Hey everyone...welcome once again to my blog. We'll start off with another picture taken by yours truly...this waterfall was taken at Letchworth State Park a few weekends ago at a Circle C Staff outing. It was a great time of fellowship, God's creation and Ultimate Frisbee!

After my last post God took a little break from teaching me many things, not that i haven't been learning but He's scaled it down a bit, maybe to one or two lessons a week and not 4 in one week. Here's what i've learned so far:

My last few years at home have made me very comfortable, too comfortable and content. I wasn't being spiritually challenged and my witnessing opportunities with my family had gone down the tube. Enter: camp. Not only am I surrounded with an amazing bunch of Christians, but I am being challenged physically, emotionally and spiritually, exactly what God knew I needed.

I've gotten into the Word more and more, actually comprehending a lot of what i read, i've been getting up early to do devotions so i have the whole day to think about them and apply them to my life. Not too shabby. Still working on the whole "memorizing verses" thing, but it's cool to come across verses that can be used in certain situations, if not for me for others around me.

I've also learned that talking things out with people isn't a bad thing. Yes it might show a sign of weakness, but afterall isn't that what Jesus wants? "For when we are weak, he is strong" Sometimes it takes that person that you're sharing things with to speak Jesus' words to you, and through that problems can be resolved in a matter of days instead of maybe the months or years it can take you to come to that realization just trying to hear God's voice in it all. My pride is knocked down a notch...only 999 notches to go.

I've started making some good friends at camp, some in the most unlikely of places, but it's great none-the-less. Some of the friendships I've wanted are slowly but surely developing, and I am careful not to push things. I have learned that the Lord puts you with the specific people for a specific purpose, so don't wish you were hanging out with someone else, because you might miss the opportunity of getting to know a great guy or girl.

I'm sure there are many many other things that i can share but i'll wrap it up for now. I'm more than halfway though the summer, and I can't wait to see what Jesus has in store for me in the next few weeks. Stay tuned....but until then check out some more pictures from Letchworth!

A not-so short update from the J-Dogg

So I like to start my blog off with a picture, even though this picture has nothing to do with what I have to say, seeing a pretty picture every now and then seems to brighten my day, so I hope it helps with yours. I would also like to add how amazing God is, and how He's worked in my life over these past few weeks.

For those of you who may not know, I am working 2 jobs (what else is new). My regular old day job that's low key but gives me great internet access so I can write and publish this blog, and Circle C Ranch. Now Circle C Ranch is a great Christian Ranch that I have worked at for 3 summers before this one. Since i'm doing the part time thing, it's a little more difficult than I thought, but Jesus did it that way for a reason. Here's a glimpse of what's been going on in my head for the past few weeks:

June 14-23: "Man, camp is awesome...there are a lot of new faces, and some old faces that I would like to get to know better....Jesus is making sure my motives are pure and provided me with no eligible bachelors this summer....I've been though all of this training before, nothing they can throw at me will challenge me any more than I've already experienced, I'll just be around to help those who are struggling....it was a great training week and a half, but i haven't made any great friends, but we still have 7 weeks of summer"

June 26-July 1: "Sweet, i get to lead worship, we have a keyboard player and a drummer, things should be good....oh man the girl keyboard player and the drummer like each other and are making it super duper hard to run through songs and focus for even 5 minutes....oh man they got in a fight, where are their hearts right now?....on Jesus?.....Lord, what am I going to do?.....

Well i'm around some days, I should help in the kitchen....wow these kids are pretty young....lets try showing them how to best be organized....what by the end of the week they still aren't getting it?....Lord, grant me patience....

July 1-July 2: My family is in town, I would like to spend time with them...but I should really be at camp, and I should probably do some work here or there...I can't please everyone, but i'll try my hardest...Lord, this is too much....I can't do everything.......

July 2 (evening): I finally swallowed my pride and talked with my friend Megan. She and I are very very similar, but she's got some great Christian knowledge that i'm lacking...she suggested that I quit trying to do so much and make sure that what I do, everything that I do is exactly what Jesus wants me to do and if i keep my focus on that then I will have more impact on people than I would if i was serving people for my gratification and to not miss anything. She's amazing, because that night........

We added a guitarist and Megan to the worship team. I am still using my gift of music but don't have the stress of leading worship. I was kicked out of the kitchen (but in a good way so the kids can learn for themselves) and am now "on call" instead of going in there every day.


July 3-today: I am now in a routine to get up, shower and do my devotions before breakfast. Go to work and do my thing, get back to camp and just fellowship with who i can find. Dinner then chapel where i'm trying my hardest just to sing for Jesus, we had troubles last night with the computer and not having a lot of practice so we were 100% relying on Jesus and he came through. Then it's games and spending some time with the campers and then lights out. I try and stay up a little longer to read some scripture and pray, and the amazing thing is that the scripture is starting to come alive for me again. Thank you Jesus!

I've learned a lot in the past few weeks, actions are great and can be a great witnessing tool and that's what i've relyed on for a few years, but if you don't have the knowledge and the scripture base to back it up then it's almost pointless. That's where i'm at, I've got a long road to go, but i've started my journey. Not too shabby.