Love me some Derek Webb...

Ok guys.. this challenge thing has been cool.. i "challenge" you to start something like this.. if not a blog just a journal or something.. it has made me so much more attentive to God's little things that speak to me, I look for them.. and isnt that how life should be? seeking out God's little blessings in life? and what we can learn from them?

Any way leading to today's "little hello" from God.. I get A LOT of my peace and worship from music.. if you know me, you know I live for music pretty much.. As I was working today, I had my iTunes playing with one earphone in, like usual.. Derek Webb's "She Must and Shall Go Free" came on.. I love that song.. and it has a great lyrics.. I was just singing it in my head and really started chewing on the words.. i will put some in here..

"Mercy speaks by Jesus’ blood
hear and sing, ye sons of God
justice satisfied indeed
Christ has full atonement made"

Amen to that..

Isn't it great to know that we had a God so loving that he gave His Son to pay full atonement for all of our sins.. "Justice satisfied indeed"..


Grace and Peace
Seth

Feed my sheep..

ok.. on the sheep thing again.. ha.. expect a few posts dealing with Sheep, honey and wine, being that the book is something really opening my eyes here lately..

So I have been reading some random passages about sheep now as part of my QT, and this morning I got a little caught up in reading a few, so much that I was late for work, whoops. but let's be honest.. it's a good excuse.. haha.

In my QT, I came across John 21:17 , "Jesus states, 'Simon, son of John, do you love me?' Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him a third time, 'Do you love me?' Peter said, 'Lord you know all things; you know that I love you' Jesus then said, 'Feed my sheep'.

This ties in to a secondary point I alluded to yesterday, about how sheep can not find substantial nutrition on their own without a shepherd.. And this is bringing a new angle on that, we are called as His Commission to us to also 'feed his sheep' through discipleship, but the only way we can fully do that is to seek him first Christ simply says in the next verse, "Follow me"..

- So goal for this week (and life)... 1. Follow Him 2. Feed his sheep

^^ told you I was a checklist person now..

So there is Day 3 of the challenge.. im liking this i think..

Grace and Peace,
Seth


btw.. it snowed 8 inches yesterday.. its March for crying out loud..

I just want to be a sheep, baa, baa, baa, baa

Day 2 of Challenge (I promise not all will be tied together, or maybe they will, who am I to say what God will reveal to me or teach me daily..)

So we are reading this book as the "admin" of camp, together. The book, Scouting the Divine, by Margaret Feinberg, is about a lady who seeks the "organic" view of God. In this book, springing from her personal curiosity, she seeks a shepherd, a beekeeper, and a vintner (person who makes wine) and asks their opinions on certain passages of the Bible including these things and how they interpret it and how it changes the way we look at certain verses.. when the book was explained to me I was NOT excited about reading it, but as I have begun reading, I really, really like it, and really, really recommend it. Anywho, I am just starting the book, still in the first section, about the shepherd, when I came across a snippet, last night, that TOTALLY reinforced what my blog was about yesterday, funny how God works. I wanted to share that with you.

- When talking about how when "dumb" sheep can stray from the shepherd, they will not eat well and die, the shepherd in the book, Lynne, tells the author, "The sheep are literally dependent on their shepherd for their next mouthful." The author goes on to explain.. "Interestingly, when Jesus teaches his disciples to pray, he instructs them to ask God for DAILY bread, not yearly or lifelong bread---- a reminder that, like a shepherd, God leads us every step of the way."

All I thought after reading that was, Amen. Hello, if you didnt read the blog from yesterday, read it then come back to this one. I struggle with giving up control.. esp. about my future.

Once again God, thanks for that peice of daily bread. I will not hunger with servings like that everyday!!

Grace and Peace,
Seth

Can't get better friends... and a challenge for March..

I don't really know how to approach this blog.. The story I want to tell you fits in with the challenge I have been given by Phil (my boss) and Sharon (my other boss), so first let me tell you about the challenge, then the story, then I will tie it all in together.

THE CHALLENGE:

Phil and Sharon have presented Kathleen and I with a challenge to post a blog everyday, talking about what God is doing in our lives/something we have learned from Him/Challenges we are facing/an honest assessment of what is going on in our walk with Christ.. everyday... when I first heard this challenge my first thoughts were.. "I'm gonna fail".. not because of the spiritual part, just because I have become just plain forgetful. I have turned into one of those "checklist" or "to-do list" people.. I will forget it if it isn't on a post it note on my desk or in my Google Calendar.. so what did I do? I put an alert for everyday @ 5pm for my calendar to alert me.. problem solved, I hope. Other thoughts about the challenge included, that this is a forceful way for me to share what is going on in my life.. I still feel a little forced, but being forced to assess my relationship with Christ daily on a blog will have more good than bad consequences. So i accept this challenge.. now don't expect everyday for me to bring something deep and moving to the blog.. if you know me and anything about my walk with Christ, you know I approach my walk more than casual, with passion nonetheless, I just am not your typical theologian who is deep all the time. I love Jesus, I love that he is there for me and I love digging deeper into a relationship with him, but I do NOT know everything, or will i try to claim I do.. It will be an honest assessment of the day.. bad, good or neither.. ok that is the challenge..

STORY:
titled: Best Surprise Ever

ok picture this, I am lying in bed asleep Thursday night..we are talking deep sleep, and around 230 am I hear this banging on my door.. like multiple people knocking. I wake up, in obvious delirium from deep sleep, and walk to the door, in boxers only, with thoughts of Kathleen being in trouble/someone is going to kill me thoughts.. open the door to a surprise.. 3 of my closest friends had driven from Starkville, MS (God's Country) to surprise me and visit, as i have begged them to since I moved here. I am completely shocked, as I stand there in my pink polka dotted boxers and hear them yell surprise, and the only words I can say are (in muffled tone) "best surprise everrrrrr" ha. David, Kori, and Kelli had been in contact with Kathleen planning a trip to surprise me here in Ridgecrest.. I was overwhelmed with happiness and just feeling good about having friends that awesome. They stayed all weekend and I naturally hit all the Asheville/Blk. Mtn hotspots with them (Morning Glory, Tupelo Honey Cafe, Bier Garden, Downtown Shops, Take a Hike, Dripolator, and Hiked Kitazuma)... all the while just being able to catch up with them and share what has been going on in my life. They left, sadly, Sunday morning at 11am ET, ha. But as they left some of my last words were 45 days, that is until Super Bulldog Weekend when I will be going to Starkville for a few days! This past weekend was just one of the most perfect weekends in the words of Kori "Get a better weekend!".. this leads to the tie in..

THE TIE IN:

I found myself all weekend, thanking God for my friends. I pray daily for all of them, and for what they mean to me in my life, and I found out this weekend I am significant in their lives as well, which feels dang good. I love my friends from MS, to no end, and I have always said that I wanted my favorite people in one of my favorite places (NC), and this weekend it happened, and I am thankful for that. I was reminded this weekend that I am a blessed guy. I am blessed that God has had his hand in every aspect of my life from what happened to me as a child to motivate me to go to college, to the weird things that led to my being @ Mississippi State, to the friends he led me to, when I needed them the most, to putting me here, now in this internship. I am struggling to be content and ok with my future.. because I don't know what it is going to become. I try to figure it out on my own daily, and have to be slapped in the face usually by God to realize that I need to look to him for that it is like he says to me "how foolish can you be? Can you not see how I have led you and guided you so far? Follow my daily, and you path WILL be revealed.." I struggle with that.. greatly. And God used 3 little tools this weekend (Kori, David, Kelli) to remind me to count my blessings, these being in friendships and to recognize, he is STILL in complete control of my life, like he has been in the past with all my past blessings. It is a simple simple concept that my stubborn mind doesn't comprehend very often.

So special shout out to David, Kori, and Kelli again.. I hope you know what it meant to me this past weekend, everyone, just be jealous of my friends.. go ahead..

Psalm 73:24

So be looking for a blog everyday for the next month.. with the exception of this weekend because I will be at Disciple Now in Birmingham!! Some will be just that on the blog, others tied in with a normal one. Pray for me as I go through this challenge as well, That God will reveal himself to me in new ways, and give me the words to share how he is working in my life.

Grace and Peace!
Seth

2,200 miles, 13 days, 8 universities, 4 states, 1 dang good time

Whew.. sorry it has been so long since I have blogged.. if you missed the earlier posts, I was gone for 13 days, 2/8-2/20 on a trip all down the east coast visiting old Camp Staff and Recruiting new ones.. because Ridgecrest Summer Camps takes only the best staff.. so we go to big measures to get them.. I had a grand ole time, it was weird being alone on most of the trip though.. 6 of the 12 nights were spent in hotels, and 6 on couches/beds of some very good friends. The trip started with a great night with Stewart Lee and some good people in Clemson,

then I headed down to Tallahassee and FSU, where I was able to see a ton of good friends and have a ridiculously awesome time.

Then over to Pensacola (the bay) where I was so close to Mississippi I could smell the fried goodness and hear the Cowbells ringing. That was the night of the TRUE MAROON basketball game against Ole Miss, I watched alone in my Hotel room as we swept them yet again, and are making it into another one of those situations where we show complete athletic dominance over TSUN, as well as academically, duh.

Then I headed to St. Augustine and Flagler University, where if you have not been to St. Augustine, you must go, soon. It is like a classier, cleaner New Orleans.. with beaches.. so best of both worlds. I got to chill on the beach there in the 65 degree weather, agreed that it is not ideal, but better than snow in NC!

Then down to Orlando, where I had some great times, and a REALLY REALLY bad Tuesday night (Kentucky game), but got to hang with some great staff and campers and visited UCF and got a free ticket to Universal Studios! Man, it was weird being there all alone, but getting in the single riders line for everything was awesome! I rode everything at least 2 times I was being a kid again definitely, and made some friends from England, NY, Spain, and California! And even got to share with one couple what I did and it intrigued them and kind of shared a little bit of the Camp Mission and Gospel with them. They enjoyed it and said it was great to see Christians reaching people in such non conventional ways.. although camp is pretty conventional in the U.S. ha.

On the way back North I had stops in Gainesville, at UF, where I went into "The Swamp" where the legendary Tebow played for 4 years, ha.. and then saw some more great staff!

After Gainesville, it was up to Jacksonville to UNF, where I got to see one cool chica, Kelly Lipscomb, my counterpart at Crestridge last summer.. she showed me some fun and then I got to recruit some staff from UNF.

The last stop was Charlotte, then back home to snowy Ridgecrest!

So that sums up the trip very briefly haha.. if you want to see more pictures they will be uploaded on facebook sometime in the near future.. in the meantime...

Love God and Love People.

Grace and Peace,
Seth

I'm a travelin' man..

God is good.

I have started the hardcore traveling for the internship. This past week I was in the Commonwealth State (Virginia for those of you who need some more American History). While there I was able to visit Virginia Tech University, University of Virginia (where I saw Libbie Thomas!!!), and Liberty University. Those are 3 beautiful campuses.

VT-


UVA-


I didn't take any pictures at Liberty.. whoops.. I really enjoyed the trip and got to see some great friends and meet a ton of new people and even got a few people to apply for camp.. I'm good at my job if I say so myself. And a cool story, while at Virginia Tech, I sneaked into Lane Stadium, Home of Beamer Ball, and even met Bud Foster, VT defensive coordinator, inventor of the "lunch-pail", if you really know me you know how much I loved seeing and experiencing other colleges and their History and Traditions. I even got a tour at UVA from a "U-Guide", which is their form of "MSU Roadrunners" they have nothing on us, but the girl did give an amazing, impromptu tour of Jefferson's Rotunda and "the lawn", the campus is beautiful.

While at VT, I was able to see the April 16th memorial, where the stones lie for the 30 people killed in the VT shooting, it was very touching and a reminder of even though we make fun of Maroon Alerts at MSU, they are used as a preventative and keep us safe.

I will be leaving on Monday for my next big adventure. I am leaving on an 11 day trip that includes stops and recruiting at: Clemson, FSU, Pensacola, Flagler, St. Augustine, Orlando, Gainesville, Jacksonville, and lastly back to Charlotte, NC. I am excited and hope to see some sun and warm weather.. God is good and I am amazed every day at how much he has blessed me with in this opportunity I have been given.

Random Stuff:
- I am beginning to read 2 books this week, one is personal: Crazy Love; and one for work: Scouting the Divine. I am very excited about both.

-We had yet another ice storm here, and as frustrating as it is, it makes for beautiful pictures and landscapes.

Winter Wonderland.. it's like being in a movie

Well this weekend has been fun/surreal/cold/freaking sweet, We did NOT get the 15 inches of snow but we did get 7-8 inches at camp.. I have now been sledding, attempted a snowman (who knew snow could be "too soft" for a snowman), carved snow art, and been snowed in for a day.. hello new life experiences!.. I am now going to post some photo documentation of the "white death"


My poor Dora, she is still like this..

Welcome to Camp in the Winter!

My home in the snow

But... I will leave this amazing place for the first of my 2 BIG trips for recruiting.. I leave tomorrow for Hokie Land and visit Virginia Tech, then off to see my good friend Libbie at UVA (Wahoowa!), then to Liberty, the lands most conservative college, to recruit some staff at all 3 over the next few days.. i'll be back on Thursday night, then head out next Monday for my 11 day journey through SC, GA, FL before finishing up in Charlotte on February the 20th. So.. be praying for safe travels, and that God will lead some great staff to Ridgecrest Summer Camps!

Grace and Peace,

Seth

PS.. I miss and love my dear friend Avent who posted a tearjerker of a blog post about our friendship.. the feeling is mutual Ave..