Challenging Normal

Dear Son/Daughter,

Really enjoyed blogging again this week. It is really therapy for me in many ways.

Started the week down at the campgrounds. It was week 1 of camp and I was there helping get everything started. Really love that place and love camp, hated leaving but had a lot to do this week.

One of my favorite parts of Summer so far is our interns. We have 10 students that have chose to be a part of Kaleo. We meet on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. I love watching God change their lives and getting to hang out with them.

Weighed in this week and have lost 63 pounds total. Got 50 more to go.

I was not in the gym as much this week as I wanted to be, but I felt like I had some good workouts.

We take Thrive students to camp on Monday. There is 29 of us total going and I believing that God is going to rock our worlds.

Wednesday night was really awesome. Had record summer attendance. Watch God really challenge some students lives. Loved hanging out at Taco Bell after service. We took that place over.

Had lunch with a friend on Thursday. Love that God has brought this dude into my life.

HUGE thank you to Mary Catherine who is editing my blogs for me. I am the worlds worst at grammar.

Spent the last couple of days hanging down in Adel with my family. Really love them and I am grateful for all they have done and do for me. I do not spend enough time down here.

As much as I miss my family I do not miss the gnats.

Heading home this morning. Looking forward to hanging out with Thrive students and leaders tomorrow night for a cookout.

Hope you are having an awesome weekend!

So I have this fear in life. It really is not a fear of failure. I have failed so many times that I have learned how to pick myself up pretty well. I have this fear that I will over promise and under produce. That my words and actions will not line up. I understand that from time to time we all fall short. We all fall victim to this, but I do not want to be known for this. I want to be able to back up what I say.

If I say it I want people to know that I will do it.

I do not want to say something just because I know that it is something they want to hear.

I want to be someone that my friends can count on.

My priorities should come out in my actions; not my words.

There is not a worse feeling in the world than having someone you count on let you down. I know that I have let people down, and that kills me. My prayer is that my words are not meaningless.

• It was the second week of our Blockbust Summer Series. We looked at the movie Blindside last night. I am really digging this series.
• The Band rocked a new song last night.
• Our numbers last night was out of sight for Summer. Our June average is strong right now and I am very grateful for students that do not realize that Summer is suppose to be slack.
• Snow Cones seem to be a huge hit.
• I love having the Kaleo interns around helping us set up for service. Our prayer time together is my favorite part of the day.
• We continued with ThriveXL last night as we took over Taco Bell. There was no place left to sit.
• One of my favorite things to do is sit back and watch Thrive Students hang out with each other.
• God is up to something. I believe that this Summer is going to be a Summer to remember.
• Wednesday are my favorite day of the week.
• I am excited that next week we are going to talk about prayer and use the movie "Meet The Parents" as our backdrop.

Today is Game Day. It is Wednesday and one of my favorite days of the week. Hit the gym this morning and it did not hit back. Today feels like it has a better rhythm to it. I do life better when it is in rhythm. I feel like I love God better when I am in rhythm, I love people better when all is clicking. When life gets out of rhythm, it get's chaotic. You start just trying to get through a day instead of making it the best it can be. You go into survival mode and that means you are just doing the bare minimum to exist.

This morning was a little odd for me. I woke up in my bed. Some of you may be scratching your head and asking why that is odd. It is odd because camp season has started and I am not there all week. I spent the day at our campgrounds yesterday helping them get started and hanging out. Last night we slipped out before service was over. It was a little tough for me to be honest with you. I love being there. I love being in that atmosphere but I love being where God has called me to be. I love hanging out with our students and working on things God has challenged me to work on. There for a moment I was torn between two worlds. The world of camp- what it means and has been in my life, and then my world...my reality. That is a dangerous place to live.

Its camp time again. This truly is my favorite time of the year. There is something special about this place. There is something special about these people. This place in hollowed ground to me, a sacred place. It is a place of refuge and a sanctuary from reality. It is a place to collect my thoughts and hear from God no matter what is going on in my life. It is my personal Bethel (Genesis 35). I truly believe that everyone needs a Bethel. A safe place. A place set aside for just you and God.

I have really missed blogging over the last 3-4 months. Blogging is something that I have always enjoyed doing but for a season it became a chorus more than anything.

Time is a very unique thing