I think Relient K has it down to a T...

  Sunny with a high of 75 since you took this heavy heart and and made it light..this is mostly pertaining to the amazing weather here in Juneau. I'm sitting on the balcony of the Lodge enjoying another beautiful day in Juneau, Alaska. Today's Fathers Day and like I foresaw, it's been a really hard day. My church group was invited over to a congregation members house and when reminded to "not to forget to call your fathers today!!", I couldn't help but feel that gap in my heart just kinda stretch a little more open. If they only knew... It's already been almost six months since my dad died and it still feels like just yesterday that I got "that call" to come home. I've only told maybe 11 of the 30 something guys up here. It's not one of those things that you can bring up in casual conversation like "hey guess what happened in January". So thats been real hard to deal with.

  So Juneau is amazing! I'm starting to meet some staff for the Alaska Transformation (our little sister project). It's crazy who you meet thousands of miles away from home! Last night I met a guy who's from Rockport, MO which is only about an hour from home and was also on Project Charlie with a couple friends from WSC..and I guess there's some staff coming up for the AT who're on Alpha Project who might know a few more friends.

   I started work this week...finally!!! I'm working at Fred Meyer aka Freddy's. Picture walmart, but bigger and better. I work in the Meat Department which is kinda lame because I'd love to work outside of like food products for once. I stock meat, check expiration dates, wrap it and label it. I've also done some cutting which has actually been fun because I feel like a legit butcher for a few minutes which doing so.

This weekend we had the "Man-Maker" camp out. It sounds hard-core...but it was really just a bunch of guys hiking and camping..which was still awesome though. I could go on, but I'm getting a bit tired so I'm gonna leave ya from here.

In His grasp,
Andrew

  

It's been awhile..

 So, I know I've been inconsistent in my posting...but I'm working on it ;) But I'm gonna keep this one a tad short. God Is Good!!! It's amazing to see how he uses the smallest of things to open up your eyes! I've been finding it easier and easier to let him handle life instead of do it on my own terms...and let me tell you, it's FREEING!!! I'm still everyday amazed by the community of students and staff here in Juneau. There is no sense of superiority whatsoever between the staffers and students! I've been realizing more and more how fleeting life and things of this world really is. I was standing inside of a glacier this past Tuesday, this glacier loses ten feet a day due to climate changes. It's everyday fleeting just like this world.

 I'm done putting my concerns on things of this Earth. My pursuit of a financially stable job, a girl, just a materialistic life in general. I'm ready to consume my desires with the desires that God has for me and my life. I'm ready to be stretched, even to the point that it hurts.

 I start my job on Monday which is exciting because I'm ready to stop moping around our apartment and actually do something productive...not that climbing a mountain or doing a service project isn't productive. I'm just ready for consistency. I'm excited to see what me and 10 other college kids can do to impact this job....I know it was short, but I've had only 4 hours of sleep the last two days..and I need more. I promise I'll write more next time!

In His grasp,
Andrew

Update!!! I know it's long over due!!

Hey gang! It's been awhile since I last posted, but amazing things have happened since then. Here's an update (bear with me, it might be a little long but amazing things have happened!)

Day 1) We left Nebraska last Tuesday (the 18th) and continued on our trek to Alaska. We'd gotten about 5 hours away from Nebraska when we started experiencing car troubles. We drove for about a mile or so to see if the problems would wear off..well, they didn't. We thought it was maybe a problem with a fan belt, so we decided to go to the next town we could get to so we could get it looked by a mechanic. That town ended up being Kadoka, SD. So we dropped the car off thinking it was the fan belt, went and played some frisbee until the mechanic had a verdict for us...well..we got it. It ended up being a melted piston!! If you're not at all familiar with automechanics, that basically means 1) buy a new car..or 2) $$$$ up the whazoo to fix it. So there we were stranded in Small Town, South Dakota. One of our project members family was so awesome enough to drive up another vehicle to us. Blessing #1!! So through random conversation with our mechanic, it turns out he'd gone to bible college with my pastor back home!!!! It was so awesome and crazy how that worked out. Later that night, he and his wife would invite myself and the four others that were with me to his church to listen a choir that was performing (the church happened to be the one that my pastor back home preached at!!) It was so awesome to meet some of the old congregation that my pastor had worked along with!! And this is only day number 1! So I ended up sleeping in a random van me and another found in the auto mechanics scrap yard, while two others slept in our van.

Day 2) We reached Canada!! For some reason, I was excited because I actually got to put my passport to use. Canada was quite interesting. We pulled many a illegal traffic violations late at night and it's by God's grace there were no police (or mounties?) around. We got lost in about every city we encountered. Edmonton, Calgary, and every which one we went through. We did so much driving that I'm in a daze about which cities we hit when.

Day 3) We hit a narly snow storm atop a mountain and had to wait it out for a couple hours only to find that it was clear as day a mile down the mountain lol. The wild-life was crazy in a small town sort of way. In the U.S. we see deer or rabbits or even a coyote standing on the side of the rode.. In Canada, you see bears, moose, elk, or buffalo just standing on the side of the road grazing. It felt like I was at the zoo but only I didn't have a protective glass pane shielding me, but only my common sense to not open the door!We're here!!! We finally got to Alaska!!! We stopped and ate an an amazing mexican restaurant with a view of the bay and mountains in the background!

Day 4) We get to Juneau and meet with out project director Robert and another staffer and they show us around a little and point out spots to where we can stay and stuff. So we're camping out and enjoying some good ole' man time (the girl who drove with us stayed with a project staffer).

Day 5) We start to explore the town Juneau and start the job hunt! The job outlook in Juneau looks quite promising. There are so many awesome places here in Juneau! I'm stoked to see which one I work at! We explored and ended up playing a real legit game of ultimate with most of the staffers, that was probably one of the most fun games I've played so far because of the atmosphere and the fact that there was a huge mountain around me every direction I threw the frisbee.
Day 6) we spent the day filling out job applications and met up with some project guys and so yea..now..now we wait for tomorrow when project officially starts..awesome..!

So thats a lengthy, but still short compared to how much I left out, update thus far. I ask that you all continue to keep us in your prayers as we set out to begin Project Golf. Thank you and have a fantastic evening!
In His grasp,
Andrew

Change in the name

So...as you may have noticed, there is a change in the name of my blog. In late May, I'll be venturing on up to the town of Juneau, Alaska and spend 11 weeks of my summer there on a project with Campus Crusade for Christ. Be praying for me as I'm trying to raise support to cover the cost of the project and any materials I may need that are necessary for my summer in Juneau.

A Healthy Response

When I was at home, I dealt with a lot of stress from some tension in the family due to an ongoing ordeal. It wasn't really towards me, but I was in the room and you could cut the tension with a knife. This caused a lot of stress for the members of the family who weren't involved in the quarrel. What I do for stress, is I go for drives to get some air and clear my mind. And then I go and resolve the problem with a clear mind. This has always helped me to remain calm and not to act out in anger or aggression when confronting or being confronted. Thats my healthy response to stress.

How I've Grown

How I've grown and what have I done? I've grown a lot in my time here at Wayne State College. In my first semester here, I really discovered myself. Before I got to Wayne, I was the kid that got picked on a lot so they just wouldn't talk much to prevent from getting made fun of. I've taken a complete 180 from that. I've grown to not care about what people think of me, but mostly I've grown to see that what the world needs is that person who doesn't care what people think. If you look at those who've contributed the most to our society, they've been the one's to stand out because they didn't care what people thought of them, they took the chance of getting ridiculed.

I've grown to be comfortable with a loud personality because 1) it's fun to be loud and be known and 2) relating to what I said above, I know I'm making a difference here at Wayne State, maybe not in the lives of everyone, or even a tenth of them, but I know that I have impacted at least one; and if I can just keep sight of that, that I've made a difference in a life, even if just one, I know I've succeeded more than a wealthy person who's famously known.

I've grown to love being loud, but I've also learned that I love leading. Whether it be the leader of a small group, leadership of a major campus organization, or in Wayne. I've grown to reach out to those who are looking for a hand, to learn how to keep my eyes open so I can be that "hand". I've also been intentional with people. Instead of holding a door open for a stranger and letting them go without even getting their name, I've become more apt to use that to "open a door" later on to get to know them, to build a relationship with them, and be their friend.

Really, I think that's how I've grown the most. Thanks for stoppin' by!

The Difference

This isn't my post for the assignment we were given to blog about, this is just something that I was thinking about tonight thats just apart from the assignment and felt like being constructive and put it down somewhere for whatever reason, so I chose to blog about it.

Today in class, we were split up into groups. There where maybe four or five groups all having one common stand point, in which the student chose which one they'd like to work on ie. health and fitness, spirituality, nutrition, etc. Honestly, I wasn't aware and chose to go with the spirituality and religion because I feel it's one that I can closely tie to being a follower of Christ.

I'm not judging, I'm just observing. I noticed alot in my group that alot of the members wanted to start being more religious again. That's great. I was intrigued because there is a fine line between spirituality and religious. Defined, religious is basically to be superstitious and to follow a religion. While spiritual relates more so ones walk with Christ, learning to walk the Lord, to live our lives under the influence of the Holy Spirit.

You see, they're not the same thing. In my small group, I heard a lot of sayings like "I need to be more religious". Ok...well...being religious is good, but it's not going to help you with more than a temporary "pat on the back" feel good feeling. Anyone can be religious about anything, I can be religious in playing my roommates Xbox 360 if I put enough time and effort into it and hold it on a pedestal over something else..*poof*..I've just become a religious Xbox player.

You see, it's the spiritual side that you need to become connected with. Without a connection to Christ, going to Church isn't going to do a lot for you. It's complete submission to Jesus Christ that is what's going to do it for you. To be connected with the Holy Spirit. I didn't say anything because these are my classmates and I didn't want to offend them by calling it as I see it like I am now. So....I guess thats all that was on my mind. There's a fine line between religious and spiritual. Religious is more about the practices while spirituality is more about the relationship with a higher being (Jesus Christ). Alrighty world, well thanks for listening. Have a good night!

--Andrew