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

Giants

Everyone in the world is dealing with giants right now, whether it's depression, guilt, or whatever. We're all dealing with some form of giant. Wednesday at Collide, Pastor Will talked about David and Goliath, and how every single person in the Army was terrified of Goliath. With good reason too, the man was 9 feet tall and weighed like a bajillion pounds. His armor alone weighed 5,000 sheckles! That translates to 125 pounds, but saying sheckle is more fun. So David, this tiny 16 year old kid, goes to King Saul and asks to fight Goliath, because at that moment something came over him. He wasn't afraid to fight this giant. He knew that God was there to protect him. So David, with his slingshot and 5 smooth pebbles, walked over to Goliath. After throwing insults at each other, David ended up killing Goliath. We all have problem we're dealing with. Some of ours bigger than others. But no matter how big they are, we can overcome them with Gods help! I know when I'm going through something, I tend to shy away from everyone. Including God. but I know that when I ask Him for help, He delivers. He won't deny you. 


Check out the sermon! You'll get a good laugh out of it too, my pastor was so hyper that day. 

The Charted Course


Also, shout out to Sam because he pleaded me to mention this. Elizabeth, you have the most adorable ears ever. Stop worrying about the way they look. It's who you are. Remember the song Beautiful Things? Yep, that's you. Absolutely gorgeous! :) Love you girly!!

Jesus is the Reason

So I'm a bit preoccupied with other things, but I thought I would take the time to at least inform you on the latest Collide night. I feel a little bad for the continuously slowing pace I'm at with my blog. So to get to the point, Jesus' story is not just a myth, or a fairy tale. It doesn't begin with "Once upon a time" or "In a land far far away.." It's compiled together by eye witness accounts. People that were still alive to write what they saw, and were seeing. It's historical evidence. Check out this video for further information!

Jesus is the reason!

Our need for a Savior

This past week at Collide we started a new series called "For A Season". Pastor Will talked about how Christmas is mostly everyone's favorite holiday, and how it's spent eating lots of good food, and being with friends and family. But he also mentioned how Christmas is a time that tends to bring out our worst memories. How Christmas can actually be very depressing and upsetting to people. Maybe you've had a family member pass away close to Christmas, or a girlfriend or boyfriend broke up with you. Will also talked about "Stuffing". How we as people often tend to stuff down our problems. We stuff them down into the recess of our minds, until eventually we forget about them. But do we really forget about them? Are we truly over our problems? You may be with your friends, and at that time you could be the happiest person ever. Yet as soon as you get home, you sit in bed, and cry because of the loneliness. You cry because that issue that you thought you had escaped from, comes rushing back to the forefront of your mind. And at that time it feels like the world is just collapsing upon you. I know. We all know. We've all been through it. The reason why Christmas sometimes leaves us feeling so upset, is because it makes us aware that we need a Savior. It makes us realize that we can't handle our problems on our own. That no matter how hard you try, no matter how many friends you think you have to lean on, you need a Savior. You need Jesus to take away your problems. To give you a sense of peace. But the reason why we feel this pain, is because if we didn't, we would never realize how much we need a Savior. We would never know. If you were always happy, you would never need anyone to lean on. You would never have the idea of having someone greater to call on when you need to. Do you have a Savior? Who do you have to call on, in your time of need? You can't rely on yourself. You're not strong enough. Do you have a Savior?


Check out the video!!


Our need for a Savior