I can feel it this time. I’m leaving. I don’t know when I’ll be back. They are proud of me. That’s pretty cool. Each time I look at them, they don’t know it, but I’m thinking about how much I’m going to miss them.

I think about living away from my family, though I’m nervous I am also super excited. I can’t wait for them to have a new vacation spot. I can’t wait to show them the precious town of Cheraw! I can’t wait enjoy their company after they travel.

This time I can feel it. That tug on your heart that you get when you know you’re not going to see someone for awhile. I know that I’ll miss them. But I look forward to my new family and the community I’m joining. I am excited to learn about new people. I am excited to, as a pastor friend of mine puts it, to earn coin. I am ready to help guide students to find the love and grace of a gracious Creator-God! I am ready to teach about a radical carpenter who taught a powerful message of forgiveness, mercy, and compassion. I am ready to spear the kingdom of God to all ends of the earth.

This time I feel it.

Over the last year, I have lived in a suit case. This began in Jerusalem, I study abroad for five weeks, it was the most beautiful place I have ever seen. After studying abroad, I traveled home. Home is a good place, only after say a week of being in there my voice gets lost, this isn’t a bad thing, it just sometimes hurts. However, I love being around my family, they get me (well some do) or they at least try to get me. My family knows my dreams, and are finally seeing them pay off.

After traveling home I went to spend New Years with My fiancée and her family. During this period we had the most traumatic experience of our lives happen, My sister-in-law passed away. She was the best! I Remember some of the stories she would tell me and still get tickled every time I think about them. One of my favorite quotes from her family was this, “she was a pain in the butt, but she was our pain in the butt.” I love her. I love her daughter as well. I spent four months with them, I tried helping out around the house, taking the garbage out every day and all of the garbage out every wednesday nights. I played with the baby as much as I could. I tried my hardest to be strong, for Rebekah and myself. I still try.

The four months where hard, there where ups and downs. Every day was different. New challenges. New experiences. I would do anything to have Rachel back. I would love to see how she looked at her baby as she grew, and she is growing. Rachel you should see her, she’s just like you and I love it.

After my stay with my future in-laws, I went back home to florida and waited. I had been accepted as the Student ministry intern at First United Methodist Church in Jefferson City, MO. Upon my waiting my parents suggested I go and work for my uncle in Kentucky. I drove from Florida to Georgia and spend a few days at my future in-laws house. When I arrived in Kentucky I started working for my families furniture business that was a great two weeks. I enjoyed working for them. I lived with my grandparents, they are so much fun to be around. I spend time with family, with cousins.

After my stay in Kentucky I ventured off to Missouri. Missouri was the best experience of my life so far. From working with one of my best friends, Chris you are a great friend and a wonderful boss, thanks for letting me shadow you for a few weeks. The greatest part of the job was that I had the ability to built relationships with some of the coolest kids in the world! From going to camps, to playing line tag, to giving food to people, it was wonderful. Because of Jeff City I found and renewed my love for loving God, students, and creativity!

After Jeff City I’ve been driving nonstop trying to find a job, from Kentucky to Florida to South Carolina.

Today I can say this vagabond is tired, ready to get married, and ready to start working with my new community in Cheraw, South Carolina! Thank you everyone who I’ve talked to this year, you mean more than words I can type. you are amazing!

Thank you family! Thank you Rebekah! Thank you Chris! Thank you First United Youth! Thank you Cheraw!

See you all soon.

I am so excited about community. Community represents the growth of the universal church. When we forget to welcome someone we ignore God. One of my favorite passages of scriptures deals with this. Jesus is talking to his disciples about the coming Kingdom of God. He tells them that When the Savior of the world comes in his glory he will separate the sheep and the goats. He will tell the sheep to come with him for they are blessed and will receive their inheritance.

The reason the where blessed, Jesus goes on to say, is because they fed him when he was hungry, they gave him water when he was thirsty, they gave him clothes when he was naked, and they gave him shelter when he needed a place to lay his head.

When Jesus mentioned this a righteous man asked, “When did we see you?”

the savior responds by saying, “When ever you reached out to someone, when ever you helped the least of these, you helped me.”  (Matthew 25. 31-46)

Community isn’t just about helping a stranger it is about growing the kingdom of God. Even when the stranger may not believe in god, it furthers his cause. Love every one!

Communities are what create. People who live around us are apart of a greater whole within our souls. I know we may be afraid of talking to someone about God, heck I’m terrified about, I hate rejection, but that’s not what is asked of us. What is asked is that we feed the hungry, give someone who is thirsty a drink, give a bed to someone who needs a place to stay, and give clothes to those who need them.

I’ve grown up in communities that teach you to go through the sinners prayer and that’s it. I don’t want to be that person, I want to help foster the movement of a Saving King, I want to be a person who helps those in need.

What about you? do you want to help those? or are you going to sit around? I hope you  choose to do something. There are so many ways you can give to your community. You can volunteer at local food shelters, soup kitchens, homeless shelter, thrift stores, nursing homes, boys and girls clubs, and so many other areas. I urge you to find out what you can do in your community.

Serve God in any capacity that you can. Become a sheep. Love others. Cultivate a Community.

May you go forth and become stewards of your earth.

May you go forth and be bringers of the God-colors’!

Grace and Peace.

*Side Note: Community: the coming together of people groups joining for a moment. Communities: the area around that in which you live.

What if we where that committed? What if when we shared a meal, or a cup of coffee, we create a friendship that lasts half a lifetime. When we drink or eat together we are offering more than just a simple, “hey how are ya?” We are expressing something that may not even be surface level, we are expressing something that shows our insecurities. Seriously have you have watched someone eat? Eating and drinking open up our true selves.

So many times I’ve had enlightening conversations sitting outside a Starbucks at one o’clock in the morning. The friends I have made through these conversations push me. They each push me in new and different ways. Some push me to wanting to be a better person, some push me to want to be a better student, some push me to be a better writer, and others have pushed me to express my frustrations.

Through coffee, or tea, or a meal we can learn relationships. We can learn what it means to be vulnerable, what it means to cut loose.

I also enjoy this turkish proverb “Coffee should be black as Hell, strong as death, and sweet as love.” People aren’t perfect, just like coffee. People are bitter, people are strong willed, people can be sweet, some can leave a bad after taste, and some can be just a wonderful experience. I don’t want to say all of this just to make some stupid point of how you relate to coffee, because truly, you may not relate at all. You could be a person that never partakes in any meals, coffee, or tea. You may have never have been invited to grab a cup. I want to apologize for this.

*Side Note: If have never grabbed a cup with me, I welcome you to say something, it would be a pleasure to cultivate a new friendship.

Through tonight’s blog I hope to instill within you to invite a person to a meal. Jesus, himself, went and ate meals with the local pariah of his day, so why shouldn’t we? Find a friend, take them for a cup (your treat of course) or just take them somewhere and sit down talk awhile.

Coffee or the like can bring new friendships and can transform old ones. I hope that we may become people who give a meal, a cup, or whatever you can to create friends, and to create new family members. I hope that we can become people who follow our favorite jewish carpenter, and eat with the ones who need a meal and a conversation.

May you go forth and Create love through your coffee, tea, or meal.

May you go forth and be givers of Christ’s love.

Grace and Peace.

This idea of expression has been on my mind a lot lately. I think about what it would be like to be a kid again and trying to figure what my parents where trying to say through a hand motion, a wink, or a nod.

Try to go back with me, to your own childhood of course, do you remember all of the movies you watched as a kid and you thought where really funny, but when you grew up they where a lot more perverted. I loved roger rabbit, but going back to it in recent years, I’m surprised I was even allowed to watch it.

I remember a time when I was trying to find out what prayer was, praying with the Holy Spirit. I remember weeping in front of God, and then I saw that my friends where laughing and having a good time. So I told God I didn’t want to cry anymore, I made myself leave that feeling and I joined my friends in laughing. We laughed so hard and I had no clue why. I got carried away thinking I was more spiritual because I was laughing harder than all of my other friends. My father came up to me kneeled town and said, “Brandon, when you pray don’t fake it. It’s not appropriate to fake this.” I have never forgotten that moment.

Years later, at a very pentecostal school, I saw people who where genuinely worshiping God with all of their hearts. I joined in, I participated. There are times now that I think that I’ve become too strict in my thoughts of how the Holy Spirit works, what I forget is that the Holy Spirit is air, breath, wind.

This wind is a movable object that can sway to and fro. Pneuma is a source of strength, but also a source of softness. Some of my theology has changed over the years and I know that. I also know that my theology is not the forerunner of my life. What is, is that I love God, I love people, and I do my best to serve both.

I believe that through our expressions we learn not to fake what we are doing, if that’s prayer, writing, painting, or any other form. what we learn is that we are creative beings, who just are.

Through our creativity and expression we establish something that others can admire. we establish something we can admire in ourselves.

Do you ever feel fake? I know I do at points. Let’s try to live for each other, for the expressions we can pass on to future family members and friends. Let’s enjoy the way we where made and fight to find our expressiveness.

Create and express who you are.

I continue the challenge of words by expressing grace towards my sister for allowing me a chance to recover from my travels this weekend, in response to this I will try to finish one thousand words tonight. I really to appreciate you sis, I miss you so much already. I am sorry if I didn’t hang out with you as much while I was in florida. You mean the world to me and I am privileged to be duking it out with you and these free flowing words.

If i could take a minute of your time, I would love to talk about family.

My family means more to me than they’ll ever know, not a day goes by that I don’t think what’s going on. I check facebook attentively to find out what they are doing. I know that I am lousy when it comes to making phone calls to you. I am sorry for that.

I love my mother: she is one of the biggest inspirations in my life without her I’d make it no where, she’s constantly on my tail about everything, when we do talk, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

I love my father: dad is the kind of guy you want to know, if you don’t already. He’s a man who when he says something it’s either really profound, or really funny. He’s my best friend. He has been a good dad, and a great friend.

I love my sister, Megan: she is something. from the two periods in our lives when we where roommates to now, she is still someone I will always trust. When I think about Megan I think about two things; the sweet girl who helped me get over my nightmares by making a dream machine, and the mean girl, who just days before Christmas, kicked me square up in the balls.

I love my brother-in-law, Bruce: Florida State.

I love my sister, Jessica: without her coming first in our family I would be lost. She is the funniest person in the room. Thank you, for seeing my dreams. Thank you for the wisdom you’ve given me, that I haven’t always listened to, but loved. When I think about Jessica, I think about a person who will accomplish all of her dreams! I also think about the time you called me an asshole and jumped out of a moving vehicle. good times.

To my family: Without you I would not love God, without you I would not love people, without you I would not love education. Thank you all so much for supporting me and my endeavor to become of director of student ministries. I love you all so much, so much. I wish the words out of my mouth could express everything you’ve meant to be, but they can’t.

With out you all I would be dull.

I love you guys.

The rest of the trip, after nine-forty-five, was a blur. Rebekah, my fiancee, took over the driving duties. We arrived in Cheraw, South Carolina at two p.m. Checked into our hotel rooms and took naps. She said she slept well in her room, myself however just read some of my book and played baseball on my iPhone.

We decided that would explore the town, we got ready and went to look at the Church I’m interviewing with tomorrow afternoon. The Church was gorgeous; white wood surrounding the whole campus, which took up the size of a wal-mart super centers parking lot, there is a separate building for their boy scouts troop, which looks super cool and manly. There are class rooms for a preschool and Sunday school. The church is located in a historic district, where all the houses in the neighborhood seem to be either from Gone with the Wind or Mary Poppins. There are trees that encompass everything around the historic district. The sun shines on the houses perfectly.

A fun fact about the town of Cheraw is it is the birth place of Dizzy Gillespie, there is a park dedicated to him and his music.

After our journey around the town of Cheraw we realized it was time for dinner, we found this nice Japanese restaurant, I ordered steak and chicken, Rebekah ordered chicken, it was delightful. If you know anything about the Gilmore Girls then this town is so Stars Hallow. It’s quaint little and the only thing there is to do is watch people, and do fun events in the community.

After dinner we came back to our hotel and thought, “My wouldn’t it be fun to drive another hour and a half just to go to Charlotte, North Carolina.” and so we did. We went, saw it turned around and came right back.

This day has been full of adventures! Waking up early to come to a job interview on a whim that this might be what we’ve been praying for, for so long, an Adventure in exploring the lovely town of Cheraw, and an adventure driving to Charlotte and coming right back. What a day! I can’t wait for tomorrow. I’m excited, nervous, and ready to let someone know I’m for real about serving Jesus and loving and mentoring students.

Till next time,

Your favorite fighter,

Brandon

I want to stop pretending I can get the right job and actually do it. Not for a pay check, even though that would be amazing, but for the sheer fact that I genuinely want to love students! I want to show them how to love God and to love people. If you asked anyone I have ever worked with in student ministry they can tell you I have this odd innate way of connecting to students. I enjoy sharing my light with them (Matt 5. 13-15).

I went to Southeastern University to become a music minister, while I was there, I truly believe I herd from God that that was not the way I was supposed to go. I really believe God directed me to change my major so that one day I can become a missionary to the students of the world. However, in my mind, I don’t believe that I can be a missionary without serving my country first.

I have learned many things attending a Christian university, but the most important things I have learned over the last few months is that Students; no matter what grade, age, or clique they are apart of, just want to be loved, and want someone to listen to their story.

I wish there were more people willing to listen to their stories. I wish it wasn’t all about, “Your an A Type personality, you will energize our youth for Jesus,” and more about, “you seem like the person who would invest in their lives. You seem like the person whose willing to listen.” I want to be that person. I am going to be that person.

Being a Christ follower, I want to listen to the people around me but I don’t want to stop their. I want to listen to the ones who have been kicked and beaten in by the church, I want to be there and help anyone who has been hurt by anyone. I want to say to some people, “Haven’t you learned God desires mercy and love instead of mundane ritual practices” (Hosea 6.6).

I know my words are useless without action. I promise to you, dear reader of fisticuff of words, that I will strive to become a person of integrity, a person who will stand for my beliefs, a person whose ear is always open to you. I mean that. If you ever need someone to talk to call me, if you don’t have my number leave a comment, my ear is open. I’m ready to hear your story.

And I am ready to begin mine.

Now I’m sitting in a room almost twenty-four house later watching something that is so much greater than anything else that will ever grace the presence of television, Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi. This movie is foundational to all men. This movie is foundational to all people. Without Star Wars there would not be as many fun pop culture references in movies, comic books, books, and our general day to day routine.

Star Wars is a my favorite saga. With Star Wars there are so many quotes from the obvious “Luke, I am your Father,” “I am C-3P0 human Cyborg relations,” to the not so obvious, “boba fet, bob fet, where?” “echawawa” and so many more.

Tonight I’m leaving this a little short to embrace both my past and my future. I am also eating tostino’s pizza rolls.

Sorry sis, tonight I fail you but I promise to make it up.