Your past does not equal the future.

This week has been great. To start with, we started our first actual week of why we came here. If you haven't had a chance yet, go to my link 'scripture studies' and follow me while I start learning Gods word on a weekly basis. Its going to be awesome. We also start our 'internships' otherwise known as our tracks. I have joined the youth track, and I have fallen in love with it. I can not wait to dive head first into it and reach kids like never before!

Oh wait! Thats funny, because while the first day of youth tracks was Wednesday, that also happens to be the day that we had our annual youth event called BIG. To begin with, Wednesday was 'See You At the Poll' a nationwide prayer day where students go and pray around their flag poles for their schools, their city and their country. That was an awesome way to launch BIG into the spiritual rush that happened at BIG. At BIG, we had 550 students that came, and out of that 550, 110(or close to that) of the students were first time guests. Whats amazing about that number is that means that the youth students that come often are doing their job and getting their friends to church. Now, even though 550 is a huge number, actually its double the amount of people in the congregation at my home church, HUGE, there is an even bigger and more astounding number that makes the 18 hour day more than worth it. That night, 99 students gave their life to Jesus. That means they listened to Pastor Jon's alter call and filled out a salvation card. That number just brings tears to my eyes. Here is a little story. Three weeks ago I wrote about vive, were we had 83 students come to know Jesus. Out of those students there was one kid in particular that came up front. Fast forward to last Wednesday. We see that kid coming up front again. Wondering if he is just confused that he doesn't have to come up every time, Kevin talks to him. He points at the kid beside him, and says,'no man, Im coming up with my friend. He wants to make this choice'. That was just amazing. Not only is he a new christian, but he is already bringing more people to know Jesus. All I ask is, we now have 182 students that are new christians that we are now in charge of making sure they stay with their decision and live it out. Please keep the Staff and these students in your prayers as we launch an all new system that will create disciple makers out of these students.

Here is what God has done in my life this week. although it is a blessing that God has launched me into this movement in the youth here, he has been doing things for my heart as well. Growing up, I was raised really well. I went to church every Sunday, learned to read the Bible, everything a typical Christian family would expect from a child. From the outside I seemed near perfect compared to others. On the inside, though, I was a wretched sinner. I acted like I had my life together, but I hid the fact that when nobody was looking I struggled with lust. Now I know every young boy struggles with it, but thats not an excuse, because I am called to be different in the name of Jesus. I struggled with it so much that it ended up becoming, as I would describe it, the main factor that ruined my last relationship. But lust is not the only thing I have that would make my life far from worth dying on the cross for. Once I hit my summer between my freshman and sophomore year of college I started drinking and partying. During the week I would act like I was not a christian, and come Sunday, I'd act like nothing happened last night. It was a horrible pattern and it lasted for a good year. Now, the good that came out of that was, when I hit rock bottom, God pointed me to the Leadership College I am now attending, but this time of my life was far from good. Although I got out of the drinking and partying every weekend, I couldn't forgive myself. I asked for Gods forgiveness over and over again. But in the meantime I was still caught in the lust and sickness that is sexual impurity. I always tried to fight it alone, with no positive outcome. It wasn't until this week that I let it out into the spotlight. towards the beginning of this week we talked about Gods forgiveness and if we accept It easily or if its hard to let God forgive us. It got me to thinking that no matter how many times we sin, God always opens his forgiving hands and forgives us. It wasn't till Thursday though, that the guys talked about the hidden sins that we try to tackle ourselves but can't. We need accountability. In the Bible, it says in Ecclesiastes 4:12 " A cord of three strands is not quickly broken'. We weren't meant to fight by ourselves. I was starting to lose hope that I was going to conquer my sins ever. But we got into groups of three, and if I didn't hear anything else, these words stuck in my head and made me believe in myself. "I know you are going to beat this". It wasn't something like ' I think you can' or ' Im sure you can'. He said 'I know you can'. That just gave me so much courage, and I knew from that moment that I was going to never be the same.

Now, I know some of you are against tattoos, and I am sorry. But this week I got a tattoo that signifies the fact that I notice the change and I'm not defined by my sins. My tattoo means 'the past does not equal the future' and that is my motto this year. Although my past is dirty and I should not be given a chance, Gods grace gives me another opportunity to make it right. This is the turning point in my life where I know that God forgives me and I learn to forgive myself. Also, though, I take this week, as well as this year to not let my past dictate where my future goes. My man Cam said to me, 'your past doesn't hinder you from what God is calling you to, It qualifies you for what God has in store for you'. So just remember this, all you who are reading. No matter what you have done, Your past does not equal your future. I love you all. God is changing me and molding me into what he has designed for me every day, and I am so excited to be here doing His work.