Overwhelmed by Meaningless Vanities...

Ecclesiastes explains it perfectly. Without God, everything is meaningless. The thing I love about this book is that King Solomon wrote it. King Solomon was the wisest king in history. He had so much wisdom and yet it all comes down to this simple conclusion. Without God, everything is meaningless.

I don't understand how my faith can be such a roller-coaster ride. One day I'll be rockin' it for Jesus and then the next I won't be feeling very "spiritual". Why is this, God? We both know that I love you so much. And that my most joyous moments are when I am praising you. So why is it so hard for my to completely drown myself in You? Why does my stupid self always get in the way of giving you my full attention? Don't blame the apple, blame the hand.

There are so many things that we are constantly wondering about God. We have so many questions. But you know, we don't need to know such insignificant answers. We tend to try and find all the "logistics" of God. Well I hate to burst your bubble, but God has no logistics. We can't confine Him into science. We need to spend less time thinking about the logistics of God, and more time just simply praising Him.

If there was a way to just simply think about God 24/7, I could change history. I would give anything for that. There would never be a dull moment.

I went to the David Crowder concert tonight and he wrote it so beautifully in this song:

And He set me on fire, and I am burning alive.
With His breath in my lungs I am coming undone.
And he set me on fire and I am burning alive.
With his breath in my lungs I am coming undone.
And I cannot hold it in
Remain composed.
Love's taken over me
So I propose the letting myself go.
I am letting myself go.

You are my joy.
You are my joy.
You are my joy.
You are my joy.

And He set me on fire, and I am burning alive.
With His breath in my lungs I am coming undone.
And He set me on fire, and I am burning alive.
With His breath in my lungs I am coming undone.
And I cannot hold it in and remain composed.
Love's taken over me and so I propose the letting myself go.
I am letting myself go.

You are my joy.
You are my joy.
You are my joy.
You are my joy.

I need to catch my breath, I need to.
I need to catch my breath, give me a moment now.

You are my joy.
You are my joy.
You are my joy.
You are my joy.

I'm laughing so hard
And I'm laughing so hard
And I'm laughing so hard

I grew more this summer than I have my whole life.

God revealed Himself to me in so many ways, whether

it be in Africa or at camp. I saw miracles happen. The

kind of miracles like Jesus performed in His day. I miracles

just like those ones when I was in Africa. Its like God

grabbed my shoulders tightly, and shook me around and

said "Aaron! Look! I am here! How could you have been so

blind as to not see me so clearly before?" Its sad that it

took miraculous things to happen for me to fully see God.

But I am glad I finally see the bigger picture now.

So many times we get caught up in our selfish desires. And

it happens so often, because it is our natural human ways.

But if know God, love God and have actually seen and

experienced God, then why aren't we spending every

waking moment praising Him, worshiping Him, talking

to Him, thinking about Him, living for Him? I just wish

so badly that I could live FULLY for Him. But in order to

actually do that, I would have to be perfect. And that just

ain't gonna happen. It doesn't take any genius to figure

this stuff out.

My life was changed this summer. God has given me a candle

and He wants me to set this world on fire. And I so deeply want

to, but every single time I try my earthly habits get in the way.

This year is going to be different. God has called me and I have

answered. By His strength, I will affect hundreds of people's

lives. By His words, I will speak to hundreds of people about

Him. And by His love, I will love His people.

All I am saying is that...

God is going to do some INCREDIBLE things in my life this summer!

"God, reveal to me who you want me to be.

Give me the words to say to others this summer.

Keep me humble, passionate, and full-heartedly Yours.

Work in my life like you never have before.

Thank you for everything you have done, you do, and you

continue to do in my life.

Thank you for all of the amazing oppurtunitie that you have given me.

Bless my parents this summer while I am away.

Work in the lives of my friends as well.

I love you, Dad.

Amen!"

I really love this song and it would be a great one to sing during one of our staff meetings. I love those!

How Deep The Father's Love For Us
By: Stuart Townend

How deep the Father's love for us,

How vast beyond all measure,
That He should give His only Son

To make a wretch His treasure.

How great the pain of searing loss,

The Father turns His face away,

As wounds which mar the Chosen One

Bring many sons to glory.

Behold the man upon a cross.

My sin upon His shoulders;

Ashamed, I hear my mocking voice

Call out among the scoffers.

It was my sin that held Him there

Until it was accomplished;

His dying breath has brought me life

I know that it is finished.

I will not boast in anything,

No gifts, no power, no wisdom;

But I will boast in Jesus Christ,

His death and resurrection.

Why should I gain from His reward?

I cannot give an answer.

But this I know with all my heart,

His wounds have paid my ransom.

Listen to the Music of the Night

Today in French class, we watched the 2004 version of "The Phantom of the Opera". And although I hve seen that movie many many times, I have never watched it in French. It was really cool hearing how itwould have actually been since it took place in France. The songs sounded really pretty in French also.

"Il m'aime. Il m'aime. Il m'aime" - Carlotta

ps. 17 DAYS

Singing worship songs around a campfire: priceless

Tonight was my first official night as a leader for the Jr. High at my church and it was so much fun! Just being with kids and all of their joy just gets me pumped for camp. But there was another thing tonight that I did that got me even more excited for camp. After the kids left, all of the leaders gathered around the campfire and just worshipped God. It was so powerful. It was the first time in so long that I have actually felt the presence of God.

I think tonight God was giving me just a little bit of camp. And I am so incredibly excited to see what God has in store for my life this summer!

"God just please bring forth your power in my life!

Let me see changes in myself that I have never seen before!

Bring me back to you and prepare me for this summer!

I Love you, Dad!"

suspension

So I will be staying home from school tomorrow because I have been suspended for a day. Now, before you jump to any conclusions, let me explain what happened....

I was eating my turkey bagel sandwhich and potato chips in the cafeteria with some of my friends (shamu was there) like I do everyday. As I took a bite into my deliciously plain bagel sandwhich, I noticed this little freshman kid that a lot of people rightfully dislike because he has NO respect for anybody and is a jerk to everyone(lets call him Gary) start to tease another kid who is kind of strange and out there but he is in a couple of my classes, so we are acquaintances (lets call him Eugene).

Eugene had been continuely been yelling at Gary to stop. In fact, Eugene had told me the day before about this kid teasing him. So anyway, Gary would not go away. That is when I stood up and said, in quite a loud forceful voice, "Gary knock it off! Leave him alone!" Gary then laughed and walked away.

Once again, he came creeping over, so i stood up walked over to him and said, "Get a life!" and shoved him pretty hard. He again walked away.

I guess the booger didn't learn his lesson so he started comin over again. That is when some girl, i had never seen before, grabbed him by the back of the neck and yelled at him to stop. He made some really rude comments to her, so she proceeded to hit him really hard in the face. The security guys saw her do it and escorted both her and gary out of the cafeteria.

During my next class which was choir, i got pulled out to give my testimony of what happened. I was in a small awkward room with the vice principal, the victim Eugene, the hitter, and a witness. The v.p. was really calm about things and was very understanding as to why we reacted the way we did. Unfortunately, legally they had to suspend us even though they didn't want to because they understood the circumstance.

So tomorrow, I will sleep in, eat junk food and watch movies all day. Friday I am going to talk to the v.p. about getting it off my personal record because I have some friends wrongfully accused of things and got it off their personal record.

All in all, I do not regret one bit of it. I stood up for the kid, and did what I thought was right at the time and a lot of people actually congratulated me too. And hey, I get a day off of school!!

Oh and a note for the Price family (or anyone else interested): I am going to be home alone all day being bored, so i would love some company if anyone wants to come over and watch movies with me. Just give me a call!