Vocation Class quotes part 2

This next half is what I will have more to say about, these guys i can really relate to and found much truth, confirmation, and comfort in. lets start with The Mark Riddle.

Mark Riddle is from what I understand an author, speaker, and ministry consultant. He started in ministry at 19 commuting to a church in okc from Shawnee. He started at Asbury in 1996. After 4 years he said he felt toxic from the church politics. While taking a 9 month break Mark started writing and blogging. He said it was a great way to say whatever you feel out loud and be validated. I like his way of saying he was in a bad place in the church. He said he was toxic, I think thats a rather good way to say it. And I feel like I can relate, But I handled mine in a negative way. After believers I really have not wanted to be around the church. I feel toxic. And I have let that failure consume me and I have felt no desire to be proactive with hardly anything. School, work, relationships, basically every part of my life has been negatively affected by this. Talking with mark was better than I thought it was going to be. I think I took more away from when he was interviewing us than the ladder. I am also more motivated to do what I need to to, like this report. Like downloading really boring videos to youtube. I need to get over my toxicity from last semester and move forward. 

Our next meeting was with Matt.

Our meeting with Matt was great. Really inspiring to me because he does what I want to eventually do. Matt is what I like to call, a door buster in the DEA. Operating a meth lab? You might get Matt bustin down your door. Hence, a door buster.  This is a positive look into a career choice I am considering. I like the idea of stopping bad people and eliminating the narcotics that are causing death and destruction from the streets. I have a heart for justice, me and Matt seem to be similar in that way. This was a good talk. Matt really validated my ideas and love for justice. I can say that this encourages me to join the force on drugs and the organized crime that comes with it. I know its a dangerous job, but I want to do my part. 

The last person i want to talk about was our F-16 pilot Rick Poplin.

Rick was the cool guy of the group as far as meetings go. The dude flies F-16s for a living. Jealous. Rick has been to Iraq 9 times and is the squad Commander. His job is to fly close air support to the boots on the ground. Rick is a great guy but you can tell that he has a grip on his emotions. Once he sits down in the cockpit, emotions are switched off. But he is not a heartless man, In fact, nothing could be further from the truth. Rick has a huge heart. Rick has a cool job, but one thing he said to me stuck out and I will remember for a long time. “The truth is just fine” was his lesson for us. I have wrestled with that for a long time, ever since he said it. Whats great is that he is right. And that's a great way to live life. Just telling the truth. Because the truth is, and stay with me here, the truth, is that the truth really is just fine! 

I have a little more perspective on myself After meeting with a few great men, My heart has been opened to what god has for me instead of what i want. This Class was hard, but its got a pretty great pay out! 

Vocation Class quotes part 1

This blog is a compilation of quotes and phrases from my vocation class we had at the start of the semester, This will have 2 parts to it so here is part 1.

I want to start with Steve from Water4.

I don't remember how Steve got started with the idea for water wells but I do know that he flooded his laundry room with about fifteen bucks worth of PVC pipe and a bicycle inner tube. Steve and his team are changing the world. They always need support and people willing to go do the leg work. I feel like we can help out with money and prayer. But shouldn't we also go? Some of us should. Some of us should not. Water4 needs passionate, compelled people to step up to the plate and swing. This foundation will not make it without all the willing people to go break their backs to supply a few people with water one well at a time.

Next is Kyle. Kyle is a doctor in Kenya who is working with 2 rival tribes. Kyle was awesome, The idea of saying yes to god and no to a very steady income takes guts, To change the world takes heart, Kyle has a huge heart for the people in Kenya and i really cant wait to see what happens there with his new clinic he is opening.

Denise was interesting, Because I'm still not sure how I feel about it, I am open minded to women leading in ministry but is still a bit of a gray zone for me, something to keep praying about I guess. i think Denise is very courageous for being willing to flat out offend someone for what she believes. 

This is part 1. The next blog will have a little more substance to it. These people i learned from, but the next few i got the most from.  

overwhelmed

So, the past few weeks I have been seriously overwhelmed. I started working and homework and projects so I'm kinda loosing it. Sometimes recently I have been very worried about my progress in class and with everything and its definitely getting to me. Ask some of my friends, and even though i feel like I'm failing i know that its going to be ok and life will go on. I keep thinking of a lyric to one of my favorite worship songs by Jesus Culture. "You make all things work together for my good." It sounds very selfish, but its not supposed to be. To us christians, we know that god does eerything for our best intrest, but we dont always think that way. I have had to step back and let that lyric soak in and understand its truth these past few weeks to stay collected. http://youtu.be/IoezWBPGRAc

2 week report.

 So my bad, the past two weeks have been a little busy so im way late. The blur through these two weeks has been crazy. All i really remember was working my butt off on my paper. Im really proud of the paper i wrote and i put alot of time into it. And it was great to get some feed back from Chris about it and that really boosted my self esteem and i feel confident in the classes. We have started a new Monday tradition also, Taco Truck Monday. Its gotta be one of our best ideas yet. after working for CQ Missional during the morning we go find a taco stand and devour some tasty tacos and drinking Mexican pop, its good stuff. And its also fun seeing who will go with us. Now the past week was pretty nuts. I have gotten little sleep and im kinda grumpy. And going to Norman for the weekend after having a lock in at believers with the intermediate high kids. The lock-in was awesome. I got to build some great relationships with the students and kick butt Sumo Wrestling. We had an awesome time and i got to know a handful of kids. I also survived the earthquakes of 2011. Be honest with you, i didn't feel the first one. the second one was pretty great though. I also got to spend the day with my awesome girlfriend Ashlee. It was her birthday so i took her on a date and met some of her friends. i have really had a great weekend. This is really all i have right now. perhaps more tomorrow in my free time between class. catch you tomorrow.

on time!

Hi guys, lets bring you up to speed a bit. This week was pretty good, the goodness really started Wednesday at church. We had some awesome worship and mixing the sound was fantastic! Its really fun having freedom in the sound booth to make it great. Thursday was really good also meeting with Dan and we have started going through revelation. Its very interesting stuff talking about the seven churches in Asia. chapter 1 is John sending letters to these churches from a small island off present day Turkey. He says that these seven churches are like lampstands, and these lampstands should spread their light into the darkness. Its some great stuff and I'm very excited to continue.

Friday was a trip to Muskogee to hang out with some friends i have not seen in awhile. We had a great time and im bummed that they all went back to school. Saturday was good until OU choked at home and lost by a Field goal. 

Today was pretty good, church was great. We talked about 1 Timothy 2:1-15. Some great stuff to talk about with 7th graders! Ha sometimes i wonder if Josh is crazy. but there was some good discussionand everyone participated.

looking forward to this week. see you next time

frontier city

so the past week has been busy, i have been training at a new job, working on paper and helping at church. one guy i met at believers has an awesome story. Bryt is a 20ish year old volunteer at believers in their youth ministry and to be honest he is kinda scary. he is covered in tattoos and piercings. and he is the kinda guy that alot of conservative Christians would avoid. Bryt has told me about his bad experience with church in the past and it amazes me that he is so active still. the guy has been seriously burned by the church. but he still loves god and all the students he works with.
 another big part of the week was yesterday. the junior high group went to frontier city. it went better than expected, we had a few kids that need leashes because they were so excited they wanted to run off! i was a leader and it was alot of fun, i had a great group to hang out with and we all very easily agreed about most everything. so frontier city was great. looking forward to another great week!

Oops

so i missed last week so here is the update. the week was pretty normal, class internship and what not. the best part has been the weekends. 2 weekends ago i went with believers to their fall retreat for highschool. it was pretty great, that group is awesome! we did some great stuff and im excited to get to know them better. we went to newlife ranch for the night. it was a great way to get to know the highschool group better.
so last weekend i went camping with scouts. it was great. we did some wok cooking and just all hung out for a few days.  i know this was brief but chris i gotta focus on the quiz. more on this later i promis. talk again soon