Friday, July 30, 2010

adieu, adieu

So, I just had to write a farewell column for the Voice. Here it is! :)


May 17th, 12:30 p.m.-my first, official day working at the Headland Voice. I will be honest in saying that I was more nervous than a kid on her first day of Kindergarten. I had a good idea of what to expect, but then again, there were other parts of this job, as feature writer that I did not.
Starting out at South Alabama last fall, I was majoring in biomedical sciences, and then planned on going to optometry school, to become an optometrist. Halfway into my first semester of college, I decided that this plan wasn’t for me.
Majoring in journalism, while in college, had always been at the back of my mind, but I never really had thought of pursuing it. I decided to go for it and change my major to communication, with a concentration in print journalism. After, it was officially changed, I knew then, that this was what I was supposed to do from the very beginning. As much as I knew that this was the major for me, I hardly knew anything about writing in newspapers at all. I have always loved to write all my life, but I had no idea about the logistics of doing it in a newspaper.
What could be better than working at my own hometown’s newspaper for a whole summer to get experience in this field? The answer is nothing. The convenience of being at home with my family, having a job, and learning more about what the career I want to pursue are the ingredients to a productive and good summer.
If you know me, you will surely know that I am not the loudest person on the planet, and I am also a little bit shy in some ways. Through writing for the Voice though, I have definitely became more outgoing in more ways than one. With the interviews, phone calls, and such that I have done with the people in this community, I have not only become more accustomed to interacting with people, I have also grown even more attached to Headland and all of its people. The relationships that I have built with the people in this town through this experience will be lifelong.
Working at the Voice this summer, has been one of the best experiences for me. Learning a lot of the aspects of a newspaper has helped me greatly. I already knew that I for sure wanted to go into a career of journalism, but these last two and a half months have ensured my plans.


Monday, July 26, 2010

think twice

So, I started a music blog back in the day. Well, like six months ago, so that's technically not back in the day. It kinda was an epic fail, because no one read it, so that made me quit writing. Also, I didn't have a lot of time to write stuff. I totally have enough time now, but I don't know if I should. You reading this-tell me what I should do! I have 8 followers on this here blog, but 0 people probably read this...haha. Drop me some feedback, straight up like eBay. (That would only make sense to frequent eBayers, like myself so hahaha to myself *I'm lame.) P.S. speaking of music, my YouTube channel is moving on up! Almost 4,000 views, 15 subscribers, and lately I've been getting a couple of comments ever now and then. LOVE! I might not have to worry about college; I'd be okay with being a YouTube celeb the rest of my life. Just sayin.

VBS started tonight! It's shorter every night, than what BBC usually does, but that's because they are renovating a lot of rooms in the church, so space is limited. It was still awesome though! Mom and I have second graders and I was thinking before that I'd have to write a blog about how much I can't stand second graders, but I don't have to. Our 12 kids are so good! Last year, we had second grade, and let me tell you, I can't believe I am here writing this blog to you. That whole class made me wanna scream HOLY HECK every 5 seconds. But, I can't wait til night 2! Ready to learn some more Saddle Ridge Ranch songs...CHYEAH BOIIII.

I've been outta high school for what, a whole year, and yet, I still get recruited to help with the band. baha. So after work tomorrow, I have to make an appearance at band camp to help the t'bones. LOVELY. The upside of it all, is this: THEY ARE PLAYING A CHICAGO SHOW! HECK TO THE YESSSSSSS. Love it.

Oh and I realize I never really have explained this, but my blog titles are always the song I am listening to at the moment usually...heads up. haha. So that's why they are usually cray cray and have nothing to do with my blog at the time. Why? Cuz that's how I roll...
Peace. Holla. Word to ya motha.

molded clay

Today had a theme. It seemed to revolve around one single word! And this word is revival. This morning at church, Bro. Norman's sermon was on the subject of revival. He talked about the renewal of ourselves and the restoration of worship. It was great! It was a very interesting sermon. The songs that we sang to worship, also accompanied the sermon very well. One stuck out to me!


You are the potter,
I am the clay,
Mold me and make me,
This is what I pray

Change my heart, oh God,
Make it ever true,
Change my heart, oh God
May I be like You


LOVE IT! For reals. But anyways, I also went to an actual revival at Mama Sue's church. Pretty good! I really enjoy going to her church. The people there are amazing, and they all know me well. It's super small. The number of people that are usually there is a little under 20 or so. The pastor spoke tonight about doubt and prayer. I have been faced with doubts many times and prayer is still a big issue with me right now. It's something, I'm definitely working on...still, so this sermon was just for me.

SADDLE RIDGE RANCH! TOMORROW! I cannot wait for vacation bible school to start tomorrow night...it's gonna be great! Mom and I have the second graders and don't you know that'll be loads upon loads of fun. baha. We had the same age group last year and it was CRAY CRAYYY. I love kids though! They always crack me up.

Last week of work is this week. :(
Hope it's good! I have to write a farewell column...I have NO IDEA what I'm gonna say. lol. Maybe the words will come to me, before Tuesday.

BTdub......Chance and I saw Salt Friday night and it was AMAZING. FO REAL. Best movie I've seen in a long while. Seriously. I look forward to seeing that one again. I know it's just a movie, but it kinda makes me question the CIA in real life, really. What if there is a spy in our CIA right now, plotting against us? AH!!!!!!!! Anywho, that was a fun night. Yogurt Kraze amazed me again. Birthday cake and cookies 'n cream ice cream, topped off with cheesecake bites, Oreos, and hot fudge. Chyeahhhh boi.

Thursday, July 22, 2010

landslide

It's so weird that you can have a pretty good day, on a day that was the worst day ever three years ago. It kinda feels wrong in a way. There's not a day that goes by that something doesn't make me think of Gramps and how much I miss him. Just last night, I found a picture of him that made me smile. It was a typical photo of him, that funny face he always made when someone would take a picture of him. He was the best. :)
A little sense of sadness has been with me all day, but not enough to ruin my whole day, and I'm sure that Gramps wouldn't want that at all. I know he wouldn't. He was one of those people that made sure I was having a good day and never wanted to see me or anyone else down. That was by far my favorite thing about him.
I've had a pretty good day seeing a lot of my fam! I went and got my haircut, at my cousin's place in Abbeville, so I got to see her and my other cousin, Kade. Such a cutie! By the way, love my hair. Anyways, ate lunch with Mom, then came back to my house and hung out/played with Madison. Madison and I had a nice little chat about her starting school in the fall. She'll be a big girl going to Kindergarten! It's been great seeing that little kid grow up; I remember the day she was born. I'm getting old! haha.
Also, I FINALLY got my new capo for my guitars/mandolin today in mail. Stupid eBay had to take 48 years to deliver it and I just HAD to lose my other one. Jeese. Oh, and I got a postcard from Erika in Myrtle Beach. Made my day! Can't wait to see her face in August!! Plus, I can't wait to see everyone...ah excitement!!!

Monday, July 19, 2010

hello sunshine

Man, Lisa is really piling on the articles on me this week! CRAZINESS. I have five days of work left, and I'm happy and sad about it. This has been a GREAT experience for me. I'm pretty set on journalism now. I know I want to do it. I'm not gonna lie; When I started this job, I knew I would hate it by the end and I'd end up changing my major. I can't tell you the amount of people that's told me I won't be able to find a job with my degree. And you know what? I really don't care what they say and I'm really not worried about it at all. Shocker right? Taylor's not worried? Yes. I'm not worried about it. I'm not being a worrying Wanda about this! I am certain that God has a plan for me in this, and He'll take care of me, so why worry when I am in God's hands? Nonsense!
Anyways, back to the articles I have to write this week. Three total! I have one done so far. The other two will be done as soon as I call two people. The first one is super interesting and it's personal. It's involving Tumbleton. WHAT! haha. I went and talked with Larry Smith, the king of history in Henry County, about reclaimed cemeteries. That's what the article is about, these cemeteries in Tumbleton. Hands down, Mr. Smith is one of the coolest and sweetest guys I've ever met! He is one of my new heroes. He makes me want to change my major to history and be just like him...lol. We talked for over an hour about abandoned cemeteries and what not and of course got off subject to talk about other things historically important in Tumbleton. It was extra interesting for sure! Who knew that there were 190 cemeteries in Henry County...crazy. I even asked him about the dowsing that I wanted to try out. It works! I'm definitely gonna try it out on some of Mama Sue's land sometimes this week. I am certain that there are some Indian burial grounds around her house. I've heard it through the grapevine! Excitement. Definitely not at night though...creepy.
The next issue of the paper, next Wednesday is going to be focused on education issues, sorta like a back to school issue. I'm writing about the basketball coach change and the new ram statue going where the anchor was! Therefore, I'll have to have a nice little chat with Mr. Coe...joy joy.

T-minus 3 weeks and one day until I move back to Mobile...it could not come any sooner.

Saturday, July 17, 2010

yee haw!

So, this afternoon for around four hours (yes, I said four hours), me and Mom watched the 100 Greatest Videos on CMT! I know...shocker right? Taylor Hamm watching CMT? It's true and I enjoyed it, if you can believe that. Most people think I absolutely despise everything that has to do with country music, but this is not the case! I like it, but I just don't listen to it 24/7 and it's not my all-time favorite type of music. Also, there are a couple of artists in country, I just can't stand. haha. But anyways, since watching the countdown, I've found that I like country more than I thought. Weird, huh? Anyways, at the moment, I am listening to the Man in Black, and I feel that I should list my ten favorite country songs of all-time. Most of them are older, because I like the oldies better! Also, most of these are favorites just because I have great memories attached to them. Here it goes! Oh the joys of having nothing to do on a Saturday night... :)

1. Folsom Prison Blues, by Johnny Cash
Why not start with my most favorite country artist of all-time? I love love love him. I hope everyone has seen Walk the Line, the movie about Cash. If not, hit me up and I will gladly watch it with you! It's one of my favorites.

***So, I just got back from Courtney's! A spontaneous movie night with her, Jenta, and Cathryn Jane. Jenna called right around the time I wrote "oh the joys of having nothing to do..." hahaha. I love those girls! So anyways, back on track with this country blog!

2. The Thunder Rolls, by Garth Brooks
I'm sure you know alot of country songs about people cheatin and stuff, well this is one of the finest! When I listen to it, I just wanna go uh oh Garth, you best watch out, yo wife knows brother! Baha. I love this...it's so intense. The video is grrreat.

3. Does He Love You, by Reba McEntire (feat. Linda Davis)
I know, unlike the rest of the human population, Fancy is not my favorite Reba song. Don't shoot me! I love Fancy, but seriously, if I get down to any Reba song, it's this one. You'll find this on every one of my road trip playlists. I break out my pipes to sing this...

4. Paint Me a Birmingham, by Tracy Lawrence
Ah, if words could express how much I heart this song. My country accent definitely comes out while singing this, just saying. And it's recently became one of my favorites, just because Maria put in her own words. Shocking right? She never does that with any song. :) "Meet me in Headland, Mama Sue is baking bread, and so on..." It was pretty much epic.

5. All I Want to Do, by Sugarland
It was hard to narrow it down to just one Sugarland song on this list. LOVE THEM SO MUCH! It was between this one or Stay. This one won because of the memories of course! Good and bad. Storytime!! Jessica Dykes is the biggest Sugarland fan you'll meet, I'd bet money on that. This song just reminds me of the summer before she moved to Mobile, the summer we became really good friends and hung out like almost everyday! One of the best summers yet. Jenna and I couldn't listen to this song AT ALL, after she left. Seriously though, we both cried like babies when we said our goodbyes and of course this song came on after we did that, cried some more. Boo! The good overtakes the bad though. :)

6. Don't Take the Girl, by Tim McGraw
Honestly, who doesn't like this song? It's so sad! Great story in the song. So sweet! Another one that goes on my road trip playlist. Tim McGraw is just fabulous...love all his stuff.

7. Best I Ever Had, by Gary Allan
Another tear jerker indeed! It was originally a Vertical Horizon song, but I love Gary's so much better. So, I found this out today, Gary recorded this after his wife died a couple of years back. Definitely had to be hard for him. Props to him! Always been one of favorite country artists.

8. I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry, by Hank Williams
Oh Hank. You are a legend. The end. It's pretty funny to hear me try and sing this... :)

9. Whiskey Lullaby, by Brad Paisley & Alison Krauss
BEST SONG EVER. If I had this list in order from 10 to 1, 1 being the most favorite song. This would easily take it. Brad is amazing, and so is Alison. I would marry Brad in a heartbeat, too bad he's married. haha. I love every single song Brad does, as well as Alison. This is also a sad one! The video is awesome. Check it out! So, back in day, okay not too back in the day, like two years ago...haha. Anyways, two years or so ago, I'd have to take my cousin Morgan to school and take her home and stuff. She was in eighth grade, I was a junior. Seriously, every morning and every afternoon, we'd sing this in the car. Never was there a day where we wouldn't sing it. It's definitely an odd song to sing with your cousin, but it's our favorites!

10. Jesus Take the Wheel, by Carrie Underwood
Throwback Underwood I know...but no matter what songs she releases, this always seems to be my fav by Carrie! I always seem to forget she won Idol, weird. lol. So, I associate this song with my Gramps. You never would have thought that a 70 something year old man would have liked a song by an up and coming country star. You'd think he would have like good ol Hank, or George Jones, but no. He loved him some Jesus Take the Wheel. Oh Gramps. :) I miss him terribly. It will be three years since he has passed away next Thursday. Crazy how time flies. It seems like yesterday he was talking about fishing or the Braves. Love this song, just for that reason of remembering him.

Wow, it's 2:14 a.m. What shall I do?

I could always:
-play Tetris
-try to dominate a Rubik's Cube
-clean my room (LAST RESORT)
-read
-hang out with Mario & Luigi
-restring my baby acoustic guitar
-watch First Wives Club
-stare at my lava lamp
-organize my DVDs
-listen to the Beatles' on vinyl
-look for my capo that I lost (ughhh)
-browse on eBay
-make a new bracelet
-polish my trombone (only in those extreme band geek times)
-look at an old yearbook
-practice my Zampona
-draw
-drink some Sprite
-go to bed and think about how cray cray I am for writing this list of things to do

That last one sounds good.
HOLLAAAAAAAA

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

through smoke

It's been one of those days. The end.

Even when the rain falls
Even when the flood starts rising
Even when the storm comes
I am washed by the water

Even if the Earth crumbles under my feet
Even if the ones I love turn around and crucify me
I won't never ever let you down
won't fall, won't fall, won't fall as long as you're around me

Ironically, it flooded tonight...


"Friends love through all kinds of weather,
and families stick together in all kinds of trouble." -Proverbs 17:17

"Be agreeable, be sympathetic, be loving, be compassionate, be humble. That goes for all of you, no exceptions. No retaliation. No sharp-tongued sarcasm. Instead, bless—that's your job, to bless. You'll be a blessing and also get a blessing.
Whoever wants to embrace life
and see the day fill up with good,
Here's what you do:
Say nothing evil or hurtful;
Snub evil and cultivate good;
run after peace for all you're worth.
God looks on all this with approval,
listening and responding well to what he's asked;
But he turns his back
on those who do evil things." -1 Peter 3: 8-12




whaaaaaattttt?

You really can't find anything, anything at all, that is better than a good night, with good friends. As I look at all of the friends I have made over my nineteen years of life and how great they are, I am extremely thankful for them and for God placing them in my life! I've always realized this and have always been thankful for every single person in my life right now, but tonight made me be even more thankful.

Ice cream+Checkers+talks+scary movie+three crazy girls=best night ever. Jenna Singletary, Courtney Carr, and I had a BLAST tonight! It was probably the first time in a few months, all three of us had got together to hang out. The best part was just catching up with each other. We had to update each other on our lives! That plus the delish yogurt we had at California Yogurt Kraze was amazing. For real! That place was awesome. So glad Dothan decided to get a yogurt place like that.

The fun really started when we got back to Jenna's crib to watch a movie. A Christian horror movie at that. Who really knew they made those anyways? It was actually quite good. And freaky! It was about witchcraft, demons...and spiders. Why spiders? I don't know. I do know that I am paranoid about spiders now! We cracked up throughout the whole movie, then cracked up some more after it was done. Talk talk talk. That's all we did the whole night basically. It was great. :) I've missed those girls.

Monday, July 12, 2010

thank you for being a friend

I love the Golden Girls. Sincerely love them! And no, this isn't a blog devoted to the Golden Girls, but I'm watching them at this very moment and I figured I'd share that. :)
I seriously want to be a Golden Girl when I'm older. Maybe me, Erika, Maria, and Shannon? Possibly. Who knows! I just know that I want to grow old with three of my best friends just like they did. P.S. Rose is my fav! Def.
Anyways, this week is gonna be pretty chill, but still busy. I work four days this week! Lisa asked me today if I wanted to get some more hours in, and I said sure why not. I could use more money. It means I can save more of it for Guat, which I'm happy I've saved almost half for that!
Me and Mom have been getting together apartment stuff together like crazy. We got alot of good stuff this weekend in Mobile. Most of it was for my bathroom, but there was some stuff we got for my bedroom. I got a new wicked cool Beatles poster. Because I need another Beatles poster right? Right. haha. I don't think I'm going to be able to put up my giant trippy Beatles poster though. I don't think I'm gonna have a good spot to put it! Maybe I can though.
Tomorrow night, a much needed hang out with Courtney Carr and Jenna Singletary is going to take place! I'm pumped. Two of my most favorite people ever. :)

Sunday, July 11, 2010

no plan B

I can't say that I've ever read a book, such as Radical, that has challenged my faith as much as it has. After reading the last page, I just had a "wow" moment. A typical saying from reading a good book might be, "I can't put it down, it's so good!" While Radical was unbelievably good, as much as I wanted to, I wanted to put it down, because it was challenging me that much, but I didn't because I wanted to finish it and see how God was using this book to change my faith in different ways. To me, it was a big smack in the face and reality check.


Throughout the whole book, Platt is basically telling us why living radically is so important, while providing stories about people who are truly living it out. All of the stories are awesome and just convicting. One in particular, involves a small underground church that is Asia. Platt was a short term missionary in a part of Asia and encountered this underground community. The people there had really no one to educate them in the Word, so Platt did it. These people would leave their farms, which were everything to them to go underground to study the word. They abandoned everything to study the Bible everyday for two weeks, for hours upon hours everyday. After the two weeks, they had studied the whole entire Bible. When I finished reading about this underground church, I just stopped and thought: Have I ever been that hungry to study God's word? And the answer was no. These people gave up everything to just learn about His word and they had to do it secretly. I don't have to go through what they do to study God's word and I really take that for granted.

At the end of the book, Platt gives us the Radical Experiment, which if we choose to do it, will happen over the period of a year. He recommends five things to do.
1. Pray for the entire world.
2. Read through the entire Word.
3. Sacrifice your money for a specific purpose.
4. Spend your time in another context.
5. Commit your life to a multiplying community.

I've already started.

I could probably write forever about this book, but there is so much inside the cover that I could not even begin to talk about it all. Go get it! You'll want to put it down...

Saturday, July 10, 2010

kangaroo pouch yeah

If only I could explain that title to you...it's been one of those Taylor/Maria nights. hahaha.

Best night I've had in a while! Why? I got to see two of my favorite people. Maria and KJ! First off, I was with Maria most of the time, so that was fun. We never have a bad time when we hang out and there is never a dull moment! As KJ told us, we are crazy! And I'm cool with that. Glad I got to see KJ's face; I was beginning to forget what she looked like after two months of not seeing her. Craziness! It's just great being back in Mobile. I feel like I'm home, because it really has became my home the past year.
It was great hanging out with Maria and KJ tonight, but it made me realize how much I missed my other friends too! I'm so ready to just be back in routine and have all my homies back in my life. Seriously. I've seen most of my closest friends this summer, except for Miss Conn! And I miss her terribly. Why must she live so far away? Boo. I'm working on that teleporter for this very reason. :)
Me, Maria, and KJ saw Knight and Day tonight and it was aiight. Bad ending I think. Best part about the movie...seeing the preview for the new movie Shia is in. Love him! lol. I'm ready for another Transformers movie. Just sayin! Shopping tomorrow and hitting up the Grove again for another tour. Oh mothers...

Thursday, July 8, 2010

that's rad

I just started reading Radical, by David Platt and I can already tell that it's going to be a GREAT book! I read slow of course, so I'm not that much into it, but I've read a good chunk so far. David Platt is awesome, if you haven't heard about him. He's pastor at the Church at Brook Hills in Birmingham and has a passion for a ministry in disciple making. He is already challenging me in this book and I've only read almost 40 pages.
So far, it's talking about how we ought to be following Christ. We have to literally sacrifice everything if we're willing to be a disciple. He gave some biblical examples of people who had to sacrifice things in their life, that they weren't prepared for in order to be His disciple. It was a big wake up call for sure!
I went to College Connection tonight, which is a college bible study/praise and worship for students in the Wiregrass, every Thursday night. It was pretty great! The only thing that makes me sad about Bethlehem is that we don't have a college ministry, probably because there just aren't enough students for it. Being a part of the CC tonight was a good experience. I haven't been around alot of college kids like that in a while. It was fabulous. Funny thing is that I knew most of the people there already, because of WIRED. About 75% of the students there were tract leaders last week. Good stuff!
We discussed prayer and whether or not we were taught how to pray right, or use it the right way. Sometimes we pray, just wrong. We focus on ourselves too much and not on others in our prayer and then pray for stuff that we know that God won't give us, because we don't need it. Prayer has certainly been a thing that I've been struggling with lately, whether it be in front of people or by myself. I catch myself really just uttering words, without truly meaning them, and that's not a real conversation with God. Putting aside quiet time everyday for focused prayer is something I'm working on as we speak. It's not an option, so I need to stop making it last in my things to do for the day. I need to not feel obligated to do it, but something that I get to do.
Mobile this weekend. I'm pretty stoked! I get to see some of my friends and have some quality time with my mama! :)

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

gimme dat funky jesus music

I'ma slacker! Of keeping up with my summer goals checklist, that is! I need to check off a couple more things I've accomplished. :)

1. Reach the gold level on Beatles Rock Band. --I totally did this like three weeks ago. I'm sucha nerd! Once I got the gold icon, I jumped for joy. Seriously. Now, when I play with people online, I appear to be even more awesome, since I'm gold. You'd have to be a Beatles Rock Band geek to fully grasp this. It's basically like getting a gold medal in the Olympics of Rock Band. K? K.

2. Learn/get a new instrument. --CHYEAH! Guess what it is? A ZampoƱa, straight from Peru. It's totally legit. It's a panpipe instrument, sorta harmonica-ish, but also not harmonica-ish. lol. There are two parts to it. The longer part, the top, is called the arka. The shorter part, front, is called the ira. Both of these parts have different pitches, to either be played together or separate. For all you music theory geeks like me, it uses the diatonic scale, with the arca being tuned in G major and the ira tuned in e minor. It's sweet! I've got a sheet where it shows me how to play some songs, including Hey Jude. Yessssir! A shout out to the Peruvian herself, Morgan, for getting me this awesome addition to my instrument collection!!!

3. Be a ministry tract leader/chaperone for WIRED 2010. --BEST TWO WEEKS OF MY LIFE! Training was awesome, the actual camp itself was even awesomer. I wrote a whole blog devoted to a couple of days ago. Check it out if you haven't!

4. Go see Toy Story 3. --So good! Me and Chancey Poo went and saw it. We had tons of fun, just like we always do when we hang out! We both cried the last 15 minutes. Not because we were sad, but because it made us happy! We were sad that the Toy Story story was over though. Woody will always be my fav, along with Rex!!

5. Fly a kite. --This was an addition to my list. I meant to put it on first, but I forgot! The day I got back from WIRED, me, Mom, and Madison flew kites at Mama Sue's. We had a Toy Story one, a Spiderman one, and a Transformers one. They were SWEET! Definitely gonna do that again asap.


WHOA! Five things right there. Three already accomplished. Let's do the math.

5+3=8
20-8=12

12 things to go...with 32 days left until my summer's over.
IT'S GOING DOWN.

Sunday, July 4, 2010

are you in rhythm?

The week I have been waiting for all summer has come and gone. The past two weeks of training and the actual camp of WIRED will be two weeks that I will never, ever forget for the rest of my life. WIRED has been one of my favorite experiences of all time. From serving in the Wiregrass, to teaching a bible study for the first time, to every night of worship when hundreds of students surrendered to God. WIRED has truly touched my life in more ways than one and the time I have spent with my ministry tract team, along with my own church youth group is time that I will cherish forever.

My favorite part of the whole week was worship every night. There is nothing in this world I love more than good nights of worship. The band 33 Miles led worship every night. I had heard of them before WIRED, but now, I am very fond of them! Their attitude, passion for Christ, and overall music talent made the camp ten times better. The camp speaker for the week was Dave Edwards. He is one of my all time favorite speakers! I heard him speak at an Xtreme Conference in Panama City a couple of years ago and I instantly loved him. I was excited to hear he was coming to WIRED. He uses funny life experiences and comedy to hook people and uses all of that to relate it back to what he is talking about.

Next to worship, the dramas every morning in the morning worship were my second favorite. Each morning, some of the tract leaders would get together and do a skit, that connects and relates to the bible study we would do each day in our tract groups. They all basically centered around this one person. Sunday night's was mass chaos, but that's what it was suppose to be. To reinforce the whole them of being in rhythm with God, two tract leaders playing a guitar and bongo drums were playing in rhythm. While that was happening, all 55 other leaders ran up to the stage, making noise, playing other instruments out of rhythm with them. I played my harmonica! We all soon left, showing how they were in rhythm, while we weren't. It was a very good example. Monday morning's was the "Everything" drama from Lifehouse, and if you haven't seen that one, go look it up on YouTube. BEST ONE EVER. Tuesday's showed that slow fade in a Christian's relationship with God. Wednesday's showed how a Christian can be in the muddled middle and being comfortable in their sin. Thursday's was very much in your face. It demonstrated how the person was set and determined to get out of the muddled middle and surrender to God, by destroying all of their sin. Friday's showed how we need to see people in the world with God's love, once we have that intimate relationship with Him.

Chaperoning with Bethlehem was fun. I thought it would take some work, but we actually had more chaperones than girls staying in our room. haha. We stayed at First Baptist. A funny fact about staying at FBC: We had to use a shower trailer. haha. It was awful! I'm so grateful for my shower at home now. Really. I had to sleep on an air mattress all week, which wasn't that bad, but I missed my bed! Our youth group has good kids in it. They are crazy fun and wild, but good kids. I loved spending time with them.


Sunday:
It all began at 1 o'clock that day. As much as I wanted to tell myself that I wasn't nervous. I was. 10 of the 57 tract leaders met up at First Baptist in Dothan to begin preparing the rooms for the some of the youth and their chaperones to stay in. First off, FBC is pretty much huge, so disassembling all the rooms was a time consuming job! We spent about an hour doing that, had some chill time, then the thirteen churches that stayed their began arriving. All us tract leaders were basically tour guides that afternoon. We had to show them around, tell them the rules, etc. The "pizza blast" was set to kick off that night, which started the whole week off. After feeding all 760 kids (which was madness by the way) we split up into our ministry tract teams. There were around 15 social ministry teams, 20 children's ministry teams, and 20 something construction teams. I was blessed by being a leader and a part of a social ministry team, with 9 wonderful girls, a great youth pastor, and also a fabulous woman for a chaperone. We had a tract team meeting for a couple of hours to discuss the sites we would be going to throughout the week, the bible study, and just to get to know each other a little bit before the week began. We played games, answered ice breaker questions, and did other things for us to get better acquainted with one another. After that, it was the kick-off celebration concert with 33 Miles, which was great!


Monday:
First official day of camp. CRAZY BUSY! What can I say...I prayed alot that morning before our staff meeting. I prayed for God to grant me peace for the whole day. I needed to have that peace to teach the bible study and just to have that leader mindset for the day to come. Staff meetings every day at 7:30-KILLER. So early! haha. The first morning celebration was amazing. Once I stepped into that worship center, a sense of calmness and determination came over me, and I then knew that God was going to help me through this first day. The worship that morning was so powerful and it's exactly what I needed. God's presence was in that room and He was blessing everyone with His spirit. That morning, through a couple of songs, I just began to weep. And that was the first time in a while that I cried in a worship service. I knew that God was going to work in my life the whole week, as well as my whole tract team. The first site we went to was Westside Terrace, a nursing home in Dothan. We stayed there the whole day, just interacting with the residents. Throughout the morning and afternoon, the residents there touched our lives and we touched theirs as well, more than we could know. That morning they had a blueberry pancake social, so we went around to each room asking them if they wanted to come, then we helped serving and just talked with each resident. We soon helped with lunch also.

We had lunch ourselves, then we did our bible study. Monday's theme was on forgiveness and it went incredibly well. God's forgiveness is really too good to be true. When we forgive someone, we never really forget it. God forgives us of our sins and throws them into His sea of forgetfulness, but it's hard for us to realize that sometimes. Also, we often think that God will stop loving us or give up on us if we sin too much, just like how we would give up on someone that has disappointed us in the past or present. Realizing and truly accepting God's forgiveness is the first step in a meaningful walk with Him. And trusting God in everything is essential in our walk with Him. Giving your whole self to God and letting Him have every crevice of us is how we have that true walk with God, which leads to us being in rhythm with Him. After bible study, we went back to helping there. It was truly heartbreaking to see all the people there and how much they needed help. It was an amazing experience. One lady in particular, who was 105, was so awesome. Her wisdom, her attitude, I loved absolutely everything about her. After that afternoon, I knew that God was really using our team to impact lives and serve the community that day and the rest of the week.

Worship was great that night. 33 Miles rocked it out and Dave spoke on a good subject, which of course led back to the bible study we had that day and the opening celebration. He asked the question: What is keeping us from being in rhythm with God and following Christ fully? He gave four main reasons for what was preventing us from being in rhythm. The first one was our friends. If our friends aren't following Christ fully, we might not most of the time. They also may talk us out of it and influence us into stuff we don't necessarily want to do. Second, our love life. We get too caught up in our boyfriends or girlfriends and don't focus on what's important. Third, our faith. We may know the culture, but we never make the connection with God. A good quote that Dave said, "We all taste like chicken." When he said this, he was referring to that we all look like normal Christians sometimes, but we really are lacking in our relationship with God. The last thing he said was preventing us, is our problems. We try and make excuses for our relationship with God. We need to let our problems drive us back to Christ though, and make our return to him. We need to fully believe in Him and trust Him with everything. It was a great sermon for the first night, to really look at ourselves and our relationship with God. In the invitation, over a hundred students accepted Jesus into their heart or either fully surrendered to Him, by rededicating their lives to Him. It was an amazing thing to see.


Tuesday:
The first day went smoothly as it could be, but I knew that the second day would be even better. Little did I know what was to occur that day. Opening celebration went well again. It's really awesome to worship our God, before we get out into the community and serve Him in every way we can. After morning worship, we headed to Rehobeth Elementary School for the day. Our goals for the day were to wash every window, in several buildings and also take down the blinds in the windows to clean them. And boy were they nasty!! We split up, took room by room and got the windows done, as far as we knew. We took the blinds down, hosed them off and attempted to scrub the dirt and muck off. We were done with that by lunch. We went inside to eat lunch and to do our bible study. I could tell by the second bible study, that God was slowly but surely giving me more courage every day to teach it to these kids.

Tuesday's theme was the slow fade. It was all about taking those small compromises, that can eventually lead to bigger compromises, all coming back to sin. We talked about the things we delight in, such as music, friends, shopping, sports, etc. Then, we talked about what it means to delight in the law of the Lord. The bible study began to get really good at this part, where we started discussing our counsel in life and whether or not it is Godly or ungodly. To delight in the law of the Lord is to absorb that wise Godly counsel, infinitely. Sometimes, we have to limit our involvement with certain people, or even cut them out all together. I gave them some insight on my life at this point, explaining how it was hard for me to cut some people out of my life, that were influencing me in bad ways and I think they really related to that. We then talked about how all Christians can fall. Satan knows where our buttons are and he knows which levers to push to began that slow fade in us, to initiate the fall we can take. We have to be deep in God's Word, so we won't be tempted to fall and we have to indeed delight in the law of the Lord. Our counsel is what ultimately causes the slow fade. Also, we have to quit asked God where the line is. We need to trust Him and not ask Him "Is this good? Is this bad?" Asking Him how far we can go without sinning is basically doubting Him and shows that we don't have that deep, personal relationship with Him. The way we can keep from falling is to eliminate the ungodly counsel in our life, that can lead us away from Him.

Worship was again stinkin great, but also, this night was amazing all on it's own. The schedule for worship that night didn't go as planned, but no one would have wanted it any other way, because what it was changed everyone that was there that night. 33 Miles began it's worship, and it was intense. Just when Dave was suppose to come out and speak as he had usually done so far, he came out and asked the band to come back out and play a couple of more songs. I can't explain how that worship center felt. At the beginning chords and guitar strumming of Chris Tomlin's "Amazing Grace (My Chains are Gone)" I felt God's spirit overtaking me. Nothing can compare to an unbelievable night of worship for the King. God's presence was absolutely everywhere in that room. God was doing great things in Dothan, Alabama that night and was going to the rest of the week. The invitation was different this night, as it's main focus was on surrendering to ministry. Once again, over a hundred people responded and surrendered to ministry.


Wednesday:
By the third day, I basically had gotten used to everything. Wake up. Staff meeting. Opening celebration. Site. Bible study. Free time. Worship. Sleep. Rinse and repeat. haha. I had finally got into that routine. And just when I got into that routine, something happened to get everyone out of their routine. FIRE ALARM! lol. Right before morning celebration, the fire alarm at Ridgecrest went off. EVENTFUL! Rumors were flying about there was a real fire, someone pulled the alarm, or 33 Miles' fog from their stuff got into the vents, which caused it to go off. No one really knows! It was a fun 20 minutes of my life though. Morning celebration continued on after that, then we headed to our third site of the week! It was the Ashford Senior Center, in Ashford. We were there for 2 hours. And you know what we did for a solid 2 hours? Played B-I-N-G-O! Chyeahh. The people there were so cheerful and loved us to death. I can't believe that our cheeks didn't get pinched. Really. They told us about their grand-kids, kids, church home, and really anything else that came to their mind. They were good folks! We headed to a church in the area, after that, for lunch and our bible study.

The bible study for Wednesday was titled "the muddled middle". Basically, this whole bible study was about how we can often get fixated on our sin, get comfortable in it, and are stuck in that middle between being on fire for God or being on fire for the world. We may not realize it, but when we are in this muddled middle, Christians often get tagged with the word hypocrite. The study began with the discussion about how we feel about when people switch back in forth between sports teams. A prime example I used in this was Auburn and Alabama of course. We tend to look down on these people that can't make up their mind between teams, but why don't we when Christians go back and forth between the world and God? God reminds us that we aren't the only people to fall and He'll always be with us no matter what, but we have to stop straddling that fence between the world and Him. For many of us, the main problem is trying to recognize Jesus over our whole life and this is due to the tension between the god we want and the God who is. So how do we get off this fence? The goal is to be intimate with Jesus, without hesitation of who He is or what He's done. We must establish roadblocks in our lives for those days when our heart goes places that it shouldn't. These roadblocks will stop you from doing something, even if you want to and the next day, you'll be extremely grateful. Jesus will help us fight our battles!

We headed over to Somerset West Assisted Living that afternoon and just talked with the residents there and watched them draw. It's awesome the things you learn about a person by just sitting and talking with them. The lady that I was chatting with was a master at drawing. It was mindblowing how good she was. I would have never thought, by just getting to know her that she was extraordinary at drawing. It was great! I told her she needed to frame her artwork and that made her laugh. I loved Somerset.

After we were done for the day at site, we came back to Ridgecrest and I was already excited because the day when so incredibly well, but I was EXTRA excited after that. Know why? I was going to see Morgan the first time in a whole month Wednesday night!! I couldn't wait. Momma G's then worship. It was so good to catch up with Mo and I loved hearing some of her stories about Peru and all that she did there. It sounded amazing! Worship was real good that night. Dave discussed finding your rhythm after being caught up in that muddled middle. He said we have to realize the following things: 1. He is Christ. 2. He is in control. 3. He gets the last word in. 4. He is committed. A Momma's Love, nachos, talking to one of my most favorite people ever, and great worship service=best night ever.


Thursday:
I woke up thinking...is it really Thursday? Why is this week flying by so fast? CRAZINESS. Hit up the daily staff meeting as usual, and we started talking about the last day. It made me sad! I wanted WIRED to be on repeat the rest of my life. Morning celebration was awesome as usual also. We had been usually doing our bible study during our site lunch everyday, but Thursday, we did it before going to site. The theme for today was decision time. This focused on truly deciding whether you want to live fully for God or fully for the world, because the muddled middle is not the place to be. The first question asked was if any of us enjoyed being miserable. Are you kidding me? Who enjoys being miserable? No one. We are indeed miserable though, if we are in that middle, not on fire for God, and in rhythm with Him. When we get stuck in the middle, we have hope in God. The compromise must stop and obedience must start. We then must transform our minds. His word cleanses us and makes us new! We have to become rooted in the word. This will greatly affect our relationship with Him. We can't look at our quiet time, bible time, daily devotion, praying, etc. as the things we have to do, but as the things we get to do. We must also abide in Christ. We can't have joy, peace, love, patience, or other things like these unless Jesus has full control. When we are fully abiding in Christ and have the mindset like Him, He will lead us to serve others.

We went to Wesley Manor that morning and going there, I already had a special connection with it. My great-grandmother was there before she died a couple of years ago. I had never been there before Thursday, but I knew she had been there, so I just felt that connection with that place. All of us divided up and did different things around the place. Some students went and helped with manicures, some made crafts with residents, some set up bowling for people to play, while me and another person called BINGO. That was fun! I love me some BINGO. After that, I walked around the whole place, interacting with residents. I saw one of my kids in a room, so I went to see who she was talking to. Little did I know the person I was about to meet would soon become one of my heroes. I met William Phillips. He was a man in his 80's, full of life and had a heart for God. He told me about his time in the military, his family, and other things that were interesting to me. One real interesting fact about Mr. Phillips, is that he had a passion for coins and everything about them. He had several coin books in his room. He used these coin books to minister to people in his own kind of way. He gave them to different people he came in contact with in his life. He is one of the sweetest, elderly men I have met. He gave me one of his coin books, full of coins and I will cherish it forever. On the outside of the coin book, there was a piece of tape which said, "God loves you and I love you." Receiving that almost made me cry. I'll never forget that man.

Gran's Home that afternoon. It is in a sketchy part of Dothan, but I enjoyed every second of that place. It is a very small nursing home type place with about five or so residents there. I had never heard of it before WIRED! We went in and played games the whole time with the people there. Monopoly, checkers, and of course dominoes went down. It was great getting to know the people there. It was finally hitting me that Friday was approaching and WIRED was coming to a close when we were done at Gran's Home that day.

Dave's sermon that night was remarkable. He explained how to stay faithful to God in our relationship with Him. We tend to put our faith in everything but God and we have to commit to that intimate, personal relationship with Him. We need to connect our life to the principles of God's word. There's is a principle for everything we face, in His word. Concentration on good choices in daily living is key to being in rhythm with Him. God's will is a ring and we can't break it to be with the world.


Friday:
Last day. I was exhausted by Friday, but I didn't want it to be the last day of WIRED 2010. WHY!! lol. Props on the last morning celebration. Good as always! The skit wasn't as good as the others were, but decent. The last bible study for the week was titled vision. The jest of the whole study today was that us as Christians can be great people in the world and we should aspire to be those great people, all while we love people in the world with all our hearts, just as Jesus did. We need to have that vision of Jesus to help us see lost people in the world as He does. So how do we begin to see through the eyes of Christ? Our growth in the relationship with God will take time and over this time, we will go through trials and experiences that will show us God's love, which will help us learn how to shower other people in the world with His love. As we grow in Christ, He broadens our interests. The time we spend growing in Christ will mature our relationship with Him and will lead to us gaining our spiritual glasses to see other people as He does. We won't see people through races or stereotypes, but as one people. Also, the world needs to see Christians who are nothing alike. From a cheerleader, to a goth, or a jock. We need to show them that Christians are everyone and that we love everyone in the world. They will then want to hear the gospel.

The most captivating place we went to all week was on Friday. We went to the Ark, which is basically a halfway house. Never would I thought that Dothan had a place like that. It was truly a wake up call. The building was the old Flowers Hospital, which was creepy all by itself. Oh goodness! We went down to the old morgue....scariest place I've ever been in my life. I felt like I was on those shows on Discovery Channel where the people try and look for the ghosts. lol. CRAZYYYY! Oh and let me tell you what we did there. There were multiple boxes of trail mix in the morgue. We moved them up to the thrift store. Weird, huh? I need to know why food was in the morgue. Odd. We were there to serve though...so I didn't ask questions! We saw where all the men slept and went through the rehab type program and we went and prayed over their beds. It was an experience for sure. I enjoyed it! After the Ark, we headed downtown to do a prayer walk. That was great! Me and two of my girls went to the police department and prayed for them, then headed to the civic center to pray for them as well. Others went to the courthouse, the Dothan Eagle, WTVY, and other related places.

The closing celebration was nothing more than EPIC!! 33 Miles played the best they did all week and Dave spoke great again. Going back to the theme of vision for the day, he talked about how to gain that vision. By responding properly to God, we will speak with honor and respect others, loving them to our full ability. We need to repent positively. Don't stay down when you fail. We can quickly realize our mistakes. God doesn't count our falls, but the steps we take during them. We lastly have to receive our purpose in His will.


WIRED 2011 FTW!!