A Series of Confessions: Summer Plans

This post is in a series of posts; to understand The Reason(s) for these posts please click the hyper link.


Summer breaks are always a time of freedom, fun, sun, beaches, pools, sleep, work, and on and on. A time were students don't have to worry about teachers and teachers don't have to worry about students. A time of heat waves, dancing in the streets, pool parties and graduation all wrapped up in a towel licking the ice cream cone in our hand. But what has anyone really accomplished over the summer? reading book(s), sleeping, movie watching, swimming, exercises. 


I plan to do all of this but more, i am planning to make my summer mean something, be a summer to remember. I want to grow and not waste my summer, but better yet start "writing a better story for myself." The following is how I am going to to do just that:

• I am working on deepening my relationship with Christ
• I plan to be Christ at the pool I work at where everyone is "christian" or agnostic
• I am apart of the College and Career group at church, continuing going to that
• This summer a bunch of guys at a Bible decided that instead of going through another book of the Bible over the summer we instead will do some street ministry down on South Street in Philly (Philadelphia). (I am going to be apart of that)
• I am going to work at a camp for a week to be Christ to the campers
• I am reading books both theological and fun to read.
• exercising and eating right

I hope this start to not waste my summer and hope to make lifestyle changes to allow me not to waste the rest of the summer.

Dear Lord,

Thank you for this time off from school and for allowing this time and season to be enjoyed. I wonder at the sunsets and enjoy the ocean and its beaches. Please Lord please don't let this summer go to waste and may it be fruitful and a time of growth. I am pray for the people at my work, in south Philly, and the children at camp i will work with, may you work in their lives and allow me to be used in the process. Thank you for allowing me to be a part of this. 

Love, ME

The Summer and Summer Loving

Due to work, lack of time and lack of a computer I was unable to post and I even forgot i had a blog till now. funny yes I know but its the sad truth. Over the summer my goal was to read the book St. Augustine's Confessions, and failed; instead I read Don't Waste Your Life by John Piper, God Will Make a Way by Dr. Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend and 9 Things You Simply Must Do to Succeed in Love and Life by Dr. Henry Cloud. 

I worked as a Lifeguard back home in the County owned pool and taught swim lessons to kids. My vacation from this craziness was a glorious week back at camp as a camp counselor. So I got paid to yell at people and tan, at work and volunteered to do that at camp. Actually, at both work and camp my Goal and plan was to Love and Love On those who I worked with, served, and looked after. I certainly had my good days and bad days with this but that was my lesson for the year and summer, LOVE. Love God and Love Others, the two greatest commandments of the Bible, according to Jesus in Matt. 22:34-40. It was that simple, or so I thought. It was tough, Love is giving freely of yourself and no expecting things in return, love is patient, kind, holds no record of wrong, etc., but in the hot son when everyone is irritable it is hard to love the co-worker who has "screwed" you over, or the patron who is yelling at you because you told them that their child cannot be in the pool with out a swim diaper. 

But above all these petty little things, I had to look how I loving those who were closest to me. This didn't hit me till towards the end of the summer, due to the reading of God Will Make A Way. Because of that book kicking me in the butt I started looking hard and fast at relationships and the lack-there-of. I started praying for God to do what he wanted with my life and for me to have wisdom to make the right choices for and in the future. Let me just warn you now, if you pray for this and truly mean it, it won't be a cake walk in candy-land. God took my prayer and answered it with love, tough love. I had many decisions to make and a short time to make them. I had to figure out if I would be able to return to college, decide on whether or not I should stay with my girlfriend, and how to rebuild my relationship with my father and everything that went with all that and on top of it. 

So life stunk a little but in the end it all worked out for good. My girlfriend and I are now ex-boyfriend and girlfriend but not ex-friends. We  are working on being friends still but at least we talk. My dad and I are now working on having a relationship that works instead of pretending we actually had one. I am back at college with all the perks of being a student. Life marches on and I am faced with many many challenges like to change or not to change majors in my junior year. I was actually depressed for a couple days, but I am better and God love me this broken vessel that I am. O and that whole Love God and Love Others thing, well the Student Activities Board is selling Bracelets that say that exact thing... funny how sometimes God has to beat us over the head with something. So now that i have rambled on abut my summer and lack-there-of i just have to say is LOVE: Love God, Love Others.