Daddy, I want to be a professional wrestler!

So, I've had deep thoughts for a while now.

I have friends, friends that talk to me, that show they care, that influence me. I have friends who help me when i need it, who make me laugh, that make me cry, who are honest with me. I love my friends.

I have friends that let certain things and/or people get in their way of a close relationship with God. Whether it be a dead musician, vanity issues, the words they say, or the way that they treat someone when they aren't at a listening distance. I love my friends.

I know people that I thought were friends that I'm not so sure about now. Some, actually all, stopped talking to me. How do I respond to that? I mean I want to be friends with these people. Sure, at times some talk to me, want to hang out and be in fellowship. But, its all so common that they go forever without talking.

No, while all of the above is something I am thinking about, it's not what is heavy on my mind. I've been in a dry place with God and I didn't wuite know what to do about it. But, I know now that I need to wrestle with Him. The truth is that I'm going to come across things that I don't understand or maybe even like about God and instead of just throwing them in the "I don't like that part" pile, I have to fight about it, scrap with God, and hammer it out.

Just like Jacob did in Genesis, we have to wrestle with God not giving up. We have to wrestle as long as we can and this is how we aill be transformed in God. So now, I go to wrestle...

In Light of an Amazing Day!

Do you ever wake up in the morning, or go to sleep the night before, and just know that the day your are about to have will be fantastic? I had one of those days today. I could feel God in everything today! It was like everything that I got to experience was God filled and I was constantly reminded of God beauty, creativity, mercy, power, will, etc. It goes all the way back to last night actually. Berger invited me to dinner at his house and to stay the night. Dinner was crazy good and was followed by fresh apple pie and vanilla ice cream! Then we went a got a movie from Mcdonald's (funny how I won't eat there anymore but I will rent movies!) We watched "Into The Wild" while drinking some coffee from Brazil that I didn't really like all to much. The movie was so good! It's definitely a movie you should pick up and get into. That night I read a good bit of The Barbarian Way before hitting the sack.

8:00a.m. rolls around and I get up, hop in the shower and Berger and I are off to meet my new friend Emily (who is so awesomely awesome) for breakfast at MTSU's campus. We eat what turns out to be a good breakfast, and then walk her to her class and then Berger and I visit some buildings and go get his boards to skate around campus. We do some skating and stuff in the BEAUTIFUL weather and just enjoy God's creation! Then we meet up with Emily and sit around and talk outside for a bit about whatever is on our minds. Shortly after, we decide to split to Emily's apt. to drop her stuff off and to pick up Thaddeus, the majestic bald eagle kite. After stopping by my house we hit up the Disc Golf course with Nate and play a round of 18 holes. It was so much fun playing with everyone, hanging out, and being in the sunshine!

After that, we head to Sonic and Emily gets us free sonic food (told you she is amazing)!! Grilled Chicken sandwich with honey mustard, tots, and a "Route 66" strawberry slush. So tasty! We grub and decide to go to the park and fly Thaddeus and ride long boards some more. It doesn't long for me to finally bust it while on the long board. I skinned my knee so good... ouch! We head back to my house and on the way I realize that I don't have my phone. But I need to clean my knee up so I do that and tell Yvonne that I'm going to miss seeing "Horton Hears a Who" but will meet up after. So, I clean my wound, and someone calls Yvonne to tell her that they found my phone. That, was God working. I really didn't need to lose my phone. So I go get my phone from the disc golf course, come back to the house and chill, and then go hang out with everyone and play Apples-to-Apples and Hoopla! I just loved having fellowship today with everyone!

God revealed Himself to me all day and I loved it! When is a time that God revealed Himself to you?

The Barbarian Way

This week our college-age group at church was on mission in New Orleans and they made a safe return today before the snow moved in. I can't wait to hear the stories about their experiences and stuff. Above is something I randomly sketched in my moleskine on Thursday or so.

Also, the last few days have been so good! I've really enjoyed spending time with great friends, watching good movies, sharing meals with loving people around the dinner table, and unexpectedly holding hands with special people. In the last three days, I watched Across the Universe, Once (for like the 4th time), Definitely Maybe, and Love Actually. I thought Across the Universe was incredible! The same goes for Definitely Maybe! Love Actually, honestly I was kinda confused for a lot of the film, however, it all came together in the end and made it quite good. So thats two British films and and Irish film, and then an American one. I find myself saying a few words with either a British or Irish accent. But more important than the movies themselves, are the really special memories I will have of seeing them with really special people next to me.


But now, to the book I've been reading, aptly named The Barbarian Way. It was so weird last night. As I was telling my best Texas friend (and one of my truly best friends) Leslie, I felt as though the author was getting his points across to me very well. It could have been me very easily, but regardless, I wasn't getting deep. Anyway, Les had to go for a bit so I picked the book up and went to where I left off and everything I read from there was like a heavenly kick to the face. He spoke about the likeness and differences between the Ancients named in Hebrews 11 and the nameless later mentioned. How those Ancients were barbarians that lived by faith and have been remembered for a lot of the amazing things that happened to them during their lives, likewise those not named are also barbarians but in many cases had things happen to them such as having their back cut open by whips and yet they didn't turn away from God. And so I went straight to my bible and read Hebrews 11 just before Les called back. We talked about that for a bit before we both went to bed.