Pray

So I might have a chance to go on a mission trip over winter break to Vietnam. It looks amazing. Not sure where God is calling me. Pray for this trip, and that if it is his will, that he makes it clear.

Velvet Elvis

I started reading this book in July at the reccomendation of a bunch of folks, and I just finished it last week. Over the past few months I did this book dirty with a highlighter. It is one of the greatist books I've ever read. Rob Bell has an awesome gift. If you havent read this book, I strongly encourage you to do so. And for all you folks who've read it already, there's another Bell book coming out March 2nd!

Why not One?

So this has been bugging me lately. One of the saddest things in Christiandom is when one body of believers thinks that their interpretation of God is so fundamentally different than the others, that they need to separate from the church, and start their own. Now keep in mind that I am targeting the reformers and the traditionalists equally. I hate the fact that we have created denominations within the church. This has become especially relevant in the past few weeks, as I've seen some ministries campaigning their denominational ways over some others.
What the Heck!
Jesus did not come to Earth so that we might bicker over who interprets him best!
Last time I checked, there wasn't a Catholic God, a Lutheran God, A Presbyterian God, or a non-denominational God.
There is One God.
And If we are truly acting as selfless servants of that one God, then why on Earth aren't we united as one Church? I realize that I'm being an idealist, and we are human, and we are imperfect, but we should not use that as a crutch, we should be working to unify the Church for God's glory. I often hear about churches splitting, but when was the last time you saw two churches unite?

Am I going way out in the deep end on this one? Tell me what you think.

VT Football: Northeastern Game

Wow, Hokie football Rocks. We blocked two kicks & shut Northeastern out. All the IV people go togeather too. Great fun. Final Score: 38 - 0.


One of the best cooks on campus.



Painting up

VT Football: Part 1

Wow. Its currently 1:30 AM on the eve of the season opener against northeastern and as of 9:04 Am yesterday morning, I have a ticket. There are all kinds of people with all kinds of BAC's screaming outside, and its amazing. The alums drove their RV's in from all over Virginia, and it seems like every Hokie in the world is here. It's impressive. Tomorrow's game will be awesome.

IV Scavenger Hunt

Last Friday was my first time to a intervarsity event, and after the message and worship, we did this amazing scavenger hunt all across campus. These guys are awesome. Great time.


They got these weird Hokie bird "art" things all over


We held up a bus.


Yes, that's a 10 man human pyramid.


That's a real cop.


(Grease)


The Hokie Pokie in Lane Stadium. Look at them shoes. Bang.

Amen

So yea Tech is pretty cool. This one goes out to the Rev BK for calling out my spiritual future in college so far by saying, "you'll find a bunch of weird Engineering Christian fiends at college and it'll be a blast". That's exactly what's happening. As far as I can tell, of the kids involved in the 40 Christian organizations here at Tech, most of them are engineers. Not only are they "Christian", but many have extremely deep relationships with Christ. Interesting huh? Something I noticed is that there are ministries here where kids are all Godly one day, then out drinking the next. One leader even offered to buy me beer during a small group. What the Heck! I found two other ministries that I think are going to be freaking awesome. Intervarsity is one. Unlike other ministries around here that meet during the week, IV has their main meeting on Friday nights, which, in a college town, means that these kids are the ones truly trying to live as God is calling them on nights when all hell breaks loose. As far as can tell, these folks have deep spiritual relationships, and though the worship band isn't the best around, the worship that goes on at IV is GENUINE. Another awesome ministry here is New Life Campus Fellowship. Wow. Blows my mind away. Unlike other ministries here, it is a real church that meets Sunday mornings. With pastors and everything. Except its all college kids. Sweet. The pastor seems like a Rob Bell. People wear T-shirts and jeans, they give you the lesson notes as you walk in, they have 5, yes 5, bands that have amazing talent, people sing their hearts out, and there are always more kids than seats in the room. Can you imagine so many people at MLUPC that folks would voluntarily sit in the aisles just to be there? God is at work at V-Tech and its freaking sweet.

Welcome to Tech

So I'm getting ready to go to class for the first time today and a guy stops me at the door to tell me there's a murderer on the loose. Wow. First day on campus, and we're locked down. This dude is nuts. He escaped from a hospital 2 days ago after shooting 2, killing a security guard. He also shot and killed a cop on campus at 7 this morning. They cought him around 4. Pray for Blacksburg.
http://www.vtnews.vt.edu/story.php?relyear=2006&itemno=434

Welcome to my Crib

Well the first couple days of college have been pretty cool. My roommate has a bunch of hilarious friends. We have a good bit in common. Walked around campus today trying to learn our way around & stumbled across a few interesting places. We jumped around to different dorms tonight- poker, HALO, and strange hilarious movie clips- it was interesting how much clean fun (and clean folks) there are down here. Meeting lots of cool people- and a bunch of Christians supriseingly. Going to Blacksburg Pres. tomorrow. Hope its cool. Anyway here's some shots of the day.

EO- out.

Well the time is nearing folks. 18 years and 53 days after I was born into this fine city I will pack my bags and head south to begin a new chapter at Virginia Tech. Scary isn't it? For one thing- I've never moved in my life. This is a new place, new people, new challenges- laundry, dorm life, CHEM 1035. Of course there are some perks- VT Football. But it'll defiantly be a critical point in my life. I can probably say that the next 4 or so years (not to mention the next 4 months) will shape who I'll be, how I'll live, and what I'll do. And for the first time ever- I'll be on my own. More or less. It's exciting. There is really only one constant through the whole process. God's gonna be there. Isn't that nuts? Think on this for a minute- God is real big- bigger than you, bigger than your house, bigger than Pittsburgh, bigger than the distance between Pittsburgh and V-Tech, or Florida, or Egypt, or Pluto. He's real big. That blows my mind. But anyway- so I've lived here and gone to MLUPC for the last 18 years and 53 days, and I've seen alot of cool stuff happen- and at the same time I feel that my time here has gotten cut short. Like I said in my testimony, for 2 years in 9th and 10th grade I was in a state of spiritual hibernation and it feels like I've only had 2 of the four years I should have had with you all. What I got instead was 2 years of transition. I was one of the interim youth. So I've been asking God what the heck he left me out to dry for 2 years for. And he replied (through my Mom) that though I may have been here in a time of transition- he was still at work both inside me and around me- I just couldn't see it coming together at the time. During my first 2 years of high school- there was a constant yearning for something- something I could never find. That spiritual yearning turned into an endless hunger to seek an ever more intimate relationship with God- through reading on my own, and heck- actually listening to sermons & talks. That hunger grows every time God reveals something new to me. And so without those two years of spiritual "drought" I would have never been at the point in my faith that I am today. That deep spiritual yearning would have never developed. Who knows where I'd be now? Who knows where I'd be in college? Wow- those two years of "drought" in High School where God "left me out to dry" actually strengthened my faith! Isn't God amazing?
God worked around me in the last two years in the Youth Group too. You all have seen it (especially in the past couple weeks). God has built this group up from the transition crew I was a part of to one of the strongest youth programs in the area. Beyond what I could have ever imagined. If you don't believe me, look through the blogs to the right and read what God did with our kids in Florida. Wow. God is Good.
So here I am. On my way out. And I'm asking God, no no screaming "What the heck! the Youth Group is finally awesome and your plucking me out now! Why now! Its so awesome now! Why couldn't I leave when it sucked! You're not hanging me out to dry again are you?!". And he answered (again, through my Mom- Mom's are awesome) that he'll be just as much at work down in Virginia as he is, and was, and will be, here in Pittsburgh. And just like he grew this youth group into something beyond imagination, he'll do something equally, if not more, amazing down at Tech. And for some unknown reason- he wants me there to see it.
So I'll miss you all, but at the same time I feel that instead of God ripping me away from everything I've ever known, he's calling me forward.
Go Hokies.

Off to the lake.........finally

Going up to the lake- be back Monday.

Out in God's country

I just got back from my trip to New Mexico with my Dad and the Scout troop. Unfortunatly I missed Big Stuf to go to this, but it was something I had to do. It was my last scout trip, but i made the most of hanging with friends. Hopefully it wont be my last trip with my Dad because backpacking is one of the things we both enjoy togeather. It was one of the bast weeks of my life doing the thing I love- being outdoors and away from the noise and confusion of society. We backpacked through 50 miles of the most gorgeus land known to man. It was alot of work too- hiking through a 104 degree desert at 8,600 feet with a 40 pound pack is no easy chore- but it was one of the best weeks of my life.

Racine '06

Well its been a while since I last blogged so I got a lot to catch up on. First off is the Racine trip. This was, sadly, my last big youth group event. We had the opportunity to do a lot of great service work for the people of Racine and I witnessed God at work through the members of my crew and church. The down side was that the program at Racine was very foreign to us. Instead of the usual speaker format, the staff presented a more "sensual program" where the host incorporated the five senses in an interactive workshop environment. Like I said before we all felt out of place because some campers at Racine were real into it. Our crew had a difficult time connecting to because we were so used the usual speaker format, not to mention that we seem to be members of the 'frozen chosen' (presbyterians) and this "sensual education method" is way out there for us.
On the up side, I saw our high school group bond more, something I'd been praying for over the past couple of months since I taught in February. It was really cool to not only get to know the guys better, but the guys and girls were drawn closer together as a youth group simply because they shared a common experience as well as deep spiritual opinions on what they saw happening around them. I rejoice because I have never seen the guys and girls interact like that before in our youth group. We took the vans to Racine as the guys and girls, and (at least to me) came back as one youth group.

Here are some pictures- Cam is the man










My work crew (Margaret, ally, Jessica, and Leslie) and our resident Mary

Graduation

Well I just graduated! Its a big relief to be done with High School. Don't get me wrong, Lebo High was great, but its time to move on. Anyway, while I was sitting listening to all the speeches people gave telling us to "make them proud", to "constantly work to right injustice", to "always seek to greatness", and to "leave your mark on the world" I started thinking that this is not the attitude of a servant. Most of the messages they gave us last night fueled our pride in our Leboness, and our own selfish ambitions. It just felt wrong, but I seemed to be the only one who noticed. It seemed like from this day on, everyone in my class began their journey to personal success and material wealth. And those folks up on the podium were to be the leaders of this success drive. Most of the folks in my class seemed pretty confident in their future successes, and I'm sure they'll get it, but I often wonder if they'll ever work for something bigger, if they'll ever really get it. Sure Mt. Lebanon's class of 2006 won six WPIAL titles, blew all other schools out of the water in academics, and did more charity work than any other class in recorded history, but in 5 years- or even 5 days, will any of that matter? Nope. "How quickly the glory of the world passes away!" (Thomas a Kempis). So as we begin our adult lives, I really pray that my class, or for that matter my generation, will one day understand that nothing we do in this world will mean anything without the love of God. "Vanity of vanities and all is vanity, except to love God and serve him alone" (Tom Kemp). So that brings me to now: this summer, my goal is to work on being humble/or selfless and through that, be drawn closer to God, and maybe figure out what to do with my life. Racine '06!!!

"He is truly great who has great charity. He is truly great who is little in his own eyes and makes nothing of the highest honor. He is truly wise who looks upon all earthly things as folly that he may gain Christ. He who does God's will and renounces his own is truly very learned." -Thomas a Kempis- The Imitation of Christ.

Prom '06

Well I just got back from prom and I can't sleep because I drank about four giant cups of beautifully strong coffee. I'll probably crash in a few hours, but now I'm up. Prom was great. I'm currently flushing all the dance music clutter out my head with heavy doses of Jimi Hendrix, The Who, U2, and Coldplay... it feels really good. We had a great time- dinner at Monterey Bay on Mt. Washington, sweet dance, and all my best friends. Great way to wrap up High School. Here's some sweet pictures.


My date Alysa and I



Our limo driver had the biggest yinzer accent ever


Me with Big Handsome Roy


Me and JJ, best friends since 2nd grade.

The One and only Xiao Dong



This is my boy- Josh. I cant say enough about this guy. We've been great friends since Kindergarden- way back in 1993- Wow I feel old.


Sarah & me.













Well this is where my batteries gave out. I know there's a shot of Steph, Sally, and me out there somewhere- so if you guys can get that to me, I'll put it up too. SENIORS '06!