The Adventures of Bubba

So I sometimes develop habits

2006-05-18T19:37:00.000-07:00

I have totally made a habit of only posting like every two months or so. I am really going to try harder not to do that. I have been meaning to post for a while now, but I just now found the time. Things have been really tiresome lately. I just moved out of the mission house at church and into the guest house of one of the ladies in the church. It is pretty nice but kinda small, but it will do just fine. I am also in them midst of preparing for our two week day camp. I ask you all to put that on your prayer list. I have realized that I absolutely love to teach youth. I wish that I could hire people to do all the other things involved in youth ministry so I could just focus on teaching. I enjoy the other things, but teaching is my element. There is just something about helping youth understand the word. I just cannot get enough of it. So the ministry is going great. I am really seeing some kids grow in Christ and we doubled our group last night. We have had 13 sixth graders just move up. I am very excited about this and hope to really be able to minister to this new group of students. So that is how church stuff is going. Now on to the other things of my life. Anyone who has been reading this thing from the beginning has seen a pattern in my blog topics. Usually the topic is my love life or lack there of (lol). Well that area I thought had taken a turn for the better but it is still exactly where it was at before. So I am still just waiting, and still pretty ok with that. There have been several girls that have caught my eye in recent months. Some for the first time and some have caught my eye once again. It is strange how throughout the years I have liked a few girls and with some of them I am able to totally push those feelings of wanting to be more than friends off to the side and just be their friend. Then there are others that I think that I have moved on from and then bam I have fallen all over again. Maybe one day I will figure this all out or maybe I already have.............To be continued

I did it again

2006-02-05T20:42:00.000-08:00

I went two months without posting anything. It is really sad how busyy life has become. not just for me, but for everybody. No one has time anymore for anything. Anyway things have been pretty well for me lately. I have started taking online classes at the baptist college of Florida and it is about to kill me. I have never had to read so many books at one time. I do enjoy it and I have learned a lot already. As far as ministry goes its good although it has been better. I lack one thing here that I have had at every other church and that is some kids that really desire to know God. I need some kids that really have passion and a heart for God. There are none down here on this island. I am not saying that God cannot turn some of these kids into that, it is just that it is easier for them to desire that when they see that passion in some one their own age. I just need some kids to step up and be leaders. As far as I go I am being stretched just a little to thin with school and youth and everybody else wanting me to do things. The great thing is and (I have never said that this thing was great) I am not in a relationship. If I was in a relationship there would be no time for anything. Well that is all the rambling that I can do for now. Well to anyone who still checks this grace and peace to you.

I promise that....

2005-12-09T08:03:00.000-08:00

I have not fallen off the face of the earth. It has just been a little crazy around here with Christmas coming up and all. I am helping with two different productions for Christmas and it is starting to really get crazy considering that we have only just a little over a week to be ready. Anyway it has been a while since I last blogbed and there are many things I could talk about but I am only going to vent about one thing. I have this one student in high school that has quit coming to our wednesday night service. This girl has been here the entire time I have been here. Her reason is that there are not enough people her age that come. I totally agree with that. We have way more Jr High than high school (she is in high school). She had talked with me like a month ago about the fact that she would like to have more people her age here. Well her exact words were "you need to get more people here my age". Well I have really done a lot to get high school kids here but the only problem is this. My high school students are not doing anything. I have tried to build some relationships outside of the church but I cannot get my high schoolers to invite anyone to come. I asked this particular girl why she has not invited anyone to come with her (which is really the most effective way to get them here). Well she said that it is because all of her friends already have a church. Ok I understand that but then she says that she was going to miss the next wednesday night because she was going to church with them. Frustration!!! If she won't invite them because they have a church then why does she go with them when she has a church. Needless to say I am slightly frustrated with building up our high school. So right now I have about ten junior high kids and one high school kid. Please pray for me but more importantly pray that the students I have will really get excited about what we are trying to do here and start inviting their friends and even those who are not their friends. Well that is all for now.

Just another year older

2005-11-14T08:44:00.000-08:00

Well I have not posted since my birthday. I had a really good birthday I want to thank everybody for the cards and calls, you guys rock. I also got a nice little surprise from the church on wednesday, they took up an offering for me and I racked-up like $250. It totally caught me off guard. Some people have been calling me old now and I have also made several jokes about it, but wednesday night, on my birthday, we sang Ancient of Days. So I thought that it was really funny, but I don't think that anybody else did. So anyway things are going good I hope all of you are well.

What's the deal!

2005-11-04T08:52:00.000-08:00

I keep getting these really weird comments (which I have deleted) about going bald and people thanking me for posting about it. It is very stange and I don't get it. I mean I have been going bald for a few years now and maybe someone is just trying to tell me something. Oh well on to other things. So preaching went very well wednesday night. It is always good to be able to preach with adults in the congregation. I say that only because sometimes when I am teaching students they look like they just don't get it, not to say I do not enjoy teaching youth, and not that adults do not look at me like they dont get it, it is just different with adults so I like it, but i would not want to do it all the time. i think that I should win an award for the longest run on sentence in the blogging world. Anyway things are good right now.

I am just a little nervous.......

2005-11-02T08:21:00.000-08:00

I am going to be preaching tonight in "big church" and I am a little nervous. Our pastor is sick and just a few minutes ago he ask me to fill in for him tonight. Like I said I am nervous but also I am excited. I really love to preach especailly in "big church" So send up a little prayer for me if you will. On to another topic now. Seven more days til my birthday. The big 24. I really do not know why I am excited like I am about my birthday. The last few birthdays have just really been another day, but I am really excited about this one. I can't seem to pin point why, but oh well. There is someone reading this that needs to be reminded of something and that something is call me and say hello.

Andrew Peterson is my friend

2005-10-26T07:55:00.000-07:00

So anyway I thought that I would let you all know that (title). I really like AP's newest album. It is called the Far Country and there is a quote that says "God is at home. We are in the far country." It is just about going home. Anyway it is good. So enough about that on to new stuff. So I want to thank everyone for the encouragement in regards to my last blog. It really means a lot to me that my friends would take time to read my ramblings, but also that you would leave a little comment of encouragement. So again thanks. I think that the hardest part of this move has been not being able to see my friends all the time like I did back home. One interesting thing about it is the fact that I have realized that some of the people that I have been friends with have now become just acquaintances. This is not a new subject to the blog, but I just started thinking about it after reading the recent comments and realizing how special the friends that I do have are. The strangest thing about it is the fact that I have really adjusted to not having as many friends. Of course I know that it is only because of the Lord helping me to adjust. It is crazy to think that I have now been gone from Hartselle for almost a year now. It will be a year on Nov. 14th. Which is also just five days after my 24th birthday (nov. 9th Hint. Hint.). I believe that the lack of friends has also been what brought to mind the whole being single thing. It sometimes gets lonely and I think “if only I were married” then you know I would have my best friend in the whole world right there to talk to if I felt lonely, but as I said before I am being patient and I know that she is out there. Just now a lady (mrs. Betty) came into my office talking about us looking for a new music minister and she said that God would send the right person for the job and that God was preparing that person and that we just need to be patient in waiting for that person to come. It is kind of funny that I have had friends tell me the same thing about my future wife and then God reaffirms it with some lady talking about something else, but at the same time I think without her knowing she was being used to tell me something I needed to hear at least one more time. She is out there God is just preparing her and I just need to be patient. I also have a pretty good idea that there are probably some things about me that God is changing to prepare me for her. After all it is a two way street.

Just a little random thought.

2005-10-19T10:42:00.000-07:00

I was sitting here working on tonight's study and I started thinking about where God has brought me in my life. In three weeks I will be the big 24 and as I think about that I remember a time when I thought that by the time I am that old I will have a college degree, be married and possibly even a kid. Now that I am here I am really ok with not having those things (except for the college degree). I just think back to where God has brought me and know that everything is ok. I mean there are not many 23 year old full-time youth ministers out there without degree. I have been doing youth ministry since I was 18 and I know that it is only because of God that I was able to get to start in this so young. And it is his providence that I am here now. It took a long time for me to deal with the fact that I am single and have been for a very long time, and by the looks of it will be for a good while longer, but me knowing God is in control is the thing that keeps me from getting upset about it. Most of the people that I know that are single and around my age are all like "I love being single, it's great" well for a while I thought that I would be weird if I did not say the same thing. Well I realize now that I am not like everybody else. I don't like being single. I am ok with it because like I said God is in control and has given me a peace about it. I know some of you right now are thinking that I don't seem at peace with it because I seem to always blog about it. Well trust me I am trusting God and his timing. It just comes to mind sometimes and I just need to put my thoughts somewhere. So they usually end up here for all the world to read (of course that world really only consists of about 6 or 7 people, but you know what I mean). So now here I am just waiting very patiently on God to bring that special someone across my path. Of course I hope that I am paying attention when it happens, or maybe it all ready did and I missed it. My chance is forever gone. what am I going to do she was there and I was not paying attention I let her slip through my fingers and now does that mean I will be alone forever? Just kidding. I really didn't slip off the deep end I was just messing with ya. So anyway here I am still chillin and knowing that God is in control of everything.

Sometimes Life is Just Busy

2005-10-16T12:01:00.000-07:00

Well I have not posted in a while and this seems to be a highly anticipated post. I have had several comments about me needing to post so here we go. I had an experience last weekend that I will never forget. I had the opportunity to baptize my mom and brother. It was something very special for to do and I am very thankful that I was able to do it. Ministry is pretty tuff sometimes but it is moments like that one that make me thankful for this calling. Right before I baptized my mom I got to thinking about the fact that I was not only baptizing my mom but now my sister in Christ. So I then started crying and so everyone in the congregation probably did not understand a word that I said. Which is not a big deal to me so I did not worry about it. I have been super busy since I got back trying to play catch up. One other thing about my trip home was that I got to see some friends that I have not seen in a while, so that was awesome. A side note to Brent and Marianne. You guys mean a lot to me and even though we don't get to talk a lot I really cherish our friendship (enough of the sappy stuff). One more thing before I close this out. I have decided that a bunch of people from north Alabama need to move down here to Orange Beach. Not just random people but ones that I know, and preferably females. Any guys in North Alabama that are reading this you have it made when it comes to finding a good godly woman. There are just so few of those down here. So anyway that was random, but what else is new.

I am so in love and I don't care who knows it

2005-09-28T08:42:00.000-07:00

Some of you are sitting on the edge of your seats waiting to find out who I am in love with. So as to not keep you waiting any longer I am in love with....wait for it....wait for it...God. Yep God is so awesome. I went home this past weekend and I thought the highlight was going to be seeing a bunch of my friends. Well I was wrong. After some very intense moments sunday morning at my parents house and me preaching to my parents for about fifteen minutes and then letting that soak in on the way to church. After all of that my mom came to church and to make a long story short me and my parents talked with their pastor and my mom accepted Christ into her heart. WOO HOO! It was awesome. Then that night at church one of my brothers(Keith) accepted Christ. I did get to see alot of my friends but the highlight was definetly seeing God at work in my family.

I salute you anonymous blogger..

2005-09-21T11:57:00.000-07:00

That is all I want to say.

I guess that I will Blog

2005-09-16T08:49:00.000-07:00

It has been a couple of weeks since I blogged. So here we go. I have been invovled in various projects over in Mississippi to help with disaster relief. Me and several others from our church have been making day trips over there to help set up distrubution sites in serveral places in Mississippi. It is just a really sad thing to see the devastation and to see the effect on the people. It is so very important for believers to be involved in this effort because these are in great need fro someone to minister to them on a spritual level. I am headed home next weekend for Big Spring Jam. It is going to be great and hopefully I will get to hang out with some people that I hae not seen in quite a while. It is so easy to take for granted how easy it is for us to just call up one of your many friends and go do something until you move far away and you only have a very few friends who are still like 45 minutes away. It's tough but finally after 10 months I am starting to adjust and just get used to it. I don't want it to sound all sad and everything it is just that I appreciate my friends even more now than ever. As for the ministry things are really going good. The unity that I have been waiting on for so long has finally started to take shape. But on a sad note our Music Minister has resigned and will only be here until the end of the month. The great thing is that it is not because of any kind of contraversy it is just that he feels that it is time for him to go. He has been a great friend to me and it will be very different without him here in the office. So pray for our church as we will be looking for someone to fill this place in the months to come.

There She Blows

2005-08-31T09:11:00.000-07:00

Well I have weathered my first hurricane. The wind blew a little and things were fine. Ha. It was more like thw wind blew at 90 mph for a good two or three hours with gusts over 100 and then it started slowing down very slowly but was still blowing at about 30 at 10:30 monday night. It was at first a little terrifying and then I was fascinated by it all at the same time. Thankfully everyone here is safe but I really feel bad for all those people over in Miss and Louisiana. I do not have time now to type alot. Just wanted to let my few faithful readers know that I am ok.

Good News, Bad News

2005-08-16T07:28:00.000-07:00

Well first the good news. Sunday night after church one of our newcomers in the youth group went home and he started talking to his parents about accepting Christ and then they had the oppurtunity to pray with him to accept Christ. It is really good to know that GOd is still working. The bad news is that after almost a year I have started back to school. Technically it is a good thing but it is really hard to go back after that long. I really admire all those people who go back to school after being out for like twenty. Anyway God is really doing some good stuff down here and I appreciate all of your prayers and support. It is hard to believe that I have been here for nine months already and hopefully I will be here for a lot longer.

Another summer is over...

2005-07-30T15:20:00.000-07:00

and it was very exhausting. I just got back from a week of m-fuge which was absolutely wonderful. The only thing is that when I got back I had some person posing as my blog telling me that I was being missed by my blog. Implying that I have not been blogging as I should. Well it is hard to blog when you are away for camp. I admit that I have not blogged as often I could have but it has been very busy. So blog I apologize and also to my blog fans I apologize. I will try to do better.

Don't eat the hot 'n spicy burrito..

2005-07-21T11:45:00.000-07:00

I went ot the infamous Monterey's last night and decided to try something new. So I ordered the hot and spicy burrito and the waiter asked if I wanted it hot and me being me I was like "sure". So I get it and it is just way to hot, I was like crying and my face was red and everybody(including all the waiters) was laughing at me. Needless to say I will not be ordering that again. So things have been kind of wierd with the hurricane scare and other things. I have Mission fuge next week which I am excited about. I have never been to m-fuge but from what I have heard it is great. I only have four students going which I would have liked to have taken a few more but we will have a great time no matter how many we have. I am having a little bit of a problem with a couple that have two kids in our youth program. I am not going to give details but please just keep me in your prayers. I hope that you are having a good day (this is referring to anyone reading this) and may God bless you and keep you.

So much going on

2005-07-07T09:10:00.000-07:00

So I have had a lot going on lately. I got hooked up with this new ministry called "winner's influence" which is a ministry designed to reach NFL players and the cities where the teams are. It is pretty awesome and I have made some really good contacts. I met a couple of ministers from Baltimore that want to fly up to come preach at their church. So that's pretty cool but I am kind of nervous because it is like the biggest church in Baltimore. Just went home over this past weekend and I got to see like five people that were down here working it was like an O.B. Outfitters reunion. So know we are facing another hurricane of course for me its my first. It is just to soon for another one especially if it is going to be as strong as IVAN. So keep us on your prayers as we prepare and pray God would just protect us espcailly the emergency workers that will be staying here on the island.

I'm Back

2005-06-21T13:23:00.000-07:00

I say that I am back like I have been somewhere, but really I have not been anywhere. It is just that I have been so busy that I feel like I have been living on another planet in a different reality. We just finished up camp on friday and I think I am still trying to catch up on sleep. We had a record enrollment of like 250 kids this year and things went pretty well. The thing that wore me out was staying up late everynight hanging out with all the people that calm to help with camp and the summer missionaries who live in our mission house. I think I got in the bed at about two o'clock every night and well I realize that i have gotten old and body does not really like that anymore. I really did have a great time though because I am not used to having people my age this close to me so I was really soaking it up. I got to meet some really cool people over the last couple of weeks. Things are going well and are just really busy. It has taken me two days to type this and hopefully this weekend I will slow down and be able to share more about what is going on.

I have never ....

2005-05-31T07:23:00.001-07:00

experienced anything like I did sunday. I got to baptize two guys from my youth group. I have never had the oppurtunity to baptize anyone because most churches require you to be ordained but our pastor was like you are called that is enough. The most awesome part of it was when I was lifting them up from the water. It was as if I actually had a part in their new life like I was connected to their walk with Christ. One of them came up to me after words and gave me a hug and said thanks Bubba. I almost started crying but I refrained. So it was an awesome thing and I hope that I get to baptize many more in my ministry.

Swing Dancing....

2005-05-28T09:34:00.000-07:00

is not very easy for an uncoordinated person like me. I went over to pensacola last night to go swing dancing with my friends Ashley and Jon. I also made a new friend Summer who rode with me to p'cola. So anyway I am not very good at the whole thing but there were a few brief moments where I thought I finally got the hang of it only to get excited and miss a step. I did have a great time though trying to learn and also watching the people that know how to dance do their thing. It is something I will probably do again and who knows maybe next time I will be a little better.

Just one thing to say

2005-05-23T07:42:00.000-07:00

God is really awesome. We had another student get saved Wednesday night and I will be baptizing him and another student this next Sunday. I am so very excited about it. God is really doing some aesome stuff down here. I ask you to continue to pray for my ministry and for my students.

Just A Few Thoughts

2005-05-12T14:58:00.000-07:00

I have been doing a lot of thinking lately so much in fact that I have been losing sleep. So now I have decided that I am no longer going to continually think and worry about things that I have absolutely no control over. I like to think that I am fairly intelligent but obviously I am not or I would have realized this a long time ago. I have hopes and dreams that I would like to have happen but they are just not supposed to happen right now. So there is no need in constantly pondering on it. God knows the desires of my heart and he will give those things in his timing as long as they are in accordance with his will. My other thought is not really a thought but a conviction. I have recently started trying to memorize scripture and it is really amazing what it can do. I have realized how important the word of God is. I don't mean that I did not think that it was important before I know understand even greater than before. The word of God is our spritual food but yet I miss a lot of meals. I don't ever do that with physical food. So as the psalmist said in 119:11 " I have hidden your words in my heart so that I might not sin against you." It is God's word along with the Holy Spirit that helps to not sin, but it says that he hid it in his heart. To me that says he knew he did not just know where to find it in a book he knew it in his heart. He had memorized it not so he could just qoute it but so he could live it because it had become a part of him. God has really stirred up a hunger inside of me for his word. I am kind of hoping that it will get my mind off a lot of these other things.

A great weekend

2005-05-08T22:44:00.000-07:00

Well I came home for Mother's Day this weekend and got to see a lot of people. Some I enjoyed seeing, some I really enjoyed seeing, and others that I did not really enjoy seeing. With that said I have been doing a lot of thinking lately about the future and that lead to the thinking about the past. I started thinking about some things that took place before I moved to Orange Beach. It was very strange because a few months before I left I really started growing distant from most of my friends and did not have a clue why. A few of my very closest friends I think I grew the most distant from, while others not as distant. It seemed the people I cared for more than anybody else were the furthest away. Then I thought that it probably happended so that I could make the decision to take the position based only on what God wanted and not let anybody distract me from that. Well the great part about it is that now that I am there some of those relationships have been restored and some I think are even better. Also while I was home I realized how much I have changed in recent months. I realized while I was at a friends house at a cook-out with a lot of people I knew. I was sitting there talking to only two people Melissa an Alan and it hit me that I did not really know anybody else(other than Melissa and Alan) there I have changed so much that I did not really know those people anymore. Some of them had been kind of close friends and now I cannot even be around them. Mainly because some of them are just fake and it took me being gone to be able to see it. While i know that some of this sounds negative I really had a great weekend. OUt of all my friends here at home I know that there are some that really care for me and even a few that care that aren't in north alabama. Anyway about the future it is starting to look pretty good because I know that God is in control.

I like surprises.

2005-04-30T10:38:00.000-07:00

Last night I had planned on taking the youth to a concert but it had already sold out. So to make it up to them I planned a trip to the movies instead. I know real spiritual stuff. Well I thought we were going to have about 12 or 13 students go which is a good bit for our group. Well instead we had 24 students go. At first I was a little overwhelmed but then I was like this is great. I only knew about half of the kids that went but that just means I got to meet some new kids, maybe some of them will come back on sunday or wednesday. Anyway we had a blast and I am not really about the numbers but it was still good to see that many kids go with us. I also had one of my adults back out and I really needed someone to go so luckily my great friend Lisa helped me out and went with us. So thanks Lisa.

It is really sad....

2005-04-24T17:52:00.000-07:00

...how we forget about our calling. I mean how we know that God has called us to do a certain job and then when things get tough we think that we cannot do it. For the past few weeks our pastor has been preaching from Nehemiah chapters 1-4 (you should read it). It is where God has called Nehemiah to bring the people together to rebuild the wall around Jerusalem. To make it short, things are going really well, it actually says at one point that "the people had a mind to work" but just after that some surrounding people are forming a plan to attack and soon the people are dicouraged and think they cannot complete the job. It says in verse 10 of chapter 4 the people were saying that the strength of the laborers was giving out and that there was so much rubble that they could not rebuild the wall. Keep in mind that this is when the wall has already been built to half its height. It took very little opposition to discourage them from completing the job. We work the same way, God calls us to do something and at the first sign of trouble we have a tendency to want to give up. I was thinking of myself this morning while listening to the sermon. I know that God has called me to be here but even knowing that, there have been times when I want to give up, times I feel like I am not making any difference and I just get frustrated. Then it hit me Romans 8:35-39.

Who shall seperate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered. No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to seperate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

After thinking about that I was like why should I let a little discouragement from the devil get to me. The word says that I am more than a conqueror in Christ. That means the devil has done been beat I don't need to let him get to me. Jesus done beat him. Whatever God has called us to do God is going to see to it that his purpose is served in his time, not ours. He has eqiupped us to be able to perform the task at hand if we will just rely on him. And when the satan comes around to discourage us remember that he ain't got nothing on you cause you got Jesus.

OH YEAH GOD IS DA BOMB!!!!!

2005-04-17T18:43:00.000-07:00

Well it finally happened. It will probably seem small and some of you will be like "it took long enough". Some of you are right now thinking "he got a girl friend", but you would be wrong. So what am I talking about you ask. This evening something finally clicked within our group. We were playing a game of bucketball (a game i sort of created, but really only "sort of")and it was awesome. I finally really connected with my girls in the youth. They have really been kind of stand-offish(if that's a word)and could not seem to find away to break down the wall. It has alot to do with the fact that these girls are really girly (which is not a bad thing) but most girls I know and have worked with are a little more tom-boyish. Well any God really just broke that wall down and we really had a blast. It was me and four girls against two of my guys. We were giving each other high-fives and making up little chants and things to get the team pumped. We lost 8-2 but we had fun. At one point they had me chanting "what time is it ...girl time huh". As I am typing this i realize why this did not occur before. The whole time I was trying make them come to me, instead of me meeting them where they were. I just really saw God working tonight, not that I have not seen him working before, but tonight it was just so obvious. I cannot really express with words how I feel right now, the only thing that could express it were the tears I fought back when we were playing and I saw God working right there in front of me. So if you are reading this do me a little favor, give God a little WOOP WOOP. Just do it no matter where you are. It will be really funny. Especailly if you are in a computer lab at school reading this. Cause you know that he deserves a WOOP WOOP or at least a hallelujah or an amen or something. Just cause he is DA BOMB! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

Yep.

2005-04-13T13:12:00.000-07:00

Well I do not have alot to say today. I am just finishing up getting tonight ready. We are going to be talking about spiritual gifts. I think that it will be very good for my students especially since we are going to do a spiritual gifts inventory. I know that these things aren't 100% accurate but i think they give you a good idea of what gifts you have as long as you are very honest when you take it. Also as you already can see I have made some changes to my blog. If you cannot see everything correctly or it just looks funny. It is probably your browser which is probably Internet Explorer. My blog is best viewed in Netscape Just click the link to download it. I am not trying to get you to switch but it is free, you have less pop-ups and it is just better all around.

God is amazing!!!!!!!

2005-04-09T19:57:00.000-07:00

We just wrapped up our d-now. Yesterday before we began I had like three kids back out which took our group down to seven. I got a little discouraged and kind of let satan use that to really bother me. Well once I finally got started with our guys and opened up our first session with prayer God really helped me overcome the discouragement. We had a really good time with some really good discussion which is surprising with the group of guys that I had. Well this morning we all (girls and guys) went out to camp baldwin to have a cookout and canoe, play volleyball and things like that. Then we all came back and got cleaned and some friends of mine from mobile came and led worship for us and we wrapped up the study we had been doing. I know that you are like okay where is the amazing part...well here it is. One of my guys that has only been coming a short time accepted Christ tonight. WOO HOO! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! The devil tried to take over from the begginning but God had something else in mind. That is the first of any of my students to accept Christ since I have been here it is so awesome. So my last few days have been great all because of God.

A good week

2005-04-03T20:46:00.000-07:00

Well I have had a pretty busy week. Sunday night my two sisters and my best friend Alan came down to see me. We got to hang out alot because I bascially set my own hours. Also we had a marshmallow gun war here at the church which was wicked awesome. I just did so much it is hard to remember. I did get to introduce my sisters and Al to my good friends Lisa and Scotty on monday. We all met at Lamberts and had soome rolls throwed at us. Where I embarassed our server by using a really cheesy pick up line on her. When she brought us our food I through a sugar pack down on the table and told her that she dropped her name tag (it said suger on it...get it)So that was fun and made everybody laugh. It was really great to see my sisters but it was especially good to see Alan. It really meant alot to me for him to come down here because he is not someone who really takes trips and stuff like that, but also because I have known Alan since our freshman year in high school. Which was nine years ago. Ever since then he has really been my best friend he has always been there for me in his own way. You just really have to know Alan. He is someone that I know is there and will listen. I mean he was the only person who helped comfort me that day I started crying in the locker room (melissa I am just kidding). Anyway it has been a good week.

I love cappucinno

2005-03-22T09:04:00.000-08:00

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Today was fun

2005-03-19T17:18:00.000-08:00

Today I hung out with Lisa and Scotty at the Fairhope Arts and Crafts festival. There were alot of interesting things there, but the best thing was the giant corndog that I ate. It was very tasty but also there was home-made kettle corn which was totally awesome. The highlight of the day had to be when I purchased my marshmallow gun. This this is sweet you just stick the marshmallow in and then blow. This gun will launch a marshmallow really far which was rather surprising. So when we left the festival we proceeded to try to hit road signs with marshmallows while going down the road. I have to confess that I did not do very well I think out of like 15 signs I hit two. But after some practice I think I will be the best marshmallow shooter in the world or at least Baldwin County. So all in all it has been a fun day and I will now end my day by vegging out to some basketball.

I Think I Am In Love With....

2005-03-16T09:50:00.000-08:00

The coffee loft. It is this great little coffee shop in Fairhope that has a great atmosphere and great coffee. Even though it is like over thirty minutes away I just can't seem to get enough. Anyway I paid $2.07 for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline. That is the most I have ever paid and I almost tear up just thinking about it. When I first got my liscense gas was only 89 cents a gallon. I no that it is hard to believe but that was like seven years ago. So to say the least gas prices are ridiculous. But I guess I will keep paying for it if I ever want to go to the coffee loft again.

Well...............................

2005-03-13T19:31:00.000-08:00

Someone asked me the question once "is there only one person out there for you or do you get a choice?" At the time I did not have an answer for them and I still don't but for some odd reason it had been on my mind for like the past hour. So I decided to type out my few thoughts on the matter. Few being the keyword. As I pondered that question again I thought back through my experiences in the relationship world which also are very few. There have been a very small handful of girls that at one point or another I thought that I could see myself spending my life with, because of certain characteristics that they had and such. I know of only one girl that actually shared those feelings for a while but then she wrote me a letter asking me not to speak to her again(it was very strange and sad considering she was my best friend). So when that happened I said that I guess that was God just telling me she was not the one so I slowly moved right along. There have been a few since them and none have obviously worked out, but that really is ok because I have come to the conclusion that there is one out there God has or will place in my path to be my wife. What has really helped me too understand this is some of my friends who have gotten married and a few that are moving toward that stage. There is one thing in common with them all. They have all basically said the same thing, that they have found the one they are to be with. And from being around them I can even tell that they were just made for each other and some of these people are girls that I have liked or even almost dated and I know that are with their "one". And what amazes me is the fact that I am so very happy for them (and maybe a little jealous) I am just glad that God is a very sovreign God and that he did not allow me to possibly get in the way of love and his plan. I know that this just sounds really wierd but it was what I was thinking. I just know that God has created someone especailly for me but not only that but that he created me for someone else (i think whoever she might be is probably getting the short end of the stick) I don't know about you but it makes me feel pretty special. I am just amazed more and more everyday with God and the way that he works. Some of you know that this is something that has been on my mind alot recently, and now finally I think that I really am at peace with the whole issue. Hopefully I will feel the same way about it tommorrow. Thank you God for what you have in store for me.

It's good to go home

2005-03-08T20:15:00.000-08:00

Well i got to go home(i guess that it is not home anymore) this past weekend for the first time since christmas, which may not seem like a long time but it the longest amount of time that I have ever been away form home. It was really good to get to hang out with everybody. I am sure that there are some I did not get to see and if you are reading this I apologize. I was so busy while I was there that it is good to be back so that I can rest. It is so hard to keep in touch with everybody I feel that I have been blessed with alot of friends but the bad side about it is that there is not enough time in the day to call of them. I felt kind of bad because this weekend was the first time I got to see or talk to some of my friends since I moved. I am going to try harder to keep in touch but I know it will not be easy. Oh yeah I finally got to see Napolean Dynamite it was hilarious, but I have to go I need to find some chapstick cause my lips lips hurt real bad. Sweeet.

Still Waiting

2005-02-26T20:30:00.000-08:00

I am just sitting here at my computer checking my e-mail and blog and such. when I realize that I do a lot of waiting. I waited for this job which came much sooner that expected. I wait for my pay check (never comes early) tax refunds, I wait in lines, I wait for people to call and check on me (few do that of course I have a phone too). But I realize how much i wait and there are so many other things as well, like getting married having a family and the Lord coming to take us home. I don't think that I really have a point or not. just a random thought and I know that you are thinking "bubba had a random thought..wow!" Then there are those times when you think that you are closer than ever to getting something you been waiting for and somehow it was all in your head and never really happened at least not the way you thought it did, but you keep on waiting because there is a little bit of hope inside that keeps telling you to keep waiting. Whether the hope is real or imaginary does not really matter to you, because it still helps you go on. People say that you should not wait on everything because you are not really living your life or maybe you will miss out on something. Well I say that maybe if you don't wait you may miss out on one of the greatest things that could happen to you. So after all that being said I am still in the same place waiting and hoping that it is worth it. Who knows?

Strange Day

2005-02-23T21:20:00.000-08:00

I do not really know why today has been so strange. It seemed normal until after the service tonight and I got really distracted by something that I will not release to the public. But it has just stuck with me all night now and will not go away. I was even playing cards and could not pay attention to what was going on. Anyway it has just been one of those days when you really think is it worth it. Of course I know that it is but sometimes I still let those thoughts slip into my mind. Then I am checking out the comments or I guess I should say comment on my blog and I am being harrassed by this anonymous person complaining that I am not putting enough on my blog. Well to you whoever you are excuse me for not keeping you up to date. So whoever you are please know that I am totally joking with you. I need someone to motivate me to blog more. so to you anonymous user I write this poem.

You leave me little comments on my blog
to reallly just say that I am a lazy hog.
You chose not to reveal your identity
because you feel bad for harassing me.
Even though I don't know who you are or if you can even drive a car(i don't really know why that line matters but it rhymes)
Your words inspire me to want type my thoughts
and cares
For all the world to shares(it had to end in a rhyme)

I salute you anonymous user for your inspiring words. (sorry for all the sarcasm I hope I did not offend anyone)

WOW What A Month

2005-02-18T11:53:00.000-08:00

It has been just a little crazy around here in Orange Beach. We had a weekend retreat in Gatlinburg the first weekend of this month. It went really well we had nine students go which was great. Our bible study times were really good and the I got to know the kids even better and they got to know each other better too. Then the very next weekend we had our annual Valentine Banquet. It was so crazy we had to feed and entertain about 160 people. We grossed about $2000 so it was very successful. I have been able to get to know a couple of people down here so I have been able to make some new friends so that is a good thing. Well even though things have been busy it has also been very fun and excititng. Please continue to keep me in yours prayers.

Well it has been crazy

2005-01-30T19:05:00.000-08:00

It has been so crazy around here at the church and a little stressful(not that I did not expect it). Our pastor recently lost his father so he and his wufe are out of town. Well his wife is our secretary and she ws going to help me plan a valentine banquet, that is apparently a big deal around here. So needless to say that has fallen on me and well i a little out of my league with this but it is slowly coming around. Also I had the prvielege of taking our senior adults over to mobile to see the dead sea scrolls. Talk about being out of my comfort zone, but it really went well. I also got to preach this morning, that has been like the highlight of the week. It went really well God just completely took over which was really good because I was a little nervous. All in all it has been ok but I have had to take on a little more than I thought I would.

I need to just ramble a little

2005-01-22T20:52:00.000-08:00

Well I do not really know where to begin with my rambling, but I can't think of a better subject than girls. None in particular really unless you count the ten or so girls that some people in my church want to fix me up with. I just can't seem to grasp what exactly is going on in these peoples heads. I am beginning to think they believe I am lonely and have no hope of finding a girl on my own. This area of my life is one that I have really had some personal struggles with in recent months. After some advice from a friend I finally truly handed this area over to God and have not really worried about it. But these people keep insisting on fixing me up. It was all fine and dandy and kind of humorous at first , but now all I think about is trying to find someone. It is kind of hard not thinking about it when that is all the ladies in my church keep talking about. They mean well but I really wish they would back off. I know that it is a natural thing for me to want a relationship, to want someone that I can share my dreams and desires, someone who would love me for me, and someone that I can just fall in love with without any fear(I have been thinking about this just a little). I know that it will happen and that I just have to wait for God's timing but it is just so hard sometimes. I thought that moving somewhere that I don't know a lot of people would help but it really just makes me more lonely. I just gotta trust God. I have obviously been thinking about this a while and don't I typed this to make anyone feel sorry for me or anything like that I just needed to get it off my chest and just ramble. I feel better now.

2005-01-18T21:39:00.000-08:00

Napoleon Dyanamite
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My weekend...

2005-01-15T23:49:00.000-08:00

Has been pretty good. It has been the most eventful weekend in like over a month. So friday night I had plans to go swing dancing with my friend Ashley and her boyfriend Jon. Well on my way over to pensacola Ashley called me to tell me that they were at the emergency room with one of Jon's friends. Well I decided that sitting at the emergency room with friends is better than sitting at home by myself. So we sat in the emergency room for like two hours and watched The Whole Nine Yards and ate some KFC. Well after that we did not go dancing which was ok because I was just a little nervous about the whole thing but we might try to go again at the end of the month so I will get another shot at it. We ended up going to one of Jon's friend's(Alicia) houses and hung out. I met some interesting people there. Like this one guy named Ringl who has a website with pics of him being kissed on the cheeks by all these girls. There also this girl named Alicia who was pretty cool and kinda scared me by flipping backwards over her couch to talk to me. I guess you could say she was head over heels for me. HAHAHAHAHA. Sorry. It was rather interesting though because she has a brother named Bubba and I have a sister named Alicia. We thought that it was interesting anyway. I did not really know how stir crazy I had become until I realized that I was having a good time on a night that began at the emergency room. I think that I will save what I did saturday night for another time, but lets just say it involved Monopoly. It was intense but more on that later.

I'm still here

2005-01-12T19:47:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to let ya'll know that I have not fallen off the face of the earth. I decided that I would post after someone mentioned that my blog has been neglected just a little. I have been pretty busy with all the usually youth minister stuff. Planning retreats, preparing bible studies, trying to figure out what makes some people so weird. Well that last thing may not just relate to ministry but it is a big part of it. I have realized that the students here are very different than where I come from. Which is ok with me I like different, but it can also be very challenging at the same time. I think my biggest struggle right now is leading music during our worship. I have some experience with this but it has always(other than this summer) been with a band. I am having to use cd's and incase you did not know it's very different. So that is kind of challenging but I just feel bad for these kids down here because they have to hear me butcher these songs week after week. I may just be a little to hard on myself sometimes, but there have been a few times that were really bad. So overall I think things are really starting to fall into place and I am just blessed to be albe to be a part of it.

I hate finals

2004-12-05T13:15:00.000-08:00

It seems that no matter how hard I try to not procrastinate I end up continually getting worse. It never fails that when it is the end of the semester I am totally unprepared for the test and not to mention the papers. Oh and lets not forget that in the middle of all of that I am still trying to get moved. it is just really frustrating sometimes. But it will all be over after Thursday(woohoo). To anybody that reads this I sure could use your prayers. I am really having a hard time with this driving every weekend and I know that it is frustrating for the students with me not being able to spend much time with them. I have only one more weekend left and then I am here for good. So keep praying for me.

Well It Has Been Almost A Month...

2004-11-04T15:35:00.000-08:00

Well it has been almost a month since I have blogged. It has been very crazy for me lately. God has realy been doing some awesome things in my life. In case I have not told any of you; I will be starting a new job on Sunday Nov. 14th as the youth minister of First Baptist Orange Beach. I am just overwhelmed with excitement about this great oppurtunity. I ask you all to just keep me in your prayers as I embark on the latest adventure in my life. May the Lord bless you and keep you.

Sometimes Life Is Hard

2004-10-10T20:25:00.000-07:00

So I have been really busy lately. I have not had time to even keep in touch with friends. If any of you are reading I apologize for me being a slacker and not calling any of you. I have also really been struggling with some personal issues. I will not go into detail about them right now because I do not have time. God has been doing some very interesting things in my life lately. Number one he has really been changing my personality alot. Which if any of you have ever been through this you know that it can be really tuff to change. I will talk more about this later. For now just keep me in your prayers.

Well have you ever felt dumb

2004-09-22T21:02:00.000-07:00

Sometimes when you think you are listening to God it is really just yourself talking. I have been trying to listen to God's direction in a certain area of my life, but the whole time i just keep trying to do things my way. I just feel so stupid sometimes. I end up just having trouble when I try to do it, I know that God's will is perfect for me. He has just been telling me to wait for quite a while but I keep doing my own thing. It sometimes takes someone else to help you learn . It takes someone just being very honest with you to learn this. Thank God for friends that care.

My Uncle

2004-09-18T15:24:00.000-07:00

Well I got a call on Thursday morning letting me know that one of my dad's brothers had a massive heart attack and had died. His name was Orville and he was by far my favorite of my dad's ten brothers and sisters. Me and my family left thursday afternoon to come to Oklahoma. It has been a really hard time for everybody. I have really had a hard time because I have not seen him in over a year. Me and him used to just sit around and talk and make fun of each other. It is so hard to let go. I want to share something that one of my aunts wrote about my uncle. By the way all of my aunts and uncles names start with an "O". This gives a little explanation of why that is.

Who was this man we called brother? Getting on the school bus as a very small child was a very scary thing until I saw my big brother and then i felt safe and knew I would be ok. He's the brother who built brush fires to keep us warm while we waited at the end of that long driveway for the school bus. He's a brother who gave away his gifts so others would have a gift to give to that special someone. He's the brother who would take his shirt from his back for you even if he did not have another. He loved to reminisce and tell stories about childhood days and the trouble he and Odell got into; good and bad he loved the stories. He was also the brother who loved to throw rocks at the out house as his sisters entered. He loved our monthly sister and brother meals and always wanted to know who's house was next. He was a man who would help with anything at anytime. He could be rough and gruff one minute and cry at the drop of a hat the next minute. Orville loved his family dearly and he had a lot to love. This man, our brother, husband, dad, grandpa, uncle, and friend had a big old heart and we love him dearly. People often ask us why our parents named all eleven kids with "O" names. I look at these "O's" as links in a strong chain. They knew we would need the strength of each other. As we grew up and our families grew our chain became larger and stronger. It has held us all together for many years. Orville, you are gone from us now but you will always be a link in our chain. We will miss you.

A good weekend

2004-09-05T20:02:00.000-07:00

Well it has been a good weekend. Friday I just hung out with my sisters in Huntsville. We had a good time just being goofy and not really doing anything other than eating and going to wal-mart. Then Saturday I made some hot wings (they were really good) and sat around and watched football until about six or so and then I headed to my friend Melissa's house to hang out with her. That was fun we are both kind of silly so we had a good time just being goofy. Then today I went to church and then went to the Bankhead Nat'l Forest to do some hiking. It was a good time I just kept everybody laughing the whole time. My family thinks that I am hilarious for some reason I don't really get it. Anyway it was a good weekend and I think I will end it on a good note by studying for my greek class.

My Thought For The Day

2004-09-02T19:24:00.000-07:00

This is very short and sweet.

Sometimes things in life catch by complete surprise. Things you thought were impossible suddenly seem possible.

My Theory

2004-08-27T13:21:00.000-07:00

Masvultuscapillagobesus. This is a term that I am going to use to describe a certain condition that I have discovered. Over the past few years in my experiences in life I realized that all fat guys with gotees look alike. This came up thursday after my first class of n.t. greek. After the class was over with this guy asked me if I had ever heard of the band Mercy Me. Of course I said yes, then he says you look just like the lead singer. Well this is not the first time I have heard this. I am constantly having people ask me if I knew that I look like somebody. Most of the time it is someone kind of well known or just some other fat guy with a gotee. I have also found out that this happens to many other fat guys all the time. So the word masvultuscapillagobesus is now going to be used to describe this strange phenomenon. It is kind of cool when people really think that I am Bart from Mercy Me. I actually had someone want an autograph until they heard me sing and then they knew that i was not Bart. So if you see anybody out there that looks like me let me know and just remember that it is just another case of masvultuscapillagobesus. Which by the way is latin for fat male with facial hair.

Last Night Rocked

2004-08-22T18:33:00.000-07:00

Well Todd Agnew and Matthew West both rocked last night. I have seen Todd three times now and he just impresses me more everything. The great thing about him is that he will stop whatever he is doing to talk to anyone. He got to the place late last night and he was busy setting up his stuff and he still stopped what he was doing to sign autographs and talk with people. He even talked to me how cool is that. I also got to talk to Jonathan who is Todd's violin player (the best violin player I have ever seen) he is so cool he talked with me for a few minutes and actually vaguely remembered me from their last concert. That was only because of my friend Ashley who went and saw Todd over in Byram, Ms and hung out with them. So I just mentioned her name and they of course remembered her, so I told them that I was her friend so then I became cool too. It was the first time for me to see Matthew West. I think I was the only person there that knew all of his songs. He was really good if you ever get the opportunity to see him or Todd do not pass it up. Also David Nasser spoke it was like the third or fourth time I have seen him speak. He was just very real with the audience and I think stepped on some toes including mine. He is just a very good speaker. Well the night was good and was ended with and my older sister ,Alicia, going to Denny's to eat.

A little Change

2004-08-20T22:03:00.000-07:00

So yeah I got a little bored so I decided to change the look of my blog. I have done nothing today but hang out with the family and watch the Olympics(go USA). It has been a boring day. I just realized that it is already saturday so maybe it will be better. A little later today I am going to go see Todd Agnew and Matthew West in concert. It only cost ten dollars and I am so pumped about this. I have not been to a concert in a while. I think the last one was Todd Agnew back in like may. So needless to say I am excited. Well I guess I will go read some C.S. Lewis and then hit the hay.

Hello Is Anybody In There

2004-08-18T18:58:00.000-07:00

That is what I feel like God has been saying to me. It is stupid how we just refuse to listen to God. He is talking and I am just not listening. I can say that I am but really I am just not listening. I have been so frustrated lately at how I feel that I am not able to serve in the way that I feel I have been called. I know that God has called me to be a youth minister. I have felt and seen the evidence of that calling for almost five years. I was a youth minister for three years at my parents church and then felt God calling me else where to be in more of the background of a youth ministry to help grow myself in God's word and develop some more leadership skills. Anyway recently I have really felt the "itch" to be in more of a minister role. Tonight through reading God's word (I finally listened) I realized that God has given me that oppurtunity through being middle school director, but more importantly I have been ignoring the oppurtunities to minister to people that I come in contact with everyday. There have been so many chances for me to help people spiritually and emotionally. I have just been blind to all of it looking for the "big" things that I can do. I realized I need to look for every oppurtunity to be able to fullfill God's calling in my life.
It seems that I have lately had all these expectations about certain situations in my life, and none of them have panned out the way I wanted them too. It can be frustrating when this happens. I just feel that maybe someone reading this may need to hear this. I want to share with you some advice that a really great friend offered me. "Take a step back. breathe. rest. there is more. there is something that is better than you would ever think........don't worry about what you think you missed or wonder what you did miss, go forward. live today." I have just been wanting things and not listening to God and by doing so have set myself up for some dissappointment, but I have learned to just know that God's timing is right and that he is in control and that I just need to follow his lead and trust in him.

Well I am back

2004-08-16T21:50:00.000-07:00

Well i survived another trip to the beach. It was over all a good trip I gt to hang out with some friends that I had not seen in about a month. I am to tired to blog about all of it. Maybe one day I will. I also got to work today that is always fun. I did find out tonight though that our praise team at chruch willbe leading the worship service every sunday night. You would have to know my church to understand how awesome that is. Well I think I will go to bed now.

WOO HOO

2004-08-12T20:38:00.000-07:00

I leave in the morning to go to the beach. Enough said.

I hate being sick

2004-08-11T07:54:00.000-07:00

Well I have spent te last two days being sick and it is no fun. I have actually begun to feel better and should be doing great by the time I head to the beach. Which bt the way is just two days away. WooHoo!!! Today I get to just chill and heal. It is always good to rest I believe that if I had gotten rest this weekend I would have not got sick. The pharmacist from work had her baby at around 6pm on sunday it is a girl and she was 7lbs. and 6oz. Th only bad thing about her having a baby is that she will be gone for three months and she is by far my favorite person to work with. I guess I will survive.

Time to nap

2004-08-08T13:11:00.000-07:00

Well I survived all of my weekend activities without to much trouble. The lock in was definetly a success. We had someone accept Christ through playing dodgeball. That just shows you how God can use anything. The wedding also went well it was very beautiful I only cried once( I am just a baby). Oh also more exciting news my favortie pharmicist is in labor right now so I am off to the hospital. I thought that I might get to take a nap but I guess not.

Dodgeball Rocks

2004-08-04T20:12:00.000-07:00

Well it's been a few days since my last post so I thought that I would type some randomness. I have been pretty busy the last few days with work and church stuff and have had no time for rest but rest will have to wait until next week. Today I worked at the church all day building a dodgeball court. Friday night we are having a dodgeball lock-in and it is going to be awesome. I will post some pictures later of our court. Friday and saturday are going to be very busy days for me. Friday after I work all day I get to go to a wedding rehearsel dinner and then straight from there to my church where are going to be playing dodgeball until 6 a.m. sat. morning. Then I will come home sleep a few hours and then head to the wedding at about 1:00 for pictures but the fun does not stop there I also get to help clean up after the reception. I know the Lord will give me strength to get me through just lokok to some rest before my next trip to the beach. Yes Melissa did say the beach I only have nine days before I head out again. I am really looking foward even more than I could express here and, for reasons better left unblogged.

What's The Deal

2004-07-31T20:14:00.000-07:00

Do you ever get upset with people? Tonight I went to a friend of mines bachelor/tool party. It was complete waste of my time. We went to eat and the whole time the subject stayed on sex thanks to all the married Christian men at the table and the non-Christian non-married men at the table. Of course they were all like guys will be guys and I was like well I guess that I am not a guy. I was not a very happy camper the whole time and I did not care about being a party pooper. The guy who is getting married ask me after we were leaving the restaurant if I had to be a preacher all the time. In which I responded no but when I accepted Christ I also agreed to be a Christian al the time. No matter where I am or who I am with. Needless to say I was upset especially when they were trying to decide what strip club we were going to. Of course I knew that we were not going they were just joking but at this point I was very much ready to go, but unfortunately I did not drive(I will not make that mistake again). I just don't get it if we can't be Christians with a group of people who are supposed to be Christians how much easier will it be to not be a Christian with non-Christians. Just typing this upsets me because these people I was with were people I used to confide in and have bible study with but all they wanted to talk about was filth and I was completely disgusted. We are called to be little Christ which mean to be Christ to a lost and dying world and that is a 24/7 calling. There are no breaks in this and no way around it. Plain and simple if we claim to be a Christian then we are to be a Christian all the time no matter what. No excuses.

God Is Wonderful

2004-07-28T12:39:00.000-07:00

I have spent most of my day today in the car running a bunch of errands for school and church. I went to Athens this morning to take care of some school stuff and when I got ready to leave my car would not start. I was like great what's wrong now. Well by the way it was acting I assumed it was my battery and of course I have no jumper cables. I don't no what I am going to do when all the sudden out of no where this maintenance guy pulls up on a tractor and jumps me off. He was definitely sent from God. So I am thinking that I am going to have to buy a new battery so there is like $50 down the drain, but when I get to walmart the battery was still under warranty and they replaced it for free. WOO HOO. So now I can save my fifty dollars for my next trip to the beach. Also tonight I get to lead worship for our youth at church. I am very excited and scared because I have never gotten to lead worship at my church before. Hopefully everything will go fine and I know it will be God is taking care of it. So until next time.

It Is Good To Catch Up

2004-07-24T15:53:00.000-07:00

Well yesterday I got to spend the day day with a good friend of mine, Melissa. We got to talk for a few hours and catch up on the last couple of months. I talked most of the time and most of it was about someone very dear to me. I also got to see Anchorman last night with melissa, lynsie , and jared. The movie was really funny it could have done without a few parts but other than that it was great. Today I have done nothing and I feel no remorse for it at all. I did talk to Lisa today for like five minutes so that has made my day just great.

Well The Beach Was Great

2004-07-21T08:29:00.000-07:00

Well camp was very successful. God really showed up this weekend . I have never seen our youth worship so freely as they did this weekend. The material we used was great and the kids really got a lot out of it. My only prayer is that they now apply what they learned to their lives away from camp. God also showed me some awesome things. I think I journaled more this weekend than I have in like two years. The main thing that God showed me and it is not anything new ,it is that God saw something inside of me that no one else saw and it was special enough that he was willing to give his only son for me to be able to spend an eternity with him. WOW. You just don't get any better than that.

Off To The Beach Again

2004-07-15T20:11:00.000-07:00

Well I am going to the beach once again, but this time to Lagoona Beach. It is for church camp and so I will be very busy and probably not get alot of leisure time for those of you that think that I am a beach bum(Melissa). I am pretty excited but also I will be very ready to get back and rest. For anyone that reads this I would appreciate your prayers. I will blog again when I get back.

Almost time to go back home

2004-07-11T22:53:00.000-07:00

Well it is just about time for me to head back home. I have really enjoyed my trip to the beach. Yesterday I got to hang out at the beach for a while which was great. Then I went and saw a chick flick that night. Which I am man enough to admit that I liked the movie(it probably helped that I was with someone who means a lot to me). The movie was Sleepover which is about a bunch of jr high girls. It was really funny though. Well I really need to get in the bed I have along trip back home. It is really a shame that I have to leave but I must go to work so I can have money to come back to the beach.

I love the beach

2004-07-09T22:58:00.000-07:00

Well after three weeks or so I am back at the beach. I drove down late thursday night and will be here until monday. I have not done a whole lot since I have been here but that is really what I wanted to do anyway. I did go eat at Bubba's seafood house tonight that was good and I got to hang out with my really awesome friend Lisa and some other people. We just sat around and talked for a few hours some people probably thought that it was boring but I really enjoyed myself because I have been looking forward to being able to see certain people since I left from camp. Well I guess I had better go to bed now I am off to the beach in the morning with some of the kids I worked with at camp.

It Is Good To Have Friends

2004-07-07T14:31:00.000-07:00

I have been doing alot of thinking lately about my friends. I really have a lot of friends, most of which I do not get to see much or get to talk to alot which is mostly my fault. Anyway, I realized that up until the last few weeks I have not had a friend to talk to about just anything. For the past two years or so I have kept many things to myself and just never talked about them with anyone. Before that I had a friend whom I could talk to about almost anything. I am no longer close to that person so I have been through alot in the past two years and have had no one I could share these things with. But now I have recently became friends with someone that I have been able to share some things with that I would have never have discussed with anyone else. It is great and a true blessing from God that this person has been placed in my life. I know I talk about this alot but I am constatly amazed at how God does things in my life at the precise moment. I am just glad that he is in control. In the past six months I have had to deal with many things and have not been able to talk to anyone about the emotional effects of these things. For instance some of these things were a former youth dying of cancer, my sister having cancer, my dad having a heart attack, my parents having a wreck, and quite a few other things. Now I have someone I know that I can talk to about those things. I am just glad that this person has let me share some of these things with them. I do not want to use the persons name so that they are not embarassed. You should know who you are and if you get to read this THANKS.

What a place to live

2004-07-06T17:11:00.000-07:00

Here are some pics of where I spent sunday afternoon. It is the front yard of a realtive of mine. These pics really do not do it justice.

Really cool spring

Waterfall

A view from the bridge

Natural bridge

Family Fun

2004-07-03T14:20:00.000-07:00

It always seems that when I make plans around any holidays they usually get ruined by family events. Well once again this has happened. I had been planning to go to a concert tonight for about a month now. Then my mother informs me that our family 4th celebration has been moved to tonight. I am as I type missing kevin derryberry, jeremy camp, big daddy weave, and shane and shane. It really stinks, but I have whined about it enough and it has done me no good. Hopefully everything will go well with the family most of the people who don't get along with the rest of the family will not be there. So that should be ok. Well its off to the fun I go.

What A Mighty God We Serve

2004-07-01T16:40:00.000-07:00

In this crazy world we live in I think we as christians sometimes forget exactly what Christ did for us. I was at church last night and during worship we read from Isaiah 53. We were reading where it talks about how by Christ stripes we are healed, and how he carried the burden of our sins. So me being me I started thinking about this while we were singing Light Of the World. When we got to the part where it says I'll never know how much it cost to see my sin hanging on the cross. I realized then how I sometimes am not even broken over the sin in my life. Sure I am convicted and I want to confess that sin, and I will confess it and then that's it. I know that when God forgives me that's it, but now I think about what it really cost Christ. He left everything to come here and die a horrible death for, while the whole time it was my sin that held him there. And it was all for me. WOW God died for me, and he chose to because of the stupid things that I do. I was just amazed last night when I was thinking about that, and I think that if we try to always remember how much it cost Christ to redeem us then we would try harder to do better. Today while I was pondering all this I started thinking about something else that amazes me. God wants a relationship with me. Me, bubba, I have nothing special to offer but he wants to know me personally. Words cannot describe how great that is. If only we tried harder to be closer to God who has redeemed us with his own son. I then realized how much time that I am willing to put into a relationship with a girl, and how much better my realtionship with God could be if I were only willing to spend that much time with him.

Monday, Woo Hoo!!

2004-06-28T20:31:00.000-07:00

I really don't know why I sound excited about it being Monday , because it has really just been a regular day. Although I did get to work with my favorite pharmacist, Dana. She is my favorite because she lets me ramble endlessly about nothing. Today I know I talked her ears off. I have not worked with her in like three weeks so I had lots of things to talk about. I also had a three hour praise team practice, which went really well. We just started this praise team like a month ago, and we have some very good musicians and singers in the group, so I was really confused as to why I was asked to be in the group.
Well enough of that rambling. Don't you just love it when God starts doing crazy things. It is sometimes like I am stupid and just don't get what he is trying to tell me or lead me to do, and then I realize that the reason I don't get it is because I am really only trying to hear what I want to hear. So really it is not God doing crazy things it is just me not really listening. So if you ever feel like God is talking crazy talk, just make sure that you are really listening. Also remember that God's word tells us that he is not the author of confusion. I don't really know why I shared that but I bet somebody reading this needed it.

Pics From Camp

2004-06-26T22:47:00.000-07:00

The kids singing in the rain

A fun day of skating

More fun skating

Taking it easy on the couch

Me, Jonathan, and Lisa

The coolest kid ever!!!!

what a smile!!

just chillin in the shade

Finally A Day of Rest

2004-06-25T12:04:00.000-07:00

Well after a busy couple of weeks I finally had a day of rest. I have been lazy all day and feel no remorse whatsoever. It is really good to know that God is in control and that he gives us days of rest when they are needed. I also was just sitting around listening to some Todd Agnew and just thought these lyrics to one of my favorite songs:

Come ye sinners, poor and needy
Weak and wounded, sick and sore
Jesus ready stands to save you
Full of pity, love, and power

Come ye thirsty, come and welcome
God's free bounty glorify
True belief and true repentance
Every grace that brings you nigh

I will arise and go to Jesus
He will embrace me in His arms
In the arms of my dear Savior
Oh, there are ten thousand charms

Come ye weary, heavy-laden
Lost and ruined by the fall
If you tarry until you're better
You will never come at all

It just reminds me that when I need rest I just need to go to Jesus. Just crawl up in his arms and rest.

God Is Good

2004-06-23T19:03:00.000-07:00

We have been having a youth revival of sorts at my church this week, and it has been going very well. We had a speaker tonight named Joel Carwile, who I have seen before and was not realy impressed, but he did an excellent job tonight. Well through his sermon God really revealed some things to me. I have been very concerned lately about some things involving school and God let me know tonight and last night thru a phone conversation with a really cool girl, that everything is going to be fine and not to worry about it. God already promised me that he would be there with me wherever he leads me. I know that I am going to be alright no matter what.

Home Sweet Home

2004-06-21T20:40:00.000-07:00

Well after two weeks of camp I am finally home. I had very great time and met some very special people, one just a little more special than others, but I won't mention any names. I am constantly amazed by God and why he wants to use me of all people. The kids at the camp were great. I could not have asked for a better group to work with. I also could not have worked with better leaders (LISA and JOSH). Also Kendall if you read this you are still the coolest and this is for you ooway oohay!!!. Everyone just worked really well together you could really see how God hand picked the group that worked there. Well it is off to bed I go.

WHAT A WEEK

2004-06-10T13:39:00.000-07:00

I have spent the last four days working at a camp in orange beach and I have six more to go. It has been a very rewarding time and I have had the opportunity to build some good relationships with the students here. I have been working with 6th 7th and 8th graders and it has been great. God just continually amazes me with his sovereignty. I was not really sure why I was placed with these students because I have never been very good with junior high students. I now realize though that God is preparing me for something great. Recently my church offered me a position as middle school director and I said I would need to pray about it. I was a little weary because of the fact that I am better with high school students, but now I think that it is what I need to do and he used this camp to show me that with him I could do it. Well its back to camp I go.

Strike Three, you're out

2004-06-01T20:30:00.000-07:00

That was the last thing I heard tonight right before my softball team lost our game. I have never struck out while playing softball. That was until tonight, we had the winning run on third with two outs and I struck out! Oh well. Other than that the day was good. I also got to preach this past Sunday. It was the first time I had gotten to preach in like four months and it went really well. I was lucky that one of friends came because I knew no one in the church. That was ok though because they all really like me, but I think that was only because I got them out ten minutes early. I only have two days before I go to Orange Beach and I am so excited. I get to lead worship everyday for two weeks and teach some Jr high guys the first week. With that being said I think I will go study my material.

2004-05-27T19:55:00.000-07:00

What a beautiful day

Just Another Day

2004-05-25T17:31:00.000-07:00

Well what an unusually usual day. I went to work and filled like 120 prescriptions and put up with a few drug addicts. After about 9 hrs of that I came home and here I am. Work it seems has become a problem. Well it is not really work but one of the pharmacists that I work with. She is just a lunatic and she has really started to bother me. She just has no clue about many things in the pharmacy. I just want to ask her if she got her license out of a cereal box. It is really bad. I do believe that is enough complaining from me. I am really excited I have only 11 more days until I go to orange beach. I am also getting to preach at a local church this Sunday. I have not had the opportunity to preach in a couple of months so I am really pumped about that. Ok it is time to go for now. Until next time.

First Time To Blog

2004-05-23T19:04:00.000-07:00

Well as my title might tell you I am new to the whole blog thing. My name is Brandon but everyone calls me Bubba. I am a student at Athens State University. I am working on a religion degree and am planning on going to seminary when I ever I finish at Athens. I have committed my life to full time youth ministry. I not really sure yet if it will be as a youth minister in a church or in some other setting. I am still waiting on God for the answer to that. I am not really sure what else to put on here about myself so I think I will just stop here.