I'm not dead...

I survived Eastern KY, and am back in one piece.  Little did the kids I coached know that I have basically never played soccer, in my entire life.  Muhahaha!

No big post here, now, but I did want to share this gem with you... the drivers, pit crew, designers, etc. of the Blurr, in all its post-race glory:

Amazon

Mmm...  they sap me dry:
Books
1 of Desiring God
1 of FAMILY- BASED YOUTH MINISTRY
1 of Boy Meets Girl : Say Hello to Courtship
1 of The Unchurched Next Door: Understanding Faith Stages As Keys to Sharing Your Faith
1 of The Complete C.S. Lewis Signature Classics
1 of Twelve Ordinary Men
Music
1 of Learning to Breathe
1 of New Way to Be Human

Trials

When a baby giraffe is born, one of the first things the mother does is swing a long leg outward and kick the baby so it is sent sprawling, head over heels.
If it doesn't stand up, the violent process is repeated until, finally, the calf stands for the first time on wobbly legs.

Then the mother giraffe does a most remarkable thing: She kicks the baby off its feet again. Why? She wants it to remember how it got up. In the wild, baby giraffes must be able to get up quickly to stay with the herd, where there is safety. Without this kind of early training, the young giraffe could easily become a meal for lions, hyenas or wild dogs.

-Gary Richmond, A View from the Zoo

I'm not dead

Very alive actually. So much has happened since my last post, and it's been a very exciting time.

God is hearing and answering prayers, and that shouldn't surprise me... but it has been a very encouraging and awesome time! One of the girls in my group that I have prayed for probably more than any either committed her life to Christ this past Friday.

And it goes beyond this one girl, so many, if not all of the young people on the trip were touched. We went to Centrifuge at Ridgecrest, NC, and it was a very powerful experience. One night (Tuesday I think) we had a guided prayer service which was probably among the most powerful spiritual experience for basically all who attended from our church. There were few dry eyes, and I so wanted to just step back and watch our youth as they prayed for each other, stood and prayed to God, lay prostrate on the ground, or simply cried on each other. But I refrained, for fear that I would somehow break it all if I stopped doing what I was doing. Usually, at youth events, if some of the "motions" associated with worship, like I mentioned above, are present, I am very skeptical and worry that youth are doing things to be seen and are peer-pressured into doing certain things. I don't think that thought even crossed my mind in this service.

It was great to see God at work, and the next day, I was listening to another adult leader speaking about the previous night, reporting about some commitments made within their youth group... They said they had a great night the previous night, and unfortunately had to *miss* the prayer service! The great night she was reporting about happened in their church group devotion time, and they missed the prayer meeting that was so powerful. I truly believe God was at work there in the mountains at Ridgecrest.

Last week we studied the Sermon on the Mount, and talked about how God sees through our actions and looks at our heart. It's been a long time since I made a commitment to God about anything, but after I returned home I did make a specific commitment and am trying to live up to it.

To shift gears, the Fuge theme was "Driven" and there was a Fuge 500 race, where we were supposed to build vehicles in before camp, bring them to camp, and race them. Well, in typical -style, we didn't take one to camp, bought materials and put them together on Thursday, for the race on Friday. It was shaped like a schoolbus, with a cardboard frame, wooden dowel rods to give support, and for axles, and cardboard wheels. Throw in a couple rolls of duct tape, and some spray paint, and you have "The Blurr" (yes with two R's). It was hilarious to see it race against much more "professional" racers. We were disqualified because our axles broke and we couldn't keep three wheels on it until the end of the race. Although we did cross the line first, we were disqualified on this technicality.

But we won the SPIRITAward so it's all good. :) We had waaaaaaaaaaay more fun than the other groups, I think. =-) The Blurr will go down in history. I have it in video tape, and you can hear me laughing throughout the four laps/drivers, and all you can see is the camera bouncing around for all the excitement and laughter.

I may post a picture of the Blurr somewhere so you can all admire it.

Anyway, I guess that's all for now. I'm at church this week, and next week I go on a mission trip to Eastern KY.

My Stupid Mouth

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• I lust


• I leap to fix someone's problems rather than listening to them


• I am a glutton


• I show favoritism


• I am proud, and afraid, and with these I opt to try to be liked rather than to show the truth with love


• I am lazy


• I procrastinate and half-heartedly prepare things for God


• I rack my brain to see how I can condition others to think what I want them to think about me


• I consider how I might reorder this list to make it seem less damning

Random Stuff

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My great uncle is here at my house (I'm at my house too, that's news too),and he was commenting on new city officials in Nashville and the abundance of revenue they have generated from fines for traffic violations. He suggested that it made it a less desirable place to live.
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