day 26. time for the journey home.

and so that's it. the last night of my epic roadtrip. this last week was great! i was up in vail, colorado hanging out with my buddy jim rabun(not to be confused with jim rayburn, the founder of young life lol). his life right now is the definition of "living the dream". during the season, he works up on the mountain. cafeteria, driving the ice trucks, and in this sweet hot dog shop up in the trails. in the mornings he wakes up and him and his buddies are the first ones to hit the slopes. which makes for some super stellar rides with fresh powder. then they work all day, and according to them it doesn't even feel like work. then they come down from the mountain and go back to their places and hangout. and that's what they do. all. winter. long. freaking sweet! it's seriously is awesome and almost tempting to do myself..but of course school is more on the front line now.

anyways, long story short, vail was awesome. and even though i didn't get to hit up the slopes because the season was over, it was awesome seeing jimbo and hearing about what the Lord is doing in his life right now, even though the place he was at is definitely one where struggles happen big time.

so after leaving colorado i took off for the great state of kansas. which had to be both the best and worst drive of my trip haha. the first few hours were great because i was driving through the canyons of east colorado, but then i got into kansas. oh lord help me. kansas is nothing but flatlands and fields. farmers and crops. emptiness and roads that go on forever. but it was still totally awesome! i enjoyed being in the car and stopping every now and then to check out random kansas hotspots. like a gas station. a truckstop. a mall. oh, and KU! because even though kansas has it's sketch parts, one great area is lawrence, where my friends mj and sarah were at!

KU was great. its funny, because even though kansas is flatlands throughout most of the state, KU's campus is right on a hill. which was great for walking and getting uber tired after 5 minutes haha. i stayed in mj's place, which was just a bunch of YL guys livig together under one roof. it was pretty awesome. i didn't pull into KU until around 11:30 so i was pretty beat and didn't do too much on that day. but the next day was sweet, sarah and me went to a brunch for kids that travel overseas. a big fancy meal were people were kinda dressy, and there i was in jorts and a tshirt looking like i just walked out of the wilderness haha. but it was still very enjoyable, mainly because i didn't give a turd what any of those people thought.

the rest of the day was pretty chill. sarah gave me a nice walking tour of the campus and then i went back to mj's place to hangout while everyone was in class. it was great getting some alone time while not being in the car. i just watched tv and lounged out, which is exactly what i needed at the time.

that night i had a chance to get yet another glimpse of the Lord at work, and that was through College Life. For those who aren't sure College Life is (because i wasn't even sure until i went), its pretty much just like high school YL but for college aged kids. it's led by college students and a few leaders. its basically an outreach for college kids, which is uber awesome. i was able to see kids my age who know the Lord interact with kids who don't know the Lord that are the same age! it was crazy! and everything was run exactly the way it is with the high school kids! games, skits, songs, and a talk. it was great to see the Lord doing work with the kids in lawrence at that level. i also got a chance to hangout with my friend taylor, which was awesome because even though she's 2 years younger than me, and i've only hung out with her a couple times, it felt like we knew each other pretty well!

so that's colorado and kansas for ya. it was a great wrap-up to my trip. i'll have one last post doing a final look back on my trip and all the awesome things i've learned and come to figure out in the last 4 weeks.

biscuits and eggs folks.

day 23. goodbye california :(

so ends my tour of california. it's been a great run, but sadly all good things must come to an end. i finished off my last few days at woodleaf (which for those of you who don't know is a younglife camp in north cali), and chico up in north cali. woodleaf was great because even though its been almost a year since i've been through there, it feels like its only been a few weeks. it almost felt like home to me, which is wierd but cool at the same time. i think a huge part of that is because i was able to do some serious growing while i was there over the summer.

this weekend at woodleaf there was an all men's conference going on. It was funny seeing a bunch of men running around camp instead of high school and middle school kids. and as i was walking down towards the beach, a random dude walked up to me. no idea who he was, but he said, "hey brother, what congregation are you with?!". of course i had no clue what he was talking about at the time so i said, "i'm with the road travels from chicago congregation!" which of course confused the crap outta him haha. but then i explained what exactly that meant, and he told me all about the weekend. it was really cool talking to Jim because he was really genuine in asking about my life and hearing about what my trip was all about. and equally for me, it was cool to hear about where God had taken Jim as a pastor throughout his life. how he had lived in chicago, near naperville, then moved around the country. How his daughter met an indian boy and married him, which of course brought about a 20 minute convo on my heritage and family background. but throughout our hour long conversation, the best part had to be how he ended it. he said, "well brother, considering i probably won't see you again until we meet in heaven, i guess this is good-bye. what can i be praying for?"

and that's what really hit me. that interation right there. i won't see you again until heaven, but what can i pray for. a simple phrase that has deep meaning to it. this guy has a deep understanding of what being a christian looks like. to the point where he'll walk up to strangers and learn about their lives and pray for them. because ultimately that's what Jesus was about wasn't it? isn't that the kind of way he did his ministry? i feel like a majority of people Jesus came in contact with during his ministry were random people that He got to know, love, and care for. But he didn't see them for very long. Those people he met with and interacted with got glimpes of a perfect and amazing man. They got glimpes of a better life, one where love and compassion is the main foundation.

what would our lives look like if we did that daily? what if we were to show people glimpses of Christ in the most basic of interactions? in the same way Jim did to me? think about how many people we pass by in a day. think about how many people you say hi to in a day. think about how many people you actually have conversations with in a day. now imagine showing each and everyone of those person's a clear picture of Christ and how that could affect them. pretty gnarly right?

so yea, woodleaf was great basically haha. and chico was sweet too. i got to hang out with ryan and ben. it was awesome because on my last night in Cali i went roller-skating haha. totally rad. it just goes to show you're never too old to enjoy yourself in that way.

so now it's off to colorado to hangout with my buddy jimbo. gonna be shweeet. later.

day 21. cali love.

so after an awesome time in malibu with my boy jj, i left for santa barbara to hangout with my amazing friend from workcrew, kailey vanderbaan. santa barbara is a beautiful place sandwiched between mountains and the pacific blue. as always, i was able to see the Lord working again. This time at kailey's leader meeting for younglife. it was fun meeting new people and getting to see how "productive" young life meetings can be. and i put that in quotes because when i say productive, i mean the complete opposite haha. every other sentence was a funny joke, or someone being witty, which was totally awesome and exactly the way meetings should be. it's always lame if its just quiet and right to the point. gotta mix it up everyonce in a while, ya know?

we also got a chance to go out to this pier out on the ocean, which was mindblowing. i would def put santa barbara on the top 3 spots of my trip.

after leaving the sunny shores of SB, i headed up north to sacramento to hang out with my friend from woodleaf, trevor ganz. trev was a sound tech while i was a ridge runner wrangler. we had a chance to really talk about younglife, since he just got on staff, which was exactly what i needed. he told me all the good, the bad, and the ugly things about being on staff. it was great to hear all of that because it really gave me a new perspective on being a yl leader. i mean, i've heard it from my leaders back home, but not in this full detail. plus its always good to hear from outside perspectives. one thing we did that was supergnarly was play frisbee golf on the capital. yea thats right, the capital building in sacramento. haha. it was pretty rad. i also got a chance to hang out with my summerstaff boss kevin eastway, and one of the other wranglers, val deroos. and it was great to see them!

one thing i'm really pulling away from hanging out with trevor is trust. learning to trust that the Lord is working in huge and unexplainable ways. we may not be able to see all that is going on, but we have to be faithfull to the path He is leading us on. Even when times get rough, and when we feel like giving up, i've realized more and more that God is so present just as much there as He is when we're on the mountains.

next stop is woodleaf and chico! chicka chicka yea.

Day 16. the peak.

wow. here i am. a few hours ago i pulled into the santa monica pier. it was about 8:30 at night. there was no one else in sight on the beach. in the distance i saw the santa monica boardwalk. big ferris wheel and lots of rides. and in front of me with just enough light on the moon...the pacific ocean. 2,179 miles away from home, i finally made it. its funny, because in a way, it almost feels like the peak of my trip. and don't worry for you guys who i already visited, i LOVED all of your places. but i never imagined actually getting in a car and making it to california, and here i am, sitting on the beach. listening to the waves hit the beach with a cool wind coming from the north. amazing. beauty. calmness.

its exactly the kind of calmness that allows me to think. no distractions. just me and the open air. i had the opportunity to go to Joshua Tree here in cali today, and it was beyond belief. i climbed up a mountain peak and just sat there looking around. not a building in sight. just valleys, mountain peaks, and deserts. amazing. i love that even though humans have taken over and destroyed so much beauty in this world, there are still glimpses of it all around us, we just have to take the time to notice it.

so i'm here in cali and is going to be awesome! i'm going down to san clemente tomorrow to go to the rainbow factory, and then up to santa barbara to hang out with my great friend kailey! its gonna be an awesome day just driving along the coast.

and tonight i had a chance to hang out with my old friend from high school jj. he goes to school at pepperdine in malibu, which of course i thought was up in north cali haha. stupid me. but it great to see him and catch up a little. its funny, cause jj is always a guy i have looked up to. and since he's a year older than me, i've always been able to see where he is at a point in his life and compare it to mine a year behind. for instance, jj is at a point now where he is deciding exactly where God is taking him after he graduates. in his case, he is taking the road less traveled. the one he might not be as comfortable with, but he is still taking it nonetheless. which is an amazing testimony to faith in where the Lord can take someone. he's going to do film-making out here in LA, which first off sounds freakin' sweet, but he said something interesting yesterday. he said not everyone is called to travel the road of ministry, because the Lord not only calls us to do well in that and be Christ-like, but be the best in whatever we do and still be that way. i'm learning more and more that you can work hard in everything you do, and still glorify the Lord in every way.

and i look at my life, and throughout the last few weeks i wonder that same thing. where is it that i'm going in my life that will allow me to be the best at what i do, and still glorify the Lord? of course, i've already expressed that ministry is what i feel most called to do, but why? is it because its an easier path? the one traveled more? and i feel that the answer to those questions are no. it is by no means an easy path to travel. it is long, hard, and tiresome. but it glorifies the Lord, and shows people how amazing the gospel really is in a real and raw way, and that's the goal here.

on a completely different level, i've decided to delete my facebook page. a good friend of mine just did that, and says that the amount of time she has now is amazing. its really funny just how much of a distraction something as simple as facebook can be. i guarantee that if you're reading this right now, you're facebook page is open on another tab. i waste time on it when i could be doing a million other things. i would love to be at place where its just a casual thing, but as of right now, its more of a distraction that doesn't need to be in place. so after i come back from my trip, i'm just gonna delete it.

so yea, that's where i'm at right now. i'm loving the sunny cali weather, and i'm pumped for this next week as i travel up the coast! laters.

day 14. who knew panda express actually had sweet fortunes?

"any doubts you may have will disappear this month..."


i went to panda express for lunch. and i'm not big on fortune cookies. but i figured, eh what the heck, i'll eat one this time around. didn't even look at the actual fortune until after i ate the cookie. and THIS is what it had said. what?! my initial reaction was laughter, cause i mean seriously, i'm out here trying to figure out things in life and the main word i keep using is DOUBT, and here comes a fortune cookie from panda express saying doubt will disappear. huh? excuse me? now i'm not saying that this is some crazy prophetic thing, i just think its pretty freaking baller that i got that fortune. and who can actually rule out in what way God speaks to us? there's no law, rule, or anything written saying messages can't come in any way, shape, or form. most atheists at this point would say, "yea, that's just total coincidence. no meaning to it. no purpose. just sheer, dumb, luck."

but what if it's more than that? (and in case your wondering, i'm not talking about the fortune cookie anymore). what if there actually is some sort of "God" out there who ultimately has everything in control? what if He knows all that has happened in our past? all the crap we've gone thru, all the suffering, all the mistakes...who knows our present? what we go thru today, what we struggle with, what we're good at...and who knows our future? where our jobs are gonna be, where we'll live, who we'll marry..that kinda stuff. i mean, i find it hard to believe that this world we live in just happened outta nowhere. i think there HAD to be some sort of reason and rhyme to it?

i had an awesome opportunity to climb a mountain today right behind my friend's house. took me a good 45 minutes to get to the top, but man when i got up there......words can't express what i saw, but i'll try to do it some justice. at the base of the mountain up to a few acres past, i saw nothing but green. plants, trees....beauty. and then a few acres past were some houses, but the green beauty still sat there. a few acres past that was a few smaller subdivisions, and the green beauty was there, but started to fade. past that were some more subdivisions spread over a wider area. and then from there i saw houses after houses after houses, with restaurants, gas stations, car dealerships, schools, starbucks at every corner, grocery stores. by now i'm looking at least 2-3 miles past the base of this amazing mountain and now i see the entire phoenix skyline. and it was cool. but what was crazy here is that from where i was sitting, all the way to the downtown skyline, there was a gradual change.

but you know what? there was no more green. no more trees. no more plants. no more beauty. just modern day society, going about its business as usual. lawyers going to win cases, business men trying to see how they can squeeze out the next dollar, parents dropping their 2 and 3 year olds off at daycare so they could go to work all day, therapists charging hundreds of dollars for a 30 minute "help session", students going to school to study hard and become successful in life, doctors going into hospitals to help people fight death a little longer(and i want to make it very clear that i am in no way saying that these are bad things, i'm just making an observation of it. there is nothing wrong with working hard for a purpse.).....an old lady getting her purse stolen, someone getting car-jacked, 3 bullies beating up a little kid for his money, a man getting shot in cold blood for a few hundred dollars outta his wallet. evil mean threatening our world daily. terrorists blowing up buildings. children being used as work slaves. kidnapped teens being pushed into sex trafficking and unable to get out. drug users being so deep into their "stuff" that they don't see a way out. pain. hurt. suffering. a broken world.

(this is long, but hang in there, i'm getting to the point.)

so maybe the doubts i have about life go beyond just myself. maybe there's doubt about seeing EVERY human on the planet loved, or sheltered, or even given a meal. maybe there's doubts that we can be a world that won't kill each other to gain something. maybe there's doubt about living in a world that won't kill the innocent. maybe there's doubt about living in a world where everyone is looking out for their own needs....if i'm sounding like a total downer here, don't sweat it, thats my point. if these few words about our harsh reality are sinking in with you, thats a good thing. it means there is still some soul left in you that the world hasn't sucked out of you yet.

i would doubt all of this.....if it wasn't for believing that there's a reason to all of it. and that there is a "God" out there who has a bigger, and better plan. one that i can't see now, but if i follow it, i can help to change things. so when i doubt things, i'm initially doubting a plan that has been in the making for thousands of years. and even though i think all of that beauty is gone, i can still see it. not in the landscape, but in other ways. like the smile of an old lady after a young man finds and brings her purse back, or a kid being comforted by his loving father after getting beaten up and told "i love you son, and you did nothing wrong." or a doctor bringing a man who had been shot in cold blood back to life. or a country coming together after some evil men do some terrible things. how about the lawyer that fights for the freedom of women trapped in sex-trafficking? or a business man making an extra dollar to buy a child out of slave labor? and what about the therapist who gives out free sessions to post-rehab drug users on the weekends?

see that? see that there is still so much good to find in this broken world of ours? i love the fact that we have the capacity to love beyond our own comprehension, and we're given the ability to help in every way, shape, and form. my way of doing it is gonna be thru ministry.

so panda express fortune. what do you mean when you talk about doubts? do they pertain to the rest of this trip? my summer? my job? my school? i'd like to think that those "doubts that will disappear this month" are seeming less and less about my own future, and more about the future of this world of ours. and i have a hunch that the "big-guy" upstairs has some pretty radical and awesome things in store for my future. lets just leave it at that...goodnight :)

day 13. arizona. the land of big rocks.

heyyo from tempe, arizona! i'm here with my friends amy, jamie, and nick! i got here only a few hours ago, but already i've been having an awesome time!

so i left A&M yesterday and headed for middle of nowhere in west texas for the night. the drive was absolutely fantastic, and whoever said west texas is a "barren wasteland from hell" was waaayyyy off the mark! it was seriously really cool. i stopped in van horn, texas to crash for the night. it was a small town, i mean realllllyyy small. about the size of my thumb. haha. just kidding. but seriously. it was. crashed for the night at this pink motel, owned by indians thankfully. and they hooked it up with a king size room for only $29 bucks! whatta deal. gotta love that race card haha. i also had a chance to eat at this little mexican restaurant called "chuy's." it was a little hole in the wall, but man was it good food! plus, it's really really famous. john madden, steve nash, dan marino, carrot top, and a few other celebrities have made their way into this tiny little food joint. crazy, i know.

so i got a great night of sleep and left this morning for tempe. it was crazy because in one day, i was in THREE different time zones. haha. it was awesome.

so i'm pumped for AZ and just hanging out with old friends, and making some new ones too! i'll report back to ya soon! thanks for checking in. sush out.

day 11. A&M. baller baby.

holler from texas A&M. i love being here. its freaking shweeet.

so last we left off, i was hanging out at texas A&M with the great summerstaff boys from woodleaf, and it was awesome. its funny how i've only been gone for 2 weeks, and it feels more like 2 months. i honestly feel like ohio and north carolina happened forever ago. but yea, A&M is great. what i love most about it is the fact that its nothing but chilling out the entire time. i literally have been bumming around, playing video games, watching tv, and getting to play soccer for a few hours a day. its absolutely perfect and exactly what i need for the time. i had been running around and doing all kinds of other things at all my other places, that it was kinda nice to be able to chill out and make time slow down. best part about brett's house...the 130 inch projector screen. playing fifa 10' on that baby, freakin' awesome.

something really cool that i got to do as well was just take some time away from it all. i stayed an extra day longer in texas than i did the other days, so i had a real chance to be alone. and this time not just alone in my car. i went for a walk tonight and went to a park. it was around 11 @ night...crazy cause all the awesome stuff seems to keep happening at night lol.

so there i was at this park, and i climbed up the jungle gym and just looked at the stars for a little bit. no music. no people. no lights. another amazing opportunity for me to just spend with the Lord. wanna hear the crazy part? after all my talk last week, about feeling spiritually moved, and this "mountain top" feeling as we so cleverly call it, i wasn't at it anymore. problem? i think not. because the spirit was still moving inside me, even tho there was no "emotional high" to it.

something i've realized more and more is that faith is more than just those emotions and feelings. i mean yea, its great to have that, because thats when you can tell the spirit is really moving you. but its so much more than that. its about realizing who were really linked up to here. its about knowing who our creator is and being in a close and intimate relationship with Him.

and something really awesome about this trip is realizing just how many distractions i really have in my life that prevent me from seeing that at its raw core. school. family. friends. work. my own selfish needs and wants. these are things that i keep letting me get torn off from what i truly believe. something i want to and NEED to see when i go back home, back to the norm of things, is a drastic way in the way i live, especially if i want to go on to be a YL leader. but that is a difficult path for me, because sometimes i have tendencies to slip into old habits. things i thought i rid myself of a long time ago.

its funny, because time and time again, i find myself in this wierd/unhealthy pattern where i'll realize these things, but continue to go back to what i know i struggle with. its in our weak moments like this that we need to really rely on a strength outside of our own. i love that people are reading this who may not believe the same way, or may be completely unaware of what i'm talking about. and for you guys, please ask...ask me where this is all coming from. ask me why i do the things i do. why i act the way i do. or why i have tendencies to slip and fall. because lets not forget, although i am striving for a life that involves some struggles, i am human. and there is always room for error in human ways. there was only one dude who was perfect in every way, shape, and form, and that's the J-man.

so basically, that night in the park was great. it helped me to really see where i need to adjust things in my own life. onto tempe, arizona tomorrow! gonna be awesome to see some super stellar people there! i'm pumped. over and out.

day 9...from the southeast, to a whole other planet.

howdy from texas A&M! i've been uber busy the last few days, plus two days of travel, so i havent had a change to update..my b, not that alotta people read this anyways haha.

so savannah was awesome! it was great meeting all of ben's friends and seeing will again! its crazy, because there is such a HUGE mix of people in savannah. college students, locals, tourists, random people hanging out..its awesome! its funny cause ben and will call it a place where martians live, and i totally agree. there was such a variety of awesome people. and just like appalachian state in boone, it was a place where people seemed genuinly friendly towards each other, atleast the college students and locals. the tourists seemed like they didn't know what the heck was going on half the time haha. so friday night we just walked around downtown savannah and ran around causing a ruckus everywhere we went. it was fanfreakingtastic.

saturday we mostly just hung out at will's place in the morning. oh and by the way, my new love is the Sci-Fye channel. its so cheesy that it makes you begging for more. so yea, saturday we went to the park for a while and tossed around a friz, played some soccer, and ate some food. perfect day. then at night, we hung out, watched some more sci-fye, and just before i thought the night was done, we ended up going to this chapel about 20 minutes away. it was me, ben, will, and a few others from their YL team.

basically its a chapel that's open 24/7, so we went there at like 11 at night. we brought a guitar, and it was amazing. we spent the next 1 1/2 hours just doing some worship, reading the word, and spending time in quiet. it seriously was awesome to see how present God was.

(if you read any part of this blog and take it in, this is the time to tune in...)

and that's something i've been noticing during my travels. how present God is everywhere. at kaity's church last wednesday, the worship pastor was talking about a trip he took to europe with his gospel choir. they got invited to an all african church, that only spoke french. i know, hilarous haha. so he said he was sitting in the church, not understanding a word. didn't understand the singing, the preaching, the talking....none of it. but as the service continued, he said he felt something amazing. he could see in the people's faces just how much joy there was. he didn't have to understand the language to really understand the signifigance of the moment...and the raw fact was that God was present there...in that french speaking, all african church, God was there.

think about that? how awesome is that? and it really got me thinking as well. i spent time with dan and his buddies in ohio...God was there. i spent time with kaity and her friends in north carolina. we went to church, spent some time praying, and worshipped...God was there. when i went to my work crew boss' house in south carolina and spent time in prayer with him...God was there. and on saturday when i was with ben and will and all their friends worshipping and spending time with Him in georgia...God was there.

see what i'm getting at here? God doesn't have boundries. he's not limited to state lines, or language barriers, culture barries, or any of that! He is JUST as present at home as he is in all of these other places! and that to me is freaking amazing! because it's not a different God, its the same one...everywhere. baller. boom. sold.

and on my long 18 hour drive from georgia to texas, i spent alot of time just being quiet and listening and thinking....and ya know what? it was awesome. just to be away from sound, from people, from the norm.

so now i'm here at texas A&M hanging out with my boys robert, brett, and jacob. and i'm pumped because their freaking stellar! oh, and they live on a different planet. did you know Texas is a completely different place? its kinda funny. so yea, its gonna be an exciting time here. over and out.

day 5. oh hey there, atlantic ocean.

Heyyo from savannah georgia! i'm here hanging out with my buds ben anderson and william childs. two of SCAD's most well groomed gentlemen.

Well leaving Boone was tough, because it was such a great time. I ended up heading outta there around 1 in the afternoon and switched it up a little bit. Instead of heading straight for GA, I made a few pit stops along the way. The first one was at a Young Life camp called Windy Gap in Weaverville, NC. I went to camp there in 2005 and did workcrew there a year later in 2006. And it just so happened that i was passing it during my drive so naturally i had to stop and get out for a few. It was POURING rain like i've never even seen, but that didn't really stop me. I mean, go big or go home right?

so i spent a few hours walking around Windy Gap, playing my guitar, reading some books, including the good book (bible duh), and journaling a little bit. And really just kinda remembering all the good times i had there. and then something a little bit different happened to me. and the crazy thing is, it just piles on to what i heard at church the other day. as i was walking around camp and just thinking about the future, especially my future with Young Life, i saw something pretty freakin' amazing. i saw myself sitting at camp with kids. I saw myself by the snack shop, by the volleyball courts, by the dining hall, and other random spots..and at all those spots, i was having one-on-one with kids. crazy right??

boom. it hit my right then and there and i was filled with so much joy. and i don't mean the joy you get from scoring the winning basket in a bball game, i mean pure, and genuine joy that only comes for the lord. it was joy that seriously hit me right at my core. ever experienced that kind of joy? one that allows you to feel at peace with things?cause thats what i felt and it was awesome. i think what i'm starting to realize more is that i need to trust more. trust that my life is in my control, but the route is being paved by someone else, someone who knows the roads better than i do.

And so i jumped into my car and headed down to see my boy Daniel Peterson in Aiken, SC. He was my pits boss at Windy Gap back in 06'. I rolled thru at like 9pm and ended up playing Halo with him and his YL guys for about 5 hours...haha totally awesome, i know. and then after his guys took off, we caught up since we haven't seen each other in almost 4 years. he talked to me about how he's been moving from place to place; how he thought he was going to do one thing, and ended up doing something completely different; and how he had everything planned out without any room for change. it's crazy, because on one hand, we want to dominate control of our lives without giving up the reins. we want to plan for EVERYTHING, but realistically, we can't do that b/c then we don't allow for God to do what he wants to do. Daniel said he didn't start getting the idea until he began to let God move him instead of trying to do it himself.

i guess what i pulled away from was that sometimes i wanna do things my own way, but realistically, i can't plan everything out because God may have something completely different for me..and that to me, is the most gnarly thing of all.

so here i am in beautiful savannah GA on the east coast, literally a bike away from the atlantic. this town really is awesome and there's alot to see. Prob just gonna hang out most of the night, and tear up some friz and what-not tomorrow. have a great day, folks, and remember, you stay classy san diego.

day 3. mountain top feelings? sure.

Whatup whatup from Boone, North Carolina! Being here up in the appalachian mountains makes me NEVER wanna come back to the flatlands of the midwest! why the heck do we live in such a boring, unscenically (doubt that a word, but whatev), lame area!! i pretty much wanna move to the mountains and live here. so i decided i'm transferring to this school. not really, but i seriously would, but realistically i don't have much school left to finish to come all the way to the east coast and its kinda expensive.

So yea, the drive up yesterday was pretty gnarly. It took me about 9 hours, with some stoppage. I will say that kentucky has some of the most white/redneck areas i've ever driven thru haha. it was actually pretty funny cause there were miles at a time where i didn't see any minorities! not that it was wierd or anything, but ya know. So the drive was great, and i really got to see some awesome sights in ohio, kentucky, virginia, and tennessee. And the last hour drive up the mountain was freaking awesome. i got to drive next to mountains with huge lakes next to them, and then getting to the top..man, the view was unexplainable. i took some pics, but it won't do it any justice. ya just gotta see it!

so i got into Appalachian State last night and hung out with Kaity and a couple of her friends, adrienne and jamie, and we went up to this awesome place called Beacon Heights. Its basically a big slab of rock up the mountains where you can lay back and just look at the stars. No lights, no cars, no noise. Just you and the open sky. And today was awesome! Totally forgot that Boone is 4,000 feet above sea level, and compared to chitown, the air is ALOT thinner..so of course during my run this morning i was dying!

but the rest of the day was freaking gnarly. We went on a hike up thru Grandfather Mountain, which of course, like i've said before, was super awesome. Plus I got to meet some more stellar people like Matt, Eli, and Corey. we went back to town and had dinner with PW and Amanda at a mexicano restaurant. after that we hit up Kaity's church, and thats when things got real.

So wasn't too sure what i was walking into, but because i've talked with Kaity about this church before and how awesome it is, i was really pumped to come in and see what all the hype was about. dang. all i gotta say is that God was totally present in that church tonight, and that was completely obvious. first off, the worship was fantastic, and the worship leader really knew how to get people hyped up. and the best part about that is seeing kids my own age actually worshiping in that way. i guess i've just been so out of community for so long, that i forgot what that truly looks like. and pastor reggie..oh man where to begin! that man really knows how to convict people at the very core of their souls. he talked alot about grace and what that looks like. and how we forget how much we need to rely on God for things in life. And its crazy, because i've realized more and more that i don't do that as much as i should be.

the funny thing is, there's alotta of you who don't really get what i'm saying, or understand where i'm coming from with this. but to those of you who do, i've realized i need to stop doubting. i doubt so much as to what God can do thru me and my gifts, that i miss the big picture of it all...God has a vision in mind for his work, and if i'm not flowing on the river going with it, i'm blocking it from happening...not that He won't find a way, but He wants me to be a part of all of this..and how awesome is that! and i could write pages about how my "experience" at church tonight was great, but in the long run, those experiences mean nothing without actually producing fruit from them. I mean think about it, if we just spend our lives living from one experience to the next, we get nowhere. But if we use those experiences to produce fruit, and do good for the Lord out of them, thats it right there! sold! so yea, long story short, church was amazing.

and i've never been at a place (next to young life camp) where people are genuinely nice to each other(and i mean the school here). It seriously is phenomenal. And the group of people that lead younglife here/are christians is crazyyy! there is so much bonding in the relationships, that i think that this is a pretty good picture of the kingdom, and how it should look.

so yup yup. thats day 3. pretty gnarly huh? who knew that only 3 days into my trip, SO much would have happened already. Tomorrow i leave for Wake Forest to hang out with my buddy Mike. It'll be baller. Plus i'm planning on stopping thru Windy Gap in the next day or two, just for old time's sake.

thanks for checking in! and ps, Boone set the bar REALLY REALLY high so all you guys at the next stops better have something pretty good planned or i'm just skipping your state! haha. laters.

day 1..i'm in miami, but i don't see any sand. fail.

so here it is! the trip has finally begun and i couldn't be more stoked! right now i'm sitting in the library at Miami of Ohio's campus with my buddy Dan Rice. Miami has a freaking sweet campus, even though its NOT the one in Florida. And for a school of 16,000ish it doesn't feel that big at all. I spent most of the day riding bikes with Dan and touring the campus. And then we spent about 2 hours playing frolf, which of course is the highlight of my day.

And of course, a trip to Miami wouldn't be complete without Chipotle. Wanna know something crazy? They actually put a Chipotle RIGHT NEXT TO a Qdoba! WHAT!?!? that's like committing a murder in front of a whole court room and not being convicted. Just an absolute disaster. In fact, after eating there tonight, i'm prob gonna have to take a shower, just from being near one.

so chyea. the trip down here last night wasn't too bad, only about 2 hours long. It's sweet tho because even tho it was short, what i'm trying to do is working out great. I spent most of the two hours establishing the things i'm gonna be thinking about during my trip. mainly future things in life. I think the one thing i keep wondering the most is whether or not Young Life is really the avenue that i'm supposed to take. I mean, i know i wanna do ministry, and work with youth. And ever since high school its been my hope to be on Young Life staff someday. But now i question whether or not that is really what i wanna do, or if its where i'm being led to..which i don't think is a bad thing. i think to find out or not whether its really gonna be my calling, i need to question it, pick at it, and really tear into the way they do things. So yea, that's a little bit of an insight on that dutch.

Next stop, North Carolina to chill with my homie P.W. Gopal and my long time pits bestie Kaity Ruhland. Gnarls.