At Days End

Yes, that is a play of Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End. I just saw it tonight, and although I am sure many of you will disagree with me, its not worth seeing. I was a big fan of the first, not so much the second, and now not of the third. It was long, drawn out, and all of the funny lines you look for from the famous Captain Jack Sparrow seem to, for the most part, be absent. I don't want to be overly critical but I must be honest and say that I was disappointed. But, for those of you who know me, you are aware that when it comes to movies, I am hard to please. Ye be warned!


On a lighter note, it 'has' been a good day. Things started off early. Mom and I went in to town for some things, got breakfast, and while she got her nails done I was able to spend some profitable time with by books at Starbucks! Now thats a good start to your morning!
In the afternoon my mom and I took the pup and went venturing up through the neighborhood to some waterfalls that were hidden in the foothills in the back of the neighborhood. It was a good time! The pup almost fell off of a cliff...well, she did, but luckily she was wearing a harness by which my mom dragged her back up, fun times!! I was able to get some decent images of one of the falls as well. I couldn't get close to the bigger one, despite my attempts, maybe another day without the pup.
Anyways, here is some images I was able to capture today!

I love the country side here!

The Pup loves to frolic in the meadows!

...And there's me.

May I just say...

I love thunderstorms! The morning started off beautiful and I was able to help mom out in the yard a bit, but around one o'clock the clouds rolled in and it has been booming ever since. PERFECT for a day of reading. A nap is nice as well on these days but I have too much on my mind to even think about napping.
Here is a shot of a thunderstorm I was able to capture in Louisville last spring.

Summer Desirings

As I got up this morning my heart seemed heavy with thoughts, wonderings and desirings of the summer. For now, I am in Colorado enjoying time with family, although my sister isn't here and my dad left this morning for business. It has been a good time thus far and I always enjoy being in Colorado.
With the end of a busy school year comes a bit more time to asses my personal growth and where I am at in my walk with the Lord. I have certainly seem growth this year, a gift from the Lord for which I am grateful, but as the summer approached I felt the increasing desire and need to spend some concentrated effort on personal growth. I had the privilege this past semester to grab lunch with a friend I met through my sister who was attending Capital Hill Baptist Church at the time. This friend had such a love for the Lord that was captivating to me. He truly loved Christ and it showed in everything he did. He really challenged me in my personal growth and challenged me to truly love Christ. I posed the question to him of what were some of the things he has read that have been influential in his walk with the Lord? He mentioned a few that I am truly excited to devour sometime soon. One of which was Johnathan Edwards personal narrative. I have not read it yet but plan on making a night of it at a local Starbucks sometime soon. Some of the others were biographies by John Piper of different men throughout history. Again, these are some of the things that I desire to read in hopes of increasing my love and desire for the Lord.
My personal daily time with the Lord is something that I desire to revamp a little as well. I truly desire to take more seriously my bible reading, not just to read, but to learn and grow, meditate and chew. To help me with this I have started working my way through some Old Testament books and reading Mark Dever's book The Message of the Old Testament: Promises Made. This book is being used as Sunday School material at my church and they were purposeful enough to buy each family in our church a copy of it. It is a great book and Can be extremely helpful in understanding some of the issues that the Old Testament poses.
There is a long lists of books that I want to read this summer but also books that I am required to read for my internship this summer. Those books being:

1. Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life by Donald S. Whitney
   
2. The Changing Face of World Missions: Engaging Contemporary Issues and Trends by Michael Pocock.
   
3. Planting New Churches in a Postmodern Age by Ed Stetzer
   

All of these books look enticing and are books that I am excited to read. I believe I will start first with Spiritual Disciplines and Planting New Churches in light of working with Freedom Church this summer. I grow more and more excited every day to be a part of it.
Time to hit the books!

Memorial Day

First of all, let me say I am exhausted. I spent the day in the mountains riding with my dad. It was a good time, I am sore, but it was completely worth it. Didn't bring my camera along on the trail today but here are some pics of a past trip we've taken.

Southern Living

I was recently informed by a good friend that everyone in church planting blogs. I would not consider myself a church planter (yet, perhaps) but I will be working with a church plant, Freedom Church, this summer in Acworth Georgia. I am working with some good friends and men that are, in a big way, responsible for my spiritual growth when I was a teenager. It is a great opportunity and one that I look forward to starting this next week with much anticipation.
I use to blog a bit last summer mainly so that friends and family could have a good idea of what was happening in my life but when the responsibilities of school and church became almost too much to handle, the blog was the first to go. But with the summer comes more time. Although the work is already piling up, I hope to be able to blog more consistently.
For starters, I have a number of books I hope to devour this summer for personal growth as well as some church planting and missions books to be read for my internship for my missions major at Boyce. Here is a peek at a portion of my personal growth reading for the summer.
I haven't lived in Georgia for years so I am also excited to be able to spend time with friends I haven't seek in quite a while. Such an opportunity came the other day when I was able to see a friend, Kenny, I met in Argentina and haven't seen in almost four years. There is much catching up to do but I am excited about it.

Of Course , Tennis is a must as well!


For now, however, I have the privilege of being at home visiting the fam (minus one). I'll post more about that later.