the face of Jesus Christ

even though its so late I had to share this....i just had to write....

so I thought tonight was going to be normal...took some laundry...a book...and some free time down to a laundromat about 5 minutes from my apartment. I met a guy down there. We will call him 'B'...obviously homeless...but he helped around the place by putting away trash and cleaning up from time to time. He was in pain...mental pain...he stuttered quite often...His memory lasted 10 seconds...He really couldnt even pronounce his own name but Jesus was there with us. It was just him and I in there. We shared some fast food...we laughed even a few times...at the end of the night he even asked me to pray for Him...and God was there....moving in him and his confusion and brokenness...

What I know is amazing about God is that He has given me a new heart for the 'least of these'. Jesus could have chosen to identify with any demographic of people but he chose the less fortunate...the poor..the people who are in the toughest spot of their lives...'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me' ( Matt 25:40) To be honest I would have never stopped and talked to a person like this a year and a half ago....I just thought I wasnt 'called' to that but thats not it at all. We are all commanded to love...without any bias...any judgment...no precondition....

I credit so much of my new found love for people in life to the ministry I was involved with last year in Fort Lauderdale..called Lovebags... (lovebags.org). These people showed me what its like to love...to touch....to embrace...to offer your everything for the least of these....to not care about how you smell when you come away from hanging out with homeless people for a couple hours....to sit next to them and put your arm around them tonight even if they reek of alcohol( I got a few hugs from my new found friend 'B' tonight!)..to really focus on loving with all that God has made you and push through the parts that feel uncomfortable and press on to know Him through love...and there in that love you find the very face of Jesus Christ...





listening to 'With Everything' - Hillsong from the This Is Our God Album

the future

shewwwwwweee...the future...

what does God hold for us? Well I think we find that out through our obedience to Him. I know that sounds simplistic but I really do feel that His will unfolds as we seek him in obedience. In true obedience to God all other things fade...not that desires are erased but what matters most is obedience in the here and now. I trust in Proverbs 3:5-6..

Trust in the LORD with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths

For me it has been an interesting ride here so far in northern Florida. I still feel the desire to reach the nations for Christ in ministry. My heart longs to build in to others on not just a whenever basis but I want that to be my everyday. Now whether that is on a campus or being fully immersed in a foreign country I am not sure. There is a serious desire to leave this country because of the need/suffering/desire I have seen in this world from traveling in the past. I am single now and maybe that is a sign from the Lord to just leave for 1-2 years and go abroad where I have had some amazing experiences in the past with AIA tours and other mission trips. As I write this now is a yearning in my heart for God to show me where to go.

I know for the time being God's will is right here in Tallahassee. I pray that in the darkness of my current vocational environment Jesus shines so bright...because its not all about making teams successful through video its about showing people that there is a Savior and His name is Jesus....I pray I make that known through the example that I live out.

travels, concerts, soccer

a free Lupe Fiasco show at homecoming...def a good show!

In Auburn with our Women's soccer team for NCAA's. They let me play in practice the night before our first game! I held my own at left center back! yeeeeeeeehaw

Just a funny picture the guys made last year at the Dolphins! Those guys be crazaaaay!

pictures from the past few weeks

my Dad and I with the Francis Wayles Eppes statue at FSU (Oct. 25)

Myself, Dad, Mike, Teresa, and Jake in front of Wescott on gameday.
It was so great to have those Hokies in for a couple days!

FSU vs Virginia Tech pregame

Downtown Atlanta backdrop over Bobby Dodd Stadium at Georgia Tech

FSU vs. Georgia Tech pregame (Nov. 1)

More pictures will come as the fall progresses. I sure do miss Virginia in the fall because the season changing down here is just temperature and no leaves fallin.

Lets be praying for President-Elect Obama and all other elected officials...
I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. - 1 Timothy 2:1-2

I am going to be an UNCLE!!

My sister-in-law Lindsay is PREGNANT! YES! ...ahh this is awesome!

i found out a couple weeks ago but I just didnt think about blogging it until last night! Wow this is about the greatest news of the year! I am excited to pray for this baby and just be a part of this process. I have seen how other families get so hype when there brother or sister is sharing in this time of having a baby. I hope I can be in Virginia for the birth!

Lindsay is about 3 months pregnant and the baby is due around May 16 which is my Grandma Dot's birthday! And she said sex of the baby wont be announced until the time of the birth. Just soooooooooo hype about this!

And my brother John who is in Officer Candidate School in Quantico, Virginia for the Marine Corps just called me on Saturday to just share on his time there and also we just got crazy excited about this baby coming along. Pray for him because in Lindsay's pregnancy he wont be able to spend a ton of time with her due to his duties with the Marines.

so pray it up for the health of this baby...and for just added strength to John and Lindsay's marriage in this time apart...

UNNNCLE DREWWWWWW YEAAAAAA

ATL

the best part of my job other than the ability to invest in the lives of student athletes is the ability to travel. I went back to Fetzer Field at UNC on Thursday where I have had several great memories....I then flew outa RDU to Atlanta to meet our football team Friday for our football game. Friday night I was fortunate to see one of my favorite techno DJ's... DJ Sasha. It was an incredible set and definately a crowd that was crazy cause it was Halloween(and I was one of about 5 who were not dressed up for the holiday). . I was there by myself which was alright but it was largely due to the fact that I still dont know many people here at FSU and it was an expensive concert. I really wish I would have had someone or some friends to go with because it would have been alot more fun.

Atlanta was very fun...other than the loss...you just hate to see a team get within seconds of winning a game and then throw it all away on the goaline.

But the most amazing part of the weekend was on Friday night. I left the concert early and decided to walk home(about a mile and a half)...little did I know but I would run in to some great people. I met several homeless guys on the way back ranging in various ages from young to the very old. I talked to them and most importantly listened to them... As I walked back to our team hotel I actually looked forward to running in to some guys and loving on them. Working with the homeless here in Tallahassee and last year in Fort Lauderdale has really opened my heart up in ways where I never thought possible.

One encounter with an old man named Rudy left me really in awe of who God was. This guy was in a wheelchair hungry and cold but we opened up about our amazing God. And as I was speaking to Rudy I just realized the simple fact that Rudy and I will one day see each other again in Paradise. I know that may sound simple but that fact just blew me away. Rudy is in pain and suffering but he will one day be in no more pain...he will be with Jesus... and as we sat and talked we just laughed with joy over how great our God is...thank you Jesus for bearing the weight of this sinful world to make it possible for us to have eternal life...Rudy and myself...together...in Paradise with you Lord....sooo flippin awesome



Currently reading: 'Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ' - by John Piper.... one AMAZING BOOK! its a really quick book but its packed with some amazing stuff

speaking at Crusade - Part 2

I know that I made the point that the night at Crusade was big for me. I opened up about some stuff that sat inside me for a long time and really weighed me down...stuff that even people that I was great friends and teammates with didnt know.... But over the past 6 months God has given me incredible victory when I have just been real and opened up to guys in my life and not been afraid of what I look like because in God's truth I am covered by his grace and not shame any longer. I was even so scared in my process to apply with Athletes in Action about my past because it honestly wasnt the greatest but I just need to be real and never ashamed of who I am now. I now embrace that I am a new creation and with that comes the deeper embrace of the person I once was.

He has shown His comfort and Grace in the most intimate ways...and thats what He is all about...showing His forgiveness.

As I sit here tonight in Tallahassee I just take things one day at a time...I take the frustrations of my job and lift them up to God...I take the desires of my heart and future and lift the up to hands of the Potter....God just make me in to the man you want me to be....Jesus I am yours...

Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written:
"Be holy, because I am holy".
-1 Peter 1:13-16

speaking at Crusade (download link)

So this past week I was privileged to speak at Campus Crusade for Christ here at FSU. It went so well. It was a big night for me as I discussed myself and the way I used to be before truly abandoning myself for the sake of following Christ.

You can download the podcast from that night of Crusade.... go to FSU Crusade's website and click on the link for leftovers and it will launch itunes and just download the last episode where you see my name.

You gotta love technology...always and forever...

what a weekend

This past weekend was awesome...awesome because of the fellowship I had with a couple friends that I had not seen in a few years. I think its amazing how the body of Christ can come together at any time in any place and with obedience to Christ pick up right where the friendships left off.

From Athletes in Action's ultimate camp with these two friends way back in 2004 to countless great times in Winston these friendships were built. This weekend not about a football game for me but a weekend where God displayed his amazing faithfulness. He provided a reunion of people that I have been there with through some of my favorite moments in life.

Thank you Ashley and Mary for such a great weekend...

and as for the game Wake rolls over FSU for a third straight year in a row...........wow the tide has turned on FSU football.

conforming my will to His

I feel like sometimes so of my posts talk about the same theme of God taking me apart to build me back up but I think thats what being a follower of Christ is all about.

Lately some of life has been really tough...

To be blunt and to the point I really miss Morgan. I miss not being a part of her life at all. Maybe I am in her thinking but its hard to think about big things in her life happening and I just not being a part of it. Whether is a huge blessing on hearing from God about what she is called to do or if there is a death in the family and its hard to process it or anything else it just hurts to know that Im not there to help or share in the experience. I ache to share that one day. I dream of a day where everything is restored between us and we are opened to His grace in a whole new way. I pray that God's will is done between us whatever that may be. My heart is sick over this hope of being with her and it has been for the past year and a half when I really started to pursue God in the area of relationships. Proverbs 13:12 describes best my heart:

'Hope deferred makes the heart sick,
but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life'

... No matter the season that God is taking me through I do not waver I know I have to press on and keep going in Christ. It is the only thing that I can do.

I desire nothing but to be faithful to where God has called me to go now. It does not make it easy that I am pushing through times of just trying to see the Lord's will especially when it comes to Morgan. I want to be a 'man' and say I just push right through all of this but right now I am so weak. Physically weak from working 70-80 hours a week...weak from crying out to God and seeing my plans continually fade(which they need to fade)...weak from not getting enough sleep...weak from the process of conforming my will to Gods...just weak.

Lord God, I ask you to meet me...help me understand how your strength is made perfect in weakness....amen