Living out the message..

There are a good bit of things going through my mind here lately, but one that has been on the forefront since this past weekend, is if I am as deep of a steward of the Word as I should be.. I feel that I am not. I feel that I live a life that people can look at and see that I have a growing relationship by how I treat people and live day to day.. But I have started thinking here lately I need to get deeper in the Word and really begin to be a steward of it. I started my journey to read the whole Bible cover to cover, this year, and I am already slacking greatly. I just find myself putting off the reading for other things and justifying that with excuses that do not come close to covering for my shortcomings. When reading a little devotional today, I read John 6:63 that says "The words I speak to you are spirit, they are life" so not only do the words He provides for us are life, but they should be exhibited in our lives.. I then began to search and found this little tidbit that proves my point."Preach the Word" 2 Timothy 4:2.. So not only are we called to learn the words, but to be stewards of the Word. Go take a little side challenge with me to dive into His Word and live it out and use it for all aspects of life. hope this made sense.. it does in my head, ha.

Day 10

Grace and Peace,
Seth

Love God. Love People. Hail State.

Late night posting..

Challenge day 9.. crazy..

So today was a weird non conventional day.. had to wake up early, which was no fun, because I have not gotten good sleep since like last Wednesday night, anyway, we as "Ridgecrest Summer Camps" employees went to a CCCA (Christian Camping and Conference Association) Regional meeting and lead a little meeting thing to teach people how to do recruit staff effectively, well actually Phil and Sharon taught it.. Kathleen and I were more like cheerleaders and support, it was a 3 hour drive over there, then we were there for like 2 hours then drove 3 hours back.. it was more driving, not what I needed in life haha. So anyway, when we got back I finished the workday, then went to see Alice in Wonderland 3D, all by my lonesome.. I really wanted to see it but no one wanted to go with, so I just set out on my own. I enjoyed it, it was entertaining, but nothing to "write home about". Then vegged out in front of the TV to Idol, Glee!, and some random sports on ESPN.. it is March Madness time you know.

As for what the Lord taught me today.. this is the day I have been dreading to write about.. I was so busy today and caught up in me that I didnt look for those "blessings" today.. I feel really bad about it, The challenge works I got back to camp and realized I had not blogged then realized I had nothing really profound to blog about today either, I did wake up in an amazing mood, because we were blessed with great weather today, but no meat or anything today.. I guess not every day is filled with groundbreaking revelations from God, or maybe even that we discredit things that are smaller. Like I just said that nothing really happened today and as I write this out and think about it, it's pretty stinking amazing He even allowed me to experience another day on this amazing earth.. and one that had beautiful weather on top of that. So I change my mind.. I did learn something today.. well was reminded of something.. take joy in the blessings that we have daily, another moment to live on His earth.. and rejoice that we can have days like this and realize He is sufficient for us in all we do. Even the little things in life.

Will leave you with a scripture that I have read lately that I enjoy
"Prove me, O Lord, and try me
test my heart and mind.
For your steadfast love is before my eyes
and I walk in your faithfulness"
Psalm 26:2-3

Grace and Peace,
Seth

Love God. Love People. Hail State.

Long weekend, but God was working

Sorry for the 3 day break guys, that will be the last time i will NOT post for the rest of the month.. it was a excused hiatus from the Blog part of the challenge, because I worked a Disciple Now weekend in Birmingham at a church that I have been working with since my Freshman year at State... I have been leading the same guys for 5 years now.. their 8th grade year through this year, their Senior year. It has been truly a blessing in my life to work with these guys and get to know them over the past 5 years we had a great time learning about Christ together and just talking about their futures.. and appropriately the theme of the weekend was "Purpose" and it was something I needed as well as these guys at these transition times in our lives. We talked a lot about how Christ has to be first in our lives and our main focus and how that is sufficient in life.
It was a great weekend where God taught me a lot and made me count my blessing again in life with the opportunities I have received in my life to serve him in unique and amazing ways. Isn't it amazing having a God you can approach and be personal with? I like Him.. A lot.

And it was great to see a good group of State people! Miss that place..

Love God. Love People. Hail State.

Grace and Peace
Seth

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