Light has Dawned

the people who sat in darkness

have seen a great light

and for those who sat in the region and

shadow of death

light has dawned

-Matthew 4:16

You have called us loved 
You have called us wanted
One time we were bruised, we were bankrupt and haunted 
But you have called us loved...

Nicaragua

I'm standing outside a small house in Los Brasiles, Nicaragua with an elderly woman named Angela, a missionary named Paul, our translator Luis, and 7 high school students. Angela's house has brick walls and a heavy, black, plastic roof. Her yard is made up of dirt, a small tree, and a boundary line marked by a barbed wired fence. She sits in a chair crying out in Spanish for God to bring her some peace and heal her arm, which lost circulation halfway up through her fingers a few years back.  The rest of us have our hands laid on her and pray similarly in English that she might be healed. With tears streaming down her face, Angela tells us that she believes in faith God will heal her, but it's okay because she believes her time is soon, and she is just waiting for Jesus to take her to Him.

My experience with Angela is just one of many moments, which left a dent on my life on a recent trip to Managua, Nicaragua with 15 students from Plum Creek Community Church.  I was shocked to learn slightly before the trip that Nicaragua is the second poorest country in the Western hemisphere. I felt like I had witnessed poverty before, but not like what I saw in Managua. Six kids, two parents, one room, four mattresses, no clean drinking water, dirt floors, the whole bit.

Los Brasiles

Trash burning

 

Much of the trip I wrestled and struggled with Jesus' words from His sermon on the mount, "Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God."

*Note: you may struggle with my words here in these next few paragraphs.

I always loved the way His words were written.

Blessed are you who are poor. Because He said "you," it means Jesus was hanging out with and talking to poor people. He was inspiring them, providing hope, peace, comfort, and a view into the Father. While I was in the impoverished village of Los Brasiles, Nicaragua I had the overwhelming feeling the modern day Jesus would be right there. He would walk the dirt streets without shoes, give people food, pray for them, and simply love them because they are His children. "Blessed are you who are poor."

But wait.

I kept hearing from all our students, "this trip has helped me realize just how blessed we are in America to have what we have." 


Are we actually blessed? Didn't Jesus say the poor are blessed?

He didn't say, "blessed are you who have the comfort of air conditioning, a warm shower, clean drinking water, big flatscreens, and a boat." You can see why I was wrestling with His words. Here is usually the part in the post mission trip blog that I tell you about how amazing it was to see such poor people have so much joy. And how it was incredible to know people who don't have a lot of stuff can actually be happy! We have heard it a bunch of times before, it's the same story, and yes it is true.  The kingdom of God belongs to the poor because those of us who have a lot (myself included) have created our own kingdom with our own gods. Our kingdom is the American dream and our gods are the material idles that accompany it. We will never know what the "poor in spirit" know, what it's like to truly need God (*unless of course we come to terms with just how desperate our tired and dirty souls are for a savior. But that message is for another blog post). And truly needing and knowing God is all satisfying.

But that wasn't the biggest thing that struck me on the trip. I figured out poor people could be happy when I learned about the life of Paul.

What struck me the most was the pure joy I saw in our students eyes as they willingly served and loved with the heart of Jesus. How fifteen high schoolers disregarded heat, sweat, discomfort, and safe busses as they built meaningful relationships with Nicaraguan children and loved them simply because they are supposed to.

Our team with our new friends at Imagine Ministries in Los Brasiles

At the end of the trip I asked all the students a very profound question during our small group time:

"How many of you felt like you were doing God's will these past 10 days?" 

Every single hand shot up.

It's a question we so often struggle with in America. How do I know what God wants me to do? Is he going to make me do something I don't want to do? Our students proved they figured out God's will for all our lives. To glorify Him by drawing near and loving others. And it's exactly what our souls want.

My favorite picture from the trip sums up exactly what we came to do, and what we did well. It sums up God's very will for all our lives.

John 13

Who knew you could sum up the King of the Universe's calling on our lives in one picture, right?

If I then have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.

John 13:14

A Hip Day in the Springs

A wonderful weekend in Colorado Springs with my beauty. 

Garden of the gods

such a talented photographer

artistic quote from our lunch menu

playing in the Colorado sunshine

crazy stores

chess showdown at a local coffee shop 

Jillian and I have a "Book of Epic Adventures" with a list of a fun things for us to do and places to document it. We knocked off the first one of the summer: go on an epic hipster date.

A quick road trip down I-25 brought us to the beautiful Garden of the gods and the fascinating Old Colorado City. We explored antique shops, photography joints, looked at Tibeten clothing, and hung in a trendy coffee shop (and I actually drank coffee). We also made a few oddball friends including a hippie in what can only be described as a hippie shop, and a long haired, bearded man who believes in magic and considers himself a wand expert. We ended our adventure in the Springs with my new favorite pastime, a round of disc golf. 

Is there anything better than summertime in Colorado?

Goodbye and Hello

After graduating from Baylor, I made a quick visit home to Deerfield, IL. I got to spend some time with a city that I truly do love and have enjoyed watching my brother and sister call home. A short two weeks later and I headed out west in gool ol' LC 2.0. *Quick note, my Landcruiser (LC) broke down on the way back from Texas and stranded me, Jake Patterson, and Will Meier in a small St. Louis town for five hours.  She got a bit of a facelift while I was home and is running as well as the day she was birthed by the Japanese. Thus her new name, LC 2.0 or just LC for short. 

Throughout the 13 1/2 hour drive I had plenty of time to sing The Head and the Heart, Phil Wickham, and plenty other great tunes at the top of my lungs (thanks spotify premium). I also had time to think about the new adventure that awaits me in Castle Rock, Colorado. About all the kids that God is calling me to pour into, and the different ways He wants to challenge and stretch me. 

my new home

I recently read a newsletter from a friend who provided some much needed encouragement in his letter. He wrote something that has stuck with me for the past week as I have been out here in Castle Rock and working for Plum Creek Community Church. He wrote:

I am not here by accident. 

God sent me. 

To these people. 

At exactly this time.

For me, it's easy to get bogged down and think I am not needed. The reality is that I am really not needed at all. But yet God has appointed me to His people to share His good news of love, grace, and beauty. The truth behind that idea calms my heart, gives me peace, and motivates me to work hard for His Kingdom. I am still a little unsure of all He has for me at Plum Creek and their student ministries, by I rest assured knowing He has me exactly where He desires. 

His beauty surrounds me. View from outside my back door.

My First Short-Film

I've had half this post written for two weeks. Probably time to finish it. Ready. Go.

I never really did anything film related until I was a Junior in college. Sure, I made a few slideshows on iMovie and I considered myself a bit of a powerpoint wiz in high school, but doesn't everyone?  Somewhere between being bored in my religion classes and longing to do something I was passionate about, I felt God pushing me to switch my major to Film and Digital Media. For the past two years I have really enjoyed learning and growing as a film student. I have aspirations to be a filmmaker. I'm not exactly sure what that means, but I'd like to go beyond being "the video guy" and move into, "this guy is a respected filmmaker."

I recently finished my last ever film project as student. The assignment was to write and direct a 5-10 minute short-film for my directing class.  For months I prayed about an idea that would somehow glorify or shed light on the Lord without being too preachy.  Two weeks before the assignment was due I had nothing. I grabbed a sheet of paper from my idea book that Jillian (my biggest fan) bought me for a place to record my creativity.  On it I listed important themes:, death, life, mortality, purpose, love, redemption, that sort of stuff. Jillian also gave me a bulletin board to post all these sheets of paper, and I had a bunch of ideas for short films written all over it. I spread all these sheets of "idea paper" across my desk and just started writing. The script grew into a mix of all my previous short-film ideas combined into one.

The first idea was a modern interpretation of Matthew 13:44, or the parable of the treasure hidden in a field. That became kind of the central theme for the story.  The second, more plot-driven idea, was about a guy who finds out he is terminally ill and has one day to live. What would your emotions be like on that day? How would you view your life, your purpose, your decisions? I thought it was an interesting idea to play with, and it provided good conflict, so I slipped it into the video.

After I had the script written I really struggled to find actors. So much so that, yes, I play one of the characters. Comedy is so much easier than being serious, even when I was saying words that I myself had written. Luckily I had just shot a music video with my good friend, and talented musician Clark Jones.  He told me he would love to be my lead actor, and he did a phenomenal job.  There is very little dialogue in the short, and it is amazing how much he conveys, and how much of the story is told with his subtle looks.  He embraced the character, made it his own, and did more than I could have thought of. If you need an actor, call this dude up.

We ended up shooting the whole thing in two, half-days.  When it came time to editing, my footage was absolutely beautiful.  I was very pleased with the way it looked, but of course, it had some flaws. Post-production in all took about 60 hours, including four straight nights past 5 am.  It was wildly fun. Most of the work was done on audio, which was pretty terrible at times due to my lack of preplanning. As I cut the whole thing together, I was pretty discouraged as some of it just didn't work, and the audio wasn't helping. Here is where I feel entirely blessed by Clark, as he agreed to score the short for me. We were hanging out one night and he tells me he has some ideas and is gonna head home around midnight to record some stuff.  By 12:30 he sent me three unbelievable tracks. You'll see, the music practically makes the short.  I was blown away. I also have to thank Will Meier for helping me with audio, some video, equipment, and pretty much just everything. Could not have done it without ya bud.

While the short-film is not my masterpiece by any standard, I think I have come a long way in only a year and a half as a film student.  I wish I'd had more time in my major, but I think I did the best with what I had.

For comparison reasons, I have posted the very first video I ever made in my entire life. It's a silly comedy from my intro production class, the first one in my major. Below that is the very last student video I will have ever shot, my final short-film.

My first video

My final short-film

Yes, I do believe I have come a long way.  Given time, and a lot of prayer, the masterpiece will come.

I would love comments and criticism on the short-film, if you have any. I am always trying to grow, and the opinions of those close to me really matter to me. So, please, don't hold back.

Also, if you have any questions about technical stuff or production process, I love talking about it, so shoot.

My first music video

I walked in 15 minutes late to HD studio one day as my teacher was telling the 30 students in the class about how I was heading up an upcoming final project. He goes, "and great, Michael Goldstein is here and in a few short minutes he will tell us all about the pitch he has for a final project!"

This was news to me.

I had briefly discussed with my professor way earlier in the year about integrating Uproar Records into our HD studio class. Uproar is a student led record label that features five artists here at Baylor.  I have helped my good friend Will Meier, who works for Uproar, on a few video projects, which apparently made me the official film and digital media spokesmen for Baylor's record label...

Somehow, like any Goldstein would do, I pulled a ton of stuff out of my butt. I knew Uproar Records wanted to make some music videos, so I pitched that idea the best I could. What came about were two groups of six students each making two music videos for Uproar.  The artists in the videos were Trannie Stevens and my friends Clark Jones and Amy Boykin in a musical duet called O, Loveland.  I headed up the group for O, Loveland because I am a huge fan of their music, and my friend Stacy Wren took up Trannie's video.

I of course immediately deemed myself director as well as producer, and asked my good friend/extremely talented filmmaker Sam Klatt to be the cinematographer/editor (he is a straight up master with a camera in his hands, and just as great in editing). We had two other members in the group, Hannah Youngblood, who was a master with the immense amount of paperwork in preproduction. Also, Ben Dvorak did a heck of a job with the second camera, and both were incredible in setting up the Christmas lights for our night shoot/backyard show.

Sam and I teamed up on the creative vision and story for the video.  We discussed how we wanted to integrate the meaning of the song with visuals that would compliment it.  It was helpful that Clark and Amy are a pretty awesome couple, so they naturally emit great chemistry in front of the camera.  Our stylistic vision was a beautiful, scenic-esque video that we could cut in with shots of them performing the song.  O, Loveland has been known to play a few hipster house shows and they have a cool following at Baylor. I really wanted to play off of that, so I thought it would be awesome to set up a fake backyard, night show and get a bunch of people to come out to be in the video.  That was probably my favorite part about shooting the whole video. We shot the entire thing in one day starting at 7 am, and we were running and gunning all day until about 11 pm. I love the lighting in the backyard show, and it was so fun to see all these people come out and support O, Loveland and help them out on a Sunday night.

If you want to know more about the technical details of the video, let me know, I would love to answer any questions. Also, if you want to know more about the creative vision behind it, or the production process, I'd love to discuss that more.  I am really proud of our work, and it turned out pretty much exactly how I envisioned it, which hardly ever happens haha. My teacher loved it so much he is showcasing it in Geneva, Switzerland between May 11-16 at a SMPTE film festival on 60 foot screens in front of hundreds of people.  My hope is that people appreciate the talented group O, Loveland as well as enjoy their music, and hopefully it helps them build a bigger following. Please check out their EP on Spotify (it's free) and if you like it, buy it for 5 bucks on iTunes. You won't regret it, I promise!

Also, please stay tuned for my next post as it will be featuring and discussing my first short-film that I just finished for my directing class!

With that, here's the link to the music video. I hope you like it and I really hope you full screen it and watch in HD:

Please check out the other groups music video for Trannie Stevens if you have time. She is also an extremely talented singer/songwriter.

Stay tuned

I recently finished a music video project I was working on and am in the process of shooting a short film that will be done before next Wednesday. My next two posts in this next week will cover the shooting of those two projects and will post them. Stay tuned. In the mean time, here is a screenshot from my short film.

In other news I finished my last class of college ever yesterday. Hey Ma I made it.

Eliot Rausch

I discovered Eliot Rausch through a short film he created called Last Minutes with Oden, which won the Vimeo award for best short film in 2010. It's a short documentary about a man during his last 48 hours with his best friend, a three legged dog named Oden. The story is heart wrenching. If you don't get at least a little choked up while watching it, you probably don't have a soul.

I have since watched a lot of Rausch's short-films, which are often a documentary/narrative type blend that portrays the world in a very realistic sense. While a lot of the images are dark and paint the world as a rough and broken place, he provides a message of hope. In fact, most of his messages are biblical and display the message of Jesus very well. He does it without sugar-coating the story and showing typical Christian images. I appreciate that. I love that he gets a beautiful message across to the secular culture so effectively. He inspires me to not avoid dealing with tough issues, and to not be afraid to realistically show people who struggle just because I want to be accepted by "Church culture." Because, in reality, people hurt and bleed and cry. And our God deals with people with real brokenness and suffering, not sugar-coated, "everything will work out fine if you just believe" type stories. He is with us through all the muck, dirt, and sin. Someone needs to address those issues, and speak Truth to them.

Here is a short one he did inspired by Matthew 5. 

Check out his vimeo page and watch some of his other short films. They are raw and inspirational.

A Story for Tomorrow

This post is part of a long list of reasons why I want to go to Patagonia.

As this video captures so beautifully, we are all searching for a story for tomorrow. Where does yours lie? What great adventure have you been called to? Are you currently living it?

(please click the link and watch in Full Screen/HD)

And I ask you the same two questions:

"Is it possible to be happy with this life?"

and

"Did you enjoy your story?"

Rumspringa recap

I'll spare you the minute by minute details of my spring break adventures, and I'll hit on some of my favorite moments.

The road trip was conjured up about one week before spring break when three of my roommates and I decided to do something different than the same 'ol Destin beach houes thing that approximately 99.8% of Baylor students do. Not that there is anything wrong with "SPRRRING BREAAK 2012 DESSSTINNN WOOOOO!!!," but we wanted more than a tan and the same mediocre pictures of us on the beach that overload facebook the following week.  We wanted spontaneity, adventure, and opportunities to grow in our already deep, brother-like bonds with each other. Rumspringa was born.

So, after Baylor finished beating Kansas in the Big 12 tournament (sic 'em) we lazily packed up Sweet Cam (Kevin's Toyota Camry) and left Capitol Hill at 10 pm, driving 16 hours straight to Phoenix to meet up at our dear friend Katelyn Carlo's house. We listened to folk tunes, Nelly's country grammar, Rivers and Roads like 20 times, Macklemore, and Barney Stinson's get psyched playlist (all rise). God bless Spotify premium.  On one sketchy, rainy, west Texas backroad, Kevin avoided a deer by about 5 inches and saved all our lives. We arrived an hour before Baylor played Missouri in the Big 12 championship. Perfect. Mr. Carlo builds houses for a living, so that night we got to hang out at one he is trying to sell; a 3 million dollar house on top of a mountain overlooking the city of Phoenix.  We sat in the hot tub, drank seasonal springtime ale, Smitty did a bellyflop, and we hung out around the outdoor fireplaces next to the infinity pool. Mooching is the key to college road trips.

The next day we drove to Vegas. Tim got naked at a scenic overlook next to the highway, and we stopped at the hoover dam, where Tim kept his clothes on.

road life.

the overlook where Tim pranced around nude

dam

I threw a quarter over the edge of the dam just in time for a huge gust of wind. The quarter dropped 10 ft, spun in the air floating for about 3 seconds and flew up over our heads and over the other side of the dam. It was nuts. If you ever go there, try it.

Vegas was filled with fun, madness, losing money, bright lights, and new friends. One of these new friends is a 60 plus year old man who calls himself, "Jimmy don't care." And Jimmy truly didn't care. Especially when it came to spending money at the craps table. Craps, by the way, is an absolute blast. You know those movie scenes where someone is rolling the dice and is really hot and everyone is around the table screaming (think Rush Hour 2?). We got to be in one of those movie scenes. Even though a win really only meant five dollars, it didn't stop us from yelling things like "SEVENS! "LET IT RIDE!" and my personal favorite "WE ARE BACK!" If you ever go to a Casino in Vegas, which is every building in Vegas, play craps.  You won't regret it.

On a side note, we played roulette with Pauly D. Yup, the Pauly D. The one from that horrible, crude, plotless reality show. Nobody really cared. Except Vesta, who will tell that story until he dies.

Our last night in Las Vegas we went down to Fremont street, also known as Old Vegas. I felt very blessed the night before to hang out with my summer bunkmate from camp, Chris "Rambo" Rihm, and his fiance/my old programs partner Sarah Horsch, who is like a sister to me. Rambo told me Fremont street would be like being in a weird dream. He could not have described it better. Just go. You'll see. Here's a pic of us on it, one of my absolute favorite pictures from the trip for a reason I could not tell you:

Wednesday included a 5 hour drive through the desert to the Grand Canyon. That night I saw down the canyon for the firs time. It was Majesty. Pictures don't do it justice, words don't describe it well. When we got our first view of it, we were all silent for about five minutes, just staring. I turned to my friend Tim, who had already been twice, and said "dude, I'm about to cry." Pure majesty. To think the beautiful canyon is merely a shadow compared to how wonderful our God is. 

We camped that night, and tried to get an early start on the morning...but hit the trail around 10:30 am. With only our fearless leader, Tim Davis, as our tour guide, we ran down South Kaibab trail in 2.5 hours leaving only the 7.5 mile hike back up a different trail. It took us 4.5 hours, a lot of water, and a lot of rest to get back up. Along the way we passed signs like this, which we were quick to ignore:

Here are some other pics from the canyon. I seriously could not stop taking pictures.

old school

The crew post 16 miles 

Oh, by the way. The canyon turns your shoes red. It's pretty tight.

18 hours back to Waco and on to the next wild adventure.

Rumspringa

Today I leave for Spring Break. It will be a week where the rubber hits the pavement, the desert sand hits our skin, the lights shine in our hearts, and another page is added to our storybook.  We have only each other, the One who guides us, and the adventure that lies before us. May it be a week to remember. May we celebrate. Rumspringa.

My first timelapse

So I have been researching how to do timelapse photography for some time now. I have written out and figured out the exact settings for my camera, and how to assemble it in post production. The only thing left to do was make time and go do it. I just kept putting it off, though, even though it was something I really wanted to do. I felt like I needed to make my first timelapse absolutely epic and mindblowing. Then one night at 2 am, in the midst of a storm, I realized that my first time doing something isn't always going to be perfect or turn out amazing.

As my screenwriting teacher once taught me, "the genius comes with time."

You don't get that great shot unless you practice getting a bunch of okay shots before the one. So that stormy night, I decided to shoot my first timelapse. While my roommate Kevin slept on the couch in our living room, I set my camera up on a tripod, placed it on the front porch just barely out of the pouring rain, set the camera to take one shot every 5 seconds and waited. It was short, maybe only 30 minutes in total, but a timelapse none the less.  After I shot it, I threw the 400 or so pictures onto my computer and used Quicktime player 7 to turn them into a 1080p HD movie at 24 frames per second.

Being that it was my frist time, I made some pretty bad errors. I put the video in the wrong resolution, which caused the video to stretch out and look all fat. I also did not take advantage of the high quality picture resolution I got from my camera. A timelapse is always a nicer quality image than an HD video because it is made of stills, which are always better looking than video frames. (If this is hard to understand, pause a video and compare it to a picture you took with your point and shoot camera or iPhone or something. The iPhone pic will look way nicer because it is such a higher resolution) So yea, the timelapse is not great, but that's why it was my first one. It doesn't have to be good, but it is a stepping stone in which I learned a lot.

There are some things that I do like about my first timelapse. I like how you can see the red taillights from passing cars flash across the screen. I like that you can tell when there is an occasional flash of lighting. I also like that it is of good ol 8th street and what I experience everyday looking out onto it. Here is the finished product: Feeling a bit more confident I took my shot (pun intended) at another timelapse. This one is for a behind the scenes video documentary I shot for a short film competition I helped crew (I was lighting supervisor woo hoo).  I thought it would be cool to show our whole crew unloading all the equipment out of beautiful Elsie (my car). I avoided some of the mistakes I made the first time around, changed up the settings for the situation, added a little pan in final cut pro and I am pretty pleased with the results. Check it out here: Next up, star timelapse. Epicness probable.

Title Change

This past summer I worked at a camp where I had the privilege of leading a covenant group of about 10 other counselors. Every cov at camp comes up with clever names, and I wanted ours to be really good. We brainstormed and came up with a lot of good ones. It came down between "Bone cov n' harmony" and "#wildmenofGod."Looking around at the guys in the cov, we all had one thing in common. We all lived our lives pretty wildly.  The group was made up of climbers, musicians, travelers, backpackers, explorers, artists, adventurers, and risk-takers.

However, what made us all really wild was our passionate devotion and commitment to living for Jesus.

Living for Jesus in our eyes doesn't look anything like sitting in a pew bored on Sunday mornings. Living for Jesus is exciting and dangerous. It involves taking risks and living an adventure everyday.  God placed that identity on each of us, so we adopted it as our name.  It was who we wanted be that summer, and for the rest of our lives. Wild men of God.

Which leads me to why I changed the name of my blog after only 6 posts. Well, it's mainly because my hipster, blogosphere, social networking brother Daniel found some random girls blog that had the same title as my old one, and I felt like a poser.  Pretty soon he will find a blog with almost the same title as "The good kind of Wild" and I will be changing again. I'm fine with it, it's another excuse to post. But for now the title stays. And, for know I like it.

I want to be known as a wild man. I want to dispel the myth that following Jesus limits the way we live and the things we are "allowed" to do, but rather that it is freedom to truly live. I want my life to encourage others to live the most radical, exciting, and adventurous life possible. To live wildly for Jesus. It's what being a man is all about. More importantly, it's what being a Christian is all about.

Those who lose their life for my sake will find it.

Matthew 16:25

West?

It's crazy how excited I got when my friend Jake Patterson texted me last night alluding to the fact that he was hungry. The craziest part is that it was a familiar and relatively routine text that gets passed around quite often late on a weekday, in which one of us has a large amount of schoolwork.

For my friends and I it comes from one of us muttering (or now texting) one small word...with a question mark usually attached. "West?" is all that needs to be said, and the answer is almost always yes. Oh and the word is almost always spoken past midnight. Except now we are at the point where Jake can just text me, "getting kinda hungry," like he did last night, and I know exactly what he is talking about.

West, Texas has become a landmark, or even more like a right of passage for Baylor students. There is a bakery called the Czech Stop (open 24/7) that makes the most delicious Kolaches you have ever tasted. In fact, if you google the word Kolache, the most searched item is "Kolaches in West, Texas." However, for my friends and I, food is arbitrary to the trip itself.

Well, okay, I shouldn't go that far. I mean these Kolaches are really freakin' good.

But, the 17 mile trip to West has yielded some of the greatest memories of my college career. So many hilarious moments, new friends made through the trip itself, and some of the most meaningful conversations with my closest friends.  Each visit is unique in itself, the group, the music, the car, the conversations. And I have rolled with some seriously random groups before. Last week I went with my roommate Kevin Smith, my Maastricht traveling companion Kevin Beach (who tagged along via a tweet from Smitty) and my lacrosse/filmnerd buddy Will Meier. All in the car with one main thing in common, a delicious West experience. It truly brings people together.

Last night I had the privilege to accompany a first-time Wester, Clark Jones. I love taking people there for the first time. It reminds me of my first time as a Freshman and takes me back 3 1/2 years ago when everything was new to me. I even tried something new, a cream cheese/pumpkin Kolache. All I can say is YES.

Pure satisfaction for the first time. 

My first Diptic. Sweet app.

The truth is, when I look back on a lot of awesome times in college, West was there. On my way to the airport to leave for the Netherlands, buying Call of Duty at midnight and playing it until 8 am...three years in a row, after so many amazing dates with Jillian up in Fort Worth, rolling in my footie pajamas in a trunk with Cory Hart and 6 others in the car, several Halloweens, and way too many nights with nothing better to do but adventure down highway 35 with the people I love the most.

It's places like West, Texas and the Czech Stop that I love the most about going to Baylor and it's those weird, random adventures that I will miss the most.

Awesomeness: Ok Go

This is one of the coolest things I have seen in a while. While most people use music videos as a way to tell a story, they are usually over produced and go to great lengths to make an average looking artist look spectacular. These guys go to great lengths in exploring new, imaginative thinking when it comes to music videos. I don't know if I will ever be this creative, or have the patience and effort to pull off something like this. But I'm glad there are people who do. Enjoy.

Urban Park

It's January. It's 70 degrees out. And I've been blessed with a schedule that allows me to have a Wednesday at 3 p.m. free to bike into Cameron Park and take some pictures.  Hanging in my hammock, journal in hand, camera bag lying beneath me, my attention is turned to just how fast the world moves.  I forget how constant my Father in heaven is, and how carefully and close He watches over me with His goodness and love.  His rest and peace are necessary for me to live for His Kingdom in a fast-moving and hurting world. A spectacular slice of beauty in the midst of a broken city.  Cameron park is a great metaphor for the way He has taken my heart of sin and made it pure. I am thankful for the reminder that I am known and cared for intimately by my Abba, Father.

Who says Waco isn't beautiful?

Life and Peace

"To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace"

Romans 8:6

God, grant me the ability to constantly dwell upon You. May my thoughts aim towards glorifying Your name, knowing that I will find deep satisfaction in life, and a peaceful rest throughout my day.

Happy MLK Day

Every Christmas our house receives a lot of cleverly crafted and well-put together Christmas cards from our friends/neighbors and their roommates. Our house has skipped over the Christmas card fad for the past couple years and elected to send out the elusive Martin Luther King Jr. Day card. I mean, how often do you get a card to celebrate the wonderful work of the ol' baptist minster Dr. King and his wonderful ministry that fought for justice and equal rights for all.  Here are some of the shots from the MLK photo shoot:

Team pic

gettin coached up

lob city...

vintage ballin'

On a more serious note:

We so often forget that Dr. King's work was fueled by his passion to see the desires of Jesus fulfilled on earth.  One famous quote from the March on Washington speech, "But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream" comes from the bible in the Old Testament, Amos 5:24.  Everything he was and did came from God working through him. So much so that he was eventually martyred for it. Imagine the things we can do with faith and courage like Martin Luther King Jr.

How am I called to administer justice in the way Jesus and so many Saints did? How do I pursue God's desires and stand up for the Kingdom in a broken world?

Some things to think about on a weekend to celebrate one of the greatest Christian leaders in American history.

2011 Year in Review (thanks Rebecca)

In the spirit of a blogging tradition of my sister's where she recaps here past two years in photos, I have decided to do the same with my inaugural blog post.

The moments from 2011 that I will remember the most are:

ringing in the 2011 with ma gal

her first visit to the Chi

Capitol Hill activities for Kevs bday

my home for the spring semester

a week in London

Amsterdam fun

European death hockey

Travel buddies strolling the streets of Paris

Copenhagen frigidness

Carnival!...and Beach

The land of William Wallace

stealing Rebecca's friends. she's that awesome

Irish wonderment

training everywhere. in style.

a spontaneous trip to Switzerland after a missed train to Prague. perfect.

skiing the Alps.

Barcelona, the start of a 3 week backpacking excursion

the places He brought me. 

Cinque.

new friends and travel companions.

a spontaneous trip to the Greek islands

Santorini, the perfect finish line to an amazing three months

home for easter with the fam. mom and aunt twinkies.

Back to Texas. Capitol Hill crazy scavenger hunt in Austin

this happening

road trip out to Colorado with my Jillionaire

Snowpacalypse up at Camp Timberline

summer friends, amazing disciples, and epic tanks.
4th of July, the best day of the summer.

pops visit to me up at camp

my two sisters for the summer

#wildmenofGod

a slice of heaven.

finishing the summer off by conquering Longs Peak.
(it only took me 2 tries)

beating the girlfriends football team.
the start of my last year at Baylor.

mommas new hubbie Paul

J-illy visiting for a Chicago fall 

the first ever Baylor win versus OU.
and a well-earned field rush.

daily learning and growth in my major

being home for Thanksgiving with the ones I love the most

reuniting with old friends

this guy.
and this guy

watching Father move in jr. high students

our last BU football game as students

an RG3 Heisman victory celebration

the three best friends anyone could have

joyful Christmas time

family moments

2011 was one adventure after another, and each one brought me to a greater reflection of the glory of God and His son Jesus Christ. He has revealed Himself to me in more great and beautiful ways, and what a story He is writing with my life.  May 2012 be about making Him increase and me decrease. May He receive the glory and fame that are due to Him through my life. 

If you actually made it through all those pictures I give you mad props. Even bigger props if you watched several of the hidden links. I promise this blog will not have another post in this photojournal style for a long time. In the future I aim to conjure up some words and bring forth a relevant thought or two.

Happy reading.