Created for Glory

May we be

...one nation UNDER GOD, INDIVISIBLE, with liberty and JUSTICE FOR ALL

Congratulations President Bush

Thank you John Kerry

Currently Playing Arriving By Chris Tomlin see related

- Indescribable (KLOVE! I love this song!) -

Getting ready to go to leader's retreat tomorrow.  I'm excited to see everyone and really looking forward to the start of the school year.  It's been interesting being home.  It's been good because I have been able to kick back and chill, which I really needed.  But then again, I don't really have any close friends here, people that I can just hang out with whenever.  And I never really was involved in my church here at home, so going there I really don't know anyone well and, to make things worse, the church community is an older one so there isn't really anyone my age.  So yea, missing my christian brothers and sisters more than anything else. 

So football season started this weekend, huh?  I think I was feeling the tug there more than anything else since I've been home.  I haven't really been thinking about baseball all that much, but they play pretty much everyday and the season has been going on for months now.  But I was in high anticipation of football season because I was pumped about the Raiders with all the changes they had made to the team.  Oh well, perhaps I'll watch them do it up next season.  I can't complain because: God is good, all the time.  All the time, God is good!

I talked to my sister Janet on the phone today.  We had a really good conversation.  Unfortunately, the Army denied her discharge at the last moment so she was pretty bummed out about that.  But the more we talked about it, I began to feel like maybe it's better that she stays in although I was hoping to see her.  She signed a contract and committed herself to give four years to them and she wants to get out simply because she doesn't like it.  I understand that it might not be the most enjoyable line of work or setting, but I'd be willing to bet anything that she isn't alone there.  The more I talked to her, it seemed like she just wants to get out to show that she doesn't have to put up with this and she can do what she wants.  So I don't know if her discharge would be the best thing for her in the long run.  I didn't know how to share this with her at first and as I began to hint at it she became upset.  She started to get really angry and, as I would later learn, let off what was a lot of pent up frustration.  But we talked for a long time and she apologized and told me that it wasn't directed at me and that she just needed to release, so I was actually glad to be able to provide that outlet for her because she says she doesn't really have anyone there in Virginia that she feels she can talk to.  By the end of our conversation she was really encouraged and actually thinking of ways she could make the best of the remaining two years of her contract.  She just struggles to maintain that perspective and it's hard when she feels lonely.  So I was really happy to talk to her and to be able to encourage her.  But she needs a whole lot more.  I want to put forth a lot more effort in maintaining contact with her so that our contact is more regular and often.  I know that would be a blessing to her.  More than anything, I need to pray that God would provide her with encouragement, strength, and perspective each and everyday so that she might be able to persevere and receive the good things He has for her through this experience.  Though she may not see it now, one day she will see the good that God will bring from these four years in the army that she calls "hell".

Currently Reading Run, Baby, Run By Nicky Cruz see related

I never realized how great reading is.  I have been reading alot during my time home this summer and really have begun to enjoy it =)  The book I'm reading now is like a follow-up from the last book I read, "The Cross and the Switchblade".  If you haven't read it, it's an amazing story about a small town pastor from Pennsylvania who one day hears God call Him to up and go to New York City to minister to the youth on the street, in particular the gang members.  What transpires is only that which the Holy Spirit is capable of.  So the book I'm reading now is the autobiography of one of the gang members that had his life transformed by this pastor's work and it is stunning! 

I read Dietrich Bonhoeffer's "The Cost of Discipleship" last week and that book was my favorite of the summer.  I don't know what it is, but to me it seems like Bonhoeffer is just on another level and he writes with profound truth.  This ain't no apologetics as Bonhoeffer calls us out from the go.  It challenged me as he opens with a discussion of cheap grace vs. costly grace.  Whoa!  He continues on to remind us that the call to discipleship is the call to follow Jesus to the cross.  I don't know about you, but far too often I forget that this is what it's about.  It wasn't meant to be easy and Bonhoeffer writes it as he lives it by example.  If you haven't read this one, ya'll need to jump on it!