I was so proud to have him in my cabin, along with every single other guy that was in there. God just has his children in different places and at different walks in life. Here is the Fort Wayne YOUNG LIFE team of leaders and kids. I got closer to kids, some kids came to know Christ, but every single individual that I have ever spent time with knows that I want to be right next to them no matter where they are Spiritually. That I want to love them and be a part of their life right where they are at. This camp was beautiful, that's for darn sure. God did many, many amazing things this last week.

WERE OFF!!

The day has finally come. We are off and about 45 minutes into a 14 hour bus ride. Ohh yes, myself 6 leaders & a buss load of Young Life (& non-Young Life) kids are off to Windy Gap in North Carolina for the week. God is going to be very active and at work through the campers as well as the leaders. I am stoked! It is 1:15AM and my head lamp is bugging kids, so Ta Ta for now.
-Mikey