"I Dare You To Move"

"I dare you to lift yourself up off the floor."

I feel like the man who wrote those lyrics has been in my size 8 shoes. Not just that song, but every song that he sang I related to. I cried during one song, I smiled through a few others, and I shouted and danced to the majority of them. The song that produced tears wasn't sad, but it brought me back to that moment in my life that I NEVER want to revisit (although i remember it at least once a week). Yesterday was the eerily perfect day to be reminded of all these lyrics. The incident that occurred brought me crashing back to that day. Those two days. The days that brought so much pain i broke down. I don't know the boy, but I know how he feels, and while I listened, I knew I needed to let this kid know he wasn't alone like how I thought I was. But with this memory I also felt happiness. I listened to the lyrics again for the millionth time and thought "well look how I changed for the better!" The song, although not musically great, was moving. Remebering how I reversed the tragedy was encouraging. I had to pick myself up off the floor and glut the pieces together again. The rest of the night was amazing as I spent it with people that I knew were feeling remotely like I was. Needless to say, Switchfoot had one of the greatest performances I've ever seen.

Before the show, I was also given the opportunity to help the community with 106.5 collecting toys for the Kids of the Carolinas. There wasn't much outcome, like the Turkey Ball can drive. I was kind of disappointed that not many people brought stuff, but I did get to meet Kim from the promotions department (who ironically also went to my high school a few years ago) and work with Sheila and Jack Daniels again.

Vidor Like Spider

 Don, Nate, Kari, Eric, Coach, Brandon, KB, Mel, Steph, Paige, Danielle, Megan, Ryan, Sam, Devon, Jared, and Rob. The 18 hour car ride from Vidor, Texas back to Charlotte, North Carolina ended about an hour ago, and after hearing some of the (incredibly touching) blogs from the other guys I decided to write my own. One of the first sentences said as we pulled into the UCF offices was "Alright, time to turn around." It was meant as a joke, but I wish I could do just that. It's been two years (exactly) since I've been on my last mission trip, and I remember now how necessary they are. Recently devastated by hurricane Ike, the Texas coast is now being rebuilt from the ground up. Half of us helped to rebuild a church's children's center while the other half worked on rebuilding a mans house that was under 4 1/2 feet of water. Steve is the man's brother, and I could not think of a more deserving man to get the help we gladly offered. I personally only worked with him for one day, but in those 12 hours (which I might add pushed the 5 crazy people who agreed to not quit to the brink of insanity) I saw how happy he was to help and the wonderful personality that never let any sort of anger or frustration show. The work was difficult, but after deciding to work for God and God only, the days passed quickly and easily. Aside from the job-spots, I couldn't have asked to be with a better group of people. They are all very insightful and I know that I learned more than most people learn in a couple years in just those 5 days. The first and the last days were, to me, the most important. On day 1, we all got together at the end of the day and shared our "rocks and rubies." Hearing how everyone praised each other for a good days work gave me an optimistic outlook for the coming days. Just a few hours ago, two guys read their blogs about the trip which showcased their happiness, thoughts, and concerns. Halfway through one of them I just broke down. The hardest part of the week-long trip was not seeing the damage or lifting sheet rock, it was continuing to mend and strengthen my relationship with God. With the shoulder of a new friend to cry  on, I prayed the most real prayer of my life. I decided to start living all of my life for Him.
In the Second Baptist Church I learned how to use power tools and how to be a part of a team. In Steve's house I learned what it's like to work for the Lord. In the rented Ford E-350 I experienced one of the happiest moments of my life. During the mission trip, the 17 other UCF representatives "now know each other like no other." Through Nehemiah's Vision "we his servents will start rebuilding." Nehemiah 2:20