2 of my favorite things combined!

Goals

Now that I've started to get into the groove of this year, I'm going to set some short-term goals.
It definitely helps to write out your goals as a way to start being accountable to yourself, and writing then re-reading your own words helps solidify them in your brain.

In a loose, unorganized list... here we go:

• Raise money for the mission trip to Brazil
• Learn a new flip or combo
• exercise at least 3 times a week (if I just said more, that could still be a lot less than I'd like)
• Manage my money better (including saving money after Brazil and saying no to some fun things)
• Learn to cook (or at least prepare food at home... This goes along with managing money better)
• Read the entire bible (I'm on a one year plan already :D)
• Paint or do something artistic at least once a month, even if I'm not in art class.
  

Dang... I thought I'd have a lot more. Well this is a good start, and I'm sure I'll add to it through out the year. Any other suggestions? Don't be shy. :D

Humbled

This week I was humbled.

Even as I type this, I'm realizing more and more that I am constantly humbled.
I went to work out with a good friend of mine, Wes Rose, at his place and try out this P90X. Now, I have never been a work out freak or anything, but I've always though that I was in alright shape. After all I do parkour, occasionally surf, work out, and I think of myself as a fairly active guy. Going into this hour long work out I knew it would be hard, but I thought I could get through it.

I could not. I failed... Bad. Out of an hour I could only manage close to 35 minutes of this rigorous work out. 2 days later, I'm still sore! You know who didn't fail bad? My man, Wes Rose! I have a feeling that he quit early so he wouldn't show me up. He was in good form and keeping up better than me most of this work out. Honestly, I didn't expect that. It was really humbling to see a guy that I've known for a while, and always thought I was in better shape than, (no offense Wes if you end up reading this!) to show me up.
Moral of this... I realize now that I haven't been quite as active and up to par as I'd like to think. Now I'm aware of it and can work harder to really get in shape.

That was just a single humbling moment out of the constant humbling that I receive.
I've been reading the Bible with this year long Bible plan and have noticed a trending topic through out Genesis and Matthew. God and Jesus just straight up humble all these people! I think out of everything in the Bible, the most humbling thing is that God and Jesus show us just how screwed up as humans we are. He calls us out on everything, and through out it all, He still loves us. He hates the evil in us, but He loves us.

"And Abram believed the LORD, and the LORD counted him as righteous because of his faith." Genesis 15:6 NLT
If you have read the story of Abraham (formerly known as Abram) then you would know that he screwed up multiple times, even doing the exact same thing. He wasn't counted as righteous because of his accumulated actions, but because of his faith. That's humbling to me. God was willing to overlook Abraham's screw ups. We can barely overlook our friends and rarely our enemies screw ups. God Almighty, (I love the Hebrew, El-Shaddai) who is completely perfect, humbles us by giving the example on how we should forgive, even before He sends His only Son to forgive us of our sins!

"If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that." Matthew 5:47 NLT
This is Jesus talking. Here He calls out a whole LARGE group of people, and I believe, speaks through time, through the Bible, to everyone that ever reads His words. He calls all of us out, specifically on how we act towards others in this passage, but in all parts of our lives in the rest of His teachings.
If it isn't humbling for Jesus, our Savior, the One who took on ALL of our sins so we could be made righteous through Him, to call us out on how we act, then I don't know what is.

Now to tie it all together.
I was made aware that I need to work out more by a friend who humbled me.
God is the greatest friend I could ever have (if I could even place Him in a title so small) and He humbles me constantly as I read through the Bible. He makes me aware of the sin that I was once a part of, the temptation in my life, the weak areas that I still struggle with, and has humbled me by still blessing my life and loving me. I need to try harder all the time to live for and love Him, and He still loves me. It makes His love so much more important to me.

I was humbled this week.

A little about me

This semester I'm in Psychology and Sociology back to back on the same day, and it has been making me think about what has driven me to become who I am. Maybe in the future I'll reflect on other issues like why people act they do when they see change in someones life, why people are hesitant to even learn about Jesus, and the lack of belief in anything spiritual (or rather the attempt to run from or explain away the spiritual world).

I realize that a huge part of who I am comes from my family, and for a long time my disregard for that family connection. My family is HUGE and in some ways that makes it easier to disconnect. My dad is 1 of 17 children all from the same parents. That is right, SEVENTEEN. The last 2 were twins. Only one isn't married. That adds up to a total of 31 aunts and uncles. A ridiculous amount of cousins, second cousins, and so on. My mom, on the other hand, had 1 sister who I never met. Quite a contrast there.
Speaking of family I never met, I never met either of my grandfathers. Just sayin'.
So my dad had 2 sons (Kenneth and Raymond) and 2 daughters (Rhonda and Mary) with another wife, and around that time my mom had a son (Aaron) and daughter (Catie) with another husband. Add in lots and LOTS of drama, bake for a number of years, and we find my mom and dad together with me. I'm 7 years younger than my youngest sister, and 19 years younger than my oldest brother.
So what do we do? Move to Carolina Beach!
I pretty much only lived with my sisters, mom, and dad till the end of elementary school when I became an only child due to the others moving out. I heard all of the troubles that went along with divorce from 2 sides of the family and my parents were together. And oh yeah. Remember my brother (Kenneth), 19 years older than me? I was an uncle by the age of 8.

Yeah.

I grew up in a bit of a different family.

I don't know how exactly, but I know that I am who I am because of family!
For years I took them for granted and now I'm seeing the value in that relationship. I love my family like crazy because we're crazy and I wouldn't change that for the world.

Family is definitely important! I have some close friends that I consider a part of my family, and that is important too! Being a part of Gods family is most important! Now, I don't always agree with how some of my BIC's (Brother-in-Christ) and SIC's (Sister-in-Christ) act or live, but my life is lived out in prayer, patience, and tolerance. I literally have family all over the globe. Anywhere God sends me, I know that I can find this most important resource of family, and that is one of the biggest blessings anyone could ever ask for.

Next weekend I'm going to be visiting my oldest sister (Rhonda) and her husband because she just had her first born. :D I'll miss my friends and Lifepoint here, but that is important. I hope you all get a chance to set aside time for family!
God bless you with His love
John

Short term and long term

I have some pretty awesome goals I'm reaching towards right now. 2010 is definitely going to be a year of intense growth and action.

One of the biggest short term goals in my life right now is raising 3000 dollars (by April or May I think) to go to Brazil on a 2 week or more missions trip in June. I'm going through Gospel For Brazil. Check them out at gospelforbrazil.org. I'm definitely feeling called by God to go, because I love children and I have so much here in America that I couldn't imagine not helping others that have next to nothing in comparison. Add in that I can share the wonderful and powerful message of Jesus and that's a chance I just can't pass up!
I will post up the various ways I'll try to raise money in a couple weeks. If you feel led, contact me to donate or help raise money. I would greatly appreciate it!

I have other short term goals like a better foundation in parkour and tricking. Do well in school and work where I'm at now. Increase the teams and groups I'm a part of now in church. Get a little practice with graphic design through customizing this blog. :D These aren't nearly as important, but still on my heart.

The biggest long term goal in my life right now is finding where God is leading me in my future, as in a career.
To help me decide, I'm prayerfully seeking out places to get involved more seriously at church and in school. So far I know that my heart is in serving, loving and guiding children and teenagers, art, and obviously mission trips. I am seriously considering school for graphic design, and maybe a year long internship at a church for that.

This is just kind of where I'm at right now.
Please comment with your thoughts and goals for this year and the future! It's really encouraging to hear from other people, especially in shared experiences. :D

Uhh... First blog ever.

Ok so. This is my first attempt at this whole blog thing that people seem to like so much. I guess I'll start off this new year with why I am starting this blog.
I can honestly say that last year was THE biggest year of my life thus far. 2009 wins the most improved award in my life. I went from what I felt like was completely turned away from God, to more in love with Him and more constantly in His presence than I thought possible for me. Lifepoint has definitely been the most welcoming and encouraging place on earth for me. I even got into what we call Lifegroups. SO into them that I attended 4 a week, and ended up leading 3 of them and helping lead the other once each. More of that in the future. I also hit my 2 year mark for practicing parkour! I learned a LOT, and a lot of thanks goes out to all my friends and parkour brothers over at NCparkour.com. Amongst all this epic fun and growth though, I was growing apart from my parents. I could tell my growing faith and devotion was affecting them, but I didn't know that my lack of presence was too. Towards the end of 2009 I finally reconnected with my parents in a really strong way. This started me with a great foundation for 2010!
This blog will be used to reflect on my past, keep up with my current craziness, and discuss where I feel God is leading me in the future.

I might even post up some art and other things just for fun. :D
2010... Lets go!