TheOneCubed

Life has been very busy and crazy at times these last few weeks but God has continued to be amazing! Last week was a happy and a sad time as a good friend of mine, Patti, was leaving for NY for a year. Her awesome roommate Shelly threw a party for her departure last Thursday night. I posted a few photos below, but more are available in the Patti’s Heading to NY Party gallery.

After said party I went home to pack up as this past weekend was spent with the college ministry from church at their annual fall retreat. While it was a busy time for me (as I was responsible for all the sound/tech needs for the weekend) God used it to really stir within me. He raised questions within me that have been refreshing and renewing for my spirit. Please pray for me as I begin to allow God to make changes in my life to remove things that will detract from Him being my satisfaction and detract from me finding my rest in Him. Photos from the retreat will be up soon.

This past Saturday night (after having worked all day giving E115 place out exams) myself, Shem, Barren, Caleb, and Amanda stayed up most of the night cooking 225 lbs. of pig hams and shoulders to feed the college class the next day.

We arrived around 9:30 PM at the Delta Lake Center (auxillary worship center at my church plus the home of our Sunday morning college life class, H2O) with two pig cookers and begin to get things ready to go. We had the pig on the grill by 10:30 PM and were off to keep ourselves awake for the next few hours. Barren got the first sleep shift and slept until 2 AM. The rest of us made 10+ gallons of sweet tea, laughed, watched movies on the projectors in the DLC, and just generally had a good time.

I caught a few hours of shut eye between 3 and 5 AM but it was on a short couch which wasn’t really comfortable so I wouldn’t exactly call it “sleep”. The pig finished cooking around 6:30 AM. We pulled and chopped from 8 - 10 AM and then began serving after H20 around 12:30.

We planned for ~ 300 people, a lot more stayed. Thankfully we didn’t run out of BBQ but man it was a lot of fun! It has been suggested that those of us who cooked Saturday night should open up a restaurant. Leave some love on the comments below with some ideas for a restaurant name and how many of you would be loyal patrons :-p. Oh and don’t forget to check out some of the photos from that night of fun!

Last Thursday evening, I hopped into a van with some of the most amazing people off on a trek to Asheboro, NC. These people are mostly college students who have a heart for the ministry and long to see the Fame of God spread. These students represent the 242 Leadership Team for the College Ministry at Providence Baptist Church.

Our purpose this year more over the purpose of why we exist - to spread the fame of God to a college-age generation by living passionate lives of worship, truth and love.

Notice that word - Fame? Dave O., our college pastor, said it best; “fame is making a name known well”. Notice it is more than just the name of God. Many people have heard God’s named proclaimed. We exists to make His FAME known. That people would know much more about God that just His name. That struck a cord with me - deep down. Do I live in such a way that people around me know more that just God’s name?

After some time of prayer, worship, and vision casting Thursday night and Friday morning the remainder of the leadership team joined us at Camp Caraway, just west of Asheboro. Imagine 60+ (mostly) college students gathered together for that singular purpose - the Fame of God. In addition to gathering to plan out the next years events and how to better equip and serve our students, we fellowshipped together. This included songs, prayers, smores, basketball, ultimate frisbee, and swimming.

It was personally a great time of renewal; to be around students living such passionate lives was a privilage and an honor. My prayer is that by the words I say and the actions I take, may I not detract from God and may His Fame be known.

This past weekend I decided, at the last minute, to get away from Raleigh for a bit. Work has been crazy busy and as I begin to gear up for the fall semester I knew I needed to get away and clear my head. The best way to do this? A trip to the beach! Funny thing is, I never stepped on the sand of the beach - which is in no way a bad thing. Instead I spent my weekend doing some lounging around and helping Sam and his Dad, Craig, work on replacing the railing on their deck.

Sam and his Dad thinking on something . . .

Quincy enjoying the view

The most fun part about it all . . . I identified forgotten muscles and awakened them with pulsating soreness! As I commented to my brother today, it is amazing what a desk job (or laziness) can do to you!

The finished product!

Well, last week I got a wild hair and bought a new digital camera. I purchased the new Canon 30D and absolutely love it! As such, I’m putting my Canon Digital Rebel up for sale.

The camera comes with all original equipment which includes a battery, a Canon 18-55mm lens, strap, software, manuals, etc (all in the original box). I’m also including a 256 MB Compact Flash card. I’m asking $550 for all of this. If you are interested, please send me an email or IM.