potential

today was a little crazy at sawgrass because we were missing most of the set up team and our campus pastor, but by the grace of God everything went rather smooth. it was a good day. i got to drive the generator today, and backed it into the church almost as good as jenn (way way better than matt).

student ministry was awesome. we had some new leaders really step up, abel took a break from teaching and let jesse lead and he did a great job talking about discipline. basically saying that God disciplines us because He loves us, and because we are disciplined by the Father, we know we are His children. he also had a cool video clip that i'm going to try to find (and learn how to put videos in my blog, that one computer science class i took in freshman year really isn't holding up). then, scott really ran with the discussion time. it was cool to see, all in all.



i really want to go rent this movie now. it is a cool clip and as jesse said, it has a lot of teaching in it. he mentioned the coach's discipline was able to correct brock's thinking. another cool thing i saw was how the coach gave brock that blindfold, this made sure that brock didn't limit himself or doubt his own potential. it made him rely solely on his coach. i think God does that to us sometimes, we don't get to see the whole picture, because He knows that we'll doubt our abilities and what He can do through us. so God gives us a little at a time "20 more steps... 10 more steps..." and by trusting Him, and through His encouragement and empowerment, we are able to do much more than we ever imagined. you might have heard a phrase thrown around, "reaching our God potential." and while our church can definitely help, no one can make us reach our God potential more than the Father Himself.

so, thats a little late night mind dump i thought yall might enjoy. i have to go get some sleep though, its spring break, i gotta hit the beach tomorrow. God bless.

soul harvest

here's a number for you: compared to last year's attendance of the same date, last weekend, sawgrass student ministry has increased 900%. yes. 900%. that's what i'm talking about. praise the LORD!

life's not a popularity contest

today at church, we had a chance to talk about the influence of friends and the importance of hanging out with the right crowd. it is common sense that if you hang around foolish people, stupid stuff happens to you. but one of my kids brought up a very valid point. he said he'd rather hang out with the foolish kids at lunch, than eat lunch by himself. now, this is from the middle school perspective, but if you look at it in a bigger way, then it may be easier to see where he is coming from. a lot of people make poor decisions in who they are around just because they don't want to be alone. we all strive for acceptance, its a fact whether you admit it or not. everyone is seeking approval, everyone likes to be liked. but we have to be careful about who we surround ourselves with. when we become obsessed with popular opinion or worry about our own image, we become completely self centered. this becomes a root from which many problems grow. the main flaw in this way of thinking is that it keeps us from being God centered. you see, as Christians, we don't need to be concerned about popular opinion or image at all. we have the love of the Savior and the ultimate approval from the Almighty. we don't need to live for anyone but for Him. this is an important message in the middle school and high school crowd. school is harsh and if you're not careful, life can become about popularity and soon you will start conforming to the crowd and being who they want you to be. this is the opposite of happiness. you're going to be miserable if you go down that road. its simple, if you want true happiness, live for God. if you make your life God centered, all of the other pieces will fall in place. maybe not how you planned it, but how He planned it. seek Him and all of your other concerns will be satisfied. i promise you that if you truly seek His will, that your life will be much better than you could have ever personally dreamed. one of my favorite verses to comfort me when i'm crippled by indecision, worry, or fear is "'For I know the plans i have for you,' says the LORD. 'They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope." -Jeremiah 29:11 (NLT)

gameday and growth

i just got back home from the longest JV high school football game ive ever seen. I went to see one of the boys at my table from sawgrass, robbie, play against my school. robbie did great, he almost got a pick, and laid a nasty hit on a kickoff. i was impressed at what a ball hawk he is. its great to get the chance to go see some of my boys outside of church, i wish i had more time to see each of them individually.

in case you didnt know, our ministry is growing lately. our FRC sawgrass campus cracked 300 last week (by the way me and my sister were counted as numbers 300 and 301, thought that was cool), and our student ministry had over 40 kids! thats stinkin crazy. i remember starting out and we had more leaders than kids there. im thankful that God has blessed me with the privilege to lead these middle school boys in this growing ministry. its awesome that He's chosen our church to reach these kid's life. i pray that He keeps blessing us, and my group keeps growing. i love hangin out with these kids every week and just talking about school, life, and the Word. it is a difficult time, middle school, real awkward, with all the acne and hormones. i just hope that im getting through to them and am able to provide them with some insight, comfort, or leadership. its all for Him though. thine power and thine glory. but its a blast that he lets me work with these kids. i wouldnt trade it for the world. so keep praying we keep growing and let the good times roll.

pretty boring day

good news! i finished all my summer work, with one day to spare. shoot, i couldve procrastinated a whole nother day. but im kind of relieved its done, so tomorrow i can occupy myself with sawgrass/nation's and hopefully shannon if she ever comes home. but yeah, today was pretty uneventful. went to church, spilled some kool aid, and next on the schedule is sleep. things will get busy soon though. well, 4:30 comes early so ill sign off now. but before i go, you all should really come check out FRC Sawgrass (where i spend my sundays) services start at 9 and 10 15, ill be in the student theater trying to teach middle school boys. come visit, itll be a blast. all the high school kids are doing it.

winding down

only about a week of summer left, but its ok. im not dreading school too much. my favorite teacher got a promotion and wont be teaching ap government anymore, so im dropping the course and probably am going to take another class at bcc instead.

but i didnt think about school much today. i got up at 4:45, headed over to sawgrass to set up for church. it was awesome today. i had a great time hanging with my boys, we only had a handful, but i feel like they just had a genuinely fun time hanging out with us. tear down went quick, then i went to my friend's going away party. a bunch of kids from church just chilled at the pool. i had a great time with everyone there. then i went straight to bible study at nation's house. i was late, with spain, keith, and brandon, but for good reasons. jim was fine with it, and he let me close in prayer with scott, which was cool. then we went from there over to the watsons, and i watched double jeopardy with a lot of the people over there. i stayed there pretty late, hanging out. finally headed home and im almost ready to crash. its just been a great day, ive been surrounded by great people and had a blast going from place to place, even with wet shorts from the pool. its about time to hit the sack, tomorrow should be another fun day.