Hawk's Nest

FOR SOME FOOTBALL!!

And even though my beloved Wolfpack is picked last in our division...be ready for a shocker. (That goes for you two teams from South Carolina we play early,)

God has really been working on me for the past couple of months - on the concept of joy, and what mine was rooted in, etc.  It started several weeks before I went back to the US - finding myself in a bit of a funk.  I was getting really burned out with all I had going on, and it seemed that no matter how much i did, i kept spiraling down.  I think the best way to put it may be that I always seem to be the 'Martha' worried about the dinner being just right, and making sure the house is clean, and being pissed off because Mary is in sitting with Jesus...doing nothing!!!  I was really getting caught up in 'doing things well' for God, and was totally missing out on the incredible things He was doing right around me, and totally missing him. 

My trip to the US gave me a unique opportunity.  I had a full month where I really didn't have any responsibilities - no job, no basketball team, no tutoring, no trying to get music ready, no getting stuff together for sunday nights, no leading worship.  All I pretty much had to do was to be...and to rest in Him. (and to eat mexican food and drink sweet tea)  During this time, God was gracious enough to grab me and gradually pull me up (kinda like superman...or that guy from Heroes) so I could get a good look at the '10,000 ft. view'.  Now, I've always prided myself with being a 'big picture' kind of guy.  Mr Barbee (my high school math teacher) drilled it into our heads to always be looking at the 'big picture.' "To be a good problem solver, you always have to be looking at the 'big picture!'"  OK - so I had lost a bit of perspective.

Thank God that he helped me gain some back - through awesome time with my fam, some conversations with my peeps, seeing some of the incredible things he is doing in Greenville, and through some down and dirty time with him. 
What I found out is that my joy is in him, in my relationship with him.  My joy is in him because I know that he loves me so much:
"And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from his love.  Death can't, and life can't.  The angels can't, and the demon's can't.  Our fears for today, our worries about tomorrow, and even the powers of hell can't keep God's love away.  Whether we are high above the sky or in the deepest ocean, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:38-39)

Let me just tell you how much more peaceful and fun my life is when the overlying factor is my joy in God.  I'm more patient.  I love more.  I smile more.  Things don't rattle me (as much).  God and I talk a LOT more.  I can actually feel his peace.  And I'm finding this joy in the strangest places. 

Joy seems to be a big deal in the bible.  Nehemiah talks of the joy of the lord being strength. David can't quit singing and shouting for joy to his lord.  Proverbs is full of examples of what brings joy. It's all over Isaiah.  Jesus talks of his joy being in us and our joy being complete when we obey. Paul constantly talks about our 'joy in christ' and even tells us to be joyful in our sufferings!

I love how crowder puts it in one of my favorites of his:

And He set me on fire.
I am burning alive.
With his breath in my lungs.
I'm coming undone.

I cannot hold it in
And remain composed.
Love's taken over me
So I propose the letting myself go.
I am letting myself go.

You are my joy, you are my joy
YOU ARE MY JOY!!

So here's to letting myself go...more time sitting at Jesus' feet.

I'll finish this post with a couple of pix of what I consider pure joy.  First, my niece Kirstin showing me how fast she can run (a split second later she crashed into my arms and we laughed like maniacs):

And second, my little brother Jamie, who has, by far, the coolest laugh I know...and who loves to be tickled - ok not really - but I love to tickle him...basically to hear the laugh.

Just after finding out I'd missed my connection in Sydney, and would be spending the night(after I'd already had to overnight in San Francisco - I LOVE QUANTAS!!) I pulled out my mobile phone to called Chuck and let him know I needed to postpone my airport pick-up until the following afternoon.  His enthusiastic first words were an awesome welcome and turned my frown upside down:

"You back on The Rock?!?!?"

Yes, after 31 days, countless hours catching up and hanging with fam and friends, meeting my new niece Kaylan, and nephew Ezra, and the miracle that is Cohen McGowan, 15 Mexican meals, 22 dives in Venezuela, a brutal 5K that I lost by 12 seconds to Jules, a Greenville Drive baseball game with a evening backdrop that only God could have painted, softball games, a 4th of July cookout, Childress work days, morning coffee with my mom and sis on the front porch, several thousand pictures with my new camera, and I'm estimating between 75 and 100 glasses of sweet tea...

...I am back on The Rock.  And really, really stoked to be back.

It was interesting being at home for a month, but being kind of an outsider.  It really gave me a cool perspective being back in my old life...but not really back in my old life...does that make sense?  Without the 'trees' of everyday jobs, bills, dissapointments, schedules, etc. I seemed to be able to get a much better look at the 'forest'.  And I can't even describe to you the amount of joy I felt.  Not joy as in I was happy I didn't have to go to work, but JOY as in community with my creator. 

More on this in the next couple of days - don't want to get too heavy my first day back.

I've put some pix of the trip in the photo gallery...and I'll leave with with a shot of a true, live miracle.  Go Cohen...go Cohen!  Thank you Jesus.

After 3 flights, 24 hours on planes, 9 airplane/airport meals, 6 in flight movies, 3 hours of sleep, and a close encounter with Jessica Biel on my flight from LA to Charlotte, I finally made it back to the blessed south east. 

My new niece Kaylan met me at the airport, and I got to hang with my new nephew Ezra yesterday.

I've already hit chick-fil-a twice, and drank about 2 gallons of sweet tea. 

Poker with my BMW crew and lot's of sloppy, southern BBQ tonight.

Yummy.

After 3 flights, 24 hours on planes, 9 airplane/airport meals, 6 in flight movies, 3 hours of sleep, and a close encounter with Jessica Biel on my flight from LA to Charlotte, I finally made it back to the blessed south east. 

My new niece Kaylan met me at the airport, and I got to hang with my new nephew Ezra yesterday.

I've already hit chick-fil-a twice, and drank about 2 gallons of sweet tea. 

Poker with my BMW crew and lot's of sloppy, southern BBQ tonight.

Yummy.