"the talk"

I am sorry I didn’t BLOG yesterday when I got home from the gymnastics meet. I was devastatingly tired, and I could hardly keep my eyes open as I drove home. The only thing on my mind was to get home and lay down on my bed. Thankfully, I didn’t have my psychology class today. This means I had a little time to sleep in and then I went and met with Josh at a coffee house before we headed over to Snider to talk with these kids.
~The Talk~
I wanted to take out my phone and take a picture so I could share it, but I don’t think that would have been completely appropriate at the time. To set the scene I think it would be good to explain these kids a little bit first. These are the kids at the school that have had the most referrals (written citations) to the office from different teachers, or from the on school Police officers. The majority of them have horrible home life. Parents are on drugs, there is abuse, in and out of foster care, tossed around, talked down to, not cared for and just hurting. There were only about 11 kids in the room, and the teacher is actually a Young Life committee member. She has a huge heart for these kids, and does an amazing job with them. Reggie, the kid I have been spending time with was also in the room. It was cool because Josh was introduced by one of the other kids in the class and then Reggie introduced me. I will try to remember what he said when he talked about me. Reggie said something along the lines of, “this is Mikey, he works for Young Life and is a really easy person to talk to. He always listens, and I know he cares about me. I trust him because of how he treats me.” It felt really good inside to hear Reggie talk so highly about me. Josh and I started off with getting to know the group a little bit. Asking them what their favorite sports team is and who they looked up to. They told us and it broke the ice okay. Then we got into what we wanted to talk about, and Josh re-introduced who I was and why I was talking to them. We set up the Jenga game. I started off with an abridged version of my life story. The talk basically went like this…..Every time I spoke of a difficult or challenging time, I would pull out a Jenga block. For instance, when I was a freshmen, my good friend Kyle Erick (RIP) killed himself with a 12 gage shot gun to his chin. When I explained that story, I pulled out a block. When I talked about how I got into drugs and selling at a young age, I pulled out another block. When I explained some of the nasty life experience I have had I would take out a block. Josh was actually pulling them out as I spoke. We work really well with each other. I talked and talked and the kids listened. They made eye contact, and I felt like they may have connected in some way to several parts of my story. Well, I came to a point in my story and in my life when I said, “ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.” This was the turning point in my life, where I started making differences. I stopped and said, “look at this Jenga tower. See how it is hardly standing, you could almost blow it over.” I explained that is what my life was like. Just barley hanging on. BUT, still standing. Then we showed them that as I took positive steps in the right direction, I started adding the Jenga blocks back to the tower and my foundation of who I am and my life, started becoming a lot more firm. I think they really could equate it to happenings in their life. Josh and I ended it with re-iterating the message, which was don’t give up on yourself, no matter how shaky your life may seem. There is always hope, and we are here to help if you would accept it. Now is where the real difficulty begins. Now we have to show these kids that we are going to stick around, and we aren’t afraid of putting in the time. They need that so badly. The talk just went really good, and I know it wasn’t anything that I thought up. But because of diligent prayer and me admitting that I couldn’t do it was I able to become a willing vessel for Christ.
Psalm 25 helped out a lot too.

I love all my readers and I hope you all have great weekends!

God bless you,

Mikey

The day is over

(9:41AM) early morning post.
So, I just got out of my first Psychology test. I did study for it, but I felt like I was really unprepared. I learned how the professor formats his test, and realized that he is going to dive very explicitly into questions on related matter. I really did take advantage of the help that he offered; showing up for exam prep he offered last Thursday. BUT, I took some of the skills that I learned in high school and procrastinated on my timing. I allowed myself to wait until the last second to “cram” for the test. I am not going to let that happen anymore.
~The Challenge~
After my psychology class, I met up with Josh to talk about an opportunity we have had put before us. A teacher at Snider as asked if we would come in and speak to a class she currently has. This class is set apart from the other classes because of how they are viewed. They are “high risk” kids, and most of them are on the road to a discouraging future. Society might even view them as, the “screw ups.” Well, I think it is going to be an interesting opportunity for me to share my life experiences. How I turned the tide from living a “high risk” lifestyle to being happy and living for Christ. This is a huge task, and I pretty much have a day to think about it. We will be going in on Thursday. I want to put myself out there in the name of God. I am not going to go preach to these kids, I am simply going to allow Christ to shine through my experiences. I hope the kids are attentive and can tell I am being sincere with them. I’m not even nervous. I am excited really. I am going to think of a format of how I am going to give out the information, but I am going to try to make a “read” on the kids, and then just kind of go from there.

The girls have another gymnastics meet tomorrow. It is going to be just me and Lori. Just the two of us coaching. Michelle is flying off to Aruba tomorrow morning for a trip her and her husband won, and Vicki has class till late. It's a long drive to the highschool we are going to tomorrow. I love coaching gymnastics, and it is really something I actually have a passion for. But with all the activities and things I have going on, I am going to be glad when the season is over. My stress level is starting to raise, it's not something I can't manage, but it is just getting up there and I can tell.

lazy good

I didn't go to work today because I had to get my StUdY on. I feel like I am 70% prepared for my first exam in my Psychology class tomorrow. I am going to get to bed soon, like 10:15PM and just wake up early to get that other 30% of sure in before I head to class.

The girls did really good at their gymnastics meet tonight. We lost by like 4.5 points, but it is due in fact to several issues. I have full faith that they will do much much better at their next meet. Kaitlyn got a 9.15 on her vault, which is amazing! I was so proud of her. She got a vault called a Suke, and you can watch this video to see what it looks like. She did this move, except she landed it perfectly and didn't have a spot. It was so awesome!!!!

As I drove home from the gymnastics meet, it was really foggy out. Kind of a creepy feeling when you can't see the vehicle coming at you until it is right on you. I am so tired right now. I am going to sleep very, very well tonight. It is definately time to say my prayers, and PASS OUT!

AN ISSUE

My good friend Michael Gann is having a bit of an "issue." My heart and prayers go out for him, he also created this BLOG to explain his situation. http://mikeygann.blogspot.com/

a long sigh of relief

This morning started off at a coffee shop at 7:30A.M. Me, and a group of guys met up and one of the Young Life committee members named Rich lead us in a really great devotion about obedience and trusting in the Lord no matter what. One of the examples was when Abraham and Sarah were unable to have a child, but did not trust God. If you're familiar with the story then you know what ended up happening. If you're not familiar with the story, then check it out in Genesis chapter 15-21.

After Bible study I went to my class where I knew I would have my first Test. WOW, all that worrying for nothing. The prof. decided we can use our notes on the tests and it ended up being a really good thing.

I went to work for a while, then eventually ended up at Dave church A.K.A. Life Light. It was great as always, but I can't even remember what we talked about. I feel horrible, but that's what I get when I don't take notes when in the Living Word.

When I left I tried to call a couple of people to see if they would be down for watching a movie tonight. That sounded very relaxing, but no one I asked was down, so I just stayed in and got some much needed "couch time."I remember what we talked about in evening church. We talked about how God is active in our lives, it was really cool how Dave formatted the question/sharing time. God sure is active, man do I love God. Nothing good could happen to me for a month and I am still so unbelieveably blessed. It's gross how we(me included) get sometimes, so caught up in selfishness and petty things. Sometimes it is important to just take a step back and be so ever thankful for all that is given to us.

I have a serious prayer requst. My long time friend is an alcoholic. He is in complete denial as well. I am scared because he is making very foolish decisions when he drinks. He drinks a lot, all the time and will not listen to the people who care about him. Please pray for Adam, he knows the truth but refuses to settle in it. His parents are alcoholics and I love him. I am honestly scared for his life. Pray that he is kept safe even in his bad decisions. God has a much bigger plan than this. He is hurting real bad, and this seems to be his only escape.

today was full of good stuff

I woke up this morning to Snow Snow Snow.

today was full of good stuff

I woke up this morning to Snow Snow Snow. So, I dug my car out of the drifts that surrounded it. I am so glad it wasn't too cold. So, I packed up my snow clothes and headed off to Pathway. I worked out in the snow all day. Shoveling, and snow blowing and shoveling and snow blowing. It was pretty fun though. I made a lot of progress.

Everything you see that is not parking lot was cleared off by yours truely. This is only one tiny part of the church too. There is so much more. Once I got off of work I went home and cleaned up and then went off to a pizza party for my gymnastics team. It was super fun, and the girls looked beautiful all cleaned up. This is the first time I have seen then like this. Awwwww! Starting from the left it goes as follows. Jessica, Kaley, Laura, Sarah, Betty (back) Kaitlyn, Emily and all the way to the right is Jessica. These are "the girls." I am totally bummed because we have this meet tomorrow called the Lakeland Invitational, and I won't be able to make it because of my Stat class as well as work and Bible study, and church....My goodness, I am like non-stop. There is so many things going through my head at any one point it would make the average man EXPLODE! AHHHHHHH! I'm good like that though.

After the pizza party I went and picked up Reggie from his Tae Kwon Dao class. It was completely a God thing. I was running late and knew it, but I didn't have any way to contact him. I just kept on to try to seek him out. He was waiting outside the main door and told me this, "dude, I have been waiting here for a half hour, I didn't know why either, but every time I tried to leave I just couldn't. Then you showed up and it all made sense." WOW, that was so cool to hear! We went and played some video games and got candy at Tokens & Tickets. Then I discussed a plan for getting his brother and his brothers friend involved and interested in hanging out. I have this "plan" but I am not quite ready to reveal it. I have to make some phone calls first and see what exactly I can work out. I love hanging out with Reggie, he is so talkative with me now and has so many deep thoughts. OHHHH, he is going out for the Snider (large High School) Foot Ball team. He is going to do AWESOME, as well. I am so excited for this kid. He is going to do great things. My little buddy. I have had so many thoughts lately. Great exciting thoughts sent from heaven above. I have to go to sleep and try to comprehend everything.