Livin' On A Prayer

You know you are singing the song right now. Don't lie.

Even though sometimes I feel like this is not the case, I know this is truly what I am doing this summer. It is by faith that I left Wilmore, KY and Asbury to venture to south Georgia this summer. On faith and a continuous prayer, I find myself back in Folkston, GA for the second summer. Even though sometimes I don't see God, I know he is guiding me. Sometimes I feel it. Sometimes I hear it from others. He keeps me going. If I wasn't here for Him, I wouldn't be here.

I am in my fourth week of work, and it has been enjoyable so far (I really expected nothing else). I feel like I haven't been serving the youth as much as I should because of everything else going on, but I know that feeling will change when July begins. I have a schedule, and it has lots of fun built in. Vacation Bible School basically ate an entire week I could have used for activities, but it seems like half the youth were on vacation, at camp, etc. last week and the other half are gone this week. So, maybe it is better there is not much happening right now.

Oh wait, did I just say that? That would be a lie. Our pastor is on vacation this week, so it is just me and the secretary. I realized yesterday I have four lessons to prepare for next Sunday (Sunday School, Sermon, Youth, Evening Service). Not to mention, I have to write a Bible Study lesson for Thursday still and write the note from the pastor in the newsletter this week. And you know what, I have a strong confidence that all this will get done with no problem.

Yes, above you saw where I am going to be preaching this upcoming Sunday in church. I don't know on what yet. I actually preached this past Sunday as well since it was Youth Sunday in the church. God didn't strike me down, and nobody has had anything bad to say yet, so I guess I did ok. I will take to the pulpit one other time this summer after this Sunday making it three trips to the pulpit in 10 weeks of work.

I am off to do some work now, maybe. Take care everybody.

John

New World, Same Old Story

When I posted on Thursday about my beloved Atlanta Braves, I was hoping that maybe things would start looking up. Apparently, nobody got the memo in the Braves clubhouse that things were supposed to start going better for them now.

The Braves just got swept for the second series in a row and lost Sunday night to the Red Sox by virtue of the bullpen giving up 7 runs in the last two innings. Oh the pain of it all.

I am thankful for one thing during this whole mess though. My tv at the house I am living at while I am working in deep south Georgia this summer only has an antenna for the tv. I get all of one network station (NBC), a local Jacksonville station, and GA and FL PBS stations. So, the positive thing is that I don't have to watch the Braves literally implode every night. Rather, I can just look at the scores the next morning.

I will begin throwing some more thought provoking stuff out soon hopefully. Things are busy, but not too busy so I will try to slip in a post here and there.

John

A Braves New World

As I sit here and write this post, my beloved Atlanta Braves are 12 games out of first place in the NL East. They haven't been this far out of first place since 1990 (the year before the run of consectutive division titles started). They are just 2-11 in the month of June so far. So needless to say, the Braves are struggling mightly posting a 30-36 record so far this season.

This is a tough road. The Braves won their first division title in the streak when I was 9 years old. 9 YEARS OLD!!! I am 24 now! 24! The Braves have always owned the top spot on my favorite teams list, and they will continue to regardless of the way this season goes. They are struggling, but they are not out. They still have the one of the best, if not the best, managers in baseball. They have talent (veteran and youth). They also have the killjoy of pro sports, injuries. I want to believe they can comeback. Part of me thinks they can, but the other part of me knows they aren't the best team in their division and have a long road ahead of them. All that being said, here's to starting the turnaround today!

We don't need no rally monkey. Start the drum beating, chant screaming, and tomahawk chopping! Go Braves!

What Is Your Theological Worldview?

To find out, go to this website and answer the questions.

http://quizfarm.com/test.php?q_id=43870

I found this quiz linked somewhere and thought it was way too good to pass up for a seminary student like myself. So what are the results? Well, apparently, Asbury is doing a pretty good job with me or I made a pretty good choice in Asbury (who knows). The result of my quiz is below.

You are:
Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan

You are an evangelical in the Wesleyan tradition. You believe that God's grace enables you to choose to believe in him, even though you yourself are totally depraved. The gift of the Holy Spirit gives you assurance of your salvation, and he also enables you to live the life of obedience to which God has called us. You are influenced heavly by John Wesley and the Methodists.