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| so much to say so little time to say it.
but I had better start.
I am leaving my church Aug 27.
Stinks for the kids, stinks for me, stinks all around.
But if God is in it, I shall bless His name.
I went to a wedding today. Dan and Lydia's. It was a good wedding. got to see people and other people and some more people. And I got to talk to Jeff Robinson (haha suck on a lime Chris Miller) Don't worry I gave him a smack-a to the face-a. The wedding was really cool, communion, prayer, feet warshin, and their first kiss. Yeah he dipped her and made her blush. On the way over Johnny's tire blew up. well really it just went flat, then we had to speed to get there and we were still late, but we made it for most of the wedding.
well i didn't have enough kids sign up for camp, so we cancelled. Weird, Chris had the same problem, must be a Cuthbutt thing. so we are going to White water raft at the end of the month. it shall be cool. and it will promote some more time with the old man Chris Miller.
well in irrevelevant news, I got a hair cut today. and saw pirates 2 last night. well i have to go, it is late.
much love from me to ya'll
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| Hmm... much to say but too tired to say it. You see it is nearly 4 am.. where did the time go. I need sleep! When I left camp (the one in P.C.) the students wanted to be able to get ahold of me on MySpace. well I thought ok. this will be like most other camp stuff you know "yeah I'll call... we'll be best friends forever." then 2 weeks roll by and you are embarassed that you haven't called yet, so you wait to get the nerve up and how to apologize on how to say sorry i didn't call sooner... then you remember that you gave your info to the other person and they didn't call either, so you say whatever, I am not calling until they call... meanwhile the person whom you swapped contact info with is going through the same thought process and neither of you call forever... then you end up at BCF and you are like "do I know you?" and after a few awkward stares you both say "nah" and you introduce yourselves and say something like "yeah I used to have a friend I met at camp with that name." Both of you completely oblivious to the fact that you have met in what now seems like a past life. Weird story... I have no idea where that came from (well Mindy might know)
Ok.. the real update. Life is good. It almost seems too good. You know like the calm before the storm. Well maybe not that calm. Camp is in like 4 weeks. We have done 0 fundraisers. And we are still looking for a female chaperone. But the only one I have asked will probably say yes. It is weird when you find out something personal about someone. Especially someone you love. When you find out, man they don't have it all together. In confidence I was given some information... don't ask I will not tell... but I must ask you people of Xanga world to pray for me... it is heavy stuff and affects almost everyone I can think of within 40 miles of the place I am sitting. I feel like I need to have answers... that I must spend every second fixing the problem (I think that is what girls don't like about men) The Bible says that we are to bear one anothers burden... well this is one I did not expect or even assume.
I got back from a mission trip in South Carolina on Friday.. it was a long trip.. well really only 10 days that seemed to fly by in hindsight. But each day was grueling work. 15 hours a day for the whole time. I am talking about waking at 4:30 and working at 5:30 then going to bed at 11 each night. I was tired. Yet at the same time completely refreshed, like I had new batteries. Obviously the Holy Spirit. But it was incredible to talk to people (grown men) who love the Lord. I mean men who want to sing out Hosanna Hallelujah Holy Holy Holy! It was inspiring and challenging. It made me wonder, where did my joy go. Now I am generally considered to be a happy kind of guy. But I am talking about that unmistakable smile that says I am loved by Jesus and I love being loved by Jesus. I mean how could you find joy lifting up walls that weigh 5000 lbs (or 2267 kg for Michelle :^) right after you just carried 50 14' 2x8 boards to build it? girls that is a lot, in case you are wondering. Anyway to make a long story short, I am not worthy to have been blessed like that. There were also 2 salvations while we were there. And I also heard that there were like 2 or 3 salvations at the Beach Camp. WOW!!!!!
Well more later I guess.. I can't get on in the public library... they consider Xanga, Facebook, and MySpace dating sites so they are no longer accessible. Well peace out everyone. | | |
| If you have been reading my Xanga then you know that this past week I was the camp pastor at a camp for Ladonia Baptist Church out of Phenix City, AL. WOW!!! it was awesome. God totally took over and we got to meet with Him and catch a glimpse of His face. I have so much to say that I am afraid noone will read my post because of the sheer length.
But... here it goes... It started on Monday afternoon around 2 pm in Panama City. As soon as I got there I noticed that these kids were different, you could see it on their faces. And if you don't want to take my word for it ask Mikey, Ben, Sara S., Mindy, or Julie, cause they were all there at some point and said the same thing. The first night I shared my testimony, I was kinda thinking I maybe shouldn't in the weeks leading up to the camp, but Beth told me one day that she thought it would be a good idea, so I took that as confirmation. It was crazy how the students just clung to that openess and talked to me. And I used my philosophy of availability for them, so I always made sure i could reach them where they were, which most of the time was swimming, so that was cool with me. I definitely left with a tan, ok it was more like burnt, but it is brown now. The theme was "The Amazing Race" so we talked about 1 finally getting on the track (I shared my tesimony and we talked about the invitation from God Matt. 11:28), 2 stretching for effective running (I talked about my trip to Malaysia), 3 The different races we are called to run (I had six; running to the battle line together (joshua's conquering of Ai), running to the battle alone (David and Goliath), running to God for answers (Rich Young Ruler), Running to Opportunities for service (Phillip and the Ethiopian), Running away from the enemy and to God (Joseph and Potiphar's wife), and finally maybe the best thing is to let God Run to you (Prodigal Son) then the last night was the different runners we become while seeking God's face and enjoying His goodness (illustrated by the different levels of enjoying an Oreo cookie).
I can honestly say that I was challenged by these students. In a matter of one week I was able to share in their joys, temptations, laughter, tears, and pain, I had such a deep feeling of compassion as I listened to the things they had been through, and some said they told me because they thought I could relate because of similar situations I had been through.
Overall the whole idea of building a relationship with the people you minister to is vitally important... they said that the reason they like me so much is because I actually hung out with them instead of staying in a room. I also saw Dave Paxton and Tod, Deb, and Danielle (she is getting big) Tanner down there too.
Last night i went to see my sister and my neice and nephew, brother in law and mom at my sisters for dinner, (You know I think she cooks better since she got married) :) Today I had to say bye to Ray, my mentor and friend, I am gonna miss the way he said "richaaad" I will see him sometime though. Well I have to go to Cuthbert, and it is getting late here, so peace out peeps, and thanks to all who prayed for me...
Tetama Berdoa (devote yourself to prayer)
ps. I have a MySpace account now (by request of the youth @LBC) just search my name
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| Dear people of Xanga world peeps,
I am leaving in the morning to preach a camp for a week. I am pumped up and excited and all that jazz. Boom Baby!!
As I embark on this first, I am reminded of God's grace and how he has brought me from a scared little boy at camp to the "boy" that gets to be the speaker. Wow!!!!! God is amazing. (amazing just doesn't seem to be that good of a word when talking about Grace.
As you pray for me pray John 3:30 that I may decrease and HE will increase and receive the glory and honor due to him.
The theme is The Race of Your Life... 1Get on the track, 2stretch out, 3run hard, 4 finish bold. just in case you were wondering.
Well more when I return... love you guys! (and girls)
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| there are times in our lives that we never seem prepared for... actually that is most moments. I was thinking about that the other day when I was talking to someone at church about the involvement of the youth of Faith Baptist and my opinion was that they need to be involved in all aspects of ministry at the church, the counter to that was well i always just thought they just need to be under the Word... which isn't bad, but that isn't all they need. I mean was there a day when you were just like ,"ok, i am ready to teach and lead in the church." if you are like me than the answer is probably no... but that is the beauty of what God does, He takes those that aren't ready or would be considered unwise and makes foolish the wise things of this world... He is in the business of using those who would otherwise be considered unusable. Praise His name that He didn't wait until I was ready to use me... I am still inadequate. Anyway... just need to talk out loud for a minute..
Pray for me May 29- June 2, I am doing some camp pastor work in P.C. and it will be new for me, also my aunt passed away on Tues. night and the viewing and funeral are tonight and tomorrow respectively.
P.S. Michelle... I will try to keep you up to date as much as possible since you like Xanga for the day to day stuff.... see you in July :^)
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