| Hello to the xanga world! It has been quite a while! Things are wonderful here in Hattiesburg, MS. Summer is about to end, I'm about to graduate, and Hope will be returning from summer missions soon. This has been a crazy summer and I'm thankful for all it has been but I'm ready for it to be over. Let's just say that summer school and my girlfriend being in another state makes you wish the fall was near. But by August 3, life will be back to the way I like it. I will be a graduate of Southern Miss and Hope will be home. So what's next, you ask. Well, I'll you. This fall I will begin classes at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, seeking a Master's of Divinity in Christian Education with a Specialization in Youth Ministry. I know, it sounds official but you know that it is doable if I'm attempting it. I'm really excited about the doors the Lord will open with a Seminary degree. I will never a Biblical scholar but I will always be a servant of Jesus, just one with a fancy educated degree. I am hopefully moving to Tylertown in September to close to the place that is close to my heart. Its crazy the love that you have for a place the Lord calls you to. I'm still in love with Mesa Baptist Church in Tylertown, Mississippi. No doubt the Lord has called me there and He is working in the hearts of everyone there. Its crazy b/c He is working in the hearts of my youth even though I screw up all the time. Praise the Lord that He does all the work b/c I am NOTHING without Him. I will always Hope Olivia Wakefield. I knew that before she left but it has been reaffirmed so many times over this summer. I have never been one to miss much and I have always welcomed the new and easily said goodbye to the old, but HER, I can't shake her. I won't even try. Never have I missed anything like this. Never have I wanted HER just to look me in the eye, just to touch me on the arm, just to laugh with me face to face. I have missed her. I love her. The Lord is my joy and my strength but so much of the joy and strength He gives me comes through her. Having to do without that from the end of May to the beginning of August sucks! But she'll come home soon and I'll have her with me. I can't wait! If heaven is better than being with Hope, and I know that it is, well I think that I'll be having a dance party better than David did when the Arc of the Lord passed before Him. I love her...and she loves me. And Jesus....the Beginning and the End. I can't say enough. He is everything to me. He loves me like no one else. Man...what else can I say?! My completion is found in Him. I have discovered over the summer that I'm going to live my life for Him. I know that sounds strange, me being in the ministry and all, but I think that at times in the past I have lived for Him so I can have....heaven...peace...completion....comfort...hope. All those things are wonderful and promised by Him, but I say that I will live for Him regardless. Jeremiah inspires me so much b/c his life sucked and it never got better. He followed God, had a crappy life, and died. Now he is partying like a rockstar, but here on earth he was whining about it all...and for good reason! All he had was Jesus, and Jesus kept telling him to do things that no one agreed with, like being naked for a while (like 3 years!). He also wasn't allowed to get married (really!). And Jeremiah followed. That's who I want to be. But I don't want to be like Jesus. His life was similar. He was poor, had a step-parent, was back stabbed by his friends, never even dated, and died the worst death ever for a lot of people who don't appreciate it. I love Phillipians 2 b/c it lays out the servant of Jesus. That's who I'm going to be. I'm not giving anything up, I'm giving everything up. I'm giving myself to Him because He gave Himself to me and I'm giving myself to everyone else because that's the example set. It's all or nothing. I pick all. I did when I was 17, but I'm still learning what it means to do so and I know will until the day I meet Jesus. In a nut shell, that's been me and Jesus this summer, and it will be for forever. ><>Zack<>< By the way, I think that Ralph Lauren in a prophet and that in heaven we'll all have on white clothing with a Polo horse. I won't be disappointed if its not like that, but that image is a better picture of heaven to me than any song by MercyMe or Ray Boltz. |
