A Due Thanks

My Church back home in Va Beach was able to help me pay for the missions trip to Newark this year. God is ALWAYS good. And even if I didn't get money for this trip he would still be good.

I'm excited to be stripped away this coming week. This trip is something i've done every year since being in college and I haven't regretted it since..well maybe once the last day last year when I was vomitting incessantly, but that probably won't happen again right? Anyways this trip is so humbling. Every time it strips me down and reminds me that I AM SO blessed and fortunate and that others aren't. We did this song last night at IV and it's a good expression of what we all need to ask of God for our lives.

Strip away all that remains
For Your glory and Your Name
'til there's nothing left of me
Burn the kingdoms I have made
That You would shine and I would fade
'til there's nothing left of me
'til there's nothing left of me

Video of a recap of our time in Newark last year: http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=358674812191

Up in the air

Dear God,

Please provide a way for me to go to Newark this spring break. I need money. You know this. Please.

Amen

Ramblings

I love how my thoughts seem to seep out more prominently late at night. This post doesn't have much direction, just spilling things out. Read if you so desire :)

This past weekend I went on Intervarsity's Chapter Retreat and had an a amazing time! I expected nothing less :) One negative thing though: got a massive rug burn on my right knee that has developed into several chunks of scabs that make it difficult to walk without having me wince in slight pain. Gross I know. What's even more hysterical is watching me trying to ride a bike, pushing the left pedal over and over because I can't bend my right knee enough to pedal that side. It's terrible..I feel like I broke a bone or something, nope only a scabby scab in just the wrong spot.

Aside from that problem...chapter retreat and its goodness. It really means a lot to me that trip. My freshman year I was really struggling to make friends up until that weekend in february. I wasn't even planning on going until a friend from high school (who also goes to CNU) really urged me to, the night of one Intervarsity large group. "Hey are you going on the retreat this weekend?" "I don't think so man, I don't really know anyone." "Uh you know me. Don't worry i'll take you, be ready to leave around 5 and i'll pick you up." ...It's simple gestures like that that make a big difference in someone's life. If my friend hadn't been persistent in trying to get me to come, I wouldn't have made so many friendships, I wouldn't have broken out of my shell a little more, I wouldn't have been able to step into the amazing group of Christian fellowship that CNU has. I'm so thankful for that. Don't ever overlook the simple gestures.

Another rambling that's been floating around my mind recently is THIS summer. What in the WORLD can I do? Praise Jesus I have a good living situation lined up for next year with bros who love the Lord like me. But after this semester and before that one..what in the world can I do? Im really looking for something that can tie in to my major: Spanish. Internship abroad is what i am REALLY feelin. Who know's, but I've got to get on the ball. Time is indeed flying.

That's all really. Just a quick splurge of a blogpost. School is going well. God is good. And you're a great friend for reading all this.

Do you really want what you ask for?

I wanted to keep up with this blog first and foremost because I really, truly believe it's good for someone to jot down their thoughts on their everyday lives. Very good in fact. But to be honest It's been difficult. How can I find something interesting and exciting to type when I all I do is go to college and take classes? Should I really vomit up some info from a spanish class and tell people about Mr. Mariano Jose de Larra and how his sarcastic short story entitled "Vuelva Usted Mañana" (Return Tomorrow) depicts the stereotypically lazy lifestyle of the average spanish person?? Uhhh No thank you.

So I was just really wishing for something to write about, something more than boring ole' college classes. And boy did I get what I asked for.

On Tuesday night (I believe it was) I went to the library to record a dialogue with a friend for a Spanish 308 assignment. Simple enough. But almost everytime I go the TribLib I think of my captain's card that holds dining dollars on it and I slowly but surely convince myself into buying a tasty coffee from the wonderful Einstein's cafe. A terrible habit. So, after almost finishing our recording Aubrie and I were chatting it up a little before parting, and I unfortunately make a move that tops the charts on the Most Clumsy Moments Ever list. Reaching for a pen on the left hand side of my computer, I knock my cup of coffee onto the keyboard of my Macbook. Ahhh!! screams through my mind. I grab my computer as quick as possible and tilt it upside down trying to shake out as much of the dark aromatic liquid as possible. Fortunately my cup was almost empty but I would guess a good handful went into the computer. So after a few frantic moments we clean up the mess and part. The screen had flickered on and off before so I was praying on the way home that all would be alright with it. Prayin hard.

On to part deux of the story. To put it bluntly, my roommates and I were late on paying for our gas bill. Darn living in a house off campus that proves much responsibility will indeed by required! Growing is a learning process yes it is. Thus upon returning home our house was freezing and my negative disposition grew. The next few days felt like torture! A college kid with no computer and having to go to sleep bundled up in sweatpants and big sweatshirt isn't the most fun situation to be in. Complaining was not an uncommon occurence.

But Fortunately my week is done and I can say all is good.. After a few days of drying my computer in front of a heater and not turning it on, it is seemingly working just fine, praise the Lawd. Also, we got our bill payed and heat is presently filling the house. God is good.

I'll definitely be cautious of I what I wish for in the future ;)

Think, kid.

I love how just putting my headphones in and turning up the volume of a particular song can get my thoughts going. That could be one of my most favorite things ever, sitting and reflecting.

So I start another semester at this amazing school that continues to help me learn, grow, and form who I am. I wondered if I should share the following information about my life, but alas I feel it may need to be said, even if I'm the only one who may read it. I almost didn't come back to CNU this semester. For financial reasons, kind of. So for a good few days at home in Chesapeake over Winter Break I had a lot of thinking to do. I had not been so upset in a long time. The thoughts of how much I would lose if the return to CNU wasn't going to happen for me, whirled through my head. As much as it made me sad, it made me think. It made me think of the future and how much more I need to be planning out my life and my career and i'll admit it...the future's a little scary :) But there comes a time when we have to all grow up, like it or not...I'll never ever forget my dad's vast array of tough-love quotes, but one specifically rings a bell in my head right now: "Life's hard, but it's harder if you're stupid".

That's my main priority right now. To learn. To study my butt off! To take what God has given me and throw my best efforts at it...and currently that's school. An expensive school. What an opportunity huh? In soo many places throughout the world this is just plain not possible. At times I like to take a step back and look at my life. Kev you are blessed man! Do something with it! I have to admit that laziness, sloth, apathy or whatever you may call it..is a big problem I have and I hate it. I get so caught up with things that do not matter.

This is what i'm tackling now. I want so, so much to go out and see the world. I want to get out there and change lives! And these things will come I think. I just need to do what's before me, now though. Isaiah 40:31 - " But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint." Oh and trust me I am waiting. I am trusting in His plan. The only good one. I'm thinking and going to be working hard. Jesus is working up a storm in my life and I can feel it. It's for the best and have such firm confidence in that. In His goodness.

Reassurance I think is found in my past. Do you ever just stop and look back at all the good that's occurred in your life? Try and do that some time. Count your blessings. Count them twice over.

Oh hey there!

Man oh man.. I have not posted on my blog in a while. I find myself saying this a lot, but hey it's true! It's hard enough for me to even crank out a paper for school.

SO yeah i'm a junior! No big deal! So much has happened, but that's life. Let me try and sum it up.....

The end of summer was the most bittersweet thing ever. I left a discipleship program in Tennessee that changed my life in more ways than you could imagine. I made life long friends that I can now cry over just thinking about or by looking at pictures. yikes.

I've started up for my third year at the wonderful and constantly changing CNU! It still freaks me out being a junior/ upperclassman. Actually let me state it correctly, I'm almost done with the first semester of my junior which means im about to start the second semester which then in turn means that IM ALMOST A SENIOR AHAHHAHAEHFASKDF. Let's not get ahead of ourselves. Hmm what else? Oh yes I went to the Amazing 10/10/10 Katelyn James and Michael Alsop wedding. Love those two...and the wedding blew my mind. Good start for my first wedding. Trucking along, this has also been my first year leading WYLDLIFE and also being a worship singer at INTERVARSITY. as if im not busy enough with my school work i've decided to be involved with all this ministry! (help me jesus!) and it's all wonderful and I wouldn't trade any of it for the world, i'm soo busy but growing and learning so much at the same time. So that's it!! that's my fall so far. I just went to a reunion for my summer Discipleship program and it was great to see old friends and meet new ones..and i am even more convinced that I want to live in Tennessee for some portion of my life, I love that place.






currently i'm procrastinating a spanish lit paper. papers are the death of me..and I dread them far above anything else, noticeable in my procrastination of them. so I gotta go! hittin' up the library for a few hours then bed time!

love yall (or anyone for that matter who cares enough to read this blogpost about my life)

Kevin

"Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy.."
-1 Peter 1:8

TENNESAY!

Well. I'll say it. I don't want to leave Tennesee! My time here has been amazing and looking ahead and realizing that we only have 2 weeks and 2 days left makes me cry. Not really, but then it sounds more dramatic. I definitely will not miss working at Dollywood's Splash Country, let me just say that ha. Standing in my food shop serving grilled chicken and tortillas and working the cash register has been rough. Trying to keep up a cheery, servant attitude amongst complaining guests is very hard to do. But I've loved meeting other kids from different Christian groups from around the country who are also working at Dollywood doing similar programs as me, such as the Navigators and Campus Outreach. It's cool to see God working around the world even though it should be obvious that He does that! For my friends here at D Focus it's gonna be hard. There's something about gathering for 10 weeks and doing the same bible study, all having difficult jobs, and living together that makes you just bond so quickly. We sometimes share our testimonies with one another and when you do that you have to be really vulnerable! And being vulnerable with one another allows for another level of friendship, I feel. So in 2 weeks and 2 days i'll be back in Virignia, leaving this lovely land of rednecks, touristy attractions, smokey mountains and Dollywood. Here's to working my a off and making money, having good times with friends, and growing with Jeezus.