underlined words

First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean. - Matt 23:26b

Stop trusting in man, who has but a breath in his nostrils. Of what account is he? - Isaiah 2:22

You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen to serve the Lord. - Joshua 24:22b

For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what he does not have. -
2 Corinthians 8:12

these are a few verses that i have encountered that i have enjoyed and been challenged with. the third one is one of my favorites reminding us that we are witnesses to our commitment to God's calling. i am being challenged and tested in lots of ways. this is how God works.

thy will be done

Evan

the title should probably sum it all up, but got back into nampa and caught up with some old friends and evan was one of them. it was great to see him and he kept making me laugh. same haircut as i last saw him, just longer. he brought a hockey net from san jose so we played roller hockey that evening. it was great!

17 miles

So today after I went to vote I decided to go for a bike ride; I ended up going over 17 miles. I loved every minute of it and would like to continue doing as much biking as I can. I want to get a bike when I get to Idaho so on the weekends I'd like to go biking somewhere and hopefully bike to work...wherever that is.

Schwinn's forever!

Civic Duty

Today I rode my bike down the street to absentee vote. I am proud to be a voter and I encourage all of you to. "And I'm proud to be an American, where at least I know I'm free..." I know Andrea would be proud.

End to a great summer

Well I just have a couple days left here in Alaska and I am glad and sad to see them go. I have had a wonderful time up here but it is time to move on.

I was talking with Mike the other day when we were headed to the golf course for our 3rd time of the summer about how much we've done. Geocaching has brought us all over and to some sweet places. We climbed a couple of mountains, walked through many rivers, to the ocean, and up to a glacier. I had the great experience to be a camp counselor at Jr. and Sr. High camp and got to spend those two weeks with Witness! Love them.

Got to hang out with Nick and Mr. and Mrs. Nisley; always a pleasure. Saw some sweet movies too. Got to play some guitar and learn some new songs and took numerous bike rides. Canoed and jet-skied a few times which was great.

The two things that I am extremely glad to have done up here was spend time with Dad and Brigid. It is always good to see them; they are so hospitable and encouraging to me. I cannot thank them enough; plus they allowed me to have a roof over my head and free food for a month! Crazy.

The most important thing I am glad to have done up here was to really go deeper in my faith. I have really taken my faith to a new level. God is great in everything; yet I still have hard times here and there, that is normal and I need to keep my eyes on the prize. Continued prayer would be awesome. On the work front, I have been applying like crazy and am waiting to hear back from them. I know God will be with me.

Last but not least, there were a couple of things that I did not get to do because of weather and scheduling. I didn't get to hitchhike down to Kenai and sadly I didn't get to make it up Pioneer Peak. I tried but weather didn't cooperate; it snowed today, and in July. NUTS!!! Maybe next time, whenever that is.

mewithoutYou

nate really peaked my interest in a band that i gave a shot once before and didn't appreciate. after listening to a handful of songs by mewithoutYou, i have really come to love aaron weiss' lyrical genius-ness; he talks a lot about Christian things and stories but they are not considered a Christian band because he doesn't want to speak for the entire band since some members are not Christian. aaron is a Christian and i really respect that about him, not pushing that title on his band members because i feel like as Christians we push a little too much and too fast for some people and that drives most away.

if you haven't listened to mewithoutYou, you should. they have a different sound than most bands but i like the uniqueness and imagery derived by his lyrics. also they have an interesting outlook but the basic belief in love (both God and others). it has made me reconsider how i am living my life and how i am using my money and resources.

we need to simplify and lessen ourselves. i need to simplify and lessen myself.

SHOUT out to dad

since i've gotten back from camps i have just been itching to play guitar. one problem with this desire, my guitar is in nampa, idaho which is roughly over 3,000 miles away. so i thought about all my options and they all didn't turn out so i thought, "hey! why don't i go out and just buy a guitar with my credit card, then return it when i leave." well that didn't sit well with me so i passed that off and decided i would spend this time gathering new tabs so when i got back to nampa i would have a bunch of new stuff to play.

so this past week whenever i got the urge to play i would gather tabs; UNTIL today. dad was gone doin some meetings with clients/attorneys and i was upstairs reading. he came up the stairs with the normal "hey, how's your day" and in his hand was a guitar case!!! he heard me asking about mom's old guitar and how i couldn't find it so he talked with our neighbor and apparently they have a new Yamaha acoustic guitar that never gets played and they said i could borrow it.

so i'm just really shocked that dad came through for me on this one. a big surprise. i am thankful for this generous gift so now i am trying to get my callouses back!!!

THANKS DAD!!!!