Wow.
My freshman year of college has come to a close and there are so many things that have happened in two short semesters away from home. There have been many ups and many downs and a lot successes and a lot of failures. I want to dedicate this post to some great memories and some great people that have made my freshman year of college good.
To start: Remember that time I got a tattoo?
Yeah that was pretty cool, I remember that the guy who did it went to my high school, when I asked him if we might know any of the same people he said: “Probably not, I graduated in 95′,” So yeah I was one and everything…
Here’s a close up of two days after I got it.
I got “Not My Own” and it is a reference to 1 Corinthians 6:19-20:
“Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.”
I got this because going into college this was one of the most profound realizations that I had come to in my walk with Christ at the time. My life was not mine, I was not here to live for myself, and Jesus paid with his blood to give me the freedom and redemption that I could never earn.
I also met some gosh-darn amazing people within the Young Life community at UNCG, and the Lord gave me these great people and let me live life alongside of them throughout this year as we all tried to follow Him together. This pic is from our Young Life College Men’s Advancement Weekend in Boone, NC. :
And within this solid group of men I got to grow close with two guys who have been both amazing mentors and amazing friends throughout the year, they are always there to provide guidance and wisdom to me and I am so thankful for them.
Here is Justin Smith who is giving off some serious boy band eyes in this pic from small group:
And here is Kevin Matznick, lookin’ mad thoughtful:
This year I also decided to become a Young Life Leader for the rest of my time in college. I was pursued by some great Young Life Leaders who went to Elon University while I was at Western Alamance. Both these guys decided to answer God’s call to change the lives of guys at Western Alamance High School, and I wouldn’t be the same without them.
Colin Campbell was my Young Life Leader my freshman and sophomore years of high school. He lives in Seattle now so I don’t get to see him much anymore, but I did get to about a month ago and it was such a blessing.
Steven Ebert was my Young Life leader for the rest of my time at Western Alamance. He taught me how to do Young Life skits, how to read the Bible right, and how to film and edit video which is now a big part of my major at UNCG. Steven is also graduating from Elon in less than a month and is wrapping up his time at Western Alamance as a Young Life Leader. Thank you Steven for loving and pursuing me when I was lost and for mentoring me when I finally found Christ, your work at Western Alamance was more important than you know and it had eternal implications.
Here’s a pic of me and Steven my senior year doing my first (but not last) Young Life skit for our club.
I got placed on Northwest Guilford’s Young Life team with some amazing people here in Greensboro, we are wrapping up our year at Northwest and we have our last club on Monday. It has been so amazing and life-changing to get to know guys at Northwest and try and show them what a life with Christ really looks like. I learned so much about what I do now from seeing how Colin and Steven pursued and loved me while I was in high school. Leading has been the most challenging but most importantly the most rewarding part of my college experience so far.
Here is a pic of my crazy Young Life team at Northwest, minus Ashley who got placed with us later in the year. So thankful for them all:
I also had the chance to go with Young Life Expeditions to Lima, Peru to work alongside of the Young Life area in Peru. We got to dance with kids at a school for the disabled and help pave the way for Young Life to plant a Capernaum ministry at that school, we got to renovate the San Paulo Young Life Club’s club room, and we got to build some awesome relationships that will hopefully stay intact until we return next year. If you are reading this and you helped prayerfully and/or financially for my trip, I want to thank you so much because Christ used us and changed us during our time there and I am so grateful for your hand in making that happen. Here are some pics from Peru:
So that’s my year in a blog post. So many great memories flew through my mind as I pieced this post together and I am so grateful for them. God has brought so many people into my life to get me where I am today and I am so so grateful. Jesus has been so present this year, His spirit has grown in me and matured me as a man and as a servant more than I ever thought possible.
All in all, it has been a wonderful year.
Growing In Christ 