Move

I said in my last post that I would be leaving for Camp in a couple of days. I just got back yesterday afternoon but since I was so tired, I couldn't really articulate very well what happened. I still may not be able to put into words everything that happened at camp, so I will just give an overview and hope that it gives you a small picture of what happened from June 21-June 29th.

The theme of our camp as you may see from the image on your right was a faith to Move. We focused on having a faith to let go, the faith to go into the unknown, a faith to wait, and having faith to its fullest. We focused on the story of Moses from the time God appeared to him through the burning bush that wasn't consumed until Moses presented the Israelite people with the Ten Commandments. We did a lot of the in depth Bible study in our small groups. For High School it was Coed and combined people from different cabins, and for Middle School it was whoever was in your cabin. We had worship in the morning and night led by Michael Boggs, and the message was by Chris Brooks. We also had a rec time everyday, three hours of free time where they could ride jet skis and Pontoon Boats (with an adult leader), go on aquacycles at the beach/lake (That's were I was most of the time...making sure kids weren't doing anything stupid), go to the pool, play on the rec field, go horseback riding (only available one day for each camp), or just relax and hang out with people near their cabin.

My experience was very good. For High School, I was paired up with a friend of mine named Troy. We joked around about this because our personalities are almost exact opposite. The High School camp can be best described by one of our leaders. "They came together in groups, but they left as one." There was great unity in this camp like I haven't seen before. There were some great and honest conversations, and it went very well.

I have been looking forward to Middle School camp because that is where my guys are right now from my Lifegroup. Want to know something cool? I had the same cabin I had last year! It was great to continue to build those relationships. The Bible Studies for me I felt were more in depth and personal than those of the past. There was more intention for prayer as well as practicle hands-on activities toward learning the concept than before. If nothing else, it forced them to think about some things that they believed. The greatest part of this group at camp was how honest they were about where they were. I had a conversation with practically all of the guys in that cabin about where they were in their faith. The openness of them and their willingness to take a deeper look led God to do some great things inside of them. I can say with confidence that the question has been answered about what they believe, now it's a question of will they take the next step in developing what they believe into a relationship.

For me, I knew coming into this that I really had to prepare myself or I would get burned out very easy. So I was very intentional with making sure that didn't happen. Because of that, camp was a lot easier than it was the year before. You can ask any High School or Adult leader that was there...it was pretty exhausting, but it was worth it.

I'll leave you with a couple of illustrations that I liked from Chris Brooks about faith.

1. Do you have a sneaker faith or a suit faith? (i.e. do you bring it out on special occasions, or wear it all the time)
2. When you think about yourself as being the light, do you imagine yourself as one of those lights you have to crank to power up (which is from your own power, only lights up a little bit, and is misused)? What about the flashlight you only use for emergencies? Or are you plugged into a power source?
3. Are you a God Wrestler? Or are you a Poser?

Thanks for reading, and have a great rest of the day!

The Autobiography of George Mϋller

I just got done reading this book. I ordered this book near the end of May from Amazon. I have been looking to purchase this book for a while ever since I saw it in Lifeway. This book is a great testimony to what God can do through a person who completely relies on God. George Mϋller starts off his story with blatant honesty in showing us his sinful past. He then goes on to tell about how he encountered God (through a small group bible study/prayer group) and from there it talks about his ministry. He becomes a pastor of a church for a while, then God calls him to become part of the work in Bristol, England. God then shows him that he wants him to help with his work with the Orphans and help disciple/inform believers and non-believers through the work of the Scriptural Knowledge Institution which is a school for the study of scriptures for children and adults. The book focuses on those ministries as well as the means to support those ministries.

The cool part about this is that George Mϋller refused to take a salary after he was convicted by how the money was used in the church. From that moment on, he depended on the Lord to provide all the money and resources needed for his everyday physical needs and the ministry. The book goes on to discuss his prayers and God's answer to his prayers. God always provided what he NEEDED when he needed it. Through this ministry, thousands of people knew about the bible, and tens of thousands of Orphans needs were met. During his time it was a little more than a thousand, but the orphanages survived past his death.

This book was kind of tough to get into, but it was well worth the read. It was a great example of what God can do through someone who truly has faith. George was humble about everything, boasting only in God, and he remained faithful through his life. He said in his book that on his own strength, he could maybe do a tenth of the work that was entrusted with him but because God was helping him, he could do all of it. He was devoted to prayer and mediation of scripture, and he had a heart of telling others about God. The ministry even included supporting over 80 missionaries on top of the institution and the orphanages. George said that he felt this ministry existed to prove to people what God can do through those who put their trust in him.

I am going to camp this week, and our themes have to do with Faith. I think I got done with this book just in time :-)

Can Coldplay? We'll see in this update.

Look at me doing a play on words! I originally was going to list all the things I was going to talk about in the title, but that would just have been way too many commas. Plus it would be like, "Why read the blog? It tells us everything in the title!"

Anyway, things have been going well. The past two weeks have been fun. I visited my sister a week ago in Selmer. We basically watched movies all weekend (four from Blockbuster and we went to Corinth, Mississippi to see "Up"), but it was fun. I really enjoyed going to the Baptist Church there. The people were very friendly, the sermon was good (the analogy of the windshield and the rear-view mirror was great), and it was fun to sing in the choir. The drive was about two and half hours, but It was very scenic and pretty so I just listened to my IPod and the trip went by fast.

Work is going well. I like to give my "C" personality what it enjoys while getting paid to do it.

I'm also getting ready for Hong Kong and doing a Bible Study with a couple of my friends on Packer's, "Knowing God." Tonight was our first night, and we had some good discussion. I'm looking forward to reading and discussing the next chapters.

Now...for Coldplay! My friend asked me a couple nights before if I wanted to go and I was like, "Sure...I know a couple of their songs. It should be fun." I have to say that of these guys put on a show! It was entertaining from start to finish and it was unlike anything I have ever experienced. They also played well live. That was something I was worried about because you know those bands that sound good on the radio but are horrible live. Overall it was a great experience, and I think Coldplay is pretty awesome.

I best be going now. Have a great rest of the day!

Why I can't drink starbucks coffee before bed

Hello everyone on the World Wide Web! You are seeing firsthand why I cannot have Starbucks coffee before I go to bed. For one thing, it hurts my stomach. It doesn't matter if I balance it out with something else, it still hurts. On top of that, it makes me feel tingly and keeps me wide awake with random thoughts and actions. I have tried almost everything to get to sleep. I have counted sheep, read part of a book, got a Pepcid, had some crackers and sprite for my stomach, and now I am blogging in hopes that if I get some of my thoughts out, I will be able to sleep. So after I am done writing this, I will play some music and try to get to sleep.

While I am writing, let me give you a couple of quick updates. I prayed for God to help me with my classes this semester since I missed a week of school because of Kidney Stones and this was my last semester of actual classes. There was one class I thought I wouldn't pass. I got my grades and for the first time since first semester freshman year...I got straight "A"s! My GPA even went up a little bit! God is good.

Several big things have also happened recently. I signed up for two tests for Praxis II that I need to get done (taking Reading Across the Curriculum and Elementary Core Content, June 13th). I started work on the 11th, had my first Hong Kong mission trip meeting this sunday night, and I went to my last ever event with the College Ministry.

I am going to go into detail about the last part. I have been privileged to serve the college ministry as part of their student leadership team for the past year. I have been in this ministry since a little after my second semester of college. The ministry has grown and is going in a new direction with John and Rene' deciding this to be their last year. They will transition out by August, and I decided that I would transition out after Mullet Search. So that was not only my last trip, but my last...I guess you could say intentional appearance with the College Ministry. It was a great weekend. My team ended up winning! I got a shirt as a prize! I also had some great conversations and just had a wonderful time. I'll miss all the people there, but I am thankful for what God has taught me through people I've met, Bible Studies I've attended, and events that I was a part of. This was just time for me to step aside and transition into a semester of student teaching and taking a new path in my life.

I will keep you posted on what else is going on with me. Thank you for listening, and I hope that you all have a great rest of the day!

What a crazy week!

I finally have a little time to just sit down and think about everything that has happened this week. I am listening to my iPod right now. Sarah made me listen to this guy on American Idol named Adam Lambert (I have never watched this show except for highlights on TV/Radio), and I have to say...he's very good. His version of "Mad World" is absolutely awesome. I downloaded his version of "Feeling Good" because Sarah told me how great it is...and it was great. Even though I don't really care about this show, I hope he wins. I would actually consider buying his album.

This week was absolutely insane. First off my last day of classes was this past Wednesday. I had two finals on that day (Racquetball and Methods & Techniques of Behavior Management). I basically spent all day Tuesday finishing projects and making sure everything was ready. Without going into too much detail let's just say that things did not go as I planned and there may be consequences in the future because of it. Yeah, we'll just leave it at that. I'm not too worried about it though. What happens, happens and I am still happy with what I learned this semester.

I did two service projects this week. One was with the Lifegroup that I teach. We have this thing in the Youth group called Mission OHB (Old Hickory Blvd) where we go out of the 37027 area code and serve the neighboring community. We team up with an organization called S.L.A.M. (Students Living A Mission) and do various projects. Last semester we went to Trevecca Towers and cleaned apartments for the elderly. This past Wednesday, we went to a health care facility and talked with the people there. My group ended up talking with this lady, her son, and a worker who was in there. It was great conversation. I was out of my comfort zone and I could tell some of my guys were too, but it all went okay.

The second service project I did was today. Today was the Great Day of Service that our church does where we serve someone in the neighboring community. My day of service should actually be renamed "The Great 1.5 hours of service" because of the weather and the fact that they didn't really need us. But, it was all good. Some people got pointed in the right direction because of me and my fellow friends, Tom Kimsey and Luanne Brooks.

I have one exam this week on May 6th and then I am done! I will start work on the 11th, because I really need to raise money for my mission trip this summer. I'm going to tell you where it is. Are you ready?!? I am going to.........HONG KONG!!!! I am excited and scared at the same time. Never been there, I know maybe 2 or 3 people going on this trip, and I am confident in saying this is outside my comfort zone (I apparently have a limited place of comfort, if you noticed the theme in this post). It's an amazing opportunity though, and I'm sure that everything will turn out all right.

I guess I will end this post now. I hope you all have a great rest of the day!

P.S. I played racquetball with my dad yesterday, and I am still very sore

Happy Easter, Scott! Let's have a Kidney Stone!

I know that there are people out there that are suffering worse than I am, I know that this will eventually pass, and I know that in the grand scheme of things this is not a big deal. However, this is my blog so I am going to talk about it. I'll even throw in a joke at the end if you feel like you've wasted a couple minutes of your life reading about my silly problems. Deal?!? Okay, here we go.

Let me start off by saying that Easter is my favorite time of the year. From Maundy Thursday to Easter Sunday, it all gets a big :-) from me. Yet this year at 3:00am on Maundy Thursday, I was awoken by severe pain in my lower back. It was horrible! I thought that it was because I didn't stretch like I was supposed to in racquetball the other day, so I took some ibuprofin. That didn't work at all. It hurt when I sat, stood, laid down, or walked around. I decided that since I was feeling nauseaus, it must be flatulance. I tried going to the bathroom, but that made it worse. I was screaming to myself, praying to God, but the pain kept coming. Finally when I came into my parents room to get some more toilet paper, they asked if I was doing all right. I said, "No, I have really sharp pains in the lower right side of my back." My dad said that is where my kidney is. Then he asked me if I needed to go to the Emergency Room. He made the decision to, and I'm glad he did. I just didn't want to get there and have the guys be like, "Mr. Lemons, your son just has gas. Give him this bowl of chili, and he'll be fine!" After answering questions, giving blood, having great pain medication, getting a CT scan, and getting stronger pain medication (at that point I felt like little demons were dancing in my kidney), he told me I had a 2.5mm stone in my kidney and that hopefully it will pass in 2-3 days. So my Easter was spent basically lying on the couch in our living room, drugged, and drinking gallons of liquids with the end result...the little bugger has made himself comfortable and is enjoying the refreshments.

I went to the Urologist the other day, and basically we decided that the best course of action is to just ride it out. THANK GOD I got a perscription for more pain medication. However I may have this thing for more than 6 weeks. Just so you know, I took some medication at 3:00am today because the pain woke me up, so I may be rambling or sound somewhat incoherent right now. The hardest thing now is having the motivation to do homework and finish this semester strong. My motivation right now is to sleep. My dreams have been excellent lately, and the dogs have been by my side the whole time. I am just not motivated at all. Even right now I have two projects, some e-mails, a lifegroup lesson to prepare, and I need to clean my room. But I decided to blog.

I'm kind of upset. I feel like my Easter was taken away from me. Yes, I know how selfish this sounds. I know how much God has blessed me. I know that the pain I feel is nothing like what Jesus felt on the Cross. I also know that Easter is not about me (although the gift of salvation is given to all of us). Let me then rephrase myself: I am upset because I felt like I wasn't able to utilize all that this Easter week had to offer.

Once again, I am on pain-killers right now so this whole blog may sound completely not like me at all. It may sound like "Pot Scott" my evil drug-induced twin. So since some of you read this until the very end, here is a joke.

Q: "Where does the Easter Bunny get his Breakfast?"
A: "At the IHOP!"

Reflections - Death/Life, Education, Reading

This blog is going to be comprised of me rambling about certain things that I have been thinking about lately. I decided to talk about three different things, even though there is a lot floating around up there. During my commutes, I have plenty of time to think and I sometimes turn off the radio and let my mind wander.

I was thinking about those movies and shows where people have been told they only have a certain amount of time to live. Why is it that everyone is so self-centered when they find out they will only be on the earth for a little while longer? Shouldn't that be a time to think about mending relationships, telling others about your faith, and just being recklessly compassionate towards others? It seems like every show I watch people decide to travel the world, buy lavish gifts for themselves, eat foods they have never had, do something reckless and exciting like bungee jumping, sky diving, etc. How many people do you see giving all their money to charity? What about people spending their remaining money to go overseas and help build schools, houses, or collect food for underprivileged children? I hope these thoughts will at least cross some people's minds if this ever happens to them.

I've been also thinking about gender issues in Elementary Education. You hear about these behavior problems and talk about teachers acting as parents during the school-days toward these children. If teachers are supposed to act like parents, where are the fathers in schools? Who is going to show these young boys how to act like men? Who is going to protect those young girls from making mistakes with the stupid boys? Yes, women have been doing a wonderful job in the teaching profession. It is important to have a nurturer during this time of development so that the self-esteem and person worth is understood and valued. Yet what is it saying to our young boys if they don't see any men teaching in their schools? There are some men, but overall the statistic is startling. Males comprise about 16% of elementary teachers (Strizek, Pittsonberger, Riordon, Lyter, & Orlofsky, 2006). Does anyone else find that peculiar?

Finally, I've been thinking about my thoughts and attitudes toward reading. I remember growing up always seeing a book in my sister's hand. My mom and my dad would sit at the table or chair and be reading. They would tell me to read a book and I would always say, "No, I'll just go watch T.V." It really wasn't until Junior High when I discovered Louis L'amour and the Left Behind Series that I become interested in reading. Since then, I have found and read books that have really made me think and have brought me new perspectives on issues. It has also helped to improve my vocabulary as well as writing. It makes me sad when I hear of future or current teachers that say they do not like to read. I can't comprehend why you would want to be a teacher (especially at the Grade-school level) if you don't like to read. Isn't that like the main thing we are trying to teach them? I think reading is amazing because it's like a movie going on in your head and you can revisit it any time you want. Good books will stay with you...especially when you're young. I re-read several children's books this past semester that I remember reading in gradeschool, and they are so much more meaningful now. Dr. Seuss for instance is way more profound than I ever thought.

Those are some of my ramblings. I hope you have a great rest of the week!

Mission's Auction and stuff

Last night I was the auctioneer for the 4th Annual Mission's Auction at the Baptist Collegiate Ministry at MTSU. This was my third year to do it, so I knew what I was getting into. What's important to remember when you're an auctioneer is that you need to drink plenty of water during the auction, you don't have to enunciate every word (only the numbers to hear the bet), and level your voice so that the audience gets excited when an item for bid gets higher.

This auction broke records. Several items went over $100! Note that in a regular auction, this doesn't seem like a huge number. However we were in a room full of college students who can't even afford to pay attention (thanks John Cook for letting me borrow that joke). You know how much money we ended up raising? We raised over $850! We are over our Mission Goal for the year (which was $4500) and we are not even done with everything!

I'm still recovering a little bit. It's quite a workout to fast-talk for that long of time. It's like an ab workout. Plus I drank about 3 bottles of water so well...I'll let you figure out what happened because of that. I didn't get as much sleep last night because the adrenaline didn't wear off right away. I don't have class today so it's not that big of deal.

Other than that, there's not much happening. I'm starting, "Becoming a Contagious Christian" with my 8th grade Lifegroup. We're actually going through the book in six weeks, and I'm excited about it. It's challenging for me as well as them, but I think we'll both get a lot out of it. I also have two adults in the room with me, Phillip and Art, so it's good to have their support.

I better be going. I hope you have a great rest of the day!

Teaching the Preamble

For the first time in a month or so, I was really excited to teach. One of the reasons was because it had to do with what is pictured on the left...the Preamble to the Constitution. We started off just listening to the words. I talked about how important introductions are to any form of writing and how this set up the whole tone for the Constitution. The sad part of it all is how so many people don't even know what it says. Seeing the kids hear (some for the first time) and understand what it is saying, made me realize how cool it is that people in this profession get to experience learning. Not just knowing new facts or answering some questions, but taking what they hear and see and finding a useful application to their life. The Preamble of the Constitution is something that we can find useful and applicable.



"We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."

That's worth remembering.

Spring Break Mission Trip

From March 11th-15th, I went on a Mission Trip with my college ministry to Tybee Island, Georgia. There were about 8 students (including me), two adults (John and Rene'), and three kids (their kids) that all went (I like Parenthesis).

It was really cool...literally. The weather wasn't what you would expect from a beach/vacation spot. Although it was actually a blessing in disguise because we got a lot of work done and then some. What we did was we painted part of a church - Chapel by the Sea Baptist Church - and then we teamed with another church to put on a party for kids and their families during the St. Patrick's Day Parade that was in town.

I ended up scraping, priming, then painting the first day, and sweeping, holding garbage bags, and then painting with a roller the second day. For the kid's games I went with some of my fellow peers and talked to people about the party, and played some games with the kids such as corn hole and picking up rubber ducks with nets.

I really enjoyed hanging out with this group and serving. It made my Spring Break go by fast, but I think it was worth it. The only thing now is getting back into the routine of school. Of course I better get used to it because that is where I will probably spend a majority of my life :-)

Eating Lions, reading books, and Georgia

I feel like doing a techno dance right now. I am listening to my Ipod and the song is, "Rockit" by Herbie Hancock. It makes it very distracting to write. I wouldn't be the only one in the family to freestyle dance today *cough* dad *cough*

We had Anvil for guys again this year. It wasn't like other years though, it was for one night only and we joined with the girls (who had an overnight thing for their Snowball retreat). The worship and speaker were great, and it was cool to hang out with some of my guys. The fun part of these retreats for us guys is that we eat lots of meat and then smash various things (watermelons, spam, pudding, apples, etc.) The meat we ate included Ostrich, Squid, Antelope, Shrimp, and...Lion Burgers. I'm not kidding!
I got to have a piece of it, but not a whole burger.
My favorite was the squid.
Since most people don't like the texture,
I got as much as I wanted.

I am reading two different books right now. I am reading,
"The Graveyard Book" by Neil Gaiman and
"The Importance of Being Foolish - How to think like Jesus" by Brennan Manning (author of one of my favorite books - The Ragamuffin Gospel). Both books are really good so far. I am happy to be able to read them on Spring Break.

I'm on Spring Break!!! I still have a couple things to finish for school, but I am just relaxing right now. I am actually going on a mission trip the 11th-15th in Savannah, Georgia. We will be helping with church improvements (i.e. painting). It should be fun. This will be my first Spring Break Mission Trip. Let the serving begin!

Well, I should be going. You want to know something funny? I started with that techno song, and now I'm listening to "Spring, Spring, Spring" from Seven Brides for Seven Brothers! This is on shuffle, so it makes it so much awesomer! Yes I know that's not a word...just overlook it.

Have a great one!

I was Playing in the Connection Center in Israel on Math Night

Instead of just listing things that will be in my post, I decided that I would put it all in a sentence. There are a couple of you that may be disappointed because let's face it...this would be a sweet post if I was really in Israel playing in the connection center on math night. However, this blog is devoted to getting into the connection center, my presentation on Israel, Math Night, and the Play Symposium I went to today.

This past Wednesday was our first Lifegroup in the Connection Center. This place is awesome! There's a store where you can buy resources (I got a Bible for $5 and the original price was $25), a cafe', a huge auditorium for worship, basketball courts, and rooms for all groups to meet. Tonight was also special because I had Josh Shelley and Andy Roberts come and give their testimonies. They both did a great job, and I think my group got a lot out of it. It's always great to see how God is working in other's lives.

I had a presentation on Israel in my Middle Eastern Geography Class. This past Thursday was actually the last day the class was meeting on campus, so it was somewhat bittersweet. For our presentations, we were highly encouraged to bring food. I brought some Challah Bread and some fig and honey spread (figs, honey, cooking wine, and cinnamon). My presentation itself went well...I think I was the only one that used actual music in their presentation. Basically before I set it up, I put on "Der Bosfer" which is a song played by the Klezmer Conservatory. It set the mood for the presentation very well.

From 1:00pm - 8:00pm, that was dedicated to getting ready for and presenting at Math Night. My board had a complex problem on it, and it was supposed to be geared toward 4th grade. I had about 10 students come and see it, and a lot of parents actually liked my board too because it was a challenge for everyone. For those of you that are interested the problem was basically, "You have three buckets of water: 8 cup, 5 cup, and 3 cup. Make exactly 4 cups of water using those three buckets (there is no estimating)." It's basically a 6 step process, so they had fun doing it :-)

I just got back from the Play Symposium. Basically this sums up the 3-4 hours, "It's important for kids to play outside, be active, and have both structured and unstructured activities in order to enhance their development." So...yeah. I did enjoy it though. It made me want to go outside. Although it's raining, so it kind of defeats the purpose.

Well, that's about it. Take care, and I hope you have a great rest of the day!

Maus, School, and other stuff

I hope that everyone is doing well! I know that you were thinking to yourself, "When is Scott going to update again? I am on pins and needles here!" Well, there is no need to worry! Because here is an update with what is going on in my life.

I ordered a couple books on Amazon. One was Coraline which I haven't gotten yet, and the other was a set of graphic novels called, "Maus I: My Father Bleeds History" and "Maus II: And Here my Troubles Began" This graphic novel is by Art Spiegelman and..."it is about his father, Vladek Spiegelman, a Jewish survivor of Hitler's Europe, and a cartoonist who tries to come to terms with his father's terrifying story, and History Itself." The Jews are represented by Mice, the Nazis are represented by Cats, and the Polish are represented by Pigs. I got the books today, and I read the first book front to cover. It was very exciting, it flowed well, and it was very moving. I got interested in getting these novels when I heard about them in my class last semester. These books are a great way to get Upper Elementary and Middle School (Even High Schoolers) interested in reading and a better grasp of the subject concerning the Holocaust. I enjoyed it, and I am excited to read book number II (By the way, this is also a 1992 Pulitzer Prize Winner).

On a different note, school is going well. In Practicum I teach a small group of four 1st graders and I teach the whole class twice. I did my first lead-teaching yesterday on George Washington's Teeth. For those of you that think it was made out of wood, it was not! It was actually made out of Hippopotamus Ivory. My next lead teach will be about Abraham Lincoln, so it should be fun.

I enjoy playing raquetball (even though I'm not that good) and math methods is....giving me a lot of good materials. I am enjoying the two classes I am taking for fun. I'm learning about the Middle East and I really enjoy learning about PBIS (Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports). I actually use a webcam and record comments on papers I write for this class. The cool part is my professor responds to me through his webcam so it's like we are having a conversation. I am glad I am taking this class.

The only real issue I have been having with classes has been...creativity. I have had to do several projects that involve arts and crafts and expanding my mind relating to such things. Now, I was never good at arts and crafts. I don't like arts and crafts. When it comes to decoration, I don't know how it should look or why it should look that way. Needless to say...I am at a loss when it comes to these things. Because of this, I am happy if the professor/teacher says that the work is acceptable. I know I am not going to get a, "I have never seen such beautiful work," but I am okay with that.

That's about it for me. I hope you all have a great rest of the day!

My Amazon experience

When you read the title, did you think I meant The Amazon as in South America or Amazon as in the website? I personally mean Amazon the website, so all of you who were interested in hearing about my journey in South America can start playing Pac-Man or feeding my Llama.

For the first time this year, I asked my sister to get me an Amazon.com gift card. Being the generous sister that she is, she has given me a substantial amount of money to spend (that wasn't being sarcastic either. When it comes to money, she's way more generous than I am!) Anyway, I have been buying different books from there. I got Student Edition - Case for Faith, Praying the Psalms, Beyond Discipline, and The Middle East for Dummies. I have spent a total of...$33.07. For four books plus shipping and handling, that is pretty awesome! There was only one book that I was disappointed with the quality (let's just say it was not like new)...but I bought it for $8.59 (and that included shipping and handling) and if I bought this book at a store, it would be about $17.95, so it's still okay. My suggestion to all of you would be to give Amazon.com a chance if you haven't already. It's well worth it.

I'm excited for the Math Conference tomorrow and the Super Bowl on Sunday! I'm more excited for the Super Bowl to be honest. But, the math conference will be good because we all can use tips on how to teach kids math. All I remember in grade-school math was how much I hated coordinates and shapes. I did well on tests, but I always did bad on the homework. What gives?

I'll have more updates on my classes. I'm really enjoying Raquetball. I am probably near the bottom of the list when it comes to top players in my class, but I am still having fun and getting a work-out. Plus with my height, I am able to do low serves which makes the tall people have to work hard. TAKE THAT TALL PEOPLE!

I hope you all have a great rest of the day.

Eustress Vs. Distress

To describe what my semester is going to be like, I am going to quote one of my professors. He said, "There are two types of stress. There is Eustress which is good, and there is Distress which can kill you. I am offering you Eustress. Have a great weekend."

Even though I am not taking a whole lot of hours, I still have a pretty nice class-load and work today. The main thing I did today, as a matter of fact, was buy a Calendar and a Planner and write out what was due and when it was due. This helped to relieve some of the stress I was feeling. Here are the classes I am taking

1. Beginning Raquetball
2. Geography of the Middle East
3. Mathematics Methodology
4. Methods and Techniques of Behavior Management
5. Practicum

Those look like fun classes, don't they? I only need three of those for my major. I'll give you a hint which three they are...they are the odd numbered ones! I needed to be a full-time student, so I had to fill up some classes. I'm excited about both of those classes though. They are really interesting and I think they will help a lot.

Other than that, I am also really excited because I got a webcam! I needed it for a class I have this semester, and I have been goofing off with it. Some people got Facebook messages with me using it...so I hope they enjoy it as much as I did.

This has been a great week so far; My good friend came to church and the sermon/music were awesome; college life-groups started up on Monday night and we not only had a good turn-out but we have a great topic we are discussing; I got to spend a day with John and even see his plant in the midst of helping to move, I had class yesterday (which was eustressful!); and today I got to play with a webcam as well as get myself organized! Let's just see what Friday and Saturday bring!

That's it for me. I hope you all have a great rest of the day!

Football & Sunflower Seeds

So...only one of my predictions came true during the wild card playoffs. For the sake of making certain teams do well and certain teams to not do well, I will not make any predictions for the remainder of the playoffs.

Santa brought me some low sodium sunflower seeds in my stocking this year. I started eating them, and I couldn't stop. It became a routine. I would sit in my chair, eat some sunflower seeds, and watch some TV. When I ran out, I didn't know what to do. I tried popcorn, but it didn't do the trick. I had a Popsicle, but it wasn't the same. I even tried just eating peanuts. But it didn't have the same thrill of cracking those little sunflower seeds and eating that little goodness that is inside of it. So a couple of days ago, I bought another pack of sunflower seeds. I am eating them as I type this post; sunflower seeds and Sweet Tea. I am also watching King of the Hill.

Could life get any better right now? We'll see :-)

Relaxing Days

If you were on the outside looking in on how I spent my day, you would probably think that I did nothing. From a stand-point of what I usually do, I would say that's true. I basically just watched TV and ate today! I would say the two highlights of my day were ordering a pizza, and getting a book in the mail that I ordered from amazon.com. I read the first chapter, and I am really excited about introducing it to my Lifegroup! It is Case for Faith - Student Edition. You can't really find it in the stores, but I got a better deal online anyway. It covers basically six different sections

1. If there's a loving God, why is there so much pain and suffering in the world?
2. If miracles contradict science, how can any rational person believe they are true?
3. If God really created the Universe, then why does science point to evolution as the origin of life?
4. If Jesus is the only way to heaven, then what about the millions of people who never heard of him?
5. If God cares about the people he created, how could he send many of them to hell?
6. If I still have doubts, is it possible to be a Christian?

I think that this will be a good book to study. Some of it it seems like we have covered, but Lee Strobel and Jane Vogel put it together so rationally that it is just a good way of representing the material.

Something I have discovered about my personality is that when I have "relaxing days," it seems like my mind never gives me time to relax. I have thought of so many different things today. When I woke up, I just laid for about an hour or two just thinking about different aspects of life. I thought about my friends and stuff they are going through right now, what next semester holds for school and ministries (both college and youth), and how I would react in certain situations. Even after I got up and watched TV, I kept analyzing characters and asking how their lives would be different if they made different choices (particularly embracing their faith) and what I would do in that situation. Fun and relaxing, isn't it?

I did watch a good amount of ESPN and read some more about what the Broncos are doing and my picks for the wild card games tomorrow. I think Indianapolis will win in the AFC game (I hope they kick the tar out of San Diego after what happened with Denver). I am hoping the Cardinals win tomorrow, but I think realistically the Falcons will win. I haven't really seen Arizona put any real effort the past couple of games, and I don't see how you can just suddenly have a win mentality if you haven't been giving it your all the past couple of games. For Sunday, I believe the Eagles will beat the Vikings and Miami will beat Baltimore. We'll see though...

This is a long post, so I will end it. Have a great rest of the day!

Christmas and Remembrance

Hey Everybody! I hope that you all had a great Christmas. Mine was very hectic. My sister and Dad got home the night of the 22nd and Mom and I got home the night of the 23rd. None of us did any real Christmas Shopping so we were all getting our stuff on Christmas Eve. Later that day we went to BBC's Christmas Eve service. I have never heard so many crying/screaming babies in my life! However it was amazing when we all had our candles lit. At 11pm, Ferrell and I decided to go to the Methodist's Christmas Eve Service. I have to say I was really impressed and I enjoyed it! Some of it was unusual, but it was great. I am going to try to go again next year if someone will go with me.

I ended up getting a Nintendo DS (which I didn't ask for) on top of some awesome gift certificates that I haven't used yet! I got some other stuff, but that was the major thing. I got my dad the DVD "Mama Mia," my mom some certificates for two manicures, and my sister a DS game (Final Fantasy IV) and a book called, "Wet Cats."

For those of you that are wondering why I was gone for so long and why it says "remembrance" on the title, my Grandmother (Phyllis Lemons) passed away near the 16th. It was amazing to talk to people in Lander (as well as my family) that knew her very well. She was loved by everyone. There were many that claimed her as one of their best friends! She showed us, myself included, how much difference one person could make just by living an unselfish and humble life that pleased God.

I decided in honor of her death, I would post a list of top 5 things I have learned from my grandmother

1. God First
2. Treat everyone you meet as a friend, not a stranger
3. You can never have enough coats, gloves, Kleenex, clocks, or candy
4. Don't just sit around waiting for something to happen, get up and do something about it
5. "Smile...because it worked for me" (this was said during her funeral)

Everyone have a great holiday!

Grades & Other Stuff

Let's talk about ME! :-)

Here are my grades for this semester:

1. Cultural Anthropology - C
2. Books, Media, and Literacy for Children - A
3. Classroom Assessment - A
4. Methods of Teaching Social Studies - A
5. Corrective Reading - A
6. Modern English Grammar and Usage - B

Semester GPA: 3.438

Cumulative GPA: 3.648

Total Hours earned: 111

I did a lot better than I thought I would in Modern English Grammar and Usage. I keep looking at Cultural Anthropology. I spent so much time in my other classes making sure I got good grades in those, and that led to Cultural Anthropology being overlooked. Our only assessments in there were three tests and attendence, so I didn't have a whole lot of motivation. It all turned out okay.

I have spare time now. It's really weird because my weeks were arranged by tests/homework assignments. Now, I am going back to work and waiting for Jesus Trip. On the bright side, I watched Oceans 11, 12 & 13 this past weekend! They were all awesome. It made me sad though because I was watching Bernie Mac, and I knew he wouldn't be back for a sequel :-(

I think I have figured out my favorite Christmas songs.

1. O Holy Night
2. O Little Town of Bethlehem
3. Welcome to our World
4. God is With Us
5. Evening in December
6. Silver Bells
7. You're a mean one, Mr. Grinch
8. Breath of Heaven
9. Joseph's Lullaby
10. The Christmas Song

I may have missed some, so I may update/change this list depending on how I feel. Well, that's about it. Have a great rest of the day!

Dead Day!

Today is what we refer to as "Dead Day" at MTSU. The school gives us this day off to study for exams. There are some students that use this day to study at catch up, and some that use it to relax and mentally prepare themselves for the storm to come. Which one of those people am I you ask? Well, I'm typing this from my bed right now. But...I may venture to attempt some projects. I was planning on doing some Social Studies stuff today, so maybe I will be a good student and do that. We will see.

Here's a quick update. Thanksgiving was good! My Dad, Sister, Mom, Nana, the Greats, Aunt Sue, and Julie were all there to share in the feast! It was good. Turkey, dressing, cranberry sauce, orange salad, pumpkin pie, green beans, some other foods I can't remember...it was good. It was also fun being with the family and joking around with each other. Not to mention the Titans DOMINATED the game against the Lions, so it was a good day!

I got an "A" on my Case Study - that went along with the tutoring I was doing at Nolensville - so I was pretty pumped about that. I have three more projects in one of my classes due before/on Sunday, two exams on Wednesday, and one on Thursday (which requires a lot of outside work). So I am about to have a lot of fun pretty soon.

I hope that everyone is doing well and I will update as soon as the craziness stops!

Fall Retreat - Get Restored!

I will try not to let my current mood affect the way I write this blog. Why do you ask? Well let me put it this way. Today I feel like Alexander. He is the star of the book, "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day." It's raining, I am still tired, I didn't feel confident about my test I just took...so yeah.

Now that I've vented a little bit, let me talk to you about Fall Retreat! We went to Jonathan Creek in Kentucky from Friday-Sunday. Our theme of the week was being restored. The first night we did an overview of what we have called the "Connecting Moments" at church. Basically it is four circles talking about us being originally designed for good, then damaged by evil, then restored for better, then sent to heal. If you want a demonstration, come find me. I am pretty good at it by now :-) We basically focused on the fact that no matter how bad you messed up, God still forgives you and he loves you. Because God loves us so much, we should try to live a life that is pleasing to him. That right there, pretty much sums up the four sessions we had.

It was different this year because we had a Master Teacher for each grade and then broke up into small groups...which were coed. I was a Master Teacher for seventh grade. Looking back, I would have to say it was a good experience. I learned a lot myself, and I hope they did too. I brought in some visuals and referred back to stories in scripture as well as the verses we were focusing on. I don't know whether my teaching did a whole lot, but just being a small part of something big is good enough for me. We had over 30 decisions made this weekend and a little over 20 were first time decisions to accept Christ.

It's great looking back but during that time I was thinking to myself, "Did we even make a dent? Are they even listening to anything we're saying?" After I taught my last session, I was very discouraged. But like all retreats I'm part of, God tends to kick my butt and let me know what is really important. It's not about me. Even though as I write this I am smiling to myself thinking, "It's a little about me, isn't it?!?" And I guess it is. It's just not ALL about me.

"Goals are the fuel in the furnace of achievement" - Brian Tracy

I was trying to think of a good tag-line for this blog. I basically am going to talk about school and the upcoming fall retreat (leave today return on Sunday), but my tag-line for my next blog will be about fall retreat, so what's the point? Not to mention I have about 50 blogs that have the word school or update in the title, so I should just be original. I like this quote anyway.

I told one of my friends recently, "Just remember how you eat an elephant...one bite at a time!" That has been my mantra for this past semester. This has definitely been one of the busiest semesters so far. I know that next semester will be icky too since I have Practicum (somewhat like a mini version of student teaching) and Math Methods - which will encompass a lot of tutoring. I have learned a lot this semester from my classes, but I have had to eat that elephant bite by bite. You know the funny part? I am about to the shoulders. I have a ways to go with the really big projects that are coming up.

I am excited about Fall Retreat. We're going to be talking about being restored, and I am teaching 7th grade. It will be different, but I think it will be good as well. I will also be able to spend some time with my current life-group in a non-formal setting. That will be good. I'm also looking forward to hanging out with the leaders as well as some 7th graders I may meet for the first time in that session.

Thanksgiving is coming! I have to say, that I really enjoy Thanksgiving. I am somewhat impartial when it comes to turkey, but I absolutely love Pumpkin Pie and Cranberry Sauce. Not mixed together, but just in general. It is also fun to see the family and talk about life. I am almost 5"6 with my hair now, so it gives the allusion that I've grown a little bit. That's the thing about my hair. It grows out and up...not down. I get like a little 'fro going, so I look like well...have you seen those Chia Pets? It's something like that.

I guess I should be going. I hope that you all have a great rest of the day and I will update soon on the Fall Retreat!

Lifegroups & Tutoring

Hello everyone! It has been a little while since I blogged. I intended to blog shortly after Monday's Life-group section, but then I just never sat down and did it. With projects, readings, events, and other things it's really tough to just sit down and so things like this. Yet I understand that I am just presenting excuses right now, so I will stop making excuses and update.

I will take about my College Life-groups as well as my 8th Grade Life-groups. First, the College Life-group.

Since John was out of town, I did the main teaching and leading of the guys group for the College one. I've done this a couple times in the summer, but that was about it. It's such a different feeling teaching in front of your peers than a group that is younger than yourself. I don't mind it so much in College Classrooms now, but I was really nervous addressing it this past Monday because I was taking a piece of scripture that I struggled with and had to present it to them (It was on Galatians 3:1-14). The reason I say I struggled with this was for more than one reason. I wanted to figure out not only what this passage was saying, but how we should apply it personally and as a church reaching those who don't know Christ. I had to ask myself some tough questions and do some digging (I quoted some theologians and even the Greek words that were used in the text). I finally came to a point where I asked two questions. One was do we as Christians fall into the same thinking as the Galatians? Then I asked a follow up to that question of Liberalism vs. Legalism. Regarding the church being too Liberal with scripture, I asked if we were at a point where non-Christians saw no significant difference in our lives vs. theirs. In regards to Legalism, I asked if we as a church are so fixed in our tradition/way of doing things that we are so inclusive where no non-Christian will want to come to church and we are then guilty of what the Galatians were doing in respect to putting emphasis on the Law rather than Jesus. Then after we talked about that, I asked the group what it meant to them personally that Jesus made the sacrifice for us so that we no longer had to be slaves to the law.

For my 8th grade Life-group, we went over a couple things. For the first 10-15 minutes, we discussed if Christ's Biographies were accurate (i.e. the validity of scripture). That was really cool because we looked at the Bible as a book and the credibility of eyewitnesses, the original manuscripts, and the people/authors within the Bible. It was very cool. Then for the last 15 minutes, I had to High School students, Harrison Hall and Chaz Allman, talk about their trip to Guatemala and the offering that the Youth group is doing for that community to have a youth pastor. I got a lot out of it, and I think they did too. It just goes to show that it doesn't matter watch age you are, God works through everyone at anytime.

This was my last week of Tutoring at Nolensville. I still have to write my Case Study, so I still have a good amount of work to do. I am kind of glad that I don't have to come up with two different lessons each week for this, but I'm sad because it was fun going to the school and working with this student.

I was going to talk about something else, but I realize that this blog is long enough! I hope you all have a great rest of the day!

Poetry Slam, Testimony, Fall Break, and other things

If I think about it, I could just be smart and put tags on my blog and have a more creative title. However, I think that the title can be a gauge of what the post will be about, so I'm not too upset with that. I think the creative titles will come in the future but for now, we'll just leave it.

My partner and I won a Poetry Slam earlier this week. A Poetry Slam is a competition in which poets get up in front of an audience, perform an original poem (or in this case just a poem), and receive scores from judges based on how they perform. Since I read with expression and showed off my acting skills, we won! It was a great poem too. I may post it for future reference. I didn't get anything for winning, just the satisfaction of being number one. Which is fine with me and I'm assuming my partner as well.

I decided to do something different with Life-groups this week. We've been going over the Case for Christ and just finished up the section about Jesus. That section included questions like, "Did Jesus think he was God?" "Was he crazy to make that claim?" and "How does Jesus match up to the identity of the Messiah?" I thought that this would be a good point to say, "Okay we have the answers here, but what does that matter? We know about Jesus, but how does that affect our lives?" So, I gave my testimony about what it meant in my life. I know that God was with me when I did it because I had a large number of students show up and for 20 minutes, they gave me their full attention...You know how almost impossible that is with Middle School?!? It was amazing.

I am on Fall Break now. We actually had an extension for fall break because of what happened at MTSU. There is a lot of details to this so if you want to read about it, go to www.mtsu.edu and click on the link at the bottom. It will tell you what's going on. I did have tutoring, a project, and Junior Achievement (thank goodness I have learned patience) those two days, so it wasn't exactly time off. But I didn't have to go to class, so it saved me money on gas! I really didn't mean for that to rhyme. My apologies.

Other than that, everything is going well. I'm really busy with schoolwork, so having days completely off is really nice. I also was able to do stuff with the College Ministry like our Dinner and a Movie last night. That's where we watch a movie, have dinner in a theme of that movie, and discuss biblical principles. Last night was The Legend of Bagger Vance. I joked around with John saying, "I hope there's enough symbolism in this movie to talk about!" If you haven't seen the movie, there's a lot in there.

Well, I need to be going. Have a great rest of the day!

Fall Focus

For those of you that didn't know, I attended fall focus in Brentwood this weekend. Fall Focus is when the Baptist Collegiate Ministries from all over Tennessee come together and worship, go to sessions (this year focusing on missions), and meet and interact with other colleges students. I originally was only going to be able to go on Saturday but do to certain circumstances, I was able to go the whole time.

This was a great experience. I got to talk with my friends from the BCM that I don't normally get to talk to as much here at MTSU. I met some new people and I was able to take time off from this busy schedule and focus (see the theme?) on where I am and what I'm supposed to be doing. I didn't have any obligations, I wasn't in charge of anything, I was just going and seeing what God had to say.

The turning point for me this weekend was during our morning worship time. They had all these "worship experiences" set up, and we were able to take advantage of it during worship. Me however, my first thought was I needed to get away from all the noise and journal. So I took my Bible, Journal, and a blue pen (I write only in blue pen in this journal because I am crazy) and I went outside. It was beautiful sunny weather in Brentwood that day and being outside was just what I needed. I wrote about my thoughts, what I wanted to hear this weekend, and things that have been crossing my mind. I came to the conclusion that I wanted to hear two things: One was that God will reveal to me what I need to do now that I know what he wants from me, and two was how to find opportunities to form relationships with people who don't know Christ.

God answered a lot in the very next breakout session I had. One of the main points of that session was, "Be Obedient to God in the small things, and trust him with the things you can't control." When I heard that, an old man in my head yell BINGO! All the dots lined up on that card, and it was all vertical; simple answer for what I thought was a tough question.

I kinda have a feeling on what I need to do for the next question, but I still need to figure that out. For the time being, I am going to search and pray about it.

Fall Focus was centered around living Missionally. I'm going to leave with a quote from the Blues Brothers that is very applicable to our lives.

"We're on a mission from God."

Titans, school, and peanut butter

The Titans game was awesome!!! My dad and I went after the first service (so we did go to church for all of you who called me a Heathen). We got there, got some lunch (foot-long hot dog for Dad and Bratwurst for me), and sat in our seats. They were good seats and we were shaded from the sun, so it was really cool. The people around us weren't cursing or being rude but just enjoying the game. We both had fun and it was great to see them win :-) Then we got home and watched the Broncos' game, and they won too! It was a good day for football.

When I pulled into school today I said to myself, "Uh-oh...I have a test today!" It was a Cultural Anthropology test that I just finished with 10-20 minutes ago. I think I did all right. We'll see soon. But I did have a nice lunch of Peanut Butter and Kettle Chips, so I had some Brain food to work with. At least I think it was Brain food...all I know is that it was filling.

I have to sit down and look at my schedule this week because I have four-five projects I need to be working on. They aren't too hard, just very time-consuming. Depending on how far I get with one of my projects will determine if I can go to the BCM retreat this Saturday. I don't see it being a problem.

Overall, things are going very well. I hope you all have a great rest of the week!

This one-liner is Good

I found a really funny one-liner that I have used for my Facebook status. It is, "Support bacteria, they're the only culture some people have." Isn't that funny?!? It can work on many different levels. If you are in the medical profession, science major, or like me, need a clever status update. My last one didn't really attract any responses. Silly people.

So, this post is also from the MTSU library. Do you see a pattern here?!? It's all right. I'm not super good at updating these things anyway, so this helps me to sit down and do it. I just got out of my Grammar class. I will be happy to pass this one. I will shoot for an "A" in all of my other classes, but this one I just want to pass. My problem is I just can't really explain why I do what I do. I know that it's correct, but I can't explain why it is. Using the answers, "It sounds right" Or "I put the verb in this column because it evens the page out." doesn't work very well.

On a very different note, guess who gets to go to a Titans game this Sunday?!? I got tickets from one of the guys in my Lifegroup. It was a funny moment because right when he did that someone came up to me and asked, "What do you have there?" and I replied, "A Bribe!" I am very thankful for it. Dad and I are going to go, so it should be a lot of fun. It won't be like the Jets vs. Broncos game where we were able to cheer, "J-E-T-S SUCK SUCK SUCK!" but it also won't be as cold. Which I know Dad will appreciate as well as me. I just hope all the people won't be cursing and drunk. That always makes the game less enjoyable...or more depending on if they are a happy drunk :-)

I guess that's about it for me. I'm still moving along. Senior year is very busy which is sad because it's going to be a long Senior year with my Victory Lap.

All right everyone. Be sure to vote in the upcoming election! (Unless you are voting for someone silly, then just stay home)

Dreams, Choir, Kids

I think of the several years I have been blogging, I have only submitted a couple from the MTSU library. This is one that is being submitted from the MTSU library! I am waiting for Zach to go to lunch, so I thought I would update people on my life....or at least some random things happening with me.

First off, I had one of the coolest dreams last night. You know those things they use for the luge or skeleton? You know, where it's the one guy in that sled-like contraption and he is going down hill? Well I was riding a motorized one of those across the country because I needed to make it someplace or else something bad was going to happen. I had people following me who were trying to take me out, I was stuck in horrible rains, a fire, and long stretches of no life. It even came to the point where I found a place to stay, but discovered he had a camera and was taking video for the local church who was planning on assassinating me. Why? Because my death for the church would be the one thing that would help bring unity. Weird?!? I THINK SO!!!!

I started to listen to some of the choral arrangements on my Ipod. It made me realize that I miss singing in choirs doing grand choral arrangements. I listened to, "Oh My Luv's like a Red Rose" and it reminded me of the standing ovation we got when I was in All State when we sang, "Sleep." That moment still ranks in my top 10 by the way. My schedule and everything permits me from really being in choir except for maybe certain occasions on Sunday. I'm pretty rusty anyway. But there are lots of opportunities here, so I may be taken with some of them.

I'm also going to be tutoring this semester as well as doing Junior Achievement. My Senior Year is full! I love going into classrooms though. Which is probably a good thing since that is where I will spend most of my professional career!

Other than that, I have Genesis Weekend coming up which is like an overnight youth event for Middle School. Talk about God...stay up all night...fun stuff. It's okay though. I'll have help this year :-) I'm also getting used to being part of the leadership team for Oasis. It's fun, just a whole different mindset towards the ministry than what I was used to thinking.

I hope you all have a great rest of the day!

The first week of my Senior Year

I need to clarify something really quick. My Senior year is probably going to last three semesters so it won't be like a typical Senior year. It will be a Senior year for with a victory lap. I mean after all, why deny the college community the privilege of Scott Lemons? That's what I thought.

I am taking 6 classes this semester.

1. Cultural Anthropology
2. Books, Media, and Literacy for Children
3. Classroom Assessment
4. Methods of Teaching Social Studies
5. Corrective Reading
6. Modern English Grammar and Usage

All my classes are very interesting. The only thing this year is I really need to be adhering to a schedule or else I will not be able to get everything done that I need to get done. I was telling mom that my workload and content was more in depth and she was like, "Well you are in upper division in your Senior Year!" I guess that's true. I shouldn't have a big issue with the classes this year as long as I manage my time. My only problem is that I work best doing stuff the night before or a day or two before, and I have a lot of semester-long projects. Not fair!

I am leading a Lifegroup again...this time of 8th grade boys! I moved up with my guys, so it's all good. I'm really excited because we're going to do the Case for Christ! I always wanted to read this book now I can read and teach it! It will be sweet. This will be very challenging for them as well as me because we get into, "Why do you believe what you believe?" this year. All of us have some big evaluating to do.

I'm also on the leadership team of the College Ministry. It's exciting. I'm being reminded that I am pretty much the oldest college student there. That's okay, it just really didn't cross my mind until I was like, "Wait a minute...I'm 22 years old and a Senior." I'm looking forward to this semester though. Things will be different, but I feel like we are going in a good direction.

I better be going. I hope you all are having a great rest of the day and I will blog soon!

St. John Update, Olympics, and other stuff

I wrote a lot on my St. John journal so the update for this section of the blog, will be that you need to go to this link to read about it. http://www.brentwoodcollege.com/SJ_08/journals.php?name=scott.

I have enjoyed watching the Olympics. I have been keeping up mostly with Swimming, Men's Gymnastics, Beach Volleyball, and Sculling/Rowing. I tried to watch a bit of Water Polo, Fencing, and Cycling, but the ones mentioned in the previous sentence are probably my favorites. I love hearing the stories of some of these athletes. They have such dedication to their craft and their worth ethic is flawless because they know that they can't just go about it in any normal way. They have to give it their best and then some. Let's look at a small comparison. The Oscars are great because the actors will say that it is an honor just to be nominated. It's like that for the Olympics...it's great just to have the opportunity to compete against the best. To be mentioned among the best is a reward in itself. Yet each member that is nominated or competing wants the Gold.

I'm excited about Football starting. It's such a unique year. Favre is now with the Jets, Pennington with the Dolphins, and I think that this year Young and Cutler will need to have a good year to prove themselves. Not just to the league, but to their teammates and themselves.

Well, that's about it. Be sure to go to the link above to read about St. John! It was an amazing week!

Frist Center, St. John, Corn Dogs

I don't know why, but I have been wanting Corn Dogs lately. The other night when I had to pick up dinner I was thinking to myself, "I don't want Hamburgers, Tacos, Sandwiches, Soup, or Salad...I guess I'll have a Corn Dog!" It was enjoyable. The only mistake I made was I got two and I left one in the car. One of our St. John meetings was the other night, and it was getting kinda long. So to break the ice, I though it would be funny if I just randomly got a corn dog and started eating it. I knew people would be like, "Where did you get that Corn Dog?" I got some laughs from it but the moment I took a bite, I knew I was in trouble. It was sitting in the car for a couple of hours...but luckily I didn't get sick. Yeah me :-)

I also went to the Frist Center! It was really cool. I felt somewhat out of place because my gut reaction to some of the art was like, "Really? I could have drawn this!" Then I got to the "Shades of Gray" and "Artist's Voice" galleries. Those impressed me and even moved me a little. I do have to admit that I really enjoyed the Tiffany Lamp exhibit. It's amazing how much work and attention to detail these lamps require. It is really admirable how dedicated this company was to perfection and beauty. I am man enough to admit that I think Tiffany Lamps are cool. Take that, society!



I guess that's about it for now. I will not be blogging for a while because our trip to St. John is July 26th-August 3rd. We will be updating the website with everyones journals. So if you would like to see my journals for the week while I am at St. John, go to this address:

www.brentwoodcollege.com.

Thanks!

Summer Camp 2008

LET'S HEAR IT FOR SUMMER CAMP 2008! YEAH! God is B-I-G Big, I'm watching you like a llama, let me show you my Sumo Flop followed by Chicken of Death, AND other inside jokes that only we can understand! Yes!

I was at Summer camp from June 22nd-June 30th. June 22nd-26th was the Middle School Camp, and the 26th-30th was the High School Camp. I was a leader at both. I had a 7th grade Bible Study and a 9th Grade Bible Study. However, we used the same curriculum for both. We talked about Creator God, Omni God, Capable God, Sufficient God, and Famous God (although I personally rephrased the last lesson to "Glorifying God" because of some personal word issues)

Each camp was a five day camp. Each day included Breakfast, Devotion time, Worship, Small Group time, Lunch, Recreation, Free Time (3-4 hour where they could choose between various activities), dinner, Family Groups, Worship, Peer Groups, Late-Night, and then Lights Out.

I'll go ahead and divide this blog into two sections so you can get the full effect of both camp experiences. I won't be able to cover everything, but this should at least give you an overview.

Middle School Camp:

I was really excited about this camp because a couple guys from my Lifegroup were coming, and some more that I haven't really met before. I ended up having a really great group of guys. They talked, didn't really pull any pranks, were respectful an listened, and were nice. I had some problems, but nothing really huge. Our camp speaker was Chris Brooks. He was great. He has actually spoke at some camps and retreats I went to a while back. He is a fun speaker and a deep speaker. We all learned a lot from him. My favorite thing that he talked about was the story of him and his father. It's a longer story, so I may tell it sometime in the future. Worship was led by the Joey Everett Band/9th Hour...not really sure of their official name right now. They always to a fantastic job. I was really impressed with my group and the group we brought. They were serious when it came to their faith, and I see such great potential in the group that was there. I just hope they don't wait to really dig into their faith.

High School Camp:

I was very nervous about this because I have never really worked with High School Students before. I must have been hyper because of my lack of sleep or nervousness because they thought that I was a, "Fun Teacher" and apparently I acted crazy and easily distracted. But my goodness...these boys asked some deep questions! There were several I had absolutely no answer for and I had to ask Chris (our middle school minister) about them. However as the days went on the teaching got easier and we had some really great discussion. Once again I was blessed with a great group of guys. Our Camp Speaker was this guy named Afshin Ziafat who is Iranian, grew up in Texas as a Muslim, converted to Christianity, and is now a world-wide speaker telling his story and sharing the gospel. What God did in his life is amazing...I can't do it justice on here, so I'll leave it at that. Michael Boggs who leads worship for Kairos at our church led worship for this camp. He is an amazing worship leader and a really cool guy. I ate lunch with him and his band a couple of times. Awesome people all around.

Camp was a very good experience. I learned a lot about teaching, how BIG God is, I learned about myself, my friends, I felt that I got closer with the students as well as the ministers, and I really felt God stretch me beyond my capabilities. If it weren't for prayer, I wouldn't have gotten through the week!

I could go on and on, but I hope this gives you a glimpse into what Camp was like.

Tired + Camp = Prayer!

Hello my faithful readers! I am extremely tired right now. After I write this blog, I am letting the dogs in and going to Bed. I did not get enough sleep last night because I was pretty hyper from dancing (Tom and I were practicing something that is pretty cool), and Sarah and I had to drop mom and Dad off at the airport by 6:00am because they are going on their cruise. Needless to say, I will sleep well tonight.

This past week has been incredibly stressful. I had three meetings, I facilitated Life-groups, and I have been trying to read over this curriculum for camp that I'm leaving for tomorrow until the end of June. I'm excited for that. I love Double-head, summer camp, teaching, and God so it all works out! I just need some sleep for now.

I gave my testimony this week to our St. John group. I have given it at least three-four times since I've been in the college ministry, so I didn't think anything of it. What surprised me was John saying, "Raise your hand if you learned something new about Scott today" and almost everyone did. I didn't think I was that much of a closed book, but maybe I am. I know I'm naturally introverted. It is seriously by God's Grace that I am able to talk/socialize with people that I don't know at all or very well. If he can use a talking donkey, he can use me.

I must be going now. I'm getting sleepy and I want to check a couple of things before I go to bed and dream about living in a house made of Twizzlers. Have a good one!

Crawfish Boil, Lifegroups, Sound of Music

First thing is first....THIS IS MY 100TH POST!!!!!! My first post was about Passion Conference...of 2006! It was right after my first semester of College. Now I am in my Senior Year of College! Look at how time has progressed!!!

Now on to other things. I'm sure you are reading this going, "Scott, wasn't the Crawfish Boil a week ago? How did it go?" Well let me tell you...it went really well! I think we may have had a smaller crowd than last year, but I think that it was still successful. One of the cool things you can tell about the Crawfish Boil is how the group will interact with each other when it comes time to go to St. John. I was impressed by everyone. Everyone jumped in, worked hard, and I didn't really hear a whole lot of complaining. Everyone pitched in, and I think that this year was probably the smoothest I've seen it. Regardless, it was fun. The only downside is that I think I lost my favorite hat. I think Cooper has some explaining to do...(I loaned it to him)

On a different note, I did something this past week that I've never done before. I led Lifegroups for our College Class! My goodness, I was so nervous. I've led Lifegroups hundreds of times for my Middle Schoolers but never for my College Group...I was scared that they would look at me and be like, "You're teaching?!? But you're Scott! Why are you teaching?!?" I prepared for it as well as I could, and then prayed as much as I could. It turned out the whole group was very nice and supportive. There were 13 or so people there which was a relatively small crowd for us, but that was fine with me. I didn't really do anything during the night except ask questions and occasionally say something. Everyone there took control of the group and started answering questions, having discussions, sharing what God is doing in and through their lives, it was great. I just sat back and watched God work.

So Friday I left Brentwood to come to Selmer. Sarah is the musical director for Sound of Music. You know, that play about that nun who sings all the time?!? Sarah did a really good job with the music. It's always great to see Sarah in her element. I love music too, but I told Sarah that I couldn't direct or orchestrate like she does. I'd get too frustrated because I have always been a really bad perfectionist when it comes to music. Actually I'm a good perfectionist :-) Regardless, Sound Of Music...there we go.

So that's it. You don't have to donate to the "Send Scott to St. John" fund anymore. However if you would like to send money to donate to a church at St. John, let me know. We are accepting those monetary gifts.

Why is it so busy?

Isn't Summer the time when things slow down and you relax? It is crazy. I'm working, meeting with friends for lunch, church, life-groups, upcoming Middle School/High School Camps, and working toward St. John. My Goodness! On the plus side, I have been able to hang out with friends, have good conversations, make money, and Camp and St. John are going to be great. It's just the anticipation and the preparation that is making me kind of antsy...

You know what I have been doing lately with some of my spare time? I have been going on You Tube and checking out these videos of laughing babies and my new favorite video, "Charlie Bit me!" They bring a smile to my face :-) It kind of looks like that.

I also had a new experience this week. I went to Choir rehearsal! I usually am not able to go because of Life-groups on Wednesday. Everyone there was very nice and it fun to be singing in a choir again. As a matter of fact, I am listening to the music CD they gave us to practice with right now. It will be fun to sing in the services. It's a nice change of pace.

Other than that, nothing real new happening. I am freezing a pack of twinkies. Apparently a lot of people do that, but I haven't tried it personally. I think they will taste kind of like Cream puffs but I'm not sure. I guess we'll see.

That's about it. Our Crawfish Boil is this Saturday from 5:30-8:00 at Brentwood Baptist Church! You can buy tickets at the event. Be sure to come!

Update and Whoa!

I didn't tell you about the other things that I'm doing this summer. Silly me! I'm working at Legalbill. I enjoy working there. They are flexible with my hours so I can go on trips and stuff with my church, the pay is good, and I like who I work with. It's really cool this summer. Everyone got two new monitors and I am sitting at a very big desk near a window! I'm not faced toward it, but it is better than being cooped up and I'm closer to mom's office which is convenient for both of us.

I am also going on two camps this summer. I am going on the Middle School Camp which is from June 22nd-June 26th, and the High School Camp which is from June 26th-June 30th. It's at Doublehead Resort in Town Creek, Alabama which is one of my favorite places. I'm really excited about those camps. I know that I will be exhausted and possibly stretched to my breaking point, but the camp is also very relaxing.

Now for the Whoa part of my blog. It finally hit me the other day that I am now officially a Senior in College. Whoa! Can you believe that? I can't. I will probably be doing a "Victory Lap" as John calls it (going an extra semester or year), but that is totally fine. It's just crazy. I'm almost ready to go out there and get a job, my friends are getting engaged and/or married, I'm going to be 22, and the 6th graders that I had when I started teaching Lifegroups will be in 8th grade next semester and after that...High School. WHOA!

It's better to embrace what's happening than freak out about it. I'm getting older, life is going on, things are changing...in the words of the Huey Lewis, "It's all right."

I'm also going on the Mission Trip to St. John. If you are interested in going to a Crawfish Boil or donating to the "Send Scott to St. John" fund, contact me. (snomelltokz_y5@hotmail.com)

St. John team and other stuff

Here is a list of the people going to St. John:

Allie Bleakney

Amber Lovelady

Anna Goetz

Brittany Racht*

Cameron Behar

Claire Warner

Cooper Brown

Holly Searcy*

Hunter Hall

Hunter Moss

Jared Burke*

Julie Harmon

Lindsay Browning*

Micah Sledge*

Peter Coulson*

Scott Lemons*

Stephanie Schultz*

Tyler Askew

Rene' Cook*

John Cook*

* means they have been before

This will actually be my third year going to St. John. It should be very interesting. We're going to be leading VBS with a possibility of over 100 kids, we'll be painting some fire stations, leading worship at a couple churches, etc.

St. John is beautiful. As John says, "It's paradise, but paradise lost." I personally am not a big fan of the beach or very hot climates, but the sights are amazing and the people are very friendly and polite.

Please start praying for us now! Remember, if you want to donate to the "Send Scott to St. John" campaign or if you would like to go to a crawfish boil, let me know.

Thanks!

A little compliment goes a long way

Even though this may sound a little cliché, I think it is something important that we all should remember. The smallest things that we don't consider significant, could really mean something to someone else. Before I started my night tonight with my Life-groups, Jay Strother popped his head in to say hi to me and my group. He was telling my group how funny it was that I was in his Life-group in that very room and now I am leading one. Even though he is our Emerging Generations pastor now, it's nice to know that he still has fond memories of our lifegroup in High School and he still cares about us.

That's what I wanted to leave my Life-group with tonight. I remember when Jay would play games like "Spin the Pen" (that's when you spin a pen and when the pen stops, you say compliments or words of encouragement to whomever it's pointing to) or just take time to tell us that we were special and made for a purpose. I think I can speak for all of my friends when I say that experience lifted us all up and made us stand a little taller. I hoped that's what I could do tonight with my group.

I just Hope that as they went home tonight, they will realize that God loves them and that they are fearfully and wonderfully made. I don't care if that is the only thing they learn from me. If they can grasp that concept, I think that is one of the most important things to remember.


P.S. I am going to St. John and will post a list of all the people going and how you can pray for us! Also if you want to donate money to the "Send Scott to St. John" campaign, be sure to let me know!

Happy Mother's Day!!!

This post today is dedicated to my mother! You see that handsome little baby on the right? That is yours truly! Way back in 1980s. That was during my "I'm too cool for hair" phase. That phase ended when I was a little older than two. Since then I have had a head full of hair.

What can I say about my mom? Thank you mom for being you! Thank you for showing me what it means to serve. You not only serve in the church, but at work and in your personal life as well. Thank for you smiling, listening to Sarah and I when we've had a tough day, and for laughing at all my jokes...regardless of how stupid or pointless they are.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!!


P.S. This is really random, but Sarah (my sister's) blog/thing she updates with is

http://twitter.com/blueserenade

Revelation!

I usually look forward to Wednesday Nights because I enjoy hanging out with my 7th grade guys and helping guide them through biblical truths. Since this past Saturday, I have been especially looking forward to going to Lifegroups because I was teaching about Revelation...and I had a crazy vision of how to do it!

First off, I have never been a big fan of teaching from Revelation. For one I found it kind of confusing, two I felt like it wouldn't really matter since I am a Christian and won't be left behind, and three because I felt like there were more important things to focus on. Yet, they wanted to hear about it. So I decided to do three main parts; The Seven Seals, The Trumpet Judgments, and God's Bowl Judgment. There is nothing like God's Wrath, plague, and death to get a 12-13 year old guy interested! (Or really any guy for that matter)

The idea came to me of, "What if I actually made scrolls?" Then from that came the idea of, "What if we acted it out? Like we were in the End Times?!?" So then the idea came to me to do a Drama Adventure Lesson Plan. Basically this is where you have a theme and then the students learn from acting it out. They don't have lines or scripts, they just develop characters and act as characters in the drama presented. So tonight I was "Father John" and they were all people who were left behind and wanted answers on what was going to happen.

They laughed at me for the first couple of minutes. I was in a choir robe because I wanted to make it authentic. Then once I really started getting into it and urged them to play along, they became really interested! They were on the edge of their seat when I talked about God's judgments, the death of mankind, the power of the end times, etc. I got really into character and I urged them to come to Christ and to tell others so they wouldn't have to face the wrath of God! One of the kids in my group said that, "This is scary!"

This was one of the first if not the first time that my guys came up to me afterwards and said, "That was a great lesson!" I have to say though in all modesty, that this lesson took a lot of prayer. I was praying to God to speak through me and through all the guys in that room. I prayed that he would make the atmosphere seem so real that it was like we were in the end times. I prayed for strength, courage, and knowledge. I recited things tonight that I read in books from years and years ago! God helped me speak to these guys tonight, and he deserves all the glory.

It's interesting how God can use anything. I learned about how to do a Drama Adventure Lesson Plan in Child Drama at MTSU. The Left Behind Series was the first series I read all the way though, and I used that as an example. I used yarn that I took from my Experimental Science Class to make the scrolls. I used my locked box that I got for my Senior Graduation present to use as the Trumpet Judgments. I used my mother's choir robe to act as an associate pastor of a church. Crazy, isn't it?!?

I was so filled with adrenaline tonight. I also saw the possibilities of what can be accomplished in ministry if you pray and let God work through you. It's an amazing experience.

To quote the great song:

"To God be the glory, to God be the glory,
To God be the glory, for the things He has done.
With His blood He has saved me
With His power He has raised me
To God be the glory, for the things He has done"

I'm done! (Kind of)

I am officially done with classes! Well...at least with the physical part of going to classes. I have one exam next Wednesday in First Aid. It's a comprehensive test over 26 or so chapters, so it is kind of scary. I also need to make a 80% or higher on this test in order to be certified. I should be okay, but it will just mean I need to study these next couple of days. For Mr. I like to procrastinate, that will be kind of tough. I also need to turn in a couple of things to my Experimental Physical Science professor too, so that will also take some time. In my mind, I am not done until I see all grades submitted by my professors. The good news is that I know I have 2 A's in at least four of my classes! Awesome stuff.

I was thinking today about an out there kind of question. If you could spend time with anyone (future, past, alive, dead, etc.) who and where would it be? I decided that if it was with a girl, I would pick Amanda Bynes. She seems very down to earth and has a great sense of humor. I think it would be fun to just go to a baseball game or something with her. If it was a guy, I would choose to be a silent member during the 1930s-1949 literary group the Inklings (which included C.S. Lewis and J.R.R Tolkien). I would just like to sit there and hear the kind of discussions that came from the group. I think that would be very cool.

If I could be part of any event, it would still be the unveiling of "Rhapsody in Blue" with Paul Whiteman. A concert featuring the Beatles or Elvis would come in close second. Well, that's about all that's going on. I hope everyone reading this has a great day!

Update for Spring 2008

It has come to my attention that I really don't update this blog very much. There has been a lot of stuff going on, and I haven't really been talking about it. Hopefully this will clear some things up on what's going on.

First off, things are going really well with my church. I'm enjoying the time I spend with my 7th grade Life-group on Wednesday nights. We just got done with a study we did correlating with the book, "Don't waste your life" by John Piper. Next Wednesday we will be on week three of our three week study on Jonah. I was really excited about this study and I still am. We're going to be talking about the last chapter, so it should be exciting. Other than that, the College Ministry is growing like crazy. I have been going to the College Life-groups on Thursday nights and that has been a lot of fun. It's good to just be in a small group and discuss things whether they be spiritual or just things that are going on in your life. The only sad part is I missed all my friends at the BCM (Baptist Collegiate Ministry) this semester. Hopefully I can do more with them next semester.

School is going...okay. I am going to have to go an extra semester because I am 7 hours behind where I should be. My parents are okay with it, so I will just continue to do the best I can. I have enjoyed my classes this semester. I'll even end it with being trained in Coordinated School Health and First Aid and Safety! I also got to work with first graders in a reading group and teach some this semester. I'm going to miss the friendships I formed. I hope I see them in the future whether it be classes or as my colleagues. The only down part to this semester was I had a huge amount of projects and I still have some due before my final week of classes (which is this next week). So let's hope that I don't die of stress overload!

Things are going well personally. I have accepted the fact that I am naturally introverted but can push myself to be more extroverted. I feel that this is a good thing, but people can take this the wrong way. The only real bad part is I tend to internalize everything which means I am in my own little world most of the time. Trust me, no one wants to get out of it more than me sometimes :-).

I am also single again. I don't want to go into a lot of details about it. I just felt like it was the right decision and I think that since then it has really made both of us focus more on different things that we weren't as focused on before.

I hope that gives you a peek into what's going on. If you want to know anything else, let me know. I'll try to keep this updated. Have a great rest of the day!

Spring, Spring, Spring!

"Oh, the barnyard is busy in a regular tizzy, and the obvious reason is because of the season. Ma Nature's lyrical, with her yearly miracle Spring, Spring, Spring."

I have had this song stuck in my head all day. It's from Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. It was a musical that was made in 1954. If any of you haven't seen it, it's pretty good. My favorite song is actually, "Bless your Beautiful Hide." He's looking for a bride and he is mentioning all the stuff he wants in a woman. He finally finds a woman that is, "Pretty and trim but not too slim. Heavenly eyes and just the right size
Simple and sweet, and sassy as can be!"

On the topic of musicals, Choir and being part of the Musicals are two things that I definitely miss about High School. In fact, I had a dream last night that I was singing in the Quartet for Mozart's Requiem that we did my Junior Year.

Well, I guess I should be going. Only two more weeks than my semester is done! Crazy, isn't it?

Education and Prayer

Have you ever had one of those times when you got an obvious answer to prayer? That happened to me today. Brentwood Baptist Church is having construction done to build the new Discipleship Connection Center which will be a place to help students both spiritually and academically. The intention is to reach out to the community and let students/parents know there is a place where they can get help in any capacity. God may have even bigger plans than that, but we're just taking it one step at a time.

The prayer ministry of our church has arranged this week and next week as a time to partake in a "Starbucks Prayer Tour" where a small group of people meet at Starbucks and then go to various schools to pray for the faculty, students, and the various issues that they face (mentally, physically, socially, spiritually, etc). I was able to go to the one today.

I am an Elementary Education Major, so school-aged kids and the education system have always been part of my heart. Lately, I have really been questioning what I should do. We prayed for schools, the teachers, the students, and all that they were facing. We then discussed the prospect of Christian teachers and Male teachers for the lower grades...and about how we needed them to be planted in our school systems. Students spent more time in schools than they do a lot in churches or even their own homes.

During one of these stops at the High School I graduated from (Brentwood High) and one that a lot of the kids in my Lifegroup go to (Brentwood Middle), a couple of the adults I was with started to pray for me! It was very encouraging and uplifting, and it really made me proud of what I am doing in College and what I may plan to do in the near future. This gave me encouragement to know that when I go into that field, there will be people praying for me. I don't have to do it alone. What a great answer to prayer!

Our Educational system is a HUGE mission field. It is good to take time out of our schedules to remember this and set aside some time to pray for the faculty, students, and all the issues they face.

If you would like to pray for our public schools, here is a link you can go to to help guide your prayer. It is in a PDF format and you can print it out.

http://www.navpress.com/Assets/PDF/Product/Sample/9781576839010.pdf