Breath

As I sit here for the first time with no school to go to since August of 1995 and currently my job is what I like to refer to as a full-time sub, I'm at a whole new place in my life I've never been before.  I've always had school and a quasi-contractual job which gave me structure (sort of) and steady pay, but now I'm with out that.  So I sat down to plan out this semester my biggest goal was to draw myself closer to God and to do this by going through Genesis, Isaiah, Luke, and Romans.  Today I opened up Genesis and to my surprise in the midst of the creation story was something that I needed to hear, that I think after coming off a break we all need to hear.  In Genesis 2, God has just created THE WORLD and he needed someone to come and work the ground, so he created man.

THEN the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground

and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, 

and the man became a living being.¹

This is what kicked me this morning, that God breathed into our nostrils the breath of life, but how many times do we turn to other things to give us breath? Some of us just came off break, some not, some are back into the throws of school, some the throws of work, but regardless I'm willing to bet sometime in the past few weeks we went to some where else for a breather instead of The Lord.  I lean towards friends, attention, sports, books, and movies to recharge me when I should be looking towards God. None of these things will ever recharge us like God will, nor do they give us that first breath as God did, so why reward them? The LORD sustains us, and is greater than all these things, but for some reason we run towards these worldly pleasures to give us breath. I look towards these things, just as Eve looked towards the apple because they are pleasing to us.  Yet when Adam and Eve ate the apple, they hid from God in the garden and I don't want that.  We should not cower in fear, but yearn for God.   I want to be able to recharge and sit in the glory of his presence, not a movie theatre.  My goal and my prayer is that we turn to God when we need a breath of life, not some other vice when life begins to get tough in this next season of life.  That we run to him and nothing else, for he is the way, the truth, and the life. 

 Hope I didn't Jesus-Juke too many of you.²

1 I despise font changes in blogs, but felt this was a needed evil^↩

2 http://stuffchristianslike.net/2010/11/16/the-jesus-juke/^↩

The European Recap

I've written, and re-written, and re-written this post a solid 5 times trying to deciede what stories to include and what stories to leave amongst our friends. Do I Jesus Juke you all or do I keep it plain and simple? Regardless of how this final post works I hope you all gain insight into the greatest adventure I've ever been on.

I loved every minute of this trip, perhaps that's why its so hard to write about specifics this trip. We did things that you see in movies, we walked the streets Lizzie McGuire did, we traveled the steps of the allied forces, we walked where Paul walked...We spent time in mountains that would blow your mind with rivers so clear you could count the stones underneath it's current. We saw the land of Harry Potter, the Old Lady of Paris, and of course the Mona Lisa. We traveled around with nothing but the bags on our backs and each other, it was our great adventure.

While in Europe, I personally learned more about myself that I care to admit. I am by no means a humble person, yet while in Europe some of my downfalls came to my immediate attention. I was confronted by both my fear of heights and my lack of trust to name a few. I found out that I could make it down a 160ft repel and through a freezing canyon river bed (just ask me about it). That in order to make it through life and plane delay after plane delay (once again just askt) that I needed to trust. Not just trust in my fellow man, but trust in the Lord and that with him I would be ok. I must remember Psalm 28:7, "The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and he helps me. My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise him." I tend to forget these words every time when it seems the Lord is asking me to trust in him.  Not only should I trust in him, but my heart should be joyful and I sing his praise! These words are hard to swallow, but I hope to live them out as my life continues. 

Before this trip I had respect for these guys and considered them friends, but after this trip our bond goes deeper than just friends. In the words of the great Daniel Windsor, we were "bros". We traveled through countryside that had been sculpted by the hands God, seen cities built by the backs of men, and art created by men with more talent in the their pinky than my whole body. We roamed together, we drank together, they ate off my plate together, we laughed together, we had fun together, and we became a band of brothers together. I thank God for Brooks, Dan, Derek, Nolan, Wes, and for this trip. And I hope that each and everyone of you get to experience your own great adventure.

The Best Season?

Well I'm giving this blog thing another chance, what do i have to lose? (besides the respect of the four of you that will read this) I've always loved to write, but until now my writing as always been molded into some other form than what I wanted it to be.  Now it's mine turn to make it mine.

 Last rant of the day I promise.

"Summer was our best season, it was sleeping on the back screened porch in cots, or trying to sleep in the teeehouse; summer was everything good to eat; it was a thousand colors in a parched landscape" - Scout Finch, To Kill A Mockingbird

        The quote above (from my favorite book) embodies summer for me and always have, to me it is the purest definition of the season.  Summer is one of my top two favorite seasons, it is a time for vacation for some, and work for others but it is always a time for fun. To me, summer always consists of two things: novels and travels.  Let's tackle the latter first, we will talk more on the first later.  Since I was a child my family always traveled to Colorado, which to my wild boy soul was the land of adventure.  We would caravan up with my Dad's side of the family from the plains of Texas through the desert of New Mexico till finally we saw the mountains and aspens of Colorado.  We would stay at a small campground named "Antlers" inside the lanier fences that surrounded the grounds were what looked like cabins to everyone else, but to my brother and I they were castles.  We would play for hours through out the grounds as Cowboys and Indians, to Lion King (don't ask), to Astronauts, and everything in-between. As we grew our adventures changed from make-believe games with swords and guns made from branches to fishing expeditions with our Dad and Pa.  Fishing trips with Dad and Pa turned one summer from punishment to privilege for some unknown reason.  We now could not wait to break out our fishing poles, lures, matching hats, and make the long trip down the Colorado River to find our monsters that lived below the surface.  As we grew older we moved on from Antlers and it's lanier fences to Western Colorado and our Aunt and Uncles house, but the adventures never ceased.  From fishing trips to backpacking, to just exploring the mountainside adventure was always a part of our summer.  I hope you saw through all those run-on sentences the importance of adventure to me in summer, they go hand in hand like Penut Butter and Jelly, Timon and Pumba, Aggies and Jokes, etc.  This summer I embark on my greatest adventure yet, Europe with some of my "bros".
        The 6 of us, recently graduated from Baylor will leave our beloved homeland for 2-3 weeks and live every graduates' dream: To see Europe on mom and dad's dime.  We know where we will go, Rome, Interlaken, Barcelona, Paris, and all those stops in-between.  We have made reservations for canyoning, train trips, and tours, but we do not know what's going to happen in-between.  It's just like those trips to Antlers, we always knew we would see those fences, but never knew what was in store for us inside of them.  I hope that this time in Europe will be our greatest adventure yet, full of stories we will tell at Homecomings for the next fifty-years, that we share at weddings, stories that we tell our children and their children, and that we share at each others funerals.  I cannot wait for this adventure to begin with Brooks, Dan, Derek, Nolan and Wes.  Some stories I'm sure you will read here, but some will stay within the fences our friendship for life.  Pray for us, check out this blog, send us money, and start taking bets on which one of us gets taken.

A Calling?

After a month being back at Baylor i constantly ask myself "how did i ever think i could leave here"? It's beautiful, it's texas, all my friends are here, my family is here. I love it and it's my home. I loved what i did this summer out there and hope to find that out here. Do you realize how beautiful it is when you see the Lord move in students? When you see those kids who have never seen God move in their life, just the devil tear it down all the time finally have God move in and sweep into their heart! It's beautiful and i want to be apart of it for the rest of my life. Like it says in Romans 8:28 "and we know that God causes everything to work together, for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them." I feel called into the ministry, but not sure if it's my life calling. I've always seen it as something that i will do, but not forever. Who knows what the future holds right? I've got 3 more years to figure it out.