Excited Much?

...Well actually, YESSSSS!!!!! Youth camp is in two weeks from today!!!! In two weeks from like this second we will be wrapping up our first evening service!!!!! I really can't wait...it feels like camp has taken just about forever to get here, and now we are only two weeks out!!! Can't wait!

Be a Doer and Don't Just Do

Have you ever had everything in your quiet time for like three or more consecutive days be totally different lessons...but all of them help you with the same thing? Well if you haven't, you just haven't needed it yet. Or maybe you have and you just didn't pay enough attention to it. Keep your eyes open, be aware of what God wants to tell you and is trying to tell you. It may be something so important as to change your entire life focus, and then it may be something small. Be faithful in the small stuff also though, if you aren't then you will not be able to deal with the rather large problems and trials and tests that God brings into your life.

Last night I was reading in James chapter one and I came to verse 22, a verse that we all have heard a billion and one times. "But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves." Every time that I have heard this verse, I thought it simply meant to do what the Bible says to do. I then read some commentary on that verse; it said that this verse doesn't mean to just do what the word says, but have your entire personality be based around the Bible and everything inside of it. Now that really seems impossible for us humans...and it really is. But with God's help it's something we can achieve, because everything is possible through Jesus Christ.

We Can't...But We Will

Tonight Aaron brought a wonderful message on guilt. He told us that we have to give our guilt to God, but after we give it to Him, leave it with Him after we say amen. If you pick it back up, when you finish praying about it, wouldn't you be relying on yourself to handle, to take care of it. Tonight when I got home from church, in my quiet time it questioned me of my total reliance on God. And at first you think "Yea! I totally rely on God." Then once you get to thinking about it...do you actually, 100% rely on God?

Joshua 24:19-21: "Then Joshua said to the people, 'You will not be able to serve the Lord...' And the people said to Joshua 'No, but we will serve the Lord."

Let's be honest...we can't really serve God. But we do and we will. We can't beleive God is real. But we do and we will. So doesn't it go the same for relying on God, we can't but we will.

Can't Go On

Can't Go On, is a song by a group I'm not crazy about...Group 1 Crew. But I love this song. This song is about not being able to live life without the love of Christ, how we dont want to face the world alone. And who could live without Christ's love, or go through the hustle and bustle of the world without God's help everday. I don't know how lost people go through the hectic problems we have without a stable, honest, and faithful shoulder to cry on. But God is so much more than a crying shoulder to us, He not only comforts us, but He helps us out of our troubles. He gives us advice, and provides a way out. We need to make sure that we are relying on God's love everyday, because if we dont we will try to fill the gap with something else. And nothing should take the place of Christ.

Summer Vacation

Summer vacation will be fun, happy, and sad this year for me. I am really happy school is out. I don't have to worry about teachers, homework, or projects for two and a half months. But this summer is the first summer I will have to get a job...if I can find one where I dont have to work on Sundays. (Please pray that God will help me find a job where I can have Sundays off for church, and an atmosphere that isn't filled with trash.)

Also this is the first summer I will not be going to children's camp, which is like a major bummer. I have gone to kids' camp every year since I began going as a camper, about 8 or 9 years ago. The past three years though I was a worker, eithere helping out in the kitchen, with bigger cabins, or with the crafts. I will really miss going this year. Make sure you are praying for their safety on Monday morning when they leave and on Friday afternoon when they head back.

What A Relief It Is

About a week ago, last Thursday, I played for juries. After my date to play had been moved four times! I ended up playing for the nicest professor...Ms. Fernandez. I was the last person to play that day so we ran out of time, and I was very excited to only have to play two of four pieces. But the two pieces I did play were not the better of the two. Overall I think I did pretty well, although I wont know my grade until next Monday. I would like to thank all of you who prayed for me.

True Friendship

How many of you can actually say you have a real true friend? Someone who you can go to with all your problems and know that they will listen and give you good advice. Someone who can also come back to you when they have problems knowing you will help them out. Having a true friend can't be just them being a true friend, because for it to be a true friendship you have to be the same way.
Are you a true friend, if you are you probably have a true friend or in the process of making a true friend, if you aren't you may think you have a true friend but most likely, they are your true friend. You may need to be taught how to be a true friend, and if there is no one around to teach you I will, if you want me too. Or maybe you are a true friend and you just need one, I'm also here for you.

Why aren't you freaking out?

Today in my fourth period, my teacher was absent and we didn't have any assignments, so i pulled out a magazine Bible that I take to school with me. As I was reading in Psalms, one of my friends came up to me, and asked me what I was reading, and I told her I was reading the Bible. She didn't say anything, except every few minutes to make me look at something, like she didn't want me to read the Bible. Until finally she told me that she was agnostic. And I didn't give her some overreacting response, and she sat there like she was waiting on me to freak out. Then she even to asked me why I didn't freak out. I told her that being a Christian wasn't about forcing people to believe in God, cause there is no way I could force her to, that would just push her away. So please pray for her, that I could be a witness to her, and that one day she would get saved. Thank you.

Graciousness

As you all know, i am supposed to play for juries this Friday. You also know that performance would also be very shaky. But God blesses us in many different ways. This time God has not only made my performance a tad bit better, and he also moved my date to play almost a month later! My new date is May 27th. Is that not awesome or what? So now I just need to make sure I stick to practicing. But I would like to thank all of you who prayed for me and for my juries performance.

Juries

Right now I would like to ask you guys to pray for me, that I do well for juries. Many of you probably don't know what juries are...well that is something I have to do for school. I have to go play the piano for a college professor, I will play from memory about 10 songs, and all of my technique and that is in about a week and 3 days. To let you know how I am doing...well I have about 5 songs memorized, 4 in good shape, and 1 that I can't even play! And don't even get me started on how horrible my technique is (which is like scales and arpeggios). Thank you guys so much!

For Brother Kevin

I got a email subscription thing on my blog, just for you Brother Kevin! Okay maybe not just for you.

It's been a while!

Hey guys...it has been a really long time since I have blogged, but i have just been uber busy lately. The last you heard of me I was in Tallahassee, well i have been back for a while. The Wednesday after I got back I went to New York City for the day. Yes, I flew up at 7 in the morning, and flew back at 10 that night. My cousin, Deesa, was the one who took me. She bought tickets to go see Wicked at the Gershwin theatre, it was amazing. Broadway is so awesome, people can be so talented, I can only hope that some of them are Christians, being legendary, and giving God the glory. While we were in NYC we visited the Twin Towers' Memorial, and as loud as the city is there was almost silence at the memorial. Now it's back to school and routine, well almost, I have juries this nine weeks, which is where I have to play piano for a college professor. This is really stressing me out, so if you think about me please pray that I get enough practice in, and I play on May 2nd I believe. Thanks!

This has been quite a week...

...Well it all started last Thursday night, I went to see David Crowder Band in concert at the "Just Go Rally." The concert was absolutely amazing! If you ever have an opportunity to see David Crowder, I would encourage you to go. Worshiping the one true God under the beautiful sky He made, was completely awesome!
Then Friday afternoon I left with my youth group on a spring retreat called "Look." The whole weekend was a series of messages on and about sexual purity. The messages were awesome, and God didn't just speak to us about sexual purity but about other stuff as well. Saturday night was so cool, our youth pastor had prayed earlier that day that God would speak among the group, and that he didn't even care if we didn't get to the message that night. And guess what...we didn't have a message that night, because God spoke during the worship. There were people everywhere praying, alone and with the support of others. I personally got to pray with someone who was praying for their sibling's salvation, and I got to share how my family and I had prayed for several years for my brother to get saved and about a month ago he got saved. It felt so cool to share a story of encouragement to someone.
So now your up to date and I am in Tally!!! Living the (sober) college life, minus studying, for spring break. Don't worry I'm not all b myself, I'm chillin' at my cousin's house!

Ya Had A Bad Day

Today was a pretty bad day for me, it feels like everything that could have gone wrong went wrong...Why? I have no idea. And up until I wrote that last sentence I have had a horrible attitude about it, and then God convicted me. I thought back to one Sunday when we were in Job, and how Job never put God in a position of shame over his behavior and Job went through a lot more crap than i went through today. So my behavior shouldn't put God on the line before Satan, because I never ever want to make God look bad. I would like to ask you to pray that I would work on my attitude, and I will pray for you all. (Tip for today: surround yourself with people who will encourage you to press on with your life even after a bad day, it really helps.)

Easter Production

Have you ever done something or volunteered for something that you didn't really want to do but it was the right thing to do? Well that is how I felt about the Easter Production. I totally did not want to do it, but my friend talked me into to doing it. I went to the practices and learned the songs, but wasn't really confident that i had learned everything all the way. So last weekend (a week before the play) I was seriously considering dropping out of it, and I prayed about it, and God pretty much told me that if everyone did that there would be no play. And what if someone was going to get saved because of this play and it didn't happened, then what would happen? I did not drop out but I finished what i started, or rather what God started through me. Friday night and last night were the first two nights of the play and they went over really smoothly, and I am so excited about tonight's performance. I am praying that God does something huge and amazing, but everything God does is amazing. Please pray for the cast, that we give it our all tonight, and pray for the audience that one soul is saved, and pray for those who are saved that God would use this play to speak to them. I also want to ask you to do anything for God if your given a chance to, don't make someone beg you.