Monday, October 20, 2008
Friday, October 10, 2008
Hey everyone! Well, the Love Feast is over. You're probably wondering at this point, "The what?" The Love Feast. It's basically all the students throwing a party for the staff. My part in the party was photography, and helping in the kitchen. The photography part was a ton of fun. I got the idea to take the projector up here, shine the Disney Logo on one side of a bed sheet, have the people stand on the other side of it, and take their picture. Our theme was Disney. Unfortunately, the projector they have up here doesn't have a setting for reverse. So what i did was shine the projector on a mirror, and reflect it on to the bed sheet. So it ended up being straight on the other side. It effectively did the same thing that putting the projector in reverse mode would do, but with a little creativeness...So yah, the Love Feast was a lot of fun. Oh by the way, Doug is in the hospital. He was admitted on wednesday night for an infection in his foot. He's doing well, they did an MRI yesterday and found that he had four pieces of the root that he jumped down on in his foot. Coming collectively to about the size of a nickel. So he had surgery today to have them removed, and he's coming home tomorrow. I'm kinda tired, so i think i'm going to go back to our room and relax. I'll post more soon. God bless everyone. Smile!
Friday, October 3, 2008
Hey all! Sorry it's been a while since i've posted, we've been a little busy. Ok, so last night Megan and i and a girl that's visiting here with her family went in to town to help out with High-School youth group. But just before we left, we found out that Doug had to go to the hospital. Apparently, he'd jumped off a trailer or something backwards, and landed on a stick and it'd jammed up through his shoe and into his foot about an inch. So he and Ian went in to the Hospital, and he had to get 4 stitches. Ouch! In other news, youth group was a blast. They had around 20 kids. It was a blast. I love people that age. After youth group, we went to Starbucks with Cozy (Short for Cozette) and about 5-6 kids from the youth group. Something really cool happened at Youth Group too. Jason and Andrea (The leaders) had come to Youth Group fully prepared to do an in-depth study of Jonah. Then Cozy showed up. About an hour before it started, she'd just really felt like she was supposed to come. So she came, talked to Jason and Andrea, and the entire lesson for the night ended up being her giving her testimony. It was awesome. She's really an amazing girl and the fact that she's living her life for God after what she's been through is an amazing testament to His faithfulness.
Ok, i said that i'd tell you people about what i'm learning, so here goes. The first week of actual lectures from people off-base brought a guy named Jim Argue up here. His theme for the entire week was "God is Love." He said that because God IS love, that what He is determines what He does. He also said that because God is love, all the laws he makes for us are love laws. He spoke on Agape love, which he defined as "Choosing for the highest good of the object of your affection." That was really a broader definition than i'd ever heard. I'd always heard it described as simple "Unconditional love." But it's really more than that. It's ALWAYS putting first the person whom you love. Also, contrary to what the average teenager in today's culture thinks, love is not a feeling. It's a choice. Love is not based on emotions. It is a choice. Emotions are definitely a part of it. It is easier to make the choice to love someone probably if you've got some feelings for them, but basing your love for someone solely on emotions is misguided. And in my opinion, it is stupid for someone to be in a relationship with someone of the opposite sex simply because they "have feelings for them." That's stupid. You know why? If your relationship is based solely on feelings and not on a choice of any kind. There is no real commitment, and when the feelings for them die, so does the relationship. I've seen it happen multiple times with my friends. All in all, Jim Argue was a very very good speaker and really "Knows his stuff."
This week, we've got a speaker named Chris Austin. Chris' teaching style is vastly different than Jim Argue's. Jim gave us a lot of word definitions and had powerpoint presentations and basically had everything layed out in points. Chris tends to take a topic and examine it very thouroughly, but not to where you can take detailed notes on what he is teaching. His topic for the week is basically "Embracing God's design." And i have to tell you guys something that happened on tuesday. We went on a hike for class. Not that that was class, but class happened where we hiked to. The grammar of that sentence sucks but it works. We had class out in the woods. Anyway, the topic for the day was dreaming. Not dreaming while you're asleep, but dreaming about the future. Like.....things you've always wanted to do. For example, one of my dreams is to have a Ferrari. Just things that you've always wanted to do and thought about a lot. Well, he told us to take some time and go off by ourselves and write down our dreams and put stars by our top five. Well, i found a couple of trees and as i was sitting down between them.....i can only describe it as an incredible outpouring of God's love. I believe that He literally laid my life for the next 5-10 years out in front of me. It's totally amazing. For one reason especially.....it makes perfect sense.....I can't tell you the whole thing right now for a reason that i will not reveal. But i can tell you that i'm almost certainly not going to attend LeTourneau University in Longview Texas (Sorry Evan!). I believe that after i finish my DTS, God wants me to enlist in the Air Force as a pilot. That's where i'm going to get my flight training. Plus, they'll pay for me to go to college. Something i'm sure my parents will be happy to hear. That's really as far as i can go with what God told me. If i tell you guys any further, bad things will happen. Just let me say that it is a completely and totally amazing future. And i believe that it is totally within God's will. He literally took my breath away.
Ok, so back to Chris Austin. He had us go away and write down our dreams, things we've always wanted to do. Among mine were win 10,000 people to Christ (And by 'win' i mean pray with), own a Ferrari, go to every game in an Avs season, meet and have my picture taken with David Phelps, have an on the glass seat at an Avs game, get a P.h.D. in something, and land a plane in a village where you can't tell the runway is even a runway. So Chris was an awesome speaker. Today, the last day, he had a seat up at the front of the room and he had all of us (Meaning Sara, myself, Steven, Megan, Lindsey and Charity, and eventually him) sit in the chair and everyone else gathered around and prayed over that person. It was incredible. Most of the prayer over me was for my stuttering. It's the only time i can ever remember crying that much and not caring in the slightest about who saw it. So all in all, Chris was a very very good speaker who communicated his message very well without using a whole lot of big words or phrases.
Ok, so my mom told me tonight that my brother Josiah was in a car accident tonight, so i'd really appreciate it if you'd all be praying. He's ok and everything, but i'd just really appreciate your prayers. And mom, if this ever happens again, please don't just tell me that he was in an accident. You could have at least told me that he was ok. You had me scared to death. No one in our family has ever been in an accident since i can remember, so it was kinda a new experience for me. You can ask the people i was with. I was majorly zoning out. Like everyone was asking if i was ok. Then everyone gathered around me and we prayed for the situation. So that made me feel a whole lot better.
We went and saw "Fireproof" tonight. Amazing movie. I don't care if the acting wasn't top notch or if there weren't any top-tier actors or actresses in it. It was an amazing movie with an incredible message. If you haven't seen it, please, go see it. It's worth whatever you pay to get in to the theatre.
So yah, that's pretty much how my time has been being spent up here. Sometime soon i'll post what i do in a typical day. It's pretty elaborate. I appreciate all your prayers. Love you all!
Ok, i said that i'd tell you people about what i'm learning, so here goes. The first week of actual lectures from people off-base brought a guy named Jim Argue up here. His theme for the entire week was "God is Love." He said that because God IS love, that what He is determines what He does. He also said that because God is love, all the laws he makes for us are love laws. He spoke on Agape love, which he defined as "Choosing for the highest good of the object of your affection." That was really a broader definition than i'd ever heard. I'd always heard it described as simple "Unconditional love." But it's really more than that. It's ALWAYS putting first the person whom you love. Also, contrary to what the average teenager in today's culture thinks, love is not a feeling. It's a choice. Love is not based on emotions. It is a choice. Emotions are definitely a part of it. It is easier to make the choice to love someone probably if you've got some feelings for them, but basing your love for someone solely on emotions is misguided. And in my opinion, it is stupid for someone to be in a relationship with someone of the opposite sex simply because they "have feelings for them." That's stupid. You know why? If your relationship is based solely on feelings and not on a choice of any kind. There is no real commitment, and when the feelings for them die, so does the relationship. I've seen it happen multiple times with my friends. All in all, Jim Argue was a very very good speaker and really "Knows his stuff."
This week, we've got a speaker named Chris Austin. Chris' teaching style is vastly different than Jim Argue's. Jim gave us a lot of word definitions and had powerpoint presentations and basically had everything layed out in points. Chris tends to take a topic and examine it very thouroughly, but not to where you can take detailed notes on what he is teaching. His topic for the week is basically "Embracing God's design." And i have to tell you guys something that happened on tuesday. We went on a hike for class. Not that that was class, but class happened where we hiked to. The grammar of that sentence sucks but it works. We had class out in the woods. Anyway, the topic for the day was dreaming. Not dreaming while you're asleep, but dreaming about the future. Like.....things you've always wanted to do. For example, one of my dreams is to have a Ferrari. Just things that you've always wanted to do and thought about a lot. Well, he told us to take some time and go off by ourselves and write down our dreams and put stars by our top five. Well, i found a couple of trees and as i was sitting down between them.....i can only describe it as an incredible outpouring of God's love. I believe that He literally laid my life for the next 5-10 years out in front of me. It's totally amazing. For one reason especially.....it makes perfect sense.....I can't tell you the whole thing right now for a reason that i will not reveal. But i can tell you that i'm almost certainly not going to attend LeTourneau University in Longview Texas (Sorry Evan!). I believe that after i finish my DTS, God wants me to enlist in the Air Force as a pilot. That's where i'm going to get my flight training. Plus, they'll pay for me to go to college. Something i'm sure my parents will be happy to hear. That's really as far as i can go with what God told me. If i tell you guys any further, bad things will happen. Just let me say that it is a completely and totally amazing future. And i believe that it is totally within God's will. He literally took my breath away.
Ok, so back to Chris Austin. He had us go away and write down our dreams, things we've always wanted to do. Among mine were win 10,000 people to Christ (And by 'win' i mean pray with), own a Ferrari, go to every game in an Avs season, meet and have my picture taken with David Phelps, have an on the glass seat at an Avs game, get a P.h.D. in something, and land a plane in a village where you can't tell the runway is even a runway. So Chris was an awesome speaker. Today, the last day, he had a seat up at the front of the room and he had all of us (Meaning Sara, myself, Steven, Megan, Lindsey and Charity, and eventually him) sit in the chair and everyone else gathered around and prayed over that person. It was incredible. Most of the prayer over me was for my stuttering. It's the only time i can ever remember crying that much and not caring in the slightest about who saw it. So all in all, Chris was a very very good speaker who communicated his message very well without using a whole lot of big words or phrases.
Ok, so my mom told me tonight that my brother Josiah was in a car accident tonight, so i'd really appreciate it if you'd all be praying. He's ok and everything, but i'd just really appreciate your prayers. And mom, if this ever happens again, please don't just tell me that he was in an accident. You could have at least told me that he was ok. You had me scared to death. No one in our family has ever been in an accident since i can remember, so it was kinda a new experience for me. You can ask the people i was with. I was majorly zoning out. Like everyone was asking if i was ok. Then everyone gathered around me and we prayed for the situation. So that made me feel a whole lot better.
We went and saw "Fireproof" tonight. Amazing movie. I don't care if the acting wasn't top notch or if there weren't any top-tier actors or actresses in it. It was an amazing movie with an incredible message. If you haven't seen it, please, go see it. It's worth whatever you pay to get in to the theatre.
So yah, that's pretty much how my time has been being spent up here. Sometime soon i'll post what i do in a typical day. It's pretty elaborate. I appreciate all your prayers. Love you all!
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