Find Me Lost In Your Grace.

I had woken up Wednesday morning after going to bed early Tuesday night. Tuesday for all of it I had felt anxious, and just a sense of heaviness and darkness had come over our nation. There seemed to be a lingering oppression of politics and the control it had on people. It had been in the air for months and had been considered "coming to a close" on November 8th. However I have seen hopes of that passing statement backlash more than my eyes and heart could simple bare.

Since when has our nation become a seeming dictatorship and anarchy through social media and the public? Where has our respect for eachothers opinions and the grace of accepting and gaining perspective, respectfully, for those around us.

In speaking with friends We have all agreed that it has been one of the hardest decisions we have ever had to make, while in the midst of that honest decision we feel we can't discuss it for fear of being judged and spoken down upon for the outcome we have decided on.

We have had people elected to office before that have not been liked by everyone. It is the history of our country. Republican and Democrats. So what is different? Why does this election seem so much worse? Because it is highlighted by MEDIA. We choose to believe what we see more than we research what we see. Things are blown up and words thrown. What else is different? The generations who are in the voting majority.

Now I'm not saying that my generation is better or worse than the baby boomers or Gen-X, however, there is some kind of stigma and lack of respect I honestly feel like areas of each generation take for granted or fully over react. which then call in the stereo-types and judgement. Through these reactions we ultimately loose our freedom a little bit more here and there. Bringing me to say, "This is why we can't have nice things".

"When nothing is owed or deserved or expected

And your life doesn't change by the man that's elected

If you're loved by someone, you're never rejected

Decide what to be and go be it" -The Avett Brothers "Head Full of Doubt"

 The thing that I simply CAN simply understand is that Satan has taken a strong hold on a lot of people through this entire election season. People commenting and counter reacting to other opinions as if the harshness of the words being thrown will change peoples hearts and minds... Only God can change the hearts of Kings!

"My dear wormwood,

Be sure that the patient remains completely fixated on politics. Arguments, political gossip, and obsessing on faults of people they have never met serves as an excellent distraction from advancing in personal virtue, character, and things the patient can control. Make sure to keep the patient in constant state of angst, frustration, and general disdain towards the rest of the human race in order to avoid any kind of charity or inner peace from further developing. Ensure the patient continues to believe that the problem is "out there" in the "broken system" rather than recognizing there is a problem with himself.

Keep up the good work,
Uncle Screwtape."

"Screwtape Letters" by C.S. Lewis- 1942


These things are known to be true:
-We still live in a great country
-We have the ability and opportunity to start afresh.
-Our President elect still needs to go through others in order to change things.
-God was is control
-God IS in control
-God will ALWAYS be in control

Truth: He (my God) is not surprised by any of this. Through it all he still just wants his children back. He is fighting for us and the controls are in his hands. Not Trumps, Not Clintons.... Gods. He will make a way.




"I fall down upon the ground
Press my face against the earth
Till my heart it rises over my head

As the wheat it bows down low
When the autumn wind blows
Kneel before the One I love

Find me grateful
Find me thankful
Find me on my knees
Find me Dreaming
Find me singing
Find me lost in Your grace"
-Find Me: Jonathan David Helser

Not Without Coups Baby... A 30th Birthday Greeting.

There is something to be said about friends. They enter our lives in all kinds of ways. They impact our lives more than we ever could imagine. They teach us about who we are, who we want to be like and help us to go into better versions of ourselves.

Friends speak truth, speak life, and speak grace into our lives. Friends are brutally honest with us and show us the bitter things that hold us down so that we can swallow the pride, humble ourselves and be set free to grow and love more deeply. Gods vessels speaking life and love and acceptance into us when we don't feel worth anything. Friends lift us up when we are down and literally make us pee our pants from laughing so hard... Friends are interwoven into our lives for reasons we don't understand. Trials come in and out pulling the ties even tighter so that bonds are unable to be broken and love, unconditional love, saturates to protect and highlight the incredible strength that is relationship and family.

And in these passing years I am finding it boggling that we are turning 30. Not in a terrifying sense of getting older. Not in a depressing sense because culture and society thinks our youth is lost at 30. Perhaps I thought I would never make it to 30. I never imagined us as 30. But here we are.

Ry, I can't believe we are here. I can't believe we are living out our dreams and thrills of what we would talk about cruising in your Jetta on summer nights in Scranton. I can't believe we have such incredible men in our lives who strive and thrive as our best friends and who challenge us in those same attributes.

Happy Birthday to a lady who literally does it all and dances while doing it. Your heart overfloweth.

Happy 30th Birthday Ry!
(be warned these photos are VERY old... Some of them.)

 -Keep Adventuring.