this summer.

Let me say I've had the most wonderful summer ever. I couldn't wait to blog about how this entire season has built me up, humbled, and readied me for the next chapter of my life. Now I've finally found some time to smear some virtual ink across a page so here we go.

First off, I got a job at a conference center near Black Mountain, NC called Ridgecrest. When I found out I had the job, I didn't know what to expect. I learned that I would live at this place with a few other college students who were doing the same kind of thing. Little did I know that these people would change my life. Especially the men who I've come to know as my brothers. I owe it to them for impacting my life so much.

Not only did I have a job and got paid, but I truly enjoyed the work I did. The work consisted of running sound and setting up for bands, learning how to patch audio signal in some of the most complicated but efficient ways, and bat wrangling. Yes, like real bats. The ones with rabies and all.

During one of my first weeks, I got to run sound for Todd Agnew. I didn't really have to do much since the band was already mixed but I still felt a little more awesome from that. Speaking of, getting to experience Todd leading worship for the Fuge Camps was a life changing experience in itself. With experience and a desire to lead worship, it was a privilege to see this guy do his thing. Each week was essentially the same, but once every week, he would talk about God's love for us. Every time I was floored. I had been struggling with the question of why God loves me. As big of a screw up as I am, how could someone so beautifully perfect, actually enjoy my life? But what it comes down to is that no matter what, God sees us like a groom seeing his bride walk down an aisle with this undying love. It's still hard to grasp. I definitely do not deserve it. But at least now, I'm letting God love me in a different way than before...a better way. And I actually UNDERSTAND this love in a better way. Not completely but better than I did.

On the spiritual side of things, God lead me to read through the New Testament this summer. I admit that I had never went through every book of the NT before. But I hadn't gotten through the gospels before God was teaching me so many things about how to live and love. Reading about Jesus' life was so much sweeter reading it four times in a row. What a man!

Next on the list: my dreams are coming alive a little at a time. My music-partner, Randy, and I completely wrote an album earlier this summer and are in the process of recording it. As of right now, we have all the drum tracks finished. It's amazing because we actually wrote 7 and 1/2 of the songs this summer. The other 5 and 1/2 were mostly written. We hope to have everything mixed and ready to hand out by December. It's so stinkin' awesome to hear our own music like this. I get so excited every time I think of the positive things that COULD come out of this. The negative ones, they kind of suck. It's a hard road to go down, but I want to do this thing. And I feel like God has given me this desire for a reason. Pray for us. We were both able to work together at Ridgecrest this summer which was a plus since it gave us ample time to discuss, write and exchange ideas with each other in our spare time.

So...this summer. It's been a great one. It's arguably close to last summer when I traveled to Europe. But most importantly, this summer has helped me to grow in many more ways than last year. I have been blessed. Ridgecrest will always have a piece of my heart....even though I will continue to work there as a temp.

And for today: I can't get enough of Switchfoot. More specifically, Jon Foreman's songwriting. How can a man write so deep? I want to shed tears every time I finally realize what this guy is saying. For instance, they put out an album awhile back called The Beautiful Letdown. I've listened to it thousands of times, but today I was listening to "On Fire." He wrote, "....Everything inside me looks like everything I hate. You are the the hope I have for change. You are the only chance I'll take." I may sound dumb or illiterate, but I never quite 'got' what he was saying here. This is what I've been trying to get out. Just a minute ago, you read how I was faced with the question of why God would love me. Well, today, I sang, in my car, what I've really been wanting to say. I had been hating myself because of how wicked I really am, but I will only chance on the One who gives me hope to change. I still feel like I'm having trouble communicating this.