Third

Well sorry for not boring you, I mean sorry for not writing in so long. As far as an update, I took finals and I was stressed and now is sit on my butt doing nothing, there is the update now you can go on with your daily lives. Being home I am reminded just how important family is. But I would be lying if I said I didn't miss my friends. But in all honesty I am ready to be back in my world, and by that I mean school(how lame is that). This past semester wasn't the best for me, for the first half of the semster I went through this depressing stage in my life, really wierd for me, but I didn't care about anything(ANYTHING). My grades sucked, and I had to work so hard to just pass. I realize now what is most important, therefore, when I go back my priorities have shifted. Although I still want to be out of school I know that if I just pass then I will be out much quicker, than if i struggle and refuse to do my work. My priorities are now, school-work-relationships. That doesn't mean I will become that lame college kid who does nothing but study, work, and no one ever sees him. I just mean those three things are what I now know to be most important to me. There is an update for you(even though half of you are now wishing you had that 5 minutes back..sorry).

Now, on a completely different note, and I mean completely different(this will describe how random I am)..I thought I would enlighten you on some of the music I am listening to these days. I may lose some friends when they hear who I am listening to. As I write this I am listening to the new Lupe Fiasco cd "The Cool", in all honesty this is probably the best album all around I have heard in a while. I will be honest my brother is a much bigger Lupe fan than I am, and in fact it is his cd I am listening to. But other than that there is three artists I love first William Fitzsimmons, I found him on the infamous myspace, in my opinion the best song of his is a newer song called "Please Don't Go". From listening to him I found Ingrid Michealson, she has the best voice ever(again my opinion, but know I am always right.) So the other album I am listening to is from a band Leeland the album "Sound of Melodies." This is such a good chill album to listen to while you sit in your appartment drinking coffee and smoking a ciggarette, but I wouldn't know anything about doing that.(I say that in sarcasm)

Ok i guess I wont you bore you any longer...but listen to those three albums and you will feel blessed.

Second

So I'm sitting in class listening to debates being held covering many different topics. So congratulations you(again if anyone else reads this...other than me) get to hear my thoughts I had during this class.

The first thing that came to my mind was how a church should be led. The purpose of an organization is to fulfill the mission. Sometimes organizations lose the mission and instead try to uphold institution. But without a mission there is no institution. In a Christian stand point I hope we don't lose the mission of Christ, because that is what will hold the organization(church) together. Don't think I am saying the church is a mere organization, I instead believe the church is people desiring action. An action of loving. This whole "mission" thing can also play over into any buisiness, school, college, or any organization. I fear my college is becoming an organization that is trying to uphold the institution aspect and not looking at fulfilling the original mission. This is why I am always studying what the mission of Christ was, becuase this will be the mission of whatever "organization" I am apart of.
Love Loudly..Live Graciously.. Be Conversational

First

My first post, this could be a giant cluster of nothing. I'm not sure what it is I even want to say. I wake up early and look outside of my dorm room window and see the sun rising, I think-"beauty". I walk outside to a freezing cold gust of wind, after I caught my breath I thought, "what an amazing day." I'm amazed at how the rising sun, the thing that's supposed to provide some heat, can bring no heat at all. I eat my breakfast and go to class, at a miserable hour, luckily class was good(music can't really be bad.) I head to a mandatory chapel. My plans were to scan and then duck out, however, my plans were interrupted by an attractive girl. So I stayed, ironically she did what I wanted to, scanned and bounced. I sat as a band got up and led, it was good, sometimes I wonder why I couldn't be blessed with the ability to play music. I thought to myself, why am I hear? Not in chapel, but at this school. This guy got up and spoke about how he is going to graduate in a few months and he fears he isn't ready spiritually to be in ministry. My reaction was simple, "well then don't go." But seriously if your not ready no one is making you do it, take your break. That's when I started thinking, am I ready?

Why is it that even the worst sermons make me think?

Then, after about 10 seconds I remembered why I was here and I got my answer to the question, Am I ready? I am here to love people and to develop these friendships I have. I don't want to leave, why, because I love the fellowship. I am developing my love of people, even the ones who piss me off; those guys who think they know everything, of course they don't, so I simply smile and laugh at the fact they one day they will be reminded of their ignorance. The fear for myself is that one day I will become that guy. Will there be one day that I act, or think, I'm better than those around me? I pray not. I pray that I surround myself with the lowly people of this world, I hope I am one of the lowly. But the question still stands, am I ready? Can you be ready for ministry? What is ministry?

I have professors that tell me how to do ministry. But is that the only way? I hear that there only particular ways to preach, says who?

My ministry will be hanging out with people. This makes me being in school very ironic, I am paying money to learn that I want to hang out with people. I know some of you are going to read this... (well truthfully I could be the only one to read it, but I like to make myself more important than I am...it's a confidence booster)..but I know whoever reads this could say, "what happens when someone comes to you with problems, are you just going to hang out then?"...maybe, let's be honest, we are not dumb people. Think back to the problem you had, if you talked to someone you probably figured out your answer. So simply being in conversation with people can help...I love the movie Patch Adams. He is asked at one point if he has been helping patients. He answers "yes". And he goes on to describe how the patients are doctors and everyone helps everyone...Is this church? I hear people saying they want a "New Testament church," do you really? Are you willing to let the lowly help the wealthy, and then share what you have...

My answer is simple, sure. I mean, I'm not going to say I know everything, but I can say I know how to hold a conversation and I know how to love. So am I ready for ministry, I think a lot of us can say we are ready.

Love Loudly.. Live Graciously.. Be Conversational