what if i stumble and what if i fall...

every time i go to camp i leave on a spiritual mountain top and then sometime later satan comes along and tries to break me of my new commitments. i feel real sincere since i have returned from camp in seeking God and trying to learn more about Him, but i have been feeling satan (not worthy of anything) attacking me. i am sad to say that i have stumbled, but have quickly gotten back up and regained my sight on God. satan does have power, but nothing compared to my God.

i need to rely on Him and continue to seek His way in times of despair. late tonight God revealed two Psalms that have really encouraged me. so i'd like to share them both:

Psalm 70
For the director of music. Of David. A petition.

1 Hasten, O God, to save me;
O LORD, come quickly to help me.
2 May those who seek my life
be put to shame and confusion;
may all who desire my ruin
be turned back in disgrace.

3 May those who say to me, "Aha! Aha!"
turn back because of their shame.

4 But may all who seek you
rejoice and be glad in you;
may those who love your salvation always say,
"Let God be exalted!"

5 Yet I am poor and needy;
come quickly to me, O God.
You are my help and my deliverer;
O LORD, do not delay.

Psalm 71
1 In you, O LORD, I have taken refuge;
let me never be put to shame.

2 Rescue me and deliver me in your righteousness;
turn your ear to me and save me.

3 Be my rock of refuge,
to which I can always go;
give the command to save me,
for you are my rock and my fortress.

4 Deliver me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked,
from the grasp of evil and cruel men.

5 For you have been my hope, O Sovereign LORD,
my confidence since my youth.

6 From birth I have relied on you;
you brought me forth from my mother's womb.
I will ever praise you.

7 I have become like a portent to many,
but you are my strong refuge.

8 My mouth is filled with your praise,
declaring your splendor all day long.

9 Do not cast me away when I am old;
do not forsake me when my strength is gone.

10 For my enemies speak against me;
those who wait to kill me conspire together.

11 They say, "God has forsaken him;
pursue him and seize him,
for no one will rescue him."

12 Be not far from me, O God;
come quickly, O my God, to help me.

13 May my accusers perish in shame;
may those who want to harm me
be covered with scorn and disgrace.

14 But as for me, I will always have hope;
I will praise you more and more.

15 My mouth will tell of your righteousness,
of your salvation all day long,
though I know not its measure.

16 I will come and proclaim your mighty acts, O Sovereign LORD;
I will proclaim your righteousness, yours alone.

17 Since my youth, O God, you have taught me,
and to this day I declare your marvelous deeds.

18 Even when I am old and gray,
do not forsake me, O God,
till I declare your power to the next generation,
your might to all who are to come.

19 Your righteousness reaches to the skies, O God,
you who have done great things.
Who, O God, is like you?

20 Though you have made me see troubles, many and bitter,
you will restore my life again;
from the depths of the earth
you will again bring me up.

21 You will increase my honor
and comfort me once again.

22 I will praise you with the harp
for your faithfulness, O my God;
I will sing praise to you with the lyre,
O Holy One of Israel.

23 My lips will shout for joy
when I sing praise to you—
I, whom you have redeemed.

24 My tongue will tell of your righteous acts
all day long,
for those who wanted to harm me
have been put to shame and confusion.

How Great

i've never been one to be very good at reading the Bible, but as of recently i have been really trying daily to read 3 chapters a day and reflect on them. i don't know how i got onto this system, since i have always had trouble with where to read for devotions, but i have 3 bookmarks in my Bible, one in Joshua, one in Ecclesiastics, and the other in Matthew. So I read a chapter from each.

today i read a portion of a chapter in Joshua and was amazed at how great God is. He not only helped the Israelites win a major battle, but He stopped the sun in the middle of the sky and delayed it from going down about a full day (Joshua 10:13b). it is pretty crazy how far God will go to help his children out. stay faithful cause He will help us out of any situation.

live simply.

live simply

i was really encouraged by Andrea's blog about the little girl as well as Tricia's and i feel that in our complex lives we just need to sit back and live simply and let God work.

that is all.

Joe Lloyd

Well my neighbor Puffer talked to me before I left about partnering with him to start selling a friend of his' art, his friend is Joe Lloyd. I don't know Joe at all but I said I would help with what I can do and that is just spread the word.

I do enjoy his art work; it is cool and I would put it up in my apartment. Check out his website and if you are interested in anything I'll talk with him about pricing, but I'm just here to spread the word. I may shoot a short documentary about Joe and his style and influences to help promote him; I believe he said that Puffer and I will split 40% of the profit so I figure I'll give it a shot.

Check out his website: www.joe-lloyd.net

World Trek

I just read an article from Relevant Magazine and was inspired at this man's faithfulness and reliance of God. What a great spiritual journey; I don't know if I have the faith right now to do something like walking around the world but I would like to bike it someday (Matt would like to also; it took this guy 74 days to bike from Oregon to Virginia Beach).

Check out this article; it's short.
http://www.relevantmagazine.com/life_article.php?id=7595

Amazing Because It Is

It has been about 2 weeks since I really sat down and blogged; I have been up at Camp Maranatha being a camp counselor for our Jr. and Sr. High camps. Let me first off saying that this is the exact reason why I came home for the summer.

I had my heart on hiking trips and books to read, but God came and changed it up. I am so glad how He works! I've never been a counselor before so I was a little nervous but God gave me the wisdom and patience as well as some great examples: Witness, Justin, Amber, Corey, Megan.

We had terrible weather this whole month; RAIN RAIN and MORE RAIN. Camp is generally super sunny and beautiful, but we had to make due with what we were given. I really learned to find God's beauty in the rain. This was a time for me to really grow and understand my own faith. God taught me a lot of valuable things during these two weeks and I am not the same person who I was when I started camp.

The two major changes were: don't limit God and what He can do and do not worry but instead rely on the Lord to provide in His time not ours. I have been really stressing about where I'm going to work and where I'm going to live, but I have placed all of my cares, concerns, worries, and plans in God's hands. I am still actively pursuing all that I can, but I am letting God show me open doors and allowing me to see and understand closed ones. Some interesting things happened at our Sr. High camp dealing with a healing service from an Assembly of God's pastor and that really shocked myself and others but it taught me to not limit God and His power. I fully believe God is a healer but I do not believe that everyone has a gift of healing. My eyes were just opened that I have been putting God and His greatness in a box, saying that this is where and what He can do, when in all actuality He can do ANYTHING!!!

The music for Sr. High camp was AMAZING. Todd, admissions counselor from NNU, led worship and God rekindled my desire to play worship music. I put it on hold when mom passed away because I didn't feel like I had the right heart and mindset to praise God when I was so angry and upset with Him. Thinking more about Jr. High camp, the music wasn't what one normally thinks of when thinking about camp music, but Hunter (the speaker and worship leader) showed me that one can worship and praise God in their own unique way. It may be off key, in a weird tempo, or childish, but God wants us to come just as we are, not pretending to be someone we really aren't. He will honor our worship if we come to Him with a sincere heart.

I am super excited to get back to my guitar in Nampa to start playing some music; I have just been gathering tabs like crazy, but have been unable to find a guitar to borrow. I have been listening to a song a lot since I've gotten back from camp by The Almost entitled "Amazing Because It Is". We had an awful talent show at Sr. High camp, but God really showed me this song when a kid, Christian, played it very beautifully. I spent all day yesterday listening to it on repeat.

Mr. Camp

So this last week I had the pleasure to work out at Camp Maranatha for Jr. High camp. I must say I was hesitant at first but every day I kept having a better day. The kids were very energetic but nothing I couldn't handle.

I worked activities and took kids out on a tube with a jetski. So basically I was the fun person. The kids seemed to get a lot out of the chapel times as well as music; it is great to see them kinda straying from their parents' faith and making it their own. I am still doing this.

I was really taught to be more patient and not to worry about anything. Also EVERYTHING is MEANINGLESS in the grand scheme of things; pleasures, toiling, wealth, worrying, etc. Everything is so temporary, while Heaven is eternal. Yeah its great to have talents and things, but we all pass away and what really matters is how we loved our God and how we shared His love with others.

This next week I am going up to work Sr. High camp. I want to learn and grow more in my faith as well as help others in theirs. Pray for us.

Camp Maranatha

Tonight I packed for going up to Jr. High camp for the week. Should be an interesting time since the weather is supposed to be rainy and cloudy the whole time and it's also JR. HIGH CAMP! I'm excited actually.

Witness will be up there so it should be a fun time. Oh yeah I'm helping Aubrey Scott with activities. That's it. So I will be gone for this week having a grand time. Pray for us and I do have two interviews this week so for those too. Thanks all.

he's right

Come gather 'round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You'll be drenched to the bone.
If your time to you
Is worth savin'
Then you better start swimmin'
Or you'll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin'.


Nate was singing this to me the other day at Arbys and it is so true.

Late night bike ride

I rode my dad's bike down to the post office to drop off a package to send back (it was a Wilco shirt, too small guess they gave me a youth large and not just a regular large). Then I decided to bike around my town. It was a good workout.

On my way home, I was passing Wonderland Park, local skate park/playground/etc., and in the driveway like 10 feet away from me was a momma moose drinking from a puddle and two baby moose eating from a little tree. They scared me and I sure scared them; luckily they didn't charge, they trotted back into the woods.

I reached in my jeans to grab my phone to take a picture, but alas my pants were:
a) too tight!
b) not wearing any?
c) just fine, I was just too slow

You take your pick, but I didn't get a picture so I thought the one above was very similar to what I saw. Enjoy.

Mission Failed

This morning I was apart of an operation to follow a gentleman in his car to his place of employment. I sadly didn't get to drive, I was "eyes and ears" with my dad's helper and next door neighbor Nancy. I feel like there were a couple mistakes that ended in us losing him. I will say that we are going back out tomorrow to track him down; but hopefully I'll have my own vehicle.

I feel pretty confident that I wouldn't lose him.

FOUR

Tonight went golfing...did about average, but felt like it was a terrible game. I was frustrated but I need to remember that it was the first game of the summer. Hope to hit it up again real soon. It was a change to have dad, Brigid, and Brad with Mike and I but it loosened things up a little.

Brad hit a ball and I dodged it; almost got smacked in the face and I almost got hit in the face with a driver by Mike. Crisis averted.

Officially Awesome

Today I got my ticket to go see Wilco.
Enough said.

Snarking

snark |snärk|
noun
an imaginary animal (used to refer to someone or something that is difficult to track down).
ORIGIN 1876: nonsense word coined by Lewis Carroll in The Hunting of the Snark.

So this is one of the many things I learned today; my dad used it this afternoon when he went out to do some P.I. business and then later tonight, around 1:30a.m. we went out snarking, as he said. Basically we rolled to a gentleman's house armed with flashlights and a notepad and we took down all of the license plate numbers so we can run them tomorrow morning.

Then we hauled it outta there because their dogs were barking and "we could've been followed" as my dad said to me. It wasn't the craziest thing we've ever done when dealing with P.I. things, but it had the potential to be pretty sweet. A good time none-the-less. You now have another word to use, as my dad said and now I am passing it along to you.

Enjoy and use wisely.

Rookie of the Year

Tonight I was flipping through the channels and what was on? One of my childhood favorites...Rookie of the Year. I quoted through the whole thing. My brother, Leo and I used to watch this movie ALL the time. Good times.

Train-ing

Went out geocaching with Mike and Brad, Brigid's son. We blazed our own trail down through the woods on the side of a hill, then we ran into a trail that took us to a better trail which led us straight to the geocache area. It was pretty dang cool because a train must have derailed and flipped down the hill because there were a handful of train cars scattered all over, flipped on their tops and sides.

This one was the best one and had the geocache somewhere around it; sadly we couldn't find it. We looked high and low, but had to give up after 20 min or so. We gave it the ol college try.

Cool none-the-less; I never knew that was there.

Thunderbird Falls/Geo-Caching

The last two days, Mike has gotten off of work and we've gone out and had some adventures. So we'll fill you in on what we've been up to.

First, we went out to Thunderbird Falls with dad and Brigid. They left and we climbed up to the top of the falls but not a good view sadly. Mike waded through the river, I hid in a tree, and that's about it.







Second, we went out geo-caching out in Knik area, we drove all the way to Point Mackenzie; we went a long way. Today we went 6 for 9 in our findings. I got a coin from Guatemala, an Alaskan plane with dog tags to track it and bring it back to Idaho to swap it in another cache, then I got a dollar coupon for McDonalds. Those were the only good ones to mention. We went to some sweet places, a ship out in the middle of a field, the beach area, viewpoint, Lake Lucille, and others.

Let me introduce you to...

So the other day I was in Anchorage with my dad and there is a lady, Susan, who does work for him so we stopped by and visited with her. My dad, a PI, just got a new super sleuthing hidden video camera and we were picking it up. Susan is a dog lover, she has two dogs right now: Larry and Gooch.

You read that correctly, Gooch. It is not short for anything, but that's his name. I thought it was really funny. Enjoy.


Gooch


Larry

Enough said.