It's been a long time! I haven't posted in like forever...or at least since October 30th!
So, where does that leave us? ...a quick run down of my life recently (and not so recently): My teeth are healed up, didn't have problems with them at all after the wisdom teeth extraction (that was an answer to prayer), Dess, my girlfriend, stayed at my parents' house with me for Thanksgiving break, I went back to school for 2 weeks and now I am home for the Christmas break. I fly out to Montana New Years Eve to spend a week with her at her parents' house; and then come back home to NY for a couple days only to head back to Davis for the spring semester.
So yeah, I know, it ain't much...but it will have to do as I am short on time.
Lastly, before I leave off here:
Please pray for me: as I am going to do the most traveling in my life in one week; also pray that my acoustic guitar gets "unstolen" (since it was in lost and found and then disappeared from there); I am going to be making some big choices very soon, dealing with everything from school, life, and work. Last but not least, please pray that I remain strong in God's strength, not relying on what I can do (cause I can't do anything by myself), and that I would continue to seek God and His will in my life.
Thanks for reading, may God bless you, and remember, that Jesus is the reason for this season. Merry Christmas, and good night.
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Friday, October 30, 2009
Oral Surgery – Post Op.
(Written Thursday, Oct 29, 2009)
I had my surgery yesterday. I felt great, and no it wasn't just the anesthetic making me feel all warm and bubbly inside. I woke up this morning and all I had was a little soreness from the extra 4 holes I have in my mouth.
If you don't know what's going on, I had oral surgery yesterday (Wednesday) at 9:30, I spent the day playing guitar in worship band and in my free time. I asked my parents to drop off my acoustic guitar when they came down yesterday.
But yeah, I was given a script for pain meds, but I am not taking them because one, they don't make me feel any better and two, I don't really need them…I am just having a little soreness, I don't understand why I would need a narcotic that I have the chance of possible addiction to, if normal Tylenol will do the trick.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Fall Break
I haven't updated my blog in a long while. I realize that, and I am sorry for that. I have wanted to update it but never found the time to. As I am typing this I am on my way back to my "home" at Davis Bible College at the end of this fall break.
My break was pretty crazy…Jac's father came and picked her and myself from school on Friday, we started home and I was home by 6:00, immediately after arriving home I dropped my laundry off threw my bass and mini amp into the car and headed off to the Case home for Bible study. After the Bible study was over I had the opportunity to jam out with Pastor Dan, Erik, Cody, and Allen; it was so much fun to get back together with them and just praise God with music.
We shut it down around 12:00 midnight but ended up sitting up and talking until almost 1:30-2:00 and I pulled into my driveway shortly after 2:30 a.m. Later that (Saturday) I went over to my grandparents' house for my grandfather's birthday. It was really good to see my friends and family again since I won't see them until Thanksgiving.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Just Some Thoughts...
Today I was just kinda sitting here thinking, being in a Christian atmosphere, how loose a lot of the guys are with their language. Not swearing, but just the way they talk about other things. I realize that not everyone is as “strict” with the words they speak as me, but I feel that we as Christians should rise above things “questionably close” to what the world would think nothing of to talk about or say. Coming into Davis as a transfer student I don’t have any “leverage”…authority is a better term, but just some of the guys, even the seniors, are great encouragers; but then talk about trash, just plan garbage and its sad.
So if you get a chance, please, just pray for me. Its hard to strive after God when I feel like I am the only one who wants to be pure in all areas of my life. The thing that kills me though is that this is a Bible college, a Christain college…but I feel like it is just becoming a “christian” college…
I finally got a chance to read "My Utmost for His Highest" about 12:40 because I did not have enough time to read it yet today. The verse was 1 Peter 1:16, “Be ye holy, for I am holy.” This is the second time going through this book, and immediately I remembered what this devo was all about. The last paragraph states, “Never tolerate through sympathy with yourself or with others and practice that is not in keeping with a holy God. Holiness means unsullied (is synonymous with pure, clean, unblemished, faultless, untarnished, or immaculate; I like untarnished as we are called to be His vessels and be pure, like a pure silver which can become tarnished unless careful attention is paid to it each and every day to keep it clean) walking with the feet, sullied [untarnished] talking with the tongue, [untarnished] thinking with the mind—every detail of the life under the scrutiny of God. Holiness is not only what God gives me, but what I manifest that God has given me.”……………………wow…we have been called to life without reproach, staying pure, unsullied in all manner of conduct; both in front of Christians and non-Christians alike. It doesn’t matter how long or short of a time that we have been a Christian…God has called all of His children to be examples of himself, and sometimes we might need to act as if He was with us…cause He is.
As I end, I just want to say thank you to all of you who have stood by me in pray and in word.
So if you get a chance, please, just pray for me. Its hard to strive after God when I feel like I am the only one who wants to be pure in all areas of my life. The thing that kills me though is that this is a Bible college, a Christain college…but I feel like it is just becoming a “christian” college…
I finally got a chance to read "My Utmost for His Highest" about 12:40 because I did not have enough time to read it yet today. The verse was 1 Peter 1:16, “Be ye holy, for I am holy.” This is the second time going through this book, and immediately I remembered what this devo was all about. The last paragraph states, “Never tolerate through sympathy with yourself or with others and practice that is not in keeping with a holy God. Holiness means unsullied (is synonymous with pure, clean, unblemished, faultless, untarnished, or immaculate; I like untarnished as we are called to be His vessels and be pure, like a pure silver which can become tarnished unless careful attention is paid to it each and every day to keep it clean) walking with the feet, sullied [untarnished] talking with the tongue, [untarnished] thinking with the mind—every detail of the life under the scrutiny of God. Holiness is not only what God gives me, but what I manifest that God has given me.”……………………wow…we have been called to life without reproach, staying pure, unsullied in all manner of conduct; both in front of Christians and non-Christians alike. It doesn’t matter how long or short of a time that we have been a Christian…God has called all of His children to be examples of himself, and sometimes we might need to act as if He was with us…cause He is.
As I end, I just want to say thank you to all of you who have stood by me in pray and in word.
Friday, August 28, 2009
Thursday, August 27, 2009.
Today was pretty low-key. Practice was at 7:15 this morning instead if at the normal time. Coach didn’t want me running to Cosmo’s so he could keep an eye on me. I ran the track while the guys ran. I kind of felt back cause I wasn’t pulling the same as the rest of the guys. So when the guys ran the second time I was ready to go with them, but coach held me back, so, once again I ran the field but this time I dribbled the soccer ball around. I made it about 10 times around before the guys came back. We didn’t have practice this afternoon cause there was a bunch of guys who weren’t going to be there. So I took the afternoon off to just rest and kind of not do anything. I met my roommate he came in today, it was kind of weird cause everything that his mother said/did, I had to laugh…cause, my parents did that. But yeah, his name is Justin; he seems like a pretty cool guy. We convinced him to play on the soccer team; he wasn’t prepared, but he is now…his mom took him to Dick’s Sporting Goods and got some cleats and stuff. The College had a sort of meet and greet pizza thing this evening that was ok, a bunch of us guys just hung out. Tomorrow we were suppose to have the day off, but cause we didn’t have practice today, we have a last one tomorrow.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009.
I woke up this morning kind of sore from yesterday but nothing too bad; I had no idea what was going to happen. I ate the apple in my fridge that I picked up from dinner last night about 5:45-ish just so I would have some sugar in me since I didn’t eat a big dinner and have enough time before practice so I wouldn’t cramp up too much. Practice wasn’t too spectacular…at the beginning, we did our 5 laps and I actually stayed up with the group despite my legs; we did passing drills, which is when I started getting tired out and fast. We ran another 5 laps before doing the ball control and pushup drills; then we got a 3 min break before running to Cosmo’s and back…today we “picked up the pace”…I was already so dead from all of the stuff we did prior to running to Cosmo’s that I was beat. I stayed with the pack down to Cosmo’s where we took a 2 min stretching break, then we started back. We didn’t even turn off the street that Cosmo’s was on when I started to fall behind. The guys got a pretty good distance ahead of me when they turned around, ran back to me, and pretty much pushed me to the end…literally. Josh, the RA, had his hands on my back pushing me forward around the same pace that we started out with…it was murder; I was so afraid I was going to fall, my legs were so dead, my arms were so dead, my body was so dead, that I didn’t think I could stay on my feet any longer. The guys ran about 300-400 extra yards because of me on that run. After that I was feeling pretty sick, like I was going to throw up; we scrimmaged offence/defense and I was so sick I could barely stand. Coach just pulled me from the field since I wouldn’t have asked for a break; I tried to just walk it off, but I couldn’t my muscles were so sore, and I just kept feeling like I was going to throw up. It was nearing 8:00, when Isaiah, one of the guys on the team, was going after the ball and collided with another guy, Evan, and took each other out; there was a huge smack, like two pieces of plastic smashed together, except no one was wearing shin guards and that sound was bone on bone. Coach dismissed all of us to head back to take showers and eat; I took my shower, ate my other apple and headed to breakfast. My stomach hurt so bad, I barely ate anything even though I was so hungry; so I headed back to the dorm and tried to sleep; I ended up NOT sleeping but rather getting sick. I finally fell asleep around 11:30 only to wake up at 12:00 and not feeling any better; I saw Coach on the way to the bathroom and he asked me how I was and what was up and he told me to get better for the game tomorrow and not to come to practice unless I was 100% (I was NO WHERE near 10%...more like -300%). He left and talked to the nurse and she gave me some pills that would help calm my stomach down as to not throw up anymore, along with some saltine crackers, and a little ginger ale. As I’m writing this I have been here in the dorm for almost 12 hours; my stomach has calmed down and the only thing that hurts now is all my muscles; my lats and abs are killing me, and that is what the nurse was thinking was causing me to be so sick was because the amount of pain in my abdominals. But since I have been in the dorm, all I have eaten were some saltines, but haven’t eaten anything “real” since I ate a sausage and a half scoop of home fries this morning. But I am still alive, God is good.
Monday, August 24, 2009.
I woke up at 5:00 a.m. before my alarm clock went off. So I did my devotions before crawling out of bed. We had practice at 6:30, and it was murder. We started off by stretching out and all that then did a few drills, ran around the field 5 times (the “Knoll” is about the width of a soccer field but about ½ the length, and you run down a hill then up it), more drills which include half the guys practicing controlling the ball and the other half doing pushups or sit ups, then ran to Cosmo’s and back which is about maybe 2-3 miles altogether, then more offence/defense drills, more pushup/sit up drills…all this until 8:00 when we finally got to go and take showers and eat breakfast.
After taking my shower and eating, I went back to the dorm and played a lil’ guitar before just crawling back in bed at 10 and sleeping till 12:00. I ate lunch, slept for another 20 min, got ready for practice at the big field. We had practice from 2:00 until 4:00; that practice consisted of running around the “big part” (that’s equal to 2 soccer fields) twice, there was a hill climb that we did (hill climb= jogging in place waiting for the pair of guys ahead of you to get to the top of the hill then you go…5 times…), we played shirts vs. skins - 6 on 6 offence/defense (it actually wasn’t too bad kinda fun, except for the part of having to guard guys that are all nasty sweaty without shirts on…), but that’s how we ended practice, got into the van, rode home…ate dinner at 5:30 but I wasn’t feeling to good so I ate some fruit and grabbed an apple to eat tomorrow morning; and I have been here in my room photoshopping pics ever since. Its 10:45 and I’m going to bed now.
After taking my shower and eating, I went back to the dorm and played a lil’ guitar before just crawling back in bed at 10 and sleeping till 12:00. I ate lunch, slept for another 20 min, got ready for practice at the big field. We had practice from 2:00 until 4:00; that practice consisted of running around the “big part” (that’s equal to 2 soccer fields) twice, there was a hill climb that we did (hill climb= jogging in place waiting for the pair of guys ahead of you to get to the top of the hill then you go…5 times…), we played shirts vs. skins - 6 on 6 offence/defense (it actually wasn’t too bad kinda fun, except for the part of having to guard guys that are all nasty sweaty without shirts on…), but that’s how we ended practice, got into the van, rode home…ate dinner at 5:30 but I wasn’t feeling to good so I ate some fruit and grabbed an apple to eat tomorrow morning; and I have been here in my room photoshopping pics ever since. Its 10:45 and I’m going to bed now.
Sunday, August 23, 2009
I am currently riding down to Davis College where I am going to college for soccer camp/orientation. My goal for college is to complete a concentration in pastoral ministry and then finish up the concentration of foreign missions. The trip according to the GSP would take about 2 ½ - 3 hrs. I decided I might was well try to get a little sleep since for the past two nights I have not gone to bed before 2:00 a.m. Friday night to Saturday morning I was sorting clothes and making sure I had all my stuff, and Saturday to Sunday I was packing all my clothes and didn’t finish that until almost 2:30.
I slept for about 30 min. and have about 40 min until we get to the college. It’s been raining on and off for most of the trip, but thankfully has been pretty uneventful. Around 3:30 we were getting close to the exit, and so far everything we did getting off the freeway is a repeat of the last time we came down here. At 3:40 we finally pulled into the driveway and are looking to find where we register and get our housing information. At 5:00 I finished unpacking all my stuff and am just kinda waiting around till my parents get back and for 6:00 to hit so we can get on with this college thing. We have a meet at 6:0 for all the soccer peoples, so we can figure out our all of our goals for the season on a college level as well as on the individual level.
It’s about 10:40 p.m.; I’m getting ready to go to sleep. We had our meeting and all that, basically we all said our names, signed papers, and all that fun jazz. We have practice at 6:30 tomorrow morning until 8, then again from 2-4 that afternoon; everyone else is dreading getting up at that time, and I kinda just laugh inside cause it ain’t that bad. It’s kinda funny actually, but yeah the only thing that stinks is that I don’t have the code to sign onto the internet yet, but I am hoping one of the other guys has it…I’ll probably ask Matt the DA tomorrow. So far so good.
I slept for about 30 min. and have about 40 min until we get to the college. It’s been raining on and off for most of the trip, but thankfully has been pretty uneventful. Around 3:30 we were getting close to the exit, and so far everything we did getting off the freeway is a repeat of the last time we came down here. At 3:40 we finally pulled into the driveway and are looking to find where we register and get our housing information. At 5:00 I finished unpacking all my stuff and am just kinda waiting around till my parents get back and for 6:00 to hit so we can get on with this college thing. We have a meet at 6:0 for all the soccer peoples, so we can figure out our all of our goals for the season on a college level as well as on the individual level.
It’s about 10:40 p.m.; I’m getting ready to go to sleep. We had our meeting and all that, basically we all said our names, signed papers, and all that fun jazz. We have practice at 6:30 tomorrow morning until 8, then again from 2-4 that afternoon; everyone else is dreading getting up at that time, and I kinda just laugh inside cause it ain’t that bad. It’s kinda funny actually, but yeah the only thing that stinks is that I don’t have the code to sign onto the internet yet, but I am hoping one of the other guys has it…I’ll probably ask Matt the DA tomorrow. So far so good.
Updates...
I know it’s been awhile since I updated my blog; I’m sorry. There has been so much going on these past few weeks that just have been so crazy.
Well I’m not sure where I left off but I will just try to pick up where I left off; but it doesn’t matter that much. Anywaz…
August 13th-18th
We took a little vacation after I came home from camp and headed down to see my brother and his wife in Virginia Beach area. That was cool just to spend some time with them, having not seen them since I started camp, and won’t see them again until Christmas. We got to spend 4 days with them in their house, playing some guitar, bass, and drums. We shopped at some military supply stores called “Little G. I. Joes” where the military personnel go to buy rank insignias. That was fun to look at stuff there; I purchased a full set of woodland fatigues (pants and fall/winter coat), an urban fatigue fall/winter coat, a decommissioned pineapple grenade, and a set colonel eagles.
Well I’m not sure where I left off but I will just try to pick up where I left off; but it doesn’t matter that much. Anywaz…
August 13th-18th
We took a little vacation after I came home from camp and headed down to see my brother and his wife in Virginia Beach area. That was cool just to spend some time with them, having not seen them since I started camp, and won’t see them again until Christmas. We got to spend 4 days with them in their house, playing some guitar, bass, and drums. We shopped at some military supply stores called “Little G. I. Joes” where the military personnel go to buy rank insignias. That was fun to look at stuff there; I purchased a full set of woodland fatigues (pants and fall/winter coat), an urban fatigue fall/winter coat, a decommissioned pineapple grenade, and a set colonel eagles.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
July 18th, Saturday, 4:00 AM. A Week in Review.
Monday.
Monday was spent driving down and getting ready for campers. I was assigned security and go-fer. (Go-fer them parts, go-fer that water jug.) I would follow Chip Wood around and wait for him to tell me what to do next. That was very interesting because when ever I would finish a task I would have to go find Chip and find out the next thing. It was hard for me not because the tasks were difficult but because I constantly was in between work and I felt like I was wasting a lot of time.
Tuesday.
Tuesday was spent in very much the same way as Monday, but I painted the paintball box for most of the day with Stephanie and started my other job as a Lamoka Dish Fish. I ended up painting on the box and completely forgetting that I had an elective to teach, archery. Garret ended up teaching it for me but I didn’t even remember that I had to teach it. Tuesday night I did security around campus. All that entails is locking up, turning on lights, and walking around campus making sure those who are supposed to be on campus are on campus and those who are not supposed to be on campus, leave campus.
Wednesday and Thursday.
Wednesday I realized that my days on camp are repetition in most areas. I am security at night, maintenance during the day while doing odd jobs for Chip Wood, and dish fish after meals. It actually was a lot of fun because of the variety kept it from getting monotonous and also helped me get to see other aspects of camp that I had never seen before. I stayed up till about 2:30 Thursday morning making sure that all the kids were staying in there cabins and praying that there would be no walkers (people from one of the four bars that surround camp who have had their car keys revoked).
Friday.
It was kind of sad today because it was the last full day of camp. It was encouraging to hear about all the decisions that were made last night at the bonfire. The bonfire seems to be one of the most powerful nights. It is nothing that we do, but God does such a work in everyone, not just the campers but staff as well, on that night.
Saturday.
Looking back, this week was a struggle for me. It was challenging because I had no campers. I really wanted to be involved with the spiritual development of campers and staff but as security you really don’t have a lot of time to be with a group of kids or to talk to staffers because you are going from one thing to the next trying to get all the jobs done as effectively as possible.
I feel and know that I accomplished a lot this week; but I wish I could have had a bigger impact on more kids. It was good to have some of the staffers and counselors tat I know pretty well to come up to me and encourage me with words or a look, and also to have some of those same people ask me to pray for them and just be open and honest with me. Looking forward toward next week I will need lots of prayer because of the number of campers that are coming and the number of counselors we have. The ratio now looks like for the guys as a 1:8 ration of a counselor and 8 campers and for the girls 1:6. don’t think that I am worrying about this because I do know that God will take care of all of us; but I would like you guys to be praying for the camp that we would be able to bring more of the staff back because right now they can’t afford to have everyone, but also that the registries would come in since registration is about half of what the camp capacity is.
Monday was spent driving down and getting ready for campers. I was assigned security and go-fer. (Go-fer them parts, go-fer that water jug.) I would follow Chip Wood around and wait for him to tell me what to do next. That was very interesting because when ever I would finish a task I would have to go find Chip and find out the next thing. It was hard for me not because the tasks were difficult but because I constantly was in between work and I felt like I was wasting a lot of time.
Tuesday.
Tuesday was spent in very much the same way as Monday, but I painted the paintball box for most of the day with Stephanie and started my other job as a Lamoka Dish Fish. I ended up painting on the box and completely forgetting that I had an elective to teach, archery. Garret ended up teaching it for me but I didn’t even remember that I had to teach it. Tuesday night I did security around campus. All that entails is locking up, turning on lights, and walking around campus making sure those who are supposed to be on campus are on campus and those who are not supposed to be on campus, leave campus.
Wednesday and Thursday.
Wednesday I realized that my days on camp are repetition in most areas. I am security at night, maintenance during the day while doing odd jobs for Chip Wood, and dish fish after meals. It actually was a lot of fun because of the variety kept it from getting monotonous and also helped me get to see other aspects of camp that I had never seen before. I stayed up till about 2:30 Thursday morning making sure that all the kids were staying in there cabins and praying that there would be no walkers (people from one of the four bars that surround camp who have had their car keys revoked).
Friday.
It was kind of sad today because it was the last full day of camp. It was encouraging to hear about all the decisions that were made last night at the bonfire. The bonfire seems to be one of the most powerful nights. It is nothing that we do, but God does such a work in everyone, not just the campers but staff as well, on that night.
Saturday.
Looking back, this week was a struggle for me. It was challenging because I had no campers. I really wanted to be involved with the spiritual development of campers and staff but as security you really don’t have a lot of time to be with a group of kids or to talk to staffers because you are going from one thing to the next trying to get all the jobs done as effectively as possible.
I feel and know that I accomplished a lot this week; but I wish I could have had a bigger impact on more kids. It was good to have some of the staffers and counselors tat I know pretty well to come up to me and encourage me with words or a look, and also to have some of those same people ask me to pray for them and just be open and honest with me. Looking forward toward next week I will need lots of prayer because of the number of campers that are coming and the number of counselors we have. The ratio now looks like for the guys as a 1:8 ration of a counselor and 8 campers and for the girls 1:6. don’t think that I am worrying about this because I do know that God will take care of all of us; but I would like you guys to be praying for the camp that we would be able to bring more of the staff back because right now they can’t afford to have everyone, but also that the registries would come in since registration is about half of what the camp capacity is.
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Heading Back!
Tomorrow I will be heading back to camp with Jac. It appears that I will be working security this next week since camp registration is down. Katy is getting the week off which is a good thing, giving her time to rest and also to stay with her brother and sister. I do ask that you would pray for her and her family right now. Her Mom and Dad are out visiting her mom's mother. Their grandmother is not doing very well and this may be her last days here. Katy did not know if her grandmother was saved as they did not spend much time with her since her grandmother lives in another state.
Pray that God would give them all an extra measure of grace to help them through this time.
Pray that God would give them all an extra measure of grace to help them through this time.
July 10th, Friday. Day 5.
Today was an awesome day. It was so cool to watch as the kids that have grown so much in this short time acting for God. Watching the “How Great is Our God” DVD. Seeing how all this that God can make something SO huge, like the stars in the sky, and care about us as people. He knows our names and knows everything about us. He has offered us life eternal and also given us a promise as children, that He will NEVER let us go! It is so amazing.
At one point Andrew was talking to some of his friends and after them telling one too many dirty jokes he said, "That's enough" and walked away. How much can God change someone in one day? A LOT!
God is good!
P.S.: there was so much more, this is just a brief overview of SOME of what happened this past week. I could not possibly write down all that I did do. If you would like to know more, ask and if I get a spare moment I will try to answer any more questions.
Please Pray for Andrew as he will be needing a lot of prayer in the future as he tries to live out a Godly life in an environment that has few Christians actually living their Christianity.
At one point Andrew was talking to some of his friends and after them telling one too many dirty jokes he said, "That's enough" and walked away. How much can God change someone in one day? A LOT!
God is good!
P.S.: there was so much more, this is just a brief overview of SOME of what happened this past week. I could not possibly write down all that I did do. If you would like to know more, ask and if I get a spare moment I will try to answer any more questions.
Please Pray for Andrew as he will be needing a lot of prayer in the future as he tries to live out a Godly life in an environment that has few Christians actually living their Christianity.
July 9th, Thursday. Day 4.
Today is the day when decisions are made. Often the bon fire is the most powerful night. Not because of what we do, but what God chooses to do. The day was spent in anticipation for the miracles that God was going to do. He hadn’t done them yet, but I was waiting on Him to. Last night I talked to one of my campers and he recommitted to reading his Bible more and being a better Christian; tonight another one of my campers recommitted his life, asking for forgiveness for what he has done, and was truly broken and wanting to live for Him. It was amazing how God works. As we walked back from the bonfire my camper asked me if we would be able to talk tonight; during the bonfire I watched as God worked on this young man and could see him fight God in his body language sitting there on the ground. We ended up talking for quite a while and he poured his heart and life out to me. I told him that all those things could be wiped away and God could restore their relationship.
I told him that either that he could pray and tell God what he wanted to say, or I could help him through the prayer. He chose to pray himself and you could tell that it was coming from the heart. Well he ended up praying himself and it was amazing; just how God works and makes everything go according to His plan.
God is good!
I told him that either that he could pray and tell God what he wanted to say, or I could help him through the prayer. He chose to pray himself and you could tell that it was coming from the heart. Well he ended up praying himself and it was amazing; just how God works and makes everything go according to His plan.
God is good!
July 8th, Wednesday. Day Three.
I thought today was going to be a good day, it still maybe. Alex is no longer at camp because his problems are only getting worse. I feel that somehow this was Satan’s attack to prevent him from gaining a deeper knowledge of who God is. I failed with telling him how God cares about him and wants a closer relationship with him, but it just seems that all I have done was teach the kids sports. That isn’t my goal, so I failed. It is the “hill day”, half-way done. I need to talk to my kids on a deeper level and really find a more proactive way of getting through to these guys.
There is still a couple more hours (like 7) before the day is up, and I need to spend them wisely.
As the day progressed my legs started to hurt more and more, by the time chapel ended I was feeling pretty sick. I hurt and it hurt so bad I did not feel well. We played WWIII (more running) and by the time that ended I could not really take it anymore. I asked Cody to take over for me and prepared to head back to the cabin. I had to let all my campers know that they answered to Cody in my stead but I could not find Andrew. Last I had seen him he was with another kid from cabin 19 and Spidey hadn’t seen him either.
There is still a couple more hours (like 7) before the day is up, and I need to spend them wisely.
As the day progressed my legs started to hurt more and more, by the time chapel ended I was feeling pretty sick. I hurt and it hurt so bad I did not feel well. We played WWIII (more running) and by the time that ended I could not really take it anymore. I asked Cody to take over for me and prepared to head back to the cabin. I had to let all my campers know that they answered to Cody in my stead but I could not find Andrew. Last I had seen him he was with another kid from cabin 19 and Spidey hadn’t seen him either.
July 7th, Tuesday. Day two.
Today was quite challenging, at staff devos we found out that Katy was sick and they needed someone to step up and fill her spot. My body is hurting pretty bad because of some injuries sustained Monday. My fingers hurt pretty bad on my left hand from slamming them in the door, and my ankles are starting to kill from all the running around campus.
We had a live LCD that wasn’t a drill and that was annoying, but the kid was found so it doesn’t matter. that’s all that counts. What else…I read a lot in Colossians and have pretty good notes that I will transfer later. My 2 special campers, Andrew and Aleks (Alex) seem to enjoy disappearing to the cabin or walking away from the group without my knowledge. Its hard to keep tabs on them because they ain’t dumb and they watch me.
During quiet time Don played some amazing guitar for us that he learned from listening to it. Don is a very talented musician. We played paintball against Spidey’s cabin and their number advantage and having Jordan on their team with a tricked out gun didn’t help us any, we took out 6 or more (they had 9 players) each game and they took out our six (we only had six). It was fun also we had the archery people (all four of us) make a target and we shot the snot out of it. The kids had a great time making and destroying it! It was fun for me and Ben too I guess. Well, times up, need to go to devos and maybe I ’ll type later.
We had a live LCD that wasn’t a drill and that was annoying, but the kid was found so it doesn’t matter. that’s all that counts. What else…I read a lot in Colossians and have pretty good notes that I will transfer later. My 2 special campers, Andrew and Aleks (Alex) seem to enjoy disappearing to the cabin or walking away from the group without my knowledge. Its hard to keep tabs on them because they ain’t dumb and they watch me.
During quiet time Don played some amazing guitar for us that he learned from listening to it. Don is a very talented musician. We played paintball against Spidey’s cabin and their number advantage and having Jordan on their team with a tricked out gun didn’t help us any, we took out 6 or more (they had 9 players) each game and they took out our six (we only had six). It was fun also we had the archery people (all four of us) make a target and we shot the snot out of it. The kids had a great time making and destroying it! It was fun for me and Ben too I guess. Well, times up, need to go to devos and maybe I ’ll type later.
July 6. The Trip Down.
It 6:14, we left at 5:30 from my house this morning. We just picked up Katy and are heading over to pick up Sarah in Mt Morris. At 6:22 we picked up Sarah and are officially headed down for camp. Its about and hour drive from here and we expect to get there and unpack before heading up chapel hill for directions this week.
We arrived at camp and met on chapel hill a little after 8. We got our tasks and prepared for the campers to arrive. Its started off REALLY slow with two guys, Andrew and Josh. Neither of them are real go to guys and actually were cool spending time sitting in there bunks doing…nothing. I ended up with 5 campers. We took the swim test and all and then met Robert, Josh’s friend who came to our cabin late. The guys are pretty cool, I have a lot of respect for them though to most they seem a little odd; they are not all that different than the rest of us. Sure they might dress differently, or look different, but inside they are all the same, needing to be shown the love and grace for the One, Who gives them both.
I did get hurt a couple times yesterday, looks like I am most of a liability than much else: jammed my fingers playing Ga Ga Ball, got them slammed in the door, slipped over a burm next to the Ga Ga Pits and broke a board, got a pretty big scratch, and I fell a half dozen times playing capture the flag running on the wet grass.
Overall: 10 out of 10. God is GOOD!
We arrived at camp and met on chapel hill a little after 8. We got our tasks and prepared for the campers to arrive. Its started off REALLY slow with two guys, Andrew and Josh. Neither of them are real go to guys and actually were cool spending time sitting in there bunks doing…nothing. I ended up with 5 campers. We took the swim test and all and then met Robert, Josh’s friend who came to our cabin late. The guys are pretty cool, I have a lot of respect for them though to most they seem a little odd; they are not all that different than the rest of us. Sure they might dress differently, or look different, but inside they are all the same, needing to be shown the love and grace for the One, Who gives them both.
I did get hurt a couple times yesterday, looks like I am most of a liability than much else: jammed my fingers playing Ga Ga Ball, got them slammed in the door, slipped over a burm next to the Ga Ga Pits and broke a board, got a pretty big scratch, and I fell a half dozen times playing capture the flag running on the wet grass.
Overall: 10 out of 10. God is GOOD!
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Off for another EXCITING Week at Camp Lamoka!
Tomorrow morning I am heading off to camp for another week of camp. This week was family camp and Chip Wood the director didn't need a lot of staff on campus. But this week is Sr. High Week, ages 15-19. Apparently this next week is pack out, which is awesome because camp registration in all of NY State is down; so we were prepared for God to do something miraculous. Two weeks ago at CIT Week 2 of the week for youth campers only had 60 kids each, and normally at that time they are the most filled! But God is good, because before the week was out, those weeks both filled up quite a bit, I don't know exact numbers, but a significant increase of registrants in a very short time...It’s a God thing.
So I have NO idea what I am going to be doing this next week at camp, it is most likely between counseling and security, but you never know where Chip will need me. I'm willing to work anywhere.
But please, do pray for Lamoka Baptist Camp, or Camp Lamoka. God has collected a REALLY mature group of staffers there this year! Some items of pray would be: #1 that God's will would be done on at the camp, #2 that He would use us and teach us what He wants us to learn, and #3 that we fill up the camp for all the weeks. Some might say that we should fill the camp first, but unless God's will is done on at the camp, it doesn't matter how many kids are there, because they will never have heard the saving grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Pray for Chip Wood, the director, that he would have the strength to fulfill his jobs (and there are many that he does); pray for the churches that support the camp and the kids home churches, that they would be discipled (or that they would find one!); pray for all of us staffers that are going to be working there (it's a lot of fun, but it’s also a lot of work!); also pray for the speakers that are coming to speak at camp each week that their messages would be heard and learned from by kids and staffers alike; and not lastly or least (there are MANY, MANY more all of equal importance) pray for the kids that are going to be coming to camp, those who are saved that they would grow in their walk, and those who are not saved that they would recognize their need for The Savior and ask Him to come into their lives.
So I have NO idea what I am going to be doing this next week at camp, it is most likely between counseling and security, but you never know where Chip will need me. I'm willing to work anywhere.
But please, do pray for Lamoka Baptist Camp, or Camp Lamoka. God has collected a REALLY mature group of staffers there this year! Some items of pray would be: #1 that God's will would be done on at the camp, #2 that He would use us and teach us what He wants us to learn, and #3 that we fill up the camp for all the weeks. Some might say that we should fill the camp first, but unless God's will is done on at the camp, it doesn't matter how many kids are there, because they will never have heard the saving grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Pray for Chip Wood, the director, that he would have the strength to fulfill his jobs (and there are many that he does); pray for the churches that support the camp and the kids home churches, that they would be discipled (or that they would find one!); pray for all of us staffers that are going to be working there (it's a lot of fun, but it’s also a lot of work!); also pray for the speakers that are coming to speak at camp each week that their messages would be heard and learned from by kids and staffers alike; and not lastly or least (there are MANY, MANY more all of equal importance) pray for the kids that are going to be coming to camp, those who are saved that they would grow in their walk, and those who are not saved that they would recognize their need for The Savior and ask Him to come into their lives.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
CIT WEEK! (sorry it took a week to figure out all that I did...)
So much has happened in the last week.
Cit week was awesome
I learned so much that I have no idea where to start. So I guess a good place to start is at the beginning. I left to begin the journey to Camp Lamoka at 5:55 am when I left my house and headed to McGinnis’s where I loaded my bag into the Cobalt and joined Mrs. McGinnis and Jac. We then traveled to Katy’s house got her stuff loaded and left for the official ride to Camp Lamoka for CIT Week! Fun! The ride down took about an1hr and a half from Katy’s house and was relatively uneventful. Monday was spent in a variety of ways: quiet time was WAY too short! (I mean really! 45 min to spend praying and reading the Bible was NOT enough time!), we had another session in Timothy, then swim test, raking the lake swimming area of rocks, and a 5 hour hike turned 6 ½ hrs. Sunday night my bro and his wife came up from VA we were hanging out and he told me to go get my bass and amp so we could play together before I left. Well on my way back down with a bass guitar in one hand and an amp in the other, I tried to jump over a glider chair that my bro Jeff was sitting in…except I weigh about an extra 75 lbs…which I didn’t take into account…bad. So basically I broke at least one of my toes…and then walked (as the bird flies 4 miles) but as our path traveled…closer to 8-10...up and down and crossing streams, creeks and waterfalls. But it was a learning experience.
Tuesday was much like Monday in that it was more learning from the Bible and sessions but Pastor Mike was there and `the girls that rode down with me, Katy and Jac, didn’t know that PM was speaking! It was awesome o drop the news on them! But PM spoke on 2 Timothy too and helped put another spin on it. I enjoy hearing him preach because he makes it fun to hear him and often make you think that you are having a ton of fun while being in a sermon! (Yeah, I know, I said it didn't I Pastor Mike...FUN! You'll have to work on making those more boring...or not.)
Wednesday was fun too. More sessions on counseling, with pastor mike and devos, all relating to the grace that God has given us and how He NEVER gives us more than what we can handle in the power of His grace! Also Wednesday night the entire staff spent about an hour in prayer, and it was really cool. We split up into 3 groups, one group was praying prayers of praise, another group was praying that we would be good soldiers of the faith that we would honor the One who enlisted us, and the last group’s prayer was glorifying God for all Who He is. I was part of the group lifting up praise to God, the reason I went over there was because often I fall short in that area of prayer and my thoughts were, “the best way to get better is try to pray more!” I ended up praying for 45 min and I never even realized how lost I got in praising God. It was pretty amazing. After some time I decided I should head down to my cabin and do my devos…well actually do some more…and I saw my friend Kurtis and Tim outside and we just started talking about the basic things that God did for us, like Jesus coming to the earth to die for us, He didn’t have too, but He did. He could have destroyed the whole world and started over again more easily that you taking a breath…because that is given by God. But we were joined by Seth, Ben, Josh, Cody, Andy, and Spidey. It was pretty cool and encouraging to have other guys sharing there hearts and asking for prayer in sensitive areas of their lives. I can see that god has really caused this group of staffers to really come together in 3 days.
Thursday we woke up and did our routine, we watched the fun bat safety video which told us how insensitive we are towards bats and how misunderstood they are…that is literally what they said on the video; it was fun[ny] to watch. We had another session of learning and a large break while Ally put a video together of CIT week that Erik put together. It was really good to see how all these individuals came together to form a pretty cohesive group. I packed up all my stuff during the break so I was ready to go when Mrs. McGinnis would pull in. Jac called her mom and her mom said she was in a huge thunderstorm and it was hailing. We started seeing the storm coming in from the west and could hear the rain start beating the lake. Jac called again and her mom said she was at the end of the driveway which is like a mile long. Her mom pulled up and we finished loading the stuff just before the cloud burst. The ride home was hilarious because I had gotten the least amount of sleep that week and I was the only one who was wide awake for the whole trip! (and that includes Mrs. McGinnis, she had worked a double shift at the hospital.)
When we pulled into Katy’s driveway we were attacked by her family happy to see her back home. Katy actually gave me a hug for like the first time ever…she was like the only friend that I have that never hugged me…kinda funny actually, but yeah, her family was glad that we all made it home safely and there was another family staying with them that she had been looking forward to seeing. I called my dad and had him come and meet us at Jac’s house and I drive home with my dad after unloading Jac’s stuff from their car.
Cit week was awesome
I learned so much that I have no idea where to start. So I guess a good place to start is at the beginning. I left to begin the journey to Camp Lamoka at 5:55 am when I left my house and headed to McGinnis’s where I loaded my bag into the Cobalt and joined Mrs. McGinnis and Jac. We then traveled to Katy’s house got her stuff loaded and left for the official ride to Camp Lamoka for CIT Week! Fun! The ride down took about an1hr and a half from Katy’s house and was relatively uneventful. Monday was spent in a variety of ways: quiet time was WAY too short! (I mean really! 45 min to spend praying and reading the Bible was NOT enough time!), we had another session in Timothy, then swim test, raking the lake swimming area of rocks, and a 5 hour hike turned 6 ½ hrs. Sunday night my bro and his wife came up from VA we were hanging out and he told me to go get my bass and amp so we could play together before I left. Well on my way back down with a bass guitar in one hand and an amp in the other, I tried to jump over a glider chair that my bro Jeff was sitting in…except I weigh about an extra 75 lbs…which I didn’t take into account…bad. So basically I broke at least one of my toes…and then walked (as the bird flies 4 miles) but as our path traveled…closer to 8-10...up and down and crossing streams, creeks and waterfalls. But it was a learning experience.
Tuesday was much like Monday in that it was more learning from the Bible and sessions but Pastor Mike was there and `the girls that rode down with me, Katy and Jac, didn’t know that PM was speaking! It was awesome o drop the news on them! But PM spoke on 2 Timothy too and helped put another spin on it. I enjoy hearing him preach because he makes it fun to hear him and often make you think that you are having a ton of fun while being in a sermon! (Yeah, I know, I said it didn't I Pastor Mike...FUN! You'll have to work on making those more boring...or not.)
Wednesday was fun too. More sessions on counseling, with pastor mike and devos, all relating to the grace that God has given us and how He NEVER gives us more than what we can handle in the power of His grace! Also Wednesday night the entire staff spent about an hour in prayer, and it was really cool. We split up into 3 groups, one group was praying prayers of praise, another group was praying that we would be good soldiers of the faith that we would honor the One who enlisted us, and the last group’s prayer was glorifying God for all Who He is. I was part of the group lifting up praise to God, the reason I went over there was because often I fall short in that area of prayer and my thoughts were, “the best way to get better is try to pray more!” I ended up praying for 45 min and I never even realized how lost I got in praising God. It was pretty amazing. After some time I decided I should head down to my cabin and do my devos…well actually do some more…and I saw my friend Kurtis and Tim outside and we just started talking about the basic things that God did for us, like Jesus coming to the earth to die for us, He didn’t have too, but He did. He could have destroyed the whole world and started over again more easily that you taking a breath…because that is given by God. But we were joined by Seth, Ben, Josh, Cody, Andy, and Spidey. It was pretty cool and encouraging to have other guys sharing there hearts and asking for prayer in sensitive areas of their lives. I can see that god has really caused this group of staffers to really come together in 3 days.
Thursday we woke up and did our routine, we watched the fun bat safety video which told us how insensitive we are towards bats and how misunderstood they are…that is literally what they said on the video; it was fun[ny] to watch. We had another session of learning and a large break while Ally put a video together of CIT week that Erik put together. It was really good to see how all these individuals came together to form a pretty cohesive group. I packed up all my stuff during the break so I was ready to go when Mrs. McGinnis would pull in. Jac called her mom and her mom said she was in a huge thunderstorm and it was hailing. We started seeing the storm coming in from the west and could hear the rain start beating the lake. Jac called again and her mom said she was at the end of the driveway which is like a mile long. Her mom pulled up and we finished loading the stuff just before the cloud burst. The ride home was hilarious because I had gotten the least amount of sleep that week and I was the only one who was wide awake for the whole trip! (and that includes Mrs. McGinnis, she had worked a double shift at the hospital.)
When we pulled into Katy’s driveway we were attacked by her family happy to see her back home. Katy actually gave me a hug for like the first time ever…she was like the only friend that I have that never hugged me…kinda funny actually, but yeah, her family was glad that we all made it home safely and there was another family staying with them that she had been looking forward to seeing. I called my dad and had him come and meet us at Jac’s house and I drive home with my dad after unloading Jac’s stuff from their car.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Just so you don't worry...
Hey! I am going to bed to wake up in 5 hrs to gear up for a trip to Lamoka. Im working at the camp in Tyrone, NY this summer. This week is Training Week and it last through till Thurs. I wont have computer access while there so I will not be updating my blog or FB. Please pray for Jac, Katy, and I as well as the kids and other staffers that will be there, for safety and openness to God's will in our lives. Thanks love you all!
Andrew
Andrew
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Movie Night
Today was pretty tiring. We worked all day on the yard and stuff on the house. In the afternoon me and Jeff went up to the Corral and saw Night at the Museum 2 and X-Men Origins: Wolverine both were pretty good movies. It was a lot of fun to just hang out with my bro. We played one game and won like a crap load of tickets...its the one game you think you would never win at. Its the one that you drop the coin in and the little pushers slide the coins to the edge and you get tickets...well we won over 600 tickets on $5.00! It was great, and to think I didn't want to go! We did see Ted and Liz Wolf there, they had their kids, Claire, Grace, and Sam with their friends. I haven't seen them since we moved, they are really nice people and I kinda miss not having them as neighbors.
Well that pretty much sums up the day in short.
Well that pretty much sums up the day in short.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
5/20 (Yes that was a while ago)
To day I worked on cleaning up the yard for most of the day. I worked on a video from some media I took on the "Anything Goes Game Night" (video clips/pics). I finished that up around 10-ish. I love making videos with pictures and stuff, it is a lot of fun. I use Windows Movie Maker; if any of you have a better (FREE, SAFE, and preferably LEGAL) version like a freeware movie maker that is better I would try it out.
Also today I figured out where I am going to college; it was between Baptist Bible College (BBC) or Davis College. I had a fleece test or two (kinda like Gideon) the first fleece was who ever accepted me first, well BBC should have because they had my information the longest, but Davis beat them out by 2 days. The second was not so much as a "test" but constantly asking for direction. One thing I learned (more like reinforced for me) was that God ALWAYS answers prayer! DUH! But really, sometimes it takes you asking (bothering) Him about it all the time. You need to prove to yourself sometimes if you are truly serious about wanting an answer. Well, this is how the second test came out: Conroy, from Davis College called up, he is a pastoral consentration who is now on staff at Davis. He was an international student from Jamaica (and he has a really cool accent and is just really cool in general). I came in from working and my mom was talking on the phone, no biggy, whatever; so I went up staires and took a shower. When I came out I found out that my mom was waiting to pass the phone off to me, because the guy wanted to talk to me...they talked for like 50 min or something! CRAZY!!! I found out his name was conroy and he just wanted to hear about my testimony and about what God was doing in my life. So we ended up talking for about another 30 min or something. The thing was though, before he hung up he asked if there was anything that I would like him to pray about; and I told him that I would like him to pray that I would make the right decision in college and I commented that I wish that God's will would be as plain and as understandable as the writing on the wall (but where is the faith in that?). But as he prayed, I felt God speak to me very simply, He said, "This is the place for you, where I want you to be." Now I am not one for having spiritual experiences or anything like that, but seriously....THIS WAS AS PLAIN AS THE WRITING ON THE WALL!!!! It was pretty awesome!
So yeah, Davis is my college.
Also today I figured out where I am going to college; it was between Baptist Bible College (BBC) or Davis College. I had a fleece test or two (kinda like Gideon) the first fleece was who ever accepted me first, well BBC should have because they had my information the longest, but Davis beat them out by 2 days. The second was not so much as a "test" but constantly asking for direction. One thing I learned (more like reinforced for me) was that God ALWAYS answers prayer! DUH! But really, sometimes it takes you asking (bothering) Him about it all the time. You need to prove to yourself sometimes if you are truly serious about wanting an answer. Well, this is how the second test came out: Conroy, from Davis College called up, he is a pastoral consentration who is now on staff at Davis. He was an international student from Jamaica (and he has a really cool accent and is just really cool in general). I came in from working and my mom was talking on the phone, no biggy, whatever; so I went up staires and took a shower. When I came out I found out that my mom was waiting to pass the phone off to me, because the guy wanted to talk to me...they talked for like 50 min or something! CRAZY!!! I found out his name was conroy and he just wanted to hear about my testimony and about what God was doing in my life. So we ended up talking for about another 30 min or something. The thing was though, before he hung up he asked if there was anything that I would like him to pray about; and I told him that I would like him to pray that I would make the right decision in college and I commented that I wish that God's will would be as plain and as understandable as the writing on the wall (but where is the faith in that?). But as he prayed, I felt God speak to me very simply, He said, "This is the place for you, where I want you to be." Now I am not one for having spiritual experiences or anything like that, but seriously....THIS WAS AS PLAIN AS THE WRITING ON THE WALL!!!! It was pretty awesome!
So yeah, Davis is my college.
It has been a While...
I haven't posted in quite a while...but there has been a reason...most of my posts would be very depressing. You might say, "WHAT?!?!" or, "I knew it!" But whatever you say, it really doesn't matter, and here is why, God has taught me so much in the last 2 weeks. School, or should I say college, has finished up this last week, and you might think that would make me happy...but for me, this may have marked one of my biggest failures. This is probably my biggest failure because it is my first major failure (in school at least) and it was very hard to get over...mostly because it wasn't my fault. I know, I know, you've heard that a million times before...and here is why this isn't one of those times...In my last post I complained about Rent and because I did not watch the movie I had to take a hit on final papers because, "I could not fulfill the requirements of the assigned task."
But you know...its OK; it took a bit of convincing from some friends, but they finally got it though my thick head. This is kinda short, but there is so much more...and it is like 1:15 right now...so I guess this is good night or good morning or good afternoon...whenever you read this.
But you know...its OK; it took a bit of convincing from some friends, but they finally got it though my thick head. This is kinda short, but there is so much more...and it is like 1:15 right now...so I guess this is good night or good morning or good afternoon...whenever you read this.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
It could have been worse...
Well today was not a BAD day...it wasn't all that of a good day. We have been watching Rent for the last class and today, and I have a major problem with it and I only watch 50 min of it! I know, there may be some of you people who REALLY LOVE the production, but, I do not...now I do not hate ALL of it...only parts of it. What I DO like: 1) the music, it is awesome, from what I saw of it the guitar playing and other instruments were awesome together...unfortunately that's all I have to say on that side of things...here's what I did NOT like about it: 1) it was lewd, the HUGELY emphasized sexual themes and nudity were all very much uncalled for; 2) the almost glorification of drug use and reference needed not be there; and lastly (there is more but it is included by these main themes) 3) the production is mainly about community love...but really the whole thing is about lust, plain and simple...whether it was lust from Roger (HIV possitive musician) towards Mimi (HIV positive exotic dancer), or one girl for another in the case of the lesbians Maureen (bisexual performance artist) and Joanne Jefferson (a lawyer and lesbian), or one guy for another in the case of Angel (a gay drag queen percussionist with AIDS) and Tom (a gay philosophy professor and anarchist with AIDS). So yeah...this goes against pretty much everything I believe and don't think it was worth watching 50 min. of it at all...
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Video Blogging?
So yeah, I was just sitting in the car today on my way over to Castile and I just thought..."You know, I'm not doing anything...so heck, why not do a little blogging right now? I got a camera, I got the time, I'll start blogging at the moment...except when there are people around. So here it is I guess:
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