doing much better now

therefore, i urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God - this is your spiritual act of worship. do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

- Romans 12:1-2

so, i've been asked to lead a session at a youth retreat.

guess what my topic is.

man, you really are good at this guessing game.

yup, its worship. well, worship and prayer.

that just happened to be part of what i was reading today.

isnt it cool how God just allows you to read things that you really need at certain times. i mean, i have never thought of giving myself as a living sacrifice to God as an act of worship.

according to paul, "the man", it is. 'the man' is my name for paul. he just totally blows me away sometimes. paul was like the most extreme anti-God, Christian-hating, evil person ever. then, he's walking along the road one day, on his way to persecute more Christians mind you, and God knocks him upside his head. and all of a sudden, BOOM!, instantly he's a preacher.

how cool is that? i mean, sometimes i wish it were that easy for me. i wish that i had a flip-top head, like in the commercials, and God could just pour all of the knowledge that i will ever need and could ever acquire in there.

we all know that it doesnt work that way though. God shows us things as we are ready to accept them.

so chad, looks like you are having a better week. are you?

you better believe i am.

had an excellent weekend for starters.

i went to kindred on friday night to pick up a couple of cd's before i went to a show. when i got there, i ran into a bunch of people that i knew. nicole was there, maggie was there, and most surprisingly, kayla was there.

i knew that she was going to be at the show, but i had no idea that she was going to be at kindred.

i also didnt know that there was going to be a concert there. a band called sundry was there. from the way that they looked, i thought they were going to be pretty heavy, but they played an acoustic set. kayla and i and her brother and his girlfriend all watched the show. afterwards, we went up and talked to the guys. they were really cool, especially their roadie, B Radd.

i was wearing my shirt that says, 'Jesus died for a reason.', on the front and, 'You are the reason.', on the back. the lead singer of the band said that he liked it. he said that he didnt really like the bubble gum, cheesy Christian shirts, but that mine really had a message. he said that it was Truth, plain and simple. i told him about how i think that its a good way to witness without ever saying a word.

it was cool. i have to agree with him about the bubble gum shirts, they are just cheesy and dumb.

after that i followed kayla and her brother to the show, mainly because i wasnt sure how to get there.

it was a lock-in type thing, and we were worried that they werent going to let us leave. so, we kind of snuck in. tee hee. breaking the law, breaking the law...

anyway, the first band was called stained glass, and they are the band that i went to see a while back with kayla at that youth revival thing. they were good again, and i hung out with them for a while after the show. brandon, the drummer, wants me to go play paintball with him. vance is a big supporter of the protective masks.

the second band was lite, the one that my friend jessie manages. they were incredible. to be 14-17 years old, they were just awesome. at least one or two of them will make it somewhere in the music business, i promise. i was really impressed, they were tight. hopefully, they will be recording an ep soon.

the last band was a band that i had never heard of, supernal rexx. which i later found out means heavenly king. they were great, really blew me away. they did this cover of smells like teen spirit, with the lyrics of amazing grace. it was awesome. i bought one of their cd's and it has instantly become one of my favorites. a lot of the songs on it really hit home. one of the songs has the words, 'kill me' in the chorus. its about dying everyday with Christ. another song talks about waiting on God to reveal his plan for my life, but that he is waiting on my to give up my inequities. really, incredible stuff.

kayla and all of her crew left after lite played. it was pretty late, so i understand why. i didnt get home until almost 3:00 a.m.

sunday was cool too, even though it didnt start off that way. lost an hour of sleep because of daylight savings, woke up late, missed sunday school, pastor steve wasnt on t.v. but then, service was cool and drama practice was really cool. we created a new human video from the song thief by the band third day. its about the crucifixation, and i get to play Jesus. very emotional. why am i always Jesus in the really emotional dramas? somebody fill me in here.

sunday night, since nobody did their lessons, we kind of just had a night where we talked about everything. okay, so we mostly talked about sex, but we talked about other stuff too.

i shared my opinions on a lot of things. not the sex thing, but the other stuff. get your head out of the gutter, you pervert.

anyway.

after it was over, one of the adults, a man that i have hardly ever talked to, came up to me and said something to the effect of:

"chad, you're opinions were right on. its obvious that you have been studying your bible and paying attention to what it says."

i was like, 'uh...thanks.' i mean, what do you say to that. i just have to remind myself to stay humble when someone gives me a compliment like that. and that is so hard for me.

but im working on it.

anyway.

not a lot to say about the beginning of this week, except that its going good so far. i've been reading my bible again. havent written in the prayer journal yet, but i will get around to that. there just dont seem to be enough hours in the day, you know.

um, cant think of anything else to write about now, (the funk soul brother, check it out now) and i am anxious to get home to some good ol' southern fried chicken. i havent really eaten all day. bad, bad chad.

one last thing. just checked my email. kayla wrote me and says that she misses me.

isnt that just too sweet? she's a doll.

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