God You Reign

Friday was absolutely amazing.  I am so pleased and thankful that even though I don't go to a Christian school, I can still gather with fellow believers and praise the One who created me.  It was just lead by a few students and one person playing the guitar and all of us giving God the glory that He deserves.  Worshiping God freely under the stars with no boundaries was so amazing and I can't wait to see how much better it's like in Heaven.  God humbled me and showed me what it's like to be focused on Him and not the world.  Prayer is power and God spoke through me and to me.  Looking up into God's creation reminded me so much of camp and made me realize that I can do the same things at camp as I can here at Furman.  


Psalm 121
1 I lift up my eyes to the hills--where does my help come from? 2 My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth. 3 He will not let your foot slip--he who watches over you will not slumber; 4 indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. 5 The LORD watches over you--the LORD is your shade at your right hand; 6 the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. 7 The LORD will keep you from all harm--he will watch over your life; 8 the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore. 

Cliff Jumping...way more intense than HSM

When I was at Camp Cedar Cliff this summer, I was able to go on a trip up to some trails in the mountains and also jump from a waterfall, known as Courthouse Falls.  About a 45 foot jump.  When we were riding up there, it started to lightening and rain.  Well a few day earlier I was almost struck by lightening while doing a devotion inside of a van.  It was literally 5 feet away.  It ran through a metal chain, burnt the post that the chain was wrapped around, and made a huge hole in the ground.  I had 10 screaming, crying boys instantly.  So let's just say I am more aware of lightening now and what it can do.

Anyways it stopped lightening and we hiked up to the water fall.  I got in the water and it was frigid.  I am not talking about somewhat cold, I am talking about loosing your breath cold.  So after all of us stared at the waterfall, a good majority went up to the top.  It was really hard just to get up there and even scarier looking down.  I was basically thrown into jumping after a couple other people in front of me didn't want to go then.  I stood there on the edge holding on a tree for dear life and became really scared.  I prayed there right on the tree.  After about 3 minutes, I got everyone to give me a countdown.  5,4,3,2,1...I jumped!

When I was in the air it felt like an eternity.  Basically you don't think...your mind goes blank in the air.  I had Chacos on so I felt pressure when my feet hit, but I wasn't in any pain.  More and more people went until one girl landed in the upright seat position...let's just say she had bruises all over her legs.  I don't think anyone went after that.

So now I am on my first day on the job in the science library and itching to go jumping again.  It is one adrenaline pumping thrill.

P.S.  A freshman approached me and talked to me about a girl and how they broke up and mentioned that he was an atheist.  Please pray for him.

Come Back Kids

So I went to the Braves game on Monday.  As I was driving with a few friends, I saw some dark ominous (uh oh big word) clouds, which hinted that maybe it would rain in ATL.  But then there were nice happy clouds as well so it was kind of a mixed bag of weatherlyness.  So the whole ride there was rain, no rain, rain, no rain, repeat multiple times.  We stop in the best place known to man and wild, Taco Bell, and my friend and I split a grande meal.  Oh yeah, it was like a slightly bigger slice of Heaven.  Finding parking is well, easy...finding free parking is well, impossible.  When we get there it wasn't raining so of course I forget my rain jacket.  During batting practice we get close to catching a ball, but that is beside the point.

The game was a pitchers duel because it was 1 to 1 for the longest time.  We had decent seats, but when I went to get my jacket, a man gave me his tickets because there is no re-entry (stupid) and he was leaving.  It turned out that these were basically behind home plate.  So Ryan and I both sat there for the next three innings.  The Dodgers score two runs in the 8th off of two Brooks Conrad errors.  I was so mad because no one can take the place of Chipper Jones (injured after tearing his acl) and Brooks was definitely showing it.  So it's the bottom of the 9th, down 3-1, and the rally video gets all of us pumped from random movie clips and old games.  The Tomahawk Chop is indeed pretty amazing to see.  So the braves get a few walks and a single and a passed ball to make the game 2-3.  Melky comes up to the plate and gets a single with the bases loaded and brings in two runs to win the game in the bottom of the 9th, 4-3.  I was screaming, jumping, and then hugging my bro without even thinking about it.  On the way back, I was one of thousands walking through the walkways yelling the Braves chant, doing the Tomahawk Chop, and giving random dudes high fives.  It was a beautiful sight.  Wish it was on video.

The drive back wasn't as long.  I didn't get really that tired even though it was 1 am.  I guess I still had too much energy from that game.  It is one thing watching your favorite team on TV come back and win, but it is another thing to see it in person.

P.S. THANKS BOBBY!

Camp Lyfe

So camp life is probably the best thing that I ever did.  Best decision los manos down.  Each week is a whole new adventure even though you do more or less the same thing each week.  Some campers are great some are little tougher to deal with but I love it.  I mean skits, BBs, archery, climbing wall, swimming every day, slip n' slide, four square, and the list goes on.  The weekends a bunch of counselors go cliff jumping, turtle back falling, and eating meals, which total to the cost of a quarter of our pay.  It is so fun getting to know a lot of people here even though I am going to only be here for one month.  Oh yeah it is probably one of the most tiring things ever.  I have never wanted to go to bed before 11 in my life since elementary school, but camp drains every ounce of energy possible.  No air conditioning in the cabins was miserable but we put lots of fans up, which helped a little bit.  Oh yeah, I basically cant be in touch with the outside world which is nice once in a while.

Truckers Truck You

So yesterday I was driving down many roads with a handy GPS system that took me all over the place.  I had to do many things on my 3 hour break.  I was merging on to I385 and pulled up next to an 18 wheeler.  I sped up because I needed to get in front of him cause there were a lot of cars behind him.  The next thing I know is the guy sped up too.  I sped up more and I was running out of lane quickly.  The next thing I know is that I was on the shoulder with cars whizzing by me while I had to come to a complete stop.  Plus I was on a overpass which didn't help out either.  I thought I was gonna die.

Later I get on I85 and there is one lane closed so it said 45mph and do not pass.  I slowed down but was still over the speed limit and there was an truck riding my tail probably within a few feet of me.  Then another truck got in the left lane and passed me.  Again, I thought I was gonna die.  I never thought I wouldn't come close to death twice in one day, but thankfully God was protecting me.

Psalm 20:1
May the LORD answer you when you are in distress;
may the name of the God of Jacob protect you.  

Tomorrow I leave for Camp Cedar Cliff for the summer.  I am excited and will miss everyone!

Liger

When I was in Myrtle Beach, there was a man who was doing free balloons for people so I asked for a Liger.    He said he could make one for me so he did...It turned out to look more like a mouse with an abnormally long tail so I went into a store to make it more like a Liger.  The store was ironically called the Christmas Mouse, which I laughed at internally.  There was a sign that said, "NO FOOD OR DRINK", so I asked if Ligers were allowed.  The lady said yes as she laughed and puzzled at the same time.  Then I asked some other ladies if I could borrow a sharpie.  They also laughed and were confused but got one for me.  We had a good conversation as I turned my mouse into the Liger that it should be.  

Later that night I got bored and got a ferocious picture with my Liger and then the light went off like in that show PB&J Otter.  If you got that high five yourself, the person next to you, or the computer.  Well, I made a story of my Liger.  Sorry for the stupid red print (I couldn't find a free program that would work and not put stupid print across the picture).  

P.S. Click on the picture to make it bigger.

I Forgot About This...

So on Saturday, May 15 (before I had a blog), I came home from playing paintball with some radians--people that go to radius.  I was dirty, sweaty, painty, basically looking forward to a nice cool shower.  My mom called me while she was at home while I was on my way to play earlier that day to let me know that she would put the spare key outside so I could get in.  Well I come home and the door is locked.  I look for the key in the place and it isnt there.  So I just sit around for 30 min outside in the afternoon heat just frustrated.  I think to go to the place behind our house that the key used to be in and it wasn't there but I find two kittens.  They were abandoned and had flies, mosquitoes, and a bunch of goop around their eyes which basically made their eyes mostly closed.  One couldn't even walk straight and fell down a lot.  I just wanted to keep walking by, but I couldn't...I felt a moral obligation to help but I couldnt really couldn't do anything.  It ended up being 3 hours with these kittens that followed me around meowing at me to help.  I got cat food and soap from neighbors washed them off after I gained my composure and my parents showed up a little bit later.  We got some of the goop out and they never ate cat food but it was worth a try.  We got them kitten milk (I didn't know that existed in stores) and fed them with a bottle.  They hated the bottle because they didn't know what it was.  Plus the fact that they were almost dead didn't help.  We had to feed them like a little baby--every 2-3 hours.  Eventually a friend of my sister decided to take them after 3 days of taking care of them, which seemed like forever because they rarely stopped meowing and waking me up in the middle of the night.

Lesson leaned:  I am not ready for a baby because that is what you have to put up with only you have to change diapers as well.  Well yeah that is about it. From what I have heard they are doing a lot better and now are normal.

Then:

Now: