An Unspoken Love

It has been over three weeks since I returned home and I still don’t think I have been able to comprehend the week I spent in Guatemala. I have now tried a couple times to write out my experience and have yet to succeed, due to my inability to write my experience in one page, but alas I shall try again.

After a long day of traveling, we arrived late into Guatemala City where we were taken to a mission house and had a briefing session on what the next couple days would look like. That night I also had a chance to chat with some of the Guatemalan Champions staff about the zones these kids were coming from. Some of the boys came from zones that were unsafe to enter into during the day; in order to enter you have to have special permission from the controlling gang of that zone otherwise you will likely be killed. Every zone that these kids came from is controlled by a gang, where drugs, sex and violence are abundant.

When we arrived at the church bright and early, 6 am, to check in the boys I knew I would be in for an interesting week. I hadn’t played soccer in about 10 years and didn’t speak any Spanish. We loaded the boys’ bags into the busses, an act we saw as a security issue but they saw as a privilege, and headed out on the 4 hour bus ride. Once we all finally arrived at the beautiful El Faro we unloaded the bags and waited to find out which group we would be working with for the week. I, along with 3 other Americans, was part of groupo siete (group 7). This group was made up of 10 boys, ages 12 to 15, from zone 18, the biggest and most dangerous zone in Guatemala City, and two amazing mentors. When we arrived at the table they were all very quiet, anticipating what the week would look like. From the moment I sat down and tried to talk with them, again, I knew it was going to be a long week especially if I wasn’t able to talk with them.

The first couple days I found myself very frustrated because I couldn’t communicate with the boys, I didn’t know anything about them, their families, what they liked to do, where they were from, nothing. As the week went by, I found myself praying that God would give me a supernatural understanding of Spanish and that I would find some way to communicate with these boys. God answered that prayer, by the end of the week I was able to talk with the boys on a level, a very simple level but none the less a level, that I never would have imagined when I arrived. One of the boys, Mario served as my tutor; I would say something and then look to him for affirmation and he would correct my Spanish when necessary.

As the days went by the boys began to become more comfortable in our group, we played games that didn’t require speaking. Early on we put an empty water bottle on the table and all hit the table at once to see how high we could get the water bottle to go, no words, just smiles and laughter, and we were doing it together. And then there were the soccer games. The first soccer game we played and won I was jumping up and down screaming as if we had just won the world cup; no deep conversations, but my actions showed them that I cared.

One of my favorite nights was the last night. It started off like any good night should, with a dance battle. For those of you who know me, you know I love to dance and I love dance battles even more! One of my boys, Gilmar, represented groupo siete with his crazy back flips off the stage and break dancing moves, I was amazed and so proud.

But the night got even better at chapel. At the end of the message the boys were given the opportunity to accept Christ as their savior, 97 of the 100 boys made the decision that night to follow Christ.

The previous night we had a chance to talk with the boys and learn a little bit about their lives. One boy, Kevin, didn’t have a father and the boys in his neighborhood would tease him and ask him why he didn’t have a father that loved him, because they had a father who loved him. It broke my heart to know that he had a father who loved him, a heavenly Father who loved him more than anyone could ever imagine, but that he didn’t know that. He was one of the first boys to walk up to the altar the last night, it made me so happy to know that he was accepting his true Father.

One of the other boys, Enrique, was very quiet, didn’t say much and was very soft spoken. He didn’t really show much emotion, I tried with all my might to get him to laugh and smile but with little luck (it was probably my bad Spanish skills). The last night he chose to give his life to Christ, I wasn’t able to really talk to him about his decision but I was able to stand next to him and pray over him, words that he didn’t understand but were filled with love. By the time we reunited with them from the trip back to Guatemala City he jumped out of the car and ran to give me a hug with a huge smile; that was worth all of the sweat, soreness and corn tortillas from the week.

Over that week I learned that God’s love transcends cultural and linguistic barriers. I learned the difference between preaching the gospel and showing the gospel. For many of us, who didn’t speak Spanish, there was an unspoken love that developed over the week. Someone in our group said that the hardest part about leaving would be trusting that God loves those boys more than I ever can. That statement became more real as we said goodbye to them on Friday and I thought about the realities they were going back to. I wasn’t able to do anything but trust that God was going to protect those boys because of how much he loves them.

I would also like to thank my family and friends who enabled me to go on this trip, and thank them for contributing to the transformation of a nation. Though you may not have seen the impacts of your support, I can guarantee that your support had an impact on the lives of the boys who attended the camp.

A Reluctant Pope and the Reluctant Republican Field

As posted on the Common Sense Concept Two Cents Blog

After months of speculation, Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels announced over the weekend that he would not seek the Republican nomination in 2012. Despite the support of some prominent Republican leaders, Daniels put family first and bowed out. The decision was a disappointment to many, but Daniels can hardly be faulted for demonstrating such humility and prudent consideration. These are virtues we should desire in candidates for high office. It seems reasonable that one shouldn’t be dragged against their will into a campaign for the most important job on Earth. However, there is a precedent for forced leadership, and the story may remind us of the rare necessity of hoisting responsibility upon a reluctant leader.

It was A.D. 590 and Rome was a disaster. The city suffered from the tragedies of a flood and the atrocities of war. A deadly plague was rampant, and had just taken the life of Pelagius II. When the monastic Gregory learned he had been elected Pope, he refused the office, fled from the city, and hid in the woods. Eventually he was found and physically dragged back to St. Peter’s to be consecrated.

While he was a very unlikely candidate for the papacy, Gregory wasn’t without qualification. He had served as Prefect of Rome under Emperor Justin and as a deacon under Pope Pelagius II. He was identified as the right man for the job. And though Gregory saw his election as a punishment, he nevertheless committed himself to doing the job well. He succeeded, creating order in the midst of chaos. Historian Bruce Shelley explains, the “prestige of the papacy in the Middle Ages rests in large part on the practical government maintained by Gregory” through those troubled times. As a result, not long after his death, the church labeled him “Gregory the Great.”

Gregory’s Rome is not very different from the U.S. today. We are in the midst of war and strife abroad and suffering from the plagues of unemployment, spending, and debt. History often demonstrates that dire straits open the way for a demagogue who inevitably makes things worse; other times, however, the magnitude of a crisis creates a unique opportunity best suited for an unlikely and understandably reluctant leader. Now is such a time.

Gregory was dragged into the papacy kicking and screaming and became arguably one of the greatest popes in history. For those hesitant to see a candidate dragged into the presidential race, it might be worth remembering how one reluctant, sixth century monk came to lead Rome into a period of stability. Many (if not most) conservatives are not convinced that the current crop of candidates includes a leader capable of presiding over a practical government that will bring order to the chaos. It’s time for those who are unsatisfied to band together, go into the woods, find a candidate, and drag them into the race.

Small Still Voice

Lately Ive been reading a couple Francine Rivers books, good stuff. In her books whenever God speaks to the characters it is in a couple words, like "be still my beloved" or "trust and obey." When I pray, I pray in paragraphs, and most of the time I would love God to answer in paragraphs, carefully detailing and describing what he wants me to do. But that is rarely what happens. Most of the time I get that still small voice.

Psalm 46:10 reminds us to "be still and know that I am God." But in the midst of crisis it is anything but easy to be still, I'm looking for answers and directions, preferably in detail. So what do we do?

In May the children's ministry is focusing on "all access," knowing that you can talk to God about anything. One of the aspects of this is what God might say when we pray. I was gently reminded that sometimes God answers our prayers through others, sometimes he says no through circumstances, and sometimes he says wait. In others words, "Don’t worry about

anything. Instead, tell God about everything. Ask and pray. Give thanks to him. Then

God’s peace will watch over your hearts and your minds because you belong to Christ

Jesus. God’s peace can never be completely understood." Philippians 4:6-7.

It is reassuring (and a little frustrating sometimes) to know that God's peace can never be completely understood. Instead, we must wait on that still small voice.

Practice Makes Perfect

Growing up we are told that practice makes perfect. If we want to learn how to we play a song we have to practice (I spent hours pounding on a piano because my mom made me practice when I wanted to play); if we want to be good a free throws we have to practice; if we want to learn how to write cursive we have to practice, and the list goes on and on.

But I have come to realize there are a couple things that I dont think I am good at, and most of the time it is because I dont practice doing those things. I used to not like praying out loud because I didnt think I was good at it I couldn't think of the "right" things to say, whenever anyone would ask "who wants to pray" the trick was to always avoid eye-contact (this also works when a teacher asks the class a question). But you dont get good or comfortable praying out loud if you dont pray out loud, i.e. practice.

We also dont learn how to do something by just reading about it. You dont learn algebra by reading about it, you learn it by practicing it. Same goes for love. You dont learn how to love people by reading about it, you learn how to love people by practicing it. Sometimes you get it wrong, just like you get algebra problems wrong, but eventually you learn how to get it right.

The same also goes for being creative. I was having a conversation with a friend about being creative. I dont think I am a creative person, point blank, but I started to realize that our society doesnt encourage people to practice being creative. We are taught to do what we are told, not to question authority, dont change tradition, and on. I dont think we encourage people to practice being creative. As a result, I have found it hard to be creative because I have never been challenged to be or practiced being creative. How can we learn to do something if we dont practice it?

Another lesson learned: practice makes perfect.

Community IS Important

Over the past couple months I feel like I have heard a lot about community. I have heard that it is messy, it is hard, it is biblical, ect...I totally understood community, and then I went to Japan.

This past week I spent some time in Japan for work, but meanwhile was completely out of Christian community. There are three things I observed: 1) I never realized how much community have, from the people I live with, to the people I work with, to the people I hang out with, I am constantly surrounded by community; 2) how grateful I am for the community God has blessed me with, regardless of the fact that it is messy or hard; and 3) how important community really is.

Community is important to help support, encourage, learn, teach, and keep each other accountable. Paul said in Philippians 1:30-"We are in this struggle together..."

Lesson learned: community IS important.

A Promise Never Seen

In Deuteronomy Moses is retelling a new generation of Israelites their story. He is constantly telling them that they should "remember well what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt" (7:18). Its kind of like a grandpa telling the kids their family history (if your family is some 600,000 people).

While reading, one thing that jumped out at me was Deut 1:38. Moses tells the people that the Lord was angry with the previous generation but that "the Lord was also angry with me for your sakes, saying, 'Even you shall not go in [the promise land]'." There are multiple occasions in Exodus when Moses steps in on behalf of Israel to save them from God's wrath. And because of that he is told he will never see the promise land? If it were me, as soon as God told me I couldnt enter the promise land because of the people of Israel, I would probably say something like "Ok God, well I can travel on my own, I don't really need them, as long as I get to go into the promise land" But that is far from what Moses did, he remained faithful to God and to the people of Israel and led them to the promise land, though never setting foot in it. He knew that it was about something bigger than himself.

I wonder how many times I have give up on something or someone because they were not providing what I wanted at the speed that I wanted. For someone who seriously lacks patience, I can think of a couple instances where I have slacked, or even given up, on praying for someones salvation because it wasnt happening quick enough for me.

Moses made a 40 year commitment to the people of Israel while indirectly sacrificing his chance to enter the promise land. Moses saw it more important to faithfully lead the people to the reward (ie the promise land) than actually receiving the reward himself. How often do we do that?

Your church looks like fun...

Yeah my church is fun, it is a lot of fun. Here is a little example of how fun it is.

One of the reasons I love NCC is that these people know how to have fun and at the same time they know how to love God.

I had the opportunity to hear one of our pastors speak the other night about friendship and how the friends you chose will determine the quality and direction of your life. When I look back I can see this oh so clearly, for better and for worse. Regardless of how my friends have influenced my life I am thankful for them because in some way they made me the person I am today. Like Paul said to the Philippians "everything that has happened to me here has helped to spread the good news." It is my hope that everything that has happened to me through the past 23 years, for better and worse can now be used to show the redemption and mercy of Christ.

The people in my life now have helped me to understand that verse in Philippians, and they have also helped to determine the quality of my life and have helped me to find the direction of my life. And the best part, is we have done all of that while having fun, while laughing, while telling embarrassing stories, while watching Never Say Never (what?) and again while laughing. It has all been fun!

Team Goldman

While I realize this post has absolutely nothing to do with what I normally (for 4 posts) write about, but I figured I would switch it up.

After watching the Committee on Homeland Security and Government hearing regarding the role of investment banks in the financial crisis (cause Goldman Sachs was the only investment bank during that time?) it got me wondering why this whole SEC civil suit was such a big deal. For those who dont know the SEC filed a suit on April 16 against Goldman Sachs essentially claiming that Goldman knowingly betted against their clients. That is the easy version of what it is about. More complexly, the SEC claims that Goldman knowingly created a colateralized debt obligation (CDO) with Paulson & Co. (a hedge fund) through ACA Corp. and filled it with mortgage backed securities that were extremely risky, though highly rated. Goldman and Paulson & Co. decided to take a short position on this CDO (they bet against the success of the CDO, they essentially bet that the CDO was going to fail). Now Goldman then sold this CDO, named Abacus, to its investors. For a CDO to work, for every short position you need a long position (betting that the CDO would be successful). Goldman's investors were taking a long position, while Goldman itself was taking a short position. At the time when the Abacus CDO was made, April 07, it would have been a little odd for someone to take a short position on a housing CDO mainly because everyone thought the housing market would continue to decrease. It would have been more common for someone to take a long position on a CDO made up of these securities.

Now here comes the issue with the SEC, Goldman never told its investors that it was taking a short position on this CDO. They also think that if its investors had known that Goldman was shorting the CDO that it would have changed investor behavior, a hypothetical situation. Another issue is that supposedly investors thought Paulson was taking a long position, essentially they didnt know that Paulson was shorting the CDO. The SEC is saying that had investors known this it would have changed investor behavior, another hypothetical situation. Now had Paulson been a big name hedge fund at the time, it may have changed investor behavior. From my understanding Paulson was not that big of a hedge fund at the time and would have probably had a very small impact on investor behavior.

My other issue is, while Goldman knew the securities going into the CDO were pretty much junk, they were rated AAA by both Moddy's and S&P and it wasnt until 6 months later that the securities in the CDO were downgraded (Goldman didnt actually know that the securities were going to be downgraded or that the housing market would crash, they were just betting that it would). I think this become more of an issue with the credit rating agencies than it does with Goldman. Goldman was just smart enough to know that the securities werent the best regardless of their rating. Yeah, ethically, I do think that maybe they shouldnt have been as willing to sell highly rated "junk" securities to their investors but still investors knew the securities that were included in Abacus and they could have easily of done their homework. Regardless of their ratings, alot of investors were willing to buy these incredibly risky assets because 1. they thought the housing market was going to continue rising and 2. the riskier the asset the higher the payoff.

This also brings up the issue that during the early to mid 2000s investors relied heavily on credit rating agencies and what other people were doing. Dont invest in something unless you know what you are investing in. Coming from a lazy person, I probably wouldnt have done my homework, but looking at this case now, I know that if I ever invest in anything I will definitely do my homework, or I wont invest.

Had this issue come up in July or August of 2007 I dont think Goldman would be charged with anything. I think the only reason they are getting charged now is because the market crashed, and they read the market correctly. As a result, I think Goldman didnt necessarily do anything illegal, while it may have been morally questionable, but lets be real banking isnt the most morally sound industry (while I really wish it was). And yeah maybe we do need some more morals in the banking industry but I dont think that is the governments job I think it needs to be individual bankers who make the decision to stand by their investors rather than profits.

In the end, for now at least, I am all for Team Goldman!

Some interesting articles to read:

Abacus Deal: As bad as they come

Trader's Testimony Raises Legal Issues

Unconditional Faith

We constantly hear about God's unconditional love but how often do we think about unconditional faith. I can certainly say that I don't always have unconditional faith. A faith that is never failing and always trusting, regardless of what is going on you always have faith that God is in control, regardless of what God tells you to do you do it because you have faith that God will see you through. I guess it could also be considered blind faith, knowing that as long as you listen God will always lead you in the right direction. I have a lot of respect and admiration for people who have unconditional faith, Joshua was one of those people.

This week in Church we were talking about the destruction of Jericho, Joshua 6. I must say that Joshua had pretty unconditional faith in this story. If God told me to walk around a city for 7 days, 13 times, and He would give it to me I would probably be like really God, seriously? But not once did you see Joshua question God and say, "are you sure about this, you really want me to walk around a city 13 times and then somehow it will be conquered?" Instead Joshua told it to the people how it was, he didnt tell them with a wavering voice but with a strong voice as if he had full confidence that God was going to give him Jericho, why because God said "I have given Jericho into your hand". That was enough for Joshua to know that God was in control. Especially coming from some big military victories it is suprising to me that Joshua never once asked God why he couldn't just take the city by using his army.

I feel like that now days we have been let down by nearly everyone in our life in some way or another that it is hard to have unconditional faith in the people on earth and sometimes I think it may be hard for us to have unconditional faith in God. This is something I constantly struggle with, a large part is probably because I am so impatient, is that when God doesnt give us what we think we need in a timely manner we may feel that God has let us down, when in reality it may be God's way for setting us up for something better.

There is this type of bamboo, Im not quite sure on the name, that when you plant it, it kind of goes underground for 5 years. 5 years! But once it starts growing it grows at an astonishingly fast rate, somewhere around 2 and a half feet a day! Now for me personally, I probably would've given up on it after about 6 months (and that is pushing it, I come from the land of instant gratification). My biggest downfall is most likely my impatience, if I dont see results quickly I generally give up on whatever Im doing, not the best way to live you life. But what I would have given up on (the plant) had the potential to grow into something big and beautiful. Sometimes I think we give up on faith because we dont get immediate results, but just imagine what God could do if you just waited, patiently.

The other interesting aspect of the story of Jericho, that also have to do with patience, is that God told them to walk around the city 13 times. Something Pastor Mark brought up this week was that sometimes we give up on circling whatever we are asking God for because we get impatient, and sometimes we dont even know what we should be circling in the first place, what we should really be praying for. Again, I think it is important to 1. realize what we are asking God for and 2. be willing to wait patiently for it. When God decides you dont need whatever you are asking for, remember that he will always have something better for you down the road. It may be years and years down the road but we need to have an unconditional faith and know that God is in control.

Sometimes it is all easier said then done, but that is my goal: to have an unconditional faith.

Have a great week!

A Journey Through the Wilderness

So as part of the NCC challenge we have finished the book of Numbers and are onto the book of Joshua. When I first decided to start the garden to city challenge I was a little hesitant that Numbers was the first book I would be reading. As a person who grew up in the church the Torah was known as Genisis and the four other boring books in the beginning of the bible, oh and you have to throw in the Prince of Egypt (i.e. Exodus). In my 22 years of life, most of which have been spent being in and around church it is surprising to me that I have never actually read the book of Numbers, and as of now it is one of my fav books of the Bible. While there is a lot of number counting and rules on how and when to sacrifice (some of which can be tedious to read), there are also some very interesting stories.

First let me start by saying the beginning of Numbers Moses is commanded to take a census of the children of Isreal. While reading through this I was amazed at how many people there actually were, some six hundred thousand people. That is a lot of people, when I had read through I called my mom and was like "did you know there were over 600,000 people who came out of Egypt and wandered the desert for 40 years, cause they definitely did not show that on the Price of Egypt". I call my mom quite often with things like this, in which case I'm sure 90% of the time she rolls her eyes. The last time I called her about something I discovered it was "Mom did you know there are dragons in the bible?" To which she responded "No there is not, it is probably your translation" to which I told her a couple days later "no there are dragons in the bible." Back onto the subject. As a child I always envisioned Moses leading a group of maybe 10,000 or 20,000 not 600,000 people. Not only did he lead that many people out of the desert but he had to listen to that many people constantly complain. One of such complaints was that they werent happy with the food they were miraculously receiving daily from Heaven. As I read I was thinking to myself, "wow seriously Israel this bread is raining from the sky and you are complaining?" But it made me wonder how often has God provided for me and I constantly complain of how I want something new or different. I do this constantly. I am the type of person who gets bored with things real quick and constantly wants something different. It is a complete shock and surprise that I have had the same phone for almost 2 years now, since I used to get a new phone almost every six months. So reading through Numbers I have realized that God has blessed me with so much, has constantly provided for me and that I should be grateful that I even have a place to sleep and food to eat. I think a lot of the time we take simple things like that for granted, and I think it is because we have spent our whole lives with such amenities.

Not only does Isreal complain quite often but the thing I found pretty amazing in most of Numbers is that when God pretty much says he is going to wipe them out and start new, Moses pleads with him to pardon the children of Israel. While God loved the Children of Israel and like most parents got a little sick of their complaining sometimes, Moses was there to step in on their behalf. Another thing I definitely noticed while reading was all of the sacrifices that needed to be made and the complexity of them. As I was reading I couldn't help but think "wow I am so happy Jesus came and made the ultimate sacrifice" my other thought was, "wow they have a lot of animals roaming around with them". But my main thought was how thankful I was that Jesus came and made the ultimate sacrifice for all of us.

Onto the stories. While there were many stories, my favorite was probably the story of Balaam's talking donkey as told by Mark Batterson. While many of the stories are good I think that it is the ultimate message that is conveyed in Numbers that is probably the best. As Pastor Mark said yesterday in Church the book of Numbers shows that it isnt about where you are going but who you are becoming. It is very interesting when sometimes you are going somewhere, you have a goal or a plan, and God blocks it. It is even more frustrating when you think you goal or plan has been blessed by God, yet he still blocks it. Everyone once in a while I like looking back and seeing what God has done in my life, I like to think things happen because of what I do when in reality God has a huge hand in things I have and the decisions I make. As I have gone through high school and college I look back on the way things have worked out and it is sometimes amazing to see why God has done the things he has done. For instance, why I ended up choosing to go to school in San Diego (I ended up rededicating my life Easter of my sophomore year), why I ended up in DC (I got baptized in November), these are big examples and my life is full of more of stories of what God has done in my life.

But the main purpose of this post was the Israelite's journey through the wilderness, and I think all of us have had some journey through our own wilderness and God has brought us into the Promise Land. For me, like my "spiritual bubbles," I have traveled through many wildernesses most of the time because of my own decisions, yet every time God has brought me through and has always been there with open arms and an everlasting love. What an amazing thought, that through anything and everything God will always be there waiting with open arms.

Well thats all I have for today, more to come!

-S

The Beginning

On Easter I decided to take the NCC challenge and read through the bible in a "year". Easter 2010 to Easter 2011 I will have read through the entire bible, that is the plan at least. While reading through the bible different people from NCC will blog daily about the passages for the day. While reading through the bible during my first week and reading through the blog posts I thought to myself "I should really start a blog about what I get from the reading," because I felt like God was revealing things to me that needed to be written down, thus this blog was born. So I was ready to start a blog but I didn’t have a name for it, and I’m not the most creative person around. I asked a co-worker and he suggested "larrykudlow'spenpa," that wasn't going to happen (I happened to have sent Larry Kudlow an email that day). So the search was still on for the name of this blog.

As I was reading Joshua last night I thought about something we had done in my small group a couple years ago. We were asked to draw what our walk with God had been like up until that point. It could literally be anything, one person drew an anchor going into a ocean filled with sharks, someone drew a rainbow, you get the point. It may be the economist in me, but I drew a graph. It looked something like this (a kindergarten version of what I drew). The picture is not loading or is not even giving me the option to load it, so I shall describe. It was a slanted line up, a plateau, and then another slanted line up (thats as much detail as my patience will allow).

But then as I was reading last night I realized my spiritual graph looks more like the housing bubble the US has recently experienced, in other words a spiritual bubble. It looked a little more like this (again a kindergarten version of the drawing). Again, the picture isnt loading so maybe one day you will get to see my drawing of a housing bubble.

For those of you who dont know what the housing bubble looks like, it consisted of rapid growth followed by a steep downfall and is now finally recovery. While I have had many “spiritual bubbles” in my life I don’t think none can compare to the bubble that burst in the fall of 2008, coincidently that is around the same time the US housing bubble started to collapse (or maybe not so coincidently- God?). Anyways, like the US housing market is beginning to recover so is my walk with God. I’m not saying these spiritual bubbles are a good thing, but they happen and I definitely learn from each and everyone of them. Like Pastor Mark has said many times, sometimes God has to bring you down to life you back up. So this blog is mainly my avenue for blogging about my journey through life on my own, through the bible, through my first real job, and my way of sharing what God is teaching me.

A little bit about me first, and then what led to the collapse and the current recovery. I am from California, never really lived outside the state, and I recently moved out to DC for a job, which I love and has been a huge blessing, but I originally had a hard time being in DC it is definitely growing on me and Im learning to love it day by day. I went to school not too far from home, a quick 7 hr drive, and now I am across the country (a short 5 day drive) away from 90% of my family and friends, and I am truly on my own healthcare and all. While I wasn’t ok with this at first I see more and more how much of a blessing in disguise this move has been. God has brought me to a great city, brought me into an amazing church with great people and is starting to show me more and more about myself and how much I really need Him.

So this is the beginning, hopefully it continues for longer than a couple weeks but with me you just never know. We are about to go into catacombs worship service, so until next time I hope this will suffice for a first blog entry. All I have to say is catacombs=amazing

-S