Wedding Weekend

This past weekend I was honored to be a part of another friend’s wedding. My good friend Jay and his new wife Kerri were married Saturday at the Reserve at Lake Keowee. It was a great time – most of the wedding party stayed at a bed and breakfast near the lake and got to spend a lot of time with the bride and groom Friday and Saturday. As usual, my favorite part was the rehearsal dinner; hearing all of the stories of 2 great individuals’ lives and how God had brought them together. It is a great feeling to sense that all of the people there are truly in support of the marriage and are celebrating it with the couple. Saturday evening the wedding and reception were outdoors on a lawn overlooking the lake and were absolutely perfect. (except that I had to sing, which always makes me incredibly nervous) Congratulations to Jay and Kerri! See you soon!

Lake Season is Here!

Got the boat out on the water Saturday for the first time this year. It was an gorgeous day, and with the wetsuits the water was not bad at all. I went out with a friend of mine who is finishing up med school and one of his classmates. We had a great time, and are all sore and slightly sunburned to prove it! Chris is an excellent photographer and brought out his amazing camera in hopes of making our very average wakeboarding look pretty good. Check out Chris’ photography here, and click the picture below to see some other pictures from the afternoon.

Invisible Children

Friday night I watched the movie Blood Diamond, and my heart is still heavy. If you havent seen it, you need to. But do not expect light entertainment. It is an excellent movie that portrays many of the horrible things that are going on in Africa today; war, mass murder, exploitation of children, etc. It is hard to comprehend that such things exist in the same world where I live, work, and play with not only every possible physical convenience and entertainment a person can want, but also the freedom to enjoy those things without daily fear for my and my family’s life. It makes all of the things I think and worry about on a daily basis seem rediculous and insignificant.

I know that most of you are familiar with Invisible Children by now, but if you are not, stop reading this and check it out. Seriously. It is a great organization that is dedicated to raising awareness and help for the people, especially the children, affected by many of the same issues portrayed in Blood Diamond.

FCA Happenings

Last week I had the honor of being a part of a task force whose purpose was to discuss and determine the future plans and strategy for FCAs college ministry. As many of you know, this has been a long time passion of mine so I am glad to finally see some positive things happening on a national level. Getting to visit the national office in Kansas City for the first time since my original staff training 10 years ago was very cool, and it brought back many memories. It was also amazing to see and hear how much God has been growing the overall ministry of FCA in so many ways. Our meetings concerning the college ministry were very productive, and I am very excited to see what God has in store. For those of you who have been impacted by God through FCA as I have, please keep the college ministry in your prayers!

Good Reading

Just found some good new blogs; Dustin, Tommy, Alison, and Sean. Check them out when you get a chance.

Reset

Last Monday I got away and spent the entire day with just myself and God. No cell phone, internet, etc, just my Bible, journal, and a couple of other books. Recently I have been very frustrated and discouraged with life in general and on Sunday it just hit me that God could and probably wanted to meet me in the middle of all that. So I decided to get away from all the distractions and the noise that I tend to listen to sometimes and just listen to him. What at first I thought was going to be a long, boring day turned out to be very cool and refreshing. Time flew by as I read and wrote pages and pages in my journal, getting more and more honest and deeper with God as the day went on about all of my frustrations, questions, sin in my life, and more. It felt good to get it all off of my chest, not in a childish whining kind of way, but in a deep soul-clearing kind of way. And then, once I had pretty much run out of words, God began to speak back to me. I know….. it sounds hokey. Even as I type it it sounds dumb. Because of course he didnt speak to me in some audible voice or flash of light. Thoughts just started popping into my head related to all the things I had been voicing and thinking about. Some came along with specific Bible passages or verses, some did not. But as each one came, it rang true in my heart in a way that I knew it was from him. Did I get answers to all my questions? No. Of course not. But I was encouraged. And refreshed. And my faith has been renewed.

“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” Jer 29:13

McGuire Pics!

As promised, here they are!

Question

If God loves us so much and wants to have a personal relationship with us, as many of us believe, then why is He so freakin’ hard to hear sometimes, or even find?

New Family Member!!

Monday and Tuesday I unexpectedly got to spend some time up in Gods country! (the upstate) Ben and Erin had their little girl McGuire on Monday morning, so I went to up to see her, and ended up packing in several other visits as well. Here are the highlights: saw Ben and Erin’s almost completed new house, ate dinner at Macs, hung out with the guys at Canterbury Rd, spent the night at Mom and Dads, went to see baby McGuire, had lunch with Dad and Grandpa, and met my friend Tommy for coffee before heading back to Columbia. It was a great quick trip, of course the highlight getting to see McGuire. Babies are so amazing…..so tiny….so perfect. She and Erin are doing great, and should go home soon! Pictures of the baby and their house to come soon….