The Semester

This semester or this past month or so has been such a blessing it has been incredible. I've definitely had the high's and low's just like anything but honestly this semester has been amazing. I don't really know where to begin other than a small update. This semester started out with me moving into an apartment with three of my best friends. A couple days later a girl walked into my life, after an amazing first re-introduction that involved me not remembering her at all from last year (yes even after a four hour car ride together), we started dating and Christ has blessed us so much it is incredible. I have also gone through one of the hardest semesters academically I've ever had while playing hockey and some other cool things have been accomplished but enough about me.

Recently, I've been thinking a lot about love and how many times love has either "failed" for people or what they thought was love was nothing close. I can't tell you how many conversations I've had lately where people just aren't feeling loved, aren't feeling worth it, aren't feeling valued. It has been incredibly hard to listen to over and over again. It makes me wonder what is wrong? What is causing all of this? I feel incredibly blessed to have people open up and tell me that but at the same time it makes you question why is it like that? My roommate and I have also had a lot of conversation about how people don't comment each other enough. We are so much quicker to call out someone on what their NOT doing then what they ARE doing. I understand there's a time and place for constructive criticism but I still feel like complements are a rare commodity.

I guess I just want everyone to hear that they are loved, they are worth it, they are valued, and I believe this is through Christ. Dwell in that! I don't know what that means for you but for me it means letting his word soak in. I have so much more that I want to say around this topic but honestly, this is one of the topics that I can't think of anything better to say than just that, you are loved. It's been on my heart lately and I don't know what else to say about it. I'll be praying!

Overheards Part I

So the first few days of the IPod fast while walking to class was pretty quiet. I hardly heard any communication while on the bus or walking around campus so I wasn't too confident in keeping up with not listening to my music while walking but I persisted and today could be the first seed for a huge impact. I've been praying about wanting to do something big, anything at all and today an idea came up. I was walking back from Stats class with my friend Meredith and she asked about my student group Pancakes for Poverty. I proceeded to tell her more about it and that we are struggling considering we've only held one event. She began to talk about her student group and how they were looking to do a big service/charity event and that they had considered an eating contest. BINGO! The ideas were instantly flowing. I had a conversation with a friend of mine over a month ago about having a huge pancake eating contest with prizes for the winners and people sponsoring the eaters for how much they could eat and so I presented this idea to Meredith and she loved it. She is presenting it to her group tonight at their board meeting and we will see if we can figure something out from there! Just as I was thinking nothing was going to come of me not listening to my IPod in hopes of hearing people and most of all spending time with the Lord while walking, this opportunity presents itself. Pray for this event and keep your eyes open for opportunities the Lord will bless you with everyday!

Overheards

Person 1: "What happened to everyone?"
Person 2: "What do you mean?"
1: "Everyone is always hiding behind their laptops or in their headphones!"
2: "What do you mean?"
1: "I mean no body talks to anybody anymore, it looks like the loneliest place ever out here."


It was quite a coincidence that I overheard this conversation as I had some headphones in and was walking right along in the crowd of others who were either hiding in their headphones or behind their laptops, socializing through social media rather than with peers right next to them. Now I love walking to class before a test and putting on some pump up music to get the heart pumping a little bit before a test but I have also noticed that I am not in a position to help serve others or possibly communicate with someone verbally that is.

I've decided recently I need to start being proactive, so after having this experience, I'm going to challenge myself. During the next four weeks, the Ipod is staying at home as I am walking around campus. I think it could be extremely interesting what I may come across or overhear if I'm simply "being" in the place that I'm at, rather than zoning from some music. I'll do my best to post the results daily. 

Coincidence... I don't think so

So these past few weeks have been incredible. The amount of blessings that I have received have been incredible. I feel so blessed and at the same time, cannot help but think of those who at the same exact time as myself have been going through troubles or haven't felt as blessed. I urge everyone to read this to pray for those people.

So the story starts out about two weeks ago while I was caddying. I had just gotten back from the best month of my life as I have told you about before and I had no idea how going back to work was going to be. I was blown away. I met this guy, Mark, the first day back and we hit it off immediately. He was very familiar with Young Life and I was able to tell him about my month and everything it was incredible. I was able to talk with him about having a faith in the business world and more so just about life for the entire round of golf. The next two days of work also involve people who truly inspired me. One of which worked in micro-finance and I was truly blown away by the work he was able to do for people, A LA a possible career?

Now possibly the best thing that happened this summer:
I was heading over to my friend Dan's house on one of the last nights of summer. We are always known to talk about adventurous things and ponder what it would be like to actually do it, although a little ambitious, we never really follow through so we decide we needed some inspiration. Who else better to find the inspiration from then Bob Goff himself. Dan and myself have read a plethora of articles and books about Bob, also following his twitter and blog which is absolutely incredible. He is the American consulate to Uganda, founder of Goff&Dewalt law firm, and founder of Restore International, which is a justice fighting Non-profit law firm that tries cases of human trafficking and other injustices in Uganda and India. He also has appeared on 60 minutes to talk about his work.  So I decided to e-mail him. I just sent a little thing asking for some advice or some sort of challenge or inspiration to go out and do something and what I got was overwhelming. He set up a phone interview with me two days later to just talk about life.

I had no idea what was going on, I was actually talking with the American consulate for Uganda? He was incredibly inspiring and I took to heart every word he spoke to me. In short, "Go be awesome," was the theme from him, he told me to "Go be awesome," over and over again and his challenge to me was to go overseas twice this year, and the following two years to get some ideas for non-profits and to love and serve on people. Literally just to go, not with some specific organization, but simply just to go. Quite the challenge, so now I have truly looked for whimsical opportunities to serve and love on people and what do you know, an opportunity came up within two days of being at school.

A group of three film makers called me and wanted to use the student group some friends and I created last year to make pancakes and raise money for poverty. The call themselves, The Maine Boys, and turned a school bus into an RV/mobile apartment so they could travel the country on what they call, "An Adventure for Good." They travel the country setting up fundraisers and serving and loving on people and document everything, it is truly incredible. So yesterday, my friends and I used our student group, "Pancakes for Poverty," to basically drive around campus selling pancakes to people to raise money for poverty! The day totaled $95 to the fight against poverty. Truly a blessing.

Call these stories all coincidence, but I know in my heart that these are blessings poured out from the Lord and my prayer is that he continues use me as well as everyone else to work for his mission! Look for those opportunities to love and serve people, there's nothing else we should be doing!

A Month in Heaven...possibly

It's been another very long time since I have been here but I have been gone for the past month serving at a Young Life camp and then on a family Vacation to New England. After receiving a letter while at camp encouraging me to make a blog post of this amazing experience I had, I have finally sat down to try and put together some sense in words of what I experienced during my time at Castaway. It started off with a road trip with one of my best friends for eleven hours to camp. Once at camp, there was an instant connection with everyone there for our session. I was assigned to serve on the Waterfront, and all of the Waterfront had to arrive at camp a few days early to go through some training. As I said, the connection was instant. There was no time to waste, we instantly divided into sharing life stories with one another, and we were able to see how God had worked through our lives to put us there and something just felt different, I simply cannot put into words. The only conclusion I have of this "feeling" is that the Holy Spirit had truly come down and had chosen to move in all of our hearts. We went through the first two and a half days of training before the rest of the Summer Staff arrived, and as they arrived we were anxious about the Community changing because in two days we had already seen how amazing things had become. Well after putting our anxiety down through prayer, the new community arrived creating a bigger and better community then we could have ever imagined. This all may seem like a blur but my mind is so ecstatic from even thinking about it, it seems to all be flooding out. The next three weeks consisted of this: Prayer, and lots of it, Service to Campers, Service to each other, watching campers lives change throughout the weeks, watching each others lives change, watching hearts change, a million laughs, a million smiles, tears shed. All of this is only a fraction of what I saw, I simply cannot describe the rest in words.

Coming away from camp, yeah I could say I've become more disciplined or heard some cool sermons and met some great people. BUT, the ONE thing that comes to my mind the most was I was able to see the Lord move and work in peoples hearts. That is truly indescribable. My hope and prayer is that whoever may read this, that they may see that, or continue to see it, or pray that their eyes may be opened to seeing this.

I'm sorry I cannot put to words everything that I experienced this month, but if there is one place in scripture that I think of when I remember my month, it is this, Acts 2:42-47.

It's been awhile

Wow! A whole month since I was on here last. I guess a quick update, I finished out my first year of college. I successfully moved out of the dorm, drove myself home, moved back into my house and now am enjoying one of the best jobs I have ever had, that is caddying at a local private club. The job is incredible. Again, it is another blessing I've been fortunate enough to have. I am able to be around extremely successful people and begin to network and share life with them, and I get paid for it. I leave for a Young Life camp in two weeks and I am so excited to get into some truly deep community and serve the Lord through service of the campers. Life has been full of seeing old friends and keeping in touch with new friends from college this summer. I'm reading this book, Love wins, by Rob Bell at the moment and he is covering the fate of every person in the world. Interesting stuff. I can give some more thoughts on it after I finish. If there is one thing that I've been able to see through this book is that God is hopeful for us, he is there for us, forever. Why can't we all be hopeful too? We need to hold that hope that everyone can change and come back into the life God has called them into. I was stumbling, yes using stumble upon, the website, and I came across this article, http://current.com/1nhfo4c, it's about a man who lives across from a notorious cliff for suicide in Australia. I think this shows quite a bit of hope, as well as faith. This man believes he can help these people back away from that cliff, but more so, back away from whatever it is in their life that has brought them there. That is faith, that is hope. Where can we shed that light in our own lives? How does that even look? I don't know exactly what it may look like but I know that it has to come gently. Where can you shed some light and hope in people's lives around you? As Ferris Bueller says, "Life moves pretty fast, if you don't stop to look around once in awhile, you'll miss it." Don't miss that chance to shed some light and hope.

In Sociology Class...

I am in currently in a calm before the storm of finals in about a week and a half which is such a blessing at this time of the year. Although I do register for classes in an hour and I'm constantly checking to see which classes I need to take are still available and everything I am finding some peace in just covering the daily homework then being able to relax. Incredible in two weeks the first year of my college journey is over. Although this time has been nice to relax, I love to think about the future. What will things look like for the student groups I'm in, how I can get an edge on the stock market to become the next Warren Buffett, how much poker I need to play to become the next Chris Moneymaker and so forth. The first step after all those thoughts was downloading the yahoo finance app on my Ipod in the middle of Economics class cause I couldn't handle anymore theories on Trade Barriers, we'll see how far that gets me. As my mind continued to wander into this morning, I found myself walking into Sociology Class, the topic: Global Inequalities. Today was different, (would I blog about it if it wasn't?) we analyzed some clips from the Film, Life + Debt, and I was overwhelmed. The documentary on Jamaica and the financial, economic, and political struggles of Jamaica are that of which I cannot describe. As any good documentary, it left me with a thought of, where is the hope? What can I do to help these people? The problem presented was so big and small at the same time. People couldn't get a decent paying job because businesses were out for the largest profit possible and would exploit anyone they could to achieve these profits. Now this was nothing I haven't heard before, but something becomes different when a camera can capture the story and display people who are actively living through it. The documentary depicted how we as U.S. citizens can freely go about almost anywhere in the world we'd like as tourists, but for natives of other countries to come here is incredibly difficult. Now we've all seen some of these documentaries or pictures or heard the stories and it leaves us feeling guilty, but the feeling eventually passes by. As we applied theories to why Jamaica was like that, I was struck by how, even though we could apply theories to why it was the way it was, there was no solution! No solution for someone who has to work 16 hours a day, 5 days a week, for $15 a week! Would we really want that for someone, who has a family, who has the same exact needs as us? As I've watched multiple documentaries like this and heard stories like this, there is nothing in me that doubts I am called to help somehow and I'm sure nearly everyone else has felt the same thing. I know I can't keep letting this feeling pass by, and neither can you. Pray for your heart to become active and the strength to act on the numerous callings that come in life. I honestly don't know where to begin, but the more and more I think about this, is there a wrong place to start? Here's my point, we live in a broken world and it is ALL around us, whether it is overseas or in our household, are we going to let the calling to help, to love, to loosen the chains of injustice pass by this time, or will we take a step, just a step to see where that one step may lead us? As I said I don't know where to start or even what it may look like for me, but I feel I must take a step. That is where life will come alive.

Actions and passion...(in what?)

Sorry it's been awhile, this last week was a roller coaster of adventure. At times I wanted to quit school and head out to Africa, after a short talk with some friends I reluctantly decided to stay. In short, the week consisted of an Adviser meeting on Tuesday to figure out my "life". I should know by now that life doesn't go according to my plan, and this meeting was no exception! I was advised into a math class that did not qualify for the Economics major that I wanted, so I'm back on my original track of Communications, with Management and Spanish minors and miraculously I have some peace with it. The week continued to rain down with a Sociology Paper on my family, an Econ midterm, and a two day Spanish test. As I crawled out of Thursday and into Friday it was off to Chicago for my student staff Young Life conference. It was incredible. Just filled with so much worship and praise as well as leadership training and the chance to sleep at home for a couple of nights, I could not have asked for anything better. God placed many things on my heart this weekend, but I feel the most important was passion. In one of our sermons, a leader defined passion as having enough love that you would die for that person or thing. The question was asked, What is my life portraying? Are my actions portraying what I am most passionate about? Do I even know what I'm most passionate about? All of these questions came flooding into my mind, What/who do I love enough to die for? As we continued to look at the example Christ had laid down, I was struck by the pure mercy of it all. I came to the realization, I'm not laying my life down for the things I'm most passionate for. I'm not laying my life down for the people I love. Now don't get me wrong here, I try to love the people the best I can, and honestly I struggle with what that looks like in some situations. But are my actions truly showing my passion. I feel I need to ask myself this question in everything I do, how can I be passionate about what I'm doing? Are my actions being passionate for people, and loving on everyone involved? Imagine a world where everyone was acting on what they were passionate about. I feel many people, including myself, hide away from what they're passionate about for some reason. I find in myself it is mainly fear of judgement, what are others going to think about whatever it is I'm doing. The truth is that doesn't matter. What matters is acting out your passions that Christ has given you. Where are your passions? How can you act on them? Take the first step, let Christ illuminate the path for you, one step at at time. Time to think about where I'm starting. Goodnight!

Typical Spring Fever

Wow! I feel I'm on the slippery slope of procrastination once again. Instead of studying for a small quiz on Friday, I have decided to turn to the blog. Today was the biggest day of "Spring Fever" the campus has seen so far but it was beautiful. I got done with three classes in the morning and found out the fourth one of the afternoon was cancelled, unreal. A class cancelled in what seemed to be 80 degree weather. The boys and I decided to head out to the quad in between our dorms and what we found there was incredible. Campus was alive! We all paused a little bit and just took in the scene of everyone out doing homework, playing sports, or going for walks, together. My friend Zach turned to me and goes, "How awesome is this? Just everyone out together enjoying life." It was truly beautiful. It did not matter how bad you were at basketball, volleyball, or throwing the football, you were in the game. Everyone was out having a good time. I ended up spending the day from about noon to six out in the quad, without a care in the world. I couldn't help but think, now reflecting back, how much I feel that sense to be in community. It is so strong and especially in moments like out in the quad today. Why can't we be that inclusive in everything we do? What would it look like to consistently live in inclusive community? To not have a care how bad someone is at something, but knowing the only important thing is that they're out there, living right along with you? I know this is something that I definitely need to work on. Sometimes I feel like I don't want to include people or that I did not put any effort to really extend out to other people, whether that be in simply going out to eat or joining a certain team or group. I think we should all try and be a little more inclusive, cause who cares how good or bad someone is at something, what matters is that they're living right along with you, and you with them. Some more beauty awaits us, cause we are definitely made for inclusive community.

Will you admire or follow?

To start things off, the song Free by Zac Brown Band has been stuck in my head since Friday when my friend Van and I were listening to it on the way to Young Life Capernaum Club. It's a tremendous song, very relaxing and I feel speaks extremely true to my heart. Tonight at church I heard a beautiful story for the first time and it is changing my life. Charles Blondin was a French tight rope walker and acrobat. In the late 1800's he headed to New York to attempt a tight rope walk across Niagara Falls. The walk was successful and a few months later he attempted it again. Now there was a huge crowd of what was estimated to be 100,000 people there that day to watch him. As he was about to get on the rope, he turned to the crowd and asked if anyone would get on his back and he would walk across with them on his back. The crowd was silenced. One man stepped out and said, "I will." They crossed successfully and the crowd roared like no one had ever heard before. This story struck me hard. Am I solely admiring Jesus or actually following him? Am I stepping out of the crowd, trusting he will guide me safely? I feel in my life right now, I could say this isn't true. I love to control things. But in reality....what control do I have? This is such a freeing lesson for me, and this is truly something that is being worked on in my heart. Just this past week I spent a little more time in silence than usual because of a devotional, and this was ringing clear, DO NOT WORRY. This is the most freeing reminder I've had in the longest time. But are we really all in, all in for what we believe in, are we all in with our trust? What does that even look like at times? I think we know what this looks like, and we can feel when we are trusting in the Lord, because we are alive like no other. There is this uncontrollable joy and peace that is indescribable. Whatever it may be for you, whether it's a sport, or your grades, or your friends or family. Go all in for them. Be willing to step out of the crowd in faith, knowing that you will be guided. As my friend Van tells me, "Leave no stone unturned." Don't just sit there and admire what is going on, follow the one who is love. Go all in, in all you do. Bring some joy into this world by stepping out and pouring out love. It's not easy, but you know when it's real. Don't just admire, but follow. We'll see how this will change our lives.

In the Beginning....

Life in Real Life. You may ask, what does that even mean? The truth is, I don't know. I feel that no matter what, in what situation I'm in, I just want to feel alive! I want to feel like I'm actually living, that what I'm doing actually means something. What I may mean by Life in Real Life is that I want to have life-giving experiences in my Real Life. I want to be actively out experiencing life, whether that may be in conversation with people or sky-diving over a beach in Mexico. I want to be making the most of all these opportunities that I am blessed with. But how do we know that we're making the most of our opportunities? What does it mean for you to make the most of your opportunities? Now before this gets too off focus, I want to bring this short first entry to this new adventure in my life to a close by putting some light as to why I decided to do this. I hope that I can talk of some adventures of life that I've been so blessed to have! I hope to talk about times where I have Life in my Real Life, times that I feel alive! I know these times I feel the most alive are when I'm making the most of every opportunity to spread joy and love to peoples lives and I feel Christ at the center of my life. Nothing compares, nothing is like it, nothing makes me feel more alive. I also hope to grow through this experience of having a blog, not just have this be another thing on my checklist of things to do. May we all experience some Life in our Real Lives! Go find some adventure.