Frustrating

July 21, 2005Wednesday morning, I walked out to the bike to go to work and found the rear tire flat with a small nail sticking out. I was quite annoyed, but my mind immediately raced for options. I called work and told them I would be a little late, but I could still make it. I would just need to find someone to finish my shift so I could get off a little earlier to get the tire fixed. Every single person I asked couldn\'t or wouldn\'t do it for some reason or another (a few had good reason not to, but most were just out of confessed laziness). When I finally got off work, and got to the house, my roommate backed his truck down the ditch so I could put the bike in the back to take it to the shop. After I loaded it, he couldn\'t pull the truck out because of the rain that had just started falling. I had to go to AO a little muddy. I wasn\'t able to get the tire fixed until this morning. But, it\'s all ok, because I didn\'t need that $180 anyways. :)

God Answers Prayer

July 19, 2005... and never stops amazing me. I had a fairly large need come up today. However, I prayed about it and, within five minutes, found out that He had already provided. He knew my need before I asked. Words cannot express my awe! My finite mind doesn\'t have the ability to scratch the surface of God\'s omni-ness.
He cares.

How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand; When I awake, I am still with You. Psalm 139:17-18

Growth Spurt

July 18, 2005Over the last several months, I\'ve been experiencing spiritual growth like I haven\'t seen since my junior high years. I\'m feeling the heat of a fire that has burned ever so lightly for several years now. That fire is starting to roar. However, the journey to perfect communion with the Saviour is filled with many distractions and pitfalls.

I can directly link this increasing fervor with two things. One, the ending of an impeding relationship and two, my move from Cookeville back to Murfreesboro. Christ has been able to take first place in my life and I\'ve been able to plug in.

The Way is not easy. But the King makes it bearable. One of my favorite passages of scripture is Psalm 139. The encouragement is magnificent. From verses 7 and 8:: Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.

What an amazing encouragement for those in Him! From our best days to our worst days, He is always available. He will always lead us and hold us. Incredible!

I Christen Thee... Nate

July 18, 2005I\'m Nate and I\'m an addict for this sort of thing. It\'s unfortunate. I could be spending my time more productively elsewhere, but oh well. My sister and several of my friends, both old and new, are on here so I thought I\'d be plankton and go with the flow.

This weekend was incredible! I went on an AO trip to Louisville, KY. We went up on Friday afternoon and came back on Sunday afternoon. I spent 12 hours at Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom (minus the hour or so for lunch outside the freakishly-expensive-food park). I met a few people that I never really knew or knew well. I hope I didn\'t scare them too badly! I think I may have gained a few new friends, which is very nice.

I\'ve been to KY Kingom a few times before so, as fun as they were, none of the rides were particularly surprising (I\'ve ridden all the big ones at least a half dozen times before this trip), but the highlight of the park was my trip in the 200\' high SkyCoaster. I got a brave (read: crazy) soul to go with me since I wouldn\'t go by myself (You ROCK Rachel!!). On our way up, we were talking and quite jittery (as you might expect), then one of the cables popped! It was just one of the carabiners settling, but it did nothing to settle us. I was extremely tempted to pull the ripcord right then so we\'d have less distance to fall. But, I held off and listened very intently for any further signs of trouble. Luckily, it turned out to be nothing and we made it to the top. We had just a second to enjoy/dread the view. Then we heard it, \"3...2...1...FLY!\". I didn\'t even think and pulled the ripcord. The trip was incredible! We got up to about 65mph from what I found on the internet. Ask Rachel about it. I will definately do it again!

Well, it\'s 2:20AM and I\'ve got to be at work at 10:00AM so I\'m off to bed. I\'ll write more about the trip later. Goodnight.