Fun in the Sun

I did this at the pool and my buddy Ben filmed it. Eric gets the credit for the quality throw. It is pretty funny, over 300,000 people have viewed this on this website break.com (sometimes sketchy content there, so dont recommend checking it out there). I think it is hilarious because people are all fired up, calling the video everything from "Degree of Difficulty: Just plain lame" and many vulgar names I wont mention here to "REALLY AMAZING VIDEO,GREAT" (and those are actual quotes... once again, I wont mention the ones that question my sexuality or my personal favorite "Fatty caught a water ballon."). So hope you enjoy what my summer job is like!


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Impacting Me

Hey, I just thought I would share some quotes with y'all that have been impacting me lately. No commentary on them, just take them for what they are worth.

"Love comes when manipulation stops; when you think more about the other person than about his or her reactions to you. When you dare to reveal yourself fully. When you dare to be vulnerable." CS Lewis
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"The unseen world is the important one. Pull pack the trap door and let the light shine in on those dusty places. Watch the insects scatter. Walk into those places with Christ at your side. Let him hold you. Let his righteous anger and burning love change you. Then tell about it. Tell that story.

And when you tell it, watch the faces of the broken and exhausted. Watch the faces of the confused and bitter. Watch the faces of the lost. They will soften. The defiant, clenched jaw will slacken. The creases in their foreheads will smooth out. Their eyes will tear up. They will hear the mighty Word of God in a way that they haven’t before. They will wet the feet of Christ with their tears. They will long to hear the gospel again, and again. Because to them, it is truly good news.

In the writing of my book, I learned something about God. I learned that there is no story without conflict....You are in the middle of your own story, and the Author is leading you somewhere. There will be much to be afraid of in your future. You will find yourself angry at times, shaking your fist at the sky. You will find yourself weary and worn thin. Remember that the writer of your story is leading you to a good land." Andrew Peterson

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"The last line of that poem says, “Practice resurrection.” That phrase has been with me a lot these past days and next week when I drive away from everything that makes me comfortable, it’ll be with me then. I’ve had plenty of practice in the past. I wish I could say I was getting better, or that it was getting easier, but each time I’ve flung myself down those steps it’s been a brief moment of flight followed by a bone-snapping crash. It hurts to die but each time I’m raised again and I’m something new, something I don’t recognize, something I never expected. I’ve gotten no better at avoiding the pain, but maybe, just maybe I’m getting better at trusting in the coming resurrection.

When I get where I’m going, I look forward to laying out that sailboat again. I learned a lot the first time through. I’ve honed my skills and I have my tools. I trust in the blueprints and I understand them better this time around. Though she’ll be the same, she’ll be cut from new wood. She’ll be finer than she was before and built by surer hands. There will be new problems to overcome, more blistered hands and cut fingers but one day, when I’ve bled for her enough, she’ll sail." Pete Peterson
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" A best friend told me a few days ago that she laughs every time we sing 'Refiners Fire' because when we're actually in the fire we're squirming to get out. Instead of relishing in the weight of the trials we try to jump out of it, because it burns--- it hurts! If there's one thing I've learned in this season in the fire, (on a minimal scale considering others' "fires") it's that yeah, the fire really works. I feel like I've learned more about myself and about God through this time than I ever thought I could. It took fires to point out pride, self-reliance, and disbelief to *begin* to teach me about God's character and his call to dependence. My perspective isn't always perfect, but God's starting to show me, in hindsight, of course, how my time in the crucible could actually be valuable, in addition to just painful." Lauren R

Bullet Form Summer Update

- I am back in the States and working hard at support raising, currently at 55% and in need of a lot more... want to help out? Even 10 bucks a month is huge...
- I have gone to Orlando, FL and back for a Team Leader training with my super sweet ATL (Associate Team Leader) Jenny. It was an incredibly encouraging, practical time for me, and God used it to speak some truth into my life. One of my favorites was from a talk where the speaker Keith said that "The same God that delivered Daniel from the lions den was also the God that delivered him into the lions den." We praise God for one, not so much for the other... sometimes the most useful events in our spiritual life are also the most painful.
- I am working hard as a Day Camp Director with Upper Arlington Parks and Rec. Really what this means is that I am professional dodgeball player, with a specialty in doing flips of the diving board at the local pool.
- I just had a thank-you function at my house where I got to make Tirami-soup (I screwed up the Tiramisu) and hang out with a lot of people who supported me last year. I got to share a video (featured below) and answer questions. Good time had by all, I think.

- I am going to go to the Coldplay concert in Chicago tomorrow! I am stoked.
- I have been writing for a website called musiccityunsigned.com and also have been loving this website NoiseTrade.com. I highly recommend any of the music to my right and you can download it for free or really cheap (you choose the price)
- A fun video of ME and Sara (a 07-08 Teammate) speaking with the Italian student TV station can be found HERE. It is all in Italian, but still fun even if you can't understand.

Well, that is a brief "this is my life at this time"... hopefully I will post more soon. And oh yea, my buddy GV is a brilliant guy who wanted to be featured on this... so GV, thanks for encouraging me in walking closer with Jesus. I figure this means more than quoting one of your pithy "want to be featured on the blog" quotes :)

NoiseTrade.com

Ok, so this is more about music and not my life, but this is incredible. Go to this website, NoiseTrade.com and be amazed. There is so much good music to download FOR FREE. All you have to do is tell 3 friends or pay what you want. That is it. And this website was being developed way before RadioHead made paying what you want popular, but it is just not being dropped on the general public. I have already downloaded three CD's off of it... I highly reccomend Matthew Perryman Jones "Throwing Punches in the Dark"... it is worth every penny you pay for it, from 1 all the way to 25 dollars. And if you tell friends, enter in real email addresses. This is incredible people, check it out. Other notable artists are Katie Herzig, Derek Webb, Sandra McCracken and many more. NoiseTrade.com (and no I am not paid to say this, I am just really impressed that I have got three CD's for whatever price I wanted to pay and telling friends).

Music City Unsigned

Hey guys, quick post here. I am privileged to have written for the website www.musiccityunsigned.com and hope you guys can head that direction and check it out. It is under the blog section and it is just a solid website to begin with. But like I said, I am excited about it so hope y'all can check it out. And to prove that my article has some merit (well, really just to brag), here is a picture of me with Andrew Osenga and some great friends from college (Osenga is the subject of the article).