18
Sep
09
refer to the post below this one
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14
Sep
09
We’re All In This Together
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11
Sep
09
…
hello blog it’s been some time…
since I don’t have anything else to blog about now, here’s a picture of mr. potato head…yes
…have a good day!
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23
May
09
Africa!
This past week I had a chance to go to Africa on a mission trip with 19 people from my college group The Hub. We went to Mozambique where we stayed in Maputo, which is the capital. Mozambique is a broken place. Poverty is everywhere. During the days we were going out to our church campus there in Mozambique which was about 30-45 minutes outside of the city and just served the people out there through construction and playing with the kids. Those kids in that place are amazing. Absolutely amazing. I wanted to bring all of them home with me. They get their joy from such little things its amazing. They walk 2 miles in the sand to the church everyday in order to get fed their 1 meal of the day. My heart is broken for those kids. They humbled me so much on this trip. We also got the chance to go to their youth service on Saturday night, which was amazing! To see all those young people with so much not going their way in life so joyful and worship God all out was amazing! They didn’t care what the person next to them was thinking, they were so undignified and that’s how it should always be. Being on that stage, watching those young people worshipping God so intimately, and with an African sunset to my right is something I will never, ever, forget. It was one of the most humbling moments of my life. I thank God so much for what Isaac, Carol, and Deborah are doing in that broken place. They are definitely being a light in the darkness. I praise God for the chance that I had to go over there and be torn up and humbled so much. But, back to what we did. On Sunday we got to go out to their normal service and it was awesome! Like 150 adults and 300+ crazy kids on a Sunday morning is an awesome sight! After church we got to go eat right across the street from the Indian Ocean and got the chance to actually go out to it after and it was a cool experience. No lie though, that was a nasty beach! Apparently in Maputo you can stop and go to the bathroom wherever you want. Monday morning we headed back out to the church and finished all the work we could do and said goodbye to all those kids before heading to Swaziland that night. In Swazi we got to go to a game park and go on a safari which was an absolutely incredible experience! After the safari Steve talked Isaac into taking us to HPC Swaziland in Mbabane, Swaziland which was another hour and a half away and it was awesome! Its up in the mountains in a fairly nice town and it looks alot like our annex campus. HPC Swazi and HPC Mozambique are 2 different churches for 2 very different environments following 1 vision, being a healing place for a hurting world. It was an awesome experience to see the Swazi campus though, especially because it wasn’t on the original agenda! The views were absolutely gorgeous up in the mountains looking over huge valleys! That night we got back to Mozambique and enjoyed our last night in Africa together before heading back on a very, very, very long trip to the States.
God did so much for me in this trip. I truly hope to go back to Africa again in my lifetime and visit our churches there again. I will never, ever, forget this trip and what God did for me on it. Africa and her children are in my heart forever. I never want to forget the faces of those kids and the view looking off the backside of the church in the sunset looking at the surrounding village. I am, like Paul was, an ambassador in chains not only for the Gospel, but for those kids over there. I have to tell of what I’ve seen. I cannot keep quiet, I will not be quiet.
10
Apr
09
ran upon this…
When I got online to check my email something caught my eye. My home page is MSN and I saw this small picture and link to a list of the world’s holiest places (http://travel.msn.com//Guides/MSNTravelSlideShow.aspx?cp-documentid=990433>1=41000) so I figured I would look at it. I stopped on the 8th image which is the Mosque of the Prophet in Medina, Saudi Arabia. I looked at it and I was reading the caption telling me all about it and I read “It is said that praying at the Mosque of the Prophet is equivalent to praying at least 1,000 times anywhere else.” and “many believe that prayers offered here are never rejected.” Something just clicked. First of all why would prayers offered at this building be worth more than a prayer offered anywhere else? And second, why would you have any desire to believe in a god that rejects prayers? That is what is different about Christianity. In no other religions are the “holy places” your body. My body is the temple of the living God! My God dwells within me! And to know that I have a God that will answer every prayer that I offer up to Him, no matter where I am praying from, is amazing. The answer may not be what I want, but it will be answered.
07
Apr
09
top 5 life moment!
Tonight, Healing Place Church was hosting a Feed the Children event and a “larger than life individual” was there. SHAQ!!!!! (or @THE_REAL_SHAQ for you twitterers out there!) The “Kazaam” man himself! Me and a few people were outside making sure they had their admission (which was 10 jars of peanut butter! you better believe! we hooked those kids up!), when this big, big, big, big, big, big, big man stepped out of a black Benz. If you haven’t guessed, that man was SHAQ!!!!! While he was getting ready to talk to some media, the group of us got together and we all went, “1, 2, 3….KAZAAM!” He looked at us really weird. I don’t think he appreciated it, but it was genuine. Soon after he and his entourage walked by us to go in, and I met him!!! I was like, “what’s up Shaq?” He said, “wuzzup (in a super deep voice)?” And then he shook my hand (or swallowed my hand with his)! 
It has been a crazy last few weeks to say the least. Between Servolution, the last Pathfinders in Annex A, the Hub, the Blend, tests, and work, I have been going non-stop. God has done so many things in the last few weeks. I am looking forward to what God has in store for me, for the Hub, and for Epic. As I move forward into the next few weeks and even days I can’t wait to grow deeper in my walk with Christ and watch what God does here in Baton Rouge. One guy in particular has invested so much into over the past 2 1/2 months and especially in the past few weeks. His name is Beau Sharpe. I couldn’t ask for a better friend and mentor than him. I am both saddened and excited for what God has for Beau. See, Beau is an officer in the National Guard and he has been called to do some training before being deployed to either Afghanistan or Iraq in early 2010. He starts his training tomorrow in Fort Sill, Oklahoma. He left last week and his presence will be dearly missed in the Hub and especially in the Blend. I’m still going to be in contact with him pretty much daily while he is training and he will still be challenging me in my walk with Christ and I will be praying for him to have divine strength and courage to face the spiritual warzone he is about to enter. I know that he will be a light wherever he is and an unrelenting warrior for Christ. He has made such an impact on my life, I really can’t put it into words. He is one of my best friends and I can’t wait to see the great things he will do.
