Prescott vs. Habitat For Humanity

Waking up this morning to a voice mail for my awesome roommate, Mark, was a wonder in itself. It went a little something like this;


"Chris Joy, wake your lazy butt up and come out to the church to do some 'REAL MENS' work."

The day before I was planning on going out to the Baton Rouge Dream Center to help out with restorations to Prescott's, a innercity school, gymnasium. But while at FNL last night, I found out that pretty much the entire church, HPC, was going out to help out. This pretty much included the entire youth party, and I didn't feel like dealing with the chaos.

So, I decided to head on out to help out with Habitat for Humanity. We had about a 10-15 HPC crew out there, and we laid down sod, turf and the part of the soil beneath it held together by the roots, for 3 homes. We laughed, JP whined (wink), Grey did his 'New Kids On The Block' thing, and Mark did flips when he found out he got a part in an upcoming Play.

Becoming The Archetype

Such An Aspiring Christian Death Metal Band. Yeah, The Genre Doesn't Really Sound Too Christian, But It's Just A Genre.

Becoming The Archetype - Endure

This life is an open wound that will not heal.
I cry out to God with all of my strength.
Desperately, I reach for Him in the night.
This misery keeps my eyes from closing,
keeps my mouth from being able to speak.
Is this as far as the arm of God extends?
Has the fire burned itself out?
There is no profit in this way of thinking.
I must escape this frame of mind.
The source of all creation is inside of me.
And when I think of all He has done,
when I consider all that He is, I am complete.

A HotT Date

What a glorious day. Work went by well without too many users breaking my printers. Ended up only taking a half hour lunch, so I got to leave at 4:30. I started a gym membership yesterday, and worked out for the first time in a couple of years. I'm targeting for negative 20lbs. by 2008. Mary Beth is required to work out 3 days a week while doing Elevate, and her target is going to make us the hottest couple at HPC.

Johnny Green taught tonight about relationship, mostly marriages, and just thinking about how Mary Beth and I will be married one day just makes me so excited about life, and how amazing God has, and will, bless both of us.

The lack of sleep Mary Beth had been getting finally caught up with her, and she had to miss church because she could barely get home without falling asleep. She was still able to meet me for our date at Ruffino's. I'm SO glad I made reservations...it was PACKED! Anyways, everything was PERFECT, and well worth the bit of dinero.

I'm so glad I decided to stop thinking of Elevate as an obstacle for me being able to see Mary Beth, and realize Elevate is going to be the best thing both have done with our lives. I'm willing to sacrifice 9 months of not dating Mary Beth, even though it will be hard, but I know our relationship is going to glorify God more than anything we could ever do when we get through this. I have no doubt in my mind that God created her for me, and vice-versa. I'm still praying that it's God's will for us to still be able to date, but 9 months is nothing compared to a lifetime I will be spending growing with her.

Revelation

Waking up bitter can screw up any positive day God has planned for you. I didn't know what it was, but I couldn't shake the feeling that if I didn't open my ears and shut my mouth then I would be left in the dust. I was a few minutes late to work, because I turned off my cell promising myself it wouldn't be turned on until tomorrow. See, I sleep so deep it takes my cell phone alarm plus my normal alarm to wake me. If you read my last post it explains a few things, and I just knew that if Mary Beth couldn't contact me then I would 'win.' How I was so, so wrong. I was driving to work, usually takes 20-25 minutes, and I had the sudden urge to take out the Christian Metal, and listen to my Creative Zen, which has Worship music on it.

Every thought in my mind was still going a million miles/hour, until a song came on, and placed me in a different realm, spiritually. Hillsong's 'From The Inside Out' was that song. It hit me like a ton of bricks. I was crying out for change, but not to God, until that moment. I broke down, physically, mentally, and spiritually. I couldn't keep my mind on anything but God. I was screaming out to God, shedding more tears then I've ever shed before, and more than likely looking like a mad man to the people driving past me. It's a miracle in itself that I made it to work without ramming someone off the road.

I got Revelation. This morning God promised me that Mary Beth and I are going to grow together. Grow closer to Him, therefore closer to each other. He showed me that if I continue to do things I was doing, I will lose Mary Beth, and more importantly, my faith. God has HUGE plans for Mary Beth and myself, some personally, but most of them are meant for us to conquer together. I refuse to let the enemy control my thoughts, and the way I was being selfish. I refuse to let Mary Beth slip from me because of pride. I refuse to stray from the flock, because the grass 'looks greener on the other side.'

I want, and am willing to let, Christ consume me from the inside-out. Even though I will stumble and fall, Jesus, will always forgive me, because I will always come boldly to His throne. Humanity is different. If I were to continue to stumble and hurt Mary Beth, I bet she would get tired of it. I refuse to let the enemy take my future bride from me. Satan is trying his hardest, because he knows that if we continue to walk the path of salvation together, then we'll be an unstoppable force in God's army.

I love you Mary Beth Guedry, and I'll stop at nothing to show my love for Christ Jesus and you. I'm not afraid anymore of the future, and the past has no control over me. I'll call on the name of Jesus until my time is done here on earth, and I'm done fighting the good fight.

Passive Aggressive

So, I spent Sunday after church with my beautiful girlfriend, Marybeth. I call her today to ask if she wanted to hang out today, but she said Joy already asked her to come over. I got pretty upset, considering that Marybeth is going into Elevate, ministry internship, and will be spending 9 fully awake months with Joy, and maybe one day a month with me. I got past the selfishness of the whole ordeal, that is, until tonight. God, control my lips, my thoughts, and my behavior. She called me passive aggressive because I was letting her know that I was hurt, but I don't think that applies. I just hurts me that thinking back 2 months ago, she couldn't go a day without seeing me. Now, she's satisfied with 10 hours a week. I miss Marybeth, and the times we shared. I kind of figured she'd want to spend as much time as possible together before a calling of Christ is taking 20 hours/day of her life for 9 months. If that's selfish, I'm guilty. I'm sorry for wanting to spend time with her...