Witnessing a Miracle

So tonight, I got to do my first "real" activity as the youth intern at Bethel UMC. Tonight, our youth group was going to help out with the Carolina Miracle league, which is a baseball league for people with disabilities. It is an absolute awesome thing that happens. The volunteers are assigned a "buddy" and you get to help a child who normally wouldn't be able to play baseball enjoy America's past time. It was such a fun experience. I got to be in charge because my youth minister Chad accidentally double booked himself, so he put me in charge for tonight. We only took a small group, but we teamed up with SunTrust Bank to give these kids an experience of a lifetime. Tonight was the last night of the season, so it really was a time of a lot of fun. Each child always scores a run every inning after they get a hit, and each child received a trophy tonight as they crossed home plate. It was so great to see the joy of these kids and the huge smile on their face as they crossed home plate and got that trophy in their hands. It was absolute pure joy, which is something that I really needed to see tonight.

All too often we aren't thankful enough to God for giving us great blessings that he provides for us every single day. However, these people got so excited over something as simple as a small trophy. Wouldn't it be great to live like that? To be able to be overjoyed with everything, and just be so excited about life? It was so good to see that tonight. It was also awesome, because many of the players tonight have been my campers the past two summers at Camp Hope, which was great to see them since I won't get to see them at Camp this summer. But I really had a great time tonight, and I it was a great experience for anyone.

Tonight, I was really reminded of the pure joy of children and how God views children, so I was reminded of this bible verse:

Matthew 18:3-5: Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me. 

God calls us all to be like children, which is awesome. It was so cool to see all of these children tonight living with pure joy, and living as God has called us to. So remember, be like a child more often. They are so much fun and have so much joy in their lives, and it was quite a witness to me tonight!

A Time for Celebration

Finally, after a long, hard-working semester, I was able to celebrate that it was over. I finished my last exam on  Thursday morning, and I was very glad to be done for the semester. And so Thursday night was a time for celebration. So, me and my friends Joey and Kevin went to see Zac Brown Band concert at the Bi-Lo Center in Greenville. It was absolutely amazing! Probably one of the best concerts I have ever been to in my entire life! And it couldn't have been a better way of ending of the semester.

I spent Friday just chilling out with some friends as the semester came to a close, and Saturday came the day for graduation. No, I wasnt graduating (even though part of me wishes I was and another part of me is very glad that I was not.) But I did have a lot of friends who were graduating today. It was such an exciting time for them as they all take that next step in their life and move on to great things. But it also was hard to say my goodbyes today. I really don't handle goodbyes very well. Erskine is a special place with some awesome people that allows for you to build some friendships that you just know will last you a lifetime. So it was hard to say goodbye to those friends who are moving on today, and even hard to say see ya later to my friends who will be back at Erskine next semester, cause its gonna be a while before I see them all again. But regardless, it was a fun day, and good to celebrate the end of another semester. Its so crazy to think that this time next year, it will be me walking across that stage. I cannot believe how fast this time in college is going.

Now I am home for the summer. I am excited to be here, and so excited about my job, but also, its definitely gonna be different since this will be my first summer home since I have been in college. We will just have to see how that plays out. But I know it's going to be an amazing summer with God guiding me along the way. I leave you with a lyric from a song that describes my relationship to all of my friends.

"I get by with a little help from my friends." --- The Beatles

I have been so blessed to have so many great friendships in my life, including many of those who graduated from Erskine today as well as so many more that will graduate with me next year at Erskine.  These past few days have been an awesome time to just celebrate friendship, and enjoy them. I wouldn't be able to survive without my friends. They are always around for me to count on in times of need. So to all my friends out there, thank you! You guys are awesome. I can't wait to continue building my friendship with all of you, and I also look forward to the many more friends that I make over the rest of my lifetime. Summer is here!

You won't like me when I'm angry

So today I REALLY began to feel the stress of the end of the semester. I literally studied all day for my history exam, and then took it this evening. I hope I did well enough on it to get the grade I want in the class. But I'm not sure I did. But most of all, I am just glad IT IS OVER! That is my first exam out of the way, with two more to go. But the reason I am writing about stress is because when I get stressed, I end up getting angry. And being angry is never a good thing. My stress is coming from a lack of sleep most likely, and lack of sleep just makes me a little irritable., and that's just not a good combination. So starting today, I am going to try and not get angry anymore. I know its going to happen at some point, but I am going to try to not let myself get angry, particularly when it comes to something such as school or anything like that. So tonight, I am writing this blog for two purposes. One, as another study break (can't you see that I love study breaks.) and two, because I have heard that writing is a good stress reliever, so I thought I would give it a shot.  Two bible verses helped me get through tonight:

Ephesians 4:26-27 "In your anger do not sin: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold."

1 Peter 5:7  "Cast all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you."

It's never a good thing to give the devil a foothold. Because when the devil grabs hold of something, it's really hard to get him to let go. But anger is one of those things that the devil can use to control you and get you to do things that you may not necessarily want to do, but you do them anyways. But it is so nice to be able to know that no matter what we go through, no matter when the devil gets a hold of us, we can turn to our Savior Jesus Christ, who has already taken all our sins, our stress, and everything to the cross for us. Its such a relief to know that we always have someone that loves us that much.

Is Blogging for me?

So blogs seem to be pretty popular right now. So I thought, "Hey, why not get one myself." Now, before you start thinking that the only reason I am starting this blog is because everyone else is doing it, give me a second to explain myself. I am beginning this blog for a few reasons. One, somehow, by some miracle I think, I have actually turned into a writing person. Growing up, I was always the math guy (which is stereotypical with boys, as they typically do tend to do better in math compared to English or Writing.) But over the years, I have developed into a decent writer. My dad has always seemed to comment on how well my writing has gotten, especially recently. So I thought this would be a neat way to express my writing.

But there is another reason that I am starting this blog. This summer, I am getting to work as the youth intern at the church I have grown up at my entire life, Bethel United Methodist Church in Spartanburg, SC. Having this internship has always been a dream of mine, ever since I was a member of the youth group myself. Now, three years removed from youth, I am getting to return to the group that made such an impact on my life growing up, and hopefully be able to make an impact on some young peoples' life. I know that I am going to encounter some amazing experiences this summer, so this will be a way for me to document those experiences and share them with you guys. I am so excited about this summer, and cannot wait for it to get started. But first I have to finish up exams. Which speaking of those, I am using a study break to begin this blog, and now I really need to get back to studying. I hope to keep this blog updated throughout the summer, and maybe even after that. But if you wanna read about some experiences I have this summer, then feel free to read it. I also hope to close every post with either a verse of scripture that has been helpful to me recently or a song lyric that is I really enjoy. I'll start tonight with a song lyric, that also explains the title of my blog.

"Give me your eyes for just one second, give me your eyes so I can see."  -- Brandon Heath

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5AkNqLuVgY (listen to it here)

This song has always been something special to me. I want to have the eyes of God so that I can truly see what is going on in the world and know where to help. If you have never heard the song, I strongly recommend you to go listen to it. Its a great encouragement that reminds us that there is a lot going on around us that God has called us to help with, and sometimes all it takes is something as simple as opening your eyes to view the world as God does to reach out a helping hand. Thanks, and I hope you choose to read about my experience this summer!