back @ pathway

I worked at Pathway today. It was really cool because I can work there till I start at YMCA. That is awesome, Thanks God. ;-)I threw a lot of fertilizer today though. I did it really quickly, and I think I did a really good job. SO, of course I took a picture of me and the spreader....

I also started my summer class today. Statistics is the name of the game. I hate math by the way. I don't hate many things either, but I honestly do hate math. It is so difficult for me. STUPID M/S!

I have been talking with this girl, her name is Jocelyn. She was a summer staffer at Timber Wolf Lake when I went up there in Michigan with the local Young Life kids. She is really cool, I like talking with her a lot. Lives in Michigan though....... (sigh) figures. ;-)

G'Night!

SunDAY

Yes, it sure was nice to finally be back for S day. I have really missed my church (Pathway), although I do view "church" differently. I think there is this really messed up view of what church is suppose to look like. I don't think church has to be that 1-2 hour time frame you spend with a group of individuals singing, then listening to a message. I don't think that is what it was intended to be like.

Also, DAVE church, the church I was attending on Saturday evenings is now held on Sunday evening at 5:00, it was really good to be around Dave & Richard and Margie. Dave's daughter Rachel gave a very awesome depiction of how God is working in her life. She just got back from a church event called CDYC (Central district Youth Conference), which I have gone to several times when I was in high school. It is awesome to see how God is working in her life, and to see how sold out she is. Such a refreshing thing to see. I sure do see a lot of wisdom in that 16 year old head of hers.Also went to Collateral to end the evening. My ex girl friend Lauren was there with her cousin Brittney, and it was nice. That is Lauren in the above picture in the black. It was really nice to chat with her and her cousin, to be personable and that is just good. I have nothing but smiles about tension free relationships, especially ex g/f relationships. They should all be like that....ha...

G'Night!

this is what I say

Today, once I got up I borrowed the work truck from Pathway, and then I got my friend George. We man handled the old couch from the up stairs (my) living room, dumped it, and went and picked up the new one. Now I have this beautiful, comfy, big blue couch. I was telling my dad earlier, I may not have a good group of like minded friends to hang around, but I do have a nice couch. ;-)It was quite a challenge for us to get that huge couch through the small door way, but it was much harder getting the old couch out of the house. It was the kind of couch with a bet inside of it, and it was HEAVY! We managed it though, and now I really do have this huge blue comfortable thing to chill on. It is going to be good to go to church tomorrow, it has been such a long time since I have been there.

I just found the song "I'm not who I was" by Brandon Heath, man that is a simple but awesome song. I found it in my Windows Media Player library, never even knew I had it. Great song, I feel like it is very applicable to me too.

It would be so easy to go back to the way things use to be, but I would hate it so much. I may have to fight for this new way of life, but it is so worth it.

I also went to go work out at the YMCA today, and it was quite awkward, like there was a bunch of the big HUGE body building types there. They were all lifting like 3,oo0 lbs. But, it's all good, I think I am going to keep going back. I wanna learn how to play racquetball too. If I could only find a lifting buddy, that would be so good for me.

G'Night!

minimal Christian friends my age

I met up in Marion today to see my friend Matt Kern. It is a story of forgiveness, and it's really cool how that all worked out.We met up at a Mexican restaurant and talked for quite some time. I invited him to come up for the 4th of July.My brother in law to be forgot his hat and shades at my house, I wore them when I went to get TB tested for at the clinic for the YMCA job. ~PIMPIN!~Eventually I went to my friend Tony & Josh's house, and hung out for a while. He let me drive his 300 GT VR4, this thing is a twin turbo, and fast as heck. I had that thing going 85 like it was nothing.

I went home early because there was drinking & ick, and I just couldn't be around it. I wanna go back to Arizona where everyone thought and acted like me. I HATE THE REAL WORLD!! I don't really hate it, but wish I had a core group of Christians that I really liked and hung out with. I shall like prayer for that.

G'NIGHT!

my day

Okay, so I did it, I went and am now officially a member of the Y. I walked around in there and I think I am actually going to take advantage of it. Maybe I will go in tomorrow morning and do a little work out session. I think that would be nice. I am going to go and meet an old friend somewhere in between Fort Wayne & Indianapolis for lunch and to catch up on old times. I hope he says yes to Marion, because that is actually a little bit closer to Fort Whizzie.

I also got to see some of my cute little cousins.Brock is on the left & Emily is on the right. They are awesome! They also just got back from Disney World, where they were treated like Kings and Princesses. They could tell ya all about it. ;-) They all flew into Fort Wayne, and so we had the pleasure of picking them up.Also, I feel I have to share this. Ya see, we have little critters in our attics space. They are getting in near one of the damaged dormers on the house. This is going to be repaired soon when the roof get's redone, but for now, apparently my dad is trying to catch all the squirrels in our back yard in order to stop them from coming in. Well, if you look really carefully, you can see a little chip munk in that metal box, and a neighborhood cat found it and was just posted up next to it. LOL. My sister Brandy and her finance John came over to have me help them with some stuff, and Brandy and my mom thought it was inhumane to keep the animal in there like that. So I released it. Whatevea!

my beautiful mother

My mom was cleaning out her sewing room when she came across this blast from the past. It is a news paper article taken from the late 60's of her and her friend Joanne. They had started a little shop together, and when I saw the article, I knew I had to post it. It's neat running into things from the past.

Well I went and filled out all the final paperwork for my childcare position with the YMCA. I can't wait to get started, it is going to be a growing experience for me and I am really looking forward to it. Also, I found a perk to the job right from the get go that I didn't even know about. I get a free membership to the Y, so that is real tight. I wonder if I will ever use it. ;-/ hummmmm

fishing, pool, hawk

I was watching the news today and I saw a Hawk on the screen. It appears that the local station Wayne, News Channel 15 has several live weather cams. Well, there is a hawk that keeps returning to the camera that is posted up above St. Joseph's Hospital, well he sure is looking good. I know they have the video posted on their site, and probably will for the next several days. CHECK THIS OUT!! I dunno, I just thought it was pretty cool.Today me and my buddy Nick (kid from the high school I do contact work at) decided to go fishing. This was a candid shot I took while we were at the bait and whatever shop. We had a good time chillen, but didn't catch anything because the darn lake we were at had so much friggin weeds in it, we couldn't even get out a good cast. AHHHH!After the fishing was over, I went to my sisters house to work on her computer a lil bit more. I got it all hooked up so that it should run real smooth and they won't have any problems. The pictures from above are from a pool party that was held for all the Young Life kids that went to camp. It was a blast, and we had so much fun. I wish the top picture would have turned out better, but it was too dark, and I didn't have good placement.

I am so super tired. I love God though. :-)

great food

My mom made this phenomenal Tilapia today, it tasted so good, I can't even explain. She is an amazing cook though, I am glad she is part of the crew (family). I use sarcasm of course, cooking isn't the only reason I am grateful for my mother, I mean she does my laundry too........

I am wondering if I could be content with creating a BLOG post with just a picture and some words about a dinner my beautiful mother made for me. Hummmm..... Naw

I have 3 really good verses I want to make comments about.

First is Ephesians 1:17-20 WOW, you can take so much from this one. This is what I pulled out of Paul's beautiful letter to the church in Ephesus. If you ask God for "life smarts" (wisdom) and "Bible revealing" (revelation) he will in fact give it to you. Probably in ways you wouldn't even expect it.

next up we have Colossians 1:9-10 In this part of Paul's letter to the Colossians I believe he is speaking about God's will. I put down a note that says, we must seek His will so that we can live a worthy life. That is what I took from it.

Last one I have is 1 Peter 2:2-3 but it is best to start in verse 1 to get the full impact. You first read what you ought to rid yourself of, then you must read carefully. Don't forget to put in the comma, to "crave spiritual milk" just like a baby craves it's mothers milk. This is what I took from this. Train yourself in what is right, and you will eventually crave it. It is what will grow you.

Why do I keep failing, when I know wrong is wrong??? When will it click, this is the struggle thought I find myself pondering in the moment of these verses. It is a good struggle, because I refuse to just give in. For that, I give a big :-) SMILE!

Today I
1.) got off Probation
2.) paid for 6 months of car insurance for only $501.00
3.) paid for stupid stop sign ticket
4.) got ready for summer class that will start on MONDAY
5.) ate really good food
6.) dug into Isaiah 53 '
7.) made plans with a Young Life kid to go fishing tomorrow.

HORAY!!

G'Night

It feels good to BLOG

Dang I guess I forgot how much I love to BLOG, I have been gone from it for like 4 weeks, and it feels good to be back at the Dashboard/hub of my BLOG site. I am going to just share and share and share. :-)

Well, I got back from Michigan where I had the opportunity to lead in a cabin of our area Young Life kids at a camp called Timber Wolf Lake. It was an amazing experience for both the leaders and the kids. I really love the way Young Life presents the message of Christ. They do it in a way that is very real, it is inviting, BUT it is not given in a way that would make one feel guilty or in a way that imparts a large burden for those not yet ready for a personal commitment. Young life wants to love kids no matter what stage they are at. If they aren't ready to start that personal relationship, this is their take, "hey, we still wanna love you and stand by you in everything you do, if you ever think you might want that, come on board, otherwise let's chill and i'll love on you." I hope that made sense, I was talking as though I was the whole organization of Young Life. Well, it was a super experience for me because one of the guys I have been spending time with decided that he wanted to start that relationship with Christ. I got to help him pray the prayer. It was so moving and amazing for me. I was so insanely grateful for getting to be a part of the whole process. I can't wait to see how his new commitment will affect our relationship. I am excited for the new responsibility for helping to feed him in the truth. IT WAS SO AWESOME!!!I got to sleep in today, which was so nice. It was especially good to sleep in a room that didn't wreak of Body Oder and mildew. I could stretch out my legs in bed, and ohh the luxuries of being home. I was in bed till about 12:00, woke up, ate some lunch with my dad, then went and got my 4th infusion of TYSABRI. It was odd today because I waited and waited in the little room they put me in. I go to the Emergency Room for my infusion, and it is usually pretty quick. I go in, they order the medication, then hook me up to a drip for about an hour. Well, I waited in that room for a good 1hr 45min before the medicine even got there. Right before it came, the nurse came in all flustered and told me that they just got swamped. Apparently there was a little carnival type activity going on at one of the local middle schools. I don't know what for. But, we had this storm roll through today about mid afternoon. I guess they had a big moon walk type thing set up. Well, the wind really came out of no where and lifted the moon walk up with kids in it, and just tossed it through the air. When one of the kids got to the ER, he/she was in critical condition. I told the nurse to do what she had to do, and not to worry about me. I sure hope this boy/girl is okay.

Once I got back home I found a little surprise in my bed room. It was walking around on the screen of one of my windows. I managed to capture it in a CD case and took this picture. I don't know if it was a hornet, wasp, yellow jacket or what but it was horrifying. Quite fascinating though. It was a huge insect, and was really tough. The thing could take a beating and still keep on going. I would shake and shake the CD case, but it would just get right up as pissed as ever and walk around. Well, I put a tiny hole in the top of the case and filled it up with water. It was crazy, the darn thing could still walk on the walls of the case even when it was filled with water. It must have some crazy high tech feet to be doing that. Then, I decided to capture it in place with some shaving cream. So, I stuck the shaving cream nozzle in and filled it up. It was making a loud buzzing sound for about 30 seconds till it finally succumbed to my experiment. I tried to release it but ended up sending it down the sink. I hope it didn't survive, it would probably go crazy on my face if it could. Also, this isn't the first time I have found one of them flying around my room/bathroom. They probably have a nest in the rafters, and sneak in some how. I dunno.

This picture was taken at Josh's(YL area director) house. We will be inviting all the kids who went with us to camp to come over and have good Christian fellowship and dig into the Bible a little bit. It was mostly geared to the ones who made a personal commitment, but all were invited. 30 kids showed up, and once we split into small groups, they decided on their own, that they would like to continue to keep meeting through the summer. I am so glad to be a part of this. It is a beautiful thing. I really liked these words we talked about found in 1 John 5:3-5 they seemed to just kind of click in my heart. If you accept that Jesus is the Son of God, then how can you continue to live your life in sin. This is what popped into my mind while going over this verse. The kids were great, we played some box ball at one of the leaders houses and just really enjoyed each other. I go tomorrow to get insurance back on my car. I am really crossing my fingers in hope that I will be able to afford 6 months of coverage again. That is such a relief of stress when I am not worrying about paying that. It is a lot cheaper also, for me to buy 6 months at a time. HORRAY FOR BLOGGING!!

packed again

Today was suppose to be a still day of thinking, prayer, and recuperation to prepare for the start of my next week in at Timber wolf lake in Lake City, MI. Instead it was filled with E-Mails, phone calls, and uploads. It's all good though, I am packed yet again, and ready for an amazing week where God is going to do great things in the lives of my Young Life guys. Which by the way, there are 3 that I have been in constant contact with. I AM SO STOKED!!!!

As I promised, I will include some journal entries that I wrote while I was in Arizona.

5-23

Today is the first day at Lost Canyon. I feel like a little child saying that, but I am almost in a child like state of mind in this place. There are so many beautiful people here, I am so looking forward to getting a deeper look into many of their lives. I seriously want to soak up as much as possible in a really applicable way.

5-24

What to do about the sin in me..(Romans 7:15-20) tells very clearly that when I am cleansed by the blood of Christ, I am a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). So, when I sin it is not this new creation sinning, it is the sin of the world/flesh creeping in. I must stay aware of my thoughts, actions, and words. Falling to my knees as much as needed. A reminder to surrender daily.

-A child told Martin (African leader who has been through many atrocities and horrible life events) during a camp in Africa that, “if heaven is like this, then I want to go there.” WOW!

-what is the “awe” of God? It’s like a beautiful mountain, the amazing splendor you are struck with. The word made flesh is a big idea, something powerful that takes over your life. The word becoming flesh is an experience shown by brothers and sisters in Christ.

6-2

~CHILLS~

Great group meeting time, stories shared and I was really tested today. I failed horribly because I really lost my temper with a group of kids today. It was field games and God set up a situation for me to be a leader but instead I lost my cool and threw a bucket of water on kids. ughhh…..

-When I sin, it’s not me who sins, it’s my “flesh” that fails.

6-5

WOW! Working today was pretty average, put in some big boulders and gave my testimony to the guys I work with (mostly high school kids). They were all just in a trance when I spoke, and when I was done, everyone of them prayed for me. It was powerful for me and very humbling. This evening we had the club where we explained what Christ did for us. We showed a video which is quite powerful and at the end they ask the kids to take 15 minutes of quiet time by them selves. The kid that came and stood next to me really let down his defensive walls, and was really impacted by the message. He was in tears as he walked outside for his 15 min. of quiet time. It was so powerful and I felt the holy spirit in that room. (I tightly clenched my legs and kept my head bowed for this kid, all through the 15 minutes, the presence of the Holy Spirit was amazing, chills all up and down my body)

6-6

Philippians 2:14-15 Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe.

From Oswald (my devotional) “God not only expects me to do His will, but he is in me to do it.” If I do anything against Christ, it is never in His will, it is sin within me coming out. God’s will is pure and blameless, the flesh is what acts out, sin can be beaten down though, I must keep my eyes continually centered on Christ. Today, I fixed/checked 448 chairs in the dinning hall. J

6-9

Today I woke up and felt so good. This amazes me because last night and most of yesterday I was sick and getting sicker. I had chills, fever, messy stomach, and just not feeling good. Marty’s (one of the older leaders) wife Susan was around so I asked her if she could feel my fore head and see if she thought I was feeling warm. She did and then I asked if she would pray for me. This woman holds Christ close to her and I felt the Holy Spirit. Yesterday night I started feeling so much better. The healing power of God has been bestowed upon me and I am so thankful. (My journal entry about this subject doesn’t do it justice; I was completely healed from all physical ailments. It was so obvious and not a coincidence.)

6-12 (8:00AM)

I ate this morning with Ryan (property supervisor) and Kevin (landscape intern) at Pine Country. It was nice to feel “set apart” from the other workers. Ryan gave me the direct impression that I would have a very elevated chance of being chosen as a landscape intern if that was something I would be interested in doing next summer. Today was the last Lost Canyon club for me. There was a lot of tears during the cross talk video. Mostly they were coming from Capernaum kids, but the emotions that were stirred don’t just come out because someone has a “simple” mind. The pain Christ endured on the cross is very real and for someone who has a relationship with Him will usually be put on his/her knees. It was really sad to say good bye to all of my work crew buddies, but that is all part of the package deal I suppose. I am ready for the next step God will place me.

Tonight was amazing when all the Summer Staff got together for our, or at least my last group meeting. Many people, in fact all spoke up and really stepped out of their comfort zone. It was so good for me not to have to experience a serious spiritual awakening through this trip. God did huge things, but I feel for the most part I am on the right track.

I wish there were specific pictures to go with each Journal entry, but I guess I just wasn't that organized. I wanted to write more about thoughts, and feelings, and ideas that I had more than actual activities and events. I came away with so much more than what I wrote about in the journal entries I selected, but these are just the ones I selected for your viewing pleasure.

Ohh also, I included some pictures from flying 1st class. The seats were big, the food was good, and I was extremely spoiled. I think I belong in coach though.yummm, the food really was good. It was fun.

Arizona or BUST

I just got home so I am super tired, and wanting to get to sleep in my big beautiful soft luscious bed, but I can't leave my people hanging if there are still any out there checking this thing, so here are some pictures that will hopefully give a good depiction of what I had the chance to be a part of the past 3 weeks. It was so powerful and moving, and God worked in my life in a huge way and showed me things and opened doors, and just did amazing things. These pictures don't show the hoards of happy tears I cried, and they don't show the impact that took place in my heart, but it does give a little insight into how much of a beautiful experience I had. I SERVE AN AWESOME GOD!!

My Capernaum friends!!

Andy is not a Capernaum kid

GRAND BEAUTIFUL!

Tomorrow I will pull out my journal and write out some specific ways I really saw God working directly into my life. I wasn't able to BLOG while I was in Arizona, but I did keep a journal, and so I can still provide some rays of light into my deep crevice of a brain. This was such an amazing trip, completely God driven, and I am so thankful I got to experience it.