New Adventures

Hello! It has been nearly 3 months since I posted my last blog, and I'm not sure why. I kind of like the "every so often blog" though. If you post everyday, it gets old reading it. But, I am definitely (as I have tried in the past and failed) going to try and post a little more often than every 3 months. haha.

SO much has happened over the past 3 months that I don't even know where to start. Let's see, first off, I GOT DAYSHIFT!!!! Man oh man! After a year and a month of working 3rd shift, I got the word....."Stephen, you're going to dayshift!" WOOHOO. My job changed when I went to dayshift though. I went from working in the office at night, to driving a pallet jack during the day. It was also a pay cut of $.50 an hour, however, for $20 for every 40 hours......it was SO worth going to days!! However, now, God has blessed once again, and I'm going from jack driver to shipping clerk like I was before, except this time, on day shift! That takes me right back to where I was pay wise as well! So that is fantastic.

God has offered up so many opportunities for advancement with jobs and work lately, and I just feel so absolutely unworthy. But I guess that's where God wants us, right where we feel inadequate so He can assure us we are TOTALLY adequate because He made us. I think sometimes we get mixed up thinking that God is a God of repercussions and that He only acts based off of our actions. And that's just not the case. God is a God with His own mind, and free will, and wants to bless us, and even though I have not done anything worthy of blessings, He is giving them to me.

What else? Let's see....I still go to Life Church in Baldwin, and have loved every minute of it. I now head up the youth along with some of the other youth leaders, and we've moved the praise band from in the church to inside the youth house where it belongs. We are totally redecorating the youth house, and making it an incredible hang out spot for the youth. We actually have two youth houses and one is going to be a cafe that we will open up within 2 months (tentatively). It's going to have a pool table, an air hockey table, a fooseball table, plasma screen tv's with all kinds of game systems, and it will be a fully functioning cafe. It will be an incredible place for the youth to take ownership of and really have something they can do and put into action!

For those of you who live in Habersham county, we will also be hosting a 5th Quarter after all home Habersham Central varisty football games. It will start 30 mins following game end and continue until midnight! The church is providing food and drinks for free! This is a no cost event that we want to offer to our youth and their friends! We have a huge grass field to play volleyball, ultimate frisbee, football, soccer, underground church, and man hunt! Be looking for flyers with more information coming soon!.

After going to Life Church for about 2 months, I slowly started to realize my spiritual life had veered off course of where it needed to be. So I stepped down from the praise team, and from helping with the youth as much, and was ministered to, rather than ministering to someone else. It was a much needed break, which brought me right back to where God is in the forefront of my life again. Now that the break is over, life is back to it's crazy self again, with like I said before, working with the youth, starting up and directing the youth praise band, and singing on the adult praise team for "big church". HAHA.....I still love that term....."Big Church". It cracks me up.

We just got an AMAZING new music minister named David who is just awesome. He and his wife are so great and easy going. David plays just about every instrument known to man, and can sing like a beast too which is great for everyone, but (selfishly) for myself! I love having another male voice. People get tired of the same guy doing the songs all the time, so for myself, Christy (our female vocalist, and pastor's wife), and David to be able to switch the vocals around is a blessing. It was so funny, because our pastor gave our bass player a ride home after our first practice with David, and our pastor said all our bass player could talk about was how awesome David was, and how much he learned, and how excited he was about David! It was a real encouragement for me to hear that story.

We also had our first practice for the youth praise band today, and it went flawlessly. God had his hands all over that place and that time, because I couldn't have asked for a better practice. And who would have known that God had blessed us with such new talent in Gloria! She can TEAR IT UP on the harmonies and vocals! WOW! Alston is doing amazing on guitar, and Cameron is doing wonderful on bass. We are also (prayerfully) getting another guitarist (that I have heard play and is awesome) which would allow Alston go back to drums which is where he shines. So praise God for a group of youth that are dedicated, and willing to put in time to practice on a Sunday afternoon when they should have been taking a nap! haha.

Well goodness, I can go on and on forever, but I won't. lol. I will end it by saying, that is God is good all the time, and all the time God is good.

Life for Him,
Stephen