Day 30

Well, to be honest with you, I did not think I would make it to this day from the beginning. In some way, I felt like I was going to fail and that there was nothing I could do about it. I figured with school, baseball, going out with friends, and just being a kid, I would not be able to get this far. However, I lived every day in hope and prayed that God would give me the strength to work through it and work for his glory. No doubt, I have grown in the last month and I know that I can do a devotion everyday and not feel like I do not have time. When you think about it, I probably spend more time writing and really understanding my devotion right now, more so than if I just read it and thought about it for awhile. But the work is not over yet, this is where it starts to get tough. I have overcome a foothold that Satan had in my life and I am showing him that I can serve God on a daily basis and I will because I enjoy it.

My devotion today is kind of one of my recurring themes because I feel that it is something that I really need to work at and I think it is something that God has laid on my heart. Matthew 28:18 states, "Then Jesus came to them and said, 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.' " Now that I have built a strong structure and am continuing to grow, it is time for me to begin passing the buck onto other people. One of my favorite quotes from a movie comes from the movie "Pay it Forward" and Haley Joel Osment's character says to his teacher (Kevin Spacey) "What did you ever do to change the world" and his teacher promptly replies "Well, I get a good night's rest, I wake up, I eat a hearty breakfast, I show up on time, and then... I pass the buck to you" Most people might not analyze this quote and apply it to a Christian perspective, but i see it this way. We are supposed to find rest and strength in the Lord (night rest), grow in God and strengthen our relationship with him, by reading His word and building others up (hearty breakfast), follow God's timing and do as we are told by him (show up on time), and then share the love of Christ and our faith with those around us (pass the buck to someone else). This is almost along the lines of the scripture, it says GO! and make disciples of ALL nations, baptize them, use my name to do so, and I will be with you! Find your comfort and rest in the Lord and step out in his name, Joseph Robinson you must become who you are and stop worrying about the little things in life (sorry if I sound weird talking to myself, but this is for me..). Start making a difference in your life and those around you. It is time to start saying no to Satan and start saying Yes to God ALL THE TIME, and sticking with your answer. Reach out to the lost world and start to make changes that impact the lives of everyone around you (including yourself).

For those of you that do not know, I am going to also pursue becoming a youth pastor. I would prefer to be a part time youth pastor as I will need to support my future family. But I feel that teenagers are where my heart is at. I think that reaching kids and keeping them in the church through their junior high and high school years is at the top of the list as far as priorities for the church go. I know many people who have fallen away from the faith and have turned from God as they grew up and became college kids. It can seriously be damaging and I am glad I caught myself before I had to learn from more of my stupid mistakes.  If you genuinely want to make a relationship with God work, all you have to do is try. God is free and wants to spend time with you whenever you give him the chance. He wants to be able to sit with you and watch what you watch and enjoy the things you discuss. If you and I welcome him in, it will seriously be one of the best times of your life. You can be warm when it is freezing outside, you will have company when you are alone.  Give it a shot and I am almost positive it will change your life, but if you commit, you have to go all in, there is no short stack here, it is all or nothing and you have to have faith and you have to confess (Hebrews 11:1, Romans 10:9-13).

I think that I will continue to do this as long as people read because I feel that it has been a blessing in my life and it holds me accountable for my actions. I will do my devotion regardless of whether I post because I cannot go a day without being in the word anymore. My heart is too hungry. If you are going to keep reading, PLEASE leave a comment. I am not interested in who is reading so I can call them out in my posts or condemn anyone, I just want to know who is keeping up and know that if I need someone to talk to, I can talk to you and you will know what has been going on in my life. Hope you all have a blessed day!

Joseph Robinson

Day 29

God is great and even though I did not minister to someone, I talked to a stranger today and kind of built a mutual friendship, maybe down the road i will have a chance to minister. Sometimes it is just something really small that can lead to an opportunity and we need to take advantage of those opportunities. Passing up an opportunity from God is one of the worst things we can do as Christians because we are either unwilling, or not listening. The semester is winding down and it is time to start looking toward a new year with only half a month left in the year, let us see how much we can change or how much change we can make in those around us by the time 2009 rolls around.

I was thinking of a verse today since i have been talking about the church making changes and reaching people and I think this passage fits perfectly into the concept. It is found in Ephesians 4:11-16 and states, "It was he who gave some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants tossed back and forth by the wave, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. Instead speaking truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work." The point of this passage is not that everyone is called to be a teacher or pastor and that you are a failure if you are not, it means that we all have special talents that Christ has given us and collectively we make up the body of the church. It is our job to build one another up and not tear each other down with words and such, just imagine if the bones and ligaments in your body started fighting with each other and doing their own thing, it would be pure chaos and we would lose all control of our bodies. The same applies for those in Christ. We all have to work together to reach a common goal in order to get things done.

I believe this applies to me because it shows me that no matter what I am doing in the church, as long as I am working for the benefit of it, I am useful and people of any age can be useful. It is a learning process and no matter how young you are in Christ (Spiritually), it is possible to make a difference. It is my job to help myself and those around me understand as much about Christ and his love as possible. The very thing that Jesus did as he walked the earth. Changing lives is apart of growing in Christ and being effective when reaching out to people. When the whole church is in support, it is that much easier to touch people and help them change. I also need to grow out of the infant stage that I have been in so long and mature in Christ so that it is harder for Satan to get ahold of me and harder for my friends around me to influence my decisions. It is in Christ that we find strength and it is through him that we are saved. A warning to myself and others is that we cannot become complacent with what we have done or feel like we have done enough. Our work here is not completed until we die. With every breath, we are a living testimony of Christ and even on our deathbed, we can make a difference in someone's life. Next time you think about condemning a person or you think that you cannot forgive someone, think of this verse which is found just a few paragraphs down on the page in verse 29. It states, "Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen." This verse was very beneficial to me as I played baseball because I always wanted to jump on people when they screwed up, but at the same time there is a way to go about doing it so that they will listen and learn from mistakes. Encourage fellow Christians and let us start making changes in the world TODAY!

Hope you all have an amazing night, my phone will be on all night, please call me if you have any questions or just want to talk to someone. Comment box is also open. 

Joseph Robinson

Day 28

I want you to know that I did not put this off until last minute tonight, I was very busy today and I prayed to God throughout the day to just guide me and give me strength so that in everything i did I would give him glory. I talked about God with one of my friends for a good 45 minutes today, he is one the student leaders here at K-State Chi Alpha (XA). I am very excited to go home in about a week and a half and see what has changed there and especially my new house! God is doing amazing things and I cannot wait for people in Arizona to see how I have changed since I came here almost 3 months ago! 

The section I read tonight is called "Oaths" and it comes out of Matthew 5:33-37. It is a very simple message to us as not only believers but also as people in general. These verses state, "Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not break your oath, but keep the oaths you have made to the Lord.' But i tell you, Do not swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God's throne, or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. Simply let your 'Yes' be 'Yes' and your 'No', 'No' anything beyond this comes from the evil one." Seems fairly simple right? Yes is Yes and No is No. WRONG! Maybe it is just me, but I know that when i am tempted it is easy to say no at first but occasionally your flesh part of me kicks in and reconsiders and sometimes I give in. I am certainly not proud of this, but it is just reality. This applies in all aspects of life, not just sin. Even though a lot of peer pressure leads to sin, I know that it is easy to say no the first time but the second time is a little harder even though I can say it is always no.  Next, I cannot even count how many times I have "promised" God that I would start reading my bible and talking to him everyday or that I would not commit that sin again, but then I end up falling or not doing it anyway. In a way this disappoints God but at the same time he knows that when we say it, we do not genuinely mean it most of the time and he knows we are going to fail at it again. In my experiences, it is easier for me to stop committing that sin and THEN promise to never do it again, because I have already showed that I can live without it and that I am willing to make change. I feel that I can promise God that I will work diligently to be in His word everyday because I have shown that I can do it. I do not think this implies arrogance, it implies commitment based on previous actions. 

I believe that this instruction from the Lord is very important because if you look in the Bible, you will see that this section is lumped together with sections about Murder, Adultery, Divorce, An Eye for an Eye, and Loving Your Enemies. I think that the importance of this passage is that I need to be more committed to the people around me and to God in general. I have shown that I can commit to school, baseball, church, and most of my friends, but it is time to show that I can commit to everything but being careful not to burn myself out. It is about prioritizing in order to fit in all your commitments and not over committing yourself. It is about sticking to an answer whether it be yes or no and making the right decision. Do not let Satan have a say in the choices you make, seek God in everything you do and he will make sure that you are taken care of and he will make your paths straight. In closing, be spirit lead and that is how you know that you are making the right decisions and you will not have to contradict or doubt yourself, because the Spirit is guiding you.

I want to mention one thing and I found it so scary when I saw it tonight and my heart was broken. I was walking by this girl on my way to a meeting and when I walked by she put her head completely down from about 30 feet in front of me until the time that I passed her, I did not even get a chance to smile at her. It made me think, how lost must she be that she was so depressed she could not even look at me, or what was going on? Is our world so hurt that they cannot even stand to look at people sometimes? Another thing that crossed my mind is that maybe she has demons pestering her or she is just filled with so much emptiness that the light that I hope I am giving off was just too much to bear. If any of the cases our true, and i am sure that at least one is, we really need to start reaching out because we are failing miserably to bring others to the Kingdom with us.

Please feel free to post comments or call/text me. I am excited for what God has done and what he will do. I feel that this is only the beginning.... Have a great night!

Joseph Robinson

Day 27

Today brought some good news but nothing to get my hopes up over. I was contacted by UNLV and they are interested in viewing a video of me playing Baseball as an evaluation as to whether to recruit me and offer me a spot on the Fall 2009 team. I am very excited to see what God has in store for me and I know that as I continue to seek him, he will reveal himself and his plan for me more and more. I also feel that I did really well on my math test last night, but I do have a music quiz in the morning tomorrow so pray for me in that area and that my studying will aid me in remembering everything that is on the quiz.  It's hard to believe that I have already made it 27 days on here and there are only 3 more after this. Time flies when you are in the word and seeking God.

So as I was going through the Bible I felt that I needed to find something that would illustrate how important it is for me to continue to stay in the word when I am done with this blog and to stand strong in the Lord. I cam across John 15:1-17. It speaks metaphorically about how we are the branches and Jesus is the vine. We are told that every bad branch that bears no fruit will be cut off and thrown into the fire and in the same way, those of us who do not have a relationship with Christ and bear his fruit will be cut of from him and will be thrown into hell. He says, "remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me." Pretty self explanatory, but it is imperative that I apply this to my life and not just say "Oh I know that." I know that there are times when I think I can do things by myself and get by but in reality I cannot do it on my own and I need to be humbled and brought back down. In the same way, I cannot transfer schools or get a baseball scholarship on my own, I need to let God work in me and through me and follow what he has planned. Then, I will be bearing his fruit and sharing with those what he has done for me. Which leads right into the verse that says, "If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you." However, this does not mean that you can be faithful and bear God's fruit and then expect to get that new car when you ask for it, or that big screen TV. God might bless you with those gifts but do not take the word of God out of context when it comes to him blessing you. Everything that is given will come in accordance with the will of God and thank him for whatever he gives you. 

I am going to sort of transition into the rest of the passage as it takes on a slightly different topic however still referring to the vine and the branch. We are asked to remain in the love of Christ and we are able to do this by obeying his commands. he says, "I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." This passage right here has been made into a song by Steven Curtis Chapman and it is called "No Greater Love" if you get a chance, try to find it and listen to it.  Jesus goes on to say that he calls us friends now since we are no longer just servants because we know our master's business. In closing he says, "You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit--fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. This is my command: Love each other" I am delighted to know that God CHOSE me. Now this does not imply pre-destination, but I believe that it is saying that God as chose EVERYONE and only those who choose to follow him, are the ones who respond to his call. Pretty much what Jesus is trying to convey here is that as long as we remain in him, everything will be alright and he will watch over us. It is when we start to separate that he is unable to reach us because of our stubbornness and we start to fall.

One last thing that I did not realize until now, the lyrics to one of my favorite song called "Alien Youth" by Skillet. I never really understood what this song meant until I was listening to it yesterday and I realized that WE are the aliens and it's time for us to land on earth and take it back. We are not going to leave until the job is done and we are going to change the world. We need to go get those souls and take back what is God's. Maybe we are freaks and aliens but it's time to pick up the slack and become the generation we are supposed to be. Here are the lyrics, take a look and see what it means to you and see if you get anything else out of it. Other than that, have a great night and God bless.

"(It's been confirmed that the aliens have landed.)  Worldwide Jesus Domination Love conquers all Rise like a chosen generation There's no stopping it all  Come on freaks let's go Come on freaks let's go Get all the freaks and lets go Yeah yeah  Chorus: We're taking over the world We're the Alien Youth We're coming for your soul We're gonna, we're gonna, we're gonna change the world We're the Alien Youth We're taking over, over, over Alien Youth  Get all the freaks, let's Go Get all the freaks and let's Go  Do you believe that the aliens have landed We're everywhere you go Infiltrate at the break of revolution You can't stop the revival And we're not going to leave this world alone And we're not going to leave it yeah!  CHORUS  Come on freaks let's go Get all the freaks and let's go Come on freaks let's go Get all the freaks and let's go  And we're not going to leave this world alone And we're not going to leave it yeah! And we're not going to leave this world alone And we're not going to lea, ea, ea, ea,ea,ea,ea,eave  Taken, taken, taken over the world  CHORUS"

Joseph Robinson

Day 26

Tonight should be fun, I have a math test in a hour and then I have to go to guys bible study to watch a "Nooma" video. I am excited for what God is going to do here at K-State. I am officially 2 weeks out from being at home and I am very excited to say the least. I decided to have a birthday party while I am back because I will be leaving Arizona just 4 days before my birthday. It's definitely beginning to feel like the holidays again and we need to keep in perspective the reason for the next two holidays one of which is giving thanks, not only to God but also to those around us for being there for us. The second one is the gift of Jesus as he was sent down to be our savior and without him, the holiday would not even exist.

Today in preparation for my devotion, I kept it short and simple. I just asked God to keep speaking to me as I have been encouraged by what I have been doing. As I was scanning my bible and seeing what God had for me, I came across Romans 12:9-21 which has the section title of "Love". It states, "Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited. Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written, 'It is mine to avenge; I will repay,' says the Lord. On the contrary: "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap the burning coals on his head." Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."

"Love must be sincere." This is pretty self explanatory for myself and for anyone else. I must not just tell people I love them, or tell God that I love him. I need to make it visible and show my love for them. It is easy to tell someone "I love you" but it is a whole other step to display that love. "Honor one another above yourselves." It is time for me to stop telling people just hat God is doing in my life and encouraging them, but I need to be looking at other people and tell them how well they are doing and be encouraged by them as well. "Never lacking in zeal" applies to love being sincere and not just going through the motions. I need to become more peaceful and not so violent when it comes to taking care of matters. It is not so much that I fight physically, but my words can be very strong sometimes and when someone attacks me, I tend to lash out or when it comes to people I just really do not like, I can say some harsh things that I do not really mean but it is still wrong to say it. I do not really need to explain "Share with God's people who are in need... be willing to associate with people of low position" I have addressed that issue more than once throughout the course of this blog and it explains itself pretty well. However for associating with people of low position, I will admit that I struggle with that and in all honesty it is really bad that I do that. I know I am not alone when it comes to that though and I will let your own heart judge whether or not that is you. Another thing I need to learn and remember is that God will avenge those who persecute us and cut us down, it is not our job to punish. Let me state that again, IT IS NOT OUR JOB TO PUNISH. However, God can use us to do his work and punish people but that is because it is God's judgement working thorough us, not our judgement on the people. Speak blessing and do all that you can in order to help your enemy, if they persecute you or do not accept the truth, then they will receive justice. I like the last verse, which is verse 21 and it is good to close with. It states, "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."

I have been changing so much over the last month and I am ready to look back and see how much I have grown when I finish in the next few days. I am dying to go to Youth Convention in San Diego over Thanksgiving break, but I just don't think it is going to happen. I know God is going to work wonders there and as it is only about 2 1/2 weeks out, now is the time to hit prayer hard for the convention and for God to start building up the revival of Christianity in our nation with around 5,000 students ready to make a change. I am believing that the leaders of this nation in the next 15-20 years will be Bible and faith believing Christians but in order for that to happen, we have to be willing to make the changes now that will impact our nation down the road when the time comes. 

Thank you to those that have been commenting and I encourage everyone to leave a comment to start a discussion or just say what you think because you never know if you might meet someone who shares your views or might meet someone that can build you up, so do not be afraid, take a chance and see what it does for your life. I have done it for the past 26 days and opened up, and I know it has touched me. I am not saying I am better than you if you do not do it, but I am saying you never know if you don't try! Have a great night in the lord and I am off to my math test :)

Joseph Robinson

Day 25

I seem to keep bringing it up, but I think it is something that God is telling me that I need to become better at and that is being humble. Something jumps out at me every time I open my Bible and tonight it just needed to take a step back and look at the big picture. I wake up every morning and I always thank God for giving me another day to live and I pray that he will give me strength to get through the day but I feel that most of the time it is just lip service to God and it is not truly coming from the heart. There are days though when I know that it is going to be a tough day and I need him so I attack it with my whole heart because He is truly the only one who can get me through.

I started reading the section titled David's Prayer in 2nd Samuel chapter 7, verses 18-29.  In these 12 verses, David comes before the Lord and comes right at God saying, "Who am I, O Sovereign Lord, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far?" You see, it is David's understanding that God have given him all this stuff and David has not become arrogant about his status. Instead, he basically asks why God chose him, because he feels as though he is just a normal guy and does not necessarily deserve everything he has been given. On the other hand, he could have come to God and told Him he was thankful but now that he has all this power he can work things out on his own.  Throughout his prayer, David gives God so much praise and glory because he knows that God is supreme and is ruler over all. I believe that David also understands that his authority and good fortune can be taken away from him according to the will of God and so he comes before the Lord with a thankful and humble heart. Toward the end of the prayer, David is diving in and giving everything he has to God and he states, "O Sovereign Lord, you are God! Your words are trustworthy, and you have promised these good things to your servant."  God has promised David a house that will be blessed and David is giving God the praise and thanks he deserves. He also tells God that he should be, "pleased to bless this house of your servant, that it may continue forever in your sight."

When I first read this, it was a little unclear as to what it meant and I tried to figure out what David's prayer had to do with me being humble. But as i read it again and began to evaluate the passage, I could see some ways in which it directly related to me and how I could apply it in my life. Let me just start off by saying that I had a baseball season last year like no other, pretty much a year like the one I had only comes once every 4-6 years for a school the size of mine. Now, I could say that I put in the work and was dedicated to getting better but in reality, it was God who allowed me the opportunity to get better and who blessed me with being able to go out and do the one thing I love to do everyday. He was the one who gave me the talent and it was my job to utilize it and become a better player because that was what he had planned for me. We are only able to be good at what we do because it is God given and God gives everyone different talents and tools to live life with. The one thing I should have done last season was pray before and after every game and give thanks to my creator who enabled me to play and for allowing me to get through another game uninjured. I should have been praying daily as well as been in the word because that is the way I could repay him. It was not just me being a good player out there, it was me being good because God allowed me to be. I think that God wanted me to realize a lot of the stuff I have been talking about in the last 3 weeks, and that is part of the reason I wound up here at K-State. I believe he was telling me that if I got my act together, I might be able to play college baseball somewhere, but I needed to start being me first. I did not need to find myself, I just needed to become myself. That being said, I need to be ready everyday for what ever God does or does not send my way. I need to be thankful and stop believing that I can get everywhere on my own; thinking I can get everywhere on my own is selfish and improbable because without God I am nothing. It is time to start telling God that he can finally be pleased with me as a servant and that this servant is going to do some great things for the Kingdom of God.

Remember that it is God who provides you with your every breath and allows you to wake up every morning. It is God who has blessed you with people who care about you (whether you know it or not. (Ask if you do not know what I mean)). It is God who has put you where you are today and has given you the tools and talents to be there. It is God who sent his ONLY son to DIE for you and make the atonement for YOUR sins, not his. It is God who created the universe and world. It is God who will return and rescue us and it is with God that we will reign for ever. It is God with us and us with God. It is God.... GOD IS EVERYTHING.

As always, phone is on 24/7 and the comment boxes are still open, do not be afraid to discuss with others who read, or ask me questions if I am unclear. I hope you all have a great night in the Lord and continue to seek his plan for your life.

Joseph Robinson

Day 24

Today was really uplifting in church as Pastor Ed spoke on missions and explained exactly what I have been saying the past few weeks. He said how important it is for us to go out and reach our nation and collectively reach our world. This just goes to show that I am not the only one who thinks this and it is something we need to stop talking about and formulate a plan to put into action. Anyway, that bump in the road that I hit yesterday does not burden me and I know that God has already forgotten it because I went to him and am continuing to seek him and his plan. The talk of missions and getting over problems provides a decent transition into my devotion.

In a typical day, I would say that I waste a good 2-4 hours either doing nothing or doing something that is not necessarily bad but my time could be much better spent. Sometimes just giving up a little time watching TV or sitting on Facebook would allow me to spend more time with God rather than just saying I am bored. I figure that if I want to start to mature in Christ, I have to find meaning in scriptures that tell the story of someone else's experience instead of just finding passages that tell me what to do and all I have to do to get something out of it is think of a way to apply it to my life. With that in mind, I prayed that God would speak to me in a different way today and that led me to 2 Samuel 18-25. Here we find King David who has just been told to build an altar and make a sacrifice to God. The Israelites have had a plague upon them because of their wickedness and it is David's job to make the sacrifice to God in order to ask forgiveness and to make the atonement for their wickedness.  David knows his duty and goes up to buy a threshing floor as well as some oxen. When he arrives, the salesman Araunah offers these gifts to David so that he should not have to pay in order to make the sacrifice. However, David declines and states, "I will not sacrifice to the Lord my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing." After David paid, he built the altar and made the sacrifice and then God answered his the prayer and the plague was stopped.

What I gather from this is not just that I need to make some sacrifices to God, but they have to show value to me. It is easy for me to give the extra hamburger that I bought and could not eat to a homeless person on the street but what if i were to fast a meal and buy that homeless person a meal and address their needs. Sure we need to eat so that may be a little extreme, but the point I am trying to make is that sacrifices are not supposed to be easy to make, that is why they are sacrifices. God does not want just the spare time we have in our day, he wants the time when we can give as much of ourselves to him as possible and when he can invest in our lives. It does not necessarily just mean sacrificing time either, I could sacrifice my reputation, money, or even my friendship with those that are trying to drag me down. Now in the case of the latter, I should be trying to help those that are trying to drag me down and spread God's word with them. This seems like such a simple thing to do, but in reality it is very tough. I always complain that I am bored and I will sit around and waste many hours in a week because I feel like I am just useless at the time. I have recently given up non-christian music for the most part because I feel like it drags me down. I still have it in my itunes library and on my ipod but I have not really listened to it in the last 3 weeks because I enjoy listening to the christian music more. It has really changed my attitude and when I walk around campus I just sing those songs in my head and smile (sometimes even at people... gasp!). Nobody ever knows what I am doing, but i feel that I am glowing and people are seeing something different about me because I am glorifying God as I walk around campus. What could you be doing to glorify God by making just a little sacrifice?

I feel that as I begin this last week, I still have a long way to go and the homestretch is not going to be easy. I know that God is with me though and he is guiding me along the way and soon enough it will be Thanksgiving and i will be at home with my friends and family. Continue to seek God and think about what you can do to make some changes or sacrifices that will encourage your own walk with Christ. Comments are still open and phone is still on so do not hesitate to ask a question or call/text whenever you feel like it. Have a blessed day and enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Joseph Robinson