South Dakota Trip/Brothers wedding

So...It's been a long time since I've posted. I have been pretty busy. Not so busy that I couldn't have posted, but I prioritized other things over this. Well since my last post, my brother is now married and I went on a trip to South Dakota.

We went down there for my brothers wedding with a bunch of old friends of mine. There were 5 different cars and ideally we'd all stay together on the freeways and everything... well, it wasn't meant to be. Some of my friends like to drive really fast and my parents go the speed limit, so the ones that did drive fast just went wherever they wanted and decided to catch up with us whenever. It was ok, it just frustrated my mom a bit that they couldn't just go the speed limit and stay together as a group. Well, on our way there, my friends tire I guess almost fell off on the freeway, so he pulled over to the side and then right before that happened we had planned on meeting at a cracker barrel. Well my family ended up going to the cracker barrel (which was 7 miles out of the way, but it's where people wanted to go, so I guess it's ok). In the meantime, they got their tire fixed and we all made it down ok.

While down in South Dakota, we went to see Mount Rushmore and the badlands and some other cool sites here and there, so that was pretty cool. I was the best man at my brothers wedding, so I was sort of stressed out because of the speech I had to make. (I'm not much of a public speaker.) Well, the wedding was interesting I guess you could say. On the way down, the flower girl threw some roses at the very last second at the end of the isle. Then the matron of honor who I was escorting down the isle tripped a bit on the stairs... it wasn't too bad though. Kelsey, the bride, when she was coming down the isle was crying, and then my brother started crying when he was reading his vows to her and he had to pause for like 30 seconds to be able to speak. Then when I gave the preacher the rings, he dropped one of them and it rolled along the floor like 10 feet away. When they had to light the unity candle, they couldn't get the thing lit for like 2 minutes... then the matron of honor told them to tip the candle back and let the extra wax flow out and then it finally lit. From that point on out, things went pretty normally. It was a good wedding though. They got married and that's what really matters. The other things become fun memories. I also got to wear a tux for the first time in my life (I hadn't even worn a suit before believe it or not.)

At the reception, the people were already halfway through eating when the wedding party arrived which was sort of odd and they ran out of plates for the wedding party, but found some paper plates in the back for us to use. I was going to give a toast at the end of my speech but by the time we finally made speeches, everyone was already done drinking so there was nothing to raise really plus they were plastic cups. I ended up just saying congratulations at the end and another friend gave somewhat of an awkward toast.

Well, to make a long story that could have many more details short, I am really glad to finally be back home and hanging out with friends in Houghton. I love my family, but traveling with them for a week and a half is a lot of time with 'em.

So now I'm back in Houghton, sort of exciting to be starting the school year just to get back into things with Campus Crusade and to see everybody come back up! The classes I'm not looking forward to so much but it all comes with the territory.

One last thing to note which was awesome is that because I had so much time in the van, I decided one day to finish reading a book I'm supposed to read for Cru called the master plan of evangelism, so I decided to finish that while in the van. I also read the book of revelation for the first time which was awesome to see the power of God and encouraging from the Christian perspective knowing that the terrors in that book, I am saved from. I also ended up reading first Peter through Jude, so essentially First Peter through to the end of the Bible is what I read cuz I had so much time. It definitely helped my relationship with God and understanding who he is. I really like the practicality of Peter in those two small books.

Before reading that, my relationship with God was struggling a bit, but now I'm back on track a bit and it'll be much easier with Cru stuff starting up so I'm excited to get back into things.

I believe I've said enough for now. If you want any more details about anything, just let me know in person and we can talk. Have a great and Godly day!

Hezekiah

This week I was putting together a message for a Campus Crusade TNT meeting in case I'm ever asked to give a talk. I figured even if I never speak it, when you are going to teach something to someone, you end up learning a lot about it yourself, so I knew it would help me whatever it was. I decided I wanted to trust God a lot more with everyday things, so I decided to work on a message about trusting God. It certainly was really worth it! I wrote down Bible verses that sort of related to what I was talking about according to the little notes my concordance had. I looked them up and crossed out the unrelated ones and circled the ones that apply. However, the one longer section I wanted to use as my base wasn't quite what I was looking for.

So, later on, I looked on Bible Gateway.com and searched for Trust and it brought up a passage in II Kings chapters 18-20... actually only one verse but I read around that verse for context because the verse really struck me. It was all about Hezekiah. Now I've heard the name Hezekiah and am sure I've been told about him, but I wasn't really paying attention apparently because I didn't know anything about him. He was a King of Judah that walked with the Lord. He trusted God in everything and followed God closely. When the Assyrians were going around conquering areas surrounding them, it looked bleak. Hezekiah told everyone to Trust the Lord to deliver them from the hands of the Assyrians who had a much greater army than his.

However, a commander in the Assyrian army I think told everyone not to listen to Hezekiah when he told them to trust the Lord. He said the Lord could not be trusted to do something so big. Essentially, he mocked both God and Hezekiah. It reminds me of Galations 6:7 - "Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows." So the angel of the Lord came out and destroyed 185,000 men of the Assyrian camp. One Hundred and eighty five THOUSAND. Hezekiah didn't have to do ANYTHING but Trust God. He trusted God completely and God delivered.

I beg you, whether you've read it or not to read II Kings chapters 18-20. It's so much better when you read about the whole story. God is great and does great things. We just need to trust him and walk with him!

Edited Post

Well... by the title of this thing I have a lot on my mind and I don't know how much of it that I can type out. I guess we'll see how long this goes. Lucky you reading this. You can scroll through and see the length. Well me, as I write it, it just gets longer and I don't get the big picture until I'm done.
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THIS PORTION HAS BEEN EDITED OUT BY REQUEST
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I prayed that God would help me to see that I am working for the Lord and doing my best for Him and not for the bosses who don't keep very good track of us. I have been praying and will continue to pray that God would help me to work hard in adversity whether others will or not. I want to get my paycheck and know that I really worked for all that. I need to learn to be grateful for every bit of cash I get. It is truly a gift from God. A missionary speaker spoke at my church last week and talked about how we need to give our rights away to God and fully rely on Him. If it wasn't for the grace of God, I could have no job and no money coming it at all. I'm just getting minimum wage, but I truly am thankful for that. Sometimes I feel like complaining and sometimes I do, but please pray for me that I'll see things through God's eyes. He is showing me how to be a hard worker anyways. So that's the work situation in a nutshell.

During this summer, us Campus Crusaders haven't been doing very many "Godly" activities. Not that what we have done is ungodly or anything, but we haven't been doing Bible studies and prayer and praise parties or anything like that and I really desire to do those things and to have small groups to discuss what God has been doing in our lives and any struggles we're going through. I chat with people about serious things now and then but praising God in a big group is so encouraging and exciting to see and I miss it. So I am going to try to encourage everyone to do it next week. It may even require being planned in advance rather than mentioning it on the spot to people. I guess time'll tell what will happen.

This next weekend, I get a 4 day weekend! It's the fourth of July on Saturday, and Friday I get a day off. Monday is optional, so I decided to take it off because I could really use a break from work as you can see.

So I made some phone calls today to some people who are away for the summer either just living at their homes or on CCC summer project. It's really exciting to see what God is doing in their lives and it makes me want to go next year on a summer project, so I'll be praying about that seeing if it's God's will that I do that or continue to work at the Heights. I talked to Robbie Beehler and he's doing some fun things like running some white water rafting and giving segway tours. How awesome is that for a summer job? Pretty Awesome. Alex Helmboldt talked to me for a couple of minutes but had to go so He's gonna update me later tonight or tomorrow. Last time I talked to him he was doing really well training to be Campus Crusade Staff. Titus Brown seems to be doing pretty good. He's been fishing a bit and workin' and stuff. Mike Baumgartner is not only doing excellent, but he's doing very excellent in his words. He is a man living for God and studying the word and growing more and more everyday and it's such an encouraging thing for me to see someone my age so passionate about God which we should all be! Man I gotta be reading my Bible some more!

So this summer I've gotten to meet some new people and have gotten to know them a lot better. These people would include especially Todd Krone and Brian Thompson but also Ian, Jamie, and Troy. We play volleyball a lot which I learned I really love although I'm not all that great and I think I frustrate them a bit when I'm not quite up to par with their standard. They're really nice about it though and encourage me rather than put me down. They give me helpful advice and I wish I could tell them how much I really appreciate them.

I am so thankful for all the amazing friends God has put in my life. I would love to name them all but I am sure that I would forget about someone, but if you are reading this and care about what I'm saying than you are definitely on the list!

Pray for me that I will be able to read my Bible much more than I do and that I would continue to work hard and trust God in everything I do. Pray that when some problem comes up that I'll pray first about it rather than trying to work it out on my own and praying as a last resort. It works so much better when I leave God in control! I've noticed that time and again! Thanks so much for reading. I guess there's a lot more I can say, but that's about all I've got for now. Catcha later.

Cool Stuff

Well, I haven't posted in like... forever. I have a friend who made a new blog and it's really exciting to read. It's a blog where this friend chooses to be completely transparent and shows what God is doing in this friends life.

It's really exciting and gets me pumped up for God. I haven't been following him as close this summer as I was during the school year but I'm inspired to start something... or encourage others to have a prayer and praise party.

Oh man!!!! I totally just got a package in the mail and it was my orange iguanas T-shirt I ordered! I just put it on and it fits. I'm really excited about it.

Man I have so much more to say right now but I gotta go. My cousins are begging me to go do something. Later

YES!!!!

Travis Pond finally put up some pictures of Big Break!!! ..the rest to follow on Monday. I've been waiting for this ever since Big break and Spring Break. I have been looking at his page every single day waiting for them to show up but he's been really busy. Well today I checked it and there they were, all glorious. It instantly brought back a whole lot of memories and he also captured everything better than I ever could have.

Sorry, but I just can't get over it. You can go to his Flickr page and see for yourself. Just click HERE.

Also, today I went to a college aged worship service and it was really nice since Cru and Vespers are not going on right now. The speaker said some things I disagree with or disagree with the way he approached some things, but also said some very good things. My favorite part was when he read Ephesians 5 which is sorta what God showed me from this. It directly relates to my Work at Daniell Heights and is an encouragement. Here are verses 11 through 17.

Ephesians 5:11-17
Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. 12For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. 13But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, 14for it is light that makes everything visible. This is why it is said:
"Wake up, O sleeper,
rise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you."

15Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, 16making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. 17Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is.

At Daniell Heights, people get lazy and end up sleeping on the job. My brother for instance was still on the bed resting 15 minutes after our 15 minute break had ended. I told him to get up and get working because we're not getting paid to sleep. Naturally he god mad at me because nobody wants their sin pointed out (not saying I'm blameless by any stretch of the imagination regarding this), but it says to have nothing to do with fruitless deeds of darkness but expose them. Lazyness falls into that category. I push myself much more this summer to make my breaks exactly 15 minutes give or take a minute or two. I used to automatically push it over by 5 minutes.

Well, I really need to get to bed because church is in the morning! Have a great day!

In the lull of the day.

Hey everyone who reads this... like all 3 people or so... haha. How are ya doin? (feel free to comment after you're reading this). I don't really know what direction I'm gonna go with this post either. A few somewhat interesting things have been happening in my life. At Daniel Heights... well... that's still not ever going to be a fun job. There's a TON of gossip and drama at work and I'm so sick of it. It's like I'm in high school again, only the people are older, but they all act the same... even the bosses which makes it that much worse. Eck... I don't know what to do about it. Every time someone does something that someone else doesn't like, the someone else will start telling everyone else about it and everyone agrees with what everyone says but won't tell it to the actual person, so the problem with everybody just escalates until everyone just hates each other and so times goes on.

Ah, now that felt good to get out. At least on Monday I get a day off for memorial day, so I get to finally sleep in on Sunday! You have no idea how happy that makes me. :D

So anyhow, I STILL need to get to reading my Bible on a regular basis. I am going to try to start a "read the Bible in a year" thing on the first of June and see how that turns out. I might start trying to get ahead a bit. I think I'm gonna plan to print out a page with everything and cross out some chapter every time I read it. If I miss a day or a chapter, then I'll leave it blank and continue on to the next days so I don't feel like I'm getting behind and give up. Then in my spare time, I'll go back and start filling in the gaps hopefully. I want to gain a thirst for God's Word again, which I've had but have been lacking in lately.

I really hope people at HTC don't mind me going to their house after work like every day. They seem to be pretty ok with it, but I think it gets old after a while and they don't want to tell me to leave. Meanwhile I have my other group of friends doing things sometimes after work but I hope to be doing something with cru people because our interests are more similar. I work with a lot of my high school friends, so yeah. It's sorta a routine everyday. Go to work way too early. Get tired throughout the day, go to HTC and hang out and do something uber fun sometimes and then go back home early so I can wake up early the next day. After doing that like every day, you want a change... especially before 3:30.

I worked out a couple of days ago and I'm still sore now... its so sad. I didn't stretch out my arms enough... I'll live. It's nice to have a reminder that I did something though.

Well, I guess that's it for now. I'm a little tired and kinda want to sleep, but I have the weekend to catch up on that a bit.

Catcha later.

Into the swing of things

Well, Summer has definitely begun. This summer is totally different than any other summer I've ever had. I am still at home, but I have a different group of friends (campus crusade friends) that I hang out with the majority of the time. All my other summers I always spent with the same high school friends. Crusade people often do more stuff rather than going to walmart all the time and watching movies (which there is also a time for). Today, a whole bunch of people just hung out at HTC which was sweet. We just talked and ate some pizza and played some mario kart 64. We didn't do a whole lot, but it's great that we don't have to and can still have a great time.

The part of the summer I don't like is my job, which takes up a whole bunch of it. I work at Daniel Heights apartments, doing maintenance of all kinds. The majority of the work is painting, but there is also changing shower heads, scrubbing things like greasy kitchen fans and changing lights, moving furniture... it's really varied sometimes and I can't list everything but you get the gist of it. I have to wake up at 5:50 to take a shower and grab a lunch to bring and head out the door by 6:25-6:30ish so I can get to work by 7. Then it goes until 3:30 where I can do whatever I want for the rest of the day. It's nice, except I can't do stuff late into the night because to get 8 hours of sleep I'd have to be in bed by 9:55... that's never gonna happen cuz that's way too early! So, I just get little sleep and catch up a bit on weekends.

One thing I'm really grateful for is HTC and the girls living there. They don't mind me going there after work everyday and changing into some clean clothes after work and just relaxing a bit there. I really wish there was a way I could show my appreciation to them.

Well, I am getting a bit of a cold, like runny nose type symptoms. I'm so glad tomorrow is Friday because I think this acute sickness is because of my lack of sleep. It is however, still cold out, cuz it's Upper Michigan and it's always cold out... I can't wait until my first 80 degree day! I LOVE heat. Speaking of heat, it reminds me of Florida and my Big Break Spring Break trip down there with Campus Crusade. It was so decently warm and sunny and I found the resort I stayed at on street view on google maps so I could look at in in 3D. It brought back all sorts of memories and I really want to go back! Luckily I'll get to next year. I'm already excited for it and there are so many other fun things going on before then too!

Well, this was sorta a different kind of blog than most of mine. This is more just updating people what's going on in my life. I'm so glad God has shown me all these great people and let me get to know them. I need to focus on God more. I am always much more joyful when I do that. Without God, the happiness is temporary. Happiness and joy are two totally separate things. You can be happy and still lack joy.

Please pray for me as I go on through the summer that I'll be in the Word a lot more. Also, pray for some of my friends I know who are not in their campus crusade groups and they had to go home that God will show them that people are still thinking about them and they are cared for and they shouldn't be feeling too lonely because God is always there and they can read the Bible and grow closer to Him in their spare time. I know when I'm not around friends I feel really lonely and I can relate, so pray for them as well. I guess that'll wrap things up for now. Thanks for readin'!