So it's been a while....

The past few days I've been going through a lot and going through a lot of pain inside me. When I say pain I mean that I've just been shattered completely inside. But it's ok. Thankfully I have awesome friends who continue to show care and support towards me and just check on me through everything, and I have an amazing God who continue's to show me a lot of stuff through this time in my life.

I have been learning a lot about myself since monday and I have a lot to still see from God I'm certain. One of the main things I have learned is just that I need to make Him my focus more because He hasn't been my main focus lately, and also that Satan can use things in our life that is bad, and he can make it look worse and make us feel miserable and totally unhappy. What I mean by that is that Satan can tell you what I like to call a half truth. Like how in Matthew chapter 4 he tempted Jesus and used scripture against Jesus that was true, but he didn't use all the scripture and Jesus responded with the scripture that answers what Satan was trying to tempt Him with. Satan does the same with us. He uses things in our life to try to show us how bad we have been and how much we have sinned, which is good that we see that, but then he uses it to make us miserable with where we are and he uses that to ruin other things in our lives that could be incredible because Satan knows these things are dangerous towards him. We must make sure that no matter we are focusing on God and that when we are tempted with something from Satan it could be something that looks right and we see our sin, but then he starts to poke at us and make us simply miserable and unhappy in our life because of this stuff. We have to use the sin we have in our life and use it as motivation to do better and work to not have a problem with that sin or struggle in our life.

I'm sorry that it's been so long that I have posted a blog. I've had a lot going on with school and everything lately, trying to work my tail off this semester. Please be praying for me in school because I am really struggling with a class. And also just be praying for God to show His will to me and that I will follow where He leads.

God bless.

Stress

Today has been an extremely stressful day for me for some reason. Not totally sure why, but a lot of stuff has just hit me today I guess. Things with school has been hitting me a lot and overwhelming me with how much work I am going to have to do in the next few weeks before spring break gets here, which I cannot wait for....I need a break really badly. But what has stressed me out even more is where I need to transfer to next year. I thought I had it all figured out about a week ago to go to USC aiken and I was just gonna go there because it was the most "comfortable" thing for me to do, but the past few days I have had an uneasy feeling inside that I need to go pursue music at Liberty University in VA. That's so far away from everything, my girlfriend, family, and all my friends.

I have been trying to just kind of make the decision and get it over with and hope that the feeling of uneasiness would just go away but that was a total lie. I wanted to go where I felt like it fit better for me; even though I have always wanted to do music. I wanted it to all be about me, when it's never about me, or us. It's always about what God wants us to do and he's going to let us know that some way or another. Just like when I talked about Direction Determines Destination in an older blog, if we don't go where we feel God calling us then we won't be able to be in the position that God has set for us in the future. So I need to take my own advice haha.

I still have a huge uneasiness right now, but it's more just being scared about what to do. I'm not making a final decision right now because I definitely want to spend time in prayer about it and make sure this is what I need to do. It's just been stressing me out to the max. Luckily I have an awesome girlfriend who supports me in whatever and told me that if I feel like i need to go that far away then that's ok and that's what I should do. She's awesome.

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding and He will make your path straight"

-Proverbs 3:5-6

Those are my favorite verses and I really need to focus on them more right now. Please be praying for clarity for me. Thank you.

"It's your love that we adore
It's like a sea without a shore,
Don't be afraid, Don't be afraid

Just set your sail and risk the ocean,
show me grace,
let's risk the ocean,
show me your grace,
let's risk the ocean,
show me your grace,
let's risk the ocean."

-David Crowder Band

Friends

A few years ago I made some big changes in my life dealing with who I was and who I surrounded myself with. I was into drinking and partying and doing things that I really shouldn't have been doing. I started drinking a lot too, and it ended up really badly on a Halloween night.

I went to a party dressed as captain morgan, with a handle of captain morgan. Let's just say that it ended very badly when I drank almost the whole handle of capt. on my own...... I was way out of it and didn't have a clue what was going on. To make matters worse I am diabetic. Being blackout drunk and diabetic is not something that goes very well together.

Luckily I had an awesome friend who was with me and who didn't drink. He is a very strong Christian and just an awesome guy. My buddy went to the party with me to just hangout and mingle with people there but was drinking a monster energy drink instead of alcohol (and a lot of people there respected him for doing that btw, even though they were all drinking). My friend checked my bloodsugar to see what it was that night and it ended up being low enough to where I needed to eat something or I would go into diabetic shock and eventually die from being too drunk to function and save myself before shock set in. He stayed up for hours, and this was at around 4am, to try and feed me even though I kept throwing stuff up. He feed me until I finally ate something and kept it down.

Can I just tell you how thankful I am for this guy. I would honestly be dead if he wouldn't have been there with me to save me.

As Christian's this is how we are supposed to be this way to our unsaved friends. They are going to die without us staying with them and trying to keep feed them the Gospel until they get it. I don't mean feed it to them forcefully or anything either, be loving and caring with them. But we have to stay with them before it's to late, we have to care about them the way my friend cared about me and saved my life.

Someone didn't give up on each of us, so we can't give up on anyone else.

I'm thankful for my friend who saved me. So very thankful.

ipod and patience

Today I have been going through a struggle......with my ipod. All I have wanted to do was play the drums with some new music I bought but my ipod doesn't agree with that and won't let me put the music on there. All I can say is that I am about ready to throw my ipod through a wall.

I have an awful time with patience. With just about anything. Whether it be ignorant people that don't have a clue what they're talking about, my ipod, or people driving around me.

I need to work on this. The basic message of the bible and what it means to be a Christian is to live as Christ did. If i'm going to do this then I have to work on my patience because by myself not being patient I can get mad and upset at people a lot faster.

Jesus was a very patient man while on earth with everyone He came into contact with and with all of the disciples. If He wanted to Jesus could have easily just been like, "yea i'm getting tired of this and I wanna go to heaven now." But instead He stayed on earth and endured all that we do on a daily basis, and was patient and eventually took our place on the cross and took our sins and died for them.

I need to make sure to be patient in all aspects of my life to make sure I stay calm when working around people because people looking at me and seeing that I get mad over something stupid, like my ipod, could completely kill any chance I had at witnessing to them.

We need to make sure we always are lights on earth for God, and that we shine for Him by what we do with our actions.

Pray my ipod starts working please :)

Philipians 4:13

Philippians 4:13 is probably one of the most known bible verses and most quoted verses (John 3:16 is the most known and quoted), but I feel like it is used very out of context usually. Let me explain...

Philippians 4:13
"I am able to do all things through Him who strengthens me."

The way most people quote and mention this verse is by saying that I can do anything because Christ will give me the strength to, which isn't wrong to think at all honestly, I do believe God can give us the power and strength to do anything that He wants us to, but when looking at Philippians 4:13 Paul wasn't writing saying that if I want to run through a brick wall God will give me the strength to do that. We have to look at the verses right before verse 13 to really grasp what Paul was writing about.

Philippians 4:11-13
"I don't say this out of need, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know both how to have a little, and I know how to have a lot. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being content whether well-fed or hungry, whether in abundance or in need. I am able to do all things through Him who strengthens me."

The way I look at these verses is that we need to learn how to be content in all season's of our life and that we need to know that when we have low times in our life we must stay faithful to the Lord because He will give us the strength to get out of those times, and that in the high and awesome times of our lives we must give Him praise and know that He gave us the strength to get through because we couldn't do it on our own.

We have to know that in the low times of our life that we must rely on the Lord for us to get strength from Him to make it through and that He will most definitely give us the strength we need.

This was my little insight of what I view Philippians 4:11-13, hopefully it was good and didn't offend anyone by what they think about the verses, just wanted to give my opinion. :)

God Bless and good night.

Music.

Music is the best therapy for me. If there's ever anything going on in my life that gets me down or gets me stressed out there's always some song that just makes me feel better or has lyrics about what I'm going through, and it just makes me feel better. It makes me feel like someone else has obviously been through the same thing and made it through ok, and then the lyrics really start to sink in and help me out in what I'm going through. But then there's sometimes that listening to music can do the exact opposite and you hear a song that could just bring you down so much more than you already were.....like if you are going through a break up and hear a song that makes you think of the person that broke your heart, it can just make you feel so much more down about everything.

You could look at the same thing with the people around you giving you advice and all in your life. There's sometimes that when you are going through something in your life and friend's try to give you advice to help you out and it really helps, and then there's other times that it can just be the wrong thing for you to hear and make you feel so much worse. And sometimes when someone tells you something that makes you feel worse, it may not even be true.

Not saying that you shouldn't listen to your friends, because we totally should! There are people that have experience in different parts of life than me and if I'm going through something I totally want to hear what they have to say, I just have to be careful and see if it is really something that is going to help my life or not.

The best advice I get is from my bible. It never fails that I can find something in there that completely helps me with situation's I am going through at times and honestly the internet helps out a lot because you can go type in keywords in Biblegateway.com and it will bring up verses to help encourage you and bring you up.

I haven't been to good at reading my bible as of late and I need to work on that a lot. I need to make my bible more of one of my best friends and be in it every day. Going into God's word can help me understand situation's better and get ton's of encouragement that is much needed. Again not saying I don't need to go talk to my friends and get feedback from them, because going to friends is very important to get through tough situations, but we should make our bible and Jesus a best friend of ours to go to in tough times in our lives.

Getting in God's word makes us closer to Him and it also gives us encouragement to help us in tough situations.

Music was a pretty random title for this blog......haha.

Easier to see from the outside looking in?

Tonight, February 1st, I had a realization about something. I have to worry about fixing myself sometimes before I can worry about helping someone else first. Even when we try to help someone by what our observations are from the outside, it seems like it's never good enough. And I know this is completely judgmental and the wrong thing to think of, but it makes me feel like what I say isn't good enough because it's not what whoever I am talking to is good enough. So I try to not think that because when it sets in it's just totally wrong of me to think.

While we do need to help influence other's, sometimes we have to work on ourselves first to make sure we are living what we are speaking. And i'm not talking about influencing people who do not believe in Christ necessarily, it goes for when we are trying to influence other believers also. We just always need to remember that we are not perfect, so when we are talking to someone and giving them advice that we are not any better than them, we may just have more experience in what they are going through at that time in their life.

If someone doesn't really want to pay attention to the advice we are trying to give them then don't worry about it, unless it is crucial to their life then totally do something, but if you're just giving them daily advice on situation's then don't let it get to you if someone isn't listening to your input. All we can do is be there to help the people around us and give our advice when they need it.

Personally I usually get frustrated with someone when I am trying to help them and they don't listen, sometimes it really makes me mad and makes me wonder why I even try. At those times it always hits me that it's not about me, and that as long as I am trying my best to give Godly and scripturally sound advice that is all I can do, someone can take it or leave it, whichever they choose. And that's when I need to notice how much it bothers me and start to work on that myself.

Sometimes it easier to see from the outside looking in on someone's life or situation so we should definitely try to help that person, in a loving and Godly way, but we can't worry if someone takes our advice or not. Just always be there for our friends and be there to help them when they need you.

As always, Goodnight and God bless!

Love

I have been learning a lot lately about love, and not the kind of love between a husband and wife, or boyfriend and girlfriend. But the love that Jesus showed everyone, and the love that I should be showing people I am close to or the people I encounter on an everyday basis.

I am not the best at showing just straight up love to people, or doing something because of love or compassion I have towards someone or a group of people. Everything Jesus did to help people or talk to them was because of love and compassion and we are called to live as Christ, therefor we need to do things and acts of kindness out of pure love and compassion for others.

The reason I say this is because a lot of things that Christian's do can be seen out of judgement and that we are the most judgmental people, so when we do something we need to be sure that we are doing these things out of love and compassion for others so that no one can question our motives. Sure there will always be people there to question why we do things or what we are doing, but that's o.k. as long as our actions match what we are saying with our mouths and match what Jesus was doing in His life, then we can know we did what we are called to do no matter what anyone questions us with.

I am not very good at talking about doing things and then following through with my actions, and I need to become better at this, especially in the sense of saying how I'm going to live as Christ and love people as Jesus did, and then my actions not show that at all. I need to do things out of love and compassion for others instead of just for self-satisfaction.

And I guess it goes so much farther into just what people will say when we are doing something because we know that's what God's will is, as it goes into that we need to make sure we aren't complaining about what we are doing and just do it again with an open, loving heart.

Philippians 2:14-16
Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, "Children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation." Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life. And then I will be able to boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor in vain.

We should do things out of love and compassion and do them because that's what we are called to and not complain about it. I need to work on this more than anyone I'm quite positive because I complain about a lot of stuff when I have to do it. So please pray for me to grow in this area and to be more willing to do things without complaining and do it out of love and compassion. 


Sorry if this one went in a few different ways. Again I hope it made sense because I'm always scared it doesn't. Let us love the world as Christ did, and have a love and joy like a child though. And as we are loving the world we need to make sure we go out and do what we are called to without complaining about it. This was very convicting in my life today as something I need to work on a lot.

Have a great night!

Stuff that's difficult....

Sorry everyone for not getting on here and putting up any new blogs this past weekend, I was spending an awesome few days with my girlfriend and her family and it was what I needed very much; I've missed her a ton.

Today I have been convicted very strongly about somethings, and it's some things that I've been hearing at church for a while now and just never done anything about. Talking to my friends or family about Jesus and about what it's like to have a personal relationship with Him.

I was with my friend Nick last night and we were looking through bibles that my family has so that I could give him a new one and I found one that I had at a camp in Georgia so I started looking through it at notes I had written from the services and just remembering the week I spent there and then, I read something that hasn't left my mind or my heart since. Written on a piece of paper in Isaiah was, "We are more concerned about the friendship than the friend."

This hit me hard, really hard. Because I know that sentences is talking about me. I care more about not hurting a friend's feelings that to try to help them know Jesus. Can we just let that sink in for a second.

We need to talk to our friends who are living lifestyles that are not showing Christ in every move they make, or friends that just don't know Jesus. I mean that is what we are here for! To 1)Love God 2)Worship God 3) Tell the world about how AMAZING God's love is towards us. (I know there are so many other things that could be listed.)

We don't need to talk to our friends in a mean or hateful way about it though, we need to be loving and caring when we try to talk to them, and we definitely have to be leading by example also, our words must match our actions. Jesus hung out with the most undesirable people to show them love; so I'm sure that if the son of God can do that then we can show our friends in a loving and caring way that they need some Jesus in their hearts.

I am awful at doing this too. I need to step my game up more and not feel awkward about having talks about God and what He's doing in my life or what His love means.

I know a lot of people don't read this blog, but for the one's that do, can we start a movement?! Let's not be hateful or hurtful, but loving and caring and giving. Let's seriously be like Jesus to the people who are closest to us. It's the hardest thing to do, but taking our next step in with the Lord takes strength.

Matthew 28:16-20
The 11 disciples traveled to Galilee to the mountain where Jesus had directed them. When they saw Him, they worshiped, but some doubted. Then Jesus came near and said to them, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age."


Let's go out and change the world people! God bless, and I love you all.

Honestly, I don't know where this will go...

If you have been reading my blogs I hope that you have enjoyed them!!!! I also hope that God has used each blog to help you in your life. I'm trying to keep it on my mind now to pray for everyone that reads each blog, and pray that the Lord uses the words I write in a positive way, and the words that I write aren't even my words, that they are His just being sent through me.

Let's talk about Satan. He is a freaky dude, and he's really not cool......at all. Haha. The reason I say let's talk about him is because a friend of mine is going through a struggle right now and he is starting to figure everything out in his walk with Christ. Like stuff that he says just puts me in awe sometimes, and it's just so awesome because I'm like, "Dude you've got it!!!!! You're exactly on the right path!!!!!" and he does have it, and if he keeps going in the direction he's going now then God's destination for him is seriously gonna be awesome! (see how I did that, I used yesterday's blog title there haha)

But the place that's getting him right now is that Satan is just filling his head with all this stuff, and when he goes to pray and ask the Lord for strength Satan just starts piling on more junk.

Satan doesn't want us to succeed in God's will, he wants us to fail and fail miserably. And if we don't keep staying persistent praying to the Lord for strength and guidance then we won't be able to make it through on our own. We need God all the time, but we really need God when Satan is attacking us, we aren't strong enough to hold Satan off forever without the strength of the Lord helping us.

The way Satan gets into your mind can be so tricky too, he's a lot smarter than we think. When we are fulfilling what the Lord has planned for us that's when Satan comes in, and he starts filling your mind with all these thoughts, making you question yourself, making you think if what you did was right or if you should have waited to do what you did. We just have to be deep in prayer with the Lord at these times and just listening to God for what He is saying to us, and listening very intently.

The reason I say listening very intently is because when Satan comes to get us he will use our strengths against us, to ruin everything we have done to build our relationship with the Lord. If Satan knows you care about people a lot and that you just want to help them, he can use that against you to make you question what you did, if you should have really stopped hanging out with those people who were getting you into trouble and bringing you down. The answer is YES you should have totally done what you did, because if you felt the Lord prompting you to do it, then it was totally the correct thing to do.

We have to guard ourselves from Satan's attacks. He will always make it seem like what he tells you is good. You can see this in scripture in the garden of Eden when the serpent is talking to Eve, Genesis 3:1-7, or especially in Matthew 4:1-11. Satan comes to Jesus, in Matthew 4, and tempts Jesus with scripture! He was trying to make Jesus fall in a trap by using the Lords word against Jesus the Son of God!!!!! Jesus is awesome though and shut that dude down with some more scripture though! Because while Satan was using scripture, he wasn't using all of scripture, just the parts that made him sound right.

We must not fall into what Satan is trying to trick us into doing. He is a tricky fellow, and he knows how to get us, but you know what he can't do? Satan can't beat God, ever, and Satan can't beat us when we have God keeping us strong and when we are strong in the Lord. Watch for the tricks Satan will use, and always stay faithful in the Lord that He will give you the strength and the power to get through anything.

I hope this made sense. I really don't know if it did because I didn't even know what I was going to start writing till I wrote it. I pray that the Lord uses this to help someone and that it will help you see something the Lord is showing you, because just in writing this it has shown me stuff that God is showing me.

I'm praying for you all.

Direction Determines Destination

As I sit here at the good ole age of 21 I am wondering what to do with my life, and where to go next. It's a crazy thing, just like I talked about in the blog about the future. It's a tough decision though on what to do for the rest of your life!!!! It's a decision that I have had the hardest time trying to make too.

As Christian's we are called to follow God's will for us, and when He fills us in on what His will is we are to run as fast as we can to fulfill it. Because if we don't start going for what God's will is for us, then we won't set ourselves up to end up at the destination in life that He has for us. Hints the blog name, Direction Determines Destination ;)

Let me break this down for you some more.

Direction: We have to be preparing ourselves now for what direction God wants to send us in. In that preparation we must be patient, praying, listening, willing, and making sure you're seeking after God's own heart. We have to be patient because who knows what God's timing is gonna be on letting you in on His will for you, but while being patient still be active in your church and community, trying to change the world for God. Pray that God is keeping your eyes, ears, and heart open to what He is telling you, and that you continuously have a willing heart to do His will. Listen to what the Lord is telling you. Again make sure that you stay willing while you are waiting for the Lord to show His will to you. Last but not least make sure you are seeking after God's own heart. Obviously you already will be seeking after His heart by wanting to know His will for you, but make sure you don't lose that enthusiasm about it. Keep seeking after God's heart and God's desires for you, don't lose the passion and drive for this.

We as Christian's need to remember all of that and be doing that to set ourselves up for the correct direction we are called to go in for Christ. If you are wanting to know God's will for you so that you can do what He asks of you, don't lose sight of that if it takes a while for Him to show His will to you. If you lose sight of it and don't practice the things I was just talking about then you may end up going in the wrong direction, leading you to the wrong destination from what God had set out for you.

The destination that God has for us will be amazing and awesome. It will be more than we ever dreamed of, or could have asked for. We just have to stay faithful in the Lord while we are waiting so that we come to the destination God has for us. And then remember that when we get to one destination there will be something us God has waiting for us, and has another destination in our life to go to.

I know it can be really tough to do this and stay persistent with waiting for God to reveal His will and perfect plan to you, but it's something that you have to do so that we can end up where God wants us, and so that we can be the most effective in changing the world for the Lord. I pray that all of you reading this will seek God's plans for your life, and will be patient and prayerful in waiting for Him to reveal the plans to you.

Changed people, Change the world.

Honestly.......I'm scared

Is saying you're scared of something acceptable still? I know people try to act all big and tough and all, and try not to admit that something is scaring them, but honestly.........there is something that scares me A LOT. And that would be the future.....


I know that everyone has to grow up and move on and all that great stuff, but honestly it scares me to death. Moving on from my comfortable life and eventually leaving school to start a life in the real world is terribly frightening to me. I've always talked about how much I hate school and can't wait to be out of it, but really I feel comfortable in school because I know while there I don't have to make any big decision's or do anything to drastically change my life.


 I really just wish I could happily be a bum and sleep on the beach sometimes haha. I mean how awesome would that be. No worries in the world, wake up and be at the beach already. You'd be tan as all get out and looking good all the time, and you'd see the most amazing sunrises on a daily basis. But let's be honest, that would never work or be a fitting lifestyle for someone who is looking to have a family and all.


I know what some people are saying, "You need to just grow up and deal with it. This happens to everyone and everything turns out fine." And you know what....you're exactly right, I do need to get over it and just accept the fact that if I want to have a successful life and have a family, that I need to just deal with growing up. But you can't say that you've never been scared, or afraid to do something  even though you knew you had to; everyone has been through it. The best example is probably Jesus......actually not even probably, the best example IS Jesus.


When Jesus was getting ready to be arrested and crucified he wasn't exactly jumping for joy. In Luke 22:42 Jesus even asked God that if He would, to please take the task of being crucified away from him, but that he didn't want his own will done, but God's will done, and if that was for him to be crucified then it was ok.


Now in no way am I comparing myself to Jesus, but it is awesome to know that he went through troubles and had feelings about things the way that we do. I mean that is the reason Jesus was on earth right? To die for our sins and to fully understand what we go through every day?? It's so awesome to know that my Savior and God cares that much about me, to just come here to die for me, and to come to fully know what I go through on a daily basis. So amazing.


This blog really turned out differently than I intended it to haha, but it's all good. I guess I just need to be more like Jesus and use that scripture as an example for my life and just let whatever happens next in my life happen, and know that I just have to trust God because His will is perfect and He will take care of me, and provide for me.

I'm so lucky to have God taking care of me, there's no better feeling of safety in my past, present, and the thing I'm most scared of......the future.

Amazing Transformation

First off I would just like to say this is my first blog and i'm really hoping that I don't mess this up or do anything stupid on here haha. I love writing things and discussing about topics with people, and just kind of sharing my insight and opinion on certain topics, or events that have happened in my life or in someone else's life; or just the world in general. When I post a blog and talk about something I am never going to try and bash anyone, or any group of people, so I would please ask that you give me the same respect and don't bash what I'm saying; let's just have a conversation about it. I'm going to do my best to give everyone respect in what they believe, think, feel, etc, so I please ask that you do the same for me, even if you don't agree on a topic with me. If I ever say something that completely offends someone I will most certainly apologize ASAP.

With all of this being said......

I used the name of this post "Amazing Transformations" because I am a very strong Christian and try my hardest to be solid in my faith, even though I screw up on a daily basis. I have gone through amazing transformations in my walk/relationship with Christ many times, and I am so grateful for all of them because they brought me to where I am today, but I don't want to talk about any transformation I've had, I want to talk about a transformation one of my best friend's has been having.

I met this buddy of mine about 2 years ago going to school and we just started hanging out with a huge group of guys, there were about 11 of us. It was crazy how we all met and just clicked; it's one of the best group of friends I've ever been a part of; it really became more of a family. But anyways, we all partied and smoked cigarettes, and anything else you can think of, all the time. It was what we did for fun, and we made a lot of memories.....even though we can't all remember them. Then the group of friends started to not be as close, and after one year we really all stopped hanging out except for a few of us.

Right after this was when I went through my awesome transformation with God and just grew so much in Him, and really started seeking to understand more about Him, and how to be close in my walk with Him. So I was doing my thing, straightening up my life, and my buddy started asking me all these question's about stuff, and we talked about everything. He and I could sit somewhere and talk till 3am every night about so much stuff, it was pretty crazy. But awesome, because he kept just seeking stuff out and starting to see things and understand what God was really about and was really trying to do in his life, and everyone's life.

Sometimes I felt like what we talked about he wasn't really understanding what we were talking about, because he would say one thing when we talked about God, and then do the complete opposite, which is cool, I respect his and everyone's free right to do whatever they want, but by what I believe I just didn't want to see one of my best friends end up in Hell. I would never want anyone to end up there.

Then this past fall something crazy happened. My buddy went out drinking with some people and went to the bars downtown, and just got smashed. Long story short, he ended up blackout drunk, walking around in the neighbor beside the bars, ended up walking into someone's house while they were sleeping on the couch, and ultimately ended up in jail. But the crazy thing is how positive he was when he came out of the situation. He called me and was talking about how lucky he was, and I was just like....."Dude, that story doesn't sound like it has any luck in it at all!" But he came back and was just like, no, that guy could have shot me or something when I walked into his house, and I could have gotten breaking and entering charges, burglary, and everything, but I only got a ticket for public drunkenness.

This totally opened my eyes. He was soooo right. He talked about how God really protected him in that time, and kept the worst from happening to him. After all the times that I had talked to him, trying to help him with his relationship with Christ, he totally taught me so much in that moment, and just showed how he trusts God, and how he saw that God was there even though at a time like that he could have asked God why he wasn't there and why he didn't protect him. I mean honestly, that's what I would have done. But my buddy taught me so much, and it was there that I saw how far he had come, and how much of an amazing, and awesome, transformation he went through.

I am so thankful to God for friends like this...