all wired up

God doesn't call the equipped. He equips the called.

WIRED 2010............15 hours away.

You're the God of this city
You're the King of these people
You're the Lord of this nation
You Are

You're the light in this darkness
You're the hope to the hopeless
You're the peace to the restless
You are

For there is no one like our God
There is no one like You God

For greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done
In this city
Greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done here

You're the Lord of Creation
The Creator of all things
You're the King above all kings
You Are

You're the strength in our weakness
You're the love to the broken
You're the joy in the sadness
You Are

For greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done
In this city
Greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done here

wiggidy wiggidy whack

This blog is gonna be HARDCORE! Most random one I will do, I betcha. Just a heads up. :)

It's one in the morning and I'm not tired! Excitement is running through my veins!!! t-minus a day and a half until the kick off of WIRED 2010. CHYEAHHHH! I just talked to Jenna on the phone, who is in New Mexico at the moment. Crazy! I'm watching King of the Hill, which is super funny, one of my favs! I've decided that I'm not gonna listen to Gaga anymore, really. Seriously though, her music is awful and it's taken me forever to finally realize it. It's not good for me! I have to be in the good stuff. Along with Gaga, I'm avoiding any other music that has a bad message or music that has foul language in it. It's nonsense!

Morgan comes back from Peru tomorrow, or really today. lol. I'm ready to see her face! I miss her!! It stormed here tonight...for real. The thunder scared me! I got another lava lamp tonight in Dothan that is extra trippy. Pink lava! I have my classic one that I got like ten years ago, but it's gigantic. I don't wanna mess it up too...not taking it to the grove. I got my first taste of crime in journalism today...exciting! A break-in happened in Headland, so I had to write an article on it. Crazy crazy. Whoa, this new gum I'm chewing...it's weird. It started off being citrus, now it's mint. I don't know how I feel about that!!

I seriously looked at around 250 pictures of oil spill effects and it really hit me how major this thing is! It makes me sad. Most of the pictures I saw were from Orange Beach and Gulf Shores. Double sad!! Super close to Mobile. Speaking of Mobile I miss it! And all my friends! I haven't seen Erika's face in basically two whole months. I miss my bff! I'm glad I got to see Shannon and Maria a couple of weeks ago, but also I still miss KJ, BJ, and Sam and all the rest of the BCMers real bad. Can't wait for the fall and for all the BCM stuff to start back up!

FiSH groups are gonna rock! Autumn is also teaching with me and Mo, which will be great. I'm ready to meet some new freshies. It's weird I won't be considered one anymore. Time flies!! OH MY GOSH, Toy Story 3 was EPICCCCC. Me and Chance went to see it and we cried like babiesss. Such a good movie with a great ending. A happy ending that made us cry! I wanna see Jonah Hex, and Grown Ups! My next two movies I wanna see in theaters.

Well, I guess I'll end this blog. It's already went incredibly too far...haha.

PEACE!

in this city

First night of WIRED training, in the bag. One word to describe it so far? AMAZING.

Through one night of going through the bible study we will be teaching, I can already see how God is going to work in all of the kids coming to the camp and just how much this camp will impact me in more ways than one. Mark Anderson is one of my new favorite people. He is much more than the WIRED coordinator and director. His passion for the Lord's work and his vision for WIRED every year excites me to be involved in such an important ministry for our area.

765

--the number of youth coming to WIRED 2010.

59

--the number of tract leaders for WIRED 2010.

If this camp isn't God's will, I don't know what it is. To have that many kids come together for a week of worship, bible study, and helping their communities, it's astounding to me. I'm certain that God is going to work wonders in all 765 of the youth and all 59 of us tract leaders.

In Rhythm With God-

I was at first skeptical about this being our theme for the week and the bible study, because I wasn't sure exactly what it entailed. Tonight, we dug deep into the meaning behind that title and then continued to discuss the first two days of study we would be teaching.

What is rhythm? Many would say it is closely related to music. It is. Without rhythm, music would be nothing, as it is the backbone for every aspect that makes up music. It's the drive, the constant, and has more impact than one can think. By yourself, or with others you can set the rhythm and carry it out. When we are in rhythm with God, it makes the world want to play the song. A heartbeat is also in close relation with rhythm. Can we function with a heartbeat that is irregular? Without a constant, regular heartbeat, our body functions would cease and we would die. If you are with someone for a while, both of your heartbeats begin to sync up and have the same rhythm. Should our hearts be in rhythm with the world, irregular, and damaging? Or should our hearts be in rhythm with God? God often has to get the electric pads after us...

Forgiveness-day one

"For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."

-2 Corinthians 5:21

It takes alot for us to truly forgive someone. Just think about it. A situation occurs and we may say that we forgive that person, but does it really go away? It is always at the back of our minds. And forget about literally forgetting about it. Understanding and accepting God's forgiveness is the beginning to a meaningful walk with Jesus. When we fully realize the forgiveness from God, an overwhelming sense of obedience occurs. Taking God at His word, is key. Trust is a difficult thing for us. It takes an amazing amount of time to build a trusting relationship with someone. We must trust God with everything. Do we truly have the type of faith where we place all of our weight on Jesus? This has to be personal and our everyday goal.

The slow fade-day two

"Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful; But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night."

-Psalm 1:1-2

Basic things we may "delight" in could be music, friends, video games, sports, etc. In everything we do, we must "delight in the law of the Lord". This is absorbing infinitely wise counsel. The things we like in this world constantly change. The foods we eat, the music we listen to, etc. These things may influence us in ways that we wouldn't normally go, which causes people to fall from their mistakes. Any Christian can fall! We know our weaknesses. God knows them. Satan knows them. He will continually push our buttons to see us fail and trip up. The people we surround ourselves with can affect us more than we know. We are who our friends are and our friends mold our thoughts, tastes, and even our patterns of speech. The things we allow in our heads and hearts now will affect our choices...tomorrow. We have to stay focused and keep our counsel wise.

On the drive home, I cranked up some Chris Tomlin. One song stood out to me...

"For greater things have yet to come, greater things are still to be done in this city."

824 people. one week. greater things will be done in this city...

There is no one like our God.

follow the rhythm

This time next week I'll be getting ready for WIRED training.

pure EXCITEMENT!!!!

The bible study for WIRED was emailed to me today and it's gonna be GREAT! I have skimmed through it for now and it's definitely gonna be a study that I will benefit alot from. The theme for the week is "In Rhythm with God" and the study is coming out of a book by Mark Hall. When I skimmed through it, I saw a section on abiding in Christ. Hello! Abiding in Christ was a big part of everything I studied and prayed about last semester from different studies to stuff that Jerrod emphasized at different times. It really excites me about what God is showing me though all the stuff I've been reading the past year. Everything is overlapping to the one theme-abide and overflow. :)

P.S.-my daily devotion was entitled "Abide in Me" Crazyness.

Just being back in Mobile for a couple of days just makes me realize for the 23402897345th time how much I really love it down there. Don't get me wrong, I love Headland with all my heart and always will...but Mobile is amazing. And I know I've said that like forty two billion times too.

Once again, I say my weekend was great! I got back to Headland this morning, had to leave Mobtown around 8am. Boy am I tired! And man was it hot today...I really dread how hot it will be in August. Yay for band camp...and yes, that was sarcasm. Boo. Back to my weekend though...my favorite part was just catching up with Mariaaaa. We had lots to talk about! She told me about her new jobs and I told her about mine. We quoted Mean Girls, SNL, etc, as usual. And just talked about random stuff too. One of the best weekends I've had in a while.

"So fetch!!"

run forrest, run!

Weekends are for the warriors.

My weekend officially started Thursday afternoon at 3 o'clock and it has been amazing the whole time! I had a good drive down to Mobile, no traffic hardly, good jams on my iPod going. And did I mention that I DROVE THE CAMARO DOWN?! That thing is sweeeeet on the interstate. If I wasn't so paranoid about cops and getting a ticket, I could have easily made it to Mobile in under three hours for sure. Maria has officially named it the Batmobile and well, the Batmobile can FLY.

I finally got some Foo's in system...first meal I had while in Mobile. I got to see Shanny, which was good! After that, I headed over to UM and the crazy night began. Three words: KRIS ALLEN CONCERT!!! Me, Jess, Kassidy, Kristen, and Joseph headed to the Soul Kitchen for a great night of good music and lots of fun. Green River Ordinance was the opening act and they were pretty good. Not absolutely amazing, but good. I'd buy their cd. Kris Allen & his band hopped up on stage and sang "With a Little Help From My Friends" with the guys from GRO and that was an instant hit with me, considering Beatlemania runs through my veins. GRO left, Kris finally went on. He puts on a good concert. I'm not gonna lie, I didn't really know any of his songs except the one single he's had on the radio, but at the end of concert, for his encore he sang "Come Together" Yep, that's when I fell in love. You can't beat that he sang Kanye's "Heartless" and Michael Jackson's "Man in the Mirror" too! Awesome. We took some good pictures and we're now basically bff with one of Kris Allen's guitarists...which equals a good night to me.

I was off to Linden on Friday! Let me just say I was quite shocked upon arrival. I didn't know somewhere could be so far out...seriously. And I thought Tumbleton was in the middle of nowhere. It was so beautiful where we were at too! A giant lake with a dock behind the house and the house was the coolest ever. It was STRAIGHT OUTTA the 70s. For real! The wallpaper. The carpet. I loved it. Nothing to do there, so we chilled the whole time and watched some good movies. All with my best friend too! I missed Maria real bad! We watched Rent, Mean Girls, Return to Me, and You've Got Mail. Good stuff.

Now I'm back at UM, staying the night, heading back home tomorrow. :( I wish I could stay in Mobile the rest of my summer. Oh well! August 11th can't come sooner! Boo on band camp though.

Oh and hey Kassidy if you're reading this! haha

money honey

I've got the Gaga flowing, about to start a bracelet, and sippin' on a berry blue Kool-Aid Burst. And I hope everyone is ready for the most random blog in the history of blogs...

I bought the MOST INCREDIBLE earphones yesterday on eBay. Let's hope they aren't fake. Monster Heartbeats, designed by Lady Gaga. They are seriously the coolest earphones I will ever be in contact with! I decided to share a photo. :) I can't wait until I receive them in the mail. Seriously! Nabbed these at almost $40, when they are regularly $120. Now that's a deal. Gracias eBay, gracias.

Nothing is really better than having some good quality time with old friends! The girls, minus Jenny, had a pizza/movie night at Kerri's house tonight. It was nice and chill; I really enjoyed it. Got to see cute little baby Brayden too! It's crazy how time flies. Last time I saw that kid, was a couple of weeks after he was born, in December. Tonight was the first time I've seen him, since December and he is growing up fast. Absolutely crazy! Loved spending time with my friends.

My Mobile trip plans keep on changing!! First, I was planning on going this next weekend, the 11th-13th. I changed that, for the next weekend, because I wanted to see Toy Story with all of my buds! But, now I'm changing it again. haha. Maria asked me to go to Linden with her the 11th-13th, and I'm seriously considering heading down to Mobile this next weekend and going with her. I need a weekend with my bestie! I really doubt my mom would let me go to Mobile two weekends in a row too. :( I most likely will just go with Maria and maybe I can see some people before we head to Linden! This of course must pass through work and the Jill...

WIRED training t-minus two weeks. Actual WIRED t-minus three. YESSSIR.

I'm about to watch either the Lovely Bones and/or the Time Traveler's Wife. Both are awesome! Saw them both in theaters. How could I forget the movie experiences that went with them either...

-Time Traveler's Wife: saw it with Jess and all the UM folks, I'm fairly certain that all of us were crying like babies! I know I was...why did he have to die?? Boo.

-Lovely Bones: Must I say more? Just saying "The Lovely Bones" frightens or makes my group of friends mad. hahaha. They all hated it besides me! And were scared for days. Erika couldn't even sleep in her dorm that night, had to stay with Mo. lol. CRACKS ME UP. It wasn't scary! Mr. Harvey was a legittttt creeper though. Forreals.

from the clouds

I set four goals for today, yesterday. I didn't accomplish all four, but I blame that on the rain! The only one I didn't get done was to find an arrowhead at Mama Sue's flint bed. Oh well. My other three goals which were more important, I got done! I didn't get on any of my social networks all day and turned off my Twitter updates, which I get like every five seconds on my phone on a regular day. I can gladly say that not being on them for the majority of my day cleared my mind and helped me focus on alot more of the stuff I should be focused on.

I started my leadership book and it is amazing. It's a day to day study, but I did two studies today because it was so interesting! So far, it's about the relationship between the true vine and the branches, which is God and us. I love it! I also started looking over my FiSH group stuff for the fall. It's also great! I am excited for those to start as well! I look forward to meeting incoming freshmen and building relationships with them. I have a feeling that leading a FiSH group is going to be completely awesome! Plus, I get to teach it with Mo...how could that not be awesome? I hope that our Fishies will love it as much as I loved my group. I will certainly never forget my FiSH group, ever. :)

I just bought Jack Johnson's new album, "To the Sea" and it is one of the best albums I've bought in a while. Seriously. His sound has definitely changed from his last album, from a mainly acoustic sound to now, which is a tad bit more electric and blues-ish. Very nice indeed. I would absolutely die if I was able to see him in concert. The closest he ever comes though, is Atlanta. I can't make that though. Especially while I'm in Mobile. :(

my paper heart

My excitement for WIRED 2010 has not decreased, let me tell you...I get more excited every day it gets closer. As my excitement progresses, a little nervousness does arrive though. I know God will get me through the nervous part though, for the awesome experience ahead! It's really amazing how much you think about when walking on a treadmill. Really. I hit up the gym tonight, had that Francesca Battistelli blasting, and walked a little over two miles! Good for not doing anything the past month except watching tv and playing Rockband. :)

Anyways, with all of my treadmill thinking, I have made the following goals for tomorrow:

1. Go to Mama Sue's flint bed tomorrow afternoon and find an arrowhead.

2. No Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube all day.

3. Absolutely dive into the word and start reading a couple of the books/studies I have decided to do this summer.

4. Pray, pray, pray.

This is all I must accomplish! It's going down.

One other thing-

I have once again crossed out another thing on my twenty goals for the summer!! I got my first paycheck last Friday. Half of it I put in an envelope...my Guatemala stash! I've now officially started to save up for it! Woo :)

17 to go...