Ministry Glaze

Ever been so busy and done so much work in a short amount of time that you feel exhausted and just tired deep down in your bones? I am sure you have, so that is where I am at right now.

Sean Smith came to PLU and God did some amazing things. We saw about 10-12 people give there hearts back to Jesus and some amazing miracles of healing and people being set free! It was great... but it can tend to wear you out, no matter how much time you have with the Lord. Mark Wolbert calls it the ministry glaze because you get that look in your eye that readily identifies that you don't have much left to give.

So let me tell you the chronological story of my weekend, that ended on Wednesday night! I started fasting on Saturday and seeking the Lord for annointing while at the PLU-UPS game (we won 32-28). I really damaged my voice in the process by screaming so much. On Sunday, played bass and Sean spoke. It was a great time and it ended with me at the altar being prayed for during the ministry time and that was sweet. We had a lunch meeting as an Ignite staff and then I had to jet to N. Tacoma to my brothers 21st birthday. Even though I was late, it was still a cool time to hang out with the family and see people. I left the birthday party and got back to campus to tie up some loose advertising ends. I left to go back to church at about 5:15 and I helped set up for the next service with Sean at church. I also played bass that night and I got to talk to Mark about some stuff and was able to have him cover me in prayer for the rest of the week. Sunday night was more of a ministry time and a lot of people got very touched by God. On Sunday night after church, we randomly decided to drive out to Westport... at midnight. We all crammed into Tabitha's car, Emily Hockert, Nikki, Anne Syvertson and I. We made the drie out there, stayed on the beach for a while and then drove back. Long night, I didn't sleep because I had to be at work by 4 am. It was great, we all prayed for each other and we all just got met by Jesus. Tabitha got baptized in the Spirit and we all had an absolute blast. Monday was great, Sean spoke at our regular Ignite meeting and about 8-10 people accepted the fullness of who Jesus is. Tuesday we did a big all campus event and about 80-100 people showed up for it. The night went well and God really moved. We now have a large group of people who will need discipling and care so we need to plan for that and be ready to provide for the need. God is good.

Mark asked me to lead worship last night at youth group and it was my 5th worship service in 4 days. That is about 4 hours a day (average, some were a lot more) doing stuff related to worship; getting set up, practicing, playing and then tearing down. It was great, don't get me wrong but I was ready to be done playing my guitar last night after worship. Worship last night was great because the kids realy bought into it and began to encounter Jesus in a way I have never experienced before with this group. I was not at my best musically, but Jesus showed up and ministered to kids.

So I am tired. The ministry glaze is characterized by physical and mental exhaustion yes, but also by spiritual exhaustion as well. Please pray for me that I will allow the peace of God to sustain me and to carry me along these next few days.

I love the Ministry Glaze for one simple reason. It usually means God moved in a powerful way.

Sean Smith, before

In the pre- Sean Smith mayhem, life is pretty hectic right now. It is really cool to see God coming through in real and tangible ways right now. All of the advertising is done and paid for, and all of the results of it so far have been amazing.

We made these cool T-shirts that say, "Are you b.l.u.e?" on the front and the time of the event on the back. Jennifer Furumasu, Emily Hockert and I were up til about 4 am making the shirts and the look really cool. People have been asking a lot of questions about them and it is getting a great response. We have about 21 shirts and hopefully we can have 21 people wearing them on Monday and Tuesday.

Sean Smith is speaking at church this weekend and then he will be on campus for 2 nights. We will be short of money, but the Lord will provide.

We are really looking forward to what God is going to do. It will be a crazy night... and I have to work at 4 am the next morning.

Colossians

I love the book of Colossians... It is a wonderful read for me right now in many ways. I am super busy and I get really good at not spending time with the Lord and Colossians is all about the person of Jesus and how He is Lord of everything.

Colossians 2:9

For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form.

Such great passages are in this book, I am really getting blessed by meditating on them. It has been a rough emotional few weeks and this book provides so much comfort for me right now because of the centerpiece of Jesus. If I can look to Him and let all other things fade away, then I will be doing better.

It has been a healing week for the most part. I sometimes think that I am hurting more than I know and it is just a matter of time before it all comes out, but I also know that I have amazing friends and confidants to help me through this. I drove coaches and trainers to the airport yesterday and it was painful to leave them at the airport, I wanted to go to California with the guys so much. But God is so good and so much better than I can even know.

Colossians 3:3-4

For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.

The song Blessed Assurance comes to mind.

Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine! O what a foretaste of glory divine! Heir of salvation, purchase of God, born of his Spirit, washed in his blood.

This is my story, this is my song, praising my Savior all the day long; this is my story, this is my song, praising my Savior all the day long.

Perfect submission, perfect delight, visions of rapture now burst on my sight; angels descending bring from above echoes of mercy, whispers of love.

This is my story, this is my song, praising my Savior all the day long; this is my story, this is my song, praising my Savior all the day long.

Perfect submission, all is at rest; I in my Savior am happy and blest, watching and waiting, looking above, filled with his goodness, lost in his love.

This is my story, this is my song, praising my Savior all the day long; this is my story, this is my song, praising my Savior all the day long.

Update on life (hot off the press!!!)

I am warning you all now, this might be a long post. I guess that is what happens when you don't write for a while, it all sorta builds up and then comes rushing out. Well, I guess I'll just get started.

To bring closure to some things that may be still open... I got my stipend back from Campus Safety and along with it I am now working 20 hours a week, the maximum I can work during the school year. I will be making $8.50 an hour and I am going to be talking to the boss people about promotion to supervisor which would pay an even $9. The one down side is that I have almost all of my hours between 4 am and 8 am. I am not sleeping much, but I will manage. I wake up every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at 3:30 am and shower and dress for work. I get to work and I make some tea and put it in my PLU mug that I have. It is amazing how grown up I feel because I drink tea in a mug!!!

Ignite is going great right now. We are really building momentum and I love seeing what God is doing. I got to talk to Chad Johnson today about a lot of things (more on that conversation later) and we chatted about Ignite. One of the things he told me was that it is all about intimacy with Jesus. I know this, but I forget so easily because I am so easily clouded by the things I am doing. I get to handle a lot of the administration duties for Ignite and I feel like that is a full time job in and of itself. I am super busy with a lot of things right now and one of the first things to go is my time with Jesus. I am challenging myself to put that first before anything else. Lance Powers, who spoke at Ignite last night and was so annointed, said that God does not want to be #1 in your life. If He is #1, that implies that there is a #2 and a #3 and so on. God wants to be the ONLY thing in my life and I need to let Him be that for me.

Sean Smith is coming in 2 weeks to Ignite and I am getting excited. I want to make some T-shirts that have a cool phrase on them and have some key Core people wear them for a bit before the event to build some energy about it. God we need about $200 to make this happen and do it at a top notch level with the T-shirts. We also need about $800 on top of all that to defray the cost of Sean and his wife staying here and eating alot, etc... We have the venue all lined up and even though I am still working on the gear we will use, it should be fine. Conferences and Events told me today that we cannot use the sound equipment from the church, because we are required to rent from Media Services. This is frustrating, but I will see what I can do about all this.

I am really happy about the transition at PSCC with Lance Powers coming in as the new senior pastor. He is a dynamic guy in love with Jesus and I can't wait to see what God does in my church. Also, bringing Nate and Cory Boyt along with him is a huge plus and I can't wait to work with them either.

So now to the depressing portion of the update. I will never play football again.

I have a, "...moderate to severe compression of my spinal cord in between my 4th and 5th cervical vertebrae." Long story short, if I get hit the wrong way, I could become a quadraplegic or worse. Heck, if I get in a bad enough car wreck, my odds for serious spinal injury are way up. I saw the neurosurgeon today and we talked about my MRI that I got and he showed me a portion of it that showed a very clear impinging on my spinal cord. I told Scott our head coach and David one of our line coaches about it today, so the team will know soon enough.

I have been struggling with Stingers as they are called for about 3 weeks now. When I was playing, I would get 1-2 every practice at least. Our training staff wisely decided to sit me out for a bit and to have me see the Campus health center. I met with them and they decided that I needed to go and get X-rays of my neck. I did that and showed them to Dr. Mariani, our team physician. He also examined me and found that I was weaker on my left side, the arm I would get stingers in, than I was on the right side. He decided that an MRI was needed to see if there was any structural damage to the spinal column. Because Dr. Mariani sees more knees injuries, hes a sports medicine specialist, than neck injuries, he sent me to a specialist, Neurosurgeon Dr. Anthony Harris. That is where I went today and I saw Dr. Harris and he told me the news about my football career.

He said that I could have surgery to fuse the C4 and C5 vertebrae, but because I am not having symptoms for the most part, he said that was probably not the best idea at this time. If symptoms do come back, then surgery on my neck is something I will probably have to get.

I am not really sure how to feel right now. I am ok for the most part I think, but I don't handle trauma and pain very well. I tend to bottle everything up and not let it be expressed. I feel the same as I did when Eric Fergen died, kinda numb I guess. Maybe it is the Lord's gracious mercy not allowing me to experience the full depth of emotion about this. I came to PLU to play football and football at PLU changed my life. I would not know Jesus the way I do today if it had not been for men like Frosty Westering, Chad Johnson and others who have gone through the PLU program or been around it. The program is very special to me and I don't want to leave it, but that is the beauty of PLU football, I can do other things that don't include playing and still be a part of the family.

I got back from the doctors today and went out to practice. Dr. Mariani was there and we got to talk for a bit and turns out he knows Kaj pretty well and is a believer so he prayed for me, right out there on the field and everything. We talked about a lot of things and he has been such a great resource to me it is incredible. Dr. Harris gave me some things to do to strengthen my neck still and to maybe relieve some of the pressure on my neck. That will be my competition, seeing how hard I can work to get well and put myself in a position to not have any long term effects from this.

I can't help but feel let down by this. I never really got my chance to play for PLU on the field. I was either injured or there was someone starting in front of me. I love competing and I love working with others to achieve a goal, two things football offers in spades. Never getting that chance hurts a little bit. Also, realistically looking at it, what if I had never earned a starting spot this year, how would I have felt about myself later. I can at least say now that I was injured my entire senior season and never got a chance to suit up. I love football, I love this team, I love the program at PLU, I love the guys... the question I am facing is do I love God more?

I think that I do. I will get through this, prayeras and hugs are always appreciated, but I will get through this.

classes

I was looking at my class and reading schedule for this semester and the thought hit me,

"WHAT AM I DOING!?!?!?"

I am taking 2 reading intensive religion classes on top of my writing and research intensive capstone class. I am being good, I have started to get ahead and hopefully I can stay that way. I also do not have classes on Fridays, so that will be a good homework day.

My religion classes will be interesting and challenging at the same time. One of them is examining the life of Martin Luther and the process of Reformation. I am going to enjoy this class and I have some cool friends in the class that can help me if I get stuck. The other class is an Old Testament class and we will be looking at the Old Testament in many different ways, like Source Criticism, Rhetorical Criticism and Form Criticism. The goal of the class is to gain knowledge of the different methods of literary criticism and we will be using the Old Testament as our text.

My Capstone class is the senior research everyone at PLU has to do within their degree field. I was going to do mine on the relationship between early childhood exposure to antigen and the relationship to the occurence of allergies later in life, but I found out that I cannot do that because I already did a major project on that topic for another class. They want us to do some original work that we have not already done before. So I need to find a topic to research and fast, because my proposal is due at the end of this week and my outline and bibliography is due in two weeks.

I chose a science major for one of the added benefits of not having to write as much, and now I will be spending long hours in front of my computer typing away.

Football is going good, I am very excited to have our first game this Saturday and I know that the offense will be ready to handle business.

Wow...

I haven't been here in a while. Posting on my blog that is... Football Camp officially broke last night after our scrimage. I will be starting class this Tuesday at 8 am!!! The scrimage went well, as a team we looked decent (the defense looked awesome, but they always do in the scrimage). I did not play very well and I ended up having to sit after two series because my back hurt pretty bad. The trainer and team doctor told me it was a muscle thing, and since it is right next to my spine and it hurt, they didn't want me to go back in and risk further injury to other parts of my body because I would be guarding my already hurting muscle. It is frustrating to sit and watch when I should be out there competing, but what could I do?

Church was fantastic today, I am sure Pastor Tom had a message for us, but he never gave it becasue we spent the whole time in worship. It was really great... Worship rolled straight into communion which was fun and meaningful. I am treasuring every time I get to spend with him because after Lance comes on board, he won't be around as much anymore.

We have a meeting for Ignite tonight and I hope that it will clear up some questions I have been having, like, "what is my role?" "Where are we going this year?" etc... As of right now, I will give everything I can to this ministry until December and then I will look at it in light of my being a graduate and see what God wants me to do after that.

We have our first game this Saturday at 1:30 pm at Sparks Stadium in Puyallup. The Puyallup Fair will be going on then as well, so get there early and enjoy the free BBQ by Thrivent Financial for Lutherans that starts at 11 am. Let me know if you are going to come and need tickets, because I can get 4 free on my own and then I can use other peoples free tickets they are not going to use to get more free for my friends and family (students get in free). Even if I am not getting any playing time, come experiene PLU magic for yourself.


I will have more time to post as the year settles into a routine for me.

last blog for a while

I will be starting the last football camp of my life, so I won't be posting for a while.

We will have a week of practice and then we will leave for Breakaway on Friday morning to return on Sunday afternoon. Next week is another week of practices and then we will be helping out with All-Campus move-in day. School will start after the second week of camp so the schedule gets a little easier, from a football sense. We will be having a scrimage on Sat. Sept. 2 at Sumner High School (I think) and our first game is at home, Sat. Sept. 9, Sparks Stadium at 1:30 pm.

I may have some free time in the evenings, so call me and we will see about that.

If you are praying for me, then you can pray that I will not only survive camp, but I will thrive in it. I hope to avoid injury and I want to perform well. Pray that I will total release every pratice and that I will continue to get better.

Most important, pray that I will continue to seek Jesus in a dark environment and a busy schedule. I need Him more than ever.

Thanks for a great B-day yesterday (sorry for falling asleep).

See you in the school year.

23

It is my birthday today, In case people haven't noticed. This is but one more step until I am over the hill, 23/40 = 58% over the hill. If you really want to get me the best gift ever, you could find a Taylor 410 CE and buy it for me (list price of about $2000).

I got back from Alaska on Wednesday night (after a 2 hour plane delay) and I have noticed some really interesting things. In Ketchikan, I feel like there is an abundance of faith. People believe that if they pray for their friends, they will get saved; if they cry out to God long enough, He will step in and alter the situation to His glory. I find that I lack that here sometimes. I tend to look more toward the thing I am doing and less to the thing God is doing. I feel that there are many things that God will ask me to do for Him, but instead of saying to God, "Look at what I am doing for You" I should be saying, "I did what You asked, what is next?"

The place of waiting and trusting the Lord is where I need to be and where our ministry needs to be.

The Lord showed me a cool picture (I know how you feel sometimes Joy, because this is hard to convey properly). We were at the prayer meeting in Ketchikan on Tuesday night and about 80+ people were there. We listened to this cool soaking prayer thing, I don't know who it was by but it was very cool. There was a part where he talked about the room of intercession in the heavenlies and it floored me!!! I was standing in the back and I saw a picture of a person in the spiritual armor of God. This armor was very functional and well used. The armor was in really good repair and the person was ready for battle and experienced in warfare. The armor was customized and was perfect for the individual, allowing them to move freely and effectively. I am reminded of a verse in Song of Solomon 3:7-8. The people who wear this kind of armor are people who have been in the wars and have seen things most people have not.

Compare this to other people who just went to the store and bought their armor yesterday. It is shiny and new and it is strong enough, but you can tell it has not been used much. You can always tell the people who are just getting into a new activity, say hiking or fishing etc... They always have really new gear that somebody at the store told them was good or they are using the outdated gear from their grandpa. They have not taken the time to make the gear perfect for them. You can always tell the duffer or the weekend warrior by the gear they use. In battle, improperly working gear could be the difference between life and death.

I want to be a person who has the fully functional armor and who is ready for battle. I don't relish battle or wake up thinking I need to crush some demons face in order for my day to be a success, but if it come to that, I am ready to do that in gear that has been fitted and tested and well used by me.

Are we Christians who have the overriding faith that God is bigger? Just because we have been called to ministry (Ignite leaders) doesn't mean that the work is done. We are like the people who have been issued our armor, now we need to get to work. The spiritual battle here in Tacoma is huge and we cannot back down. The weekend warrior won't go out and fight if it is raining or if they feel a little pain (from an old war wound, to be sure). The seasoned professional will battle through any odds. We are called to a full time ministry here on campus, whether we know it or not and we need to press through the little things that hold us down and rise up to the big things that God is calling us to.

Pastor Terry in Ketchikan said it very well when he talked about C (or Sea) level Christians. They can get by with living in a compromising situations and compromising their faith, God has grace and forgiveness. But when you get to the B level or A level, you will have to make some serious commitments. If we rise to this level and we don't begin to clean our lives up, we begin to take His grace and forgiveness for granted. We also allow a door to be opened for satan to come in and have his way in our lives and in our ministry. We have been chosen to be a higher level of Christian than we were and I know that is our heart. Lets go for it and not hold back or be held back...

Much love to everyone.

No really I mean it, I love you all

Happy Birthday to ME!!!

The importance of prayer

Why do we neglect the importance of prayer? I have found at this church here in Ketchikan such a passion to pray and to see God move that it is uncontainable. They take prayer seriously here and they take the young generation seriously here as well. Charisa and I are going to a prayer meeting tonight at the church that about 70 people are expected to show up for.

Can you imagine a prayer meeting with 70 people?

We went and joined the pastors, interns and other leaders for prayer this morning and it was powerful. God is up to something big and it will be cool to see it. I have some great thoughts for prayer next year and I can't wait to talk about them with some of you...

See you all soon,

ALASKA!!!

I am in Alaska!!! Dude, I have always wanted to be here and now I am. I flew in on Friday night and the city is really interesting. It reminds me of Aberdeen in many ways, it is an old logging town, economically depressed, but God is up to something here. There is such a life in the church out here, the pastoral staff is running after Jesus and God is doing stuff. This church loves to pray!!! I mean really love to pray.

Charisa and I were scheduled to speak at the 8:30 service and we showed up at about 8. They started a prayer meeting before the service at 8:15 and it was amazing. The entire worship team, interns, pastors and everyone else who was there began to pray and pace the sanctuary. They would pass the microphone around and people would pray and Holy Spirit shows up. They prayed for a while and as people showed up and came into the sanctuary, they continued to pray. They went straight into worship at about 8:35 and that was really cool.

I got to speak and I talked about the generational blessing that God wants to do. People really received the word and I was happy with it. I was a little nervous because I have never spoken in front of a full church at a main service before. Maybe it was a mental hang up, I have a real respect for the main service. I need to do stuff like that more, I like to preach and I like to minister, I just need to practice. It went well though, I wish I could have laughed more however.

Charisa got up after me and spoke about some stuff that happened to her earlier in the fall. I had heard about what happened but I didn't know the entire story. Hearing her tell it was powerful.

I am having a great time here, but I can't wait to get home... I am meeting some really cool people here and I am getting a chance to hang out with them.

Nikki, we need to figure out when I am flying in on Wednesday. I will call you or post it here.

See y'all later...

Talladega Nights

I have been working so hard for football these last few months, that it is good to see some reward for that. I have noticed that I am better prepared for this season than any other football season of my life, so I am happy. I want to go out with a bang, as it were. A word to the wise, don't eat potatoes O'Brien before doing an extreme workout. I ended up puking 5 times after my running workout on Monday. I made it through today's workout better, no puking, but I didn't eat very well today, lots of sugar and junky food that dosen't quite fill you up. Long story short, I need to eat better, because I have been doing really good and I have noticed the difference.

After a little team 11 on 11, we went and saw Talladega Nights, the ballad of Ricky Bobby. It was a stupid movie, but it was so funny at times. It was good to go out with the guys and hang out as well. Lots of laughs were had. The best part of the movie had Michael Clarke Duncan trying to dig a knife out of... well, you will have to go and watch it.

I finished my last shift of the summer today, and as expected, it was boring and long. I got to play Maggie's guitar though and that was fun.

I leave for Alaska in Friday and I am excited. I will try to post on the blog while up there, but no promises, it is Alaska after all. I heard they got electricity the other day for the first time, so I figure that HiSpeed internet cannot be far behind. Pray for me in Alaska...PLEASE!!!

I don't say this enough, but to all my friends and faithful readers, I love you. That is right, I love you. You guys all mean the world to me and I couldn't make it without you all.

Life is Good

I got to lead worship on Wednesday night and it was so much fun. We took over the main sanctuary at church and had a really full woship team. We had a rockin set and the kids even responded a little bit!!! Mark preached a great word and kids were really touched.

I put these links in my sidebar, but you should check them out if you get a chance... (thanks Joy!)

everystudent.com
waymore.org

Both of these sites are run by Campus Crusade for Christ and I was surfing on them for a little bit andi thought that they were fantastic!!! So many practical answers to tough questions and they all relate God's amazing love for us in each answer. Cool beans!!!

I got to go to Eugene, OR and visit Montana for a day. Weird traffic going down and silly construction projects just north of Vancouver coming back. While there I got to see Anna Palmquist, a fellow intern last summer. She is in a very hurting place right now, so pray for her please. I don't think her story needs to be on the blog, but pray for her.

Montana, Kat (his novia) and some other Onyx House peeps went to this place called Wildwood. It is probably 15 miles south of Eugene and it was so fun. It is a natural waterfal that has carved a pool about 30 feet deep in this rocky area. The sides of the pool are about 20-30 feet high and we spent all day jumping into the water and swimming in the pool. It was so pretty, if you are ever making a drive through Oregon on I-5 and you have some time to stop and swim, DO IT!!! It is a little off the beaten path, but well worth it.

I worked 13 hours of wonderful Campus Safetyness yesterday and it was fun. I got to work with my friend Callie and we talked about everything. It is amazing sometimes the things that come up in conversation when you spend over 8 hours with someone doing a fairly monotonous job. I also got an e-mail from my cousin Ken who is a Seargent in the Army, serving in Iraq. He is a linguist, so he dosen't kill people, but he is still over there. It was cool to catch up a bit with him and hopefully he will read the blog, so welcome Ken!!!

There is the update, I can't think of anything else to write about. Oh, except God is good... Yes He is. I don't have a specific reason to say that currently, I mean there is no recent blazing example of His goodness in my life, but He is good. He is reminding me of that and I like to remeber things like His goodness and His love.

Peace out.

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.