Why I love StudentLife

So this video was done by one of our former students and now one of our middle school leaders, Blaine. He is flippin hilarious. This is what keeps us entertained at youth at Summit! People want to know why I love working with the youth so much, well that is why! HAHA! Laughter is so amazing, it definitely rejuvinates me. Great job with the video guys!

An Amazing Night

Thursday night we went to the Dave Barnes and Matt Wertz concert which was just awesome! I had a great time with some great people listening to some of the best music ever!! The video above is just a little sample of what you missed out on and how I felt. WOW!!! The concert was amazing and I thoroughly enjoyed listening to their music. Although I was with some wonderful people, I couldn't stop thinking about somebody. I couldn't get them off my mind. This person introduced me to the music of Matt Wertz, Dave Barnes and various other amazing artists that are simply awesome! I miss this person like crazy and every time I listen to most of those artists I can't help but to be reminded of her! Music has become a part of my life and I don't know what I would do without music! It is a way of expression and most importantly a way of worship. It reminds me of some amazing people who in turn point me straight to the cross. I love the fact that music is everywhere and is so amazing and reminds me of some of the most amazing people ever! If only music could bring those people here with me, but the memories and their beautiful faces will always be with me until God allows our paths to cross again. How does music influence your life?

Passion

So, I have been thinking about this for a while now and just can't get it out of my head. To start, there is just no way to explain spending a summer at Caswell, or even spending a weekend with some amazing Caswell people. After being around Caswell and around the people that work at Caswell so much, I guess you could say that I've been spoiled. Being around those people has truly revolutionized my life and the way of worship. While at Caswell you can watch and experience some of the most passionate worship ever! It is truly an inexplicable thing. A couple examples of this was just listening to voices echoing in exaltation around the room, or in the streets on a rainy night with songs of praise echoing through the forts and the night. If that wasn't enough to show the passion of worship, imagine sitting around a room or a campfire and having random conversations and then all of a sudden breaking out into praise and worship songs glorifying our Lord. The latter in its entirety is true passionate out of the soul worship. I've thought about this lately because I long for everyone to experience that passionate worship, and it is difficult to find Christians that that are unashamed of their love for Christ to truly worship Him. Most of the time we are too caught up in what others think about us, or how we look to others that we don't truly worship our King. We are told in the Word to rejoice and take joy in the Lord, which if we did it would turn into amazing passionate worship. Are you taking joy in the Lord and passionately worshipping?

Loss

So it has been a while since I've written and a lot has happened. First, today September 13, 2007 my great grandma passed away. Our family was really close to her and it was hard to deal with at first but I know that she is in the presence of our Lord and find joy in that. The prayers and love of my friends and family has been absolutely amazing and much appreciated. It is comforting to know that so many people care about you enough to pray for you. Thank you to all of you who have been unselfish in your prayers and in your love.

Since I've written last I have began my junior year at school and it is shaping up to be another great semester. Unfortunately, sometimes I tend to take on too much and just keep going and doing everything that I can. I have been reaching the burn out point and have realized that it is time to slow down, and take some time for myself. I have been trying to do everything that I can that I get so caught up in everything else that I forget about God's plans for me and I even forget about taking time to rest. Why is it that I keep taking on more things and at times I even find it hard to just say no. When I know that I don't have time or the ability to do something I don't say no, instead I just keep going. As I continue to think about this I am reminded of Psalm 46:10 which says, "Be still and know that I am God." WOW! Something that I have definitely not been doing lately. Just be still and know that God is and that God has his arms around me and is taking care of me. Are you still going?

Getting our attention

So many times in my life I have been so caught up in myself and the things that I just think that I have to do I forget about God and His plans for me. Why is it that we so often get caught up in our lives and the plans we have that we forget about God? We get so distracted with our life that we don't see God and the things He tells us to do and the opportunities that He gives us. When we get distracted like this, He has to get our attention and get us focused on Him again. Sometimes this may mean a loss of somebody or a loss of some thing, but God has a meaning for all things. Monday 8/6 is a day that Caswell will remember for a long time. A church group was on the way down to Caswell and about 20 miles away from their church, they got into an accident and one of their leaders died. Also on that same day, two of my friends, one of which worked at Caswell full-time, were in an accident. Through all things God had a purpose. As Caswell was coming to an end, we were beginning to get into a routine and forget about why we had come together. These accidents brought our staff back together as the body of Christ and united us once again in prayer and song. As we sang and prayed around the house the group was to stay at, it was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. There are times that we may be selfish and grow apart from our brothers and sisters but God brings us back together in order to praise and glorify His name. I am often reminded of the poem about the footprints and how there were two sets of footprints and during hard times there were only one because Jesus was carrying me. When I think about my life I think about when I wasn't a Christian how there were two sets of footprints away from each other, but then when I fully understood what it meant to follow Christ I only saw one set of footprints. Those were the footprints of Jesus the Christ because it is no longer I who live, but Christ; for I am dead to this world, it is Christ who lives through me. Are you too distracted with your life? Are there still two sets of separated footprints?

Accountability and Encouragement

So we so often talk about how we should have accountability and encouragement in our lives and that we should hold each other accountable and always encourage/up lift each other. Well I've been thinking about this a lot this summer/year and realize that we have no idea what it means to encourage or keep each other accountable. Stuart Hall was the speaker this past week and he spoke on this one night. His words were profound and I knew that God was finally showing me what it meant to be encouraging and to keep somebody accountable. What Stuart said was that to encourage somebody does not mean to simply say, "Love ya" or "you can do it, keep going." But more than that; it means to lay your life down in front of that person. To keep somebody accountable we must lay our lives aside and stop at nothing to get that person on the right track or to help them stop doing what they're doing. That's what it means to be accountable. I can attest to that, and if there weren't people in my life that put themselves aside and continually were on my back about things, then I would not be where I am today. Accountability does not always have to be between two guys or two girls, while you can get more personal with those, it is also meant to be in a relationship. As I talked about in my last post, true Love has many facets and accountability and encouragement are some of them. This is because in order to Love somebody one must be willing to lay their life down for the better of that person. Another thing that comes along with this is that in order to truly be accountable you have to care more about that person than you do the relationship/friendship that you have with them. If you care more about the relationship/friendship that you have with them then you will never be able to keep that person accountable because you are more worried about the response of that person instead of what that person is doing. "Bear one another's burdens, and thereby fulfill the Law of Christ" ~Galatians 6:2~ Are you bearing the burden's of those around you or are you more worried about losing your socially bound friendship?

True Love

So what is Love? It's funny to think about how many things that we say we love. The English language has taken the word love and applied to many different things and unfortunately when it comes to the love between a man and a woman, it has lost its meaning. Love has so many meanings in today's society but what is true love between a man and a woman? In order to figure this out we must look to the Bible. In the Greek language there are several different words for our English word 'love.' The main three used to describe the love between a man and a woman are 'raya,' 'ahava,' and 'dod.' Raya literally translates as a friend or a companion, which is the basis of a love relationship. If there is no friendship and there is no companionship then there is no relationship. I have many rayas in my life but that is the only facet of love that we have. Ahava translates as love of the will. This means making a decision to join your life to the life of another. This is an emotion that leads to a commitment. In order to truly experience love we(men) are told to give up our lives for our wife as Christ did for the church (Ephesians 5:25-33); the wife gets to submit but the husband gets to die. Finally, there is dod. Dod means to carouse, rock, or to fondle. This is the physical, sexual element to a relationship that God designed for marriage. Without all three aspects listed above, it is hard to have true love in a marriage as God intended for us to have. One of the things that I have been taught to do, and it is amazing, is to turn to 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 and to replace the word 'love' with my name and see if I have the attributes listed. God has called us to have those things in order to love. Are you ready to love?

Empty Worship

For one of our devotions we were huddled in the attic of one of the buildings in the dark in order to hide from the persecutors who were after us. During this time we began singing and we continued to sing louder and louder until we got to the last song and the doors below us began to slam and people were screaming and trying to find us. And then somebody busted through the attic door and said, "You Christians, why do you take your freedom to worship for granted?" Now of course this was all planned out and was a simulation of something that could actually happen, but it made me think about how we worship. I came to the conclusion that our worship has become empty. There are so many times that we will sing 'praise and worship' songs and not even know what we are saying, but are just singing because it is fun and we like the song. If we actually paid attention to the words that we were singing then we would realize how empty our worship is and how amazing God is. Don't get me wrong I love to sing and to have fun just as much as the next person, but in all things God has called us to worship Him, and to give Him glory and honor. Another thing that is prevalent in our lives is the fact that many of us can be fake or wear masks as others may say. So many of us do this and it is a shame that we do. God has not called us to be perfect people or to live perfect lives. Even Jesus said that we will face trials and tribulations and that we are all sinners saved by the Grace of God. God wants us to be real with Him and with those around us. He doesn't want us to hide what is going on in our lives. He has put other people in our lives in order to help us through our struggles. We have got to quit being fake and to tear off the masks and just be real with each other. Once we do that our worship will no longer be empty. Is your worship empty?

Interpretation?

Again I was talking to some people the other day after our devotion. For part of our devotion we watched one of the Nooma videos by Rob Bell, entitled Dust. These videos are amazing and great and I have enjoyed being exposed to them. Anyways, during part of the discussion they were talking about how different people will 'interpret' the Bible according to their lives. Well I got to thinking about how much I dislike the word 'interpretation'. The reason I do not like to use the word 'interpretation' is because it makes it seem as if the Bible could have many many many different meanings where as it has one meaning and that is one total truth. As I was thinking I decided that the most appropriate word to use in these situations is 'application.' I chose 'application' because the Word of God is truth, but it is applied to peoples lives differently. Therefore, instead of saying that people have different interpretations of the Bible, I feel as if it is better or more appropriate to say that the Word of God is truth but different people have different applications of the Word in their lives. Are you interpreting the Gospel or are you seeking and applying it to your life?

Please bow your heads...

I was talking with some people the other day after one of our devotions and I got to thinking about prayer. I was thinking about how awesome prayer is and that it is cool that God can hear our thoughts and our voices and desires to have conversation with us and wants us to cry out to him. When I got to thinking about it, I was thinking about how before people pray they usually ask others to bow their heads as they go to the Lord in prayer. Well I pondered on this for a while and was thinking why is it that we bow our heads and close our eyes? So many people say to do this because one can concentrate better/easier, but what is the real reason we bow our heads and close our eyes? In order to find this answer we have to go back and think about the days of Jesus and before. When people would praise or pray to Jesus/God they would fall to their knees and bow their heads to honor the Lord to show that they surrender and completely worship Him. This is evident in other religions such as Islam/Muslim. Have you ever thought about the fact that to fall on your knees and to bow in prayer is to show complete surrender and honor to our Lord? It is a shame that we have become so prideful and forgetful that we no longer fall to our knees and cry out to the Lord to show that we surrender to Him. I am just as guilty of this as the next person, but how amazing and uplifting would it be to show God that we surrender to His will and that we fall to our knees and bow our heads to show Him honor and to put ourselves aside so that all the glory and all the praise is His. Are you surrendering?

The summer begins...

So we are about 4 weeks into the summer here at Caswell, and I have to say that it has been absolutely awesome! God has been doing great things, as always, in the lives of the campers and the staffers. There have already been hundreds of decisions made and a couple of those have been of the staff. That is one of the most encouraging things to see. The other night, it was the last night of camp for the campers, the youth were on fire for Christ and it was such an awesome thing to witness. They were so pumped up and were giving all the praise to God and to see such things was so encouraging and uplifting. I wish that everybody could come and see the things that God is doing here. He is continuing to work through and in us and I cannot wait to see what the rest of the summer is going to be like, but I know one thing for sure; God is awesome and the loving grace of Christ is the greatest thing I've ever experienced.

Intentions

Tonight was yet another amazing night! I have the great opportunity to attend the Phil Wickham, Shane & Shane concert. (Shawn McDonald was supposed to be there but his wife had a baby and he couldn't attend.) Going into the weekend and the night of the concert, I was being selfish and was focused on myself more than thinking about worship. I continued to think about hanging out with my friends, catching up, and meeting others instead of purposely seeking the Gospel and actively being in worship and prayer. As the night continued we went to the concert and Phil and Shane & Shane straight up rocked our faces off! My favorite songs of the night were "Divine Romance" by Phil Wickham and "I Miss You" by Shane & Shane, which almost broke me down in tears so I definitely suggest you finding that song and listening to it!! More importantly God basically slapped me across the face. The whole concert was awesome and it was an amazing night of worship. The songs that we sang just made me think about my relationship with Christ and the things that He has done in my life and how He has blessed me so greatly. I realized how the whole night and for a while now that I've been being so foolish and have been rather selfish/self-minded lately and not being in continuous prayer and worship. Instead of seeking God and His worship and love, I had been more interested and focused on the people around me. My intentions were elsewhere and not focused where they should have been, and singing in worship with the hundreds of people at the concert and hearing the words being sung was an amazing experience and I thank God that He loved us so much that He sent Jesus to die on the cross for us!! God was definitely present tonight at that concert and it was a well needed wake-up call to stop being selfish and to be in continuous worship and prayer. What are your intentions?

National Day of Prayer

Tonight was amazing! Instead of having our normal youth night, we had a night devoted to prayer. Thursday (tomorrow) is national prayer day therefore we devoted the entire night of youth to prayer. Let me just say, watching and listening the youth lead each other in prayer was simply amazing!! There were several of the adults that got up and spoke about the Summit Church's mission statement, "Love God, Love Each Other, Love the World" and then allowed the youth to respond by breaking into groups to pray. Witnessing these kids, mainly the younger middle school crowd, lead each other in a time of prayer and response to God was awesome! That was one of the most encouraging things I have ever seen. When you think about a night of prayer within youth, you tend to think about the adults leading the youth and not the youth leading each other. I have to say that the members of this youth group have encouraged me and are an amazing group of kids and it is evident that God is working in and through their lives and He will use them to do great things not only in Durham but throughout our state, country, and world. To witness them submitting themselves to God's will has been a blessing and they have impacted my life greatly. Have you submitted everything to God?

Spring Fling and Planning Weekend

This past weekend was spring fling and planning weekend at Caswell. Unfortunately I was unable to participate in any of the spring fling stuff since I was pretty much in a meeting all weekend for summer staff planning. It was an amazing weekend and we got a whole lot of stuff done and planned out for the summer. It was fun because I was able to hang out with the other three members of the Key Leadership team and get a glimpse of what the summer is going to look like. I cannot wait for the summer to get here, but first I have to finish up the last bit of the semester and the five finals that stand in my way. One of the things that God continues to show me is that I shouldn't be so anxious and looking to the future so often, but rather focus on the here and now, for if I am focused on the summer I will miss the opportunities He has given me. I am often reminded of Matthew 6:34 ""So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Are you being too anxious and looking too much at the future?

Who ordered the snow?

WOW what a crazy Easter weekend! As you read I spent Easter weekend in Ohio with my family. Well the weather was ridiculous in Ohio! We got about 3 feet of snow and it was pretty flippin amazing. Since we didn't get much snow for Christmas it was great to see all the snow for Easter! We got to go to Opening Day at Jacobs Field in Cleveland (for those who don't know that is the Indians baseball field). Anyways it snowed like crazy during the game and eventually because of all the white outs and delays they cancelled the game, one pitch/one strike away from a complete game! Even though they cancelled the game it was still a lot of fun especially since I got to go with my dad and brother. It has been a long time since we've gone to a ball game together so it was a great time. Now I am back in Chapel Hill with the warmer weather and the tons of school work! UGH! But in about a month I'll be about of school and at the beach with some of the greatest people at Caswell!!! I can't wait! Well through everything I think it is clear that God is amazing!

Catching up...

Wow it has been way too long since I've written!! So a lot has occurred over the past two months so let me catch you up on the things God has been showing me...

The month of March was packed full of amazing things. To begin, the first weekend of March we had Metamorphosis with the Summit youth, which is basically just a D-Now. It was great; we had about 70 students attend and I got to hang out with 6th grade boys all weekend and just be crazy! We had a western dance thing that they actually hired some old guy to be the DJ/caller for about an hour and I have to say it was a whole lot of fun. Oh and did I mention that we all looked ridiculous in our "western/country gear." HAHA that's the first time that I've ever dressed up anything like western and I wasn't really all decked out, it was a cowboy hat, bandanna, and blue jeans (there's a picture on facebook). Anyways, it was just a whole lot of fun! Saturday night we had a guest speaker come in and several youth made decisions to follow Christ, which was AWESOME!! Also, there were about 6 or 7 youth, all middle schoolers, that have decided that they are being called into ministry. How amazing and encouraging is that! To hear these middle schoolers say that they want to devote their lives to Christ in every way is so awesome.

About a week later it was already spring break! For spring break I went with 23 others from our BSU to Gulfport, Mississippi. Words cannot explain what was seen and the people there. We worked on a house that had not been touched since the storm. Our job was to pretty much demolish the house so that another group could come in and rebuild. The house belonged to a guy named Jack. The house was his mothers, but she passed after some time and his house across the street was completely torn apart by the storm. Jack had told us that he had lost all hope and that when he saw us young people giving up our week to come help, it lifted his spirits and renewed his hope and faith. It was very encouraging and uplifting to hear Jack speak to us and I thank God that we had the opportunity to meet and talk to Jack. A couple of the things that we learned/took with us was that our job there was just like what God does in our lives, meaning that he has to break us down and tear us apart in order to rebuild us in Christ. Also, that when it seems like there is no hope and we have nothing left, God is there and He lifts us up and carries us through and shows us that in Him there is always hope. And finally, many of us had been bitten by a million bugs, cut by a board or by a nail, but all those cuts, bruises, and scrapes put together don't amount to those that provide us with salvation, those scars, cuts, punctures, and bruises that Jesus the Christ suffered for us are eternal and bring us salvation.

Moving along, the weekend after spring break I went to Charlotte to Idlewild Baptist Church to lead a D-Now. Yet another amazing weekend with youth, that God allowed me to be a part of. I got to hang out with some great guys and really got to see God at work in their lives. We had some great discussions and Saturday night I was the guest speaker. This was the first time that I have ever actually preached for a group before, and let me just say I loved it!! I was asked to speak about repentance and salvation, so I began by giving part of my testimony and then continued to preach. Once I finished speaking, an invitation was given and a couple of the youth decided to follow Christ, and others made rededications. Again another powerful thing that God allowed me to be a part of.

Now here we are, one week later and school has been ridiculous and I've been running around being busy all day every day. Besides all that I am now in Ohio and the weather is CRAZY! It was about 84 in NC when I left and here it is about 25 and it is a freaking blizzard! Anyways, we came for Easter, and to see my family. More importantly we came to see my great grandmother who is in an intensive car unit. She is about 95 years old and knows that God is calling her home soon. We are really close with her and even though it is hard to let her go she has been so encouraging in keeping her faith and praying in times of pain. It will be sad and hard to see her go but I know that she will be going to a better place and will be with God. She too knows this and is ready to be with our Savior. All she has asked for is prayer and I know that Christ is with her.

So now you are caught up with everything that has gone on in the past two months and I will try to keep updating regularly, mainly so that Shannon can have something to read! God is awesome and when you least expect it He will find you! Stay encouraged and actively seek the Gospel in your life! Are you allowing God to work in and through you?

Being a light

Again, it has been forever since I've been able to sit and write or even think. Life has been busy but I do it all for the glory of God. So I am playing basketball (don't worry I don't do much because of my ankle) for IM with our BSU and it is in the intermediate league which is really hard. Even though it is a little difficult, we are there to portray Christ and to show His love to others. The first night we played, one of the refs was talking to another ref before the game and said "There's something different about that team, I don't know what but there is." A couple minutes later he saw us praying before the game and he then knew what was different about us. All throughout the game, he was obviously watching us, but at the end we prayed with the other team and we were given the amazing opportunity to share Christ with several people including this ref who has been struggling with his faith for a while. He said that he was so happy to finally meet some people who are showing the love of Christ around this campus. Each week we continue to get dominated on the basketball court, but we do for the sake of Christ, in order to spread His name and His love. It is an amazing experience to be able to share the love of Christ with others and to spread the Gospel. God has given us so much and He doesn't ask much in return. "I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ" ~Philippians 3:4~ I sacrifice it all for the gain of Christ, so that I may be a light unto this dark world. Are you being a light to those around you?

Fear

So I have been thinking a lot about life and a lot of other things lately and I thought about why I do or don't do things. I put more thought into the latter, being about why I don't do things. I thought a whole lot about it and the one reason I came up with why I don't do certain things is because of fear. Simply and only because of fear. There are points in my life where I will not approach somebody because of fear, fear of what, I have no idea. Sometimes I will not talk to somebody about my faith because I fear their judgment or what they may say to me. Why on earth would or should I be afraid of doing such a thing?!? I know that God is with me every step of the way so then what is there to be afraid of? As it is written, "The LORD is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear?" ~Psalm 27:1~ Therefore, there is nothing in this world that I should be afraid of doing because I know my God is with me. One more thing that I find myself being fearful of doing is discussing or telling somebody how I truly feel about them. This is something that is the hardest for me mainly because I fear being rejected. I have held in so many feelings (particularly over the summer and last semester) solely because of that fact, because I don't want to experience another heart break. What am I to fear when I know that God has accepted me and will never stop loving me and that He will always be here with His arms opened wide. No longer will I fear doing anything because I know God is with me. I will not let fear of anything hold me back from talking to, approaching, or letting somebody know how I feel. I will put up with whatever cost I have to put up with, because the cost of doing nothing is even greater. Are you doing nothing?

Giving it all away

At church yesterday our pastor's message was all about giving, and not only monetary giving, giving 100% of all you have to God. On top of that, the Sunday school class that I taught for the 6th grade boys was the parable of Jesus and the rich man, where Jesus tells him in order to follow him he must give up everything he owns. Between Sunday school and church and during the sermon, I thought long and hard about how much of myself/my life I've given to God. He wants everything from us including the burdens. He has already given us so much and He asks just a little bit in return. I thought about the areas of my life that I was selfishly withholding from God and not allowing Him to take control. I've realized that what I have wouldn't be possible if it were not for God's love, mercy, and grace. Who am I to try to withhold anything from the one who has provided it for me. It is through Him that all things are possible.

The other night we went bowling and it was the cosmic bowling thing which is really fun and you all should go and do it! Anyways at one point in the night I decided to just take a step back and just watch and see how my friends interacted with each other. I began to think about how others view me and the things that I do and how I interact with others. One of the points of our preacher's sermon yesterday was about Christians' actual beliefs. He used an equation that fits perfectly, actions + stated beliefs = actual beliefs. It is not enough to only state that I am a Christian and that I believe in Jesus Christ, but I have to put that into action and others should be able to observe me and know that by the way I act that there is something different about me and that that is the fact that I am a Christian. Therefore, it is by my actions that most people will be able to know that I am a Christian because there are so many more people that watch/see you and the things you do than you will be able to speak to. Just something to think about. Are you withholding anything from God? How do others see you?

Reason

So it has definitely been a good while since I've been able to sit down and write. In the past few weeks a lot has happened in my life. First, let me say that Christmas break is just way too short and I didn't get to see as many people as I had hoped. On the other hand Caswell Summer Staff was simply amazing, but again I missed not getting to see a few people, especially one that I hung out with all summer long (Shannon)!! Anyways besides the fact that I miss them, this has been a couple of interesting weeks.

That being said, my reasoning for writing these blogs is to first and foremost bring praise and glory to God, but I write to record my thoughts and experiences of my life that I am going through or those that I see others going through around me. These blogs are for me so that I can look back on them and see how God is working in my life and how He is using me. The questions or statements that I write are again directed towards myself so that I can see where I was and the troubles I was facing in my life at that time. The experiences that I recount are true and are not meant to be disrespectful or hurtful to anybody, they are merely there to help and to show that other people are going through similar things that you may experience. If some will perceive me to be a hypocrite then so be it, but keep in mind that nobody is perfect and we all make mistakes and screw up. It is by God's grace that I am able to be who I am today and have the people I do in my life. I thank Him for that and appreciate everyone who is around me. It is my hope that I am being an example of Christ and I would hope that the things I type will also help others and if anybody would like to talk to me about anything I write or do I would be more than happy to speak with you especially if it is something you disagree with me on, I would rather you speak with me than post an anonymous negative comment. May God continue to bless every one of you and I pray that He continues to use me for the betterment of His Kingdom.