Getting Married. Camp. Life.

God is constantly reminding me that HE IS IN CONTROL. No matter what plans I have or preperations I have made, or things that I think that "I" have completed, God simply says, "I AM."
I AM the Maker of the Heavens
I AM the Bright and Morning Star
I AM the Breath of all Creation
Who always was
And is to come

I AM the One who walked on water
I AM the One who calmed the seas
I AM the Miracles and Wonders
So come and see
And follow Me
You will know

Chorus:
I AM the Fount of Living Water
The Risen Son of Man
The Healer of the Broken
And when you cry
I AM your Savior and Redeemer
Who bore the sin of man
The Author and Perfecter
Beginning and the End
Yes I AM

I AM the Spirit deep inside you
I AM the Word upon your heart
I AM the One who even knew you
Before your birth
Before you were

Going through this flood at camp also reminds me of how God's hand was sovreignly in every part of this week. From the darkness of Thursday morning, to the sunset on Thursday night. God says for us to "Cease striving. Be still, and know that I AM God." Psalm 46:10

Weathering The Storm
by Vanese Henley

Right now you're weathering your storm...But know that storms don't last forever. Like the strongest tree you are a sound and rooted structure that will not waiver beneath the attacks and assaults of your storm. Yet after the whirlwinds, downpours, and twisters has settled and calmed you will find that, like the tree, you are unmoved and still standing but stronger and sounder and more rooted than you've ever stood before.

L.I.F.E.

"CHRIST... being in very nature GOD,did not consider equality with GOD something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing,taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross! Therefore GOD exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus CHRIST is Lord, to the glory of GOD the Father." -Philippians 2
I continue to pray for the team from Salem Heights right now, even as they sleep, because the Lord is not sleeping; never has, NEVER WILL. :)

The Purple Fantasy: Continued

First wrong: driving in the slushy Snow in March. Second wrong: Too many passengers. Like 7 too many.
So the night was cold as we ventured in the snow, the men all excited and yelling mighty bold, as we drove by Balyo with girls squealing high, the men and I let out a whoop-Holler cry. Down to Farrar we drove with much delight, in hopes that the Farrar boys had not called it a night. You they like to be men during the day and in the dorm, but once it hits 10:01, its "lights out, close your door!" So we scrambled out all 14 piled tight, and I ran to the window of Nobu, the least of our fright. I whispered "LET ME IN!" as he leaned out his 'sill, trying to figure out why I was sneaking to kill. So he open the door and we all piled in, whooping and hollering which much sure-grin, to find the dorm sleeping and all that we saw, was a cranky Dan Morrow trying to lay down the law. So we tackled a Freshman, ran past two RA's, then left yelling,"Merry Christmas! The snow's here just for a day!!" Then we all piled into to my wagon of 'cheer,' with smiles and giggles without any fear. When all of the sudden, there arose such a clatter, that all started wondering what could be the matter. The engine? Transmission? or No, could it be?! That my poor little van would be a dead Fantasy. So I stepped on the gas trying to make it up the hill, and we all hoped and prayed that in the end we'd avail. When finally we made it to Pvg's crest and cheers all rang out because we'd bested the best. The Purple Fantasy had made up the hill, through the snow and the sleet creating a chill. As we entered into Davidson, I was happy as could be, until the gears all stopped working and yelled out with a plea, "On Nuetral, on third gear, on Reverse and Drive, why won't you start working! Come on; stay Alive!!!" But each gear stopped working, it went straight ahead; both neutral and reverse pedal down went dead. So I turned off the engine and push it to a halt, where my poor car sat staring, saying "Rick, it's your fault."
So if anything learned in this story tonight, learn from my mistakes, two wrongs don't make a right. THE END.

The Purple Fantasy

Many a days have I lived since the death of my Purple Fantasy, my beloved purple '99 Plymouth Voyager. I longed for the day that I could take it to Canada or Mexico, but it died two weeks before I left for Spring break this March.

It was snowing in Salem, in March... MARCH!!!! and I ran to touch it in all of its glory and to feel its crystallized embrace upon my upraised hands. Many shouts and men were running around at 11:27 that night as Davidson jumped alive on the Monday night in which it turned 30 below. I couldn't hold the JOY inside as I ran and frolicked a muck in the parking lot, now filled with pajama wearing 18-21 year olds. I shouted, "To Farrar!!", the rival man dorm on campus, to express our joy with them as well. 14 barefoot men scrambled into the Purple Fantasy for its last voyage....

To be continued...

The Journey

The car that I have been traveling on has been taking me down such a crazy road these last 3 years that I don't even know which way is what, and where I'm going. ONE thing I know for sure is that GOd has his hands on the stearing wheel rather then just taken passenger or the back seat. I started down this path around my Junior year at Salem Academy where I was involved in...let's just face it...everything. From choir, chamber choir, jazz band and concert band, saxophone and guitar, to three sports a year and church, close to straight A's, camp counselor at Canyonview during the school year and summer, Lifeguard, student leader at school, and finally...God. What were my priorities and where did they fall. I saw that God was becoming the things I "said" I was doing it for, but so many times, I was leaving it up to my strength to do things on my own. My first official year as being a counselor at Canyonview was the best summer that I had had in terms of finding my road back to simply delighting in God's will for my life. I hadn't stawed off the path by any means, but I had felt like I had taken a few detours. God showed me that summer that life is more that thrills, and girls, and making money (which I still haven't done as an 8th summer veteran at camp hahaha) and that I could be content in the knowledge that GOD is in control, not me. I began journaling that summer for the first time and I have made a point to do it every summer since, not particulary perfect record, but practically everyday and most events. My teacher, Mr. Plato, was the one that inspired me in history class when he was telling me about his journals that he had since his senior year in highschool and saw that progress that he had made because of it. Journaling means writing down the events of the day, yes, but also your thoughts and prayers to God. He showed that it isn't the matter of perfect grammar or handwriting (which I almost have:) but the content and what you were praying for, how you were talking to God, and the things that you are dwelling on. I told my self, "why wait antother year, let's start now. It hasn't always been easy, but definately worth every extra hour or more of writing. Since then, I've seen so much growth and change in who I am as an individual through Christ, yet there is still so much that I need to work on. This year now, as a 20 year old in college as a Junior (blast the year I skipped 8th grade...) I can see that I am still the same 17 year old I was that summer, in all my craziness, joy for the little things in life, thrills for adventure and new and exciting things, but that I've grown up in maturity, not seeking the things that I once did in sinful desires or petty things that would bog most men down. I'm not perfect, nor will I ever be, but why not strive to be? Why are we scared to say "let's live a perfect life," not by the standars like the Pharisees, but in the way that is describe in the 3rd chapter of Colossians to not live immoral lives and to strive to be like Christ in action and in mind. Many more thoughts, poems, songs, and journal entries do I have, but that will be for another night. So signing out for the day,
~Richard of the Late Night Owls, the ones which go to bed late and are early to rise, the way I live life~