Life is like a box of ...

Guatemala was so beautiful, we stayed in Antigua which is surrounded by 4 volcanoes. That is going to be a great location for groups to serve at this summer. Amongst the beauty is extreme poverty, I was able to visit several villages where they had not had water in 15 days, and were living in small 1 room sheds made of tin. We are going to be able to provide them with clean water, and new solid houses.

Last weekend was the High School retreat and the students really grasped what it mean to be Fearless and to chase their dreams, and their enemies.

I get to go home this weekend to Chattanooga for the first time in a couple of months, so I am excited to see everyone. An old friend Danny Williams and his Wife and 2 children are also in town, so it will be so great to catch up with him and what amazing things God has been doing in their lives.

Then Sunday night I am going to catch some more old friends, the guys in the band After Edmund in Boaz, Alabama. They are on tour with Lecrae should be a lot of fun. If you have not checked these guys out then you are missing out. Afteredmund.com

Time to Catch Up!!

I know it has been 3 months since my last blog, and obviously I can't recall what all has happened in that time, but for now here are some highlights.

I have been to Jamaica twice, Costa Rica, Bahamas, Dominican Republic, Haiti and Puerto Rico.  I finally decided it was time that I open up a Delta Sky Miles account so I did so, and just reached 50,000 miles so far.  

I have been speaking at several retreats on the weekends lately while gearing up for the summer of 2010 at TEAMeffort.  In the upcoming month, I will be going to L.A. for a fun trip that includes a LA Lakers game, Dodgers game, and a trip to the Price is Right, which I am incredibly excited about.  I also have some upcoming trips to the Navajo Reservation and a new camp on the Blackfeet Reservation in Montana.  A trip to Guatemala and the Nu Nation High school retreat will finish out October.  

Me and 2 other guys moved into a new and improved house in Gainesville, which I am enjoying greatly.  I have room to house guests and visitors now which is nice if any of you want to come visit.  My folks will be visiting this coming weekend  so that is always to be a good time.  I hope to do better with this, now that the summer has ended and things should start to get back into some sort of normal routine.

Jamaica and Kidney Stones!!

I have been in Jamaica since Saturday, I am here leading a trip with a group from Cornelia, Georgia.  Unfortunately, I have been a little under the weather, I have been hurting for several weeks but it finally got to the point I was unable to do anything.  So I went to the Dr. here in Jamaica, which was an adventure in itself.  Come to find out I have Kidney Stones, the first time I have ever had them.  Not to fun.  

So Clark and Josh are helping a ton, being that most of the time, I am unable to move.  We will be leaving Saturday to fly back to Atlanta, and it will be my first days off in about 6 weeks, before flying to the Bahamas.  I am going to have to get some test ran, and see what can be done so I can be back in full swing.  Please keep me in your prayers.   

Arizona!!

I landed in Arizona around 3a.m. eastern time on Friday morning.  I am on my way out to the reservation, and stopped in Camp Verde, Arizona to check some last minute emails and make some phone calls.  It is so drastically different out here. I had almost forgotten how hot it gets too, it got up to 99 yesterday and people were talking about it being chilly, and the water in their pools is to cold to swim in.  The scenery is breathtaking, I am going to drive through Sedona, on my way to the reservation.  Sedona is home of the red rocks, it is pretty amazing.  Tomorrow Casey Whitaker flies out so I will be going back to Phoenix to pick him up.  

Just finished reading Andy Stanley's book The Principle of the Path.  It was a good read and reminder that direction determines destination.  

I have been reading a lot from scriptures lately about Peace and Patience, because God is really trying to teach me those two really hard to grasp concepts.  

Off to Reservation, hope to have some great stories of amazing people I meet and seeing God move.  

Summer time..Traveling

Well I know it has been forever since I have posted a blog, I have been doing a lot of office work over the past month or so, gearing up for this summer.  We just finished staff training for TEAMeffort, and all the staff headed to their locations where they will be serving for the next 8 weeks.  I fly out tomorrow for Phoenix, Arizona, where I will drive 5 hours onto the Navajo Indian Reservation.  I will be there for 3 weeks of camp before flying to Jamaica to run a week of camp.  I am really excited and torn all at the same time.  I will not get to see any of the staff even at staff retreat, because I will still be gone overseas. But I get to spend 8 weeks in Costa Rica, Jamaica, Bahamas, and in Arizona.  I will also be getting to spend it with a couple of friends Josh Pearson and Casey Whitaker who will be coming to play music at some of the camps for me.  

I have spent the last two days at the Copperhill camp, helping them get ready for summer.  It has been a great time, the camp is incredibly beautiful settled up in the Blue Ridge Mountains on the border of TN and NC.  

This past week, I really feel God is trying to speak to me, and I have had this heavy burden, a feeling of a weight on me.  Not sure what it means yet but if you could be praying for him to reveal that to me, and what it is he would have me to do.  

Rocketown, home with my Dad!

Tuesday I had the opportunity to speak at Rocketown in Nashville to around 300 artist, it was part of a seminar called The Objective during GMA week.  I was asked to speak on Accountability, it went really well and I was pleased with how it was accepted.  Afterwards, got to go out to lunch with some guys from the Palau Association and then one of my favorite place called Fat Straw which serves Bubble Tea, if you have ever had it you know how great it is.  If you have not try to find somewhere that serves it, amazing.

Then I went back to Rocketown to see some bands play that night.  Wednesday, I went to a Day of Prayer at On The Go ministries, and had a great time fellowshipping with other evangelist.

I hurried back because my Dad had been rushed to the Hospital for the second time this week.  They are saying he has a really bad inner ear infection but he is unable to stand, and can't really do anything for himself, so I have been staying with him so my Mom could go back to work, he is slowly getting better, but still not able to get around on his own.  

New Orleans!!

I have been in New Orleans for almost 2 weeks, it was my first trip here.  And I have enjoyed my stay.  I got to check out all the places you always here about and some you don't.  We have worked 2 weeks on a ladies home by the name of Miss Myrna.  Before Katrina, she was letting her daughter stay in her house, and because she was not living in it, and it was not her residence at the time of the storm she was not eligible for an help or relief, so her house has set empty for over 3 years.  We came in and replaced all the flooring in the house including a lot of floor joist.  We rebuilt the roof and shingled it, poured her a driveway, built a deck, replaced siding on her house and primed it and so many other things.  But the neatest thing was we bought her a swingset for her grandchildren to be able to play on that she keeps.  Today we had an easter egg hunt in the front yard of a house that had been destroyed during the storm.  I found it surreal that little children were running around picking up easter eggs and grinning ear from ear, in a place that has felt so much pain, and hopelessness.  

We just finished closing program and our group is still in small groups.  I am leaving in about 5 hours to drive back to Gainesville, Ga.  So I am trying to decide to stay up, or try to get a few hours of sleep.  I will miss New Orleans, but I am sure I will be back again.  I have to come see my friends at Miss Myrna's house.  

Calling and Character

I am in New Orleans, for two weeks of spring break camps, we are just waiting on our campers to arrive any minute now and begin a new week with a group from PA.

This past week I had some great conversations with friends who I have not been able to talk to since I have been out of the country so much this month.  It was so great to hear from them and hear how encouraged they were in what God was doing in their lives and how he was drawing them closer to him.  

One of them said something that is still reverberating in my spirit.  He said I want to commend you for chasing after God and allowing your calling and your character to match up.  I don't say that to say he is right, but I say that because so often I am not intentional about those things and it helped me realize that I need to be so much about that.  Chasing after God, and realizing he is passionately pursuing me at the same time.  And making sure that my character what I stand for matches up to what it is that God is calling me to do.  And being willing to walk away from everything I have known and become, if that is where God leads.  

God help me strive after you with a reckless abandonment.  Help me to be aware of those around me who need to know you love them.  

Jamaica..Yeah Man

I just got back around 2 a.m. Thursday from Jamaica, it was a setup trip to the different campuses of the CCCD, Caribbean Christian Centre for Deaf.  We will be taking several youth groups there this summer.  Me, Doug the director of TEAMeffort, Pete the CFO of TEAMeffort and Matt, who will be leading the trips there this summer all went on the trip and met up with Keith Cox there in Jamaica.  We arrived on Saturday in Montego Bay and rented a van.  In Jamaica they drive on the left side of the road, so that was an interesting.  We then drove to a village called Knockpatrick about 3 hours in the mountains. We went to a revival on Sunday morning with about 300 people who were deaf.  I had never experienced a deaf service where there is hardly any verbal speaking.  It was one of the neatest encounters of God that I have experienced in a long time, in such a different way.  

After service we drove to the city of Kingston to visit another campus, and meet with their leadership, but not before stopping at a restaurant called Juici Patties, I promise I am not making that up, it is a chain. 

Monday we visited the deaf village and toured their campus and facilities, then drove back to Montego Bay to visit the last of the 4 campuses.  On  Tuesday we left and drove to Ochos Rios, and went to a straw market then climbed Dunn's River Falls, which is a waterfall that you actually climb, it was a lot of fun, even though I fell a couple of times and got scraped up, that is what I get for trying to do it barefoot.

After that we visited a biluminescent Bay that at night time the water glows when stirred up, there are supposedly only 4 in the world. 

I really enjoyed my time there even though it was only a few short days, I know that our groups are going to have a great time and be exposed to a culture and community of deaf students that they are not normally exposed too, and I think it will make for a beautiful collision.

I am back in the car heading to New Orleans for 2 weeks of spring break camps there.  I have only passed through so I am looking forward to seeing the city.

Bahamas Recap!!

Got back into Gainesville, GA around 2 a.m. Sunday from the trip to the Bahamas with FSU.  It was a very productive week, we poured more concrete than I think anyone should in a 4 day period.  The group was so great, and had the best attitudes of any group I have ever been a part of.  We spent a lot of the time laughing at each others jokes, and songs that seemed to be written through out the week.   

We normally take middle school and high school students on our trips, this was our first college trip, and we realized we want to take more.  What superb group they really set the bar high.  I hope a few of them come to work on staff this summer, actually I hear Marie on the phone now, talking with Amanda who may come on staff.  Yippee!! 

We spent the last two days of the trip relaxing in Hope Town, it is a magical place where Golf carts are the car of choice on most of the island.  I ate enough conch to satisfy my cravings for some time.  I even got to go out with some of the local teenagers wakeboarding and they actually dove down and caught a conch, brought it into the boat and ate it, pretty unreal.  

I am a little under the weather this week, but trying to get better by Saturday because I fly out for a set up trip in Jamaica, 3 countries in 4 weeks is a little crazy.  This week is our first week of spring break camps in the states, we have 2 camps happening one in Texas and one at our facility in GA.  So I am doing some office work and going up and speaking at night.  Be sure to check out all my pictures on my facebook acount.  

Bahamas!!

I am in Jacksonville, Fl at the moment, I will be getting up at 5 a.m. and driving to Merrit Island, and catching a little 6 seater prop plane to Marsh Harbour, Bahamas.  We have 2 days to get everything set up for a group from Florida State University, that will arrive on Saturday.  We will be there until March 14th.  

I have never been there so I am pretty excited I have only seen pictures from some of the other TEAMeffort staff's trips.  

I have two new books to read while I am gone, that I am cannot wait to start.  In the Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day by Mark Batterson and Compelled by Love by Ed Stetzer.

Costa Rica!!

Well what can I say but it is the middle of February and it was 28 degrees when I flew out of Atlanta on Tuesday to land in San Jose Costa Rica where it was a nice 83 degrees.  Me and Will have been hosted by a ministry called Score International that TEAMeffort will be partnering with this summer to bring youth groups to Costa Rica, they have been amazing hosts.   We have seen a volcano, visited schools, soccer games, and ate some unbelievable food.  Even more than that we have been able to see the ministry that is happening here, at a Soccer game last night, 9 people gave their hearts to the Lord.  I cannot wait to bring youth groups over here to experience what I believe will change their lives forever.

We are just about to go visit churches and an orphanage, and see some of the projects that we will be working on this summer before catching a flight tomorrow morning back to Atlanta.  

Static event, and Costa Rica!!

II I

 just got back in around 12 this morning from a 4 day trip to Florida.  Me and Jonathan Savage left Gainesville, GA around lunch and arrived in Gainesville, FL around 9.  Thursday we met with several other members of NGA (Next Generation Alliance), we met for a day of prayer, it was great seeing friends I had not seen in almost a year, and making new friends.  We had a chance to pray for each others ministries, and encourage one another.  

We left Gainesville Friday morning and drove to Sarasota, Florida for an event called Static.  It was an outdoor event at Sarasota High School, with Among the Thirsty, Nevertheless and Fireflight.  By the time the show began it was in the 30's, did I mention it was an outdoor event?

There was a great crowd and they were really responsive to the message.  

We stayed in Palm Harbor, Fl that night and headed out Saturday morning to do some things in St. Petersburg before heading back.

Me and Will from TEAMeffort will be leaving Tuesday for Costa Rica I will be there until Friday making arrangements for mission trips that will be happening this summer.  I have not been there since 04, so I am excited to go back.

Time to pack!!

Today I am in the office in Gainesville, Ga.  I am working on some of the international trips that I will be leading in the next few months, my first one is coming up really soon March 7th to Marsh Harbour, Bahamas with a group from Florida State University.  Looks like I am going to be doing a lot of traveling again this summer.  A couple of trips to Costa Rica, The Bahamas, Jamaica, and out to the Navajo Reservation in Arizona.  

I am really excited about an opportunity I have to speak next weekend in Sarasota, fl.  It is an event called Static, with my good friends Among the Thirsty, Nevertheless and Fireflight.  I also get to stop on the way down in Gainesville, Fl for a day of prayer with Next Generation Alliance of the Luis Palau Association.  Should be a time with great friends, fellowship and seeking our creator.  

I am still listening to the Fray, I really enjoyed the Grammy's Sunday.  Coldplay rocked it out.

I am not, but I know I am

I am reading the book I am not, but I know I am.  It is by Louie Giglio, and has been a great reminder of how this life has nothing to do with me, and everything to do with God.  How small my story is compared to the grandness of the story of God.  And that things that seem so large and unbearable to me, to God is a speck of sand.  I am so thankful, I serve such a large God, who loves me so much more than I can ever understand.  And because I know I am, then I am part of his large story.

I just bought The Fray's new album and I really like it.  

My Grandparents 55th wedding anniversary!!

Today I am traveling to Dalton, GA to celebrate my Grandparents 55th wedding anniversary at Cracker Barrel.  They are so amazing and have always been so supportive of me.  To me they have always been a  picture of Christ, they have not always had much, but everything they have they would give it away to help someone else.  My Grandfather is about 6 foot 3 and my grandmother is about 4 foot 10 they are so cute, she tells him what to do, and being the smart man he is he does it.  They make me laugh so much.  I am looking forward to spending time with them, because I don't get to see them much anymore do to how much I travel.  They are truly inspiring.  And I love them dearly.

FSU and Panama City!!

I am just about to leave Gainesville, Ga and drive to Tallahassee with some of the staff we are meeting a group of college students at FSU, that I will be leading a trip with to the Bahamas in March.  Then I am heading to Panama City for a couple of days to finish setting up a camp there, that will happen this summer.

Hopefully it will be a little warmer there, than it is here right now.  Will post some pictures from that trip soon.

The last two messages that I spoke at City Church youth group are up on the internet at:  nunation.cc/default.aspx?pid=82

Blood Mountain!!

This past Saturday a group of us from the office in Gainesville, decided we would hike blood mountain.  I was thinking it would be a leisurely stroll, I was mistaken.  It ended up being 2.2 miles straight up.  My legs have not burned like that since 2 a days football practice back in high school.  But once we got to the top it was all worth it, to be able to stare off into God's beautiful creation.  We talked about as we were soaking it all in, how can anyone see this and not believe there is a God.

Sunday morning I drove back to Chattanooga to catch the last message in the series called Together at Ethos.  Shannon poured out his heart that we are called to be dreamers, at the end of the service everyone lit candles to symbolize that we were in this together, it was a very moving moment.

Last night I spoke for the second week in a row at NuNation the youth group at City Church, I finished up a series called I Heart God, it has been a really great series to be part of.  At the end of my message called Compelled by Love to Love, I challenged the students to do something not just realize that God loves them, but Be the change.  They responded by coming forward and we had the opportunity to pray for them.  

God is so amazing, and I am blown away that he allows me to part of what he is doing.

Nu nation tonight!

Tonight I am going to be speaking at City Church's youth group called Nu Nation.  My good friend Danny is the youth pastor there and him and his wife are having their first child tonight.  They are in the middle of a series called I Heart God, a series inspired by the book Crazy Love by Frances Chan.  I just got called Friday and ask to speak so it has been a little bit of a rush to put together a message, but it worked out well, and I am excited to share it here in a couple of hours.  I will also be speaking there next week.  

As soon as I finish I will be heading back to Gainesville, to spend all week working at TEAMeffort.  Spring break is drawing near which means camp will soon be here, so there is a lot to get done in a few short weeks.  

I am hooked on Jon Foreman's cd called Limbs and Branches, if you have not heard it, you need to get it.  

Today at Ethos was great, Shannon has had a really tough week with his grandmother passing away, but God really spoke through him, I wish them safe travels as him and his family  travel to South Carolina.

Skiing!!

Today I went skiing in Maggie Valley, NC at Cataloochee ski resort, I could not find anyone to go with me so I went by myself.  Which is the first time I have ever done that.  I drove up from Gainesville, and my parents decided to take a day trip from Chattanooga and met me there, they only watched from the lodge.  It was decent skiing, the snow was pretty good.  I had to break in some new gear I had gotten for Christmas.  Then we had a quick dinner, and I drove about 3 hours to Archdale, NC where I am speaking tomorrow night at a youth event.  A group from Archdale came to the Arizona camp that I was working at this summer, so I am excited about seeing them all.

After the event tomorrow, I will be driving back to Gainesville about a 5 hour drive, so may be a long night.

I am hooked on a band called the Glorious Unseen go check them out, and I just finished reading the Rules of the Red Rubber ball, a really good quick read.  

New Years and Grace!!

I spent New Years Eve in Orlando at the Gaylord Palms resort.  Nevertheless had a concert there, it was absolutely beautiful and a great time.  I am sitting in the passenger seat of the van on our way back, looks like it is going to be a long night.  But I just finished watching a dvd by Louie Giglio called Fruitcake and Icecream.  It was a great reminder of God's Grace, and how much he loves me and you.  

This songs lyrics are amazing and a great reminder:

Everyone needs compassion,

Love that's never failing

Let mercy fall on me.

Everyone needs forgiveness, 

The kindness of a Savior,

The hope of nations.

Savior, He can move the mountains, 

My God is Mighty to save, 

He is Mighty to save.

Forever, Author of salvation,

He rose and conquered the grave,

Jesus conquered the grave.

So take me as You find me,

All my fears and failures,

Fill my life again.

I give my life to follow

Everything I believe in, 

Now I surrender.

Shine your light and let the whole world see,

We're singing for the glory of the risen KIng...Jesus

My Saviour, He can move the mountains, 

My God is Might to save,

He is mighty to save.

Forever, Author of salvation,

He rose and conquered the grave, 

Jesus conquered the grave.

Thanks Jesus!!