Happy 7th Day of the 7th Month!

I would have said 'Happy Bungie Day' but no one would actually know what I was talking about...

So I'm back. And I'm going to try really hard to keep this going. I don't know why I suddenly decided to quit posting... I don't even think I consciously made a decision to stop. It just sort of happened.

Anyways quite a bit has happened that I haven't posted:
1) At Studio yesterday I played Ultimate Frisbee in my sandals and ripped half-dollar sized chunks of skin of the bottoms of both my feet. It's a little painful... But my team did win!

2) The message at Studio was VERY good on Sunday night. Phil, the Jr. High minister from the Quincy campus, spoke because Andy and his family were gone on vacation in Florida. Phil is pretty cool. I've played basketball with/against him after Fuel in Quincy a couple of times... I'm not very good, and I always tell the story of how Phil jumped 60 feet in the air to stuff a 3 pointer I shot... It was pretty amazing even though it was embarrassing for me! Ha. Anyways: Phil spoke on Worshiping Truly. He said how we were created with the sole purpose to worship God. And it doesn't matter how we do it. Just as long as our hearts are in the right place and we give everything to Him.

3) I went to Wes's house to see him and his family shoot off fireworks (on the 4th (Sorry to all you non-American readers...)) b/c all my other friends already had done other stuff and I was too late to go anywhere else. But Wes's house was still good! We definitely had fun shooting stuff off in a variety of ways!

4) THREE DAYS. I leave for Washington DC in THREE DAYS! I'm traveling to the nation's capital to visit a good friend of mine that took a summer job there which consists of molding young minds. Ha. You like how I worded that? Anyways Bryan is a pretty cool guy that has helped me out along my walk with Christ. Three of my other friends and I are driving there on Thursday and then I'm flying back by myself on Sunday. I'm flying into St. Louis, MO where my older sister lives. So I'm spending the night at her apartment and then I'm getting picked up there by a youth group to go to CIY (Christ in Youth). So that should be a blast. My roommate for next year is going with me on that and I really hope God opens his heart and speaks to him. He's a really good friend and just needs a little boost to get his walk with Jesus really jump-started. Prayers for safe travels and opened hearts would be much appreciated!

Jeremiah 17:7
7 "Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in Him."

Isn't that cool? Like I mentioned before, God created us to worship Him. He wants us to YEARN for Him. During small group time after the message at Studio my buddy Art said it like this, "God is jealous. Like the moment we wake in the morning, He just is almost impatiently waiting for us to call out to Him and tell Him how much we need Him and how much we love Him." He wants us to give EVERYTHING up to Him. He wants us to faithfully follow Him.
So why don't we?
I'll admit I'm not there yet. I have felt SO close to God, yet then I trip up and start feeling sorry for myself and screw up even more. Satan just works like that. But those who have accepted Jesus into their hearts have something satan can never defeat. We have the Holy Spirit moving within us. We just have to listen to that small voice. We we're about to screw up the voice is screaming for us to stop; telling us that God wouldn't like that.
Jesus never said it would be easy to follow Him. We just have to actively keep at it. No matter what happens. Ya, you may mess up, but Jesus died and rose again to save you from that. He overlooks it so we should overlook our downfalls too. Live and learn. Learn from your mistakes. You will, but you shouldn't, feel shameful for your past. Just learn to live with your mistakes and move on!
I kind of got on a side rant... That tends to happen.
Don't worry. More to come. And I'm planning on packing my laptop so I can continue to blog in DC and hopefully CIY too... I'll have to think about that.

God Bless