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.

Notepad blogging. Sunday. No Half-Jobs from HIM!

April 19, Sunday:
Today was awesome, I got to lead worship with Jac and Laura; they did a really good job. We played guitars tonight, we did a couple songs that we weren't too familiar with, but I think we did a really good job. ALL PRAISE TO GOD! He saw us through. I played for all the songs and Jac and Laura switched on and off of the other guitar...half way through the main set of songs my wrist started KILLING me. It was hurting so bad I started messing up; and I thought I wouldn't be able to play the rest of the songs, but like I said, "God saw us through." I prayed that I would be at least be able to finish the songs, that God would slow the spread of the pain till after service, but the amazing happened...have you ever noticed that when God does something, He does it perfectly? Like He never does a half-job? Have you ever noticed that?...OK back to the story...the amazing happened when I was about to stop and give up, starting to believe that this was a sign from God wanting me to stop, when my wrist hurt so bad that I couldn't actually bend it...the pain stopped...not like stopped spreading, but stopped...ceased to indwell my arm, wrist and hand. It was amazing...but that's not all folks, we were playing the song "Give Us Clean Hands" and I have been experimenting with doing different bar chords from different octives to change the sound up a little bit, but none of the standard chords were sounding right at all. Generally that is a sign that there is a problem with tuning...or the player. And since I tuned the guitar with a tuner just before playing, I knew it had to be me. But once again I felt this feeling to move out of my comfort zone (...into the realm of the unknown, were Jesus is, and He's holding out His hands...) and try something I have been learning and practicing for months. I prayed before doing this change, and God blessed me once again with this ability, and IT SOUNDED GOOD! So...have you ever noticed that when God does something, He does it perfectly? Like He never does a half-job? Have you ever noticed that?

Our God,
Is an awesome God,
He reigns...

Check this video out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lvTsn32pWg

Tiring Day at Church.

I was tired today...what else is new? Like really? I'm always tired. Partly because my body clock is all messed up and I can't fall asleep until after 1:00 or 2:00 in the morning and also cause I wake up so early at 6:00 every day. The other part of my tiredness is the fact that I am STILL sick (probably because I'm not getting enough rest). I was supposed to plan out worship for this week and I forgot partly and didn't have the time when I remembered. So because I dropped the ball on this one Jac ended up helping me out and planning the whole thing (which I feel very bad about cause it was my responsibility and I messed up.).

It was pretty hard to sing this morning, I am not really that great of a singer anywaz, but with a cold it is worse. The morning service went well, Mike helped me out a ton in one of the songs that there was a guy and girl part...evening service was a challenge, I ended up running sound board and because I didn't have the songs prepared I did not know what transitions I had to do. But through it all God did what He does and despite my failures His message came through. Don't worry I'm not taking this as an excuse for not having to fulfill my responsibilities but that despite my short comings my God is there to back me up.

That was the biggest lesson I learned, not having it all together really bugs me. And I don't like it at ALL! But God is teaching me more and more to trust Him that He WILL take care of me no matter WHAT challenge we are put through; we can overcome, if we let God take control.

Classes...new ones...Phys Ed.!

This weekend I was still sick, and not much really happened, other than I helped lead worship with 3 amazing people, which is a LOT of fun. Now I know why Pastor Mike liked it so much. But yeah, that is the majority of the weekend.

Today I had my first physical education classes like EVER! At my school where I attended from 2nd grade, we had gym class, but we did not get a "grade" per say but a...level of satisfaction...basically we pass no matter what, but we might get a bad mark on our report card if we don't participate. Well my class(es) today was weight lifting and karate...weight lifting is a 55 min. class and we did absolutely nothing, while karate is a 1 hr and 20 min class and we did a bunch of stuff. The teacher, Jones, is an 8th degree black belt and is the 6th step from Bruce Lee's instruction. She taught some basic punches and form; in this form the punch is made with a vertical fist and the point of contact is the first 2 knuckles. It was kinda hard to take her seriously, but I should work on that if I want to get any where in this class. There was one dude, about the same age as me that made me mad. He was there showin' off all his cool moves like some jumps kicks and stuff and the teacher, who was clearly not impressed, asked him to stop and he kept it up...unfortunately this is not a dojo and we arn't allowed to spar, cause I would PAY big money I don't have to watch the teacher show him how much he knows...I hate people who have to show off how good they think they are...

Sunday again. Learning experiences.

I never posted for yesterday...and I don't really remember too much about it...other than I ended up cleaning the bathroom, and me and Jeff went up to Cafe Shiloh in Geneseo...but the cafe was closed. Kristi was there and she let us in, but she was there to use the Internet...and we did too. I waited for one of my friends, Roy, until 8:30 but we figured he had already come and gone seeing that the closed sign was up.

Jeff wanted o go to Walmart so we did...and we bought Fallout 3 for XBox 360...it is a pretty fun game...Jeff has played it almost every moment he is home, except when he is sleeping or eating...I played it a little bit...there is the main quest and side quests...but I kinda just like to gallivant across the countryside taking care of bandits and also the myriads of pesky bees and giant rats.

We came home around 10:00 and Jeff was playing it until 1:00 or 2:00.

OK Sunday.
Today was the first official Sunday that "Pastor Mike," our associate pastor, was not there and pastoring his new church down in Ithaca. Jac, Mike, and I lead singing in the morning service and Jac, Laura, and I lead singing in the evening service. I would really like to get some younger guys (and girls, but guys espessially) to joint our little trio since the 3 (4 if you count Mike) is leaving for college this next fall, and Jac and I are going off to work at camp all summer long.

Because of today, and how it went, we have come up with a new way of figuering up worship since we are going to be doing this for both services from the way things look.

I would apperciate prayer in finding the next generation of worship leaders...since it has kinda fallen on me to do so...

Freedom from the smell...for today.

Today was just another fun day in my extremely boring life. I titled the post what I did only because we did not finish the floors today...which means I can move about the house freely for once. AND IT DOESN'T STINK! I hate that smell.

I went to bed...early...around 2:00 this morning, but I forgot my pillow at my grandparents' house so I deflated a beach ball that I happened to have in the office and put it in a fleece and used that as a pillow. It hurt my neck pretty bad, but it sufficed for one night.

I got up for college at 6:00 and left the house with 16 oz. of day old coffee and a bottle of diet Pepsi Max to fuel me through my day. It was pretty rough, but I made it. My classes were very boring and nothing really interesting happened...they kinda just...existed. Very boring.

I came home and then took my mom over to my grandparents' house and then left to go to my friend's house where the three of us planned worship service for Sunday. I got to her house only to find out that the other girl's brother did not come home yet. So we drove over to her house, picked her up and returned to start planning. We practiced guitar and went over some different variations of songs trying to find the songs that were easy to play, but in a good vocal range; great fun over all...ohhhh...wait...I'm Baptist...I can't have fun. Never mind. We finished up and I drove over to pick Jeff from work before heading back to my grandparents' where I ate dinner before getting dropped off at home when she was going to quilting tonight.