New Years

We all know that when the New Year's time comes around every year, the facebook statuses, or the people you hang with are all about the new beginnings. I've seen many of these statuses today alone, and it got me thinking; How awesome is our God, that we can have a new beginning every single day. Because He loves us so much, and because Jesus was sent to die on the cross, our sins are forgiven, not once, but every single day. All we have to do is own that. How easy is that! I don't know about you guys, but I'm glad I don't have to wait for New Year's to be able to have a new beginning, because the Lord has forgiven me every single day, and I have a new beginning at the beginning of each day.

It doesn't matter what you do either. Just like at the beginning of the New Year, when you're saying that you have a clean slate, and everything you could possibly have done will no longer matter, it just goes away. The same can be said about those very things every day. It doesn't matter to God what you've done with yourself. He still loves you too much to let you walk in those sins, and He has made a way for you to be forgiven, and all you have to do is own it. Does it make sense to only think you have a clean slate on January 1st of every year? I think I would rather have the freedom of knowing that it doesn't matter what time of year it is, I just love knowing that it doesn't matter, I am free from the bondage of sin, and I am forgiven, and given a clean slate every day.


Just something that was on my mind.


I love you guys.
TJ

Praise You in this storm

Well, I'm not sure where it's going to take me but I might have another problem. The difference is, I don't have a worry in my mind that I will be kept safe. I've gone through this enough times, and been provided for enough times to know that no matter what the situation that I can go through, it doesn't really matter to me anymore. It never really mattered to God, and I know that no matter what situation that I can go through, God will not allow me to suffer too greatly. I know that by now I can handle anything that God throws at me because I know that when I get through this, I will have learned something even newer, and it will bring me closer to the Lord. I wish I had my Bible on hand with me because it makes for a great thing to do when I'm going through a rough time. Michael, wanna help me with that since it's at your house? Haha


Yeah this kind of stuff seems to happen to me a lot, but like I said, I am no longer worried about it because the Lord has delivered me through more powerful things than this, and I know that no matter what, He will not allow me to suffer too much, because I know that He is allowing this to happen to give  me an even greater story to tell the people that I will minister to. Another reason I am not worrying about it this time is because I'm sick of worrying. I wanna go where the Lord is leading me, and no matter what, He will not lead me or forsake me. I am His beloved child, and there is nothing that anyone can say, do, or any other thing like that, that can change that. He loves me the same now as He did when I first started to believe.

Bottom line: Satan is trying to do these things to me, but I know that he does not have the authority to do these things. So basically he can get off my back, and go back into hell, because he will not, and does not have a victory. Good try Satan, but I will praise my Lord in whatever storm I am thrown. Nothing you can do will take away God from my heart. You have no legal right to put your demons in my soul, and my body will not be taken from God.


I love you guys.
TJ


"I lift my eyes into the hills
Where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord.
The maker of heaven and earth"

Forgotten God

I started reading Forgotten God by Francis Chan today. I'm rather excited since I've been waiting on this book since I read Crazy Love. I can't wait to see where it takes me because I know it's on a subject that I have a lot of interest in right now.

The beginning talks about how we in the western world have forgotten the Holy Spirit. A rather important part of the trinity. Jesus told us that when he went back up into heaven to be with the Father, He would leave us another Counselor. One that can do everything Jesus can do. He would also give us the power, and authority to do all that Jesus did do. This new Counselor is the Holy Spirit, and with Him, we would be able to do all of the miracles that we can read about in the Bible.


That's about all I've really gathered that isn't noticeable in Americanized Christianity.

With excitement and love
TJ

Merry CHRISTmas!

So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. ⁵ He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. ⁶ While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, ⁷and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.

 ⁸ And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. ⁹ An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. ¹⁰ But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. ¹¹Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. ¹² This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

 ¹³ Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

 ¹⁴ “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
   and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

Luke 2:4-14 NIV

Have a merry Christmas.

Happy Birthday to my man Jesus!

Love y'all

TJ

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Isaiah 9:6 NIV

Where did it all go?

It feels like just a few weeks ago, I was moving into Cinnamon Ridge, starting my career at Cave Spring. Just after it feels like I started soccer, then moving to PH, and now it's Christmas, and my Junior year is half over.... Where is high school going?

I feel as if even though I've kept up with pretty much every major event that has happened in high school for me, it feels like time has flown faster than a speeding bullet. I honestly don't know where it went, and it's not coming back.

Makes me think of what I am going to do with my speedy time that I never seem to see go by. I want it to be for Christ, and luckily I have many friends who keep me from going too far off.

Just something on my mind

Tonight was good though, so at least I'm happy in my state of "where did it go?"

Love y'all
TJ

Great joy

Well, today might not have gone the way I planned it, but I can honestly say that I wouldn't have had it go any other way!

I started talking to my friend, and she was open with me, and told me the things that she's been going through. She told me things that were weighing her down in life, and that she wanted them to go away, and it gave me a picture of Christ working through her already. She said she is kind of new to this, and that she just wants to grow, and it made me think of how we are like children. Longing to learn more about the world. Like children, we long to know our God when we come into relationship with Him. She wants nothing more than to grow in her faith, and to come closer to Jesus. She is like a young child wanting to know more about the life she lives since she knows she will need help.

This just happened, and I can't help but find joy in this. This is why I want to lead Young Life. It brings me joy to see this happen in people's lives

Love you guys
TJ

"The eyes are the gateway to the soul."

For about a year and a half now, I've taken to trying to see deeper into the people that I really care about. If I want to try and see how someone is really feeling, in the big picture, I can't just ask them sometimes. It's not that I don't trust them, it's just that, like reading a book can get you exactly what an author meant to say quicker than having someone tell you it, reading a person's eyes can get you their deep feelings, if you can connect to them.

I'm not sure how I got so good at reading people's eyes, but for some reason, whenever I have really looked deep into someone's eyes, I can see what their deepest feelings are, and maybe what they long for. I'm about 90% sure it might be God's gift to me, to see into the depths of a person's soul. I just know that I think I can make this work to an advantage if I use it properly. The way I run after kids in my high school, and maybe even the middle schoolers at Wyldlife, it would all change a bit. More understanding, cause I can get to the depths of someone's heart.

I've always believed that the eyes can't tell a lie when read properly. Of course, if you look at the eyes like a lock, there are always different difficulties to get to the soul. Some people are very vulnerable, and will let anyone who cares to look in. Maybe I always get those people, I don't know. There are also people who you really have to stare into their eyes for a while to see how to get in. Maybe even some who just made their soul nearly impenetrable.

In any case, once you're seeing the inside of the soul, through someone's eyes, you may be surprised at what you see. There are many people out there who will put on a mask over their face. If you try to read their facial expressions, you could get there, but I think when you have the ones who have mastered the trickery of the face, you can't tell what's really going on inside. You can't put a mask over the eyes. Sure, there are contacts that can change color, or even cover the color of your eyes, but I still don't think you can cover your eyes in such a way that you will hide your true feelings completely.

I can remember looking into the hazel eyes of a friend at camp after my Freshman year. All I could see was a longing to be loved. All she wanted was to know that she was deeply, undeniably loved by someone, or something. Her past was the reason, but I'm not about to tell her life's story from what I can remember of it on here for the whole world to see.

I can also remember a pair of deep blue eyes that couldn't tell a lie if they wanted to. This person wasn't closed off that much, but she too, longed to be loved. The only difference, she has/had a specific person in mind. This not only caused much pain to her, but it's continuing to cause pain, because it seems the harder she tries, the worse the situation gets. I wish there was something I could do to help her, but it seems that there isn't much of a chance of that happening. It seems that she is trying to take it on all by herself. I've tried to tell her that she doesn't gotta be alone with it, but I don't know if she wants help. That's the big issue, you have to WANT help, before you can receive help. I remember going over to her house, and trying to take her mind off of the pain, but it's consuming her heart. I admire her dedication, but she's letting the pain of not having that one person tear up her heart, which can, and probably will cause problems for her down the road.

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On a side note, how often do we try this? Giving all of our hearts to something that doesn't love us back. How often are we hurt by this? Why can't we just believe that we were made for so much more than that one thing that is just causing us pain, and suffering? Why do we as people who have found that one thing that does really love us back, no matter the circumstance, sit back, and watch as our friends are giving their lives to those things that can't love them back, or at least not perfectly, and not through all the bad times, as well as the good ones? Why?

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I also remember looking into the baby blue eyes of one of my good friends, and if I've ever had trouble unlocking the eyes, it's been with this person. Whether that reason is because of my own feelings, or because she's got those eyes that are hard to see into, I can't tell, I just know I had a challenge getting there. When I finally got in, I was both uplifted, and very excited. For once, I saw a person who had hope. I knew she did, but seeing it, and hearing it kind of give you that extra little kick that makes it definite. She knows where love is, and she's gone there. Many times. It wasn't too long before I saw these things that a great event took place, and I saw joy, but a knowledge in her heart that the joy from this event was easily topped. Topped not only by where she found her hope, but the simpler things that she and her friends did that had seemingly nothing to do with why they were together every day. She found a much larger joy in that. Even if you had never talked to this girl before, you could tell that she wasn't really looking to the gold and silver of the earth, but to her God, where she found her life, and her hope.


Yes, I know I only have a few girls to post about, but let's be honest, I haven't tried to crack the code to a guy's soul. This is something I want to try, because like I said earlier, I believe that if I can see into the heart of someone I wanna chase after, the way I love them could change. God would use this knowledge I gain in a way to help me go after him like I should.

Just something I thought about.

Love you guys,
TJ

What's going to happen?

So, for those of you who don't know, I am moving away from PH. My dad and I are moving in with my friend, who lives on Bent Mountain. This does mean I am going back to Cave Spring, and I am overjoyed about that, but I have one question: Those kids who I've been running after the past few weeks, what's going to happen to them? I don't know who is going to look after them when I leave. Some of them don't have another kid chasing after them, loving on them. The ones that do I know are being left in good hands, but I have at least 1 who is going to have no one. I wanna know what's going to happen to him. I've watched 2 or 3 of the kids I've loved on come to Jesus, and I am overjoyed about that as well, but what about those who haven't?


I don't want to leave them with no one to run to. Especially since I know the Lord is working in them. I just want to know they'll be left in good hands. I never thought I'd say this, but I'm worried about leaving PH.  I want nothing more than for those kids to hear the message, and be changed by His hands. My friend Christian will no longer have that kid who can get real with him about life, until God gives one to him. I want to make the best of what little time I have remaining with him. I just want to know that he is going to be left in the right place.

God changed my heart in the way that it doesn't matter where I am, there will always be people there who are broken, and need Christ. I have stopped caring about where I was, and realized that God doesn't care who it is, they need Him. I have realized that God wants me to stop being lukewarm about chasing kids, but being real. He used PH to make me go hard. It's hard to love kids here. I don't know why, but it is. God's strength that has made it possible for me to see people's lives change. Even those who we never thought would. My heart breaks for the kids that don't have Jesus, and the fact that they might not have someone to love on them, just breaks it even more! I am so desperate for these kids to hear His words. That's my biggest prayer, is that someone would look after those guys.

I will miss parts of Patrick Henry. I just know that I'm being called back to Cave Spring. I pray that God would keep the fire in me. Kids in Cave Spring are just as broken as in PH. I just want them to know who Jesus is. I want to give them an accurate picture of Jesus, and let them know how much He loves them.

PH made me a stronger Christian. Maybe this is something that will help with Work Crew?


I love you guys!

TJ

Man, life is screwy

Have you ever had that moment where you are trying to help someone with something, and they will just turn away, even if they have told you everything? This is just one example, but I have had this happen quite a few times, and I have never been able to come to a reason why it happens. Until now.

I talk a lot about Young Life stuff on here, but I think this is just too important not to get out. Some of my friends think that life on earth is just hatred. There is no such thing as love, and they will never know what love is. Maybe that live doesn't have a chance of ever existing. This is a problem. We were not created to feel this way. Part of me just wants to scream that they were created by God, to know the greatest love ever, but you can't shove things down someone's throat. How then, are we to help them see that Jesus Christ loves them deeply, and that they were made for more than the life they seem to think is it. It breaks my heart that there are friends of mine, that I talk to, who don't believe that it can happen. "I'm unlovable" "Nothing can love me" I just wish that I could physically pull Jesus back down from Heaven. I just wish.

"For all have sinned, and fallen short of the glory of God." Romans 3:23 We all did it. We went away. We've turned away. "We all, like sheep have gone astray. Each of us turned to our own way..." Isaiah 53:6. We went on a search, looking to find that voice we long to hear in our heads. "I love you, I love you..."  We go everywhere. Nothing we look to on Earth can possibly measure up though. Imagine the hammer and bell game you see at the fair. You must hit the center of a pad, in order to ring a bell. Imagine that the top section, when you ring the bell is God's voice, saying "I Love You!" Anything lower says "I don't love you" "I don't like you", maybe even "I Hate You!" Maybe we've tried again and again with the things of the world that we think will bring us real life. Truth is, we aren't strong enough to hit the pad hard enough. We can't, on our own strength ring that bell. After all the trying, and every failed attempt. We come to the conclusion that God can't exist. We say to ourselves, and maybe openly that "Nothing will ever love me. Love is dead" I can tell you, just because we can't ring the bell, doesn't mean it's not there.

Another example I can give is to think about a hallway ending in, say, 5 doors. Door one, sports. Door 2, relationships. Door 3 academics. Door 4, money. Door 5 God. You go to door one, and sure it opens for a while. Say you break your leg. That door closes You go into door 2. Say you start dating the hottest guy or girl in your school. Next thing you know, you find yourself on the receiving end of a break up talk. You might have loved them with your everything, and now door 2 is closed. On to door 3. You study your life away, you are going to get into that Ivy league school. You get to your senior year, and you get a rejection letter from the school you spent your life to get to. Door 3, closed. Door 4, Maybe you try to save all of the money that you can, trying to get that car, trying to get that house. When you find out that the house or car just got sold. Or maybe you buy many things with the money that you do have. When those things run out of entertainment, or use, where are you? Outside of a closed 4th door.

The fifth door, being God though, was locked when we turned to our own way. It says in Romans "For the wages of sin is death" We can not hope to get back into that door. We walked out of that very door when we turned away. We can try our hardest to open the door, but the truth is, we can't hope to unlock it. We can't break it down, because like the bell we can't ring, the door requires us to be stronger than we can be. Luckily, there is a way. God sees us outside his window. Trying to open His door. Seeing that we couldn't, He sent His son. Jesus Christ, in order to take away the very thing that makes us weak. We have a great weight on our back, that takes our energy. This weight is the reason we can't hit that bell. The reason we can't break open the door, or unlock it. God sent Jesus Christ to not only remove that weight, and destroy it. He sent Jesus Christ to become the key to the door. We no longer have to try to fight our way in. The door can be unlocked through Jesus, but like many locks, there is only one key. The key that Jesus is looks like this: Three nails, holding up Jesus on a cross, taking sin away. No other key has this shape. So no other key will open the door to God. "For the wages of sin is death....." There is another half to the story. The second half to the verse is "But the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus, our Lord." Using the bell, For the wages of sin is the inability to strike the bell, but the gift of God is strength enough to hit the bell so hard, it continuously rings out "I LOVE YOU!" Take the door, We will be able to open the door to God's house, and be in a relationship with him. All because of Jesus. My only question, what keeps us from doing so?

The thought that we are unlovable? Jesus was thinking about you specifically when He stretched His hands out on the cross. If there was just one person on Earth to ever live, Jesus would have still done it. He wouldn't have said no. He would have done it for JUST ONE PERSON. Even if they thought they were unlovable. Why? Because He loves you that much.  He would have done it for Megan, for Jaime. For Josh. For Chris. For Kendall, Zack, Shannon, Eric, Joe. If it were only them! All we have to do now, is walk through the door. Or hit the pad. We can hit the bell with the hammer of Jesus' crucifixion. Giving us the way to do these things. all we have to do, is let Him do so.

You now have a choice. You can say "I'm not ready" I don't know enough about Jesus, or God to walk in. That's fine, we still love you. You can also say "No" I don't want to walk in, I don't want anything to do with God. You can keep looking through the other doors. Keep hitting the pad with sin on your back. That's fine as well. He's still for you.  We love you just as well. You can also say "I want that" or "I am ready to give my life to Jesus" All you have to do is say "Yes" Knowing that you haven't done anything to earn it, or deserve it. It's all because of God's immense love for you.

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I hope this will help you guys.

I love you guys.
TJ

Feels Like a Lost Friend

I can remember a man I met around the middle of November my freshman year. A simple dude, who was around me at a football game when were getting ready to charge the field. He overheard me saying I needed a ride somewhere, and he offered. That's where the friendship began.

This guy would soon become one of my best friends. I saw him at Young Life, and a dramatic 3 or 4 months later. He became the man who led me to give my life to Christ. He taught me a lot, and he's always going to remain in my heart as one of my best friends from high school.

Things are different now though. I haven't gotten to hang out with him in so long. Whenever he sees me, he rarely says anything. It seems like he looks right on through. Whenever all the guys wanna hang, he opts out. I miss hanging out with him. Right now, it doesn't even feel like I know him anymore.

It hurts to see one of my best friends seem like he doesn't wanna hang out with us anymore. It sucks, because I've wanted to hang with him so much recently, but he's nowhere to be found. I just wanna say, I miss you, bro. I wanna hang with you..

Love you,
TJ

Soaring on wings like Eagles

Something happened today that I have been waiting for since the end of my Freshman year. It's something that has been on my heart for that long, and have prayed, wished, waited, and yearned for this to happen, and finally, a few years and many failed attempts later, my twin brother went to Young Life camp with me. It has to be one of the most encouraging things that has happened to me since Saranac, and I am not even close to done with this great, great story.

My brother at one point told me he was never going to go with me to a Young Life camp. We've chased after him with everything we've got, and he still had what seemed like the hardest heart in the world. My good friend, Eric made it his mission to reach out to him last year, and he definitely had an impact on Brett's decision to go to camp. When he got there, there was so much to do, he couldn't think, so we just went, played basketball, and soccer, or whatever we wanted.

Skipping to the end of the weekend. We had the last club of the weekend. We are getting talked to by Brian Griffin (Griff) from West End, Richmond. He tells us that we are going to sing a song (How Deep The Father's Love For Us) and that afterwards, we'd start what is known as the say-so. The say-so is when the new believers get their chance to publicly announce to their friends that they have begun a relationship with Christ. I look around, and only a few Roanoke kids are standing up, one of which I was very glad they were, but we almost got done, and Griff says "If you guys who have started a relationship with Christ, but haven't stood up, I invite you to stand up" I look around, and people start to sprout up like Wildfire. Next thing I know, I look over at my twin brother, and he's looking back to ask a friend to stand up with him. He gets the microphone, and says he's begun the relationship, and my heart rises, and tears form around my eyes, because I just could not help but let it out. I'm looking at my friends, who all also see him standing, and hear him speak it, and they look over at me, and they know I'm crying tears of joy, because it's been something I've waited on for years!

The hugs go to him for his acceptance of the greatest Love there is, and the hugs come to me from those guys who have been a part of this fight for my brother. Now that the Lord has won that battle, I just hope Brett learns what it's like to live in relationship with Him. It's funny, here we are, 13-14 hours later, and I'm still beside myself with joy! God is so good.

That's the story, and I'm trying not to get emotional typing it, because it's the picture of the message, and of Young Life.

I love you guys...

TJ


"One day every tongue with confess You are God. One day every knee shall bow"

Awake, my soul.

There is a Bible Study that I go to on Sunday nights with a few friends. We go there to just grow as brothers in Christ, and help us to really go deep with the Lord, and to teach us what it means to really want to chase after our friends in school, or wherever really.

We've been having this Bible study for a while, and don't get me wrong, I have learned a lot from it. There is just something that is starting to stir within me, and I think it has to do with some revelation that has been going through me.

  ^"Then God said, 'Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.'”  Genesis 1:26

God wanted to make manking in the image of Him, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. Part of my revelation is that in the making of the image, he made us into a trinity as well. Just as God is the soul, Jesus is the body, and The Holy Spirit is the spirit, we too have a body, a soul, and a spirit. How sick is that? There are people in the world who strive to be like God, well we have a head start over some things in that respect. There is no way to be fully like God, since there is no way that we can be perfect, but there is nothing else that God gave this trinity to. No fish, no bird, no livestock. All other things are one thing. We have this trinity, and that really shows how much God really cares about us.

Another thing that I learned that goes along with this is that when you feed any part of the trinity, the other two parts will start to become like the part you are growing. The illustration we got was like a three way venn diagram, With the labels "body" "soul" and "spirit". When you have the wants of the body as your main focus, your soul and spirit will start to become just like those of the body. Making you more about those things you are growing your body with. When the desires of your soul are your main priority, the focus of your body and spirit will become to the specifications of the soul. Like wise, when you grow your spirit, in any way, but in the sense that you spend time with the Lord in prayer, quiet times, fasting, however, you will start to notice that your body and soul will be one with the spirit.

If you feed the wants of the body, they will become the wants of your spirit and soul. If you feed the wants of your soul, the wants will be the same in your body and spirit. If you were to feed your spirit, your body and soul will also grow to have the same wants.

Hearing this taught me something from a verse my good friend taught me last year.

"Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all else will be added to you" Matthew 6:33

Learning the thing above has taught me that all else, may not be the desires of your body or spirit. This means that all else means all else that God has in store for you. I do admit, that it did make me seek the Lord, in hope that the other desires would be fulfilled, but I don't think I could go deep, cause I would not let the one desire that I had go, because I was convinced that there was no way it came from me. I'm still not totally sure, which is why I geuss discernment is always a good thing to have. Once you learn to let all your body and soul wants go, and just grow your spirit, the things that your spirit wants, even desires of relationships, and other matters will be given to you, because your spirit is God's, since you have been filled with His Holy Spirit. Which is awesome.

I just pray that I would grow my spirit, and I know that something will be given to me by God.

I hope you all have a good day!

Love y'all

TJ

Respect my authority!!!

I know that we all have those times in our lives where we just have Satan all over our backs, and all we want, is for him to go away. No matter how hard we try, if we are trying on our own power, there will be a zero percent chance that you will succeed in that battle. The biggest thing about going through those times is some people tend to think that if they pretend it's not there, they will just feel better. Then the feeling keeps on coming back. The temptations, and the other feelings that come with them. Let's just say that we do have an enemy, he will try everything he can to tear you apart from God. He will also do everything he can to make you do the things that you do not want to do. Our enemy is very powerful. Not only that, but he is very crafty, and he uses the combination of the two to make you believe a lie. We can not hope to beat him at his own game, in the sense that we use what little power we have to fight back. We however, have the authority to fight back.

Now some might think that having power can cause you to automatically gain some form of dominion over the people who you are using that power against. The thing that apparently hasn't crossed the mind of our ever crafty enemy, is that he does not have the authority to cause any of the bad things to happen to you. He has the power to tempt you, he has the power to tear you apart, but he has no authority over you. It's actually quite the opposite. Meaning you have all the authority over him! Nothing that he can do to you is strong enough to beat your authority.

Think about it this way: You may have more power than a police officer. You may be stronger quicker, faster, and just more able to do harm to him, than he is to you. That does not give you the authority to just go around beating someone. Think of yourself as the police officer, and Satan as the person who overpowers you. The police officer has the authority to take the man into jail and such if he were to try to harm him. Just like that, we have the authority to totally kick Satan's but to the curb, and not deal with the crap that he brings us.

A quote this makes me think of is "Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. It is that we are powerful beyond measure" I think that many people will think that there is nothing they can do about Satan, but God intended for man to have dominion over the earth, and everything that isn't Godly. We have the authority to tell Satan to get his happy butt away from us, and our friends. Because God sent Jesus to restore the Kingdom that He was looking to build, we have been given the authority that we were supposed to have before the fall. Praise God!

This does not mean we just say to ourselves, "Be gone, Satan!" We must keep into account that we still need Jesus, and that if it weren't for Him, we would not have such authority. Jesus is first, then comes everything else.

I hope this inspires you to, as we said last night at Bible Study, "Get big" on Satan.

"If you try to meet Satan with a power encounter, we will lose! If we meet him with authority, we will surely win!"

Handling adversity

I'm sure you've been there. Had someone make you believe "I can't" Had someone try to define you by actions, and not the truth. I'm a firm believer in "You can do anything you put your mind to"

I have always had a problem with people telling me things like "You're too small" or "There's NO CHANCE you can do this". Ever since my school life started, this has been something to get me absolutely fired up. It pissed me off. It made me want to do the only thing I thought, sorry, I KNEW I could: prove them wrong.

As a kid starting off in sports. I played baseball as a little kid. Kids told me I was even too small for such a simple game. I got mad, and every single game I played, I would remember that, and that soon fueled my way into becoming the best. I wanted to be the A-Rod, I wanted to be the Derek Jeter. Nothing was going to stop me. Soon after that, it just became the love of baseball. Something I still wish I never lost. Anyway, the point is, when you make it your mission to be what YOU want to be, you will accomplish great things.

I can think of a good friend of mine who may or may not have had this problem, but she has definitely made it her mission to be the best she can be. She is currently a junior at Cave Spring, and she has taught me a lot. She wants nothing more than to be the best goalkeeper, and whatever she does in Volleyball, player she can be. Her determination has been such a great thing to see, and truthfully, I don't think it really affected me til now.

She strives to be at her best, at all times. She has put long, hard hours of complete work towards both volleyball and soccer. She's on a U17 league for Volleyball, and I know it's because she has worked her ass off to get there. She's playing up because she is THAT good. She worked to become that good, and she's, as the Frosted Flakes tiger says, "Earned her stripes". She also went and made it her mission to be on Varsity soccer last season. Well, unless I was trippin' on something REALLY heavy, she did that too. She gave it her all, and she has persevered through the strenuous things, and she earned that Varsity time. Yeah, she didn't get what she expected but that just shows us sometimes things seem to be better than they actually are, I guess.

Another friend that you would have had to be CRAZY to say he couldn't, but still can be used here because it shows what hard work can do, is a man who is now a senior at Cave Spring. He has been working as hard as he can for the longest time now to be the best running back he can be. Well, he put so much time in going to weightliftings, and working in his own time to get there, and he wanted to prove that dreams come true when you have a goal, and you work for it.

He's been the starting Tailback at Cave for 3 years now, and  he has been running well the whole time. Credit goes to the offensive lines too, since without them he goes nowhere, but the thing is, this year, he's running at about 200 yards a game, and this past Friday night, he broke a few records. One of these records just happens to have formally been held by Tiki Barber. The rushing yards record at Cave Spring High now belongs to this man. He also now holds the touchdown record. He has worked his tail off in order to erase whatever crazy thought of doubt someone might have had in him. Some can say he's not that good, but let's face it, Tiki Barber was good, and this man broke his record, soo I think he's a little good (I think this is a major understatement). If someone told him he couldn't, he took away the thought of it.

Come to think of it, people did say we would not be good. The past 3 years, Cave Spring was never thought to have a good season. My freshman year was the first year of this, which is also his year has starting tailback. Team went 10-3 overall. Regional Championship. He, along with many others, grew tired of people bashing on them, and wanted to make a statement. They showed up, and shut people up. The next year, everyone thought they were done again, 8-4. Region Runner-Up. Again, they showed up, and said "We are not taking your negative shit, and we're going to be the team we KNOW we are!" This year, they're oging on a 5-2 record, and they are working their tails off. This man, along with the many people who have made it possible to achieve this status have made Cave Spring football a name in the state of Virginia.

The moral of this post is when people get in your face, when someone looks down on you saying you can't, or something related to that. You have but three choices.

1) Let is consume you, and believe what people say.
2) Let it piss you off, and bitch, cry and moan about people saying it, but do nothing.
3) Let it piss you off, let it put a chip on your shoulder, and make it your mission to prove the bastards who said you can't wrong.

I don't know, but I'm thinking most of you would pick choice 3.

Basically, don't let the world tell you who you are, the world is wrong 99.999999999% of the time anyway.

Love you guys,

TJ


"I may stumble & I may fall BUT I won't give up til I get it right because I'm NOT a quitter! I get up, dust myself off and TRY again!" - I don't know I got it off of Status shuffle

Young Life thoughts/100th post

One thing we constantly talk about in Young Life breaking down the walls of guys and girls so they can see Jesus. The only problem I've seen is that it seems to be kind of separated. In a sense that girls seem to only chase girls, and guys seem to only chase guys. I don't know, while yes it probably is a little easier, why it only happens that way.

I remember when we were planning club this year, Goody talked about the first Young Life clubs. They had the group of people who started to reach out to the kids i n the school. Eventually, they got to the point to where they wanted the Varsity Quarterback to go to club, because they knew that if he went, more people would go to hear about Jesus. There was a girl who made it HER mission to get HIM to go to club. They had club, and the QB for sure walked into the club with the girl at the end, after the partying, after the songs, and the games, and the skits, and they just heard the talk. Well, the QB ended up bring the ENTIRE football team to the next club. Mission success, right?

Thing is, I've always been told that as a guy involved with Young Life, we chase after the guys. Be them in middle or high school. My only question: Why does it seem like it's an unwritten rule nowadays that guys chase guys and girls chase girls? It could just be me, but I do believe that if we make it our mission as brothers and sisters in Christ to chase after the lost kids in school, work, or whatever we do, regardless of gender, then more people would really feel welcome.

Think of it this way: Does Jesus really care if, for example: a guy goes and loves on a girl trying to show her the love of Christ? Or if a girl goes to love on a guy to show him Christ? When I look through it, Jesus said "Go and make disciples of ALL nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit" He doesn't say make sure they're men if you're a man, and vice versa for women. He wants all people. If one girl doesn't generally hang out with girls, or a guy typically doesn't hang out with guys, who is going to show them Jesus? Maybe that's a case where intergender outreach is needed.


I'm not sure it could just be a feeling I'm getting, but I know that girl reaching out to the QB changed his life. He accepted Jesus because SHE made it her mission to get him there. He died in a car wreck 2 weeks later. If someone hadn't said they'd reach out, he'd of died without Christ. That's what made it so impactful.

If you agree or not, well that's your business. This is just something I felt needed to be said.

Yeah, there's nothing real special I can do, but it's my 100th post, soo......yeah? Idk, Jesus doesn't keep track of how many posts I have

Hanging by a moment

I'm falling even more in love with You
Letting go of all I've held onto
I'm standing here until you make me move
Just hanging by a moment here with You

I'm living for the only thing I know
Running and not quite sure where to go
And I don't know what I'm diving into
Just hanging by a moment here with You

There are a few reasons that this song has been resting so heavily on my heart. The first reason is, my brother showed me this song for the first time. My non-believing brother, showed me a Christian based song. It's the best thing and Praise God for it

The second reason is that most of my recent life has been described in just these two Stanzas of the song..

Letting go of all I've held onto:
There are a lot of things that I have been holding onto in my recent past that I can say I no longer have to deal with. The first thing involves someone else. The second, something I used to love.

The first thing I've let go of is someone who I still hold near and dear to my heart. I used to like this person, like a lot. She helped me start to realize that I don't need club, or a Bible study in order to get into the Word. She helped me come to my senses when it came to having a personal relationship with Christ. The things she was learning sometimes went along with the things I was learning, and I was sure glad that she and I were going through Sophomore year together. The biggest thing about this was something I should have known or at least thought about before I started letting myself get sucked too far in, and I can honestly say, I failed at that. She had her head on straight, and she was thinking about the things that mattered in life, and kept concentrating on that while people like me were just distractions coming her way. That's one thing she's really got going for her, she has some intense focus. She actually helped me in letting me know that she's not thinking about that stuff, because I've been learning recently about having a real "tunnel vision" towards Jesus. Weird how He uses things like that. Long story short, God definitely used her to grow me a little bit. I'm happy for that, but I'm also happy my heart's finally letting itself be set free from that one thing. It wasn't helping me to try and be that connected to her. Yeah, I still think she's probably one of the most awesome girls I've ever met, but she's got a very bright future ahead of her and she's focusing for it.

The second thing that I have let go of is something that I used to have the most passion for, and I must say it was the hardest thing I've ever had to do, but what had to be done, had to be done. I must say though, it's only been like 2 days, and I can tell that I have made the right decision. The second thing I've let go of is football. Whether this is just because of PH, or because I know that I too have to focus on my future, and what's going to get me places. I chose to give this up because I wasn't having fun, I wasn't getting any better, and truthfully, I just wanted time to get ready for college. I have to raise my grades. I have to do many things that will boost my GPA, and I have to get ready for my SAT's and all that junk. I can't have football getting in the way of the things I have to do, because I just don't have the time to do all the things I'm assigned usually. I also have bad memory because my pent up anger that comes from football covers everything I had to do. I'm very easily lost in thoughts. When I made this decision, Goody just happened to show up. This definitely wasn't an accident. I sure as heck didn't see the man walk in. He came out and I told him about my decision, and he prayed with me. This is the best thing that could have happened in this situation, because right then, I realized that a great burden had been lifted from me. I was also much happier in school today.

Standing here until you make me move:
With that decision to give up football, I wanted to make sure it was something that would help me grow closer to Jesus, and from what I can see so far, it has been. I stood and went through it, until Jesus told me that it was the right thing to do. I've also been waiting for Jesus to put kids in the school on my heart before I just start blindly reaching out to people. So far, more people have grown to be my friend through that, rather than what I did last year, with trying to get any and everyone into the groove of whatever I was talking about. It works, just let Jesus take the wheel.

Living for the only thing I know:
I think this is just a simple explanation of High School since April of my freshman year. April 5th of my freshman year. The day that changed my whole life. Ever since then, I've been living for the only thing that is unchanging. Everyone has changed since then, and only one person has managed to completely stay the same. Jesus Christ.

Running and not quite sure where to go:
What this is saying about my life is that I've basically started just running somewhere. Where that place is has not yet been determined, but this goes with me, because God's trying to teach me something with being at PH, and I'm not sure exactly what it is yet. I've just gotta keep trusting that whatever He's teaching me will be useful next year be me at Cave Spring, Hidden Valley, PH, or wherever I'm taken. It's about freaking time I've had this kind of  "adventure" in my walk with Jesus.I feel as if there hasn't been much of this, but God's answering a prayer by giving me this challenge. Trusting that His plan is good, while He slowly reveals the things He's trying to teach me by taking me away from the things I was comfortable with and taking me into a place where comfort is a foreign concept.

I don't know what I've diving into:
Like the last line says, I have no clue where Jesus is taking me right now, but I can definitely see that it is part of His master plan for my life. I have no idea what I've diving into, but I know why, and for what reason I am, so I just need to go to work on it, and take that proverbial "Leap of Faith" It's been a good long while before I've had to take one of those. Oh, how I love those :)

Hanging by a moment here with You:
When you think about it. In the eternity that is God, we are but a moment on His timeline. He's timeless, so the 50-60-70 or more years we live on this earth may seem like forever to us, but to God, close to no time has gone by when we finally get to see His face. We've gotta hang onto Him for this small moment we have on this earth to find where He is. Once we've found Him, we need to cling to Him as if.... No, because our lives depend on it. That's all there is to it

We are but a moment to God, so why not just praise Him every single day for the things He's doing in our lives, and the lives of the boys and girls we reach out to every day.

Like it says in The Show Goes On by Lupe Fiasco,


"Never, ever put 'em down,
You just lift your arms higher.
 Raise 'em til your arms tire,
 Let 'em know your there
 That you strugglin, survivin'
That you gon' persevere,"

I love you guys.
TJ

Can I do that?

Have you ever had that feeling, that you know you want to go out into the deepest pits of the world, and do God's work, but then you slowly realize that you don't have the resources to do so, or you think you're not good enough for the job?

I know I have


One time I remember having this time of feeling was around Spring time last year, all of my good friends were talking about going to Costa Rica for Spring Break, and  I desperately wanted to go, because I knew that God was going to use all of us to do great things there. Well, I knew that money was going to be my biggest adversary when this came along, but I also needed to get a new passport.... I thought "Well this sucks!"

There are many times where we're called to things we can do something for, like giving money to things. I never really have money of my own, and the one time I did recently, I gave every bit away for this group supporting Kendall Bayne's cancer fight. Well, the Lord said when you bless another, you too will be blessed, and I found the exact amount I know I gave away to them, sitting in my pocket. I knew I didn't leave my house with money, and I knew there was only one reason that it showed up. God put it there.

Back to the point of this post though.

We had this man who used to work for the International Justice Mission, or IJM giving the sermon at church the other day, and he basically talked the whole time about ending modern-day slavery, and prostitution in the world. He said that even though we know we're not always thinking we are the best for the job, God will definitely provide you with the necessary resources that you need in order to get His work done! I think that we also expect God to just give it to us without us trying to get the things we need. I think that if we just go and give it a shot, God's provision will be clear as day when we realize that something showed up that we didn't have before. I sure tell you what, money isn't the only thing he's provided for me when I felt called into something, even if it was sprung on in a moment's notice.

At Saranac this summer, I had a friend give his life to Jesus. Praise God for that, but the thing was, he didn't really know how to surrender his life to Christ, because no one had told him how. One thing I can say, the months and the week before camp especially was a very difficult time. I felt like I had lost everything that I could say was good. I had no friends at home other than Zack and Tanveer, who I got to spend little time with. I went to church every week, but I didn't really have other things to do. Campaigners each week helped a little, but it wasn't enough. The bible study I was apart of also helped a bit, but I couldn't always guarantee I was going to be able to go.

Thing was, I was at a dead point in faith. So during the week at Saranac, I didn't know why, but I wasn't the TJ Vaught that people had seen from me just a month before at school. It was like I had gone back to most of my freshman year, where I was just a kid who didn't care. Sure, I hung out with them like i wasn't, but I acted like an idiot, I talked in ways I shouldn't have, and I still thought that I was fine. Boy did I get a wake up call.

My leader, Pete and my friends all noticed that I was being a bit different, and it wasn't okay to them. My friends all knew that something was up, and they wanted to know what. Truth is, I felt alone. I had little contact with the world, and my friends more specifically, and I grew tired of it. We liked to go out and talk after Cabin Time, and one night, I went out, sat by myself, and just thought about what was going on, and why it felt like I had a target on my chest. Nick, Zack, Pete, all tried to pull it out of me, but I wasn't letting anyone in. Eventually, I opened up to Nick, and he helped me a lot. Pete then pulled me over and was as honest as could be, saying, "This is not the TJ Vaught I know", basically. We talked and I was convinced he was right about some things that needed immediate change. Others, I had to let die down slowly.

I had felt like Tanveer and I were at odds for whatever reason. We never talked, he seemed like he hated being around me, and I kind of felt like a burden. Well, this was one of the things that needed immediate fixing, or mine and Tanny's friendship may never be good again. Tanny and I talked, and we each told each other what was mostly pissing us off about the other. He showed me the error of my way of showing it, and all was good. God provided some type of boldness to Pete and Zack and Nick, and he provided boldness and courage to me. Without that provision, I'm not sure how Tanny would feel about me now.

God had fixed me in my worst problem stage of my life since before I gave my life to Jesus. In no better timing, mind you.

Back to my friend who gave his life to Jesus  at this camp. We were talking after our 20 minute time with Jesus, and my friend was convinced he wanted to, but like I said he didn't know how! So we were talking by a tiki torch about what we did during the 20 minutes, and just before everyone left, I wanted to ask how we could pray for one another, and my friend looked at me and said, I'll stay, when everyone left. Once it was me and him, he told me that he saw the way my friends and I who had Jesus had nothing but pure fun while doing simple things, and he said he wanted it. Obviously, this instills a little bit of an obligation to help him to come to Jesus in anyone, so I told him, "Let's pray for it" basically. To make this story shorter, and to clear up confusion that may arise, God took me, the most obviously not qualified person to help someone come to Christ, and used me to do so. God provided the boldness I needed to take anger away from my heart, the forgiveness I so  desperately need every day, in order so I no longer feel burdened, and the discernment to see that my friend wanted to find true life. Also, I was provided with the wisdom to help him do so. God provides the things you need, to do His work.

This was one of the things that I thought about when the man was talking about how God will use the people who don't seem like much, or don't have the necessary things, and use them and provide them with those things.

The exact quote was

"God does not call the qualified. He qualifies the called."

Didn't Jesus even say something like "When you ask for anything in my Name, it will be given to you." Granted this is when you are void of selfish ambition. God will give you the things you ask when your goal is to further the kingdom.

Alrighty, have a good week


Love you guys

PS: Happy Birthday to my Dad!

TJ

"God does not call the qualified.  He qualifies the called."

Community

Have you ever heard the phrase "the best things come from the worst things"? Because in the past two weeks, there has been a huge thing that have really shown me just how tight the community in Roanoke really is. One is very big, and about a young girl.

First story isn't a new thing to some who will read this. There is this young girl named Kendall Bayne. She has been diagnosed with a very rare cancer. She is such a sweet girl, and she just has so many great aspects that make her who she is. She has an infectious smile, that is just filled with joy, and it brings people joy just to see it. Another thing she has is the fact that she is such a sweet girl who is full of life, and so many people loved to be around her.

I never really got to talk to her before this horrible disease originally came in, but if the is one thing that I am sure of, it really breaks my heart to see that she has been diagnosed with this disease, and I just hope that through the prayers given by the masses of people in Roanoke and around the world, that God's miracle-working hands would heal her. They say there is no cure, but if God can raise people from the dead, I know that He will work a miracle here.

Kendall's un ending joy been through this time is very encouraging. She knows she has the support of all the people of Roanoke and that stretches all over the country and even to Europe! I'd never have thought that someone going through something like this could keep her head up so easily. It's impossible for me to even get an idea of what she has been going through. I know that she is fighting as hard as she can, and I hope that it never dies!

Though this kind of thing is happening, I have noticed that the entire Roanoke area is falling behind her more and kore as each day goes by! There are many people in my school who do not know who Kendall is, but they still support her fight. The boundaries that were once there before have all fallen down. It said so on a news thing, that cave spring and hidden valley's rivalry, though when it's not during sports , it's less effective anyway, has diminished. I think that the walls all over Roanoke have been crumbled. I think that may be Gods work. God just wants His people to be in a close community, where we feel safe being with each other and being in community with each other. He is using this time to bring His people together behind this girl who the community loves so much.

People can say that the end is near, but I know that Kendall will not stop fighting against the cancer, and I hope that God will work His miracle working hands. We pray continually for the healing of this beautiful, young girl. This event is huge and it has really brought the community together.



We love you Kendall! We're all praying for you, we know that you won't ever give up!


Fight like a Knight!


TJ

Serving over leading

I just read an FCA Impact Play devotional thing on my email, and there was a statement by a little 13 year old kid who went to one of their camps that spoke to the heart of probably many people, but it has definitely impacted mine.

"If ya ain't serving, ya ain't leading."

This statement is one of the many things we are told by Jesus Himself in so many different ways. In Matthew Jesus says "For even the Son of Man didn't come to lead but to serve". Of course that's a bit paraphrased, but the point is, Jesus came to yes, lead us from death to life, but He also came to help us become servants of our brothers, so that they too will know the meaning of love from Christ's view. Maybe we can take this even farther?

I'm not exactly sure what your situation is right now, but I know that in my life, football is one of those things that requires a lot of service to the team. You have to GIVE the team your best. You can't tell them that they have to, because in reality, you can't tell them how hard they are going to go in what it is you're doing. The best kind of leader, is one who leads by example. School football, along with sports like Volleyball, and golf take up the last month of Summer. There is quite literally almost nothing else you can do. You're GIVING away your time so you can play these sports, instead of hanging out with friends, like I know all of us would love to do. It takes a lot of service to play fall sports for school, since they go from the end of Summer to sometimes into the early Winter. It's quite a long time.

Even in other sports too. School soccer for my area is in the Spring time. In all reality though, you have to train for things like that from the beginning of Winter almost. It goes from things like running during the Fall and Winter times, to tryouts in late Winter. Then once you're on the team, it goes from then til pretty much the end of school, and maybe after if you're going to states or something like that. You GIVE a lot of your time to do sports. That's one reason why sports represent a lot about what it means to be a follower of Jesus.

Think, in defense when you're playing football, Volleyball, Soccer, or most other things, there is a pattern you're in. Football, you have 11 guys, who each have different jobs, different holes they have to fill in order to make sure that the ball doesn't end up in the end zone. If just one person doesn't do their job right, or they don't do it to the best of their ability, it can mean the difference between a tackle for a 5 yard loss, or a 50 yard run for a touch down. In Volleyball, if one player leaves their position, to try and be a hero, the ball could hit the floor, because of the interferance with two players colliding, or if someone on the other team notices and hits the ball into that hole. Each player has that zone they must be in. In Soccer, the formation you're in has 10 different players (Keeper not included) that are in different places. In a 3-4-3, you have three strikers who can take shots from different angles, 4 midfielders, which can give you good control over that section, since you can use the whole field with less running if you had 2 or 3 midfielders. Then you've got 3 defenders, which are usually fast, and in shape so they can get the ball back up top to try and score. If one player leaves his or her position to try and help out, and no one fills in, or they don't get back, that can leave the keeper in a bad situation where it may be one-on-one with the keeper having bad odds. Zones mean a lot in sports, and if you don't SERVE your team with playing your role to the best of your ability, in can mean a TD, a goal, a point, or whatever type of scoring system your sport uses. It's based on what you GIVE to your team.

Every team has it's own set of leaders. These are the people who have given everything to the team they play for for every year they've been there. 4 years generally for high school. They are the seniors who have sacrificed 4 months or more each and every year to get better, and make sure they can be the best they can be. The people who go through the two-a-day practices, each year in order to get that W on Friday night. The people who train to run faster, jump higher, and get better each and every day they practice. The ones whose blood, sweat and tears cover the playing field. In victory or defeat, when they've lost the big game, or they've won their first state championship. They've given their lives for that time period away in order to say "I've earned something"

The same goes with Jesus, my friends. The only thing is, you don't have to give up blood, sweat or tears. You don't have to give up your time to hang out with friends. You just give Him your life, and trust that His plan will get you through. When you serve in the name of Jesus, that will lead people into wanting what you have in Him. That's how it happened for me. My friends Zack, Adam, Quentin, Eric, Jack. They served me in the most simple ways. Giving me rides to Young Life, buying me food when I didn't have many, though that's a good majority of the time, pushing me to get more out of things. All of that affected my decision in giving my life to Jesus. Their service lead me into relationship with Christ. They lead by example, because Jesus lead them by example. We love because Christ first loved us. Christ taught us how to love someone, and we love them in the way that Jesus taught us, and that brings people to see Jesus. When Jesus taught us the Lord's prayer, He prayed it with His disciples. He led them by example, in which He was serving them too. He taught them many things. He did those things first.

I can't think of the word, but I tend to be a person who learns better when I see it done first. If I am the first one to do it, chances are, I will mess it up. When it comes to a drill, I'm either second, or close to last in lines, because I want to see it before I do something. If I don't know how to do something before we go to do it, I expect that there is someone to teach me how to do it correctly. That's how it is with our relationship with Jesus, when we spend time with Christ, we learn how to do things, by the example that He has given us. We then can better put it into action.  I think this 13 year old named Larry who said the above statement, realized this, and wanted everyone to see what he had learned from Jesus.

Thanks for the inspiration, Larry.

Thanks for reading if you did.

I love you guys,

TJ


"If ya ain't serving, ya ain't leading."

How fickle my heart

This past week has been a different kind of hell that I've never really known. Having to go through each day knowing that there isn't one person on this new team that I know, or that I think I can totally trust is making each day harder and harder. There are a few guys I can talk to, and it's getting easier to talk to the guys, but I still don't think there's much of a chance of me really getting to know any of these guys. It's just something that I don't think I'm ready for.

The biggest part that makes the last week so bad is that I don't want to be where I am. I don't want the colors I'm wearing. I would much rather be at Cave Spring, where I have been welcomed in with open arms, even back when I was just starting. People there were just accepting. At this new school, that's not existent. I'm not welcomed by the people there. The coaches, the players, barely even the JVs. There are 2 people who were happy to see a new face, but now it's just like they don't care. It's really based on how good you are at playing football on how the guys on the team view you. I don't like being judged based on how well I catch the ball, or how hard I hit someone. While yes, a big hit fires everyone up, that's not what I'm playing for. I remember when I was simply playing because I loved football. Why can't that be the reason to play?

My biggest problem with the team so far is that many of them are either out of shape, or don't wanna work as hard as they can. I know that at Cave Spring, this never, NEVER would have been tolerated. People walk onto the field as if we have the whole year to get there, and then they don't want to work. Now I can understand if you just want a small break, but it's every time.

The worst part about this though, I'm NOT at all excited to play this year. I don't like that at all. It's really because a big part about being human for me is I need to be reminded a lot of the time that not everyone has the chance that I have right now. Coach Fulton STRESSED that. People every day watch football and want to be a part of it, and something about them says they can't. Be it a mental disability, a physical problem, like paralysis, or something like that. It's just something that many of us take for granted, and I'm no different in that respect. I just need that constant reminder that says "You are blessed to be able to walk onto this field today"

To sum this whole thing up into one sentence; I'm not enjoying football for Patrick Henry. I don't like it, and I'm not sure how I can make myself want football. I just want to go back to the great red and black. The team where I basically got my start at football, and the team I will hopefully get to end my go at High School football. I don't feel at home, and I don't feel like I'm supposed to be here. Only one thing has kept me going

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD. "Plans to prosper you, and not to harm you. Plans to give you a hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

If I didn't have Christ right now, I would have said I'm done with football at PH. The only reason I'm staying with it, is because I think there is something for me here, I just don't know where it is.

I may be hating every minute at practice, but I know there's a reason I'm here.

I love you guys.
TJ

This is how it is

Because our school system is a bunch of idiots, I won't be going to Cave Spring this year, even though they lied to me. That's a whole different story though.

I have started playing football for Patrick Henry High. I must say, these kids don't know what it's like to have to work for something. Not that many of them go as hard as they can half the time, and they think that a spot on the field on Friday night is going to be given to them. There are seniors who don't know routes, and I must say I'm rather embarrassed to say that many of them are very out of shape.

Another thing I can tell you is, I'm not looking forward to this school year as much as I thought I was anymore. I don't want to be at this school, and I really just want to go back to Cave Spring. I just have to trust that God does indeed know why I'm there, and I pray that He will let me in on His little secret.

To all of my friends at Cave Spring. I love you guys, now more than ever. As the saying goes "You never really know what you have until it's gone." Even though I will still see you all at Young Life, or other places. I still feel as if there are many things that I've left unsaid. Things left undone.

To someone who should know who they are. I would like you to know that part of me hasn't changed a bit. I still really like you. I just can't tell you how much in person. Right now anyway. I know you're not even close to thinking about it, but my heart knows what it wants. I love you.

I just want to say that should my family's plan go the right way, I'll be back at Cave Spring hopefully by the end of football season, but I don't even know if we will by then. I will miss you all terribly, and I want you to know that I intend on finding the right group of guys to hang out with.

With a heavy heart, and still wandering mind, I want to tell you guys that I love you, more than ever before.

TJ

Could the maker of the stars hear the sound of my breaking heart?

The song Hold My Heart by Tenth Avenue North is resting heavy on my heart right now. As to why that is, if I knew, I would gladly tell you. I only have a few guesses, but it really shows me how small I am with the chorus going

One tear in the dropping rain.
Once voice in a sea of pain.
One light, that's all I am

Those lines really show me how small I am in comparison to God. It goes for all of us, and it also shows us that we can easily be washed away with the things of this world. It's so easy for us to get caught up in things like sports, money, girls or guys, school, and just all these other bad distractions that take away from who God really is. The dropping rain to me is the world who doesn't have Christ. It's like a rainstorm and if you've ever cried in the rain, you can't ever tell. You're already soaking wet, and you can't differentiate between a teardrop and a raindrop. I think it really portrays how small we seem.

The flip side of this is it also shows how much God loves us. To me, it seems like God knows which drops are your tears. He can tell them, and He catches each tear that falls. With the voice in a sea of pain, to me it seems as if the sea again is the world. They cry out if some thing temporary gets taken from them, and when we are going through trials of any kind, we cry out to God. It shows me that we can think "There's no way God hears MY voice over all of these people!" God does hear your cries though. God does hear the sound of our breaking hearts. Each of them has a distinct ring is His ears. It's like a music teacher who can guess the pitch of a note just by listening to it. Each of our broken hearts distinctly rings in God's ears. God's heart breaks not only when we sin too. His heart breaks with ours. He hates it when we're in pain

When God feels you in pain, He not only hears the sound of your breaking heart, but He will also come close to you and hold you heart. Fix it and put it back into is new form. How amazing is God's great love! Not only will He heal your heart, but He will make it stronger. With trials come perseverance.

One tear in the dropping rain
One voice in a sea of pain
Could the maker of the stars
Hear the sound of my breaking heart?

One light, that's all I am
Right now I can barely stand
If you're everything you say you are
Would you, come close and hold my heart?

While this song has definitely told me how small I am, and that there's no way that I can go through this life on my own, it has also shown me God's amazing, steadfast love for us. God holds you in high regard, and He will never leave you.

I hope this helps you out. You're all beautiful creations.

I love you
TJ

It's amazing

It's amazing, how You love me.
It's amazing, how You care.
It's amazing, how You're always
Thinking of me all the time
Everywhere

Or,

It's amazing, how You love us
It's amazing, how You care
It's amazing, how You're always
Thinking of us, all the time
Everywhere

In any case. Just know that you are God's child and He'll never disown you. You are all beautiful works of His creation and you are the sons and daughters of God.

I love you guys.

Encouragement 4

My good friend, Kendall.

Kendall is a girl who loves many things. Photoshoots, soccer, volleyball, but most of all, Christ. Kendall is a very, very strong person, not just in a physical sense, but she knows where she can run. I haven't seen many people at our age who have the relationship that Kendall does with her family, her friends, and Jesus. She is one of my best friends, and if not for the fact that talking to her sometimes can be hard, I know that I could go to her if I needed help. She has helped me through a lot of things, and even when times are hard, she finds a way to bring a smile. She's also a very good soccer player. I don't know how long she's been playing, but I know that it is one thing she loves almost more than anything else in the world. She is one of few people who can say they've played Varsity sports before Junior year, and that's an accomplishment. She's very good with building relationships too. She started leading Wyld  Life this year, and I can already tell she is going to be one heck of a leader.The girls at club love her, even though she can't always be there. She has such a heart for the girls younger than her. It's very encouraging to see people run after their friends like that. Kendall also is a very good Volleyball player. I've never had the opoortunity to see her in a game, but I know that she does well, and that Varsity this upcoming year will be a great experience for her to show Christ to the girls on the team who don't know Him. Kendall also has a skill for the game called Ninja. Probably one of the best, and funniest memories I have with her, is the 20 minute ninja battles we have, when it was just me and her left. It was a fun time back then. Also the Lunch-time ninja battle! The best part about her though, she's a beloved daughter of God, and that really makes all the difference right there.

Love you, Kendall!

Love you guys.
TJ

Encouragement bomb 3

One of my best friends, Michael!

Michael Bier is probably one of the closest friends I have, even though I don't have many deep talks with him all the time. He's a great accountability partner. He's always ready to help me realize it when I mess up, and he lovingly tells me the things that I need to hear in order to make it right. He's also a great soccer player, though he says different. He has such a great heart for his friends and for the Lord. He just got back from Work Crew not too long ago, and I can tell he's grown a lot in that time. Michael also is a very smart kid. He can figure things out that most kids wouldn't even attempt. He's also a very deligent and deliberate worker. When he makes a decision to do something for the Lord, or for anyone else, he gets it done, and it's usually done right, He's a crazy driver, but he is good at controlling his crazy driving. He's a good fisherman, or maybe fish just like him. 1 of the two has to be it. :) He's also a very friendly person.

Love you Michael!

Love you guys
TJ

The best part about this past week

Was watching about 7 of my friends come to Christ. That's the best part of life. I'm so proud of my friends who decided that they didn't want to go through life by themselves anymore :) I am so excited for them, and U just hope that they know the by no means is this life going to be 100% easy. I just hope they know they can come to me, or any one of their leaders. I hope you guys had as good a week as I did.

I love you, my new brothers and sisters in Christ. :)

I love you all as well

TJ

"For I know the plans I have for you" declares the LORD, "Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you" declares the LORD, "and will bring you back from captivity" Jeremiah 29:11-14

Encouragement bomb 2

You know him, we love him, his name is Zack!!!

First off, today is his birthday, so I would just like to say that this day 18 years ago, the world got just a little better. Happy Birthday, brother. Zack was written about in my first post about these, but I didn't go into all the detail I could. I only touched base on the fact that he is good at loving other kids the way that Jesus loved him. I will get to that, but I think it's important to know that Zack is definitely the person I consider my best friend, even if I don't get to talk to him all the time. I would like to say that Zack has not only helped me the best way he possibly can with the stuff that I deal with all the time, but he helped me come into the greatest possible thing, and I must say, God did a good job with him. He's always so ready to serve the Lord. I have seen this man go from kid to kid, just showing them the love of Jesus. This beloved son of God just wants everyone to know Jesus with all of his heart. He's a man after the heart of God. I can not wait to see what God has in store for this man. I just want to say, the work he's been doing is not only pleasing to me, and the rest of my friends, I'm sure, but it pleases God to know that this man He created is doing this work all the time. It's never ending. Zack knows that, and he's ready for anything, because he knows it's not an easy thing to do. Zack is very good with encouragement. Which in my opinion is why people like him so much, because he gives the people the truth, but that also happens to be the exact thing they need to hear. Zack also is amazing at speaking Spanish, and it kind of fake-frustrates me when all he does is talk is Spanish haha. One thing that amazes me is his ability to learn things easily. Zack learned guitar very quickly if you ask me, and it was his dedication to serving us at Young Life which made it possible for him to get so good, so quickly. Probably the most "profound" thing about Zack is the fact that he can muster up a burp better than pretty much anyone I know with half the effort.

That's all I've got and I just want to say that I love you, bro! See you in approximately 12 hours :D

Love you guys,
TJ


PS Yes, I did this on his birthday on purpose

Encouragement bomb 1

I said I was gonna post about my friends, and what makes them awesome. Well, here's my post for one of my best friends, who probably will never read it, but still. Here's to you, Eric

Eric is one of my best friends from school. He was an amazing wrestler, and I know if he still wanted to, he could go and win states easily. Well, not easily, but you get what I mean. Eric is also insane at Ultimate Frisbee. Whenever I play Ultimate with Eric, he's probably got the most energy. Eric is also one of the greatest people I know at helping me with my many problems. He's an amazing listener, and he's always willing to give me the best advice he possibly can. He's been such a great help throughout this year, with all the things that go on in a day, he's always willing to just stop, and see how everyone else is doing, and what's going on in their lives. Eric is a quiet soul, but when you hang out with him, he's not scared to show his talkative side. Eric is also a great leader. He leads Wyld Life, and the kids there just love him. He knows most of them by name, and people listen to him very, very well.  The best thing about Eric, is the fact that he not only is a beloved son of God, but he shows it, and lives it. He's been such a great example of Christ, and like it says in 2 Corinthians 2(maybe?) he's got the aroma of Christ. He's shown the attitude of Christ in his life to many people. Like my brother.  Eric is also great at giving encouragement. He's always building people up, even if everyone else is tearing them down. He's also extremely good looking. No homo.;). Like I said, Eric's just all around one of the best friends I have ever had, and I know that I'm not the only one who thinks so. Hopefully his sister will make him read this when they get the chance, but hey, if he doesn't, oh well. Just wanted to say I love you, Eric ( like a brother). Hope you're having a good time with your last day on WC. See you in a week!

Love, TJ

PS, I love you all too :D

Experiencing Passion In Christ

This past week, I went to this thing called EPIC. While there, I did many things, learned a lot, met many new friends, and got to try and show kids Christ, on top of a lot more.

Well, when we got there on Sunday night, we basically learned what the week was going to be like, but then we had this thing that we did in order to give us a little clue as to what to expect, and I volunteered to be one of the people in it. Well, little did I know that I would be getting shaving cream all over my face, to have cheese balls thrown at me haha. I will admit, this was an amusing way to start off the week, but at the same time it was kind of weird, since I was sitting in a room of people I didn't know getting cheese balls thrown in my face haha. It's okay though because a few of my friends were literally right beside me having the same thing done to them.

Before I tell you about the rest of the week, you must know that we had 6 groups. 2 Holy Spirit groups, which were both Middle School groups, 2 Saint John Middle School groups, and 2 Saint John High school groups. We did that more for an order thing , or something like that. Anyway.

On Monday, after breakfast, we all gathered in the youth center for a devotional. I think this was a very good way to start the day since I know that personally I have a hard time with getting into the word of God every  single day, and just having that time set apart specifically for it was really needed. We studied mainly on the book of Colossians, because that book has a lot about God's works, and such. After the devotional, we set out for Jubilee Acres, which is where we would be helping Rescue mission kids all week have the best time they could possibly have. Monday though, The two middle school groups were the ones who stayed with the Rescue mission kids while the two high schools groups, which I was in, went hiking at the Cascades, yes, the coldest water you could possibly think of for hiking. It was fun though, I got to do flips and junk into it, and people though me and my friend were nuts for sitting in the water still for more than 3 seconds. :) Fun day. We then went back and had some free time, until Dinner, then we had a little more free time to do whatever and then we had worship. I think worship for some reason this week actually became a personal thing for me, because I know that worship is meant to be you surrendering yourself fully to God, and not caring what other people think about it. Well, I do have my sense of pride, so I do care a lot of itmes what people think about me. This week, though, something changed and I was no longer prideful enough to let my own thoughts care about myself. It was awesome

Tuesday, we woke up, had breakfast, and all that junk, then we had another devotional. This was a daily thing, and I won't go into details since it was a lot of the same thing every morning haha. We then went back to Jubilee Acres, and this time the middle school group from Saint John went hiking. So it was my groups, and the two Holy Spirit groups working with the kids trying to help them have a great time. I jsut stood back and took pictures mostly, because I'm not very good with 5-7 year old kids, haha.The kids were great though, so it was no big deal. When we went back to the church, we got to help out with VBS. I didn't do anything that day, but it was rather amusing to see my friends doing the things they were doing. We then had dinner and worshipped again. After worship, we sat down and talked all as a big group, and it was awesome, because we got to share about where we saw God working that day, and it was awesome that even my friend who went into that week not knowing Christ, had things to share where he was seeing God work. That was one of the highlights of my week.

Wednesday was the same start. Instead of going to Jubilee Acres, though, we went to the New River instead. we all went tubing down the New River, and I must say, I've never had so much fun going down a little bit more than a lazy river haha. I had a group of 6 people that I went down with the first time we did, and we just chilled and talked for a while. We then arranged ourselves in a chain-like thing, and went down the rapids like that. Get this though: On the way through the rapids, my friend fell off her tube, and was trying to get back on. Well, she sort of gets on again, and we save her midway. She grabbed onto us as we grabbed onto her, and we came out of the rapids with 7 people. It was awesome haha. That's not all. We could go down the rapids as many time as we wanted, so we all walked back up, and on the way up we recruited a few more people to join our chain. We went down the rapids again, with a total of about 36 people. I think it was awesome considering people would be exiting rapids as soon as people would be entering haha. That was the funniest part, other than my friend Stefani getting pushed away by my friend, Ben. That was really funny. The highlight for me of that day was teaching my friend Jonathan how to do a backflip on straight ground. Hasn't tried it yet as far as I know, but he will. I then landed my first side flip. It was such an adrenaline rush. We then went back to the church, and dinner and worship. After worship, we sat down again, and my friend who didn't know Christ said that he wanted to know God, but he couldn't feel it in his heart. We all prayed for him to meet Christ, and hoped that something would come out of it. That's not all. After bed time, my friend we had just prayed for, my friend Jonathan, and I snuck away, and went into the sanctuary. While we were there, My friend Jonathan told his story to us. I must say, people think that the things I go through in life are hard, but this guys story takes the cake. I'm glad he found Christ, because I'm not sure I would ever have known him if he hadn't. I then shared my story with them, and we went off to bed afterwards, because it was like 3 AM haha.

Thursday, the mornings have begun to be a ritual. We all knew it was the last night we had together, so we were going to make the best of it. We went back to Jubilee Acres, and the two Saint John groups were with the kids. Well, sort of. There were two groups there, and half of one group was on "station duty" even though we were never taught what to do haha. The other half of that group was doing a series of things that were made to help build up your trust in the group. This was very eye-opening, in a way. Since they had you close your eyes, you had to trust that the people you were grouped with would not let you fall, though you could not see them. This really screamed out Christ to me, because when you put your faith in Christ, you can't physically see Him, but He is always going to be there for you, and He won't let you fall. It was a very cool thing that we did. We helped out with VBS again when we got back to the church, and this time I was playing the part of one of the people who just walks by the person who gets robbed in the story of the good Samaritan. How mean of me, right? After we had worship, we, instead of having a time to sit and talk about where we saw God that day, we had a dance party with Glow sticks and shutter shades. Heck yes! haha. We quite literally danced til we were too tired to dance anymore, then we danced some more. We then had a bonfire going, and it was great to have the fellowship of all the new friends we had made that week. We just had a blast with each other, and we were singing songs and all that fun stuff. We then went to bed.

Friday, the final day. All 6 groups were at Jubilee Acres this time. We were all there to help the kids have the best time they could have. Doing whatever they wanted. After lunch though, while everyone else was watching a movie, a few friends and I started filming this movie. We decided that it would be a good idea to make a parody of the story of Daniel and the Lion's den. Instead of lions, we used fire ants. Well, we didn't have fire ants either, but you get the picture. It was really hard for me to do this, because the guy that I was doing most of the movie with kept making me laugh, so we have many outtakes of me and Justin as we attempt to make the movie great. We got through it though, and I can not wait to watch it. I kind of learned what it's like to be in Hollywood. Where we always cut and retake. It was cool though, towards the end of the movie, something clicked in me, and I was able to go through scenes with no errors on the first try. Corey though, was doing that like he did it for a living haha. It was cool though. Can't wait for it to hit youtube. I'll probably post it here if I can. We went to Loch Haven lake for my friend Haley's birthday party, and to celebrate an EPIC week, no pun intended. It was really fun to be there with all the friends that I had just made, and the cool thing was teaching my friend Jonathan how to do a backflip from the high dive. I then did a gainer off a high dive. I've done it off of a deck, but I didn't think it would be the same. It was haha.

The coolest thing about this week was my friend that wanted to get to know Christ so badly did come to meet Him. Praise God for that. I also think that is was cool that all of the middle schoolers there were so in touch with God. I saw my buddy Cole there and he was the first middle schooler I know that actually just let go of himself and fully surrendered himself to God during worship. He's got such a strong heart for the Lord, and I hope that continues. He's also going to be a famous singer one day, because he is a total BOSS at singing. I met a lot of new friends, and I must say that this week is definitely going to have an affect on how I live my life as a Christian and how I reach out to my friends who don't know the Lord. My absolute favorite thing that happened though was one Wednesday I got a call from my Young Life leader. He called to tell me that he had enough money to send my brother to Young Life camp, and I just about cried of joy. It was one of the best feelings that I could have knowing that my brother might be on his way to at least hearing the message loud and clear. I just hope he decides to go. All in all, from the friends, to the times, to the time with God, it was one of the best weeks that I have had in a good long while. I still can't wait for Saranac though. That's going to be the best week ever. I can just tell.

Well, I hope that you all get to have a week like this at some point. Everyone deserves to have times like this in their lives, even if they have to make things like this happen themselves.

I love you guys.
TJ

P.S. I am freaking excited. 4 days til Saranac.

Pride bombs vs encouragement bombs

I just read an FCA devotional that talks about how athletes like me and a few of my friends, can get that sense of wanting self-glorification, or wanting others to give us praise. Even when we're not on the field, I know that I personally, am very guilty of this. I've tended to, during my conversations with people to be bragging about things that I've done, instead of lifting the other person up. I don't like that. I want to lift the people I talk to up about the things that are good about them. The devotional talked about how we are always seeking this encouragement, and praise, but even if we get it, we have done nothing to glorify God. What glory to God is there when you seek out praise? We should be living our lives to show off God, and not our own talents.

There is a song that says
"I will not boast in anything
No gifts now power, no wisdom.
But I will boast in Jesus Christ
His death and resurrection."

This verse of the song makes me think of how we can tend to boast in the things we do. It also makes me think that I no longer want to glorify myself, but boast in the fact that Jesus did the one thing that no human that has ever lived other than Him of course, could have done. I want Jesus to be my boasting. I also want to lift you all up.

That's going to be my goal for the rest of high school, and hopefully the rest of life. To constantly lift everyone up. No matter if they love me, hate me, don't know me, or any other way. That's one way to show Christ to other people. When you build them up, especially when the world wants to tear them down, they notice that you're different. That's one thing I can say of my good friend, Zack. He is great at building other people up. He's been reaching out to this guy who I've become friends with, and Zack might be one of the only people I know that can constantly, even if he doesn't feel well, building other people up. He's done such a great job of showing Christ to this one guy, and to others as well, that I know God is very pleased with this work. It is very encouraging to know that it can be me doing that. I just need God's help to do so. I want the love of Christ to shine through me like it has through Zack. Love you, brother.

My friend Kendall is gifted with her sports. She does sports because she loves them, but I know in her mind that she's trying to show people how Christ has affected her life in every way. She's very talented with what she does, and I've never heard her boast about it. That's encouraging to see. I've never seen her play before, but I know that she does great. She just wants the world to know Jesus the way she does. I know she's going to continue playing for the Lord, and I know that through this, people will see her love for Christ, and that Christ is the reason she's such an awesome person off the field/court as well. Love you, sister.

I think that over the coming weeks, that I will post about a certain friend, just telling the great things that they do. There are so many friends that I have that love the Lord, and they are all great at something. They show Christ so well to their friends, and I know they want others to know Him too.

I just want to say I just had a great week where the friends that I met are good at dropping encouragement bombs. They rock, and I hope to see them all again.

I love you guys
TJ

P.S. My life bangs