College Thinking

                   I'll be honest, Final Exam week hits you hard. There is so much pressure to do good on your exams, so you stay up all night and cram as much information into your brain that you can. That's what the past week has been like for me. And of course I have to make a few tacos at Taco Bell along the way. In the rush of Finals and of course Christmas, it is easy to lose track of the big picture, and just focus on the present.
                   
                   The present looks pretty rough. I am almost done with my first semester of college and I have at least 7 more to go. Feels like eternity. Yes, college is definitely quite a bit of fun, but it is pretty stressful to. The past 4 months have been pretty rough for me, being at school and the mornings and early afternoons, and then going to work for the night. I work almost 40 hours a week and I am doing 16 credits. It is a lot. While I do get burnt out sometimes, I would not trade the past 4 months for anything. I learned so much about  life in these 4 months.

High school taught me what I believe, while college

has taught me why I believe

             The courses that I took this past semester I have challenged to back up what I believe. I learned that it simply is not good enough to know what I believe, I have to know why I believe it. Why do I believe in God? Why do I believe God actually sent His son to die for my sins? Can you really believe God created in the world in 6 days? These are all things that I had to research for myself this past semester. I had to own my faith. Now obviously you can not prove everything, but to always have an answer for the fundamentals of what you believe is very important. After all, who is going to take you seriously if you do not even know why you believe. Especially as Christians, we have the answer to so much hurt around us. I see it all the time. The world is a dark place, and without Jesus there is no hope. There is no peace. There is no forgiveness. But if we have Jesus it is our duty to share Him with others. 

 

              This semester has been amazing for me not just because I am learning new ideas and concepts, but because I have been able to plug into a very powerful group, Cru. I was able to go to Fall Retreat, and I am going to be going to TCX (Twin Cities eXperience) in Minneapolis in a few weeks. I have been able to form meaningful relationships with both people on my campus, and people from other campus's. It is so powerful and meaningful to have friends who share the same faith that you do. I definitely do not take that for granted.

 

            My college journey is just beginning, and I can already tell that the next four years are going to be incredible. It is always great to be able to look back and see where God has taken you from, and get a glimpse to where God is taking you. I have no idea what my life will really be about. But I do know that I want to spend my life at the center of God's will, and there is no greater place than that.

 

Now, back to the books!

 

God Bless,

David



Prom 2014

                 So to fully understand my prom experience, you first have to understand that there is under 20 kids in my whole high school. It is teeny tiny, so we do not really have anything like prom. I just kind of figured that I would never go to an actual prom. This year however, one of my friends from work asked me if I could go to her prom with her as friends. It is my senior year so I figured that my whole "high-school" experience would not be complete until I went to prom. So I said yes to her and before I knew it, prom day was here already. I had no clue what to expect, and if you know me at all, you know that I can tend to be more quiet and reserved. So I was nervous about going with a group of people that I had never met before.
                 My fears turned out to be nothing, and the whole group was really fun! I had the opportunity to meet a lot of new people and make new friends. Everyone was really nice to me and the whole night was just awesome. I'm very thankful that my friend from work asked me to go. I say all this because this is a testimony to how much God has changed me in my four years of high-school. Four years ago, I never would have wanted to go to an event like prom, because meeting new people always scared me. I'm still quiet, and I always will be. That is just who I am. However, I am no longer afraid to meet new people and start conversations. I love how when we rely on God, He is faithful and just, and will continue molding us into the people that He wants you and me to become. I am very far from perfect, and I still make more mistakes than I should. But I am learning and will keep learning my whole life.
                When I got home from prom, I was really tired. But before I went to bed I laid in my bed and thanked God for putting amazing people in my group. As I look back on it, I should have never worried in the first place. God always has us right where He wants us. He sets us up for success, not failure. If you did not get anything from this post, please remember that^^^
               So here is my challenge for you. Think of the biggest worry in your life right now. It may seem big and bad right now, but if you hand it over to God, He will take care of it. Easier said than done I know, but if it was easy, it would not be a challenge!!!
God Bless,
David

Life's Lemons

                We all know the saying "when life gives you lemons, make lemonade." Easier said than done. At times in our lives, it can feel like lemons are flying all over the place. I know the feeling. I only have two more months of high school left, but sometimes it feels like it can take forever. Some times it just feels like it drags on, especially since it feels like sometimes everyone else in my small high school is dating. It stinks. Often times it's just plain awkward and embarrassing and not to mention lonely when your always the 3rd or 5th wheel. That may seem like a minor problem for some people, and most of the time I don't get to bothered by it. But some days it just plain old stinks. So there it is, the "lemon" of singleness. If you are like me, you can let it just sit there like I did and just sulk. Let me introduce you to a better way of dealing with it. Trust me God has a plan for you and it is a good plan(Jeremiah 29:11) and singleness is just a season. It may seem a like a long season, like this last winter, but like all seasons it will pass and spring will come. I won't be single for ever. But in the time that I have been single for the past 9 months or so, I have really been able to focus more on other things and I've grown closer to God in ways that would not of happened if I was not single. I know it is hard but we just have to add that lemon to our lemonade. Another "lemon" for me these past 9 months has been work. If you prayed at all for me with this, thank you so much, as I believe that those prayers have brought me through that. Work is so much better now, and I don't dread going to work anymore. Add that lemon to the lemonade. Now if we want the lemonade to be  sweet, we have to add some sugar. This "sugar" though has to come from God. You see our problems are the lemons, but God takes our lemons and adds sugar to them and makes all of it into something sweet and refreshing, lemonade. I apologize for the randomness and if the analogy is confusing but just think about it. Our problems can end up being an amazing part of our story. But we have to let God add the sugar.
God Bless,
David

Blessings

Blessings

                        This past weekend I had the incredible opportunity to go up to Camp Forest Springs for the Oasis District Youth Retreat. God showed up in huge ways through out the whole weekend and it was an awesome time to grow closer to my friends. I am just so thankful that God has given me opportunities to go on trips like going to Spencer Lake and Oasis. There is something powerful about when teenagers gather together to get closer to God. These "getaways" have been a monumental part of my spiritual growth. I have been so fortunate that God has placed strong Christian leaders at each event to help me out. Even though technically Oasis and Summer Camp are put on by different "denominations," both places have God at the helm, and every time God shows up. Since it is so cold today I like to think about summer! And every time I think about summer, camp pops up. I know that I am very far from perfect. But I would be even farther if it was not for camp and having Pastor Matt speak to me there. Back at home, Pastor Ken has been so impacting with his leading of the youth group. I'm just amazed at how God has put events and people into my life to speak life into me and keep me going. I know this post is probably confusing, but it is just my way of saying thanks to God and the leaders that God has blessed me with. I pray that as I grow up, I can have the same impact of teenagers lives as my leaders have had on me.

God Bless,

David