On the Road

Well i am officially back from spring break and i just thought i would let you know how the trip went.

Day 1: arrive in south carolina late evening, go to steven curtis chapman concert, went back to jocies house and slept.

Day 2: meetings pretty much all day leading up to impact weekend, that night met the best group of guys you'd ever seen. first night of impact weekend, matt pappa leading worship, head back to host homes chilled with the guys.

Day 3: early morning start, breakfast with the claytons head to the church for all day of sessions for impact weekend. finished our sessions went back to the claytons to film our music video for the impact weekend video project. Check it out go to youtube.com and type in "weezy of bel-air" and enjoy. then we went to boots and sunny's and enjoyed some hamburger steak. amazing night back at the claytons with guys just pouring their hearts out. God moved, ofcourse.

Day 4: meet back at the church for morning session, impact weekend over. nap, nap, nap, nap. evening service with ergun caner! he did phenominal. back to jocies to sleep lots of driving for day 5.

Day 5: we drove from SC to FLA long drive, got there in time for dinner with my grandma. that evening jeff and i explored north FLA. we had a good time.

Day 6: lunch with Gramma and Granpa, off to macclenny, to meet up with cousin devon, for dinner at long horns. then off to ma's for the night.

Day 7: Wake up for breakfast at cracker barrell, then off to sardis baptist church to preach, and hang out with their students. good time. after the service off to melbourne beach.

Day 8-10: melbourne beach, chilis, tacos, hot-rod, late night conversation, sun-rise surfing, naps the open road.

Day 10-12: Jen, and Jimmy, Maddy, and Trev eastor and dinner, conversation with friends, late night nertz.

Day 13: 12 hours on the road with jeff. amazing conversation together. got back late this evening unpacked and did this now...thats all folks.

Heres to spring breaks, 2500 miles on the open road, music, deep theological conversation, tacos, surfing, inside jokes, spoiled ham, expensive gas, sketchy charactors, no t.v, no pc, and 13 days on the road with your best friend.

lates.

On the Surf

so jeff and i are in auburndale Fla.....and we are having a pretty "gay ole time" (note the flinstones reference). anyway. the past two days wednesday, thursday, and this morning, we were in melbourne fla at the beach with our buddy josh and his wife mise. this morning was our last morning in melbourne beach, we went sunrise surfing early this morning hopefully pictures will follow.

i could not believe the waves, and the sunrise God literally blew my mind this morning, jeff and i have had the most amazing time together. we are pretty much constantly on the road. and not really getting to talk to friends back home or family, which is good because the trip's main goal is to get away from everything.

i am excited about going home next weekend, i will be missing a very cheap david crowder concert but i am excited to go see veloria. "my veloria, my veloria, even i'll adore ya"

anyway thats all i got for you guys.

heres to surfing, the beach, and living the good life.

lates

On the 10th Grade

So, the trip is going amazing so far. we just finished up the most amazing weekend with a bunch of guys. they were 10th grade boys, and they were amazing. we had such a good time together just growing deeply in christ.

so we are now in my hometown, starke fl. and oh is it a blast.

that is a lie.

as any of the 3 people who read this know i'm with my buddy jeff, who is in the worship program at LU and we got asked to lead a service at Sardis Baptist Church here in FL. he will be leading the worship, and i will follow that up with a message. i am pretty stoked to be working with jeff this is our second time together, we led worship together once and that was it. so technically this is our first time together. and im stoked.

so...im going to go do some studying.

here's to florida, and opportunities from God.

lates.

On Carolina

So yesterday jeff, and i made the drive down to spartanburg SC which is pretty sweet. we are here to help lead small groups for this impact weekend at his sisters church. first baptist north spartanburg. we've been in and out of meetings all day...its been pretty hectic...picking up the rental vans and such. the kids will be arriving in a few hours and we had a quick break so i decided to take the time to blog it up.

after this weekend we head down to FLORIDA...which should be pretty sick. we've got a lot of time together on the open road...and im so excited for that but as for today and this weekend im just excited about spending time with the dudes that will be in my group for the next three days.

so i officially got picked up as the SLD on east campus dorm 17 floors 1 & 2...i will be working with Tim Rebert...and I am stoked for that. floors 1 & 2 are a bit different because there are not two RAS and two SLDS rather one RA and one SLD so...i am stoked to be given this amazing oppurtunity to work with deebs (tim) and when we go back to school next monday we've got a long road ahead of us...as we will be selecting our team of PL's to be working with. im stoked.

in other news i think that life is finally starting to make sense, i mean im happy, christ is doing a ton of stuff...lauren is right next to me on this journey and im just surrounded by friends, and family who are supporting me. so im stoked about life right now.

im going to go do some reading while i can.

here's to sunsets/sunrises on the open road carolina heat, and loving your circumstances...

lates

On Soda

As an avid soda drinker (especially a daily crisp refreshing can of Dr. Pepper), I was shocked and appalled by a recent post on the “Water for Life USA Blog” that outlined eight harmful health effects of drinking soft drinks cleverly titled, “8 Ways Soda Fizzles Your Health.” The title of the slanderous blog entry jumped off the screen this morning while checking my Email. Out of morbid curiosity, I clicked the link … certainly this couldn’t be true! Tooth decay?! Bone loss?! Brain damage?! There had to be some hidden agenda behind this article that was attempting terrify the soda drinking masses. After countless hours of research, a brief investigation by a private investigation firm and hundreds of phone calls to web-hosting providers, my search for a source came to frustrating end. Who were these people? Why do they hate soda?

Finally, after three solid days of independent research, I had given up my investigation. As I popped open my third can of DP, I noticed something. Just above the article entry in bold lettering read the phrase, “The exclusive US distributor for KYK Water Ionizers.” AhhhHaa!!! I knew there had to be some malicious plot behind the article, and now the devious plan was clear. This was a scheme by Big Water Ionization! The water ionization distribution industry has long been the hidden enemy of soda drinkers everywhere, and now their latest smear campaign has been blown wide open!

There’s only one way to combat this hateful propaganda. I give you:
8 Reasons Why Soda Is Awesome

1. It Is DeliciousThis is commonly known and was recently scientifically proven. In fact, researchers at M.I.T. have discovered it is so good, that many people drink it with every meal!

2. It Is CheapWith combo meals, a large soda is only an extra dollar, and you get fries!

3. It Helps Abandoned PuppiesMost abandoned puppies love soda too, and it helps them in many, many ways.

4. It Cures Hair lossJust pour it on your head several times a day, and you will grown a lush main of gorgeous long hair in just two weeks … guaranteed!

5. It Burns Cleaner and More Effectively than PetroleumIt’s true. I recently converted my ’98 Plymouth Neon to run only on Mountain Dew, and it gets 87 miles to the gallon!

6. It Stops Global WarmingThe natural gases released when opening a can of soda actually ascend into the atmosphere and fill the hole in the ozone layer!

7. It Champions Third World Debt Relief Don’t take my word for it … just ask Bono.

8. It Is the World’s Third Most Abundant Natural Resource(Just behind air and dirt)

Still not drinking soda?I think we’ve made our point. So go help yourself (and the environment!) and grab yourself a tasty Mountain Dew … this one’s on the house.

Here's to destroying pesky rumors about why Soda is harmful.

Lates

On Looking Ahead

so, as the weekend comes to a close...i am excited about a lot of things. such as. (and not all of them have to do with the closing of the weekend.)

but they are as follows

the road with jeff
my grandma
impact weekend
summer internship
ministry
being home
seeing lauren
seeing my brothers
seeing my mom, and dad
mid-terms being over
school being over
preaching at first free will
going to bed tonight
finishing this blog.

as i am making a list i figured it be cool to make another one. tonight lauren and i were talking about being stranded on a desert island, and if you could take 10 cd's what would you take. so since blogging is apparently something i do daily..i figured it be best to let the 3 people who read this what i would take.

in no particular order:

1. U2 18
2. swiss army romance- dashboard confessional
3. beneathe the medicine tree-copeland
4. so impossible-dashboard confessional
5. takk-sigur ros
6. anything by elliot smith
7. anything by john mayer
8. anything by the strokes
9. yankee hotel foxtrot-wilco
10. love is hell-ryan adams

that would basically work for me. as long as i was there for a year...and if i could somehow sneak a tom petty cd in.

alright.

here's to looking forward to new things.

lates

On Sushi

so, this weekend i made a trip with two friends to ohio. it was probably the most random thing that has ever happened in my life to date. we were eating over dinner, and i jokingly said we should go to abby's sometime, to which evan replied "lets go now"....to which abby replied "okay" so we did just that. while driving through the night was fun, i was very tired. the sights were not so great at night, but the drive back through the west virginian mountains was ridiculous. we enjoyed just hanging out with family...it was a lot of fun.

its funny how we left lynchburg which at the time was soaking wet, to go to ohio which was covered in snow, and ice; which did not stop until saturday around 9 pm. so we were in ohio at abbys house, in about 2 feet of snow. it was a blast.

its funny how certain things remind you of stuff...or make you think of specific things...or certain people. like for example last night we watched a movie, where people just unexpectedly just died, as is most cases in death. but anyhow it reminded me of Jesse my good friend from highschool. and the tradgedy of that is...i have no idea where jesse is right now...i wish i did...its not really that i am doubting jesse's salvation. its just i cant recall what i heard last on the subject, which terrifies me on so many levels. cause he was just a 15 yr old. ya know?

it haunted me all night on saturday. i thought about his face...his laugh...his smile...his jokes. and i thought about his soul, his legacy, his friends...and how much we miss him...his family and how awful it must be to relive something most people who knew him only relive once every year or so..if that, but they relive it everyday....playing it again in their heads, wondering if something could have been done differently. i mean i ate breakfast with him that morning...i wonder could i have done something?

anyway...i hate to end this on that kind of note...so i wont.

i did not get to talk to veloria this weekend...other than a few shady text messages...that probably didnt make sense to her. i feel awful. i miss her. and it is wierd that we didnt speak this weekend...i didnt hear her voice...somehow i believe the weekend would have been much better had i.

anyway...here's to the coming week...and mid-terms, and ohio with some friends...south carolina/florida with jeff...and a long week of the open road.

lates

On Mike

i had to post this...this is mike. if i have a son i hope he turns out just like this.

On Guitar Hero

So I just watched my roommates play Guitar Hero and my mind was absolutely blown..it is ridiculously fast, and I guess that is lame because I am amazed by that. I get amazed by a lot of wierd things...such as Guitar Hero...and Evan and Stephen play Guitar Hero so fast that you can't see their fingers.

Augustana has a new record coming out in about a month or two which I am really excited about it. Also Brand New has a album coming out soon, there is a lot of music coming out soon...Jon Foreman of switchfoot has an EP coming out for every season this year, the winter one was amazing.

So I made SLD I think I mentioned it in the last post, but I am really excited about that. Today ended up being a pretty good day...I think. I have a test tomorrow that I am not really looking forward too. It's wierd everything now seems so much more...I don't know...Adult? Yeah that is the word. Adult. Everything seems so grown up for me now, like my finances, my maturity level, my relationships, everything seems so...adult.

It's wierd ya know? I am 20...and for the first time I am realizing that means life begins...anyway...I think the one person who reads this already knows what I am about to say...but I tend to ramble, and I have no idea where this whole post came from...till tomorrow.

Lates