carolina on my mind...

this is mostly in response to fre$h...but feel free to comment

im gonna be goin to NC Aug. 3 thats next wed for the lay people out there. i hope that you will all consider the remarks of fre$h and how converting could great improve your life situations.

actually im asking for your prayers for save travel and patiences as this will be the first time that i will be going back to my home church (not at all excited about). i chickened out during Christmas. and for those of you who dont know we just got a dog and she is going to be making the trip with us hope that goes well

if there is anything that yall feel like you would need from the great state of NC let me know and ill see if i can bring it back (ie. sundrop, cheerwine, livermush -- ill explain this one later, bbq slaw, homemade pickles, fish from a fish camp etc.)

i was blown away

lemme just start by saying im not sure why i feel the need to post this...i thought it could give some encouragement.

so yesterday i preached at the homeless shelter here in town. dont get your hopes up. i dont have a number for how many people got saved, made professions of faith, or decided to rededicate something, ask jesus into their hearts, etc. (sorry SBC). but i did have some great conversations with a few guys. one had been in prison for about 9 years and while there became a christian and i think memorized the bible. he was more knowledgable about it than i could ever hope to be. that gave me some great hope in reaching these people that sometimes get looked over.

also i talked with a guy who was a former "crack head" (he called himself that so i feel comfortable using it). this man seemed to want to know about Jesus and soke up as much as he could that had anything to do with Christianity. this was great to see as well.

it was odd. i left that place feeling very unworthy and incappable of doing what God has called me to do but i felt a since of comfort too. weird i know.

i guess really what im saying is it was great to experience new communitees of people in a new place in different situations. it was extremely refreashing to actually do some ministry outside of what i am used to.

Hey Guys

Sorry I have been out for a while. Hope all is well with everyone. I am currently taking the CPO class and boy I can't wait until it is over. Because it is during the summer we go to a nursing home instead of the hospital. Its so frustrating because very few of them can hold a conversations with you. How do you minister to people who probably don't have the mental capacity to know who you are, what you're saying or that you even care? Is it ministry only if they can recognize it?

Thursday plans

I don't want to impose on you holla, but I just wanted to know if we were still going to "be getting up" (for the red neck NC boy in our group) on Thursday at your house. Just wanted to know if that was something we were still thinking about. It would be great for us I think. Also everyone remember to be in prayer for holla back this week with the temptation lesson. Later men........

The Dreaded "T" word

I remember when I first became a Christian I had a thought in my mind for a moment that I would never have temptations to do anything sinful again. No more thoughts about sex, no more jealous attitudes and no more bad language, whether cussing or negative language directed towards someone. I thought everything would change from that moment on. It only took me walking out of the sanctuary at the summer camp and seeing a good-looking high school girl to realize that my life had a different purpose but my temptations were not going anywhere. The other day at lunch we talked about temptation and the effects it has on our lives. I have been thinking about it alot since then and there are a few comments I want to post to let you know (and holla back I hope this may get some thoughts rolling in your mind)...

1. The real question behind temptation is not whether or not we want to do something evil or sinful.....the real question is, what am I going to do with my life? The point behind this question is that when we ask ourselves what we are going to do with our lives in actuality we should be asking what is God's will for our lives. He desires for us to live lives that are holy, faithful and full of integrity. Wow, how I fall short of that so many times.
2. Real temptation is when you do not know right from wrong. It goes back to the first thought....it is not only a matter of resisting wrong and doing right. It is also finding a way to God's will for our lives and not only our own selfish ways for our lives.
3. I always thought of temptation to be a struggle between myself and Satan, but I want to put this idea out there and let you all run with it.....Could our struggle over temptation have very little to do with Satan and more to do with us following God's plan for our lives?

These are just some thoughts that I had over the last couple of days. If these are things that I should have known from VBS and just missed then please feel free to punk me and let me know that. The only way I will learn is to put these things out there and it is nice to have a group that I could do this with.

God bless each of you and my prayers are with you.......