I was at camp all last week and it was such an amazing experience getting to be apart of facilitating life change in young people!  One of the topics that arose during the week was putting down on paper a list of things you want in a significant other.  While most of our young people aren't of age or have had enough life experience to really know what they should actually write down, I still believe this was an important part of what was conveyed during camp.  Guess what else?  I was totally convicted because until this point I've never done it!

That's not to say that I haven't thought about it carefully during the 23 years of my life.  In all honesty it took me longer to find where I'd stored Microsoft word on my hard drive than it did to actually write down all the important points of the list.  I think it's good though that I've finally put it down so that the next time I get twitter pated I can pull out the list and make a practical assessment of the object of my light headed joy.  It's been several months now since that's happened fortunately.

I really think it has a lot to do with a contentment to be with God, rather than a lack of potential.  I know several young woman that I'd like the opportunity to get to know better.  But the fact is that I'm at peace over the whole subject, I'm not in any rush to mess with the place God has brought me to.  I'm happy to be His!  I'm not sharing the list because I think it falls into the category of TMI for most people that would stumble across this blog.  If you are in fact planning on encouraging me to get to know someone, by all means ask me for the list and I'll let you have it.

If you're reading this and you haven't a clue what it means to be content with being single, let me just encourage you that for a long time I was right there.  Almost 10 years to be honest.  I'm finally allowing God to be number one in my life.  I finally got my priorities on order, I've allowed myself to relinquish control, I trust Him with my whole life, including whether or not I get married.  Trust Him!

I had something similar happen when trying to go to my friends house that was only a couple miles away.

Made me laugh, some younger folk (anyone younger than 15) might not get it:

Holy_ghost

Reading an article on Brett Farve in which Randy Moss is described as, "a quarterback's best friend."  Made me chuckle.

I was reading on MSN the other day about John McCain and Barak Obama's definitions on patriotism, sounds like there respective writers went to the same school.  For two candidates talking about how different they are from other people that have run for president, they sure do sound like they came from the same political cookie cutter to me.  I've only had the ability to vote in one national election thus far, but I've been scrutinizing candidates my whole life.  I know this is kind of different from most people my age, but I feel it's what every responsible citizen should do.

For the record I am fundamentally a Republican.  I don't wholly align myself with the republican party because I don't feel that they adequately represent my views.  Democrats I have even less in common with.  It's hard living in a state that votes democrat every time.  It never really matters who I vote for because the state of Washington always goes to the blue team.  But this year it seems to matter even less.

You see this year I don't want either candidate.  On one hand we have a republican candidate that brags that he would be good for security, but he lobbies in favor of outsourcing military projects.  That's a little backwards I think.  He talks and votes like every other republican aside from that.  Then we have a democrat that says he's totally different than the norm.  The news loves writing about it too.  They say it over and over, but really, what's different about him?  If I never say a picture of Mr. Obama, never heard he was black and all I ever knew about him was how he votes, he'd be just another democrat.  So apparently the only thing that qualifies him to be President is that he's black.  He's had limited experience in politics, but he's black and that means he's different?  He talks like just another politician.  I haven't seen any real political differences.

This is just my opinion really, but it seems all we have is a republican and democratic candidate.  Whoever wins, they'll vote right down party lines.  We may get higher or lower taxes, fewer or greater social programs, but beyond that...  Now I know why people quit voting, I'm tired of picking the lesser of two evils.  The sad part is, I haven't been doing it all that long yet.

Back to patriotism, I love my country.  I don't have any writers, and I really don't have anything really deep to say about it in order to define it.  I can only express it with a prayer:

Whether its the red team or blue team, God bless America, we need Your love, mercy and guidance.

So my roommate told me about this really cool program for mac os X called desktoptopia.  If you're familiar with mac's you know that you can set the wallpaper to change every so often, and just choose a folder full of pictures for the mac to choose from at random.  Well this program allows you to do the same thing except it pulls the pictures from the web.  It provides access to a huge variety of different styles and adds a good splash of creativity to your background.  If you have leopard, you can quickly save any backgrounds you like by opening system preferences, then background/screensaver and simply drag the wallpaper to a folder you'd like to keep it in.

It's pretty sweet.  Oh, and they also have a beta version for PC's for all you stuck in the "windows" ideology.  Here's a  little taste of some of the stuff I decided to hold on to.

I've been thinking a lot lately about change.  Mostly about how much I need it.  There are things in my life that are unworthy of a disciple of Christ.  Junk in the trunk, baggage, skeletons in the closet, pick your metaphor, that is what I need to change.  I've known it for a decade, and for a decade I've been trying to change it.  Part of me wants to change it, but obviously not all of me otherwise I would have changed right?  It's like Paul was talking about in his epistles.  That which is evil, that which I abhor, that is what I do.  But what is good, decent, pure, that I do not do.  I see good, I see the man I want to be transformed into.  But I can't do it.

God is the only One that can change me into such a man.  God is the change agent in my life.  He is the catalyst, the root cause for any good thing that can be found in me even now.  Though I am a child of the most high God, saved by the redeeming blood of Jesus Christ, I am still not the man I long to be.  There needs to be change in my life if I am going to go and do all that God has called me to do.  No matter what good can be said of me it's not enough to make right that which is wrong in me.  I need change.  I need to be broken down and stripped bare of all that keeps me trapped as a mediocre, hypocritical and foolish man.  I need God sized change, and I needed it yesterday.

Last night our interns graduated!  I love our interns, they are just an amazing group of people.  They really make a huge difference in making the Rock Church what it is.  It's only 10 months of their lives, but the impact they have lasts a lifetime.

I stayed up late last night with them and helped clean up after the celebration.  We happened to be there till about 11PM.  I got to bed about 11:30 I think.  I didn't sleep so well and ended up awake at about 5AM.  So, here I am finishing up my daily breakfast of Honey Nut Cheerios and Rockstar at 6:30AM.  Funny thing is, it still feels like I slept in!

I just want to encourage everyone that reads this to get involved in supporting the Internship at the Rock.  From money, to meals, to host homes, there are lots and lots of opportunities to support them as they grow in God and do the work of the ministry.  Get online and go to http://therockchurch.info/ and please get involved.  It's a fantastic opportunity to pour back into a group of young people that pour out their lives for their church, the community, the nation and the world.  And if you know a young person that just recently graduated and might be looking for direction, send 'em this way.  Or if you know a young person that will be graduating soon, get an info packet into their hands today!

This seemed to strike a chord with me, I guess you could say I kinda relate with this, LOL!

Thinking_ahead