AloneTime

So today has been a day unlike any other during the summer. It isn't a bad thing. This weekend my cousin got married and family came into town. It was a great time! My roommates left for the hometown for the weekend leaving me at my place by myself. After my family left this morning, church and a two hour nap, I found myself super bored!! So what was I to do? Generally I will just waste time. I posted earlier in the summer on wasting time. Instead of watching TV or searching the web, I went on a walk. I won't state where I live because I fear for my safety, but it takes me about 15 minutes from my place to walk downtown. I thought it was longer but I guess not. There is something so peaceful about just having some alone time to yourself among God's creation! It is truly breath taking. I enjoyed my walk downtown. Since I work 8-5 during the weekdays, it is hard to even get time to enjoy yourself without being exhausted. The Lord is still teaching me something here and I have yet to figure it out. Patience I guess. But today was good! I had two hours down by the waterfront to just enjoy myself. I am reading John Piper's Desiring God and in a few more chapters I will be done with the book. My goal is to try and get it done before Real Life Summer Retreat since the evenings will be a video series on Piper's book at the retreat. I didn't plan it this way :) I am trying to get a lot out of it. Something that has been on my heart the whole summer is to get that quiet time that is so hard to get during the schoolyear. Well...that has yet to happen. I will use work as an excuse when their shouldn't be one. The two hours I had today "by myself" where the best I've had all summer!! I don't consider myself a loner (except for tonight) but I realized that I do need more of this time to myself. In Acts 2:42 is says the believers devoted themselves to the following. (1) The Apostle's teaching, (2) Fellowship, (3) Breaking of bread, (4) and prayer. I don't believe the order matters but one without the other is useless. This is great for community and I am so thankful that I have that here in Corvallis. But alone time is important also. In Matthew 6:6, Jesus said,

"But when you pray go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you." 


I don't always pray in my room but I do need to shut the door, and do it in secret. Downtown was great today. Summer barely comes in Corvallis but when the sun is up, I've found my secret place :) We equally need both community and alone time. How are we to do that? I had a buddy tell me he had to open his Bible before he went to bed so that when the morning came he would read God's Word. I've tried this, and of course have failed. Some suggest doing it first thing in the morning, so say before you go to bed. I don't know what is best, that is between you and God. I know for me if I don't devote morning time to God, my day goes many ways. Morning devotions should include both the Word and prayer. I find myself either doing one or the other. In Desiring God, Piper shares of how George Muller started his day. George would always start his day in prayer. He states the first thing a child of God has to do morning by morning is to obtain food for his inner man. This inner food is not prayer, but the Word of God! This is super important!

So what did I learn today? It depends. All I know is that I am hungry for God's Word. There is always time for it. Today I could have made a lot of distractions and ignored God, but I chose not to. It of course will be different from day to day of course. My prayer is that a daily routine will be born from this day forth. I pray the days I wake up tired, that God's Word will give me peace and rest of the whole day! I pray their will be more days like today where I can just get away alone. It was amazing and I am so glad I was able to. There is something special about entering that special place with the Lord. Once you experience it, you hunger for more. That is where I am at. I hope the same can be said for you :)

Ghost Ride The Whip?

I will improve this video, that is a promise!!

I Love My Job :)

Trust

Trust is a word that I have really learned to trust. One of the definitions of trust according the the dictionary is confident expectation of something or HOPE. The one verse in the Bible that I have always come back to and is one that I have always loved is Proverbs 3:5-6

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart

and lean not on your own understanding;

in all ways acknowledge him, 

and he will make your paths straight."

Giving God ALL your trust will ALL your heart can be hard. I know I do it all the time. It is something that I am trying to completely hand over to Him. Another thing I struggle with is God knowing my plan better then mine. My idea for a good life may not be God's plan for my life. I know their have been times I want things my way and God wants it another way. I've wrestled with that and it is hard. Sometimes it is good and sometimes it is bad. Romans 8:28 says, "and we know that in ALL things Gods works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose". In 1st Timothy 4:4 it says, "For everything God created is good". So if everything God created is good and all things work of good, then why is it so hard to trust Him fully? I personally believe it has to be a transformation inside your heart and you have to surrender everything to Him. Until you do this, you will just continue to live a life going through the motions. I don't want to be that Christian that just goes to church on Sunday. Once you fully surrender everything and wait patiently on the Lord, you will be blessed. Again, God created everything good.

I struggled with giving God my whole heart for a very long time. I believed but never completely followed Him. Now that I am a part of this family, I am always looking for ways to grow. At church today, Ebo Elder shared how when we pray to God we ask more then we should. He stated it as we tell Him what to do and we call that prayer. I know in my life God hasn't answered my prayers the first time around, so I have to keep on asking. I don't believe asking God for whatever you may be asking for is a bad thing, as long as it is His will. I am not saying praying for a million dollars is not gonna come true, but where is God in that picture? I have been trying to direct my prayers in a way that will bring God glory and happiness as well. Because if my God is satisfied, I am too. But we have to trust that God will always make things work out.

My desires a couple years ago where completely different from what they are today. When I first started college, I wanted to get a good paying job, have a big house and have an amazing family. Now I still want a good job, but money isn't going to be the deciding factor. My ultimate goal in life is to start a family. No matter when I graduate and what profession I go into, my family is what I am working towards. Now I am still single and know to start a family you have to be with someone, but it isn't wrong to be thinking ahead right? At times I have pictured the perfect scenario of graduating, getting married and starting a family. It is something that I look forward to experiencing someday, when the time is right. I am a person that loves to look ahead in my life and at least imagine where I will be in 5 years. Well, Jesus looks at it a little different. In Matthew 6:34 He says, "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own". Though my future is important, I shouldn't have to worry about it. This all goes back to Proverbs 3:5-6 and trusting the Lord. Therefore, I will leave it all up to God to direct my path for all things he works for good for those who love him. I love this promise!!

This may be hard to completely understand. There is so much more scripture that also convicts my heart but I love these verses! I look at my life and why must I complain during the hard times. I have a roof over my head, I will always have food on the table. Some people aren't blessed with that. I am extremely lucky and extremely blessed. At times I wonder where the Lord will direct me, it can be whenever. All I know is that I am locksick and thirsty for more of Him. My life will always be good no matter what I go through. God has a plan and I have to trust that He knows what he is doing. After all He did know me before I was born, so why not give Him a shot huh? :)

 Click on the title trust for Hope's Anthem by Bethel Live :)

Cuz Your Amazing

Just Some Beauty

My Trip to the City of Sin

So I am still recovering from last weekend. As you could imagine I spent every night drunk out of my mind  so you all have the general idea at least :) None of that is true. Overall, I had a great trip! It was a great vacation and some good quality time with my parents. To start off the trip our plane got delayed 3 hours which sucked! We made the most out of it though. We eventually made it to Vegas and just stayed out later. I made it my overall goal to see every hotel and I think I managed that. I saw about half of the strip Thursday night so I felt pretty good. If you want to see pictures of all the sites just click on the title to go to the photo album. On Friday we chilled by the lazy river at Mandalay Bay from 8am to noon. It was awesome! In the evening I had the privilege to go see Beatles LOVE. It by far is the best show I have ever seen! I can't even describe to you everything that happened. I can tell you though is I was so speechless I almost cried. The Beatles have a special place in my heart and they always will. Sure they have some messed up songs here and there but no band will ever come close to what they did back in the day, unbelievable!! Saturday was pretty much the same but we saw a show called Tournament of Kings which was really good, our plane was gonna leave the next morning at 6 so I made it my goal to stay up all night which I almost did. We walked from Mandalay Bay to Wynn Hotel and back. A total of 7 miles which is crazy. Besides a bunch that I left out it was a really good trip. If you stay away from all the dark or sinful stuff you really can enjoy your time. If there is two things I learned from the vacation is this. One: 7 dollars is to much for a drink and Two: 3 days in Vegas is totally enough. It is spendy! Anyways that is the accelerated version of the trip, fell free to ask me more about it. Until then enjoy the picture of the slot machine I won 200 bucks on :)

A Hard Days Work

Wasting Time

So I don't really know where this post is really coming from. The title of this post refers to time that has been wasted to put it simple. Tonight was the first Real Life of the summer. It was great! Our college pastor taught from Philippians 2 on Christ's example of humility. For me I think I needed this reminder. Since school has been out, I have not been in the Word as much I'd like. I hate saying their are distractions because their is more than enough time to have gotten into the Word since the end of school. I am to blame. This upsets me and also makes me sad. Having the same mind of Christ is something I have really not put so much thought into. Sure we are called to live like Christ as Philippians 1:21 says, but to have His mind is another thing. Serving God has always been my number one priority. Sure I get distracted, but I ultimately want to serve Him to the fullest and glorify Him to the fullest. Christ came to serve us and paid the price for our stupidity! No matter what distractions that where thrown Jesus' way, he continued to serve. I love to serve, but is it with the mind of Christ? This is an area I hope I can grow in. We also need to obey what is and isn't the Lord. There has been many times in my life when I pursue things without hearing from the Lord. He knows my plan better than I do so everything happens for a reason. I have a buddy of mine who happens to be waiting on the Lord just like I am trying to do, as well as obeying Him. This can only be possible by putting our whole trust in Him. I know I have heard from the Lord at times in my life but not as much as other people have. I believe this comes with being completely obedient and trusting God which in the past I haven't done. I don't believe any time on this Earth can be wasted because God always makes all things work together for the good. But being fully committed to Christ and having a mind like Christ surely would make our time a lot easier I am sure. I am done wasting my time! These distractions won't not stop me from pursuing what I know is good! I want the Word of God to influence more of the decisions I make, I want it to be God not me! I don't think I am the only one that struggles with this reality, but it is true for me. It is time to make the most of the time we have! It is time to live like Christ, have the mind of Him and to completely be obedient to Him! I know that God is able. May the rest of the summer continue to only get better, until next time, click the title for a song :)

God Is Able

Just wanted to share this song, this song is on the upcoming Hillsong Live album and I can't get enough of it. The lyrics are so simple and so true! Hope you enjoy it as much as I do. Click on God Is Able to have a listen :)

The Lastest

It is one of those nights that I can't sleep and my mind is all over the place. So why not blog right? Nothing is really planned here, but here is the latest with me. I recently got a raise at work! This is the funny part. For the beginning of the summer I was going to work noticeably harder so that my boss would give me a raise. To my surprise it happened, PTL! Since the last post I've mainly been in Corvallis. I turned 21 on the 30th of June. I can continue to write the rest of this blog and feed you lies but I won't :) At midnight I went out...the good news is I remember everything. What I didn't want to happen happened but I had it coming. That will never happen again. It was never my intention to go that far but I believe I learned a lot from it. Funny how the Lord does that. So on the 30th I took the day off and did nothing! It was awesome! During the time by myself it had the chance to reflect on the night before. I truly don't know how people can live their everyday life in that lifestyle. Ya I regret what happened but it made my heart hurt for those people that continue to live in that lifestyle and are just numb to what they are doing to themselves. And I think I am the one that needs prayer. I learned a lot and now I have a story to tell, good for me. I saw Transformers 3 later that night and it is a must see!! So get on it.  On a sad note I killed a bird with my car the next day. It was funny at first until I went back to see it. It's little birdie friends came back to say goodbye :( That kind of gave me a little tear to say the least. I also got a parking ticket at work. Saturday I did a little spring cleaning and made a lot of progress for a guy, I also did some food shopping. Ended the night having dinner with my cousin and her fiance. August 6th couldn't come any quicker just to throw it out there. Today was the first outdoor service at church. Of course the sun stayed behind the clouds but what is new. We started the book of Isaiah and I am excited to dig into it over the next year! The Corvallis Knights had an incredible firework show and I can only wait to see what happens tomorrow on the 4th. I still need to figure out plans. 3 days I leave for Vegas! I try not to think about it to much but I am ready for a vacation that is for sure! Until next time, that is all I got...kisses

For His Glory?

For the most part this summer is turning out to be pretty good. Only if the sun would decide to show up. One thing I can say about the summer of 2011 is that I want it to be fun. So far so good. I also want to see the growth of discovering more of who God is and what he has for my life. This summer is a great time to do that. I can speak for most college students, but during the school year it is hard to say devoted to the Word and I don't ever want that to be the case from here on out! It is crazy how God works most of the time. There are times I am thinking of something then God will just reveal it to me, whether it be from the scriptures or in everyday life. One thing that has been on my mind lately is how God makes all things work together for the goodness of Him. At times we wonder why God, who is so good, could put people through such hard times. I've had my share of these moments for sure. In my past and recently. The difference now is that even though I may not see God's intention at first, I got to put my complete trust in Him and believe that all of these things are happening for a reason and good will always come out of it. Going through the book of Job, in chapter two the Lord strikes Job with sores. Verse 7 says, "Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?". Through all this, Job did not curse his Lord. How many of you have been through hard times and find yourself asking God why? I do this all the time. I am praying that this will not be the case as I grow in Him. I am also reading John Piper's Desiring God and the first chapter hit some good points. I'd like to say I am looking forward to digging into this book as well. In the first chapter, John Piper states

"When God looks at a painful or wicked event through His wide-angle lens, He sees the tragedy of the sin in relation to everything leading up to it and everything flowing out of it. He sees it in relation to all the connections and effects that form a pattern, or mosaic, stretching into eternity. This mosaic in all its parts, good and evil, brings Him delight.".


I loved this! In my own mind I have already come to the conclusion that God has control of everything. Heck, He knows my own plan better then mine! I am still trying to grasp that part in my life :) One thing I think is we all put to much focus on all the bad stuff that has happened in our life. If we were to compare that to all the good God has given us, it wouldn't even come close. God is absolutely sovereign.  He rejoices in all His works. That sometimes may be hard to understand during your trials and pains but I believe God doesn't rejoice over our hurting, He hurts too. Ultimately God knows what the outcome is going to be so therefore He rejoices. I am truly blessed to be where I am today. Putting your trust in the Lord sometimes can be hard, but it is the only answer! God makes all things work together for His glory, the good and the evil. That may be hard to see but we just have to trust Him. I have to do it everyday.

I am really looking forward to continuing this journey over the summer. I am not the best writer, but whatever is on my mind, I am going to type it up. I may be wrong in some areas and right in some areas but their is always room for growth right? No one is perfect sadly, sorry to break the news :) I am just looking forward to what the Lord has in store for me and hope those of you following along are looking forward to what He has in store for you! Until next time...

This One Is For You My Love

So, enough is said. Today was great, you know who this post is directed to. Worked 8-5 and slacked as usual. I hope I will get that raise I asked for? Lord willing :) Hung out with some amazing people and played some frisbee and some Lava tag. I have pretty much come to the conclusion that this summer couldn't get any better! Ended the night with some Yogurt Extreme and an episode of Glee. That show is kinda growing on me and I am happy to say that. Now a reason I am even keeping up with such a blog over the summer is to reflect back on the summer of course and to also see the work that God will be doing in my life. Well today was fun and exciting, but I am looking forward to see what the Lord has in store for the rest of the summer, it shall be a blast. Until next time, peaches!