Whew

What a relief... Have you ever been working on something with everything you have, for an extended period of time? It can be extremely difficult to persevere through set backs or any type of discouragement during the process. For ten days starting 10/24, I was pledging a social club at Lipscomb University... but it's over now, what a relief! It was one of the most difficult yet rewarding experiences of my life. Pledging was a mere ten days but felt like it was lasting for all eternity. Now that it is over it is almost hard to believe that I made it through because it is so surreal, because it had taken over every single hour of everyday these past ten days. I was able to grow so much as a person throughout the pledging process.
My second full free day of pledging was yesterday, and what an awesome day it was. I appreciated my time so much more, and I walked around campus a smile on my face all day. It was so easy to see what awesome things that the Lord has given us such as friendship, joy, and love in which I was surrounded yesterday.

The Way I Was Made

I want to live like there's no tomorrow
I want to dance like no one's around
I want to sing like nobody's listening
Before I lay my body down
I want to give like I have plenty
I want to love like I'm not afraid
I want to be the man I was meant to be
I want to be the way I was made

This is the chorus to one of my favorite Chris Tomlin songs. Its been something that has been on my mind throughout this summer. I was made by a God who created everything and yet still wants to have an intimate relationship with me, one of his smallest creations. He has given me so many personality traits, talents, and other various things that I often overlook. Yet he gave me these for a reason, what a comforting feeling. Today's world is constantly broadcasting that we need to be like this or that, but God has his own plan. The beginning of Jeremiah 29:11 says "I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord." My God has something so different planned for me and my life than what the world says. The world wants me to conform to accept everything, while I agree I should respect other peoples opinions, by no means should I ever accept any lifestyle other than the one my Lord has made me for. I hope I can completely ignore man's opinion on how I should conduct my life, and only listen to the creator. I hope and pray everyday that I can live the way I was made.

Final paper

I just wrote my final paper of the year, and the beginning section of it we were asked to write about our personal theology of ministry. I came up with a mission statement that I feel is very accurate in describing my outlook on ministry: "My mission, as a follower of Jesus Christ, is to have a positive effect on the lives of everyone I meet, letting Jesus' love overflow out of me and into their lives." It is something that is very easy to say, but hopefully God will help me actually put it into practice.

Freshman Fun

Freshman year has been so awesome, I have met so many unique and exciting people. I especially have come extremely close to all of the people on my floor of the dorm. So today someone came up with an awesome idea while they were at the store to buy a blow up pool. So we brought it into the lobby on our floor and it took about 30 minutes and alot of lung capacity to blow this thing up, because it supposedly holds up to 195 gallons of water. We finally get it blown up and are about to fill it up with water but our RA tells us it would probably be a better Idea to put it in the shower room. So we drag the thing over there and had a blast just sitting and talking in the pool and hanging out for a couple of hours talking about all year long. I'm glad to see that it is finals week and the fun has still not died up here, and we can still goof off and have fun doing anything together.

Next Year

This post is almost a sequel to my last post leaving right where I left off with the last one because I can't get it off my mind and summer is almost here. This summer is going to be amazing, having the opportunity to gain experience in the field that I plan to work in the rest of my life, full-time ministry. It is one thing to discuss theology and the true meaning of life, love, and service in a class room, but to truly use all the tools that I have gained is going to be amazing and overwhelming at the same time. While this summer is going to be so beneficial I also can't wait for next year to start up at school. I am almost completely done with all of my General Education classes (all but Literature), and now I get to take classes that actually pertain to my major - classes that I will enjoy a lot more than Biology and Art Appreciation. In addition to enjoying my studies more I am going to be an RA next year which will be absolutely amazing too. I can't wait to get to know everyone that I will be living with next year on my floor. I am already praying that I can have an impact on their lives as they greatly influence mine, and I hope that I will build lifelong friendships for the years to come because some of my closest friends I have met this year live on my hall. I know I say this all of the time but it is so true, God truly does know what is best for us in our lives, and he always pulls through for us, even in times that we don't understand what he is doing, and I can see that through all of my disappointments and joys that I have experienced this year.

Almost over..

My Freshman year of college has been the best year of my life, and yet it has flown by so fast. I just realized that classes end next week, and it seems like I just got here. I came to Lipscomb only knowing 1 student, and now I feel like I have spent my entire life with all of the people that I have come into contact here at school. It was a tough decision discovering where I wanted to go to college, but I know that I definitely made the right choice in choosing Lipscomb.

But now as school is winding down I cannot wait to be done with the school work, but I don't want to go home and leave all of my friends here for almost 4 months. I am so excited for this summer because of all the things that I am going to get to experience, but at the same time it is so hard to not be able to hang out with my friends in Nashville. The distance between Houston and Nashville has not been much of a factor until I am now realizing how far it truly is when you have great relationships built in both places. I will be excited to head home, but will greatly miss Nashville.

Sanctuary

Is such an awesome experience, it never ceases to amaze me almost every time I go. In case you don't know Sanctuary is a an hour of Worship on Thursday nights led by college students. I love the fact that almost a 1000 college students come together for the sole purpose of lifting up everything they have to God in praise and worship. The guys leading it are awesome, they have an amazing ability to get you excited and then also focus you in on reflecting on what God has done for you in your week. Another great thing about Sanctuary is that alot of my friends are always there. So afterwords I have the opportunity to just simply hang out and have fun with my friends in the middle of a very hectic school week, fellowship that is only found in Christ's Body. I simply do not understand how anyone can make it through this world without having a body of people who are striving for something so great.