Today I'm...

....getting a haircut. Okay, kinda boring, right? Right. But for real, this is a very big deal to me. Take last time, for instance. I cried. So anyhoo....I'm walking down to my Aunts house to get a couple inches off and get my bangs back. Not sure about the bangs yet...I had bangs for a while, and then a certain older sister, no names,  trimmed them crooked and too short. So for 2 months I walked around looking like an Amish boy. So here we go......... :D

Snow Day!!!!

 It's Snow Day!!!!! What's this happiness I speak of? It's a day at my church where we all go outside in the freezing cold and jump around doing completely mad things we would NEVER do at any other time. No, it's fun, really!! Last year we made ice cream sculptures that melted for too fast, and then we stuffed our friends with shredded paper. (that was fun) Oh yeah, and we all bring yummy food to eat. (I'm bringing chocolate cream pie.....:)
 So wish me luck as I go out in the cold, cold outside, and sculpt a pirate ship and ride a snowmobile...

Photography Friday....

random pictures......

Just a Closer Walk With Thee

I am weak, but Thou art strong;
Jesus, keep me from all wrong;
I’ll be satisfied as long
As I walk, let me walk close to Thee.

Just a closer walk with Thee,
Grant it, Jesus, is my plea,
Daily walking close to Thee,
Let it be, dear Lord, let it be.

Through this world of toil and snares,
If I falter, Lord, who cares?
Who with me my burden shares?
None but Thee, dear Lord, none but Thee.

When my feeble life is o’er,
Time for me will be no more;
Guide me gently, safely o’er
To Thy kingdom shore, to Thy shore

Just a closer walk with Thee,
Grant it, Jesus, is my plea,
Daily walking close to Thee,
Let it be, dear Lord, let it be.

 Now, I know, I know, after reading that you're most likely not wanting to read any more, but I have something to say!!! (as i normally do....)

 I want you to be able to dig way, way deep into this song, and think about it all. The beginning...."I am weak" which oh, we are. I don't think I go a day without my realizing that I could not be able to do or go through anything by myself. But..."Jesus is strong"!! Wow! This is always an encouragement to me because we can always go to God, and He will always be there! We are never left alone or forsaken, and we can cast all our care on Him, who will redeem and refresh us. We should never (as very hard as it sometimes is!) be unsatisfied in the Love of God.

"Let me walk close to Thee..."

"Through this world of toils and snares..." We all know how many things can bring us down, whether it be just by temptation or if we've gone to actually do it. Satan is waiting out there to trap us in these "toils" and "snares", and we need to be on the lookout! "If I falter, who cares!" Wow. Again and again I am caught up in becoming self-conscious about my sins, but really? God is the only one who we really need to go to. (unless, of course, this sin concerns another...) And He is always ready to forgive! "Who with me my burdens shares? None but Thee, Lord, None but Thee." I think this really ties into what I said up there, God will never, ever leave us. And I believe that at one point or another, you are going to get to a spot where you feel that all is lost, that no matter what people say, you are completely alone. But this is so not true. I fall into this trap so often, that I have come to even pray that this doesn't happen in my daily prayer! Our heavenly Father is always there. It's like He's always a prayer away, which you can do anywhere! Anytime, and anyplace, He will hear you!

"Let me walk close to Thee..."

 "When my feeble life is o'er". I'm pretty sure this is self-explainable. This is when we die, or, I think, about to die. If I live to be really old, and I know I'm going to die, I know I will want to be able to look back and say... "I walked with the Lord!" I think that something like this should be the prayer of us all, really. I know I have seen and read about people who have lived and walked with the Lord and their stories have gone down through generations to get to us! I'm not saying I necessarily want to be one of those people, but I want to be like them. Follow their examples, and walk in their footsteps to becoming more like Christ! "Guide me gently, safely o'er To Thy kingdom shore, to Thy shore." Okay, I'm going to be practical. None of us know what heaven looks like. We can't even begin to imagine what God has planned for us after this life. I know we sometimes joke about eating pizza and drinking Mtn. Dew, (or maybe that's just me and my friends....) but really. God has created a place, a place beyond all expectation of any man or woman, that we are going to spend eternity. And I dont think we're going to go around like the world we live in now. Because we're going to be in such awe, we will fall at the feet of our creator!! How absolutely amazing it will be to be able to not only worship Him, but to be able to talk to Him, and walk with Him! Indescribable.

 So maybe I'm completely boring you with things you already knew, but I felt as if I should share what God has shown me today! Keep on living for Him....

Winter Retreat '11

Well, here I am again! I feel really bad, I haven't been on here in ages....

 This past weekend I went on the SHCM Winter Retreat, and I. had. a. blast. I had so much fun just being able to visit with all my friends and those I haven't seen in so long! I think that really is one thing that I look forward to anytime I go to camp! :) Mr. Shawn Madrid was the speaker, as many of you know, he is Mr. Fry's son-in-law, and he spoke the message at my Junior Camp '08 when I was saved! So this was a really great experience to hear him speak again!
 He spoke on mainly one subject. The matter of the Heart. Not like, y'know the thing that keeps you alive heart, but our (as he told us) mind. Feelings, intellect, and will. Every decision we make comes decided by our heart.
 I think what really spoke to me was the giving of your heart to God. Yeah yeah, we hear this all the time at church. But really, it is a very serious matter! God set our hearts in one place when we were saved. He based it on the Will of Him. The place God made them to be for the rest of our lives! But we, as humans, have divided our hearts. Whether be little things that we think don't matter, or big things that we know are very wrong, but just don't want to get rid of them. I think some examples may be friends, music, and our thoughts. When God asks for our hearts, He doesn't mean part of it. Not half of it, not even 99.9%!  Solomon was one example. He walked in the Lord, and he loved Him wholly! But in one mistake, one thing he did not want to give up, he fell away. His problem was women. Maybe yours is one of the things that I mentioned just a minute ago. Maybe you think that if you can hide it from others around you, you can just ignore that God sees it. But no. It's all in your heart, and God sees every dark corner of the heart. We cant ignore the problem, only work to fix it.
 So I guess what I'm trying to get across is something that Pastor Madrid said in one of our evening messages. That we need to fix it NOW. No waiting for someone to come along and tell you to do it, but immediately after you realize that it is wrong. Because our hearts cannot be trusted, and they are going to tell us to go the other way. One little thing can take us away from the spot where our Father placed our hearts, so we need to catch the temptation before it catches us, and destroys our lives.

 Yeah, that might be alot to take in, but it's the Truth from The Word. And I know my life was, maybe not in massive ways that will add to my testimony, but in little things, was changed. I hope this brings some realization to your heart.

 Keep trusting Him!

                                                  (view from the room we stayed in)

The Beginning...

Well, here we go! I'm surprised I hadn't put this up earlier, but this is my salvation testimony. How my Father saved my wretched heart and turned me toward Him.

 I had grown up in a christian home, and I knew practically everything about the Bible a 6th grader could know. I went to church Sunday mornings and evening, Wednesday nights, and every activity I could make it to. But really? It was all a habit. It was my lifestyle and I did it all without even thinking about it. The came a time where I realized..."Wow...look at all the things my friends get to have". Y'know, the ones who didn't have to go to church and made fun of me when I talked about it. Then I saw how good it looked. Like really, they get get to wear what they want, listen to what they want, and do what they want. And I wanted it. I wanted to do what they were doing! So I did. I began to listen to some really bad music, which came to an attitude problem. And I did end up doing what I wanted. Not in the ways that they had, but in my own little way, I knew what I wanted, and I was going to try my hardest to get it.

 So along comes summer of 2008. I had been going to Servants Heart Camp since, well a good 5 years at that time, and I loved it! I loved being able to hang out with my friends and play the games and just have a ton of fun! I didn't mind the preaching, but it was definitely not my favorite part. Especially this year. I didn't want to change anything!! Nobody really knew what I was doing, so who cared? The first night (I know! the very first night!) Mr. Shawn Madrid was preaching on the Bridge of Life, and my, oh my was I challenged. I had seen this tract a million times, but only then was I beginning to want to do anything about it. The tears were flowing before he was even halfway through!  I was heartbroken for Christ. He gave His very life for me, so why couldn't I give even the smallest over to Him? How could I be so selfish?? It was very different raising my hand for the invitation. Everyone there though I was saved! They had thought I was living for Christ until then. Until I gave up the fight and let my sins be washed away. Not just covered up, but completely washed away!!

 I went out with Rachelle Fry to talk about what I was going to do that night. I was crying so hard. I couldn've told you why then, but now I know. Because I was almost free. I was so close to giving it all to Christ! Well, I prayed a silent prayer. No, I can't quote what I said back to you. All I remember is it consisted of the basic salvation prayer, and a whole lot of I'm sorrys. But when I opened my eyes, I knew peace. For a long time I had known nothing but hate and fear, but right then? I knew joy, and peace, and happiness! I cannot put into words what I felt that night. I wanted to tell the whole world!

 Well I got inside the Activity Center and we went to tell my junior counselor. Chrystal Dierking, you know who you are! :) She saw me cry, as the words came out that I had accepted Christ! It was the most amazing thing, being surrounded by Christians who wanted to know this and were willing to pray with me right there!! It was so very encouraging to know that I wasn't alone. Because even now, I am still friends with those people, and I have made so many more along the way! I can't even type out how grateful I am for all of you. I don't tell you enough!

 This was only the beginning of my story. God has moved in so many ways, I'm not sure I'll ever finish typing! Every now and then I may continue this story of my life on here, just to let you all know how very great our God is. How He has changed and molded me (and still is!) to be more like Him. No, I'm not even close to where I probably should be, but I am growing. Each day I want to learn something about my God that I can write down  and look back to. I've been doing this for a couple of months now, and wow! The pages upon pages of things I've learned and realized about Him? It's overwhelming!!

 And like I said...
                                              ....this is just the beginning.

Leaders In Training Conference....

Wow! What a way to refresh your heart spiritually! I think we all had a amazing time getting to meet some people as well as being able to catch up with some old friends! :)

 The whole thing didn't work as it had years before, in way of the layout of workshops and sessions. Normally you would choose your workshops and go! But this year we were all focusing on one subject. Purity. Yes, a subject that we should probably talk about more than we do. Because I can tell you, in my own life that is, that it's probably not something we think about everyday. But it really should be! We are daily faced with issues in morality whether in worldly dress, television, and even pressuring friends. We can all be led down that road that ends in misery and breaking of hearts. Purity is a great gift that we have all received that we can give to someone someday. But really, what it comes down to is that none of us are completely pure in every aspect or degree. We will be tempted and tried, and maybe people will pressure us to do or think about things that can hurt us morally. It really is sad what this world has come down to. But we can be free...

 ...because despite all our mistakes, the most amazing part of it all is that, if we let him, God makes us truly pure. In mind, body, and soul! Whether we've made those mistakes or not, God is always ready and willing to forgive! His amazing grace can save from the greatest of sins. He also wants us to become more like Him after this forgiveness. Even though maybe it seems as all others around you pressure you, we have been given all the strength we need to overcome!! We've been given all we need by our Father to be mighty in this world. We simply need to let Jesus work through our trials, our failures, to make us shining lights in a dark world...