Andy's Blog

2006-03-20T18:23:00.000-08:00

Days 5, 6, and 7: March 17-20, 2006

Over the weekend, I went to the Spring Blitz in Duluth, MN, or otherwise known as the Minnesota Baptist Conference (for youth). We stayed in the Raddison Hotel (that was cool) and then walked through the skyway system to get to the convention center. I didn't really want to go because I don't know anyone at my brother's church, but I did anyways. It ended up that there weren't enought leaders to go in every room. We were the only guys who got to have a room with no leader because we were the most responsible. I ended up meeting some great guys, we had a great time, and now that I look back on the expierence, I wouldn't have wanted to do anything else with my weekend. I had many little suprises over this weekend of worshiping God, but the top few were:
1. God changed my heart and I had a great time
2. I learned some great things that can help me be a better person.
3. I met some cool new friends and it seems like we've always known each other for a long time already.

Today at school again, I could tell there was a differnece in the way that I acted and reacted to the things around me. It was like I was setting a better christlike example just automatically. I thank God for what He did on this retreat, it really changed my heart and my outlook on life.

2006-03-16T19:17:00.000-08:00

Day 4: Thursday, March 16, 2005

Today God tested my patience. First, on the bus, the kid that sits next to me was trying to sleep, and kept leaning over on me as he drifted off. At first I thought that I would push him off me and tell him to sit up. But then it occured to me that it wouldn't be the right thing to do in showing him a good example. So instead, I put my backpack inbetween us on the seat and let him lean on that. Then in Phy Ed., we were playing volleyball and the other 3 guys on my team were messing around and not even trying to score points. It irritated me that they can't even try, but then I just decided that I would try my best and have fun as best I could. Eventually, after they saw that I wasn't messing around and being immature, they started playing a little more serious, and we won our game. Most of the time, I'm not very patient, so I think that today God was testing me and hopefully when I stopped and thought about it, I realized that how I would react without thinking about it probably isn't right most of the time.

This weekend I will be going on a youth retreat with my cousins' church to Duluth. We're staying at the Raddison hotel and going to a youth conference at the convention center. It will be interesting to see what God has in store for me and the other kids in the activites. Since I'll be gone, I will write about Friday and Saturday on Sunday night or Monday.

2006-03-16T19:15:00.000-08:00

Day 3: Wednesday, March 15, 2006

Not much happened again today. Things have been pretty uneventful.

2006-03-14T18:22:00.000-08:00

Day 2: March 14, 2006

Not much happened today, just the normal things. Still trying to get adjusted to my new schedual, and the day went by a little easier today.

2006-03-13T19:29:00.000-08:00

Day 1: March 13, 2006

Today was the first day of my expieriment. It was filled with many suprises. The first one was right when I woke up. I looked outside and there was 8"-9" of snow. It had come down so hard that I couldn't even see out of my window. I thought to myself, "Surely we will have a late start or maybe school will be cancelled completely! Wow this suprise thing really works!" However, I was suprised to find out that District 279 (my district) was the only one that wasn't delayed or closed. Lucky me. I reluctantly got dressed. Then my dad drove me up to the bus stop and we waited for 15 minutes because our bus driver was so behind. If only he had been 2 minutes later, I could have gone home and had an excused absence because the bus was so late. Today was the first day of our 3rd and final trimester at school. That means our clases are switched around and new kids are in all of your classes. I don't like these days because you have to get used to all of your classmates AGAIN. So, I reluctantly arrived 30 minutes late to my homeroom. After all this had happened, I got through the day anyway. Now that I look back on the days events, I realize that I never prayed for God to suprise me in ways that were in favor of me, so I guess I was in for anything. Maybe God was teaching me to trust him in new and uncertain situations, and I think I have learned to.

2006-03-12T13:55:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow I will start the Suprise Me God experiment.

2006-03-12T11:12:00.000-08:00

This is me playing AA baseball in Austin, Texas