HAPPY THANKSGIVING YA'LL!

    i hope ya'll have a great thanksgiving with family or whoever! our family is in delaware with manda for a long wkend. its good to see her again! i came out 3 weeks ago with some friends n we had a generally crazy time. didnt do a whole lot, mostly just chilled out, but things seemed to stay interesting somehow. it started on the way out, we got stuck in traffic for bout 2 hours and so we had the doors open quite a bit. so i stood on the cement barrier dividing the interstate, a trucker threw us candy when lori gave a jetta thumbs up, we acted retarded, then we stopped at a motel to drop lori off to visit jason... anyway... :). now the family's out n we have yet to see what will happen this wkend.

    the youth group did our wkend chorus tours, a total of nine programs, 3 wkends in november. things went purty good for the most part. it was alot of fun, but i think everybody is glad its over cuz we purty tired of practice! we're lookin forward to getting back to "normal" youth group stuff again and hangin out with kids that werent in chorus. thanks to derrick and mandy and their girls for all sacrifice they made to make chorus possible! derrick was a great director, mandy is still fun to pick on :), and the girls were fun to have along. allie tells all kinds of "family secrets" lol! they say she made most of them up though.

    the currently reading is a book ervina recommended a while ago n i thought it sounded good so i ordered one. well, "its good" is an understatement! its been really cool reading it cuz it really goes along with alot of things ive been thinking about the last couple months. you can kinda tell from the title where he goes with the book, basically pointing out ways that the "manly" side of the Gospel is missing from Christianity. im gonna give a couple quotes cuz they say it better than i can.

"...the Bravehearted Gospel is not merely a title, it is an attitude and a lifestyle."

"Whatever happened to the quake-in-my-boots fear of God, the lay-it-all-on-the-line commitment to the cause of Christ, and the die-if-I-must attitude towards defending truth and Scripture?"

"(the bravehearted path)...begins with brokenness, with desperation, with need, and with hunger. (but) where does it end? ...Its limits have never been tested, its depths never plumbed, and it boundaries never reached. ...it is the end of our plans and the beginning of God's."

    he also talks about Job in one of the chapters and how God was so confident in Job's response to testing that he gave satan almost free access to him. could God be that confident about me?! the book isnt about Job's testing, but God's faithfulness!! also, how many of ya'll know the song "blessed be your name" came from Job? wow! what a challenge! i could go on for awhile yet, but maybe ya'll should just read the books for yourselves!

    im so thankful for the many blessings God has given me that i dont deserve! 1. the many things God has been teaching me, thank God for His patience with me! its amazing what He will do with your life if you are willing to surrender to Him! 2. my family, ive come to appreciate them alot more the last 6 months! 3. the great youth group, youth leaders, and bi friends i have. 4. the Zoss's- Rick, Phyllis, Krista, and KenE-i feel like part of your family and ya'll have impacted my life in so many ways you will probly never know! may God continue to pour out His blessing on ya'll! 5. Cole, if its possible for an 11 month old to be one of my best friends, he is :). i'll add dave and aimee to that, ya'll are great! thanks for your leadership with the youth group!

    i just realized this is getting really long, so i'll try to wrap it up soon. no pics cuz my camera is broken and at the shop. its been there for awhile, hopefully they speed things up soon!

I will not boast in anything
No gifts, no power, no wisdom
But I will boast in Jesus Christ
His death and resurrection!

later, terminater

   This update has been a long time coming. i've thought about updating for the last couple weeks but thats as far as it got cuz ive been going non stop it seems. actually it more than just seems like it, i counted one time and i was gone 13 evenings in a row! grr! i dont like sitting around at home with nothin to do, but i def dont like running that much! some of it has been my choice but theres been alot of things goin that i had to do.
  theres also been alot of changes happening in my life. some are really awesome and i can see God working, while others don't seem to make near as much sense! one change that isnt really either i guess (but has been big), is manda moved to delaware to teach school at central. im glad she could go and all but it stinks to not have my "little" sis and one of my best friends around! probly least of these changes is my layout. :)
  youth group chorus practice is up to 2 evenings a week. sometimes it seems kinda crazy but things are really coming togethor good and we're lookin forward to goin on tour 2 weekends in november. another cool thing with chorus is we're going to sing in a prison in columbus thursday evening! i was pumped when they told us! i cant wait, i know it'll be the first time for alot of ppl and they're kinda nervous, but i love going into prisons! but ya'll can pray for us that that will go well and that things will keep coming togethor for tour. we are planning to do mostly ohio programs cuz of gas prices, but i think we have one or two in indiana.
  the first weekend in september, i didnt realize it had been a month already til today, i had the awesome privilege of helping with the gospel echoes freedom rally in a london prison. london, ohio, that is, for those of you who cant figure that out. :) we went in on a friday afternoon and served the inmates supper-burgers, turkey dogs, potato salad, and most importantly, to them at least, whoopie pies. they love those things! it was really cool to see how excited and grateful they were for the "homecooked" food. my job was to make sure the ppl fixing plates were kept up with supplies which gave me a chance to talk with some of the inmates working in the kitchen. it only took about 15 minutes for Jack-a big black dude-n me to start picking on each other. it was great, we had alot of fun! unfortunately we couldnt stay for the service that evening cuz the men and boys from church were going camping and canoeing. yea, some of us that wanted to have fun tipped a few canoes. whats canoeing without tipping a few times? :)
 just a little bout the currently reading- i decided i needed to do more reading and this is what i started on. it was def a good choice, i dont think ive ever gotten so excited reading a book before! basically Lee does 8 interviews with guys that have done extensive research or whatever ya call it on the 8 top objections to Christianity.
1. Since evil and suffering exist, a loving God cannot. 2. Since miracles contradict science they cannot be true. 3. Evolution explains life so God isnt needed. 4. God isnt worthy of worship if He kills innocent children. 5. Its offensive to claim Jesus is the only way to God. 6. A loving God would never torture people in hell. 7. Church history is littered with oppresion and violence. 8. I still have doubts so i cant be a Christian.
its amazing the questions he puts to these guys and the way they are able to point out things that show what is actually the truth! i would def recommend this book for anyone. one quote that stuck with me was when they were on the topic of hell. J.P. Moreland said we shouldnt really feel comfortable with hell but "admit that it is real, and allow our feelings of miscomfort to motivate us to action." how often do i really think about hell and the awful place it will be for people to spend eternity? and what can i do about that?
anyway, this is getting way longer than it should be and im tired.
lake dewiss (sp?) and the rocky mtns.


later, terminater