It's God or bust

Just a disclaimer you might think you know what this blog is about, but you don't. Anyway...

After going to church today and talking with Bill tonight I realized how true that statement was. Everything in my life has to be through God or else it sucks. Each part of my life must first be almost passed through God like a filter to make sure it is clean and good for me. If it isn't then I shouldn't do, say, or think it. All my life I've known about these rules and regulations of the Bible and how are supposed to live our lives. However, in Bill's story that he told me, the relationship was centered around Christ and it worked.

Now don't get me wrong here. I'm not saying that if I ask God about something then it will automatically work. That's another lesson I've been dealing with this semester. It seems to me that my situations start off with a little bit of prayer and a whole lot of me wanting something to work. By the end it's just like when you pressure someone into buying something. It turns out as a return or cancellation. At least that's what happens during the summer. When you really open your mind and opinion to letting the customer buy then they are free to make the decision and are honestly more likely to buy simply because of the mood and option they are given. I want nothing more than to be obedient to God no matter how hard or backwards it may seem in my mind. Why not take this chance that I have to work on it in college rather than when I have bigger things to worry about. It's like practicing before a big game. This is it, my last year of practice so I feel like I better get on the ball.

This didn't really go the way I thought it would, but that's ok. I hope you enjoyed this portion of my thoughts and if you didn't, well, perhaps the next one will be better. Don't give up on me yet.

New but not familiar

That's how I feel this year started. I still know a lot of people, but my outlook towards them is different. I know them, but they hold a different value because I realize that this may be the last year I will see them. It's crazy, but kind of exciting. To be honest it really hasn't hit me that I'll be leaving Asbury in 9 months. I'm excited though. I have minimal hours of class time, so I just have to figure out what I'm going to do with all my spare time. I have so many opportunities and plan to advance on as many as I can. Nothing can stop me. That's what I learned from this summer. Whatever I want to do, I can do. It's awesome. If I want to read a book I can. If I want to go take pictures I can. If I want to sit on the internet for 7 hours (I can do that now with my new macbook pro haha) then I can.

God places so many options in front of me each year. The difference is that this year I know it. I can see them unfold before my eyes. It's tough to go from a summer alone where everyday is like a devotional back into the real social realm. I actually have to engage with people again and maintain my relationships. I can't just be silent for the majority of the day. One of the toughest things for me is trying to keep up my relationship with God. During the summer it's so easy to ask for things, thank Him, or just talk. Now that I'm back at school my mind is on a million different things. It's on school work, friends, money, expenses, fun, work, my future, and all kinds of minor essentials of life. My job now is to harness those thoughts and figure out a time and place for each of them so that I can make the most of this year. I hope I can take the things I learned during the summer and apply them to real life.

I'll end with three reasons why I love Asbury:

Back Home

Well the summer is fleeting and I'm trying to detox myself back into normality. It's crazy, but I've already signed up for next year. I want to do better than I did this year. I want to have people on my team to push me and motivate me. This school year should be very different than previous ones because my momentum from the book field is just keeping my spirits high. I feel closer to God, closer to my goals, friends, and family. I want so badly to just keep my momentum going through the school year and get ready for after school life. My plan now is cool. I'm going to shadow someone during the school year to find out if I want to get into real estate. Then I'll work the summer and put away 10,000-15,000 to have enough money to really job search. That way I won't be caught in the situation where I have to take the first job that comes along. For some reason I don't really feel like writing anymore. sorry. i'll get back to this one.

My addiction

Yes I have one now. I'm sure I had plenty but this one has become very obvious over the summer. It's clear to me now that I am totally addicted to Owl City. I love them (or him I guess). I want to be best friends with him and have him make me a new song everday. How sweet would that be? I love music. Adam Young is my major man crush right now haha.

Internet!

Hooray! No more going to the Holiday Inn and being sketchy in my car! We are back in Thief River Falls, MN and we now have wireless. It is amazing. Now is also our harvest time, aka delivery week. Pretty much if we quit now, we wouldn't get a check. The people have to receive their books and we have to collect the rest of the payments. It's going well so far. I'm like 33 of 35 customers. Tomorrow is a pretty slow day, but then Thursday is going to be crraaazzy. Anyway, just thought I should pop in and give an update since I haven't been for the past 6 weeks. Later!

Has it really been almost a month???

Wow time is going fast. So we lost internet at our house because they putting in new cables or something. Our host dad also said it was good because then his boys would be off of Fbook, oops I mean Facebook. Sorry Jack. Haha.

Well things are winding down. I only have 1 week left to sell and that is sooo crazy. We have one week after that to deliver all of our books and my delivery week will be so awesome! These last few weeks were really crazy because I (thought I) ran out of turf or places to sell books. Turns out everything is fine. I'm going to finish the week with everything I've got because this is the time when committment counts. Everyone can start off doing something with great passion and hard work. Just think of how many people say they are going to be in the library for x amount of hours each semester. They do really well the first week, but the next week it starts to dwindle, and by the end of the semester they are spend 0 hours in the Library. If we can train ourselves to work just as hard after our peak and right through to the very end, we will have learned something that the majority of the world does not have.

This week is like a test to see how dedicated I really am, so we'll see how I fair. I'll be honest, it will be strange going back to normal life and seeing all of you. It's so strange to think about all the opportunities I have at Asbury. I met a guy from WGM this past week. He lives in Jamestown, ND, but is a missionary and he knew the Duncan twins, Elicia Moon, and several other people from Asbury. It was so crazy. Even in this tiny, barren ND city, there are Asbury connections. I love this job, and I love Asbury. I probably won't talk again until after my book summer is over, sorry.