10 Reasons why everyone should grow a beard

Alright guys, as you all know beards are awesome, and everyone should grow one. I've listed 10 reasons as to why beards are awesome. Enjoy!

A Real Magic Trick

Last night, I had the honor and privilege of meeting Brock Gill, the nationally known Christian illusionist. He's basically the Christian version of Criss Angel. A church from the northern parts of Georgia came here to Panama City to hold their youth camp, and asked  for us to allow them to use Axis as their worship center. Ray and I met them and talked with them and arranged everything for their stay with us. Now, I have always been a fan of illusions, ever since I was little. To this day, I still love the art of illusion and watching good illusionists baffle me with the question: "Ok, how did he do that?" I'm not superstitious or believe that magic is real, but I still love sitting there with the emotion and memory I did as a little child believing that it was real. I even at the age of 6 proclaimed to my parents that I was going to be a professional magician, and I bought all kinds of DIY magic kits and tricks, and I always put on a show for them. Even now, I still enjoy a good trick that captures the imagination and captivates the heart.

When I heard they booked Brock Gill the illusionist, I was pretty stoked. I never heard of him before so I thought he was small time, but it turns out that he's actually nationally known. I always love to meet famous people because it's always a good story to tell, and because I don't get to meet people like that everyday. Before everyone came in, after I had sat through Roy's message review, I was determined to meet this guy. I walked up to him and shook his hand, introduced who I was and asked if he needed help and sure enough, he did. I got to help him set up, which was really cool because I felt like I was in "show-biz". He was a really cool and humble dude.

Brock was easily one of my favorite illusionists I ever saw. He combined humor with his showmanship and did all sorts of tricks and stunts that truly amazed me. At the end though is where he really caught my attention. At the end of his show, he stopped and shared the gospel. He told everyone who wanted to commit their lives to Christ to stand and find a counselor, and that night 15 kids got saved. My good friend Nathan Parens, who is on the media team at Northstar, led his little brother to the Lord. It was such a touching moment that made me praise God for His love and glory. Brock really brought the heat with his message, and God was at work. I felt the presence of the Lord fill my heart and gave me such a joy...I felt incredible.

Brock gave an amazing illustration at the very end before he closed, his final illusion that not only was a beautiful depiction of God's love, but an amazing finale. He had an empty bucket, and behind him were 3 stools, each with a vase filled with water. He told the story of how Jesus said in John 4:14 " But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life." He took the vases filled with water and began filling the bucket. He did this over 10 times, each time he said over and over "You will never thirst again". The vases kept refilling, and he kept repouring them into the bucket. It was a beautiful illustration. 

Jesus was the greatest magician of all. His tricks though, weren't tricks at all, they were miracles. His magic, His power was real. It was from His Father Who is in Heaven, and loves us with such a love, that His Son would die on the cross just to give us salvation. Brock Gill didn't save those kids, Ray, Nathan and the other counselors didn't save those kids, Christ did. Jesus is THE way. Going to church isn't the way, saying you're a Christian isn't a way. Jesus is the ONLY way.

"No one comes to the Father, except through me" --John 14:6. 


A relationship with Jesus Christ is the most important decision you will EVER make in your life. God was at work last night, and He worked through Brock Gill. It was nights like last night that made me love the Father even more, love what I do more, and wish that moments like these, lasted forever.

To God be the glory.

The Little Things.

Sometimes, the little things is what matters the most to certain people, and I'm one of those certain people. I like to kick back and live simple with a dash of luxury. I'm at a point in my life where God has rained down His blessing on me, and I wouldn't trade where I'm at, what I'm doing or who I'm with for anything else. I wish these moment could last forever, but everything is temporal and subject to change.

One thing that I look forward to every week is Sundays at Northstar Church. Not only to worship my God and Savior, not only to be with fellow believers in the congregation and listen to the wise words of either pastor Marty or Roy, not only to hang out with my mentor and 2nd adopted father Ray Woodard,  not only to serve people and kids in Axis and Boardwalk and bring smiles to their faces for the glory of God. All these things are fantastic and I look forward to all of them...but there is one thing that I absolutely, positively cannot wait for, and that is lunch with pastor Ray Woodard and the Northstar Media Team.

Now, let me tell you about this motley crew of scalawags. They are THE funniest, most sarcastic and riotous bunch I ever had the pleasure to meet. Me and Ray ALWAYS look for opportunities to go to lunch with them whenever we can, just so we can join in on the hilarity and laugh until our stomachs bleed. If they aren't making sarcastic jabs at one another, then they are talking about the most ridiculous and random stuff you could never think of. Ray and I love hanging out with these guys because they ALWAYS make us laugh. It's the little things like these that make you stop and be thankful for people like that, and for being where you're at. I wouldn't trade this for anything else this world could offer me, God has truly blessed my life, and to Him be the glory.

My Lifelong Dreams..

Ever since I could remember, I had a lifelong dream to live in a condo on the beach. To this day, that dream still remains true to my heart. Sometimes when I close my eyes, I can almost picture it: the view from the balcony, the ocean at night, friends coming over and laughing. This is a dream that I've my whole life, and it hasn't changed, but I did however add more things to the list to complete. Here's my life To-Do List:

1. Graduate high school
2. Go to college
3. Become a pastor
4. Find my dream condo 
5. Find my true love and start a family

I know it sounds cheesy or probably ridiculous to you, but just think for a moment what your lifelong dream is. Is it realistic? Can you achieve it? All the things on my list are realistic and feasible. It will take some time, and a lot of hard work but there's one thing that keeps me reassured and focused on my goals. My faith in Christ. There's a scripture that says: "Delight yourself in the LORD, and He will give you the desires of your heart". --Psalm 37:4. Now, this is not saying that you'll get EVERYTHING you want ALL the time, because maybe it's not in God's plan for you. My dream are engraved and etched in the deepest corners of my mind, and I feel that this is my destiny. To serve the Lord, commit my life to ministry. He revealed all these things to me. Before that, I used to not have a clue what I was going to do with myself.

I want to challenge you right now, I want you to think of a childhood dream or goal that you wanted as a kid, and compare that to your dream now. Are they the same? Are they different? What happened between then and now? Did you lose sight of your goal? Did it seem too far away? Did you lose faith? God's plan for you is always good. He never gives you anything you don't want, unless He's trying to build your character. Now that I'm a senior in high school, I'm coming very close to checking off step 1 off my To-Do List and move on to the next step. It feels so close. It feels so real. Whatever dream you may have, never lose sight of it no matter how difficult the road may seem. It's not the journey itself, but the destination that matters. Put your faith in the Lord, delight yourself in Him, and He will give you the desires of your heart. For me, my real true desire is Him. It just took me a long time to see that. I believe that life is a journey towards God, and that no one has the right to insist that you go a certain road. He will direct you. Never lose sight of your dreams, because if you do, you might never see them to be realities.

Lights...Camera...Action

Are we leading performance based lives? I think so. Whenever I go out and talk to some poor chap about how he missed church last week and feels sorry that he misappropriated his time or merely forgot, and that he was going to be eternally punished because he missed 1 sweaty guy on a stage spreading the good news to half of an audience listening intently, and the other half texting or on Facebook mobile. This is how I used to feel until a very wise man (Marty Martin, lead pastor of Northstar Church) revealed to me that performance isn't everything. You see dear readers, with our Lord, it doesn't matter if you miss a Sunday because God lives in YOU and ME. If you think that if you go to church every Sunday that God will "love you more", then you need to retreat to the safety of Starbucks and order a triple fudge crap-a-chino whilst I explain to you what RELATIONSHIP is. We lead performance-based lives everyday. "If I don't do good enough, people won't respect me"or "if I wear these name brand clothes, perhaps she'll like me more"or even "if I don't make enough money people won't view me as the self righteous, pretentious snob that I want everyone to perceive me as". My point? Stop trying to win God's love because guess what? You already have it! Read Psalm 136. "His faithful love endures forever". Put it to you this way, let's say you forget you and your significant other's anniversary, does this mean you don't love her? Of course not! The love is still there, even when you forget. Let's say you're a father and your son commits an unspeakable act that requires a good bruising on his backside, does this mean you stop loving him? Of course not. That's just like God the Father and us when we sin. He doesn't hate the sinner, he just hates the sin. And there's nothing you can do to make Him stop loving you, or love you more.  "Peter began to speak: 'I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism"  --Acts 10: 34. God loves us. Bottom line. And there's nothing you can do about it. Stop putting on a show for Him. He knows what your doing. He sees into the hearts of all men, you cannot hide from the Creator who made you. There's no amount of serving, volunteering, or putting on a fake smile and fake being sincere about people to their face, and the minute they're gone you and your friends talk about how much you can't stand that person, as soon as said person leaves the room to make God love you more, or make God "un-love" you. So put an end to your silly performance. Spend time with God through His word. Drink it in as if your very life depends on it because truthfully, it does. There is nothing more important in this world than a personal, intimate, practical and real relationship with our Lord. If you don't have that then here's what you should do ASAP:

1. Seek out a pastor
2.Ask him about having a relationship with God, and what you should do
3. Invite Christ to be the Lord and Savior of your life
4. Commit and surrender to Him.

Friends, I have a relationship with the Lord. Let me tell you something, there is nothing in this world that I would trade it for. I would give everything that I own, and everything that I have to Him because everything that I have, and everything that I am is FROM Him. I wouldn't be here without Him. And I've heard God speak in my life. The feeling I cannot put into words. God is a God of love, forgiveness, kindness, mercy and soo much more. Stop living a lie, and come back to Him, He knows your struggles, your pains and your problems, and He was crucified on a cross for you and I so that we may live through Him. Don't listen to what the world tells you, performing won't get you anything but stress. God loves you. When you were born, when you turned away from Him, and He'll love you way after your dead. Question is, do you love Him back?

15 So when they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these?" He said to Him, "Yes, Lord; You know that I love You." He said to him, "Tend My lambs."

16 He said to him again a second time, "Simon, son of John, do you love Me?" He said to Him, "Yes, Lord; You know that I love You." He said to him, "Shepherd My sheep."

17 He said to him the third time, "Simon, son of John, do you love Me?" Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, "Do you love Me?" And he said to Him, "Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You." Jesus said to him, "Tend My sheep.


--John 21:15-17

Hearing God's voice

In my previous blog, I told you about how God spoke through me and used me to impact someone and my brother's sudden commitment to read the bible. For the longest time I struggled with hearing God speak. Today and last night, I have heard Him, and seen how faithful He is. For the longest time I have been beating my head against a wall over what college to go to lately, either Baptist College or Gulf Coast. Ironically, this was brought up in my small group last night and Roy told me that circumstances come up when God tries to speak to us. God speaks through the Holy Spirit, the Bible, circumstances and the church. Well a couple days ago Ray told me that it would be easier and cheaper to go to Gulf Coast. Today in the mail, I just got a letter from Gulf Coast congratulating me for graduating high school and how much they would love for me to attend Gulf Coast....I haven't even graduated yet! God just used this to reveal to me what He wants me to do. I truly believe He wants me to go to Gulf Coast for a while. God has been faithful and has been working through me and has done BIG things for me. I prayed to Him saying how much I wanted to hear His voice and for Him to give me guidance and allow me to experience Him in ways I could never imagine. Last night, today and pretty much these past couple months He has been doing just that. God has blessed me soo much and to Him be all the glory. My Lord has humbled me and touched me in such a way that I have a new focus on following Him. I have heard Him speak...and let me tell you it is an amazing feeling.

A Godly Encounter

Last night the most amazing thing happened to me. I invited one of my friends (whom didn't have an intimate relationship with God) to my small group last night. I needed a ride and it was a great opportunity for her to come and get a taste of what my church was all about and meet one of my mentors. On the way over there I learned that she never got baptized. So we talked about it and now she wants to get baptized. Once we got to Roy's small group, she seemed a little out of place, but after we got done she told me she really enjoyed it. I took her to Chik-Fil-A (a very Northstar thing to do) and we had further conversations about life and then we finally got to talking about this guy that she was trying to get with for 4 years. A guy who treated her horribly and used her. I prayed to God to give me the words, and he was faithful. I began saying words that I had no earthly idea where they came from. I began saying things about her life that I didn't know about. She began crying and she asked me "how do you know all this?" I knew about her relationship with her family, best friend. I knew about who she was and her secrets. It's like I knew her inside and out....but the thing is I don't. The Holy Spirit came alive in me last night and I began saying things that would have never come from me. I began telling her about having a personal, intimate relationship with God, for her not to worry and just trust in Him. She said that every thing that I said, I said it as she was thinking it. As if I were reading her mind. It was incredible. She told me I impacted her, and that she wants to follow God. After all this happened, God showed me another amazing thing. My brother went to work but he texted me this:

"If you buy me a bible for Father's Day, I promise I'll read it"

God was sooo faithful and good to me. He came alive in my heart to help impact a girl who needed healing and to hear about God. And then impact my brother who wanted nothing to do with it. God accomplished something in me that I could do alone. God is truly all powerful and He never ceases to amaze me. And He can work through you too, all you have to do is surrender and ask him to come into your life and fill you with the spirit. And I promise you, you'll never be the same again. I am forever changed by this experience.

The Bigger Picture

My whole life, I've been that person who always plans ahead, and thinks for the future. I always think about my life and what it will be like and who I will be with. But God revealed to me that my plans for me are not what He plans for me. You see, I always think or plan ahead but it's the "looking-back-and-seeing-how-I-got-here" I always overlook. I look back at my life and remember my struggle of what I wanted to do for a living. I wanted to be a pharmacist, then a doctor, then a computer engineer, the list goes on. I always THOUGHT about what I wanted to do, but God KNEW what I was created for. God's plan for me is far greater than anything I could ever dream of. God has made it evident to me that I am called into ministry. I only saw from my point of view, I never even thought to look at it from God's point of view. He showed me the bigger picture. That I need to wake up and stop worrying about what I think I should do and trust Him in what He knows what I need to do. If you told me a couple years ago that I would be called into ministry, I'd call you crazy. I also didn't think I would be involved with music. Look at me now. I'm 17, called into ministry and into music. Totally dependent on God. I don't have to worry anymore about what to do with my life. I thought I had no purpose, but God showed me otherwise. Call me naive, but I also thought I knew who I was going to marry. And yes, I've heard the talk that I'm too young more than once. Though I figured that a lot of people marry their high school sweethearts at this age, I mean my parents did, so why not me? We broke up, and it took me a LONG time but God revealed to me that even though He used her in His plan for me, she wasn't for me. Rick Warren said that "God sometimes removes people from your life to protect you from something, don't chase after them". The bottom line? Don't think you know everything because what you think you know may be different than what God KNOWS. Look at it from God's view, and not just your own. 

All it takes, is Faith.

Lately in my life, God has been working soo much that sometimes it's hard to keep up or follow. He gave me the great opportunity to Intern for Ray and Destree in Axis. I got to speak for the first time ever and teach the beatitude "blessed are the merciful". It was an awesome and comfortable experience. I had Roy, Lance and Ray all pray for me to do well and not stumble over my words. Roy put some things into perspective for me, he asked me that if I did in fact, stumble over my words, and God had used that sentence to impact someone's life, that if I would be ok with that? And that it's not about how well I do, but how well I try. You see, I doubted God when I was scared about speaking. I was afraid that I would do horrible and make a fool of myself when I should have just trusted God. I do have a guilty confession though, I didn't prepare my message as best as I should have though. To better enhance my performance on stage I drank a whole monster, and I don't know if it was the Monster or the Holy Spirit but man I came alive on that stage. I got emotional and words began flowing from my mouth as if I knew exactly what all to say. God whispered the words into my heart and I spoke them. It was amazing how God was faithful when I was doubtful. It reminded me of the story in Matthew of how Jesus told the disciples to row to the other side of Bethsaida, while he went on a mountain to worship God. The disciples got caught in a storm and for 4 nights Jesus watched them. He finally walked out across the water and his original idea was to walk right past them. The disciples saw Jesus and cried out "it's a ghost!" and they were afraid. But Jesus said to them "Take courage. It is I, do not be afraid". Peter then said to Jesus "Lord if it's you, tell me to come to you on the water". Then Jesus simply said "come".  Peter got out of the boat and began walking on the water towards Jesus, but when he saw the wind, he was afraid and began to sink. He cried out "Lord, save me!" Jesus reached out his hand and caught him and said to Peter "You of little faith, why did you doubt?"
 This story is soo much like our lives. Imagine, your out on a boat, and it's pitch black dark all around you and  you're caught in a storm for 4 nights. When we come across struggles, that is the storm, when we are afraid, that is our doubt. But then Jesus, who comes through the storm says in a kind and gentle voice and says: "Take courage, it is I. Come". We want to go out on the water and join Him, but when we see our struggle we doubt and that's when we sink. Sink into deeper trouble and worry. But Jesus will catch you and say "You of little faith, why did you doubt?". Jesus saw me, when I was sinking, and He pulled me out before I drowned. The world saw me at my worst, and left me. Christ saw me and loved me, and picked me up out of the water. Sometimes, I worry. Sometimes I'm afraid. And sometimes, I sink. I doubt. But God always picks me up out of the water. He is always faithful. All it takes is faith, and God will do amazing things through you. Ministry was the last thing I thought I was ever going to do. I never grew up in a Christian home. We believed but never went to church or did Christian things. Now look at me, I'm called to ministry. If you would have told me that a year ago, I'd call you nuts. Ray told me that failure was just an opportunity for others to pour into your life. And to learn. Mistakes are just ways that reveal to you how to improve. I don't want to be "of little faith" anymore. I want to trust God in all aspects of my life. It can be hard sometimes because God's ways or plans may not always be clear or obvious. Jesus told these random fishermen to come and leave everything you know behind and follow Him. They left their families, homes and lives behind to follow a dude they never even met before. If someone came up to you and claimed to be the son of God, and told you to drop everything you had, leave everything behind and to follow him...would you do it? Faith, it's hard to have, and easy to lose. But just rest and know, that God is faithful if you are faithful to Him. And he will always come through your storm and say "Take courage, and take my hand. I won't let you drown".