School and The Hunt

Today is registration day for Spring 2007. I am looking over my transcript and coming to the realization that I don't have too many more classes. I will be a Senior at Texas State in December and most of my important classes will be complete. I still need to work on my foreign language, but they only meet on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I am going to see an advisor in about an hour to figure out whatelse I can take and than register at noon.

Yesterday evening, we participated in The Hunt at church. The Hunt was a city wide scavenger hunt that included tasks as simple as reading the marquee at the theater, to knocking on someone's door offering to take out their trash. Kari and I cruised around with six Junior High Boys in an attempt at gaining first prize. The competition included two other Jr. High teams, the Freshmen, Sophomore them, and the Seniors. The points were totaled up and my team ranked last. We are claiming that the Seniors driver sped! It was a wonderful time that ended with a deep closing thought. Nic told the students that we just spent an hour having fun, fellowshipping, and that's what the evening was planned for. But we chased after meaningless items in a effort to claim victory. What if we chased after God that way and we did as Jesus commanded, "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" (Matthew 28:19). Spreading his name among the nations, your neighbors, your co-workers and even complete strangers. Christ has commanded that we not keep our relationship with Jesus a secret, but share to everyone. It is not a recommendation, suggestion nor an optional thing, but a command. Jesus was speaking to the eleven disciples in this passage. Jesus does not charge one with this task, but all of the men standing before him. There were no personality test that told him that only Peter was set aside to spread the Gospel, but charged each of them to spread His name. God uses our testimonies and the Holy Spirit moves among unbelievers that spreads His name among the nations and brings glory to God. Tell a neighbor or a friend, that God loves them and that by Christ's blood they can be saved. God Bless

The Night of October 21, 2006

October 21st began as most Saturday's of mine begin, sleeping in as long as possible. I made it till about 11:30am and began my day with plans of asking someone special a very important question. Kari and I were in Milano visiting her mom and when we are in the area she loves to visit her grandparents. We left Milano after I got out of bed and visited her grandparents. With many thoughts rushing through my headed I need to prepare for the evening and clear my head. Kari had suggested earlier that I meet up with JMob and get her oil changed. I left her grandparent to get the oil changed and hang out with JMob. We went to the mall and bought matching Detroit Tigers hats in our continued support of Major League Baseball (We are not rooting for St. Louis because the Astros are sitting at the house!) We previewed a potential location for the BIG question, but I was still uncertain of how everything would happen. I love giving surprise and with that in the back of my mind, I knew that I had to make her think one thing, while doing another. Back at her grandparents house, I quickly insisted on going to her favorite restaurant Casa Ole, instead of Johnny Carino's (a more romantic spot). In addition to this curveball, I invited JMob and our mutual friend Beth to join us for Mexican food. It was a good dinner, (bad service) but free ice cream. We walked in the mall for a little bit, but decided to get in the car and find a place to hang out. A stroll in the park was suggested and I drove the group to Wolf Creek Pen (this is the park JMob and I scouted earlier that day). We stared to walk and near Johnny Carino's Kari and Beth decided to go use the restroom. This gave JMob and I an opportunity to run across the park back to the car to get some items I wanted to use for the question. After a few moments of running, I was out of breath and threw the car keys to JMob and said, "Grab the black back pack!" He ran ahead and met me at the bridge we selected. I took ten candles and lined them along the bridge leading towards the end of the bridge. I gave JMob my video camera and we both hid. Beth called JMob and asked, "Where are you guys?" JMob let her know the game was in motion and to come back to the car. With intention of Kari seeing the candles, we waiting in hiding for Kari to arrive. When they came around the bend, both Beth and Kari noticed the candles. Kari asked, "Are those for me?" Beth encouraged her to find out what was on the bridge and Beth hung behind. Kari proceed down the path and turned around to find JMob following her with my video camera and Beth jumping in the bushes to spy the ordeal. As she walked across the bridge, I waited in the bushes for the right moment to reveal myself. When she reached the last candle I came out of hiding and presented myself. She was smiling and I gave her a hug and told her, "I have to ask you something important, but I can't do it standing." I took a knee before her and held her hand. I said, "Kari D. Davenport, I knew from the day that I met you, you were someone special. I love you. Will you marry me?" She glowed with excitement and asked, "Do I say yes now?" I replied, "wait just a moment." I reached into my pocket to reveal a small black box. I opened it and presented the ring I had purchased. She handed the box back and said, "Will you put it on?" I took the box back and took the ring out. I held her hand and than slipped the ring on her finger. She looked me in the eyes and said, "Yes." It was a wonderful evening and one we both will never forget. We both thank you for your encouragement, kind words and prayers. God Bless.

Coffee is delightful and so is God!

As I sit in the Coffee Pot Espresso Bar on the Square in San Marcos, I am content with my surroundings and current state of relaxation. Although the re-mix version of Johnny Cash's One Piece at a Time (the CD is skipping) plays over the coffee house speakers, I find myself looking forward to this evenings bible study. We will be taking a look at Ephesians 2. I have encouraged everyone to try and read it at least once a day, but many times we find ourselves too busy. Since, last Tuesday, I have only read the passage four times, but in those four readings something different has caught my attention. Frankly, in the first reading, I am not sure if I got anything at all, but I am certain the following three times I was able to glean some valuable insights into how Christ would have us live. It is an encouragement to know that Christ is our cornerstone, in which we can built our life on. It says in Ephesians 2:19-20 we are "fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone." We are adopted into God's family through the blood of Jesus Christ, and nothing can take that away from us. We are apart of a family that should be loving, caring, helping, and encouraging one another daily. With Christ as the center of our lives, we experience freedom, love, redemption and many other blessings. This freedom I bask in this morning at the coffee shop is granted by the Almighty and I am thankful for that today. I hope that each of you will find this contentment in the Lord Jesus. Have a blessed day.

Randomness

Kari and I were head back to her place, when we saw a young man by the old fish hatchery on campus. The campus contains some of the first fish hatcheries in Texas. Upon closer look, the young man seemed to be casting something into the pond. It became evident that he was fly fishing in the old fish hatchery on campus. I am unsure of the legality of this, but am pretty certain, those historic ponds are protected by some law. I guess if he was throwing his catch back, it is not that bad!

We played Capture the Flag on Saturday night with twelve students in Cedar Creek. There are a few stories to share from that event:

I had built a camp fire for our group to sit around as well as cook hot dogs. We broke out the cold hot dogs and told the kids to find a stick or something to cook their hot dogs on. Victoria, a seventh grader, exclaimed, "Is that sanitary?!?" It was a priceless moment from one of the "city kids."

Later that evening, we were in the battle field playing Capture the Flag. For those not familiar, each team has a jail and hidden location of their flag. The goal is to retrieve the opposing teams flag with out getting taken to jail. As I guarded my team's jail, I noticed a flashlight deep within our territory. In order to properly defend our area I followed the light. After crossing the woods, I learned that the light had originated from one of my teammates Julie. She was a bit frazzled, and confessed. She admitted to me that she was lost and had no clue where she was. It seemed she spent most of her time crawling for fear of getting caught, but ultimately she was on our side, just lost.

One more bit of randomness...

Kari's cousin Neilie came into town to visit. I had agreed to take the ladies out to dinner. As a treat to myself and the two girls, I took them to Clear Springs. Clear Springs is on the East side of New Braunfels and has excellent catfish and onion rings. The last time I was there, I ordered a small batch of onion rings and this amount did not fill me up. I proceeded to order a large order of onion rings. The waitress said, "You know that feeds four to six people?" I replied, "Yes ma'am." She brought the onion rings out and Kari, Neilie, and I began eating. Before dinner was over, a man and his wife came over to introduce himself and inform us that we were the talk of his table. He said, we wondered if you and your table could eat all those onion rings. I just said we were hungry or something of the sorts. As he walked away, I said nice to meet you and gave him the thumbs up. He said, "Are you?" Not completely aware of the additional meaning, it dawned on me he was referring to being an Aggie. I replied, "No, but these two are." Kari was not sure what the conversation was about. The older man reached across the table to show Kari his class ring, but she thought he was trying to "pound it." (Fist to fist greeting or acknowledgement of one another, instead of shaking hands) To my surprise, I thought the same thing, but she stopped short of "pounding" the man's fist and said, "Oh, you went to A&M!" It was a great time!

Hope you enjoyed these little tales from my weekend. Have a great week.

Expo

I worked the fifteenth annual Texas Parks and Wildlife Expo this past weekend. It was a long weekend, but well worth the time spent on the grounds. We have provided sound for the event for several years and each year there seems to be more and more people attending. The Sea World show with Julie Scardina was informative and filled with exciting animals including a lynx, peinguin and a kangaroo. The Birds of Prey show was also notable. Above is a Red Tailed Hawk who was showcased in the presentation. After seeing this show three year ago, I find myself often noticing these birds perched on high hunting their prey. That's all for today.

Adventures in College Station

I have said it before and will say it again, I love Wednesday!

Yesterday we took a trip to College Station with every intention on attending Breakaway. Kari, Stoney and I left San Marcos about 5:30pm, unaware of what may lie ahead in College Station. Breakaway is a, "non-denominational, weekly Bible study at Texas A&M University," according to the website. Last night, Shane & Shane was scheduled to lead worship until the power company had a slight problem. According to the Houston Chronicle, "A transformer explosion sparked a power outage that affected an estimated 86,000 homes and businesses in Bryan, College Station and four surrounding counties." We were aware of the problem as we drove east, but did not consider the traffic ramification until we received a phone call that travel time from one block to the next was about thirty minutes. We stopped our progress and ate dinner with Kari's mother and sister in Caldwell at MasFajitas. On a side note: Unless it is the only restaurant open, NEVER eat at MasFajitas in Caldwell. Horrible service, bad food, and horrible service...wait, did I already say that! During dinner we received a phone call that power was back on in College Station and with the right speed we could still make the nine o'clock worship service. To our surprise, Breakaway was cancelled. We meet up with some close friends, JMob and Beth and attempted to find some place to hang out. Finally we arrived at Sweet Eugene's and drank some caffeinated beverages. It was a wonderful evening of singing, dancing, and laughing with good friends. Gig 'em! And please, would someone turn the lights back on!