My First Day in the New Office

So, today was my first day in the office.

I ended up waking up like and hour and a half early due to my first day nerves, but it ended up being pretty good. I got the chance to be a bit more open with my time. Spending some time in the word and in silence just listening to God speak and that is always refreshing.

I get to share a car with one of the other interns, Kelli. Thankfully this is actually really awesome. Kelli lives just right next door with our boss and his wife, Harold and Veronica. Getting out to the car was funny because it was a bit chillier than I am used to. Especially this time of year. Back in Florida it is mostly around 90 degrees. Here this morning it was somewhere in the 60's and for my jeans, flip flops, and t-shirt it was a bit much. Didn't really matter much then anyways. I knew I was going to be inside for most of the day.

Once at work we had a big meeting called a 5 at 9. It is where all of the people on staff come together and basically have a run down on how everything is going. There we had a chance to, very quickly, meet everyone. Unfortunately I can't remember half of those people's names. It was really great to go and be a part of an official church staff meeting. It felt really right. I felt at home.

God has really blessed the relationship that I am beginning to have with Victoria and Kelli (both of the other interns) we are already starting to become good friends. It is really awesome to be with them and I can already see that the three of us are going to work great together. Even in decorating our office with cool stuff and putting together a new desk. I just can't wait to see what God does with us. Here at this internship and beyond as friends in ministry.

I also got my schedule for the rest of the summer. Lets just say that I wont have any problems staying busy. Harold has a lot for us to do this summer. Between time to retreat, reading the three books assigned us, intern classes, hanging out with students, bible studies, and teaching we will absolutely have a lot to do and look forward to.

He made it very clear and I agree that the most important thing will be staying plugged into God. "You can't give what you aint got."Thankfully I have been praying and experiencing thirst and hunger. The kind that just leave you itching for what God wants to say to you that day and what time you can spend in His presence.

So, now I am looking forward to the next 10 weeks and what God has in store for this time. Please continue praying for me and what God is going to do here.

God bless and post ya later!

New Place, New Beginnings

So, I'm in Wyoming.

I can tell you I thought it was going to take forever for me to actually write those words. Even Friday it was amazingly ridiculous. I woke up in Florida at 5 a.m. to go to my plane at 8:15. The more unfortunate thing about that (other than the hour) was that I had a delay on my flight. That did not help things too much. You see when I booked my flight there was about an hour in between me landing in Denver and then me flying into Casper. Well, since my flight got delayed in Tampa that very quickly got taken down to about 15 min. Anyways, long story short, I missed my first flight to Casper and spent five hours in the Denver airport. That wasn't too bad. just a long time.

Well, eventually, I did make it to Casper, Wy. It took an entire day of flying and traveling, but I made it. It wasn't flawless, it wasn't pretty, but the important thing was that I made it.

I was greeted by my host family, whom I will (for now) leave nameless for their sake, with a nice sign with DREW written on it just waiting for me to get there and to start to get ready. While waiting for luggage we had our first meetings and greetings and I have to say that I had already thought that they were absolutely great. Displaying such courage and faith in God to leap into just accepting me, a college kid that they have never met, to live in their home.

Waiting for luggage got to be kind of weird as we found out very quickly that my luggage was still in Denver. Yepp. First time flying alone and my luggage was lost. A bummer, but a blessing. You see this way I immediately got to be humble. I knew right then and there that it was God calling me to be humble. Waaaaaay before anything could start I had to be humble. In ways that are not always easy. Accepting gifts of borrowed clothing, a cheapo toothbrush from walmart, and already a great time of laughing off the attacks of what could have brought me down.

What a great way to enter. Not sure I ever thought I would say that, but there it is!

Past that I was super blessed to be able to meet my fellow interns and actually start a work project on day one. I and a now friend painted about 10 doors. Super crazy, but absolutely God ordained. Great conversation happened and we brought the presence of God somewhere it was absolutely needed. It was a great time.

My first Sunday today was absolutely amazing. The message brought by the youth pastor that I will be with here spoke and brought a very highly called and received message of surrender and letting go. So amazing and exactly what I needed to get jump started. My spirit full and weight lifted right from the get go we were able to meet and hang out with some of our students. Some great kids with great spirit and awesome personality. I can already tell that God is going to be blessing us a lot with them. I have a lot to learn and a lot of room to grow with these kids. They are wonderful and I can not wait to see what God produces in and through them. It will truly be something to be seen.

A new place, a new beginning, and new ways to spread and see our Father. God absolutely blessed my coming to Wyoming and I absolutely can not wait to see what is next. I will definitely write when it does though.

Thanks for reading, praying, and really just being here. Please, continue to pray and seek God in what He is doing here and for now enjoy this picture of the beautiful view that I get to see from my back yard.

Bitter Sweet Endings and Beginnings

Yep, Lots of change happening here in my life. This week is my last week before I leave to go to Wyoming. I'll tell you; this is very exciting and I feel so ready, but on this side of things it just plain hurts. As much as I have tried and could try more it would do no good to fight the feeling of being pulled out of one place and put in another. It feels like how I can imagine a glacier sliding off some frozen cliff in antarctica. As I am leaving this place I am scraping and sliding away from the entire shelf of ice. As I leave my community, my family, and my girlfriend I am not only taking a piece of them, but I am also leaving pieces of me.

The nice thing about all this is that I don't have to say goodbye because I know that I will coming back and I know that I will meet back up again. Unfortunately it doesn't change the fact that I wont be here. I know that I will miss them and some people that I know very little, but our interactions have been presented by God. Even my customers at publix when I worked there. Those people. I may never see them again.

Now dont get me wrong. I still get to pray for my cancer patients that I met, for the random Christians that always spoke blessings on me, for the people at work that I was reaching, for all of them. It still just plain sucks.

Thankfully I do have God on the other side waiting for me. I can almost hear Him call my name. Egging me on. Moving me closer and closer to what is next. His promises are ringing very true. His passion and strength is really starting to build. I can feel my faith growing and my heart growing fonder and I am ready. Truly I am ready for what He has.

So, now is a time to cherish, to pray, and grow. Time for new people to enter my life, for new spiritual movement, time for definitions to be made, and most of all it's time fall deeper in love with God, His people, His Kingdom, and the people He has placed around me.

Thanks so much for reading. I'll keep you posted on all the happenings in Casper. Please pray for all that God is doing. That would be a great service.