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?"

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.

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.