The Weekly Wrap.

The past few days have been this really odd turning and twisting path of thoughts and emotions. I've simultaneously had some of the most fun times ever in Charlotte as well as some of the more lonely times as well. For starters I've worked a good amount this week and am even getting ready to head into work today at 1. It's a nice short shift today, as we're only open until 5 on the weekends so I'm looking forward to making plans for the rest of the evening as well. In case you're wondering, I think I'm going to do some laundry, play the guitar, and depending on the temperature outside go for a run. I'm pretty excited to get after these things and wish I didn't have to work so I could do them now. (Obviously I want to watch the Bengals beat the Browns as well, but I suppose I have to go get paid to pour coffee...)

Anyways, back to this week.

Sunday, a week ago, my friend Brandon came into town from VT and it's always good to hang with him. We often joke about being the same person, and in too many instances it's proven to be true. Well we went to the Bobcats game with a large group of my guy friends here in C-town and it was a blast. We saw Michael Jordan, UNC coach Roy Williams waved to us, and we goofed with Rufus the Bobcat...who wears wrap around shades. Rufus is awesome. Then Willie got us lost getting home, and I'm not sure I've laughed more in my life. Dinner afterwards, a great time. It was just fun to hang out with a bunch of guys, and have it have the feel of being back in Columbus.

Monday we were supposed to have club, but that didn't end up happening because there was a conflict with a home AK basketball game. In hindsight though it was amazing time with the few kids that were there for Jaclyn, Courtney, and myself. My time chilling with Madden was great. That kid is the man.

Tuesday I worked, but then later that night my buddy DC introduced me and some other friends to a great little indie coffee shop called Amalie's in NoDa. We had a blast.

Wednesday I worked, and was supposed to be the Caribou mascot but definitely pawned that off on someone else who ended up almost passing out because of how hot the suit was. Excellent choice by me, and hey don't get upset; the other guy actually wanted to do it! Wednesday night I had dinner with a great committee family and really enjoyed my time with them. Just another great blessing from our adults.

Thursday was interesting. Because of work I wasn't able to head home for this great eating holiday. I definitely missed my family, especially because of the makeup of family that was going to be together at our house for the first time on Thanksgiving. My brother and his family came over and I haven't seen them in almost a year now, since last Christmas Eve. It'll be exactly one year between us seeing each other unfortunately. I was incredibly blessed to have dinner with three families all together and have a great time in doing so. Of course it wasn't my mom or aunt's cooking, but it was still fantastic and a wonderful substitute for being home.

Friday was more work, and then really nothing but Friday was for whatever reason the most difficult of the days surrounding Thanksgiving. I got really homesick while at work thinking about all my friends who were hanging out together back in Ohio. Fortunately I was able to talk with some friends on the phone that night and they really encouraged me and reminded me that they even still love me.

Saturday I worked a little bit, then napped. Naps are wonderful, are they not? After the nap though, I headed up to Huntersville to hang out with Ashley and some of her friends and roommates. It was an incredible time because we all hung out playing games for about 9 hours straight. I had more fun than I've had in a long time just being with people. I met about 10 new friends and it was just so encouraging to be hanging out with a whole new crowd of people. I sincerely hope I get to hang out with all of them again soon.

So that's my week. Now you know. I liked this post because so often I feel like I have to come up with some profound revelation in my life about Christ or ministry to write an entry on here but that isn't true at all. Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday and that you're getting your Christmas shopping done.

CRASH.

Thanks.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

I know I have a ton of things to be thankful for. Everyone always challenges people to stop on this day and weekend before all the craziness of Christmas begins to think about what and who they are thankful for. So I'm going to do that, and of course I'll challenge anyone who reads this to do the same...

Jesus Christ, my savior. The Cross.

My family - Mom, Dad, Jerod and fam, aunts, uncles, cousins, nephews, nieces. Mammaw. My friends. Comets {ctid}. Golden Bears. Knights. Buckeyes. Young Life. Hofmann. Lake Champion. Committee. Charlotte. God's provision. God's love. God's mercy. God's grace. God's word. God's power. God's sovereignty. My faith. Material things. America. Those who have gone before me. Those who will come after me.

The more I write on here, the more I realize that I have to be thankful for and that I couldn't possibly list all of the things that exist.

Praise be to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Amen, and thanks.

This world is not our home?

Every time that I fail to write in my blog for an extended period of time, I feel as though I should apologize. I just decided that I'm not going to do that anymore. Now that's we've gotten that out of the way...

It's really weird as I sit here contemplating what to write about my recent experiences here in Charlotte, there is a sense of this all being temporary. Granted there are still a couple boxes in my room that remain unpacked, and pictures still to be hung on the walls and whatnot. I don't think those are signs of me wanting this to be temporary but more a testament to my amazing ability to collect things that at one point I think I'll need and use a lot in the future but never end up doing anything with them. Regardless of those things though, there is this weird feeling in me though that perhaps because I'm still learning my way around, perhaps because everything has happened so fast, perhaps because there's eventual truth in it; but that eventually I am going to be leaving Charlotte. Now I feel like I must say this next statement with absolute clarity: I have no plans in my own head of leaving Charlotte. I love the city and what God has called me to do here.

I just thought I would throw that thought out there. What brings on such a feeling of "for now"? I wish I knew the answer, but I really have no experience delving into such an issue before now.

Other than that, Young Life at Ardrey Kell has been up and down but that's just from a numbers standpoint. I think my wonderful co-leader Jaclyn and I would agree that the building of relationships with kids and the deepening of those relationships is going great and that we look forward to and eagerly anticipate times when we can further our relationships with the high schoolers. A few guys in particular that if you read this you want to pray for that I'm really connecting with: Mike, Max, Luke, Madden, Myles. (Lots of M names...weird)

Overall though, God is good. Moving my whole life to Charlotte is the most difficult thing I have ever done but in such a good way. It is stretching my faith in Christ so much, and I am learning about His character and His love and His provision in crazy new ways. I love it so much, seriously. That doesn't take away from how difficult it is though.

I definitely feel like a missionary...

The Ordinary.

I must again beg for apologies that it's been a few weeks since I've updated my blog. Things have been crazy down here, but overall been amazing. It has been funny though, I've actually sat down to start writing an entry or an email to close friends multiple times over the past three weeks but just never finished them because I just never felt like I had something to say. I have since been reminded though that we don't just have to share on God's faithfulness in the valleys or the mountaintop moments, but rather that His grace extends to us and if fully evident in the mundane and the routine.

So here goes, a bit of the ordinary...

Young Life at Ardrey Kell has been up and down over the past couple weeks but mainly up. God's continuing to do great things there and through our team. One huge praise is just how my co-leaders and I have really begun to be united. Love it. As far as the things of YL go, club has been going alright as kids have been up and down with their energy and involvement. One battle I go through with that, is that I don't think the kids know that they can trust us yet as leaders and so we are still earning the trust that A.) we won't put them in truly embarrassing situations and B.) we are just as willing to make ourselves fools for Christ. The kids don't truly know what club looks like down here and so that will be a continual process that is both fun and frustrating. Campaigners has been going decently, with a whole group of freshmen guys coming around, yet none of them are coming to Club. There is literally one senior girl who comes to both, and she's a pastor's kid; so you know haha. As far as deepening relationships with guys though, it continues to be both exciting and frustrating as most of this ministry ends up being. There are a couple junior and sophomore guys that I've really been connecting with and so I'm looking to just further those relationships and see what God can do there.

Work at Caribou has been absolutely mundane. It's the easiest job one could ever do. It allows me some pretty good flexibility with my schedule, but really it's just a job. Not one that I really enjoy, but I am thankful that I have it for sure.

It's been great to be a part of the intern group in the Carolinas Region, and get to hang out with Steve Gardner again. I've made some great friends already through and from the staff and I'm really looking forward to continuing to get to know them and work alongside of them, hopefully for a long time. It's really challenged me to be in a room of such sharp people and has pushed me to do what I do better and to look for ways to improve what I do; realizing though that ultimately it's God who makes it go or not and that it is His work that He merely allows us to be a part of. For that, I am thankful.

That's all for now...hopefully some more in the next couple days as I'm processing some thoughts I've been having.

Be strong and courageous.

In following up with the last post from last week...I didn't pack my things up and move back to Ohio. I was in Ohio this past weekend, but I hadn't moved back. Just fyi. Ya know.

Last week at club, it was absolutely amazing. I was petrified for the first time in a long time to give a club talk. Alright that's a lie...I was petrified to give my last one at CCHS, but that's because I didn't want to cry during it. This was different though, because these kids don't know me, and for that matter because I've only been around a couple weeks they have no real reason to desire to hang out with me or even listen to me. The kids at CCHS know me and I know they care about me in return for my care for them. Usually I wouldn't let a new leader give a club talk for some time after they start leading at a school but in this situation I suppose it really isn't an option. In fact, for those keeping score at home and who will truly understand the gravity of this next statement: I'm giving 4 more talks, those being a Need, Sin, Cross, and Appropriations. Yikes. Better hope I earn the right to be heard before I tell kids they're going to hell because of their choice to sin and not follow Christ. Oh well. But back to my original statement, guys were flocking to me like they haven't before after a club talk. Conversations were had off of that. Phone numbers were exchanged, hang outs were planned, God was showing how if He wants something to happen it truly will happen. And when it does, y'all better look out. Loved it.

This past week...freaking horrible; in my opinion at least. Music didn't go well, no one wanted to sing, no one seemed to care about the games, and stuff with guys definitely did not go how I wanted it to especially given the extraordinary strides made after last week. I wanted to quit, I wanted to pull the plug on AKYL, I wanted to move back to Ohio. Basically I wanted to take the easy route, and no more was it  tempting than after having an amazing weekend back in my home state, then a crappy club, and feeling absolutely inadequate as a leader.

"I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us." ~ Romans 8:18

"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: 'For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.' No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." ~ Romans 8:35-39

Take those verse in if you're reading this, and especially if you are being discouraged through things going on around you and the situation that you are in. "Be strong and courageous."

Looking back on this post, it isn't exactly what I had set out to write, but it certainly is what I need to continue to preach to myself and I know that whoever is reading this will take encouragement from such powerful verses.

"Be strong and very courageous."
CRASH.

That Borden kid was onto something...

Read the story of William Borden. Then return to your regularly scheduled reading of CRASH. 







Done? Good.

Let me tell you...in the middle of the game on Friday, I wanted to turn around, drive back to my house, pack all my things, and retreat back to Columbus, Ohio. Yup. I really wanted to pull the plug on the whole dang thing right then and there. Somewhere though, in the midst of my despair, I remembered this story. Obviously the song by Needtobreathe helped as well, like I already posted about, but the words written in the back of William Borden's bible rung in my ears.

No reserves. No retreat. No regret.

And they didn't just ring for Friday night, they stayed there Saturday, and Sunday, and thru today while I was putting the finishing touches on the club talk I was giving at the 3rd AK club of the year. 3 weeks ago I was fighting back tears at my last talk at Central Crossing, and now I was being thrown into the fire. It's what I asked for, isn't it? I mean I'm the guy who went to the AK football game less than 24 hours after I got into town with all my stuff.

So there really is no other option out there, other than to get rid of the reserves. Even Christ tells His disciples in Luke 9 when He sends them out that they need to take nothing with them. Good enough for me. After that, I already talked with so many people about the point of no return that I experienced in Columbus...my last club at CC. With a point of no return, obviously comes not being able to retreat. Any thoughts of that are foolish, and are weak attempts by the devil to distract me from my calling. Now I have to seize the attitude and spirit of being one who is already dead; dead to the world, dead to myself, dead to my desires, dead to my reputation, dead to sin. I am alive in Christ, I am made alive because of Him who died. There can be no room now for regret, because if I am going with God I am going with the ruler and creator of the entire universe. He's got my back, and therefore I can step out in faith time after time after time when it comes to sharing Him with kids at Ardrey Kell High School.

So in the immortal words of the Newsies...it's time to "open the gates, and seize the day!" (Man I love that song...and movie.)

Carpe diem.

CRASH.

The Outsiders.

"Shortfalls and little sins

Close calls where no one wins

Stand tall but running thin

I'm wearing thin

Oh, why are we keeping score?

'Cause if you're not laughing

Who is laughing now?

I've been wondering if this starts sinking

Would we stand our ground?

After everything we've learned,

We've finally come to terms;

We are the outsiders.

I'm not leaving without a fight

I've got my holsters around my sides

Just cause I'm wrong that don't make you right,

It's not right.

Oh, what are we fighting for?

'Cause if you're not laughing

Who is laughing now?

I've been wondering if this starts sinking

Would we stand our ground?

After everything we've learned,

We've finally come to terms;

We are the outsiders."

When I got down here to Charlotte, I was very fortunate to be able to move into a house that for a while has been guys in their mid-20's, all Followers of Christ, and some associated with Young Life as current leaders or previous leaders while in college. It's interesting because it's kind of like the graduated, Charlottean (like that?) version of The Brickhouse at Ohio State where I lived for so many years. Anyways, it's been absolutely fantastic living with these four guys so far and I've really enjoyed getting to know all of them. 

Shout out to Bill, Tanner, Matt, and Justin. You guys rock.

Well, soon after I got down here to Charlotte Tanner introduced me to this group called Needtobreathe. I had heard of them before, but I'm pretty sure I had never heard of any of their songs. One day while driving around and showing me cool places Tanner had them on in the car and I fell in love with their sound. Well what do you know, there was a concert coming up just a week away that wasn't sold out! It was at a small venue called The Visualite (don't ask, don't know), and there were a bunch of people in their (my new) group of friends that were going to dinner and then the concert. Well who am I to turn down a good time with a cool group of people? Especially when I need friends...

I get a ticket, head to dinner with everyone, and then go to what turns out to be one of the absolute best concerts of my entire life. This band really knows how to entertain, unabashedly love the Lord, and on top of that they are ridiculously talented musicians. Drums, lead guitar/banjo, bassist who everyone develops a man-crush on, keyboardist, and of course the lead vocalist who really has a great voice. Without going into a ton of detail (ask me and I'll tell you more) I was blown away by them, and had a great time with everyone that I went with. Fun fact: I was one of two guys amidst about 10 beautiful and amazing Jesus-loving Southern women. Boo yah. 

Well you might be wondering why I put the lyrics to "The Outsiders", which is the title track off their similarly named newest album at the beginning of the post. As you know, I'm leading Young Life at Ardrey Kell HS in southern Charlotte. It's a far cry from Central Crossing, mainly because I at CCHS I could walk around the grounds, the halls, any event at the school, and be known. It felt like I truly knew every kid in the school even though we all know that's near impossible. That was the feeling I would get. I knew I belonged there, I knew I was called there, I knew that I could be quite bold in ministry and getting to know new kids. Maybe more importantly, I knew I was "in" there.

Last night I went to AK's homecoming football game, where we defeated the Myers Park Mustangs where Justin Robillard and Steve Gardner both lead. Big stuff. Unless you count that MP has only won one game this year. Anyways...even though I've met a decent amount of kids through club the past two weeks and have met some parents as well, I walked around that game in a daze. I can't say I was overwhelmed, because high school kids that need Jesus are the same everywhere. No one can ever argue that with me. However, for the first time in a long time I felt like an "outsider". Not only did I feel like one, I am one. The more I started to think about that fact, the more I know it was good for me to move. Doesn't take away how difficult it was to leave my Comets {ctid}, but I know that I need to feel like this. As a follower of Christ, I am not someone who is "in" with the world or what they do. I am "in" with the God of the universe, but to this world I am definitely an outsider. 

So I'm definitely laughing at the foolishness of the world, I know that even if things start sinking I'll still stand my ground. I will not leave AK without a fight, I didn't leave CC without a fight. A fight for the souls of high school kids. I might be wearing thin right now, but I'll stand tall and I'll stand in the gap for these kids. I've finally come to terms with being an Outsider; and I'm excited. 

CRASH.

CRASH.

Well here I am...almost a week into this new adventure in Charlotte, North Carolina. First off I want to say welcome to my new way of doing things in that you won't ever have to make a trip (it's like two clicks of the mouse but who's counting?) to my blog in order to feel connected and be able to read what's going on! From now on, my posts will be sent straight to your email if you like! Also, if there's anyone out there reading this that wants to be added to that list just let me know your email address and I'll add you lickety split!

Onto the more pressing matters...I realize that it's been seemingly forever since I last wrote a post. This is due to many factors, most all related to the craziness of packing my life and moving it to a place I've been once. This journey has already been quite eye-opening to my walk with Christ and yet I have absolutely loved it because it has drawn me so close to Him...closer than I ever have been. I'm so encouraged and excited to see what God does in me and through me during this whole process.

Right now I just want to leave a couple small points with y'all (I can say that now! I live in the south!) of things about this move. Don't worry though, I'll expand on them soon...

1.) Leaving the ministry at Central Crossing was the most difficult thing I've ever had to do in my entire life. When I think about my Comets, there's times when I doubt what I did in moving. Also though, I'm encouraged by the relationships that were built and knowing that it was never me or about me, and God will continue to work through the incredible team there.

2.) I love the weather down here, and Ohio weather sucks. That pretty much goes without saying.

3.) I have been placed at Ardrey Kell High School, which is a school of about 2,000 kids and with quite well off families. The school itself is only starting it's 4th year of existence but club work has been going on for about a year. I am quite encouraged in what is going on at this high school and can't wait to regale you with stories of the Lord's work there.

4.) The people down here are so far incredible. Everyone has been welcoming and friendly and I've enjoyed lots of hospitality. My roommates are great guys and I feel blessed to live where I do.

That's about all for now. I've got to get ready and head out to my first Campaigners down here!

If I have ever in my life felt like a Crash...it is these past few weeks. I love it, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Announcement!

So I know that it's been quite some time since I last updated on here, and again I do apologize. There were things being sorted out in my life that I didn't want to broadcast just yet. Now I can do that though...

In just over a week I'm packing up my life in Ohio and moving down to Charlotte, North Carolina. I'm pretty excited for this development in my life, and yet obviously insanely nervous and scared about the whole thing. There are many details that are nailed down, and yet there are a ton that still have to be decided and figured out. I'm still working on where exactly I'll be living, but I have my work transfer for Caribou in the works, as well as where I'm leading narrowed down. Life is just crazy right now as I say goodbyes, but also am still fully involved in my life here in Columbus with leading at Central Crossing and whatnot.

I have so many things to talk about when it comes to this whole process, but I don't have the time right now. So for now, I will leave you with this, but with the promise of more either later tonight or sometime tomorrow.

What's my hobby?

Apparently it's weddings. Some friends of mine were apparently talking about what they do as hobbies and such. Things on the side, ya know? Well somehow my name came up; as in: "Well you like to play intramural sports, Chad goes to weddings."

Well this past weekend that was fairly true, as Friday night I went camping for Kevin McIntyre's bachelor party. It was a great time filled with a lot of laughs.

Saturday then was the nuptials of Joe Arnold and Katie Hudson, and it was filled with just about everyone I knew it seemed like. This was definitely a fun wedding, and possibly one of the tops. The food was great, the hanging out was awesome, the dancing was good times. The afterparty at the Varsity Club was fantastic. (The best part of that may have been the friend who last night asked me if I was there when I was sitting two seats away from this person at the VC and we had lots of conversation...)

Sunday was a great day, filled with more times of greatness with people. Went to church and lunch with Kacie and I always love spending time with her. Then Brad and I hung out, definitely one of my best friends. After that I went straight to a team meeting that saw our team together for the first time all summer. We got some great plans in place for this coming fall semester that I am very very excited about. Campaigners then on Sunday evening was incredible; just with the kids that have been consistently coming and sharing and taking part, as well as the fun times just hanging out after and before. I love these kids and this high school.

Monday, it was my birthday. Eh. I'm 27 now. Eh. It's all about how old I feel in the heart, right? If that's the case, I'm still 22. Boo yah. Anyways, I got dinner with just about every person that I care deeply about that still lives in Columbus at Champp's. It really made me thankful for the blessings of friendship and fellowship that God has given me here in Columbus.

What are you thankful for today?

Throwback wrap-up...

I must apologize, a couple weeks ago I left you all with a post that was excited about a glorious return to Lake Cumberland. Well it indeed was glorious, starting with a fantastic car ride of hilarity that itself began with Jacob chugging a beer when we picked the girls up and thinking that he could drink it while riding in the car. Hilarious. (for the record, he didn't drink in the car and I drove the whole way) Just know that the car trip was fun to say the least.

The rest of the weekend consisted of dance parties, Jenga, the lake, and some crazy things happening. The most ridiculous thing though is probably the simple fact that I very nearly capsized our pontoon boat with everyone on it about ten minutes into our time on the lake. Apparently we failed to realize that the left pontoon was sitting lower in the water than the right. One can logically assume that the only thing that would cause that would be some water in there. Now that we've established that, has anyone ever captained a pontoon boat out there? It's basically the easiest and most boring boat to drive that has ever been invented. It's really easy to steer and stop. Except for this one. This one decided to not stop like a normal pontoon boat, but rather one that decided to stop moving like a drunken cow. When I say that, I mean that all the water in the pontoon (or pontoons, who knows?) rushed to the front of the boat and caused the front foot and a half the whole thing to dip down violently under the water. The girls screamed and rushed to the back of the boat, Rob and Jacob did Lord knows what but I think they quickly looked to the skies to see if they could leap onto the back of a passing hawk. Justin and I calmly fixed the situation by speeding back up. Yup...speed is always the answer.

The rest of the weekend was much fun and hanging out. Many fun games were played, hilarious quotes were had, and I reminisced a pretty good amount about my times as a kid. The people that I was at the lake with are incredible people and I love them all very much. Great friends indeed. It felt right to be back on Lake Cumberland again, and probably gave me the appropriate mindset to start to evaluate moving options in my life.

With that being said, I'm beginning to get some proper perspective and takes on this past weekend as well. I know I said this a couple days ago, but quite soon expect at least a recap.

Road outside Columbus...

Well, I have returned from my 4 1/2 day excursion to North Carolina (come on and raise up) and there are all sorts of things to be said. It was a great trip to be sure, and one that I won't soon forget. If you remember, it was a fact finding mission to the two cities of Charlotte and Raleigh in order to determine how viable moving to either place would be.

Going into the weekend, what I knew was that Young Life was great in either place and that the people in either city were incredible. What I didn't know was the spiritual climate of either place, as well as what exactly the city was like itself. Both things I was able to determine fairly well during my trip.

Now I must apologize initially, I don't have the time to fully breakdown the trip in this post. However that will come quite soon, I promise. Know though, that it was an amazing trip and that at the very least questions were answered and some decisions were potentially made. Sorry to leave you with a teaser, but that's how it's gonna be as I continue to pray and work through these decisions.

Side note: our softball team won tonight to move to 6-3 with a 5 game winning streak. There's one game left before the playoffs and we should be in right now, but I'm not 100% sure...

Side note: I hate the Geico caveman commercials. They started out great, but are really annoying now. The Gecko can stay though...

We will now break for a short intermission, the rest of your trip will commence shortly.

So this is just a flurry of activity, is it not? Are you all able to keep up with all my posting? Seriously though, I can't believe I'm posting this much, but hey...I've got a lot to say right now and a lot I've been thinking about and I want to get it all down on paper.

Well, I guess it's not really paper. Whatever.

I gotta be honest, I just spent the last 15 minutes not writing in this entry but rather looking for some poignant lyrics from the Pat McGee Band to post on here. I guess I wanted to sound artsy and also relative, since I just saw him in concert tonight for free on the top of a small building in uptown Charlotte. It was pretty cool, especially since I've always wanted to see him in concert. This was super great though, because it was with great friends, it was free, and I was about 25 feet away from the stage. Cool beans.

So I'll keep this brief because I have to get to sleep so I can wake up early in order to drive to Raleigh. My time here in Charlotte has been incredible, granted most of the time has been spent in Uptown and Lake Norman, which if you've never been here are two really great areas. However, I have discovered that this is a really great place. A few months ago for whatever reason, I would've sworn up and down that I would never have moved here. Now, I can see it happening quite easily. As my friend Jordy says...the bug bit me.

I'm off to Raleigh tomorrow morning to get there in time for Church At The Triangle service at 1030. We shall see how God moves in Raleigh as well. I'm excited to see the Spruills, my boy Robby Callis, and hopefully Dave "The Silent Coyote" "Mother f*ck*ng" "It's his world, we're just living in it" Reed.

That would be nice. Yeah.

"Well I guess we'll just see what we'll see, won't we?"

Ok, well I didn't exactly get more of a chance to digest things but a great friend of mine (who I know is one of the very few readers I have of this thing) has mentioned multiple times a very poignant suggestions that was also hinted at in Experiencing God.

He said that what if God's will for us is just to fall in love with Him and to experience Him however we can by committing ourselves fully to Him in everything we do. Then whatever we do will be to His glory because we are ultimately doing life for Him and not for ourselves. So therefore where we do life didn't really matter as long as we were everyday giving ourselves over to the Lord and striving to glorify Him in whatever we did.

An interesting thought isn't it? The other one that comes from Experiencing God in Chapter 3, is that all we need to do is to learn His voice well enough that we are content in living day to day following His lead. That we need to get to a point of dependency and living faith upon our Creator that we depend on Him moment to moment and don't have to ask the questions of "where do you want me for the next couple years", "what sort of things do you want me doing", "why don't you tell me where i'm going".

Both are quite interesting concepts and I like them. I don't know if I can live them and if I believe them though yet. At least not the first, and I probably feel more conflicted on the second than anything.

We shall see...

I'm thinking of staying an extra day in Charlotte to go to the free Pat McGee Band concert with all my friends down here, then heading to Raleigh on Sunday morning in time for church and then leaving for Columbus on Monday morning.

We shall see...

Take your shoes off...

Here's just a quick update from my travels so far...

I left Columbus around noon-thirty yesterday and zipped on down to Charlotte. I mean really I drove, but it was absolutely one of the easiest drives of me life. A sign? Haha...not sure about that. However, it was great when I finally made it and the drive was just gorgeous.

When I did get it, Ashley and I went out to dinner at this great uptown place called Nix's. Incredible burgers, and a ton of them. Uptown is really cool place, filled with a bunch of great restaurants and bars, lots of great places to hang out, and was a really clean place as well. Quite unlike many downtowns in Ohio. After that we headed down to the National White Water Center, where we train Olympians to win boatloads of medals (get it?) where on Thursday nights they turn it into a place to be for anyone. There's live music, a restaurant, bar, families go, there's lots of dogs which is kinda weird...and all of this adds up to phenomenal people watching opportunities. Today Ashley had tennis practice at Hopewell HS and I decided to go with her. Despite my waking up early, getting ready, eating breakfast and having a cup of coffee...I apparently still did not wake up enough, to remember my shoes. I realized this when we were half way to the school, when I looked down and noticed my socks in front of me and no shoes to speak of. Weeellllllll...I decided to play without my shoes then. And let me tell you, I am good at tennis. Tennis All Star and MVP are actually on my resume; if you go back to the ages of 6-8 at Sycamore Creek Country Club. Whoops. It was great fun though and I didn't embarrass myself nearly as much as I expected. Yay for that! I did however begin to develop a bit of a blister on my right big toe.

Then we drove around and took a bit of a tour of sweet, gigantic homes that are on Lake Norman, went to the town of Davidson to see Ashley's YL office. Now I just got done watching some Fight Club and Scrubs, while Ashley did one of the things she does best: nap. Hah. We're trying to figure out what we do the rest of the night. What I do know is that we'll be making a second trip to the airport at some point. I'll let ya know how all that turns out...

In my preparations for this trip, my good friend Jordy Sparks warned me that the bug may bite while I was down here. Well as I drove into town and drove over Lake Norman, the bug began buzzing around my head. Coming into the weekend, Charlotte was usually the lowest city on the list. While it had a bevy of my great friends down here, including great brothers in Neil, Jack, and Jordy, and my sister in college Julia, and great friend in Jaclyn who always speaks truth to me, and one of the most incredible women I know in Ashley...I wanted to know about the city itself. So far it has yet to disappoint. I asked the Lord that coming out of the weekend that I would have clarification on things, and that perhaps one of the two places would be eliminated. So far it's definitely not Charlotte. Surprisingly, Orlando has started to fade significantly in my mind. Columbus has continued to fade. Blacksburg continues to recruit me.

I've been reading some really great things in Experiencing God that I would love to share, because it directly applies to what I'm going through right now. I need a bit more time to digest it though and sift through things that I'm reading. So you can read about that later tonight if you'd like.

Also, there's two wicked stoned people on Cash Cab right now and they are just crazy looking. Why don't things like that ever happen to me? Not the stoning, the Cash Cab-ing.

Roots.

Right now I'm packing my bags and car for a trip down to Lake Cumberland for the weekend with some friends. For me, this represents a return to childhood innocence hopefully. For those of you who don't know, I spent my summers growing up zipping around on my wave runner here at the Houseboating Capitol of the World. It's a spectacularly beautiful place as you can see above. Really that picture doesn't do the place justice either, so hopefully I'll take a good amount of pictures for sharing.

I'm really excited about this trip though, just to get away from Columbus, which will be my second trip away in the last three weeks. There's even a trip in the works next weekend too, which I'll talk about after I get back from this one. Hopefully on this trip though, I'll start to get some clarity on my future and my life. God has slowly been bringing things into focus for me I believe, and while I don't exactly want to put what that is up on here just yet, know that this process is still on-going.

In getting back to childhood roots I'm hoping to find a parallel simplicity of mind and thinking as I pursue God's will and plan for my life. Christ himself speaks on having the faith of a child, and that unless we become like them we will never enter the kingdom of Heaven. So let's hope that my return to a sacred childhood place and time will bring the faith of a child and the adventurous and undaunted spirit of a child back into me. I'm feeling too old at times and I don't like it, so this should be a good time.

Unless I get bit by a water moccasin, cause that would really suck.

Chiggity Check It Out...

If you've got a few minutes you really need to check out the sermon this past weekend from Heritage Christian Church in Westerville. It's by Andy Sieberhagen, the missions pastor at the church, and he's from South Africa, which alone should compel you to listen to it! His accent is incredible!

Anyways, a little preface is that during the month of July they did a mini-series on Unlikely Heroes in the faith. It was a great idea, but unfortunately not the best carried out that the church has ever done. Except for the last one, this past Sunday.

I highly encourage everyone to either download the sermon from itunes or go to the church's website www.heritagecc.org and go to the podcast page, where it'll be towards the top.

So yeah, go listen to it. It's worth at least a hundred angel-bucks.

My life be like...

This weekend was a freaking blast. Let me just let you in on a little secret...the Turner family is awesome. I love them. Kitty and Howie might be the most awesome friend's parents I know. This camping trip was probably made all the more spectacular though because of the incredible delay that happened from my first invite until the actual coming to fruition of sitting around my first campfire with them. See, I had been invited for the previous five years but something always came up at the last minute...from bachelor parties, to family weddings, to family crises...something always prevented my attending. Perhaps it was because God knew I just wasn't ready yet, perhaps it was because He knew they weren't ready yet. Whatever the reason, it is what it is, for now I have been and have come back alive to tell of it.

We arrived late on Wednesday night, and when I say late I mean around midnight-thirty. Howie and Kitty stayed up for our arrival, but soon after that Howie and the Swartzels crashed while Kitty, Ashley, and myself stayed up for another hour and a half or so enjoying an adult beverage and catching up on life. The next day was filled with an insane amount of food (as was the whole trip really) and spending the day lounging at the beach of Kneff Lake. Great times...floating to the other side on our Cadillacs, beating old men in Washers, throwing small children onto and off of a large inflatable raft, log rolling, and hearing funny stories about Ashley from both Howie and Kitty. Great times. The next day we prepared for and took the epic canoe trip, from which many stories came out of in the past. The big story this year, was perhaps my relegating of Ashley to the front of the canoe and putting her in her place when it came to all of that jazz. Apparently Miss Ashley is not used to not steering and having control of the canoe. Suffice to say, that yours truly did so well that she barely needed to paddle. Count one for the good guys. Saturday consisted of playing lots of games while the foolish ones of the group played something called "golf". Silly rabbits, tricks are for kids.

Overall it was a great weekend, and I count many new friends amongst these people. I would feel comfortable going back and being with them next year, even if Ashley wasn't able to attend. I'm sure the Swartzels will be back as well.

Speaking of Andrew Swartzel...he and I decided something crazy while on the way back from this epic trip. While we were up in town, we saw signs and such for this canoe marathon that people just somehow knew what it was and so there wasn't a whole lot of explanation. Well we investigated it, and found it to be the longest canoe marathon in North America this coming weekend: 120 miles! Talk about epic! Well we started discussing the viability of us attempting the intense physical feat that goes anywhere from 14 to 19 straight hours of paddling. Through a river, dams, ponds, eddys, over a little land, through the night, bugs, wind, rain, whatever Mother Nature would throw at us...we would continue to paddle until it was finished. Now I know what you're thinking: you can't just sign on and do that in one week! You're right, we can't. However a year from now? Yes please.

So that's my weekend and life update-ish. There still is a lot of things that I haven't decided yet when it comes to the next stage of my life and what I am going to be doing next. As of now it's still:

Columbus: work for Max & Erma's as a manager, lead, coach

Raleigh: find a job, help with Church of the Triangle, lead

Blacksburg/Virginia: find a job, lead, unpaid intern training for YL

Orlando: find a job, lead, raise up committee, revitalize First Year Fellowship/New Leader Training and therein the whole leadership/city from a YL perspective

So yeah. I suppose you could throw in there: curveball from God - who knows?

Welp, that's all for now. Wish I had a cool sign off saying, but I don't so I may start trying on various ones.

Word to your mother.

Knowing.

Here's a question to ponder when you get a chance...

How do you know when God is calling you to something? How do you know what God is saying to you?

No idea if I'll have any sort of follow up to this post. Just wanted to throw it out there and see if anyone had any thoughts on it...

So please comment with your thoughts.

The balance?

Hey guys, while I thought I would be posting more than I currently am with having internet 24/7...at least this is more frequently than this spring. Here's a bit of an update before I go into some thoughts on what is going through my head lately...

1.) I don't think I'm going to be getting the UA Track head coaching position. They have an in-district teacher that they are currently interviewing and thinking through, and have stated that they will go with if he seems on the level. Oh well, not a big deal. On the other track front, I haven't heard from my head coach at CCHS lately about the Darby situation so I'm guessing that's a dead deal as well. Perhaps though if the levy passes in August or November for SWCS he'll hang the reins over to me concerning the Comets.

2.) Our kids had an incredible time at Young Life up at Lake Champion, and I can't wait to see how the rest of the summer goes. They definitely came back as changed kids; eager to learn about God, and devote themselves to Him after realizing how broken of lives they live and how broken down the world around them is. Yay for Jesus doin' work.

3.) Don't speed. It sucks.

Alright, so there's the interesting updates on my life. Now to the thoughts/musings/wonderings part of the post...

Lately I have just not been making nearly enough money at either of my jobs. Both are good jobs, with good people, but I don't get nearly enough hours at either one of them to save anything after making all my ends meet. It's really unfortunate on one hand. On the other hand, it's really forcing me to re-evaluate where my life is going and what I'm doing. I have always told myself since fall quarter of my freshman year of college that I wouldn't make any decision in life based on money and the ability to earn money. However, as I watch my friends around me save money, start looking into buying houses, buy new cars, buy things that they both need and want it starts to eat at me that I am unable to do anything that I truly want to do. Money is always a deterrent with me anymore. The crazy thing that I alluded to in another post is that as I get older the lie of needing to be viewed as successful in the eyes of the world becomes so much more attractive than it ever has been.

The thing is, I still seek desperately to lead high schools to the foot of the cross and I feel called to continue to do that. We all know I love track as well, and so I would love to continue coaching and having an impact on youth not just on my team, but others as well. Total side bar, but I was fortunate this year to be able to form relationships with athletes on other teams as well. No super intense conversations, but lots of bridge building and it was absolutely incredible. So back to loving track...real jobs don't always allow for you to get off of work at 3 everyday to go hang out with high schoolers (and win championships haha).

So I find myself in this place of balancing needing to make money and yet figuring out how to fulfill God's call in my life. I continue to want to do to vocational ministry but with the current economic situation there is more or less a hiring freeze within Young Life, and I'm sure other ministries are operating under much the same financial duress.

Lately I've been debating getting a much better paying job, which I actually indicated to my boss at Max & Erma's that I was interested in. So I may end up training to be an Assistant Manager sometime soon, which financially would help relieve many burdens. Other than that, I am still praying through 3 potential moves...

1.) Anywhere in Virginia, but specifically Blacksburg. I could potentially be a unpaid YL intern there as well as just get a change of scenery from a lot of perspectives, which I still feel I may need...

2.) Orlando, FL - my friends Robbie, Jim, and Fred from summer staff all want me to move down there to help them establish YL from a college volunteer leader perspective. UCF is one of the 5 largest universities and there are many suburbs around Orlando however there are very few leaders that come from there. The setup could become quite similar to Ohio State and Columbus...

3.) Raleigh - my great friend Kevin wants me to move there and help out with the youth in his church, and really it's beautiful down there, and another change of scenery would be great...

So there ya go. We'll see what happens. I'm not having a ton of luck with finding a house that works for all the guys that want to live together so maybe that's some sort of sign? Who knows...I just pray for God's sovereignty in my life and that I am able to glorify Him over anything else in my life...

Any thoughts or impressions are more than welcome...