TODAY IS THE DAY!!!

      A new chapter begins. A new opportunity. A new ADVENTURE! Only this time I am not in control. God has His hands firmly on the reigns. I am His for the using in hopes of bringing someone closer to him. In a hour or so I will begin the 5+ hour and over 300 mile drive to a liitle town in east Texas called Hallsville. If you are like where the heck is Hallsville, it is 9 miles east of  Longview. Still lost?!? Hallsville is about one hour west of Shreveport, LA or three hours east of Dallas, TX. For those of you that know me, you are probably asking yourself, "What kind of crazy, adventurous, wacky something have I gotten myself into this time?" Well I am going to be a residential staff member at a christian based boarding school for problem teenagers. The name of the school is called Heartlight Ministries. When I say problem teenagers, I mean drug, alcohol, and disciplinary problems. I was totally and completely blown away when I went out there for my interview. Meeting 14 year old children that were living the life that these teens are/were living tore me to pieces. For when I was 14 I am not even sure if i knew what drugs were. I was too busy playing sports, trying to be cool, while at the same time impressing my junior high crush, NOT doing/dealing drugs. By the end of my second day at Heartlight I could honestly tell that the kids I had met and talked with were normal kids like you and I were at their age. As cliche as it might sound they had been dealt a bad hand and made some life altering decisions that led them to were they were now-causing my heart to hurt for them even more. If anyone were to tell me two years ago, heck even as of last summer, that I would be one day working at a place like Heartlight Ministries, I would have laughed them into the ground. For I had my life planned out then BOOM!!!! God stepped in with the mighty authority that only He possesses. If you know my story, you know what I;m talking about. If not here is a very very quick summary. I appled to PT school two years ago, but somehow my transcripts from CCC and Northwest weren't ever sent. This led to my application being incomplete and me having to apply the following year. Needless to say I was mad at the Lord, and was at a all time pit in my faith. So I waited and applied again. Got an interview, felt confident about the interview, and did NOT get in. Yes I was upset but did not let myself go to were I did the previous year.  This led me to wondering if PT school was for me at this current time or even at all. This job at Heartlight presented itself in March and in July after dozens of job applications and a couple of interviews, the job was still available. So I applied and got an interview and was offered the job while on the interview. Prior to going to Texas for the interview, I was presented the youth minister job at Our Lady of Victory Catholic Church in Cleveland. Great two jobs now wanted me when two days later I had none!!! What to do!!??! About a week later only a short and restless nights sleep after I was on the verge of loosing all control of my tears while talking to mom and dad because I was completely and utterly confussed on what to do. I read a passage from a book about St. Francis of Assisi and how Jesus appeared to him in a dream while he was in the army asking St. Francis, should you 'serve the servant' or 'serve the master'. BOOMTOWN!! DONE and DONE!! There was my answer. I was to busy trying to decide what Paul wants to do i had lost sight of serving the Master. Yes both jobs would be awesome but with Cleveland comes things that Paul wants, "serving the servant" so to speak. I was to accept the job in Texas the next day! Fast forward three weeks to today. I woke up excited but as the day progressed I got nervous. "Have I made the wrong decision?" Then I opened up my devotional called Jesus Calling (highly recommended). The second sentence says, "Rest in my sufficiency, as you consider the challanges this day presents. Do not ware yourself out wondering if you can cope with the pressures. Keep looking to me as we walk throught this day together." Instant relief. The Lord has got my back as He always has only if I knew that two years ago!!! I ask yall to pray for not only me, but the teenagers, fellow staff , and Heartlight in general! Let the adveture begin! JOSHUA 1:9