did you mess yourself?

Boy! I can't even begin to tell yall all the stories and life lesson's I learned this weekend so if you really wanna know ask. But i do have something to fill yall in on.

So the past couple weeks I have really been stressin' out. I mean REALLY stressin'. It all began two Saturdays ago when I totally put my focus and attention on something other than God and it just started to snowball. The minute I took my eyes off God, the little red man (and no i'm not talking about santa clause) started to plant little fear seeds in me. They were really REALLY small at first and I didn't think much about them but they quickly started controling my life. I mean these things got WAAYYYYY OUT OF HAND. They started to take control and weigh me down..literally and figuratively. It eventually reached a point where I was really wondering if I was saved or not. And on Wednesday last week I hit a BRICK WALL. On Wednesday the chapel speaker "coincidently" (which is another way of sayin' it was all God's plan) spoke on assurance of salvation and the LOVE of God. He specifically talked to the people that were strugglin' with their salvation. I felt like I was the only on in the room that was dealing with this but God was definately workin' on my heart.

After the chapel service I husseled myself back to my room. It was 30 degrees and my room was a half mile down the hill from the chapel and needless to say i didn't stop for anyone or anything. I got in my room and I immediately hit the floor. Seriously. I honestly felt like ther was a ton of bricks on my back. And I just cried out to God. I didn't know what the deal was at the time but whatever it was I wanted God to fix it. And God just flashed the word "fear" in front of my eyes. And I knew what I had to do. I just started making a list of all the fears I let take over my life especially in the past week and a half. These were some of the ones listed:

*fear of rejection/failure/disappointment

- from my friends, family,  and God

*fear that God might not be there for me

*fear that I might not even be saved.

I became so fearful of rejection that I didn't call my family for almost 2 and a half weeks, I totally tried to avoid all contact with my friends here at school and away I was seriously letting it CONTROL my life. As I kept listing out all these fears I was dealing with I felt a huge weight being lifted off my shoulders. Well needless to say I had a "come to Jesus" till my next class and I got some things straitened out. The next night was BSU and it was the last message for a series called, Fear to Faith (how appropriate right?). During the music, in between songs, a girl got up to give her testimony. I had only met her once there before and there was no way she'd remember me. Well her testimony was about how fear took over her life and how God brought her through it. And then she said, "I don't know who was supposed to hear this tonight, but if it's you, God will bring you out of all this but you have to take the first step and cry for help, and He will build the bridge to come across and get you." God knew I needed encouragement and that was the perfect thing! 

It blows my mind that God knew all this was going to happen to me. Not only did He know it was going to happen to me, He PLANNED for it to happen to me. As soon as I took my eyes of Jesus, just like Peter walking on water, I began to sink and I was sinkin' to the bottom fast! And God let it get to the point where He was the only one that could pull me out. And when that point came He didn't fail. He was faithful and pulled my out of the waves and breakers that were pummeling me. And then after that, He gave me a huge dose of encouragement at BSU the next day after things were straitened out and refocused. He thinks of everything! He know's intimately each and every person and what it takes to get that individual back on track. And He does it all to help us to grow closer and more intimate and to strengthen our Love for Him. There's no way I would have been able to get out of the mess I was in cause I was in it with myself! I. messed. my. self. I continually thank God for his forgiveness and mercy. Just like the girl that gave her testimony at BSU, I have no clue who needed/needs to read this but if it's you, I'm here to tell ya that "He who promised is faithful" and He will pull you out/build that bridge for you to cross over, but you have to be willing to admit that you messed yourself and cry out to Him.

I love yall and I have tons more to fill you guys in on!

p.s. i might try to work on my fear of clowns cause the circus is in town...hmmmm i'm thinking about it. i just need someone to go with so i don't SERIOUSLY mess myself.

Hebrews 10:23

"Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful."

nearer

I would run from You

Still You called me to be yours

Your grace and your mercy

Overwhelmed me.

And in the stillness of this moment

Give me faith like a child

Draw me nearer to Your heart,

Near to Your heart,

Immerse me in, Your righteousness

Your steadfast love,

Break me and make me a new creature in you

And see that my heart is yours.

You said, "Come to me,

All you who are weary

And burdened,

And I'll give you rest."

So I come humbly before You,

Unworthy of this gift

Yet you draw me ever nearer,

Near to Your heart.

The sacrifice of Your Son,

Of You, oh God

Brings me to my knees.

A matchless love

That was displayed upon that cross

Creates a new song in my heart

Draw me nearer, nearer blessed Lord

To the cross where Thou hast died

Draw me nearer, nearer blessed Lord

To thyself now glorified 

Matthew 11:28

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest."

careful when you say "no way jose"

ok ok ok ok!!! i must tell this story because it is killing me!!! and if we can't laugh at ourselves then what kind of sense of humor do we got? YOU DON'T HAVE ONE IF YOU CAN'T LAUGH AT YOURSELF!!! haha ok so here it goes..brace yourself!!!

so i arrive down here in the good ol' South and i'm chillin and minding my own beeswax. i had been down here just only about an hour since madre and fasha left and i went to go meet some friends that i hadn't seen yet. well while we were hangin' out and things and they were showing me around the campus they asked me if i wanted to ride with them over to their dorm to help them move some stuff in. i said "sure!" they said great! and while we were in the car they asked me if i liked rap music cause they love to listen to it and make fun of it and so on--and they like to do this so that the entire world knows that they are listening to rap music. well i said "no" of course because i'm not a big fan and they just cracked a joke and they just listened to something else while we drove the two minutes to their dorm. 

well there is no way that you will ever be able to tell me that God doesn't have a sense of humor! the next day i am walking to class and i pass this black guy who drives this brand new BMW. no joke. brand spankin' new! i mean it was nice! it was a silver 325 for those who wanted to know.....i'm sorry i digress..so this dude asks me if i want a ride (because i literally have a half mile hike uphill to get to my class from my dorm) and so i was like "if you're offerin'" he said he was so i made my way over and we introduced ourselves and we got in the car. now pause for a moment and look at the above picture. just look at it. notice the glasses, and the striped sweater hoodie, the shifty eyes, and i was wearing some skinny jeans and my trusty chuck taylors, and my messenger bag. now just imagine that for a second. the pictures above will help you out.

now imagine that geek-looking/dork getting into this vehicle.

haha..ok now imagine me being in this car w/ a black dude that could rip my head off if he wanted to just for fun. yeah...is it becoming ever clearer for yall? haha just wait it gets better. if your in a brotha's car the brotha's seats are gonna be in a back position...so "back" you almost upside down. now imagine me not thinking about this at all and just glad someone spoke to me that i plop myself right down in the seat and literally fall backwards flailing my arms cause i was not prepared for the backward dropoff. well i got over that and the guy was real gracious he didn't laugh at my face...instead he turned his head to the side and cracked up...but it wasn't audible. no, you could just see his shoulders rapidly moving up and down like he was hyperventalating. well after we got past that he started her up and we just sat there and listened to her purr for a while...not gonna lie...it was nice.

are you getting anxious yet? or is that picture enough...well i'll finish my story cause it's where it get's good. so we pull out of the dorm parking lot and we start going up the street and we carried on some polite small talk and stuff till we got to the entrance of the school and that's when things got interesting. as we pull into the drive he turned on his music...alright it was rap. now it wasn't just any rap. no it was like "get the beep beep beep on the beep beep beep before i slap the beep off your beep" (something like that) and this stuff was going full blast!!!!!!!! i mean it was so loud that if you were within a mile of the car you'd feel the bass vibrating through the ground...the indians would be confused and think it was herd of buffalo coming...that's how loud it was. ok, still no worries i thought...the windows are tinted dark we'll just cruise up to the parking lot and we will just go our separate ways. is that what God had in mind...no not at all...no He decided that he was gonna make it 65 degrees that day so this guy would wanna roll down his windows. so now let me just clarify this picture for you.

*i, dressed/looking like a dork (because i am one) am asked by a black dude if i wanna ride in his beamer to class. i say yes. he says hop in. i says okee dokee and almost throw my back out not trying to fall back in his seats. he laughs at me. we get over it and we drive. nice chit chat. "oh look, the parking lot, i wanna listen to music now." "what i can't hear you because my brains have vibrated out of my head thanks to the bass in the back." "oh it's a really nice day, i'm gonna roll down my windows." dork who is ashamed to be listening to this "music" is now in plain view of all who pass by.*

are we caught up? good. well not only do the windows go down but people have jus gotten out of class and it was the middle of passing period, in the middle of campus. so this dude drives up this lane that's full, and we are talking full, of students walking up it and he chooses to drive right down the middle of it in between the students. as the car goes by this is what they see. a brotha that could rip my head off drivin' this super nice BMW blastin the bass to a genre that i despise, and there is a dork in his glasses and hoodie clutching w/ white knuckles his messenger bag in the passenger seat with his window down. "mr. i hate rap" has just become the poster child. and God is just sittin up there watchin all this like it's a three's company rerun  or something, just cracking up i'm sure because this guy that said "no way" has just been turned into a "yes way" and is terrified at the fact. and not only was God laughing cause i saw first hand the students that we passed trying to suppress their laughter. and then i realized what it looked like and i started to laugh and this dude just couldn't see what was so funny but i find it hilarious hahahahahahahahahaha.....no seriously...i don't think i did this story justice at all, it is just one of those things that you could only find in a tim conway movie or something. it cracks me up everytime i think about it. boy does God have a sense of humor! 

just be careful about what you say you don't like, or you "won't" do, or what is lame, cause God will definately have something up His sleeve and chances are He's gonna be laughin' like he was watchin' and episode of Hee Haw. well that's all i got for ya tonight. hope you enjoyed. if you still didn't follow the story just call me..i can explain it better speaking...hahaha peace out guys!!!! i got some good stuff coming up!! get excited!!!

10 Song's that need to be listened to

1) You Are Good - Gateway Worship

2) Save Me - Gateway Worship

3) Beautiful - Gateway Worship

4) Just Blue - The Weepies

5) All This Beauty - The Weepies

6) In My Arms - Jon Foreman

7) True Colors - Phil Collins (you didn't think i would make this list w/o some phil did ya)

8) Is It Love - Mr. Mister

9) Human - The Killers ( i don't care if it's overplayed...it's just that good)

10) Love Me Like the World is Ending - Ben Lee

"I've covered every bit of it"

So I have been really convicted these past couple of weeks and it definately showed this Thursday night. I feel that I have been very stagnant in my walk...I know we all have been there but the problem was that I "didn't feel like doing anything about it at the time." Basically I was saying I'll do this on my own time (not even thinking that I might not have time) and shoving God off to the side. I didn't have time...I had just moved to South Carolina for school, I was trying to get in a routine for classes and such, I had to meet people, I had to do this, I had to do that and I wasn't even remotely thinking that I was leaving something out..GOD!!! I got so caught up in "my life" that I had no desire to work on my spiritual walk with the God that had given me a life in the first place. He had loved me so much that He personally came down to earth and sacrificed himself for my life. My sin forged the nails that pinned Him to a splintered, dirty, rugged cross and this was the God that I was pushing to the side to make room for me.

Well Thursday my friend invited me to go to BSU with her and so I did. I wasn't sure what to expect, infact I wasn't even sure what BSU was...I'm not the best with acronyms and I just didn't know what it was. There was music and a "sermon" except it wasn't really a sermon because it was on a more intimate level. Well towards the end of the music, someone who I had no clue who they were, sang a song that boy did I know...and not only did I know it, I had used it in a worship service before. It was called 'At the Cross' and the minute I heard it start I knew exactly what it was and my heart just sank and then ended up in my throat (which I SOO don't know how that happened because sinking and going up in my throat are two different directions but it happened...it was just that feeling of conviction) when this person started singing the words...

Oh Lord You've searched me

You know my way

Even when I fail You

I know you love me

Your holy presence

Surrounding me

In every season

I know You love me

I know You love me

At the cross I bow my knee

Where Your blood was shed for me

There's no greater love than this

You have overcome the grave

Your glory fills the highest place

What can separate me now

You go before me

You shield my way

Your hand upholds me

I know you love me

You tore the veil

You made a way

When You said that it is done

And when the earth fades

Falls from my eyes

And You stand before me

I know You love me

I know You love me

...at that moment I was so convicted about how I had been putting God off, basically sayin' shove off I got this covered, when in reality I was nothing without Him in my life. He sacrificed for me, His passion was so great not just in His love for me but in His suffering and I put Him on the backburner. I just basically broke down at that point and started to cry...there was nothing else I think my body was able to do...I realized I was snubbing God for me...it's kinda hard for me to type this right now cause my eyes are getting blurred thinking about it, but God put it on my heart to tell yall..I don't know why, maybe one of you is struggling with this too.

The thing that got me most about this song is that at the end of every phrase it says "I know You love me." Through all of that God still loved me! Through my being a butt-face and arrogant kid (the kind that maybe makes you want to punt something) God's love for me didn't change. The creator of the universe chose to love a small insignificant thing called Joey and that is so overwhelming. A chapel speaker said this week "God only stooped twice in the whole Bible...once when He humbled himself to become man, but the only other time he stooped down was to breathe the breath of life into man." That's so humbling, that God was so intimate and personal in giving me life, and yet so many times I fail and stumble and run the total opposite direction and when I can't run anymore and I turn around to look at the mess I've made He's standing there with open arms saying "I've covered every bit of it." His love cover's a multitude of sins and His heart of forgiveness is overflowing. I could go on and on and on and on and on and on but I think you should go listen to the song..I have it the title of the song linked so all you got to do is click. Can you think of any better place to be than in His arms? I can't.

they're up!

alright yall..here's some pics that i have gathered for your enjoyment.

this first one pretty much says it all. we are in the foothills of the blue mountains. the entire campus sits on top of a hill and it's really REALLY compact.

this  is the prayer garden that is kinda hard to find, and you don't really even know it's there.  at the bottom right of the pic is a pond and there are some big goldfish in it.

this is my dorm room, it's pretty much self explainitory, coming from kansas there's not a whole lot you can take down with you the first trip..

haha and this was a fountain that they left running. hahaha i guess they didn't think that it could get below freezing up here haha (neither did i but i'm not the one that left the fountain running now am i..) haha. it really cracks me up. it's like the campus has it's own "tourist attraction" for the students.

So those are the pics that i promised to put up. and i got some other things to say but i'll have to do that after i do my reading and homework...booooooooo homework! haha :)

IT'S HERE IT'S HERE IT'S HERE!!!!

alright yall!! got lots to tell but i don't have time to tell right now. i will post prolly later this afternoon.. but here is what yall have been waiting for!!! get excited!!! IT'S MY ADDRESS!!! mk..here goes:

North Greenville University

Joey Caldwell

Student Box # 2781

Tigerville, SC 29688

!!!!! =) !!!!! are you excited yet!?!?!

well i am. i waited all darn last week for that..

mk. i'll post more this afternoon/tonight.

i'm here!!!

so after all that stressin' and frettin' and freakin' out and everythang i am finally here. the trip was long and adventurous but i did make it in one piece to the beautiful state of South Carolina.. FINALLY!!! and that's how i feel about that. since i was a newb here at school i had to come today and then everyone else really was going to come tomorrow. sooooo i am the only on in my room. and righ now the only one in the suite and it's not too lonely but it's quiet. very. quiet. which is why i am listening to some good ol' PHIL COLLINS!!!! when you are all down and depressed for leaving kansas philly boy is the guy to listen to cause he just makes everything better. he's my bandaid for my social lack right now. it's some good stuff. really. i recomend on my oprah list to go out and listen to at least 4 songs from the guy. even if they're all from the Tarzan soundtrack. go on. do it. i'll wait. there will be pictures coming later but as for now i think i'm gonna be goin cause i'm an hour earlier here and it's killin' me. everything is off! i promise i'll be on tomorrow cause classes start the next day!!! thanks for all your prayers! k night.

10 pretty sweet school supplies items that i acquired for my venture.

1) i have this AWESOME!!!! tweed folio w/ a writing pad that is AWESOME!!!! did i already say that? well that's cause it is.

2) colored paper clips. they're festive. everyone needs a little pizaaaazzz in their life. even if it is found in a paper clip.

3) my very own tuperware item. well really it's rubbermaid but it's the same thing. pretty stoked about that. i may now begin my accumulation of plastic containers.

4) as always. ticonderoga. the pencils. definately an old school geek when it comes to my pencils. they need to be wooden.

5) more hangers. nuf said.

6) my first dish. a blue plastic cup. the excitement was too much to handle. for serious.

7) i recieved some mula from the rents..that's always nice!

8) i acquired and ethernet cable. i have never had to use one till now.

9) i now have a 24 pack of tp. haha can't say i'v ever owned that before.

10) i now have a student i.d. with a picture that looks like a nerd doing the shifty eyes.. definately a class A ,class B creeper pic.

hit me with your best shot.

i would like you to start giving me ideas to post blogs about. i'll be doing some of my own ideas fo sho but i would like to be givin some ideas and have a little fun with it...anyone is free to do so either on the comment part or email or facebook (which is God's gift to the world after Jesus and taco bell and chipotle and zaxby's and phil collins--some people have differing opinions on that one but mine is right cause this is my blog bwa-ha-ha [that was my cheap imitation evil laugh...that's what you get on a low budget *insert Debbie Downer whop whaaaaaa noise here*]). now i'm not being lazy at all but i wanna try it out and see how it goes. it can be just about anything. or you can not give me ideas, cause i know only like MAYBE 5 people read this but watevs. you've got some good stuff coming your way. no it's not be being wrapped up with 13 year old wrapping paper and and bow on top and sit on your porch, but there is some good stuff coming. 

here's a few teasers for ya just to give a little hint--after you read these you'll be checking this blog more than you do your facebook or your little kid's diaper (just put yourself into whichever category fits you best):

1)why did the chicken cross the road?

    answer: yeah right like i'd tell you, you're just gonna have to keep checking back to find that one out!! get excited!

2)knock knock. who's there?

     answer: haha like i said you'll have to keep checking back to find out. just keep taking your blood pressure medicine so you'll be able to stand the wait. i know you're dying to find out who's really at the door.

3)is joey a dork?

     answer: absolutely. just thought i'd clear that up for all those who were giving me way to much credit on life...(i have just "set you up" to tell me how much of a dork i'm not but shhhh i didn't say anything in the parenthesis)

well i know you just can't wait! so i'm gonna let you jam the switchboard with ideas :) =) ;)

DO IT!!!!!!!please.

THIS IS GONNA BE THE BEST 2009 EVER!!!!

get excited!!!

four-eyes.

mk. so here's my beef. what i dreaded would happen has indeed happened. i have become a "four-eyes."now for the longest time (which is a great song by the way) i have not gone to the eye doctor for this very reason. i knew i had visionary issues butt (which is what is enlarging on my posterior for all the "christmas cookies" and such that i have devoured) i did not want to got into a doc, and pay them to tell me what i already knew and by doing so be labeled a "four-eyes."

*this is my disclaimer* now i'm not in any way trying to be mean or a jerk to my fellow "four-eyes' "--don't worry, i'v already recieved my membership card in the mail--i'm just callin' it like it is and it makes me SCREAM! ........i scream, you scream, we all scream for ICE CREAM! haha did you think i'd throw in something that had to do w/ my eye-wear...puhleeazze do you really think i'm clever enough to fit four-eyes into that song. don't think so, or ye of too much faith. naw i'm just kidding about that...well about the too much faith. you can never have too much of that.

and since i have already been labeled a four-eyes by THE MAN! i would like to share with you my adventures of this momentous (or however you spell that) day. 

i really was dreading going in to my appointment today and so i brought snuggle the bear w/ me to keep me company. HAHA NO I'M JUST KIDDING!!! i brought along my fasha and jake. well we got in there and signed all the stuff--and i'm pretty sure i signed my sould to Bob Barker or something cause i didn't really read a word of the little stuff that said "initial after every paragrah or something"--and i waited patiently in the waiting patiently area of the "optomitrist's office." 

now i would like to say something about this doc. the man was wearing glasses himself. could this office be all about revenge? just a thought i thought about throwing out there...believe me, i had plenty of time to think about it since they took jake back first. i mean let us be serious for a second. the man's wearing glasses. who's to say that his perscription is off and that he is giving everyone else the wrong prescription? i mean common. do you really think the guy gives himself an eye examination...puh NO! otherwise he'd have 20/20 vision and wouldn't be president of the club (a reference i made in the paragraphs above...just incase any of you are just reading this and not really paying attention and following the story).

so it was my turn and a lady came out that looked like someone who might have potential to be a cat-lady in 5 to 10 years and she was going to be doing my PRE-eye examination. so she put me on the first doohicky and told me to do whatever it was...i can't really remember cause it all happened so fast i'm still in a daze...and lets just say i didn't pass with flying colors. why? because the color test was next. i think i scored 3 and a half. the half was a two digit number that i could only see the first digit. let's just say that wasn't my forte either. well then she moved me to the next contraption and said look at that dark blot in the center and when you see lines click the button. THAT HAS GOT TO BE THE MOST REDICULOUS "EXAM" EVER!!!! personal opinion. then the potential filled villian of a lady told me to scoot over to the next machine. you could tell i was the number one priority on her line--she demonstrated this by the annoyed expression on her face as i was not scooting fast enough for her liking. she said, "this is a machine that is going to measure the pressure in your eyes. you are just going to feel a light puff of air." nothing harmless i thought to myself. just a light puff of air. a LIGHT PUFF OF AIR. so she says just focus on the little green light and then you'll feel the LIGHT PUFF OF AIR.

*you might have noticed i am emphasizing the LIGHT PUFF OF AIR part. we are quickly coming to that.*

so i focus on the green light and am calmly and patiently waiting for the LIGHT PUFF OF AIR. as i sat there i began to relax just a smidge thinking that it's not that bad and you know those times that you speak too soon? yeah, i was ALL over that. that "LIGHT PUFF OF AIR" cause my head to have a reflex SOOO BIG that i recieved and 11th degree whiplash!!! not cool. i can handle a puff. this was no puff. a puff is like a small amount of air that caresses the eyeball. this "puff" (or so they called it) was like a HURRICANE THAT SLAMMED INTO MY EYEBALL AND DEPRESSURIZED IT BECAUSE OF THE AIR FORCE TRAUMA INCURRED BY A "puff". as you can tell i'm not at all bitter about this, i just think that they need to call it a mass-of-ai-slamming-into-your-eyeball-at-high-speeds-machine...that's all i'm trying to say really. then they made me do another machine which i really can't remember because the trauma that my body endured has blocked any memory of the following few minutes.

well after all that i saw mr charming himself and boy was it special. tin man w/ no heart comes prancing into the room like he's got a wedgie or somethin and instead of just takin the time to go to the restroom and...take care of the problem...he just tries to remove said wedgie by walking it out. for the record, it never worked. he "worked his magic w/ the lenses" and then i was diagnosed a "four-eyes"...there was no sympathy recieved from the guy. just a cold hearted diagnosis and he led me into the other room to get pictures of my eyeballs cause the machine wasn't working earlier.

now i know how bugs feel when they fly around in the summer around those bug zappers. they tell you to focus on the little light and then all of a sudden there is a huge flash that blinds you...and they don't wait for your eye to recover before they move to the next and repeated the same thing. then they told me to go  on out and sit in the waiting area to get some glasses. now keep in mind that i have just been literally flashed and am now asked to WALK into the waiting area..i looked like i just downed a bottle of jack daniels.

all that to say i have now joined the prestigeous league of "four-eyes" and am one for the rest of my life. which is too bad but it's chill i guess. i mean how bad can it get? i'm no longer in 4th grade so i don't gotta worry about messin with my style of a fancy bowl cut and tight black jeans. which i was a very big fan of!!! not gonna lie bout that one! but lets face it. elementary kids can be cruel. along w/ middle schoolers but we won't go there thats for a whole nother blog post.

well it's good to be back and i hope you all had a super fantastic and MERRY CHRISTMAS! none of this holiday crap. MERRY CHRISTMAS MERRY CHRISTMAS MERRY CHRISTMAS! and i hope you guys have a HAPPY NEW YEAR!

please have your sanhedrin card ready at the door.

i have been really stressed the past couple of weeks in dealing with finals and i would unload all my beef about my papers and how they make me want to punt a professor but i will hold back and not share with you about all my papers and how they make me want to punt a professor. to all you professors out there, it's nothing personal really, except for maybe not factoring sleep into your equations but it is more due to procrastination than anything else.

there is a man who has been such an encouragement to me since i have been back from jamaica this second time and we keep in touch and talk and i saw this on his facebook status and i am soooo stoked to see what God has in store for me!!

here it is...

Acts 4:13

"When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus."

let me give you a little bit of background so that you can get the full effect. in Acts chapter one Jesus is talking to his desciples before he ascends into heaven and he is explaining to them to fill the place of Judas and that he was going to send the Holy Spirit to be apart of the show. Jesus ascends and the desciples are now left with the descision to pick a replacement...kinda like "the next top model" only it's "the next dusty desciple." well they do an incredible thing here at this point, i mean this is so wierd for them to do (especially if it was in our day and age in dealing with descisions of a large-ish size), they prayed to the Lord to show them who to pick. BRILLIANT!!! (i'm just gonna stop here for a sec cause something needs to be said) THIS IS THE MOST BRILLIANT IDEA SINCE BEFORE BREAD...especially hawaiian rolls. these guys got down on their knees and said "Lord, you know everyone's heart. Show us which of these two you have chosen to take over this apostolic ministry, which Judas left to go where he belongs" (Acts 1:24-25). 

*this is the question i would like to pose because i have really been struggling with this personally and have almost gotten to the point of fulfilling 100%: when you tell someone that you will pray for them, or that you are praying for them, how many of those do you actually carry out and pray for them on a consistant basis whether once a day or once a week, do you seriously follow through with it? or is it just that we say that for the fake Christian life we are living? or are we lukewarm and we are just fulfilling our Christian duties to encourage fellow Christians that we are praying for their Christian "issues?" And do you look to God when you have to make a descision and such? just something to chew on like a piece of wrigley's. (i prefer orbit to wrigley's).

so back to the background info, they look to God for the answer to be revealed for He is always faithful. then God sends down the Holy Spirit to swoop down and fill them with itself and they burn rubber gettin out the door to share with people of every tribe and nation that Jesus Christ is Lord and of the victory over death he had achieved. Peter heals the beggar at the gate Beautiful which i can't wait to learn more about that but the Sanhedrin were watching Peter and John and they were gettin really ticked off about what Peter and John were saying and doin and preachin and singin and really just breathing air and so they arrested them. 

so the next day the Sanhedrin and questioning Peter and John and and they started to ask about the beggar being healed and basically "by what power or what name did you do this?" and that's when you get the famous verse "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved." and then the verse stated above. the Sanhedrin "saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinatry men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus."

WOWWWEEEEEE!!! they didn't see some 50 year old men in a mid-life crisis, they saw courage in--this is my favorite part--unschooled, ordinary men and they were ASTONISHED!!!!!!!!!! and. they. took. note. there is no way that that was going to be packin' it's bags and fluttering on out the attic window anytime soon. THEY TOOK NOTE!!!

i want to have that courage for Jesus, and so many times i fail in the opportunities that God placed before me, but because He is also a forgiving God, i am givin another chance to have that courage and stand up for truth. are you going to be the one with courage because if God is for us who can be against us? or are you gonna be the sanhedrin and just stand their with your mouth open catchin flies because of what God is doing? i dunno about you but i would rather be a part of it then sit back and watch because i doubt God's "ability" in my own life.

sorry it was kinda long, but i really felt a burden to share it with yall. 

keep the SON in your eyes!