Learning in Alaska

Never let the truth get in the way of a good story.

-Scott Kirby

(haha, he says he heard it from his brother or something)

Mixed Madness

The world is your oyster,

so make lemonade.

-Paul Stippich

First of 2 (well not really)

I just want to put some of my favorite quotes up here... but i want to do it in the most lengthy way possible, so i am going to make separate posts for each quote... you know to give each one the honor and respect they deserve.

N-C-Squared

I love this Kid!!! It was so great seeing him not only in a leadership role this weekend, but it was a blast seeing him after he has been gone for way to stinkin long.

I love you Nathan Cornelius Cook!

Eastside's D-Now Weekend

So in case you missed the last post, just started reading the blog, or just plain forgot... This past weekend was Eastside Baptist Church's D-Now.  It was amazing seeing over 150 kids come to the weekend and rock it out.  The theme was Becoming (becoming more like Christ, him transforming you and breaking you of your old ways into something he is longing for you to become)

So the weekend started off at the host homes for the middle schoolers and some of the high schoolers who didn't show up to their Friday night football game.  There was five inflatables, a hotdog eating contest, probably the best brownies in the world and much more.  It was just a time for kids to invite their friends to something fun and to also just have one amazing kick off.  

Saturday night was the night where we had a service.  It had music and speaking and everything. haha.

Well for me, i had 18 guys the entire weekend, luckily i shared the responsibility with another pretty amazing guy named Nathan Evans.  The first hour and a half that we had the kids, they went crazy but after that they pretty much settled down to a nice rowdiness for the whole weekend. :)  Well Nathan and i split the teaching times and even though the kids were pretty respectful and pretty interactive for being 7th and 8th graders there was still plenty of time of trying to focus and quiet them down, which was perfectly fine.

The whole weekend was about getting these kids to realize God's desire to break them of their flesh, of their sin, of things that God hates; to become something that he desires for them so greatly to become.  At the end of the weekend we gave them cardboard to write on one said the phrase " I was..." (Fill in the blank) and on the other side "I am becoming..." (Fill in the blank).

The example that i gave them, i have actually wrote about in a blog before, was this "I was: Lust, Greed, Hate.  I am becoming: Love, Sacrifice, Community."

So as we got the kids to write on the cardboard we played the song How He Loves.  

The whole purpose of this cardboard thing was to give the church a real life example of what happened on this weekend and to see the theme be played out in real life.

I hope and pray that these kids, all 18 who i, by God's grace alone, memorized their names, understand how much God loves them and that he desires so greatly to break them of themselves and of the world to transform them into something so beautiful and something that is 100% HIM.  I hope these kids, if not now, will look back at some point in their life at this weekend and realize that they are becoming something great, or at least have the opportunity to.

Also, i will end with this.  It was so beautiful to see what some of the students wrote on their boards, and it was encouraging and exciting to see some of the decisions that were made by them to follow after Christ and be Baptized.  I mean one of my guys decided TO GET BAPTIZED!!! HOW BEAUTIFUL AND EXCITING IS THAT?  I am pumped to hear and see what God will continue to do.

Here are some pictures from the weekend. (Sunday Morning)

Grant Von Bromley (the trusty cameraman - he is going to be big someday... not size wise, like career wise)

TD!!! You stud you

Aerial View

Some of MY BOYZ!

Great Reminder

Well this past weekend was Eastside Baptist Church's Disciple Now weekend.  It was an amazing time as over 150 kids showed up for an amazing purpose of learning more about what it means to become.  The weekend was called Becoming and it looked mainly at Paul's life and his transformation from Saul to Paul and what his life became.

I will write more on the weekend specifically later, you know, like within the next blog post.

Any who, as i was preparing for all of these lessons and going through the scriptures and main points something hit me pretty big.  As i was going through these four lessons i noticed that i had just taught the first session a few weeks ago to a youth group.  As i went through the second session i realized that i had just learned about this a few days before from a College Bible study i go to, and as i hit the third lesson i realized that i had been studying and reading about this sessions theme for months.  And hearing and learning about the fourth lesson, i could see it in my own life as i struggled to live it out, as i struggled with Christ to live consumed with him and living as he desires me to live.

In looking in these lessons it was a pretty amazing reminder that i am becoming something new.  That on this journey with Christ he is rocking my world and changing me to be more like him.  He is breaking my heart for what breaks his.  And today as i read a friends blog, (click on the word blog), i am reminded of the next few steps that would be pretty clutch to take. 

God is pretty amazing in what he uses to build you and change you.  I am glad there are constant reminders of his glory all around.  Have you seen any yet?

MUCKFEST 08

So there is this little thing called Muckfest at Sublime for Middle Schoolers. (Sublime being the name of the youth group of North Metro Church) It is the Largest Food Fight in Georgia... at least for that day. :)

Let me explain the crazyness of what is supposed to go down. The goal of the entire night is to get the opposing grades "queens" (can be guy or girl, doesn't matter) as dirty as possible. To do this said dirtying there are five rounds.

Round 1 Tomato Paste
Round 2 Bushes Baked Beans (YUMMY)
Round 3 Apple Sauce
Round 4 Log House Maple Syrup
Round 5 Flour

After these five incredibly fun and messy and edible rounds the queens come up to the "front" and the kids judge the messiness of their work by yelling and cheering for who they think wins the night. ( What a great system of judging i think, simple and sweet) Well any who, the grade that wins is the 6TH GRADE!!! :)

Why am i so excited, one because as a ref of the night i got to "keep things under control" and get kids messy and get a little messy myself at the same time, but more importantly is because i lead a small group of 6th grade guys. So yah!!! Woot Woot on the win my friends. :)

And here are some pictures to capture the beauty of the night.

After picture of the craziness

Losing Queen number 1

Losing Queen number 2

And the 6th grade queen who dominated and WON!!!

These are me and some of my boys with their friends.

Start of a break

There are certain things my heart breaks for... one of those is individuals that are not typical and who have special needs.  You may be asking why share this or why start a blog off like this... well i feel it very pertinent right now to share what things my heart is breaking for.  To be honest, i am learning what it breaks for at this moment.

This Summer i was in Alaska and it was honestly the first time my heart broke for a certain people.  I have been to places such as Moldova, Canada, other places in the U.S., heard about kids in Africa, but Alaskans are the first people i truly believe my heart has broken for.

All this to say i see God moving in some amazing and... heart breaking ways.  Tonight i was reminded of who my heart is breaking for by watching Behind the Mask, a movie based on a true story staring Donald Sutherland and Matthew Fox.  It is about Sutherland's character coming back to his true love of helping others discovering their self worth and Fox's character being an individual with special needs and who is seeking out respect and his father.

God is breaking me in more ways then one... is he breaking you?

YAY FOR UNKNOWN FUTURE!

I JUST COMPLETED MY HUNDREDTH BLOG POST!!! I AM STINKIN PUMPED AND EXCITED! :)

WOOT WOOT!  I AM SO THANKFUL FOR ALL THE STORIES.

Well have you been here the whole time, part of the time, a second of the time... let me know, and continue to add your stories via responding to things.  We all need to connect and become a community in him and in love. :)

YAY 100TH POST!!!

Unknown Future

Well... i have no idea what my future is.  I know that is perfectly fine.  I really wouldn't like to know the end, to be honest i am not the biggest fan of spoilers. I like the initial surprise, but i do like knowing things.  I like the feeling that i know fo sho that i am doing the right thing and headed the right way, but that is not the season of life i am in right now... and like i said in the beginning that is perfectly fine.

Well recently, for a long recently, i have been reading the Bible all the way through and now i am in Psalm, and yes, there are quite a few of them. :)  I just read Psalm 37 and the verses 4-7a really stood out to me.  In this period of life i am in a time of patience and have no idea what is next.  I hate it, i want to know what to do, but instead i am in a period of waiting of not knowing.  I am in a great period of growth, rebuilding and encouragement.  I am in a period of serving and giving all i have.  I am in a period that is trying to be all i can because everything is spiritual.  I am in a period where... i am lost but Jesus knows the way, and as i rest in him it is all ok.  Even though i don't everything that i should do... i know that he is beautiful and in charge.

Psalm 37: 4-7a "Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.  Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him, and he will act.  He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday.  Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him;"

In reading these verses it hits me that as i follow God... i am his will.  As i delight myself in his ways, as i pursue him, he will guide me.  One thing that i realize mostly is as it says commit your way to the Lord, trust in him, HE WILL ACT.  That is so beautiful to me.  Knowing that as i seek my savior he will act in my behalf.  As i am pursuing him he will guide me and that i am not alone.  To go further it says that he will bring forth my righteousness.  We know that this means he will bring forth my faith, my trust in him because we are declared righteous by our faith in Christ. (Genesis 15: 6)  So as he brings forth my faith and trust he will grow me in those areas and help me live by more strongly by them.

I think the hardest part though is the last sentence... "Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him."  To be honest... i dont want to wait.  I don't want to sit in silence.  I want to pray and speak the whole time, i want to rush through life.  But as i go throughout this thing called a relationship with Christ, things are made so much sweeter and more beautiful as God brings things to color as i wait on him.  As i slow down and listen and just sit, God really does come through in some amazing ways.  All in all i am not the most patient person, but i know that God does some amazing things in the time of my waiting for him.  

All of this to say, i think there is still some more hidden meaning in these verses for me.  I think this verse Proverbs 19:21 - "Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the LORD's purpose that prevails."  coupled with Psalm 37:4-7a makes a powerful cocktail of love and and Gods splendor.  To realize that God is doing some amazing things and as i wait on him and delight myself in him I AM HIS WILL.  As i sit in the silence, as i sit in beauty his plans will prevail over mine, and THANK YOU GOD FOR THAT! :)  But in this in between and time of wait, i hope to start each day as if it were on purpose.  I hope to patiently wait as God opens my ears and eyes to the joys and struggles around me.  I hope to patiently wait for strength, wisdom, and guidance for what is next in life with school, relationships, job, family... everything.

Patience: in that time the LORD's purpose will prevail because he is there with me, always by my side through everything, no matter if i don't feel him or feel things going great.