kentucky fried chicken.

so i am sitting here in class ready for this day to be over with....but due to the fact that i cant leave and i need to be here i will make the most of my time here....writing a post will suffice.

this semester has begun to fly by faster than i hoped that it would. however, i will say that i have no room to complain at all. i have grown so much over the past few months and i couldn't be more excited about what the Lord is doing in, through, and around me. He is so good!

i have had an extreme desire to read as of late, which is weird. if you know me i don't do that. i can read, i just don't prefer to. so, do you have any suggestions? maybe on ministry, life, humor, or imaginativeness.

i want to get away again. i know that i just got back from Spain and all, but there are other reasons why i want to leave. i love adventure. i'm so glad the Lord put that desire in my life.

.....i wish all of you could see my teacher right now. he kind of reminds me of colonel sanders... you know, KFC....

you're worth it all.

i lay down my crown for You my King

i wish i had more that i could bring

compared to Your love, it seems so small

but You want my heart, so i give it all

You're worth it all, You're worth it all

whatever it costs, You're worth it all

each day that i live, i'm willing to give

whatever it costs, You're worth it all

i lift up my hands just to say

i give you my dreams, they're Yours to make

compared to You love, they seem so small

for You have my heart, Lord, You have it all

You're worth it all, You're worth it all

whatever it costs, You're worth it all

each day that i live, i'm willing to give

whatever it costs, You're worth it all

i give You my dreams, You're worth it all

i give You my crown, You're worth it all

i give You my soul, You're worth it all

i give You control, You're worth it all

i give You my love, You're worth it all

i give You my pride, You're worth it all

i give you my heart, You're worth it all

Lord, i give it all, You're worthy

overwhelmed.

so yesterday and today i have been overwhelmed beyond belief; and in all actuality they were on two completely opposite norms.

yesterday evening as i was driving through the south of france (yeah, legit, i know) i looked to my left and saw the beautifully painted sky with the mediterranean with the waves crashing on the shore below it. then i looked to my right and saw the foothills of the alps covered in snow with the sun going down overhead. so, as one can tell i didnt know what to do with myself....so i took some pictures.

from there i just spent some time in silent prayer as i watched the sun go down and felt the rush of the cold mediterranean water between my toes. it was so good. i was reminded of the good things the Lord has done and will do in my life. i was also reminded of how much He cares for me. He made all of those things so beautifully breathtaking, yet He still cares for me (and you) so much more.

"The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it. The world and all its people belong to him. For he laid the earth’s foundation on the seas and built it on the ocean depths." Psalm 24:1-2

and then today when i got back from france, got some food in my stomach, and rested for a little bit, i decided to go on a walk. i went down to the river and my heart broke completely. here in spain they locals love to get down by the river and hang out. but this hanging out includes drinking, drugs, sexual relations of all sorts, and many other things. i didnt know what else to do but pray. so thats what i did. i walked and prayed for the people. i prayed that the Lord would wake them up and that they would be sensitive to the Spirit and what the Lord has to offer them because it is so much more than what the world has to offer them. all i could think of was why i didnt know another language. i wish i did because i would have immediately begin taking the gospel to the streets. but then again i think of the scripture in Matthew 10 where He will be our words and we shouldnt worry about what to say.....

so there it is. im overwhelmed by a God who has made all and loves all, but loves us so much more. i think thats why my heart is so overwhelmed. because i feel the heartbeat of my Savior....

pictures via spain.

these are some of the photos i was gonna post yesterday (+some). enjoy....

one the way to charlotte.

about to leave for spain..

the awesome cathedral.

this is john the baptist. i dont know where they found his head?

the view from the top.

the bull fighting ring...so legit.

SPANISH CEREAL!!!!!

this is the plaza de espana. they filmed star wars here. yeah!

post número uno de españa.

well greetings everyone. so i have been in spain now for a few days and i am totally having the best time ever. its so good to be in a new place and all hanging out with family and walking a bazillion miles everywhere! so good.

well i guess i shall start from the beginning. so i woke up on sunday morning at 5:30 due a phone call that awakened my rem. i wont hold it against this person, but i would prefer that it wouldnt happen again on day light savings time :)....

so i arrived at the airport and all safe and sound and i began my journey waiting for 45 minutes. but truthfully it was completely fine because i absolutely love airports. specifically, i love the people in airports. i legit sat in my chair pretending to listen to music, but instead listened to people. people have stories to tell. i wasnt being nosey (at least i didnt think so), but folks are just so interesting. it's neat to see the differences in people which reminds me how special the Father made each and every single one of us. reminds me of Psalm 139 when He tells us that we are "fearfully and WONDERFULLY made". all of us. mm. so good.

well i get on my flight to charlotte, and i pondered in my head "who i will have the joy of sitting next to" (thats not sarcasm, i really find joy in the folks i sit next to), and lets just say that each of the individuals was a pleasure sitting by. the first was this huge, muscular, black man. he was totally legit, but i didnt get to talk to him much because he kept to himself. but his son played in the Liberty Bowl last year and they won, so he had acool ring on his finger.....

but since he wouldnt talk to me i decided to talk to the person who would. and He reminded me how cool He is....

well i make my stop in charlotte and immediately begin making my way to my next flight to philadelphia. i didnt have a lot of time so i had to book it! well i get there in about enough time for like a 5 minute break before we began boarding. so i get on this plane and i shared the row with a girl named elizabeth. we talked the whole hour and 45 minutes to philly. it was awesome! we talked about our lives, where we were going, what we wanted to do, etc. etc. etc. well i got to share a little bit of my faith her as well...it broke my heart because she turned immediately away from the Truth. but, like Jesus tells us in Luke 10:16, "The one who hears you hears me, and the one who rejects you rejects me, and the one who rejects me rejects the one who sent me." it isnt my place to make someone listen. its that conscious choice that we make. i just pray that her heart will be healed one day. i have a feeling she is holding on to a lot (conversations had), but the Lord is sovereign over circumstances, trust me, i know.

well i make the stop in philly, and got a little break. but it kind of hit me, i was about to be flying 5 billion-trillion miles above the ocean in the middle of no-where. so i made a phone call or two (literally only two) and got on that big old steel bird. i was about to be off on an amazing trip....and did i mention that it was at sunset? yeah, i took this little guy before i took off......

so we get in the air and i once again sat next to an awesome person! her name was cecilia and she was from argentina. she now lives in spain with her family and all. she was legit! made my trip go by faster. but there were times when i took to my self (we had 8 hours so i think i needed to give her a break). so there were times when i would just throw on the ipod or watch a movie and just relax. one specific instance i was listening to some Jesus music and i turn and look out the window and i looked into the night sky, and i began to cry. not out of sadness, but out of joy. i looked out and saw an amazing creation and didnt know what else to do but praise and thank Him for the billions of stars that could be seen at that moment over the atlantic.

"the moon and the stars to rule over the night, for His steadfast love endures forever." Psalm 136:9 its because of his love that the stars hang there to bring us beautiful light. wow. so good.

well, my flight lands in madrid spain at 7am monday morning, and now its time for me to make my trek to seville, spain which is about 2.5 hours south. i felt like i was on the amazing race! oh, and a side note: i didnt sleep at all on sunday, lost an hour in the states, and lost 7 more coming to spain, yet i still kept going. i make it to the train station with what little spanish i knew and eventually made it to seville, and guess who was waiting there for me?!? thats right! my big bro!!!! we kissed and hugged and played patty cake right there in the train station! (ok, not really, but it was a glorious reunion). we walk outside and it was raining. but that didnt stop us from making the 30 minute walk to get to where we were going. and when we arrived i greeted emma and our friend lyndon and immediately turned and walked right back out the door. we had a lot to do in so little time!!

our first stop was the cathedral in spain. wow. it was humungous!! (3rd largest in the world, 1st largest gothic cathedral). i was blown away. everything was old and gothicy...even the supposed remains of christopher columbus.....

we then went to some royal gardens and had an amazing time there as well! it is so neat to feel the history around me in the things i encounter. yeah, my teacherness just came out. ill punch you if you dont like it.....and we walked around town, went to an awesome restaurant, and then went home and crashed at about 11. my bro had to go to work in the morning so we had to get the baby in bed....ok i was tired too. no sleep in almost 48 hours catches up to you....

so we get up today and i probably had the best time today. i got to hang out with my brother a whole lot just me and him. we talked about a lot and laugh and be serious and all the jazz. we did get to go see what i think turned out to be my favorite of the whole trip. i bet you cant guess what this place is?

ok, this is called the plaza de españa and they filmed a scene from star wars in it!!!!!!!! loved it all!!! after we visit this place for a while, we headed over to play soccer with some friends, and then walked back. turns out we walked 6 miles today and my feet were feeling it....emma made some legit homemade pasta for dinner and we watched megamind to wrap up the day. im having a blast and i cant wait for the next few days to occur. bring it on!!

so here is to a good day, the goodness of the Lord, and more adventures!! goodnight all!!

**ok the picture loader isnt working right, so anywhere where there is a statement about a picture, please ignore it. ill post pics on facebook laters. k, thanks.

candy.

so i look at this post title and just have to laugh due to the fact that me, landon, and one of his buddies have a joke about the word candy, but the title is very fitting for this post....

so this past week, the Lord floored me. i showed up to Hillcrest on wednesday expecting to attend chapel, grab the track team, and go to our track meet. but boy was i ever wrong. i wasnt ready for what the Lord was about to do. and i was so humbled.

adrian duspres came and led out for the Lord during spiritual emphasis week at school and i was so privileged to be a apart of his work on this day. this man is so hyped up for Jesus it is ridiculous. he is ADD, loud, emotional, and quite hilarious. and all these things matched together make for an amazing vessel to be used. he began speaking, and i was immediately engaged into what he was talking about. he set out four chairs in the middle of the gym floor and told us all that everyone in the room was in one of the four chairs. each chair was defined as follows:

chair #1-the person who sits in this chair is passionately in love with Jesus Christ. they are engaged in what the Lord is doing and wants to be a apart of His amazing purposes. this person struggles today with the others in the remaining chairs (which will be described in a second and hopefully the connection will be made) and so its very hard to sit in the chair. but those that do stand out like a sore thumb (i just now realized that this visual of a sore thumb is an odd one....)

chair #2-people who sit in this chair are those that have become comfortable with God. meaning that they are ok with the things that God is doing and arent being challenged in their faith. there are a lot of these people today. here, there is not much room for growth because this person will not allow it. the person who sits in this chair passes judgement on the person sitting in the 1st seat because they cant comprehend the passion that is consuming that persons life. Jesus describes this person in Revelation 3:16 stating, "So because you are lukewarm--neither hot nor cold--I am about to spit you out of my mouth." and if this doesnt make you cringe, ive read and heard this verse claiming that these individuals are hypocrites. and hypocrites sicken Christ.

chair #4: (yes i know i skipped) the person in this chair is the person who knows without a doubt that they do not have a relationship with the Lord. they are lost. they are dead. Romans 3:23 says, "For the wages of sin is death..." they have not received the gift of eternal life through Christ Jesus. people in this chair are turned off to Jesus because of the people that they see in chair #2. they see the way they live and feel that there is no difference between the way their lives are lived. they dont see the people in the first seat because there are so few....

chair #3: these are those individuals who think that they are in seat #2 but really arent. they are blinded and so easily deceived. they too look at the people in seat #1 and pass judgement, yet there faces are veiled from the harsh reality of the truth. 2 Corinthians 4:3-4 says, "And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God."

so he laid it out plain and simple. and the response was phenominal. i began praying in the middle of his talk for the Lord to grab some kids hearts, and he sure did. when he asked for those who feel like they are in seats #3 and #4, kids all across the gym began to stand up. immediately i began to sob at the fact that God was moving, and you could feel His presence in that place. i ended up getting to pray with about 15 boys and the decisions that they were making. it was so powerful.

that night, all of the churches in the area met up at CWBC for some worship and to continue the week with adrian. worship was great and you could see the hearts crying out to God, but what startled me most was what one of the worship leaders said afterwards. he said that some kids just stood there with there arms folded or in their pockets and they didnt even once open their mouths. i was astonished due to the simple truth that God was evident in that place. but i know, and was quickly reminded what Jesus said in John 6:65 , "This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled them." but that can be unpacked on a different day....

so the night continues on and God speaks so strongly to some of these kids. adrian spoke about Christmas and Jesus' birthday. he wanted all of us to bring some gift to the Lord that night, and then went in to detail about the gifts that God gave us: 1. He gave us the gift of His Son being born and knowing that He was going to be born before He was born. (yeah, a little complicated. read it again.) Jesus knew that He had to be fully man to take our punishment 2. He gave us the gift of us. "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God created beforehand, that we should walk in them." Ephesians 2:10 ; we were all created for a purpose, and there are NO accidents. 3. He gave us the gift of imputation. God has imputed us. He has made us right before God. "The words 'it was credited to him' were not written for him alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness--for us who believe in Him, who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead." Romans 4:23-24 4. He gave us the gift of propitiation. the wrath of God was satisfied through Christ. "By His wounds you are healed." 1 Peter 2:24

after all this was laid out in great detail, he told us a story of his daughter. he described a time when he was at his daughter's school and he had to entertain the students for a while. he ran out of games and instead used candy as a con to waste time. he through all the candy out on the gym floor and told the kids to go and get it. everyone got candy except this one little girl. his daughter ran over to her and she gave all of her candy away to her. she was upset that her dad was going to be mad at her because she did that, and adrian assured her that it was the complete opposite. he looked at her in the face and told her that its ok that you gave up your candy, because he had the whole bag of candy. immediately, i began to think about the candy, the things that i was holding on to selfishly, and what i needed to give over to Him. he asked us again what we wanted to bring before God. and i knew without a doubt what i wanted to bring Him. i got down on my knees beside the Christmas tree (a random tree that was found on our stage) and prayed. i gave my feet, hands, and mouth to the Lord. meaning that he has entrusted me with the gospel and i must speak it, hold it, and carry it to whomever i must.

so what are you holding on to? what do you need to give up to move seats? i dont know whats on your hearts, but what i do know is that you need to give up your candy, because He has the whole bag. He has given you everything.

the battle.

long time no blog, but needless to say, the past couple of weeks have been so very interesting, yet so very needed. last week the Lord really started working on me and some of my friends in the context of what He is doing among us and the roles at church that He has placed us in. we got together on a tuesday 2 weeks ago to pray and let me tell you that there is no way on earth that any one person could have walked in that room and not felt the presence of the Lord. it was so powerful. we ended up praying for what seemed like 10 minutes but really turned out to be an hour and a half. so good. it is neat to see a passion that the Lord has given you revealed in others as well. but that is how the church is supposed to be, isnt it?

as the week went on, i posted on my need and want to run. well, i did just that. i went home and got away, and i actually ran in a race. it was so much fun because i got to run it with my parents (well they walked/ran) but i came in 7th out of 210 people, and came in 1st in my age group. i was actually really impressed with myself. bum knees and all! but something that i learned through this whole thing was the self discipline of the people running in the race. for most of the people there, they werent in it just for the fun of it. yes it was fun, but the goal for everyone was to run. and that simple fact was a huge encouragement to me. the discipline that i have in my running is improving (it has to--7 miles this past sunday...) but its also giving me a good perspective on the spiritual self discipline that i need.

For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline. So do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner. Rather, join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God. -2 Timothy 1:6-8

but after the race i came back to Clinton on sunday morning for church and got to fellowship with my church family, which i absolutely love. but what happened that night was so much more profound. so landon and i have decided to meet on sunday afternoons to talk and pray and such, and this past sunday he asked me about some pieces of scripture that he has been trying to wrap his mind around. they are as follows:

Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival, many people saw the signs he was performing and believed in his name. But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all people. He did not need any testimony about mankind, for he knew what was in each person. -John 2:23-25

The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life. Yet there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him. He went on to say, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled them.” From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him. “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve. Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.” -John 6:63-69

well we talked about them for a little but and i told him that i would try and dig a little deeper into them and give him some feedback. well i did. and i wasnt ready for what revelation had occurred. as i got to looking at the passages of scripture they all began to circulate back to one particular scripture that has been heavy on our youth group for quite some time now, and thats John 15:5, which says, "I am the vine, you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." it all boils down to whether or not you have a superficial faith that is in it for the attraction of the spectacular, or if you genuinely believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that that fact changes the way you believe. you believe out of shear love. and what is interesting about this whole process is how landon approached me about it. he genuinely sought out an answer with all this and couldnt find it. but the Lord had placed this passage on his heart and he wanted to understand that. and thats how i want to respond to scripture. i want it to consume me to the very core to the extent that if i dont understand something i wont settle on it until i figure out an answer.

on a lighter, yet serious, note, a sweet friend of mine, laura, came for a visit and i cant tell you how much that meant to me. we talked about life, friends, family, Jesus, struggle, and hardships. we talked about praises and prayer requests. it was so good. but when she left on thursday, i wish that she could have stayed, but she had to go back. i am, however, pretty positive that i will see here fairly soon...

this past thursday night i got to meet up again with the youth leadership team to continue to discuss and pray about the future of the ministry. and let me tell you that it was once again a very precious time with the Lord. it was so good to hear those hearts cry out again. it is such a good glimpse of how we are suppose to call out to him. and i was reminded of the scripture in Jeremiah 33:3 where the Lord tells Jeremiah to, "Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things you do not know." so often i have failed to simply cry out and let God know my heart, and even further i have failed to stop and listen after i cry out so that i can know God's heart. it is what he desires of us. to be in fellowship with Him. to be one with Him. to worship Him.

we have all started a bible study called the battle recently (on March 4th actually--the only day of the year that is a command--March Forth, get it?) and i dont think that it is a coincidence that we began a study by this name on this particular day. God is so neat in the way that He does things. and with this whole study He is rocking my world. honestly, i dont know what to do with myself. every single day relates directly to what is going through in my life and they all reciprocate off of one another. it is challenging me to dig into scripture, memorize scripture, and pray intently. things that are much needed and not done far enough in my life. i am on an incredible journey and i cant wait to see where it takes me!!

lastly, i found out my team placement for camp this coming summer. i will be serving as camp pastor for CK7! 7-11 babby!!!! ALL DAY EVERY DAY!!!! haha, but no seriously i am toally pumped about the individuals that i will be serving with as well as the role the Lord has for me this summer. one of my prayers is that i will be able to serve and lead this team spiritually all summer long. through pain and suffering, through good and bad, through joy and gladness. i want to be all i can for these folks and that has a lot to do with my heart going in to camp. i pray that i am being strengthened and renewed by fire every single day. i am anticipating, and patiently waiting. it just wont come fast enough....

.....oh and the new Passion CD is great. you should get it.

.....and i go to spain in 6 days. excited? yup.