Finishing Strong

I have just handed in my last assignment as a student at NCU. Now the countdown begins towards graduation. As a student I have seen a lot of seniors go through something called "senioritis" where they just don't care anymore about school. I wanted to finish school strong, but it's hard when the natural tendency is to just not care. Of all the things that I am proud of in my life, I would say that finishing strong and with excellence is at the top. I want to finish whatever race I am in and not quit, period!

I want to be excellent in what I do. I wanted to give in to "senioritis", I really did. But that drive inside of me said to keep going until the job was done well. I finished strong in school, now I just need to get through the next lifetime with that same attitude. Bring it on!

Last Day

My heart has been connected to River Valley Church since the moment that I met Pastor Troy, and now my time at RVC is over. Today is my last day as an intern at RVC and I am not sure what I think. I knew that I was only going to be here for two semesters, but the power of connecting to the Pastors and the congregation has made me feel like I am losing something truly amazing in my life. Pastor Troy is one of only a handful of men who have truly blessed me and spoken into my life words of encouragement and grace. He is an amazing man of God and I have been blessed that God placed me under his ministry.

My last day at RVC is nothing spectacular, but anything that ends is hard. I know that with this chapter over, that God is going to turn the page and the story of my life will continue. It's hard when the last chapter was so good and I don't know what the next chapter will bring (I love book analogies if you haven't noticed). But I pray that God will continue to lead and guide me to a ministry where I can continue to learn and grow. I will miss everything about RVC, but I thank God that I was apart of a ministry that is based on excellence. I know now how Church is done well!

Discovery Channel- Sharks

I love documentaries about sharks. One of the reasons that I like shark shows is that as a kid I was terrified of sharks. It all started when I watched "Jaws" when I was a kid (my parents did not know about this) and when my family moved to the Philippines I was petrified because there where sharks off the island where we lived. I think that it is amazing to watch these documentaries (I wish we had satellite so that I could always watch the Discovery Channel) because it dispels the fears that I have had since I was young. I could watch shark documentaries all day long and never get bored because I am so fascinated by my fears. "Fear is the mind killer" to quote DUNE.

Traffic

One of the things that I really love about Minnesota is the traffic. The joy of having someone swerve into my lane with less then a car length of room fills me with the love of Christ for all those around me. I also love the lack of use of the turn signal, it's overrated anyway. The thrill of someone crossing three lanes of traffic to cut me off before the on ramp makes me thank God that I am filled with the Holy Spirit and do not suffer from anger and/or rage. These are the moments that I will be able to carry with me wherever I go in life. Traffic is awesome!

Things about Montana

These are the things I miss about Montana:

-Buying a gun is way easier
-Fly fishing
-Big Sky country (because the sky is small everywhere else)
-Mountains (in Minnesota we have lakes, which are flatter and way wetter then mountains)
-My Family
-Way more space for way less people
-Buying a gun is easier (again, and this goes out to my Wyant friends)

I am writing this list down because I am reminiscing about Montana and am missing all things Montana. I MISS YOU MONTANA!!!

Of course, if I was in Montana I would be missing lakes. I guess there's no way to please me.

Easter

I don't know what it is about Easter, but I can't stay asleep past 6:30 am. Every Easter I wake up and that is the end of that. This morning was no different. I woke up and I was ready for the day (if you ask my wife you know this is not normal). There are a few things that bug me about Easter (like wearing a tie), but this day just seems different to me.

Jesus brought us back into relationship with the Father today. Sometimes it is hard to imagine the pain that Jesus went through on the cross, but that pain just seems trivial when I think of the glory of God that is possible to know because of His resurrection. This is THE event that makes us Christians, that we are crazy enough to believe that Jesus rose from the dead (which, by the way, He did). Maybe we are not crazy, but instead we have the revelation of the events that happened two thousand years ago. I don't believe that makes me crazy, certifiable maybe, but I KNOW that Jesus has taken away the blemish of sin through His resurrection.

What an amazing day this is!

All at once

These are the things that are happening in my life all at once: My Senior Project is due at the end of the month, I have a class that I need to finish at NCU, I graduate in May, my internship is over at the end of April, I am trying to find a job in the ministry so I am job hunting and resume writing, Isaac may finally have a TPR this month, and our lease is up in July.

This is my life and I love my life. No matter how busy or stressed out I become I know that my God and my family are there through it all. When the bad things in life creep up on me I remember that God is faithful. Bad things happen, that is the way it is, but my attitude during these times shows the condition of my heart. I don't ask God, "Why is my life hard and why do I struggle?", simply because I know that this is life, this is what life is about. I think this is called "Manning Up" to my situation. Struggling and hardship happens to the best of us, but I know that the Holy Spirit is the comforter.

There are those who say that God is causing the pain in their lives, but I say that God is there to help me through that pain. My life right now is jam packed with things that need to happen, and I am starting to get stressed about it, but I will live through this experience and praise God through it all. I need to deal with my situation in life and not try and delegate blame for all my problems. How is your life going and are you trusting God to help you through it?

It's Raining

I am not complaining, not in the least. However, it is raining. Not one of those fun rains where you can go out and enjoy a good soaking, no, this is a cold and wet rain. Of course, all rain is wet because rain is, well, water. So when I say that it is a wet rain I am assuming that you know that rain is water and therefore know that rain is wet. Have you every had a dry rain? But I am not complaining because without rain we would be dry, because rain is wet and wet makes things grow. Unless it's to wet and then you have flooding. I once over watered a plant and the plant died, it was sad. I guess to much wet can make things to not dry, and then you will have trouble. Speaking of trouble have you every had a speeding ticket? I got one driving in northern Montana, but at least it wasn't raining. Rain is one of those things that makes you happy and sad. I am happy because it is raining and I am sad because it is raining. It is just one of those things.

I am not complaining, but I think that if it is going to rain then there should be someone to tell me that it is going to rain. I know that there are people called "Weathermen" or "Weatherwomen" or "Weatherbears", but I was hoping that someone could follow me around shouting the weather for all to hear. That could get annoying though because when it is raining and someone is standing next to you shouting that it is raining, that is annoying. Which is why I said it is annoying. I am a genius. Did you know that it is raining? At least here it is. So somewhere out there it is not raining and someone is saying, "Man, I wish it would rain a really wet rain" because as you know, all rain is wet. So somewhere out there there is someone who wishes they lived in Minneapolis. So stop complaining about the weather and move to Minneapolis. Unless you don't like rain, and then you should move to Seattle.