The Worst Morning Ever

Today has been great but it didn't start out so hot. I woke up this morning with 15 minutes to get ready for my orientation down at UMBC. As I climbed into the shower at 6:45 I was exhausted -I never even got up that early at city reach- even the water couldn't wake me up. I came out of the shower to see my mom heading down the stairs. I asked her why she woke me up so late. She said that she was a little frazzled because "Xavier (my goat) had died overnight" his collar had gotten stuck on a loose bungee cord. This stopped me in my tracks as my hear dropped to my stomach. I never realized that I had developed such a deep connection to my goat. Goats are funny animals, they are similar to sheep but at the same time nothing like them. Sheep are stupid (excuse my harsh words) no other word better describes a sheep. Goats have distinct personality similar to pigs. I haven't been down to the goat pen since I heard that one of mine had died. I am scared to face it. 

The rest of my day went 100 times better.

I went down to orientation where I met up with Tim and Roy Jones, and Colorado who I am still hoping will be my roommate. It was cool getting to meet fellow UMBC freshman. I also got to pick out my classes for the fall. I don't really know what to think about my schedule. I did what they academic advisers told me not to do by having a math and a science at the same time. I have 14 credits for my first semester of college. I have a healthy behaviors class that is required for all athletes, I am going to retake calculus 2 to make sure I have a firm understanding on everything, Chemistry, and sociology round out my classes.

I got a pleasant surprise before I left. I went to the bookstore to buy some UMBC gear and check out the deals they had on Macs. When I got there I see my Mom and Dad in line with a 15" MacBook Pro, Epsom printer, an 8G ipod touch, an extra two year apple care protection plan, and a blue tooth mighty mouse. They were having a deal where all of that stuff came for like $1932. I was pleasantly surprised, I knew I was going to get a computer but I thought it was going to take forever. It is sweet. I am still trying to get the hang of everything. I am really digging the sweet track pad it is awesome. 

Right now it is 12 and I am blogging while I play around on my new mac. The day started off horrible but the rest of the day has been awesome. I have left some other exciting parts out because I am getting tired. I will never forget my goat Xavier.

City Reach 08'

I sincerely doubt that anyone checks my blog anymore, but never the less I am going to try to start up again. I truly do love blogging, but for some reason I don't take the time to do it. Hopefully this is the last time I will have to say anything like this.

As you can see from the title this blog is all about City Reach 08'. For those who don't know what City Reach is: City reach is a mission trip that is done to help out reach a city and establish a newly planted church. There are various kinds of ministry tracts: Car wash, Sports Camp, Construction, Christian Opinion Polls, Video Camp, and Special Ops. The goal is to show the love of Christ to the city.

This year I participated in Special Ops. This was the first time that I had done something besides sports camp-which I've done for three yeas-so I was excited but at the same time a little nervous about what to expect. I Have to say that I was a little disappointed in what I did in special ops. I spent more time than I thought I would in a car driving around. Part of the reason was because the weather was a little gloomy and cloudy so there were not as many people out and about. There were times where I really felt like I was doing something good for the city. I have to remember that all I did was good because I was doing it in the name of JESUS!

On Wednesday I did get the chance to hand out balloons to people around one of the shopping centers. It was cool because some of the people we handed the balloons out to really did appreciate them. I especially liked giving them to older people who said they were going to give the balloon to one of their grandchildren. Thursday was also sweet especially in the afternoon because I got to talk to and pray for a local homeless man. We gave him a couple of water bottles, a smiley face balloon and one girls bought him a sandwich. It was really cool, he was really touched by the kindness we were showing him. Any who read this please pray for him, his name was Byron. He told me he might be getting a place to stay soon. After that we went over to one of the car washes. I decided I wanted to go hand out water bottles to people around home depot and in this one old run down mall. It was pretty cool. We handed out about 25 water bottles. It was cool to see the expression on some of the peoples faces. One lady in particular commented by saying that she hadn't received anything that was free for a very long time.

As part of the special ops. group it was our job to set up and feed the sports camp kids. I really enjoyed doing this because I got to see my buddy Garret Lyburn who I coached last year. It is always tons of fun to see the smiling faces of the sports camp kids. They are so fun loving and are not worried about anything. Seeing them reminds them of how I should act.

City Reach is a great way to start the summer. There is still a lot more to come and I plan on keeping you posted the entire time.