Lyrics/Poetry

Well, I've written some poetry to the tune of certain songs, so I guess they are also songs, but I want to eventually add music to them. Here they Are. They don't really have Titles yet and I won't give you the tune, so you can think of a new one in your head without being stuck with the other one I wrote it to. Anyways, here goes...

When life is hard, with trials never ending
We have a hope in Jesus Christ alone
That He’ll return to take his children upward
We’ll live with Him in our eternal home

Until that day, we live for Christ our Savior,
With joy and love in Christian harmony
We have a peace, this world cannot fathom
Because of Christ who died for you and me.

We’ve been made new through the shed blood of Jesus
Rejoice in this, and live for Him each day
Pursuing Christ reveals a life of purpose
So follow in the straight and narrow way.

Now share this truth with people all around you,
The Word of God, more sharp that any sword.
It penetrates the heart and soul of sinners
And brings a hope and eternal reward.

That's the first one. Here's my other one I wrote:

The Son became the sin for us
The wrath of God outpoured
on Him, our Savior on the cross,
so we could be restored.

This gift of love to use is free:
Salvation for all man,
So that we may have eternity
in Heaven, that's God's plan.

Spread news of this to everyone
all corners of the earth
of Jesus, God's own Holy Son
Through Him, we have rebirth.

Some think: a sinner such as I,
Cannot deserve such grace
to those who say this we reply:
just live to seek His face.

Praise God for everything He's done,
rejoice in tribulation
He knows what's best for everyone,
in every situation.

I guess I like my poems/songs to have a purpose and tell a story. Maybe some day I'll write a great song, but for now this is all I got.

Praise God for everything he provides. I encourage you right now to pray for someone who you've said you would pray for. Sometimes we forget that we told others we would pray for them, so I guess it's just a reminder. God bless!

God is AMAZING and answers prayer!

Alright, so the coolest thing happened yesterday. My mom was working at the bank, and overheard one of her co-workers talking to a customer. The customer, an elderly lady, said that she bought a new car and had to get rid of her old one. My mom heard her say a few things about the car and that she wouldn't expect to get more than 1000 dollars for it. So, my mom decides to ask about it and go see it briefly. She said it looked good at first glance and asked the lady for her number.

Now my car is essentially falling apart. It still runs, but there are so many problems with it that it probably will not last much longer. So my mom was looking for me to potentially buy this car. Well, she called me and I was interested in checking it out. We didn't know how much she was going to say it was. So, my mom called my dad and me and we got a time together with the lady selling the car to take it for a test drive.

When we arrived at her house, she let us take it for a spin by ourselves so we could talk about it and comment on it on our own. It's a 1994 ford taurus, so it's pretty old, and it has 128,000 miles on it, which isn't too bad. There's very little rust and has power windows, power locks, air conditioning and cruise control, which makes it better than my current 1995 rust-bucket neon. We went inside to talk to her and she said someone had looked up the Kelly Blue Book price for it and it was valued at 1300 dollars. (I checked and found it to be lower than that, but it was 1055 bucks, so it's somewhat close). Anyways, she said she'd be fine selling it for $950. She invited us in to look at some paperwork on the car and to just talk to her for a while. She ended up saying she would just make it 900 dollars even because it needs an oil change and we'd need to get it licensed, etc.

Well after thinking about it, I don't actually have that much money and I'm trying to avoid taking out any loans while in college, so although it seemed like a good deal I was reluctant. My parents thought I should get it because my car is getting really bad. So, I said I'd like to think about it for a bit and we told her we would get back to her by this afternoon today. She said that would be fine. So, we went home and I came down to houghton. I felt stuck between a rock and a hard place on whether to buy it or not. My car does still run, so I didn't want to pay that much even though it was a good deal. So, I decided to pray about it and pray hard. I asked God to show me that if I should get this, He would have to give me a strong sign... I was hoping it wasn't that my car broke down so I would have to get it out of need.

Well, when I was down hanging out with friends at Cyberia Cafe, my mom called me. When I picked up, she sounded excited and said, "Well Nathan, I think God is working in this situation" so I got excited and said, "why, what's goin on?" Then my mom told me something that God and God alone could explain and cause to happen. She said the lady had called her back and said that on the new car she had bought, she really needed the money to pay the taxes on it quickly and that it would cost her a little over $500 and that we could have the car she was selling for $575! My mom couldn't believe her ears when she was hearing this. This car is worth $1055 and she was offering it to us for $575!

Now I don't know what you think, but things like that don't just happen! We had just called her and told her that we wanted to think about it. We never said no, and she simply called and greatly reduced the price of the car.

Simply put, God answered my prayer and told me to buy this car. To not buy this car would be foolish. Plus, I can actually afford that much without taking out a loan, and I'll have a little bit of money left which should last me until I get a job that I'll need to start looking for. Isn't God simply unbelievable. God truly watches over His children and hears their prayers and takes care of their needs!

Now whenever I drive friends around, the suspension will be better in the back seat and they won't have to ride in pain, so it makes it much better for carting people around too! God is amazing!

I've been thinking...

First of all, God is so good! Lately I've been doing a lot of pondering. God is in control of everything, so why do we worry about anything. If we are truly focused on God and doing everything to His glory, then what could actually be bad? Sure there may be difficulties and trials, but God has not promised us freedom from those here on earth.

I guess lately I've just been feeling like I have this rich inner world that's waiting to explode. I want to show people what's going on in my mind, but it takes some time to explain it. I'm introverted and recharge on my own or one on one in conversations. I love deep conversations with people, but I want them to have a positive focus. Sure, if someone is going through a rough time, I want to hear them out and try to help them. For those following God, there is always a light at the end of the tunnel.

There are many times when people are talking in large groups and I want to speak up, but something holds me back. Maybe I feel like what I have to say, not everyone is going to enjoy, so I feel like I'm wasting people's time? I don't know, but I think I need to step out of my box a bit and try some public speaking at Campus Crusade sometime, or at least speak up in my rather large cell group (Bible Study + tons more stuff). Maybe the Holy Spirit is leading me to speak and I'm ignoring it.

Please pray that I'll be able to manage my time well. I really want to build relationships with new freshmen this year. I want to encourage people. A little bit of genuine encouragement someone gives to me usually carries me through a lot, so little things that I can say to others or show them that I care, which I do... those things are what really make a difference. It's about being personable, a good listener, but also a good friend who tries to be there for people, whether it's offering them help with something, or praying for them. That's the kind of person I want to be. What's great is that being this kind of person is impossible on my own. I know I can't do it by myself, but God is Great, and He works all things together for good for those that love Him. Putting God first in your life solves a lot of problems. I have a long way to go, but having such great friends who are there for me to hear me out and encourage me, helps me out a lot.

Thanks for reading. There's a little peak at my thoughts for ya.

Campus Crusade for Christ!

I am consumed with the joy of the Lord now that Cru is starting back up again! I've gotten to meet quite a few new freshmen and I get to see almost all of my old friends except those that graduated which I really miss. It's so encouraging to see so many attend our weekly meeting. I know that God is going to do great things on our campus this year as he did last year.

The cell group (Bible study plus fellowship, evangelism and good fun) I am in got a good turnup of 11 people with hopefully more joining next week! We already had a cell group social out to an old abandoned cheese factory for some adventure. The freshmen seem to really like it a lot too.

I was also able to finally contact Alex Helmboldt finally. For anyone reading who doesn't know, he was a former Campus Crusader at tech who I met in Florida on Big Break. Now he is going to be staff at another university. We talked about every week during the summer. For a long time... almost a month I think, I couldn't get a hold of him and I finally could and we had a really good conversation. It's sort of like discipleship over the phone really. We talk about important Godly things and it's a huge encouragement.

So anyways, Cru is back and running full steam ahead. Everyone seems so passionate this year! I guess that's all I have to say for now without boring you. This post is really short compared to most!