IT'S THE END OF 2007 AS WE KNOW IT! AND I FEEL FINE!

So, today I have been reminded why I enjoy staying on the ground so much!! Well, first, I must say how horrible the weather is here....this morning when I woke I up I had to endure the tempurture of 31 degrees! I walked outside and everything was covered in frost!! (sorry for all of you Florida people that had to endure the sweat! :) ) The weather has been so beautiful here it is going to be hard to leave and head back home whenever I do! But, back to me being on the ground, we went to do the high ropes course today at the camp, and I had forgotten about what a chicken I am when it comes to heights! It started out great as I was getting all excited about getting to do it, and then actually getting there and seeing how high it was....then the terror begins. I got all harnessed up and was very excited to go, yet still very nervous! David was just so wonderful he flew through it all like it was nothing....(he's also dumb enough to jump out of planes all the time too!) Then, it was my turn to go and fall to my death! I slowly made my way up the cargo net, and got to the top platform, and that is where it all went downhill! The 40 degree weather that was freezing my finger tips off did not help the fact that I hate heights either! I got up to the top and stood on the platform, and decided it was in my best judgement to not attempt going across the wire! So, luckily while I was freaking out, I had my brave belayer (sp?) Brandy Miller down on the ground talking some sense into me and keeping me calm! With her quick thinking and ultimate strength, she quickly guided me in the process of her letting me down to the ground safely. Of course in order to do this, I would have to put all of my trust in her and trust that she would be able to hold me as I dangled by a rope while she guided me down. Of course at the time, there was not much going through my head except to get me down, but after I was back on the ground I started thinking...I had to put all of my trust in her hands to get me down off of a 30 foot pole. That took a lot of trust! But how often do I actualy put my trust in God, and for things so much smaller! I am one that is just as guilty as others! I have become too reliable on my own understandings and my own process of doing things, that most of the time I pass by putting my trust in God. I look to see how I can accomplish my goals and see what I need to do instead of just turning my burden over to God and trusting that He is going to take care of it!

DAVID GETTING READY TO GO ON THE ROPE COURSE
ME CHICKENING OUT ON THE ROPES COURSEBRANDY - OUR HIGH ROPES TOUR GUIDE

DAVID ON THE V-SWINGBRANDY & IDAVID FLYING ACROSS THE WIRESDAVID ON THE V-SWING AGAIN

Well, today marks the last day in the calendar year of 2007! Where has this year gone? It has been filled with many exciting new adventures, new challenges, and new things to learn. As I look back over the past year I am reminded of so many things that bring back wonderful memories! From the time spent with family and friends actualy doing something productive to the times spent just having fun and making fools of ourselves! As I look back over the past 365 days, I realize that my 20th year of life has gone bye and flashed before my eyes! How short our time here on earth is, and how many things that we have to be thankful for and how often we take those things for granted until they are gone! I have had so many blessings this year and I am so thankful for everyone that has crossed my path this year and pushed me forward to become who I am today! Some of them I will never have the chance to tell them again, but I hope that they knew how much they have touched my life, and I hope that everyone else that has touched my life may know not only by my actions, but may I have told them how much they mean to me! If you are reading this, you are probably one of those people that have touched my life, and let me just say now (even though it's kinda impersonal, but it's the thought that counts!) THANK YOU!!



Wishing you all a happy, blessed, and prosperous 2008!!

A DAY OF COMPLETE NOTHINGNESS

Well, today was a nice day to sleep in and do nothing all day! Normaly I am up around 6:00 on Sunday mornings to get to church to sit through hours of services...but today was a nice relaxing day that I got to sleep in until about 10:00 and then just relax and hang out with Stephen, Brandy, & David! We did end up finaly watching the last Pirates of the Carribean, and then ate dinner, and now here we are getting ready to play ghetto uno again!

It was such a different Sunday for me as I don't get many days of just rest. Sometimes we get so caught up in the things of life, we get stuck in our daily & weekly routines that we don't take the time to step back and just appreciate all of the many blessings that we have! We begin to get burned out and become oblivious to the things that God is doing for us, and sometimes it takes drastic measures to make us step back and look at the grand picture of life to even gather how much we have missed, but yet how much potential God still has for us in the future! I have found that some things are shown to us in a way that we like and that we can enjoy finding, but sometimes we become so stubborn in our ways that God has to use some pretty difficult situations to turn us back around to seeking Him instead of seeking our own ways for our lives, but in everything that happens, just as the Bible says, that "all things work together for good for those who love & trust God"! The adventure that we call life is going to be rough, and it is not promised to be easy, but when we step back and look at our lives and see how small the speck our lifespance is in the scope of eternity, a lot of things are brought back into persepctive for us! As Russell Howard once said in a class that I took "How many of you know your parents first & last names, how about all of your grandparents first & last name, now how about your great grandparents...." by that time, nobody in the room could say they knew all that, to see that in only 3 generations, you have been forgotten about! So when life is looked at from that perspective, I know that I don't want to just live my life, but I want my life to make an impact!

How about you?

DAY IN KNOXVILLE

So, today we journeyed on over to Knoxville, TN to spend the day having fun and going to see National Treasure 2....it was a pretty good movie, even though it's the second time I've seen it...that's okay, I was with my friends!! I also learned the powerful wonders of Damamine! We went on a road called "Dragons Tail" I guess it has like 300 turns in 11 miles....I was fully expecting for car sickness! Instead Brandy told me to get some dramamine, so I did, and OH WHAT A GLORIOUS THING!!! I enjoyed the ride all the way over without getting sick!! We also found a new hobby of taking a pengiun along with us, and taking pictures with him everywhere.....SO much fun! After our fun adventures for the day we went to Texas Roadhouse Grill...I HIGHLY recomend this restaraunt!! It was SO good, and if you get a chance to get there, go! Again, today was a pretty uneventful day except for a lot of traveling, but I still got some pictures for ya!

SICK DAY

Well, today was pretty uneventful! I was going to go to the camp today and do some work, but instead I was up all night with some nasty virus that continued through the day! FUN! So, I just enjoyed some R&R and sat on the couch all day with Brandy as we watched movies and just had a fun time! Marty & Patty Paul came over tonight and we played some more ghetto uno with them....all in all, today was pretty uneventful for me, but at least I got some time just to sit and do nothing! It was really kinda sorta fun! The only pictures of today are here, just David....well....being David....except for the whole cooking dinner part!

DAVID & BRANDY COOKING DINNER

CAR SICKNESS

Well, another day in NC, another day to explore and spend time with friends. and let me say that the weather is AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

After a long wild night of ghetto uno with the peeps, I was awaken by the sound of children running around upstairs (as I am sleeping in the basement) at what seemed to be like 3 in the morning, but it was probably around 9 in the morning....We got up and went and spent some time at Whisper Mountain Ministry this morning as Stephen & David tried to figure some stuff out that they are working on. Brandy and I sat and talked about the camp and how amazing it is to see the God driven vision of Marty & Patty Paul be brought to life slowly but surely with their steady and faithful following of God! Some of you know about Whisper Mountain Ministry (http://www.whispermountain.org/) but it is such an amazing series of stories of how God has just laid everything out in His perfect timing for this camp to become a reality. So many times we think that what we do, whether it be for ourselves or for the Lord, should come in the timing that we are planning on, but this camp is just a testament that God's timing is not always our own. I saw a plaque somewhere not too long ago that said "God is never in a hurry, but He is always on time" It is hard for us to remember that sometimes as we continue to get caught up in the business of life, and expect everything to happen when we want it, and when we will be able to see the results, but God does not always plan on us fulfilling His full work or something, but for us to just plant a seed in a greater design that He has in store!

DAVID AT ONE OF OUR MIDNIGHT GAMES OF GHETTO UNO
THE BEVERAGE THAT SUSTAINS US THROUGH OUR LONG NIGHTSSTEVE AT THE SAME GAME - HE'S GOT A LOT OF CARDS
After some time at the camp we headed off to go and take some hikes and drives through the mountains! I was very excited about that! I love to go hiking through the mountains (even though I am deathly alergic to poison ivy...but that doesn't stop me!) It has been a long time since I have actually ridden through the mountains in the back seat of the vehicle, and I completely forgot about me getting carsickness through the twists and turns of the mountains! Needless to say, the ride was pretty miserable, but when we would get out of the vehicle and all just go look out over the mountains and valleys that are absolutely breathtaking, it is always still just a reminder of how great our God is, and how often we continue to take everything that He has given us for granted! I, having grown up in Florida am in utter amazement of the mountains and views there, while what I have grown bored with (flat land & beaches) amaze others that come to visit Florida. As we drive to work or school every day we pass so many single miracles that have been placed right in front of us, but out daily routines have blocked out what God is using to try to speak to us. We are so time driven, and as most people, we all are running late, and don't take the time to smell the roses. The year 2007 has come and gone, and in just a few days we will start a new year. I challenge you, just as I am challenging myself to everyday just slow down and to look for the little miracles that God sends our way, they are probably not going to be as big as a mountain, or as wide as an ocean, but if we truly seek to find the things that God has given us and to truly appreciate these, our eyes will be opened to so much of the things that God has for us that we pass by every time we look around!

DAVID, CHRISTIAN, & ANNA AT ONE OF OUR STOPS

STEVE & JUDE ON OUR JOYCE KILMORE HIKEDAVID, STEVE, BRANDY & JUDE TAKING A RESTDAVID, CHRISTIAN & ROCKY TRYING TO LOOK COOL Well, it is time for us to continue our Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy marathon, so, I'm gonna go have a few laughs at that, but I will be back tomorrow with some more stuff of what's happening in my month long vacation to North Carolina!

LOTS OF FIRSTS!!!!

Well, today I headed over to Steve & Brandy's house after getting some rest at our house in Georgia....Yes, for all of you who care, I did make it up here safely this time!!! So, it started out that I asked for a GPS system for Christmas so that I would be able to navigate around NC without having to think about looking at a map...well, I got it, and what a blast it has been!!! It works SO well!!! I LOVE IT!!! (Thanks mom & dad!!) So, I left our house in Georgia this morning to come to Steve & Brandy's, and I was following some directions mixed between the GPS and my father, so, needless to say, I ended up in who knows where! It took me over an hour longer to get to my destination, and I was not happy about this because I was very excited to get to see Steve & Brandy! The drive through the mountains that I ended up taking was absolutely BREATHTAKING!!!! Getting to see scenery of the mountains and trees for miles and miles, was absolutely amazing! I even got to have some fun when I came across a huge stretch of road that was covered in snow! Now, I'm a Florida boy, and I have never driven through snow or ice (I just started driving in the mountains this summer!) so, when my tires stared spinning, and I was moving across the road in ways that I knew that I shouldn't be, I started to be worried, but then got my grips on how to drive in it, and it was actualy kind of cool! It was awesome to get to just drive through the mountains by myself and just look across God's amazing creation and just take it all in! At home, life is so consuming and busy that I rarely take time to even slow down to look at and observe God's awesomeness!!

I encourage each of you as this busy holiday season continues, before work & school rushes back, just take the time to stop and look at God's creation and take in all of the many blessings that He has given you wether it be health, family, friends, the every day things that we all continualy overlook without even noticing that we do!

Here are some of the pictures that I stopped on the side of the road to take! I'll have more posts as this 3 week adventure continues so, be sure to check out what else has been happening!!

HERE WE GO!!

Well, eveyone else is into the blogging world, so I figured that I had better stay close with everyone and get in here too! Plus, with all of my friends living so far away, I figured this could be a good way for me to keep in touch with them, and let them know what is going on in my life.

Today I begin a new journey not only of blogging, but of just sharing what God is doing in my life! I'm no philospher, and not even very good at wording what I want to say, but I know that God can use what I put here to help others, and to show me things that I did not even realize He was wanting to show me. So, hopefully people will be able to find some humor in what I post, but also that God may use it to touch lives!