No Phone...

I am bad about this sometimes, but I don't have a phone working right now and it is difficult. I want to call people and talk, but I can't. I will hopefully have it back by tomorrow.

I feel like we are stressing so much about fall and what we are going to do as a ministry and sometimes, we forget about Jesus in the whole mix of things. Yes, we have organizational issues. Yes, we will have many battles on our hands. Yes, I still have no idea what Chase is going to do all year. Yes, I feel like my hands are tied in many ways and that I could do more.

All of these things do not matter. What is Ignite anyways but an insignificant ministry on an insignificant campus. The only thing that makes us significant is Jesus. He chose us, He loved us and He provided for us. We forget that sometimes. There is only one formula that will work this fall and only one way to reach the goals (that we still need to set) we have.

Jesus

It is not complicated, it is simple. Let Operation PUSH begin, because He is ready for it. Let's serve and love Jesus for today (as Pastor Lance said so eloquently) and then worry about tomorrow and what will happen then when tomorrow gets here and becomes today.

I QUIT...

I quit many things; striving, worrying, planning and sharing my heart inappropriately.

What do I write about?

I dunno what to write about, it has been too long since I last posted... Many things have happened in the last week, where to start.

We will work backwards...

Today I got up and went to my grandparents house on Lake Taps to do some trench digging for them. It was good to spend some time with them and bless them with some hard manual labor. It always happens, but people I work for like that say a job will take 3 hours but, I get it done in half the time. I was able to finish the trenches and then haul a bunch of loose rocks and then move an entire pile of bricks. I am currently working, I have almost everything done that I need to have done and I am just over an hour into my shift. I have maybe a half hour of work left, which leaves plenty of time to write on the blog...

Friday I worked all day... I mean all day. I started at 11 am and finished at Midnight. 12 hours of Campus Safety. No big deal, it was a good shift. I usually spend time praying for campus as I am normally by myself, just driving around. It is good. I also got to have lunch with Dan Donohoue, which was also very productive.

Thursday I road tripped to the Gorge to see Hillsong United. They were amazing!!! I already love their music and worship style and I am very grateful to have been able to worship with them at Creation. Just seeing the way they do things and getting a glimpse into what God is doing in them to change the worship world as we know it. It was also fun to hang out with Nikki, Wes and Charisa, even though Charisa and Nikki couldn't keep up with Wes and I. The suntan expanded on my upper arms, so I was happy.

Wednesday I worked out and then did Youth Group. Sometimes it is like pulling teeth with the kids, but we need to keep pressing on. I had a dream today about walking around PSCC and having a large Youth Group and childrens ministry going on there. I was kinda excited about that. I played worship, then we had a game. The game consisted of some very gorss things and I was not to stoked about some of them. I took a huge bite of what looked to be a whipped cream pie with Sour Patch kids in it, only to have a mouth full of cold ravioli and whipped cream. We all conspired and threw the remains of the pie at Andy Armstrong and made a huge mess on the floor of the mezzanine. Nikki spoke and did a great job. She spoke on Ephesians 3:16-19 and how we can know the love of God.

Tuesday I worked my 8 hours after working out in the morning. After work, we had a football function and I got to play center. It is the only position I have not played on the O-line, so it was cool.

Monday I thought I was only working for 4 hours, but I was actually on for 8. I was planning on going to work out after Campus Safety, but I missed that. I told Wes about Hillsong at Creation and that is what started the whole idea of going to the Gorge. After work, I went over to the Ministry House and saw that a team from church was praying over the house. We went into the prayer shack and started praying. They began to pray for many of the things we, as the Ignite leadership team, had been praying for the last few months. It was really cool to hear other people confirming what the Lord has been saying to us.

Sunday I drove back from Lake Chelan early in the morning so I could get to church. Lance Powers spoke about identity. I really liked what he said, especially the part where he siad that we can get so caught up in what our identity that we lose sight of the person who gives us that identity, Jesus. It was a great word and it was fun. After church we had a Cook Out, and even though I don't think I get tons out of the Cook Outs, I think that it is good that I am there to support Malia and what she is trying to do with our group.

Saturday I left early in the morning with my sister Laura and her family to go to Lake Chelan.
The Lake was a blast, especially having my nieces and nephew there. Got to swim all day and then have amazing steak that night for dinner. After dinner I got to talk to Laura and her husband Heath about some stuff and then we got to pray together for a while. It was a very special ministry time and I was able to challenge them and give them some practical advice.

I think that takes care of my last week or so. It has been an eventful one. I haven't even scratched the surface of some of the things that are on my heart. Long story short, I need to be pored into more. I have my time with the Lord, but it is never enough. I have been stopping short of that amazing place in personal devotion, not quite getting there, either from lack of time or motivation. I really need a way to get poured into on a more regular basis, Sunday is not enough and Wednesday night... don't get me started. I have wonderful friends, but even they do not challenge me very much sometimes. I really need more friends that are male to share my heart with. In my life I can think of a small handful of people that I share my heart with. Mark Wolbert is on vacation and even he dosen't challenge me very often. Jonathon is never around and we live to far apart. We might move in together after I graduate, but we will see about that. I need more strong men in my life who are my age. It will be good to have Eric Grenniger on campus.

Wow, a long post... this happens when I don't post for a while. I'll try and get better.

Alaska

Wow, for those of you who don't know, I will be going to Alaska on Aug 11th and coming back on Aug 16th. Charisa Nicholas and I will be going up there to visit her parents church and I am pretty excited about it. I have never been to Alaska and I have always wanted to go. I am really blessed, the two states I most wanted to visit, Alaska and Montana, I will have visited this summer.

I also heard that I am speaking at the 8:30 church service in Ketchikan. Charisa and I are even in the church bulletins already.

Wait, hold on, ME???

I have never been asked to speak at a church before and somehow I don't think it will be the last time. Usually when I get to do stuff like speak or lead worship, it is at PSCC Youth and there it seems sometimes that I am kind of the last resort.
Oh, no one else can do it, so we will ask Samuel.

It really blesses me to have been asked to speak somewhere, it means that they want me to and that they are waiting to hear what I have to say. I don't know why, but I have some self-confidence issues about being in front of people. I keep waiting for someone to say,

Stop Samuel, you actually don't know what you are talking about.

Call it irrational fear or whatever you want, I like to think of it as my wanting to please everyone and have them like me. I know that this is not the right thing to be feeling or to think about, but it is there. But to be asked, speaks to my heart and really goes a long way toward lessening that fear. I am very blessed to fly to Alaska and I want to bless them as well.

Bruce Clapp, my intership host Dad in Aberdeen asked me if I would consider coming back out to Aberdeen to lead worship for them. That also really blesses me. I am not an incredibly confident musician and Aberdeen has been a really challenging place for me to lead, because I would try and do it out of God's plan. To be asked to come out and lead suggests that they trust me in music and in worship, which is nice. I always hear that God has a timing for everything and I guess that I am starting to see that.

So pray for me as I embark on this adventure, God only knows where it will go.

Go Camp 2 days later

I am ready to start another Go Camp this week. I had a nice day off yesterday and I am energized to get going again!!! It was an amazing week and thanks to all of you who came out to our final Sunday, it was a real blast.

The week was great, but not because of any amazing Holy Spirit encounters (although He did show up) on my part. Instead it was more of a reinstatement of what God is doing in my life. I got to Aberdeen on Friday and we had a staff meeting to pray and talk about the week. I was still hurting a bit from Fergen's death, but God worked through that. Then Teen Leadership Training started and the week was off to a flying start.

Whenever a Go Camp happens, the enemy attacks it. Usually he will attack the kids, but this year he attacked the staff. All of us were exhausted, especially in the first couple of days... when we shouldn't be tired yet. We pressed through it and I ended up not being very tired at all for most of the camp. Afterwards, I was exhausted and fell asleep on the beach, I have the sunburn to prove it.

So many things happened, I can't begin to tell them all... we had about 4-5 kids give their lives to Jesus, 4-5 more get there prayer languages and dozens of rededications. The numbers are cool, but the best part was that God was there. We had amazing teaching from Ryan Loffer, Doug Marks, Jake Broady, Kit Hackett, Zoanne Wilke etc...

I got to do worship a handful of times and it was great. I really grew as a worship leader in this arena because I would learn I was doing worship about 30 minutes before we started. I like more time to prepare, but God does His thing no matter what I do.

Eric Grenniger and I were in charge of Young Warriors, the boys 10-14, and we just poured into them. They slept in the sanctuary with us guys, but in a seperate little nursing mother type of room. Every night I had to tell them a bloody ER story and a joke before they would go to bed. This is what I did last year as well and they remembered it and wanted it again. We had a good group of guys and I rode them hard sometimes. 3 of the 6 were special needs kids so that presented some challenges, but we got through them fine. Most of the guys were in the Hands team with me as well so I got to boss them around even more!

I felt kind of bad sometimes because I was hard on them, but in retrospect and after talking with Jake about it, it wasn't such a bad thing. They needed that kind of hard yet loving attention. Eric and I let the boys pray for each other and stuff and they all really warmed to that and liked it alot. It was a huge win for us as a staff to see these guys blossom.

I wish that I oculd have been in some of the performances because I really like doing that kind of stuff, but I had to be at the funeral on one of our big performing days.

I am going to post some of the thoughts I have post-Go Camp on the leaders blog, feel free to read them Here

Aberdeen

I will be in Aberdeen for the next 10 days staffing their GoCamp. It will be fun, but it will be interesting as well. So I will not be online for the next bunch of days.

Eric's memorial is on Saturday the 15th at 10:30 am. I will be leaving Aberdeen to go to that, so pray for the people going to his memorial.

Pray for me in Aberdeen as well. Last year was really cool, hopefully I won't be too cynical for this year to be cool as well.

The 4th and the aftermath...

Well, the 4th went off pretty well, I didn't kill anybody and Sarah, Matt and I got to speak castellano a lot (sorry Nikki). My mom really went all out for this and made a ton of food which was very delicious. Joseph BBQ'd, something he loves to do and we played a rousing game of Mafia (way to go Sarah for fooling everyone). The fireworks were so fun, it was a 30 minute show that seemed to never end. There would be something that looked like a finale, but the show would keep going. Jonathon and his novia Brittany came out as well and he brought a ton of fireworks. If there is one thing Jonathon likes to do, it is celebrate the 4th.

The van was amazing, especially when we ran out of gas and had to coast on fumes to the gas station... that was a highlight. We made it though and I only fell asleep once on the way back to Tacoma from Southworth.

I went to work out yesterday at Competitive Edge at about 4:30 pm and when I finish my workout, I check my phone and see that I had 2 voice messages from Mark Wolbert, 1 text message from him and another missed call from him... He needed me to lead worship at youth. I was planning on going back to my room and showering, getting dressed and then showing up a little late to youth... NOT.

It was great, I put together a list, called it in and Jonathon Kvamme put together the stage and got the words on the computer. Welcome back to the Kvamme family, by the way. The Lord really used it last night, I don't know how, but He did. Nikki got to play piano and I was very grateful for that because it added so much and she was a backup in case I turned into a blubbering mess before the Lord. It was great.

Amazing love, how can it be

That You my King would die for me

Amazing love, I know it's true

And it's my joy to honor You

In all I do, I honor You.

Jesus, You are my King

Terrible news

I just found out this morning that a good friend of mine at PLU, a fellow O-Lineman, died yesterday in a tragic accident.

He will be sorely missed and I don't know how this team will be without him.


Man, I never got to tell you how much I loved you, or how much Jesus loves you and for that I am really sorry. I remember all the good times we had in Montana; the horseback riding (you falling into the water), sailing (again you in the water), V-ball (somehow you had energy to play) and my bachelor party. I love to compete with you on my team because you never give up and you won't back down from anything, even Nose Tackles who way as much as your bench press. You are an inspiration to all of us and your work ethic spoke volumes of who you are. You told me once that your definition of an EMAL man was someone who really cared and looked out for his friends and stood by them. You exemplified this in all of your life. Your frineds are a testament to who you are and the steadfastness with which you apporached relationships. You are one amazing leader and I wish that you were able to play your last year of football. All of us in EMAL nation will miss you and how much fun you were to be around.

internet problems.

I have been having technical difficulties for the last while and I have tried everything I know how to do, yet I am too lazy to take my computer in to get it fixed...

I feel like I haven't posted here for a while and it is probably true... For clarification sakes, my bachelor party was in Montana and the band that was playing at the bar we went to noticed the large group of guys standing around and asked if there was a bachelor party going on. All the guys thought it would be funny to shout my name and say that it was my bachelor party. No, I have not proposed to anyone yet.

Last week I coached at a football camp put on by my O-line coach Trevor Robetrts. It was a blast, so much fun! the kids were all 9-13 and they really worked hard. I was very tired at the end of it because it takes a lot of energy to coach, especially kids that age. What a good time though.

I also started to work out at Competitive Edge again. I am paying $70 a month for them to kick my butt and get me ready for the season. I really enjoy the workouts, because I know I am getting better and that I am putting myself in position for the most success I can have in my last year of football ever.

I also found out that when I am cynical, it is because I am trying to avoid pain. I have lots of woundings in my heart (don't we all) and it is less painful to be cynical about them than it is to deal with them properly. I have been praying Psalm 139:23-24 and it is very tough sometimes, but I want God to take care of the little things in my heart that hurt so that I won't be cynical anymore.

I will be going to Aberdeen for GoCamp starting this Friday!!! I really am looking forward to it, even thouigh I know I will be exhausted. God is going to do some wonderful things out there and I am happy to be a part of it.

Shout out to Eddie, even though she is gone, we all still love her. I can't wait for you to get back so we can hear what God did in Vietnam.

Sorry for the length of time between posts, I will try to get better.

Hello from Montana!!!

I am here in the coolest place I have ever been to in Montana, ok it is the only place I hae been to in Montana. I have been fishing, camping, 4Xing, boating, horseback riding etc... I even had my bachelor party the other night! Tonight we are going to have a steak fry after about an hour ride and then go skeet shooting. Yes I will be shooting a gun.

The place is really nice and all the staff is super cool. It is also really good to get to know the senior football guys better.
We are having a blast and I can't wait to show you all the pictures.

I will not be going to Fresno next week so I will be around.

Sorry about the drought.

It is funny how the weather in WA will change on a whim. Not 45 minutes ago I was completely soaked to the bone just walking from my truck to my room. This wasn't the normal, "Oh, it's raining" rain. This was the, "Quick, lock the doors, batten down the hatches and hide the children, the end of the world has come!!!" rain. And now it is sunny and everything seems right with the world.

I went and saw The DaVinci Code last night and I have mixed feelings about it. I finished reading the book yesterday afternoon and I wanted to see the movie. I knew it had gotten some bad reviews and stuff like that, but it was still a pretty worthless movie. The only redeeming quality was that it did not glorify the act of sex like the book did. As a story, I have read better in a Tom Clancy novel. I did really like the artwork presented in the book and how Dan Brown talked about it, but he was super quick to jump to conclusions about what the symbology actually meant. It reminded me a lot of the PLU religion department. The movie altered the book a bit, but they did a fairly good job of staying true.

I have a super busy life coming up... I am going to hang out with Marc Wymore from Puyallup Foursquare and then hopefully visit my sister Laura and my nieces and nephew. At 7 pm I have a graduation party for Diabdra Brewer at her house. Tomorrow I work from 4 am to noon and then I need to get on the Island so I can go to my sister Deborah's graduation and the BBQ afterwards. On Sunday, I am on the worship team and after church I will drive to Flathead Lake, Montana. I will probably be driving by myself, so pray for me on this trip.

I will be spending about 5 days there at Flathead Lake lodge with some friends. None of these guys I am hanging out with for the week are saved and most of them are very happy to live debaucherous lifestyles. Please pray that I will be able to model the LOVE of Jesus to them and just walk my walk without feeling the need to preach at them.

Hopefully, I will be able to go to Fresno, CA and hang out with Chad and Michelle Johnson. Chad is taking a group from his youth department down to the Dream Center and hopefully God will provide a way for me to join him on this trip. If any of you guys feel lead to give me extra air miles or money for this trip, I would greatly appreciate it.

I will get back from Cali (hopefully I go in the first place) around the 2nd or 3rd of July and I will be hosting a BBQ for the 4th at my mom's house on Vashon. I will probably stay around the Island for a little while, because I don't get to hang out with my family all that much.

On the 7th of July, I will be heading out to Aberdeen to staff the Go Camp out there. I am really looking forward to this opportunity to be with my friends out there and be a part of what God is doing out in the Grays Harbor area. I have had this blocked out in my schedule since last year's Go Camp. I just love being in Aberdeen, I love what God is doing and the people are fantastic. They literally have to rely on the Holy Spirit so much out there that it is cool to see. Doug and Jake are doing an awesome thing with what the Lord has given them, I am happy to just be a part of it.

After Go Camp ends, the 16th of July, Campus Safety will start again. I am still trying to go to Ketchikan sometime in the beginning of August, but again the Lord needs to provide. Football will start August 19th (the day after my birthday) and then school shortly after.

I love being busy!
(Anne, you should be happy because you usually know my schedule better than I know it myself.)

This might be a long post...

I am almost ready to buy my Taylor... YEEEESSSS!!!!! I applied for a loan with my truck as collateral and I got approved, I just need a co-signer still. It was weird to hear that I needed a co-signer, I guess I don't have as much credit as I thought I did. I have good credit, on the high side of good, but I don't have a lot of it yet. I am trying to get my dad to co-sign for me and hopefully he will. This loan will allow me to get out from under some killer credit card debt and hopefully get me a killer Taylor guitar.

It would be so nice to have that guitar because it would allow me to play as often as I wanted and not have to deal with the not as nice acoustic I have now. I also put up for auction on ebay some of my old gear that I bought but don't ever use. It would be cool to see that stuff take off and sell for a decent price. I will use the money I earn from that to pay off the truck loan I will get and that should help out a lot.

I went to Aberdeen on Wednesday and that was a ton of fun. I got there early and talked to Doug about some stuff and we just chatted which was cool. We talked a bit about the Go Camp, that is obviously on his mind a lot right now and we talked about some cool ideas they have that I will get to be a part of. Jake had asked me to come down and play guitar for them and to share a little something. When we started talking about what I was going to share about a week ago, I had 15 minutes. On Wednesday as Jake and I were driving all over Aberdeen looking for Alpha-Bits cereal, Jake told me that I had 10 minutes. Right before he called me up to speak he told me I had 5 minutes. That was fun, a real quick and fast presentation of the fact that God likes us! He doesn't condemn us and that He is looking to forgive us. It was really cool and very fruitful. Afterwards we played a lot of cool games, most of which involved stuff outdoors, goofing off and getting dirty. After everyone had kinda left, Oliver asked us to pray for him. We did and it was really cool. We don't do that enough at PSCC, pray for each other. I think I will just start asking people to pray for me about everyting. This doesn't need to clog the altar, but just grabbing some people after service and having them pray for you is powerful!!!

I should go, I am starting this crazy adventure by meeting with Marc in less than an hour.

Oh, yeah I need to pack and find plane tickets and make this happen!!!

Love to you all

Random thoughts from a random mind

I love talking about the Lord!!! I have had so much opportunity to speak life into people and they may not even know it! I worked with my friend Tabitha today and we talked about so many things, like her Lutheran background and why she thinks the Lutheran church will die off. She told me a story about a time when their pastor preached on the steps of the altar and away from the pulpit and how people left the church because they were so outraged. She also informed me that they still think that drums are sacreligious to have in worship!!! I asked her if I could come down and lead worship at her church and she said no! She is so primed to go off the deep end in her relationship with Jesus, I can't wait.

I was talking to Kelsey Dawson yesterday and she told me this amazing story. She told me about this church in Seattle where this guy was spending time in the prayer room after service. This guy go tso full of the Lord that he could not stop speaking in tounges. He left the prayer room, still speaking in tongues, and found the gal he was courting. He walks up to her and just can't stop speaking in tongues. All of a sudden she yells out, "YES!". He had walked up to her and proposed in tongues and she through an interpretation had understood it! That is how I want to propose!

So we have a lot of work to do on campus... There was a conference this weekend with a woman named Amma. Long story short, there is a lot of demonic debris on campus and we need to begin to pray. I will explain more about Amma in a post soon.

Oh, Lord that the heavens would stay open and that your Spirit would continue to empower us, your people, to boldly proclaim who You are. You are the God of truth, forgiveness and healing. Only You can save our campus.

Open Heaven

I have been working on the Ignite newsletter for about a week, trying to get everything together and printed properly and stuff like that, so I have been at the church a lot lately (I feel like an Intern again). We finally got the newsletter mailed today (138 of 180 so we got most of it done) and I am happy about that.

I have been talking about the Lord so much, I am almost sick of it. I talk with almost everyone at work about stsuff pertaining to Jesus and I don't even start the conversation most times. I am meeting lots of people who are hungry to go deep in Jesus, but they don't know how or what that looks like!

Last night I went and helped my Dad pack up some of his stuff so that he could move to the Tri-Cities. We got to talking about some of his pet subjects, like scalar magenetic weapons that can create and modify weather. He seems to think that there are some many different things out there to destroy our country and that he needs to lead people to the "truth". I told him that I know 2 things and beyond that I don't need to know much more; Jesus loves me and I love Him. What else is there? Yeah I know I need to be prepared and to make myself ready for the times ahead of the church, but I know that Jesus is in control and I look to Matthew where it talks about worry. I can't add a single second to my life by worrying, so why even try it?

There has been this group on campus this weekend known as Amma. They are a Hindu cult and they pay a lot of money to stay on campus! I was talking to Kaj about them and he commented, "They will let the Amma people on campus but not a pentocostal!" How true. PLU seems to be trying to lose the image of a Christian university. I know that it isn't a Christian school, but it seems to be more concerned with being accepting then on pretending to be a Christian institution anymore.

I think that it is ironic that Valson Abraham is at PSCC this weekend, the same weekend the Amma group is on campus at PLU. How perfect that the man who has helped plant 3,000 churches in India can be ministering to us college age students tonight while the demonically possessed "mother" who Amma's worship is hurting people on our campus.

I do feel like there is an open heaven over PSCC and that it is extending into my life as well. I am excited about this new season and I hope that it is a long one!

Anyways, I am really tired, because I am sitting here writing and not moving anymore (I worked from 4-12 earlier today).

work

I am working 4 on, 4 off and then 8 on and 8 off, topped off by 8 more hours on top of all that. I will be working 20 of 32 hours from Friday night to Sunday morning... Oh yeah, I am on worship team as well.
I will get bursts of sleep in 3 1/2 hour spurts... Why am I still writing here?

Oweing something...

I went to the gym today to work out and I came to a realization. I don't really want to work out and I am not really motivated to become the best football player that I can be this summer. As I was running on the eliptical, I had a thought... I owe this football program so much. I came here to escape from a horrible experience at UPS. I had heard of the program at PLU and how great it was and how the players were more important than the scoreboard and I wanted that. I came here and Chad grabbed me, first by having morning bible studies and then by meeting with me and allowing me to be myself anf spurring me on to growth in Christ. Chad would never have had that opportunity if it were not for PLU football.

I owe PLU football my eternal salvation in essence. Paul writes to a slave owner in the book of Philemon about accepting back a slave that had run away and joined himself to Paul. Paul writes and urges Philemon to take this slave back and to treat him as a useful brother, reminding Philemon, "not to mention to you that you owe to me even your own self as well." Philemon 1:19.

I owe PLU football a debt I cannot repay because I was able to experience Jesus in a way I never thought would be for me. The only way I can pay this debt is by hard work and long hours in the weight room and on the track getting better as a football player.

In the same way, I owe a debt to my Savior that I can never repay. He came and grabbed my heart, it was not Chad even though God used Chad, but only by the work of His Holy Spirit. When faced with such debt, we have two choices...

1) Realize how big it is and decide that it is too big to even attempt to pay off. This leads to ignoring the debt and hoping that it might go away. This never works, because as much as we pretend the debt doesn't exist, it still is there.

2) Realize how big the debt is and decide that we should take Jesus up on His offer. He paid the debt already and all He asks is our own lives in return. We can choose to acknowledge our debt and decide to try and pay it by living with everyting we have for Jesus.

I love the Ragamuffin Gospel because it illustrates the point that we are paupers at the doorstep of God's grace...

Abba, I am a pauper, I need You to come and make my debt go away. I am left with only grattitude for what you have done for me, Lord let me keep this attitude of gratefulness and teach me how to pay off my debt here on earth, living for You completely.

Let Summer Begin

I am ready for summer to start. I look forward to all the things I am going to be doing this summer, especially praying and stressing over whether or not to buy a new Taylor guitar. I was looking at it and if I sell back some of my used gear that I have and never use I would lessen the cost by a lot. It would make it affordable, I would still ahve to finance it, but more affordable than it was!

I am looking forward to working at Campus Safety for the summer to, what a mission field! I won't sleep at all on the weekends, but I know it will be fun. I am actually working right now... just getting paid to post on blogspot!

I get to move into Kreidler Hall today after church, that means I need to pack up my room in T-Stad before I move in. I don't like moving very much, it is such a hassle, but I need to do it!

Eventually the sunshine will return and I will have my days off to enjoy it!

Done...

I am done with all my finals... yeah. whoopi. attaway. huzzah. and all that jazz.

I dunno. I feel weird right now. I don't know why either. God is not being very clear as to why. Oh well,

Eddie said something last night that was really true, I don't laugh enough. It's true, I don't laugh enough... There is really nothing I have that brings me joy or happiness. A sunny day? Seen that. A beautiful sunset? Doesn't really impact me. A cool new experience? I don't really care. My best friends? I probably take them for granted more than they take me for granted. Sure I may seem like I am having a good time and all, but inside... something is missing.

Ephesians 6: 13 ...and when you have done everything to stand firm... Stand firm...

I will stand firm on the rock of my salvation. Let everything else in my life be found as false, but let my Jesus remain the same.

Lord teach me to put my trust and to get my assurance from you. Lord show me where I am trying to get approval from man and what I need to give up to you. I want to surrender to You, but I don't know how or what. Jesus, I don't have joy in my life... What can I take joy in?

It's game time...

On Sunday, Joanne Ramos likened our time and the current season of the earth to a game that is tied and has gone into overtime. She also said that in a tied game you do not put in the third string bench warmers.

I love this analogy!!! I love being in close football games and having to strain with every ounce of strength and will to get the job done! That excites me! A couple of things about this tied game here in the last days.

In a close game, every action and every play is dependent on everyone. Sure there is one person who looks like the hero, but they would never have been able to do this without the supporting cast around them busting their humps to get the work done. If I fail at my job, we lose the game.

What pressure! What excitement! What an opportunity!

There is always the one or two people who in close games wanted the ball and knew that they would make the shot to win the game. Michael Jordan was one of them and he did, he would always get teh ball in the last seconds and make the shot! I want to be the person who is entrusted to win the game at the last shot.

I remember during my internship last summer, we did a GoCamp (10 days of pure fun/exhaustion/Holy Spirit/greatness). One of the things we did was host a basketball tournament at the Taholah Indian reservation. My team made it to the championship round, it was tough, but we made it!!! It was kinda funny sometimes, I was the big 6' 2" guy and I was playing with 2 ladies. Both ladies are really good ballers, so I would pass them the ball and let them beat these guys. We ge to the championship game and we are tied at the end of the time period. We go to overtime and the way we were playing was the next point would win. We got the ball first, missed our shot so they got the ball. We made a defensive stop and got the ball back. I wanted the ball. I got position on my defender, they passed me the ball and I hit a NBA worthy turn around jump shot from the baseline that caught nothing but net. WE WON!!! I was so excited I jumped and screamed, it was honestly one of the most exciting moments in my athletic career.

We are in that tied game right now here on campus especially, but also in te entire city/world! We need to rise up and "play" like we are capable of. In the tied game analogy, we are the million dollar athletes that they have on the team for moments just as this.

John 12:27-28 "Now My soul has become troubled; and what shall I say, 'Father, save me from this hour'? But for this purpose I came to this hour. Father, glorify Your name."

We have been placed on this campus and in our city/world/work/wherever else for this exact time and this exact hour. He specifically went out of His way t recruit us for this cause, knowing that no one else could do the job.

I love this, I love the feeling after a hard fought battle on the football field of coming off and knowing I left everything out there. I love knowing that my opponent got the very best of my effort, I could not have played any harder. I think that is the attitude I need in my faith. I need to get to heaveen completely exhausted and so ready for an eternal rest because I gave my everything to Christ and all that He gave me, I left it all here on this field!

Finals Week

I have one test down and two more to go. I have also completed the final paper that is due today in 45 minutes. I get to do a mini presentation on my paper, but it will not be all that difficult.

The final I had this morning was in Animal Behavior. This is probably my hardest class but the final he gave was identical as last years. I got a copy of the final from last year to study from and work on, so I was set to go! I felt really good about it.

My paper is really cool too. Thanks to Eddie for her mad editing skills, (she always seems to be correcting me) you made it a lot better.

Is Playing in the Dirt Healthy?

The benefits of early childhood exposure to antigen.

This will probably be my capstone next fall as well, so I am excited to have almost 10 pages out of 25 done already!!!

Yeah for finals week!!!

Procrastination...

I love to procrastinate and not work on things that I should work on. I have been fairly good at getting stuff done, but I have some work ahead of me yet.

I completed my first jury ever today. For those of you scrathcing your heads asking, "what is a jury?" it is a "test" for everyone who takes a private instrument lesson during the semester. I performed two pieces for my instructor and another music department faculty. I wasn't really nervous before hand, but once I got in there I was a little tense. It was fun though! I got through the first piece ok and then went on to the next piece, which is a little bit more difficult. I started ok, kinda quiet, but ok. I was supposed to play the first part twice, but I played it three times because I got done with the second time and forgot it was the second. I got through the rest of the piece without too many major disasters. I felt really good about it and while I am glad it is over, I wish I had more lessons to do so I could learn more. I played both of my pieces from memory, so that looked a little better on the evaluation. Both profesors gave me good evaluations, so I was happy.

I have gotten my final paper done, mostly I do need to put some finishing touches on it, so I have been fairly productive today.

Finals week will be fun as always. After this, I only have one more semster of college! I also will probably not be taking a class this summer. Instead I will take a class next January in Mexico! It will be more expensive, but I have always wanted to study abroad and this is my opportunity to do that. Taking a class next J-Term will allow me to devote more time to Campus Safety, church and working out. I am excited.

Well now we have momentum...

I love it when I get to see Kit Hackett. I love how God uses her to speak into my life and into the lives of others... Tonight she came and spoke to our Ignite group and God really blessed the time. Worship was fun becasue Nikki took a step of faith and led by herself, no piano, which leaves me to play guitar and carry the group musically. I enjoy that challenge because it grows me as a player and as a leader. It was really annointed too...

I got to talk with Kit before the service started and I told her something that I had received in prayer earlier that day. I had a thought that Jesus was arriving at the Cave in a very regal and royal procession. He came to the front and sat in a throne that we had for Him, but as He was walking toward the front, worship started and the musicians began to praise Him and the assembly started to as well. He sat down and worship continued, eventually He stopped us and Kit came forward and Jesus gave her a script to read from. She stood up in front of us and spoke His words directly.

I told this to Kit and she was really excited to hear it. As she was walking to the front to speak to us, she grabbed my arm and said, "Ok, I've got the script." and boy did she!!!

Jesus was on the move and He touched everyone in that room.

I love it when there is a move of the Holy Spirit and people get ministered to... I kinda wish that we could have had this earlier in the year, but I am happy that we received this even now. I told our leadership core on Sunday night to not hold back... Who cares if we offend people, we aren't going to see them in a couple of weeks anyways... People did not hold back either, they went after Jesus and He showed up.

Yeah for God!!!