Let's play ketchup

Well, over the last few days , it seems as if I've been really busy...so let me break down the important stuff, as well as some thoughts I've had.

Tuesday: My day consisted of work :) Big surprise. However, something that was extremely fun at the end of it, as if the work wasn't, was a staff hayride. The GCM LT staff went on a hayride together to a wiener roast. We got to cook hotdogs and it was much fun. They had a 'cowboy' singer there that sang old Roy Rodgers (sp?) songs. I'm not even sure who that is, but it was cool.

Wednesday: Is my day off. It was very relaxing. I got up early and waxed philosophy with Jeff Spencer. We're both very excited for the fall semester at the U of I. It's going to be really neat. After running a few errands, Jennee and I went to Moraine Park and ate lunch. It was a fun short walk and it is always good to get off of the YMCA grounds. That afternoon, evening, and night Jennee and I went to Red Rocks, which is an incredible concert venue in the Denver area. Check out the link and look for the pictures of the place in the media section. It's one of a kind. There we saw the Goo Goo Dolls as well as Lifehouse and another girl who I didn't catch the name of. It was a lot of fun and Jennee enjoyed it :) The Goo Goo Dolls are one of her favorite bands. After getting back late that night, Thursday came!

Thursday: Project Day! We had a phenominal day. It was absolutely incredible. In the morning we had a discussion where I was really impressed with everybody. There was a lot of freedom to feel like they could share. I was super impressed with our group and I feel like God really blessed us! Then we ran (read: drove) off to Boulder, CO. There on Pearl Street (top picture), we evangelized! Wow, did he just say that? Yep! We stepped out and shared the Gospel with a bunch of people. We also made it a priority to show people that they truly had value and we just got to really love them. At one point, I was standing on a ledge for about 30 minutes and I was preaching a message that I truly hope was of love and forgiveness. I got a chance to talk to people afterwards and it was really cool. I talked to a guy by the name of Eric that was just starting to figure this whole "God" thing out. He wasn't even sure what the word god means. I was very excited to be there for square one. We then ate dinner and I got a chance to invite a couple guys. We talked over the course of the meal and it was a very excellent time! I was wiped out by the end of the day.

Friday: Yesterday! Basically worked most of the day, but the evening was awesome. I got a chance to get excited about the fall with Matt Barnes and then spend an night with Mike Michalski who came to visit! He, Calvin Braker, and myself went to Old Man Mountain (which is a cave in town) and crawled through it, which was a blast. Then, we went up on Trail Ridge Road, hung out, and saw the huge elk in the picture below. It was a lot of fun.

As for my thoughts > I have been thinking about truth and what it is as I went through contact evangelism on the streets of Boulder. I've come to the conclusion that truth is truth no matter what we want it to be. We a lot of times set up our belief systems to allow ourselves to do what we want to. However, we can't do that. No matter how much we want to fly, we can't. We can even create a scenario where we try. We'll jump off of a cliff, but the fact is that gravity will screw you over. You can't fly no matter how you try. There seems like there is no freedom in that. However, we must see how the world really works to gain freedom. The fact is that gravity, along with friction allow us to move. Without these two elements, I couldn't keep my foot planted to take a step. It would slip out from under me and I couldn't move at all. So, the system that was set up gives me freedom to move that I didn't think I had. But by seeing the truth, I can better harness how to live in it. Rather then waste my time trying to figure out how I can flap my arms and get into the air, I can instead perfect walking and running to be more effective at it and quicker. There is freedom in that.

Live in freedom...

Web Album

So, for those of you that really want to dive into Alan's summer, check out the pictures. WARNING...there are a few blister pictures from my sunburn, so be forewarned. Here be the link you be needin... Picasa Web Album

More of the Rock and thoughts on Christian life

To be honest with you, there isn't much to say about The Rock this week. It went pretty well. There were a few technical difficulties, but nothing too glaringly bad. I still wish I had more prep time because it feels like my time is rushed running through the service with people. Ed Courtney talked on Freedom/Obedience. Basically the talk focused on how in Christianity, we tend to take extremes on our lifestyle. Either we live in freedom and basically think "Let sin increase so grace may increase" or we live in obedience and we talk bad about people that are sinning. We need to balance these two mindsets.

I find myself leaning towards the obedience, but more and more I desire the freedom mindset. I hope that I can continually balance them.

Something else God is whacking me over the head with is how messed up I really am. We atalk about the refining fire and the Biblical analogies of God putting us through a refining fire to be able to be purified like a precious metal. On top of that Paul writes that we must build a solid foundation of stone and precious metals rather than one of hay and wood. The metals and the stones do not burn in the refining fire and the pass the test. The wood and hay burn up and the foundation is lost. In the same way the fire refines the metal and the stone. It makes them more pure. It however gets really HOT! We don't talk about that part. A refining fire burns...so much so that we get burn scars that remind us of it. But it refines us, makes us more pure and I think more Christ like. Let's take the analogy one step further. Fire is used to cauterize wounds. So the wounds that we currently have that are bleeding (read: hurts that we can't seem to get past) can be cauterized when God throws us into the fire. We are going to hurt, and there will be scars, but God can help to slow or even stop the bleeding.

That strikes me as pretty awesome...

Project #4 and the Fiath of a Child

Project Day #4 occured yesterday. We did a bunch of little things. We had...
Breakfast
Spiritual Gifts Test
Spiritual Gifts Discussion
Hike to Moraine Park
Lunch
Worship Time
Alone Time
Hike Back to the Y
Lifegroups
Dinner
Evangelism Discussion
Share and Prayer
That, along with the adventure of Aaron calling 911 for a woman who fell off of a horse, made for a very interesting day. If you can pray for the woman, we're not sure how she's doing. It was a great day and I'm truly excited about building upon it next week. It should be really exciting, at least that's my hope.

As for the faith of a child thing (the kid in the pic is named Isaiah), I was thinking today seeing little kids and thinking about the thought process that comes with the "faith of a child." What does it mean? Does it mean to believe blindly? Does it mean to believe joyfully? Does it mean to have mood swings like a kid? Or does it mean to believe, but ask lots of questions? To cling to your daddy and love him and go to him to cry? To trust that God exists even though you can't understand it all? I don't think it means follow blindly and ignorantly, but to believe! That struck me as very important today. I'm not sure why, but it did.

FHO yo!

Wednesday was a phenominal day! We (me, Jennee, and three other peeps [Devin, Luke, and Amy]) hiked three peaks in Rocky Mountain National Park. These peaks are Flattop, Halletts, and Otis (FHO). We left the trailhead at 6 and didn't get back until 4. We took a pretty steady pace and had a lot of fun with it. It was so enjoyable to be in the mountains. This time I didn't burn either!!! We spent most of the day above treeline and it was just spectacular. We got up Flattop pretty quickly and then shortly after jaunted up Halletts. The view from Halletts was just incredible. You can see the west part of the park as well as the east. The east side of the mountains is a lot more jagged and the west side is a lot more sloping. It was fun to see that difference all at the same time. After Halletts (where we stayed for like an hour) we hiked across to Otis. That was an intense peak to get up to. Once we got down though, we didn't have to climb as far...because we slid down a glacier!!! Andrews Glacier was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed sliding down and doing a long sledding hill like that in June. Once we got back, I wasn't sunburned (halleluiah!) and we were pooped. It was an awesome day though and we hiked probably around 12 miles. Not intensely long, but a good start. My only regret is that we didn't get to do Taylor. We were crunched for time...But there will always be the rest of my life :)

Until later...

Eagle Cliff

I was on Eagle Cliff on Sunday for four hours. It was great to be up there and read, pray, and study. I tried to listen to God and it was a blast. Tough, but good. I tell you this with the greatest soberness....I could've sworn I saw a finger in the clouds and it was pointing to a slightly different summit than the one I was on. So I went up there, and there in spray paint on the rocks was my name. Weird! I get the feeling that it was very much so this God telling me he was there. Go explore, and you'll find me Alan. It felt very good. He also showed me some other stuff, and if I take the effort, I'll probably tell you :)

Until then...

Rock out

The third Rock of the summer is already behind us.  What a fast time LT has been so far.  I can't believe it sometimes!!!  I hope to continue to grow here.  The Rock was great by the way..  John Drage spoke a talk called Transformed.  Good stuff.  OK, time for me to go do some hiking.  Remember, let me know how you guys are doing too!