409'ed!!!!

I moved out of Tad's house last night. I got off of work, did laundry, went to Bible study and then Dan and I started frantically packing what was left of our stuff. After cramming our stuff in our vehicles, we proceeded to pummel Tad's house with 409 and a Swiffer. By the end of it, I was exhausted, and was ready to go to bed. Sadly, unloading still needed to be done.

So about that....my friends are awesome!!!

When I got to campus, everyone(who was awake) dropped what they were doing and helped unload the cars. It was so nice because I knew that I was getting kinda sick--I had the scratchy throat and was quite fatigued. My friends were so loving and helpful.

I came into my new, temporary residence after the night had wound down and realized how much I am going to miss Tad's place. I will always remember so much about my time there. I know that my favorite memory will always be my mornings at Tads. I will always remember waking up, washing my face, brushing my teeth, grabbing a drink with a vitamin and then realizing that I am, and will never be alone. I had no distractions and had no choice but to talk to God. There was absolutely nothing stopping me. When I got up, I knew that in the stillness, He was there. It was me, a couch, some sort of beverage, and God. I loved my mornings. But as much as I loved them, I learned that He isn't just in one random guy's house every morning. He is everywhere. He is absolutely everywhere. I can choose to talk to Him any time I want...how cool is that?---- He, the Holiest of Holies, takes time for me.

I will also remember having my friends over late at night. All we did was sit there. I would play guitar, and we would talk. No tv. No movies. Nothing but each other, spending time in fellowship. It was absolutely beautiful.

One other big memory--- I will remember Wednesday nights. Dan and I continued our Bible study that we did during the year. It turned out that a bunch of people were interested in joining for the summer. Every Wednesday night, people would come over for food, fellowship and scripture. It was so much fun. I loved being able to welcome people into my shelter. I loved being able to sit on the porch in the late evening, after a wonderful dinner, with nothing but grape soda and my friends in Christ. We goofed off, threw stuff, yelled stuff and laughed at anything. Then, we went inside, sat down and talked about our amazing God. We spent the summer in Hebrews and actually just finished it. It was AWESOME. We are still going to be doing bible study every Wednesday, but we now do it on campus ( I love m23 :) ).

This summer has been awesome so far. God has been/is teaching me a lot. Tad's house was just a shelter, but in it, God taught me what it was like to be still. I need to have this stillness in my life. I need to take the time to quiet my soul. God deserves my attention and there are so many times when I choose to be busy or loud when all I should do is sit down, rest, and put my hope in Him. King David's words come to mind...

My heart is not proud, o Lord,
My eyes are not haughty;
I do not concern myself with great matters
or things too wonderful for me.
But I have stilled and quieted my soul;
like a weened child with its mother,
like a weaned child is my soul within me.

O Israel, put your hope in the Lord
both now and forevermore.

Psalm 131

quick note: waterdeep put this psalm to music and it is ridiculously awesome.

Have a great night guys
-Dave