Priorities

I don't know why, but I've been thinking about priorities a lot. Not necessarily mine in particular, but just priorities in general and how we determine what is important to us.

What are your priorities?

God? Taking care of or providing for your family? Your job? Your friends? Being a good person? Going to church? Sports?

As Christians we should have one priorities: to worship and bring glory to God. Everything else should come second to that. It shouldn't be enough to that it's one of our priorities, but it's our only priority. What would the church look like if that was true for everyone? If everything else was always secondary to worshiping and glorifying God? I bet it would be a lot closer to what heaven will be like than we are now.

I'm lucky enough where my job is based on this. I get to have conversations about God, pray for people, and worship Him and basically get paid for it. That's pretty awesome. So far I'm really excited about my job and love being here. There have been some frustrations, but it hasn't been any different than it would be back in the united states.

That's all for now.

New blog

So I've got a new blog that I'll be using specifically for updates about Africa. I'll still use this one for random thoughts, but the other will be focused on my time and what I'm doing in Africa.

The website is

See you on the other side

I'd rather be with you

Sitting here, on this lonely dock
Watch the rain play on the ocean top
All the things I feel I need to say
I can't explain in any other way

I need to be bold
Need to jump in the cold water
Need to grow older with a girl like you
Finally see you are naturally
The one to make it so easy
When you show me the truth
Yeah, I'd rather be with you
Say you want the same thing too

Now here's the sun, come to dry the rain
Warm my shoulders and relieve my pain
You're the one thing that I'm missing here
With you beside me I no longer fear

I need to be bold
Need to jump in the cold water
Need to grow older with a girl like you
Finally see you are naturally
The one to make it so easy
When you show me the truth
Yeah, I'd rather be with you
Say you want the same thing too

I could have saved so much time for us
Had I seen the way to get to where I am today
You waited on me for so long
So now, listen to me say:

I need to be bold
Need to jump in the cold water
Need to grow older with a girl like you
Finally see you are naturally
The one to make it so easy
When you show me the truth
Yeah, I'd rather be with you
Say you want the same thing too
Say you feel the way I do

Senior Year

I earlier did posts reflecting on my freshman and sophomore years of college, but now I'm skipping the junior year and going for the highlights the senior year (including the summer before).

Family Cruise!!!

Jordan and Candace's wedding.

The Blue Method with NVP and Kerry

Not working at all half the summer then working 60 hours a week the second half.

The return of Pete and Sarah Horning

Man weekend with Andrew Dale Pittman

Just screwing around in the apartment not caring that we weren't actually doing anything.

Random band at the Jamaica Junction

Thanksgiving in 610.

Staying in State College for Thanksgiving.

Cookie decorating.

Pumpkin carving.

Secret Santa

Having a 52/100 be an A (thank you EE 380)

Coming back to State college early from breaks.

Leaving State College late for breaks.

Highlighter party and Meredith's car getting towed.

ice skating

Staying up till 6 watching scary movies with Charlotte, Chase and Meredith

Staying up till 6 again the very next weekend with Luke

Trying to do anything in the crazy snowstorm

showing up in a chef jacket to a pajama party

sleepover and the graduation video

getting to cook real food at work

Richard Piatkowski

Charlotte the model

"mini roadtrip" with Sarah and Meredith

making Meredith my best man

Charles Hood day

Shooting guns at Luke's

Trying to hike up Mount Nittany only to get lost

lighting things on fire on "Mount Nittany"

Photo 100 with Chase and Rob

Meeting Paul and Julia

Final retreat and Banquet

free Rita's in the park

secret summer girl

reconnecting with Briana and Jaci

Getting ready to go to Africa

Hotlanta

Senior week at Myrtle Beach

Despite all the difficulties and some of the dumb stuff I did, this year was the best

Book Club

So I recently bought and just started reading "Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist" by John Piper. So far it's amazing. I wish I had it earlier this year. I think it would have helped me with what I was going through. At the end of my post I'm leaving a little quote from it to show you how good it is.

It's been an interesting week.

Lots of struggles.

Lots of grace.

Lots of loneliness

Lots of great fellowship.

On Friday, I drove down to camp for the first time in two years. I went to visit one of my best friends who was also visiting the camp. It felt weird being there, but it also felt natural. I guess it felt weird because I wasn't there as a counselor like I was used to. It felt natural because of how much time I spent there, two full summers. Anyways, I spent the day with my best friend and two girls that we worked with during my second summer at camp who now live in Greensburg.

It was a lot of fun. We didn't really do anything super interesting. It was just good to hang out with them. I was planning on driving back late Friday, but I ended up spending the night and left Saturday morning. I'm going back down to Greensburg later this month, and I hope I get to hang out with the girls again. I think that's all I got for now. Here's a quote from Desiring God as promised. Enjoy.

People lift their hand to rebel against the Most High only to find that their rebellion is unwitting service in the wonderful designs of God. Even sin cannot frustrate the purposes of the Almighty. He Himself does not commit sin, but He has declared that there be acts that are sin, for the acts of Pilate and Herod were predestined by God's plan.

Similarly, when we come to the end of the New Testament and to the end of history in the Revelation of John, we find God in complete control of all the evil kings who wage war. In Revelation 17, John speaks of a harlot sitting on a beast with ten horns. The harlot is Rome, drunk with the blood of the saints; the beast is the Antichrist; and the ten horns are ten kings who "hand over their power and authority to the beast...[and] make war on the Lamb" (vv. 13-14).

But are these evil kings outside God's control? Are they frustrating God's designs? Far from it. They are unwittingly doing His bidding: "For God has put it into their hearts to carry out His purpose by being of one mind and handing over their royal power to the beast, until the words of God are fulfilled" (Revelation 17:17). No one on earth can escape the sovereign control of God: "The king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will" (Proverbs 21:1; cf. Ezra 6:22)

Amen