Humbling Summer

Well, I know it's been quite some time since I've written on here, but man I have been so busy with my Churchs' Summer Internship this summer. I have grown so much physically and Spiritually because of this program. Summer Internship was an 8 week leadership development program where we learned to grow physically with workouts, and spiritually through teachings and experiences. On our kickoff weekend for summer staff, we all drove to the Hyatt Hotel, and spent hours in one of their conference rooms getting to know each other through the likes of games. Our Pastor then gave us a message on Repentance, where he started to name off just a few of the sins in the Bible, and we had to write down all of the ones we had committed on a sticky note, and then stick it to our bodies. As you can guess, we were covered in them. But then some worship music was put on, the lights were dimmed, and he had us pray for those sins one by one. It was quite astonishing to see all of those sticky notes laid out before you. My favorite moment from that night was that we prayed and worshiped for four hours straight. Worship music was playing, and we were all singing along. I got goose bumps many times throughout the night, it was indescribable.


Every single Wednesday and Thursday we had to be at the church. We did workouts in the mornings, and many different teachings in the afternoons. We would all spend 14-15 hour days at the church on Wednesdays, but for what we did, it was well worth it. On Sundays we would have field trips, and we did everything from camping out at the church, to getting stranded on an island called Cayo Casta, to even helping out with an event that our church puts on every year called Project Backpack. For the last 8 weeks, every Wednesday and Thursday, that's what my life consisted of. It was such an enlightening and humbling experience to be apart of. Sadly, yesterday, 8/2/12, was the last day of summer staff. But what we did I will never forget.We went back to the beginning, back to where it all started. We went back to the Hyatt Hotel. Will thought the perfect ending to this internship would be to do what Jesus did. Jesus washed his disciples feet. In order to be a leader, you must serve. So, there were four bowels of soapy water, and on each one of our chairs was a small towel that said summer staff 2012. We got in groups of four, and washed each others feet. As my Pastor says, not only is it humbling to wash someones feet, but it's also humbling to have your feet washed. And he was right. It was the most odd, yet meaningful experience. The absolute perfect way to end Summer Staff. I thank God that I had the opportunity to serve and be a part of this incredible group. 


(The First picture is a few people getting their feet washed, and the second is our entire group shot. I wouldn't want to do life with anyone else but these guys.) 

Change Before You Have To

Tonight at Collide, one of our Pastors Mike Ash spoke to us about change, and what happens when we don't do what we know we need to do. He gave us 6 different areas of our lives to begin to change. 

• Physically
• If people in your family are overweight, you know there is a good chance of you becoming like that too if you don't do anything about it. Change yourself before you have to. Start working out. Even if it's just walking. Do something.
• Spiritually
• Pray, Read your Bible daily, Attend Church, and most importantly Apply it to your life. Live it out.
• Emotionally
• Bitterness- Who are you avoiding? Who do you have bitterness towards? Think positive thoughts about that person.
• Victim Mentality- Get rid of that. The world isn't out to get you, I promise.
• Past hurts- Most people probably deal with this one. You need to surface that past hurt, talk about it, and don't let it stop you from possibly making a great decision because you're afraid to get hurt again.
• Insecurities- Ding ding ding! This everyone deals with. You need to know that God love you for who you are. Not who you're trying to be, not who you want to be, but who you are. He created you that way! 
• Relationally
• There needs to be boundaries between you and the opposite sex. I know for a fact that I struggle with this one. I'm just a really friendly person. I befriend everyone, old, young, guys, girls, doesn't matter. I tend to show the same amount of care towards both sexes too, so you can see how that could be misinterpreted sometimes. I'm working on that now, and man, it's so difficult. It is needed though.
• Socially
• Who are you hanging out with? You need to be careful who you surround yourself with, because if you're hanging around with idiots who do bad things, you're more than likely going to be doing those things as well. Proverbs 13:20 "He who walks with the wise grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm" and also 1st Corinthians 15:33 "Bad company corrupts good character" Your friends do have an impact on your character, whether you think so or not.
• Financially
• Give 10%, Save 10%, and spend the rest. 

These are just a few things to think about, for you to try and begin to change, before you have to change it. 

Humbled at Heart

Yesterday was 4/21/12, the day that was filled with so many adventures and learning for me! My church did this service project called One Day, where 250 students from 6 different churches all converged to one Church, and then went out to perform 30 different jobs all around Southwest FL. My job was to go clean a Widow's home, and man did we clean it. We vacuumed her house, cleaned out her pantry, which meant throwing out so many outdated cans. One can I found was dated from 1991! We also flipped her mattress, made her bed, cleaned her bathrooms, cleaned the kitchen, and cleaned out her China set! Though it was hard labor and took a few hours it was so rewarding to see how happy and grateful she was of our help! I really enjoyed going out a serving the community! Later that day, I went to the 6:30 church service as I always do, and it was Baptism weekend! 4 of my amazing small group girls all got baptized that day! I'm so incredibly proud of them all and I don't know what I would do without them! It's so incredible to see people get Baptized. Something in you just stirs, and even if you don't know the person, you still feel proud for them. Watching all those lives change in just one day is overwhelming! My heart is so full of love for these guys, and my church. 


Check out my church on Fox News!

Fox-4 News on One Day Next Level Church

My girls and their baptisms!!

Sam and Eli's Wedding Day - March 9, 2012

March 9, 2012. What a day. The two coolest mentors that I have ever met got married, and I was there to witness the true magic of love. Even more special was that this was the very first wedding that I had ever been to, and I was blessed and privileged enough to be invited. This marriage was truly like a fairy tale, and as I think back on it, it still seems very surreal to me. Watching them say their vows on the stage, putting on the rings, and then having their dance was no doubt the sweetest thing I have ever witnessed. You can see the love that just radiates off of them both. The reception was quite literally insane though. I have never had that much fun dancing, or been this sore. As I walked back to my table to get a drink, I looked back and observed the crowd. It was like nobody had a care in the world. Everyone was focused on the rhythm of the music, and dancing with their friends. You know the term "Dance as if no one is watching" ? I'm pretty sure I saw a ton of that. Heck I did it myself. I believe that the true magic came from being around the most amazing people. The people at my church are just so selfless and ready to help anyone at anytime. Oh, and did I mention that we had a flash mob? >:) The look on Sam and Elizabeth's faces was priceless. First flash mob I have ever attended, and it was incredible. So thank you Sam, thank you Elizabeth. You guys have turned my life upside down. Thank you for the advise, thank you for the love, thank you for investing in me. But thank you most of all for allowing me to be a part of your incredible lives. My life certainly would not be as entertaining without you two. You guys mean so much to me, and to convey all of that into words is probably the hardest thing to do. I'm so honored to know you guys. Thank you, for everything. :)


                                       Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. McDowell 

The day of Jeff Bethke

For those of you who haven't heard of Jeff Bethke, he speaks and makes these poems about God, about how you don't need to "earn" Gods' love, but that he already loves you. That even when you push Him away and say you hate Him, He looks down and says "I want that man." Well, tonight my entire youth group had the privilege of listening to him speak to us. His words amaze me. For the few guest speakers that I have seen at my church, never have I said "Wow" or "Holy crap" throughout the entire service because the words that Jeff spoke pretty much slapped me in the face. There is nothing you can do, no sin great enough to make God not love you. He loves you all the time, with unconditional love. If you think you need to earn his love, you need to reevaluate. One thing I love that Jeff mentioned was in Romans 5:8 it says "But God demonstrates His love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." So while you are, or were running away from God He still loved you. In fact that made Him want you more. No matter how much you push Him away and hate Him, God looks down and says "I want you." I think the biggest thing that hit me, was when he spoke of two types of people. Good, and bad. We always compare ourselves to worse people than ourselves, "Oh, well I'm better than that person, so I must be good." But he said "that's like looking at your reflection in a pool of mud. It won't give you the proper reflection, try looking in pure water, and then you'll see you're not too good." That line right there was like a punch in the gut. It really turned around my perspective on things and made me ponder. But Jesus said there's only one type of person in the world, evil, and himself. And addictions? You don't have to hide from those. You don't have to hide from your shame, your filth, your guilt, because Jesus has already forgiven you. I love this one too, that we should boast in our weakness. That's powerful. We should boast in our weakness because we have God. A question that had been asked was if you have friends that are not Christians and sin, should you avoid them or pour into them? As Jeff said, pour into them. Plant the seed, and then leave the rest to God. Often times people try and try again to get certain people to come to God. Just plant the seed, and see what God does for them. I'm going to end it here, because I want you guys to watch the message. :) But, one last thing, I love the 3 Hebrew words for love, which are Rayah, Ahavah, and Dod. Look them up because they're pretty neat. 


                                            Here's an awesome photo of myself and Jeff. :)

And here's the video link!!

Jeff Bethke Live at Collide

UnCommon

Just this past weekend, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, I had the most memorable nights of my life thus far. I went to a retreat with my church called UnCommon, and you would not believe the life change that happened there. God was working in every single person that was there. The messages that were spoken, the worship that we had twice a day, the intimate time we had with our small groups, it was all incredible. The thought of someone's life changing that dramatically in a matter of 3 days astounds me. The stories that I heard that weekend of people's lives and encounters with God were so inspiring. Sounds emotional right? Well of course it was. It was indescribable. As much as we needed it to be, it wasn't all just seriousness though. We had tons of fun. We went through obstacle courses, got extremely muddy and wet, and played Capture the glow stick in the pouring rain at night while it was cold. We had a bonfire, and had s'mores, and picked oranges while riding in the bed of a truck on a ranch! Or, at least a few of us did. But I think my favorite part was the worship times and intimacy of the small group talks. I love the chemistry you develop with everyone. There's just this feeling of trust and love that fills the air. It's like we all know that we're there for each other. Even if you don't know someone. I heard stories of people speaking to others that they didn't even know, and they told them some personal things. I love the trust that we develop. Another favorite thing of mine is, when we all finally got home, so many people got on facebook and posted about their experience at camp. It's amazing to read everyone's thoughts and feelings, and what they learned, and what they'll never forget. This was definitely a life change for me and so many other people. We are not meant to live the common life. We need to stand out as Christians, and well, be uncommon. :)

The Rest Stop

Collide last night was, well very emotional. I know so many people, myself included, who have just felt so stressed and exhausted. We've been running ourselves ragged with school, work, home life, friends, complications, you name it. It seems as if it's a never ending process. We stay up late, drag ourselves through school and work, attempt to do homework while we're on the computer or TV, and it's the same thing all over again the next day. I know with some of the things I've been going through lately, I've been just beyond exhausted, and I just feel weary and empty. But it's because I haven't had rest. And I don't mean rest as in sleep, thought that's probably a factor. I mean rest as in quieting my mind, sitting in silence and solitude. Just me and God. We all need a chance to rest. We all need a special place to go to be alone, where we won't be disturbed. If you're anything like me, the idea of this scares you a little. Silence is not something that I much like, so I don't often sit in it. I've realized though that I need to. We all do. The myriad emotions I feel when I'm alone, and in complete silence is overwhelming. Even though I've realized that I need to do this, to essentially rest my mind, I still struggle with the thought about actually performing the task. I used to have this place where I used to live in Ohio, that I would go to all the time. It was the perfect place to just be alone and think. It was a  small section of woods, and I would always quietly wander through, going to the deepest part that I knew of. I would sit on a log, and just be still for hours. Occasionally I would see some deer pass by, or even once a coyote. Nothing could keep me from those woods. I would even go there in the winter, when a good 2-3 feet of snow was blanketing the ground, or gently falling from the sky to create the typical canvas picture of wintry woods. The solitude and beauty of this place was astounding. I'm not sure what drew me to that place, because as I was there, I was never thinking about God. That was before I truly became a Christian. I was always thinking of other things though. But it's the ability to calm your mind, organize your thoughts, and just connect with God. Want to know why you're weary and exhausted all the time? You're running on empty (Which makes me think of the song Running on by Jackson Browne) with your connection with the Lord, and it needs to be filled again. Your soul needs to be replenished. Find yourself a quite, beautiful place, and rest and refresh your mind. I'm trying to do the same. It will do you wonders. Psalms 23 "The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake."

Check out our Sermon! It's goofy, but very insightful as always. :) 
The Rest Stop