A while ago I started reading Nate Larkin's book, Samson and the Pirate Monks as I was preparing for J10Church Porn Sunday. In case you don't know who Nate Larkin is, you can check his story out here: http://iamsecond.com/#/seconds/Nate_Larkin/ In my writing I even made note of the immensity of the story:

So far, it has been an excellent book - it has helped to shed light on a few points that we are trying to convey with our "Hello. My Name Is..." Series. Mainly that we were never destined to do this alone and that recovery starts with someone else. Hopefully the rest of the book holds up with the first 90 pages. I'm sure I won't be disappointed...

This week I spent my $25 on Donuts for an FCA meeting, and let me say that being a part of BRHS FCA is paying off. To all of the Youth Pastors out there, investing in students at local school ministries is one of the most impact-ful things you can do as a part of your career (or whatever you call it). There is so much potential with the students at BRHS and I am so pumped about what our future holds. The only problem is that sometimes it can distract me by the awesome fruit it produces. When I look back at the youth group, I don't see as much, and so it seems to pull me. What I do know is that God is moving and working in both,through both.

I started reading Donald Miller's book, A million Miles in a Thousand Years, and I feel like I have already made it back to the comfort of understanding his writing style. I have read Blue Like Jazz, Searching for God Knows What, and my personal favorite book of all time, Through Painted Deserts. I loved them all, mainly because he is so real in his writing. I really appreciate people who are able to just throw all their ideas out there without concern for the safety of their expose'. Donald Miller gives you exactly what he is thinking, especially when it comes to his random thought process... In case you haven't read it ore are interested, make sure you grab a copy to read, because it is excellent!

In John Bunyan’s church in Bedford, England, there is a poem framed in the wall of the anteroom from which the preacher exits to walk to the pulpit. It reads:

Enter this door as if the floor within were gold, and every wall of jewels, all of wealth untold, as if a choir, In robes of fire were singing here; nor shout, nor rush, but hush, for God is near. And so he is! This is what we need.

I wrote this two years ago... Thought somebody might enjoy it...

Sometimes the wind makes us feel relaxed; a cool winter breeze to emancipate us from our loneliness and allow us to feel complete. But, like all things, wind is two-faced. At times wind can be cold and heartless; relentlessly beating down the wall of our homes with an apparent never-ending efficiency. . .

My $25 this week was spent on hanging out with students again... Who would've thought!? Tonight we are leaving to go to a Starfield concert in Gaithersburg, MD at a local church and I invited some of my high school students to go with me and my wife. I love having the opportunity to do extra activities with my students and invest in them...