Day 295: Roots.

Today was amazing; excellent day! Chapel was a major part in that; I just love being part of choir. It's so much fun!! Choir was especially powerful; we just really took ownership of the morning. After my Christian Doctrine class, we served in chapel, and it was great. Mark Hopkins is one super cool guy; I'm truly honored to have him as the president of the college. After chapel, I had a little bit of time before my last class of the day; our teacher talked with us on truth in songwriting. We discussed how to make songs for a congregation that were true to God and the Word without making times of praise and worship awkward for them. I got a lot from it. Directly following that class, I went to my friend Bec's place to help her with her song submission; I played the piano part she started working on so she could focus on recording her voice. It was the first time I played a piano in a while. I didn't have much time to really work on it, so I finished it in two takes. I returned to college to talk with one of my video team members about doing some stuff for the Box, and then my evening was spent in the TV room being a director for the first time. I had so much fun! I now officially love doing directing work. Throughout the day, I just really got to see firsthand how God can make your day worth it when you really give the day to Him.

God bless,
Steven

Day 294: Turning the Other Way

First off, I want to point out that in exactly a month from now, Josh will be 20 years old; a milestone to say the least.

Moving on to my thoughts on today. I had an intimate moment with God in the morning. There's been a lot on my mind (but thanks to my incredibly imaginative and compulsive mind, there's ALWAYS a lot on my mind; like assignments, obligations, concepts, ideas, cheesecake, etc.). I really just wanted to get some clarity on a couple serious personal things of mine; things that are between me and God for now. I've been fed with so much knowledge and spiritual guidance this year; probably more than I have my entire life. I've received all kinds of revelations, refreshments, and new views on the everyday Christian standard beliefs. I've witnessed God's provision and grace in new, exciting, and uplifting ways. But when I break it all down to my life, I see that out of all this spiritual food, I haven't full embraced all of it. I know this should be different, but sadly it isn't. I asked God to help me get back to the real reason I came here in the first place. I had and still have a vision for how I want to leave this place, and I know I'm not even halfway there. But I'm expectant to see God change that, as well as seeing the change come from my choice and consistency. It's amazing how easy we can go about our day and not even consider that every breath we breathe, step we take, and moment we live is a gift from God. I want to show appreciation for that more. I want to see my life become one of true spiritual significance. I want to be known for being a servant, not a spectator. I want to be a Christian for the right reasons. I want to have a relationship with God that goes beyond normal human understanding. God, I know you can hear me; help a brutha out.

God bless,
Steven

Day 293: Timeless Memory

I wrote a song today. I'm happy with how it's turned out. So this song submission required me to write a song for a specific band, using research of their writing and music styles to put a song together that I could see the band playing. I picked the Fray out of the 7 options, because I connect closest to them. Now all I have to do is write the music to it; that should be either fun or frustrating. We'll see how it comes together. I got to Skype with my family, which went great despite a couple connection problems. After that I served in Powerhouse in the evening, and after that I got here to chill. You gotta love God's never ending mercy.

God bless,
Steven

Day 292: My Inner Musician

So today was a very musical day. This morning, I was supposed to do graphics for TV, but due to a miscommunication, I ended up working camera 2 (which I didn't mind). The highlight of rehearsal and chapel was the opening item that's been on standby for the past few weeks: a performance of TobyMac's Ignition with Lauren on female vocals, Leon on the reggae style lyrics, and Alexis on rapping lyrics. They did a great job this morning. After that, I had the worship workshop for 3 hours. We made a lot of progress, but since the actual service is next week, we really need to meet up and perfect a couple things. The rest of my day involved resting here in 223 and writing a song for my assessment. Yup, that's about it.

God bless,
Steven

Day 291: Full On

Full day today, as is every Monday. The New Testament, Musicianship/Songwriting, and Spirit Filled Living/Personal Evangelism/Teamwork tutorials were awesome; I learned SO much from them, and I'm looking forward to the rest of the week's classes. It's nice to be back in action; the only thing that sucks is that a lot of my classmates are sick due to the bipolar weather. All I really need to say is that it was a good day; really, that's simply it.

God bless,
Steven

Day 290: Talk About Packed!

It was a full day today. I woke up at 9:30 to get ready for choir (our call time changed to 10:45), and before I knew it, I was on stage singing praise to He who is worthy. Just before the service started, I got a message from my good Danish friend, Henrik, asking if I could help with TV for the evening services (turns out Laz couldn't help, so I was pretty much the last hope). So I agreed, and after getting lunch and catching up on some strategizing, I came back to church for the rehearsal. I was reunited with my good friend Camera 1 after weeks of not using it, so I had a blast making some creative shots for the service. I love being on TV; I can't for next year when I actually get to build up the new team!! Tonight was extra special, because a group of friends came together to celebrate our friend Andrew's birthday (for those of you in America, you may recognize him as Mysterio's enemy in the 223 series). It was office themed, as in the show the Office (so I randomly put together a fake office suit for the party; I really didn't mind how ridiculous I looked). He had a blast, and I'm glad he did. It was a great end to the weekend. But now to real business, as in the start of a new week. I have some super important things to do, so keep me in prayer please!

God bless,
Steven

Day 289: Reliving Childhood Pastimes

I only realized until today how many things I experience here in Australia take me back to so many good memories of growing up. I remember being a part of ministry since I was 3; the first things I can remember doing was playing Noah in a little play for the church (I still remember the extremely itchy paper beard with cotton balls glue stick-ed in front... never doing THAT again..) I could give you hundreds of examples of times I had in ministry, but that doesn't need to be expressed; what matters is that today, more than 15 years later, I'm still doing it. Ministry was such a big part of my life that it just became one of my default passions. So when I get up in the morning, regardless of how tired or lazy I can be sometimes, I look forward to Street Teams. I never know what to expect, but that's what so great about it; it's for God to know and me to find out! So after knocking on 48 doors only to get 5 responses, I wasn't upset; I left with a satisfaction of serving God in one of my favorite ways. Right after that I went by Aaron's place because he and Josh were making pancakes in honor of our dear friend Andre (who you may remember as the guy that would make some of the best pancakes of mankind every Saturday morning). It was fun to watch them recreate the masterpiece, and it was even more fun getting to eat some of them. After that, the guys wanted to go to EB Gams to look at options for future purchases (I went just to look at how the gaming world has advanced.) Aaron traded one game for another new one, and then we visited Toys R' Us (because it's another place "where dreams come true".) And I tell you what, it made a tiny, tiny dream of mine come true: I found Legoland for PC. A long time ago, when my family was the proud owner of a Compaq computer, one of the most precious things in my possession was a game where you were a park manager of Legoland, and you had to design and manage the park to be awesome. Well, it just so happened that I found it in the games section of Toys R' Us. For $10. So without hesitation, I got it (sorry mom.. I couldn't help it!) That as pretty much the rest of my day haha. So... I'm grateful for where God has taken me from, because it's shaped me into who I am.

God bless,
Steven