Football...

Lets just say that today is a very important day for me. Could be the end of some old things and the beginning to new things.

The Power of God

So I know it has been awhile, but I thought I would come back to my blog where I have not been for a month or so and talk about God and his greatness. It is so weird to look back at the experiences I have had in the past year or so and see where He has led me with relationships with friends, family, and coworkers. The amazing thing about all of these relationships is that through all their ups and downs, my relationships have gotten stronger. I can think of many instances where a negative thing has happened where I could have gotten down on myself and thought badly for what just occurred, but instead I trusted God and His plan for me even though I did not know it (I still don't). When a situation would come about I find someone who I feel like I can confide my personal experiences with, learn from them, and move on trusting Him.

If there is anything that I have learned, its that He is in control even though it may seem so 'out of this World' that I can not control my own outcome. God loves me, and I the same to Him, so as long as I keep my faith strong and trust in Him while He is always at my side, what do I have to lose?

Nothing ...

Kaui Part One

Here are some pictures from Kaui that are off my camera phone, so nothing too special. The first couple pictures are of the Napali Coast. Some are from the base of the coast on a boat and the others are on top of the mountains on a hike. The next few are of the Hawaiian Grand Canyon and one of those has a waterfall in the back. Then there is a picture of a African Cardinal right outside our room plus a picture of me golfing. Lastly is the resort we were staying at with the pool, the beach, and me standing in front of a Monk Seal on the beach. Trip of my life ....

Grateful

Lately I have been unable to blog due to my over scheduling and excessive working, football, and school, but have decided to come back to something that I truly enjoy, expressing myself.

A couple years ago, when finishing up my senior year in high school, I was undecided on where I was going to be attending school. I was planning on going to the Air Force Academy to participate in track and field and play football for the Falcons but little did I know then, that God had an entirely different plan for me. I was recruited during the summer before my senior year, thus leading me to a trip to Colorado Springs to visit the school. When I arrived I was in awe of not only the beautiful campus, but of the structure the school had. There was a certain aroma to the place that I knew I could not find anywhere else, and I wanted that. I wanted to be the kid who left his family, went on to do great and successful things, and around 10 years later would come back, grown up with hopefully a wife, a very steady job and continuing to work within the Air Force. That structure seemed like the best way for me to reach the success and goals that I wanted to achieve in life. I felt that with the discipline that I would have learned there, the schooling I would have received and the opportunities presented to me after graduating were of the highest prestige and was best suited for me.

To make a long story short, I was planning on going to the Academy until the day that I officially got cleared and accepted (a week after I had graduated high school). The problem was that there was a file they had received from me and had misplaced for several weeks, thus pushing my acceptance back and unfortunately (I thought for that time) being admitted 10 days after they had given out all of their appointments available for that year.

Lucky for me, God had a different plan. He knew that I did not need to go there and that I needed to be elsewhere.

After I had finished up with the Air Force ordeal, I decided to look elsewhere and to my benefit I was presented a spot on the University of Utah's football team and I accepted. Through football I have learned determination, discipline, and hard work much like I would have at the Academy. I now have a job, at Cafe Trio, where I have met many great people and developed some great relationships that honestly has helped me grow up a little quicker (maturity wise) due to the fact that the average age of employment is around 28 there. Oh, and I am obviously a student at the University of Utah currently going for a degree in sports management and a minor in computer science.

Lastly, God has also done some amazing things by introducing and putting certain people in my life. I thought, going to the Academy, that I was going to be surrounded by Christians and great opportunities to help me grow in my relationship with God, but through the people God has placed around me, I continue to grow here in Salt Lake. I was apart of the creation of Utenited (read below) and now have the opportunity to share my faith with not only fellow Christians, but with non believers at my work and on the team.

To sum this entire blog up, I have come to realize how grateful I am of not only Him, but of everyone that I have learned from, experienced things with, have grown to love:


*I am grateful for my sister, who even though I do not give her enough credit, is an awesome person who cares for me so much. She wants to be apart of my life and help me in any which way she can while most of the time I am too arrogant to accept things from her. Thanks Jess ...

*I am grateful for my parents who would do anything for me faster than Usain Bolt can run a 100m dash. They are willing to give up anything for me and at the same time already have. They accept me for who I am and I am officially grateful to call them my parents and to say, with my heart, that I truly love them. Mom, you are so much fun. You can make a bad day great by the smile you wear on your face and the energy you have. I can see why Dad married you and you are everything I want to see in my wife not only because you are a woman of God, but because of the person you are and the person He has made you to be. I mean, I come home and all you do is spoil me, you want to be around me, spend time with me .... You even stay up in the late hours of the night showing me new stretches to help with my flexibility. I do not mean this in a bad way, but you are almost 50, and I will never be the athlete you are. What an inspiration. Dad, Brian, I will always look up to you as a person of influence and love. Through all the years of you coaching me with sports, you not only helped turn me into the athlete I have become today, but have prepared me for life and to be the man I need to be. I envy your complete honesty and faith in God and strive to be that person every day even though I may not agree with some things you say or do the things I should do.

*I am grateful for David and Gretchen Figge. Not only are these two the hottest couple in Salt Lake, but are also some of the most influential people I will ever know. They both have an amazing heart for God, and for the people that surround them. David is so blunt with me whenever he needs to be and at the same time is there for me and supports me in what I do. Gretchen is full of love and wisdom. She may be very petite in her physique but at the same time may be the strongest and most graceful person at least in my life.

*I am grateful for my brother Jaron. Jaron, why are you so much smarter than me!!??! Even though he may be my younger brother, he intellectually is so far ahead of me but still will not be as good looking as I am ;).

*I am grateful for Miss Micky. Despite our ups and downs in our friendship, I have come to appreciate the person you are and the woman you will become. You have such a drive to get things done and be the best at everything you can; something I see in myself sometimes. The difference is that you strive to be the best at all that you do and I admire that. You have a wonderful heart, great personality, and many talents that God has blessed you with which helps you strive to reach your full potential through Christ. I also see how much you have grown in the past year and the struggles that have come about in your life but always seem to conquer. You may not know this but you help me strive everyday to be the person I need to be and who God wants me to be.

*I am grateful for my close friends from high school and football. Dallas Holbeck is one great friend and at the same time one great human being. Dallas, you know how to have a good time and how to turn any bad situation into a good one. You are upbeat and on your toes looking for the best opportunity present. Jop, Shelby, and Mook unfortunately have to put up with me as their roommate but have also displaced me up front so I do not have the chance to bug them very much. ;)

*Baylor and Ben Robie ... I do not think there are enough words to describe how grateful I am that I have met you and that God has put you into my life. You are both great men of faith and show great maturity and leadership at such young ages. It is my pleasure to have you be apart of my life for the examples you are of young (age) men of great faith.

*Everyone else that I have met and that have affected me here in Utah and throughout my life, especially these last couple of years. I am grateful for you.

One final note to all of this is how grateful I am to God for placing me here in Salt Lake City. If I would have ended up at the Academy I am sure that I would have met some wonderful people and been surrounded by people of great influence, but I am content with the fact that I am in the best place possible for me..... Right where He wants me


Live for Him

... Im back!!!

Hello blogger nation!!

I know I have been awhile for awhile and I have missed you but have not forgotten you. I just wanted to let you know that tomorrow I will post A NEW BLOG that actually is of some sort of meaning that I hope you will enjoy, as for tonight ... well it has been one long day with work and ball so I am going to call it a night and I will see you all tomorrow after football workout at 6 am (again) and class!

Goodnight :)

jake, the nerd :)

Last night was an adventure. If any of you had previously read one of my blogs, I was going to be working during the Super Bowl last night. What most of you might not have known, was that Cafe Trio, where I work, has no TVs thus not giving me any chance to watch it.
Luckily, to the customer's and employee's surprise... The local nerd busser, Jake, was working that night.

Knowing that it was not going to be a very busy night, I decided to bring in my 19" Samsung LCD HDTV and plug it in outside next to the bathrooms and the patio entrance.
To make this all that much neater, I really had no plan for any of it to happen this way since all I brought in was a TV and a coaxial cable with no antenna and no extension cable for power.
We turned the TV on, and set it on the counter on the patio outside, and positioned it so you could see it directly through the door since the door is a see-through door made mainly of glass.

To figure out a way to get a signal, Xan (one of the servers) and I plugged in the coaxial cable just hoping that we might be able to pick up a picture with no antenna. Unfortunately it did not work, but I had an idea.....

Directly above us was a metal wire that strung about 15 feet in which the sheets that cover the patio when the sun is out, are held together by. Automatically a light switch went off in my head and I was like "Duh, lets just cut the coaxial cable, pull some of the copper wire out and hook it up to this wire!!"
So we spliced the wire, pulled some copper out, hooked it around the wire and lets just say we had 19" of pure digital, picture perfect quality HDTV football (commercials mainly) to watch and enjoy throughout the night.

The awesome part was the three or four guys that went out to dinner last night (who goes to dinner when the Super Bowl is on anyway?) found this TV and kept coming back to it every couple of minutes to check on the game. Wonder if their dates really thought they had to use the bathroom that badly? ;)

.... well if any of you have questions on how our science experiment worked and how we were able to get a HDTV picture with a coaxial cable and a metal wire, just ask .... Jake the Nerd will help :D

7 verses and a Cave?

Psalm 142

You Are My Refuge

A Maskil of David, when he was in the cave. A Prayer.

1 With my voice I cry out to the LORD;
with my voice I plead for mercy to the LORD.
2 I pour out my complaint before him;
I tell my trouble before him.

3 When my spirit faints within me,
you know my way!
In the path where I walk
they have hidden a trap for me.
4 Look to the right and see:
there is none who takes notice of me;
no refuge remains to me;
no one cares for my soul.

5 I cry to you, O LORD;
I say, "You are my refuge,
my portion in the land of the living."
6 Attend to my cry,
for I am brought very low!
Deliver me from my persecutors,
for they are too strong for me!
7 Bring me out of prison,
that I may give thanks to your name!
The righteous will surround me,
for you will deal bountifully with me.

Today at Capitol Church we discussed Psalm 142 (above) and how David was struggling in his life not because of things he was doing, but of loneliness. (I am sorry if this bores some of you, but I have been looking to talk about these sermons with someone since they are full of much wisdom and knowledge so I thought I would at least share with you.) David was a Sheppard's Son, who was chosen by God to help represent the nations of Israel. David had everything going for him: his best friend was the Prince of the nation, he was in love with the Princess, and was close to the King, Saul. David was also an extremely good warrior and everyone began to love him. People wrote songs about David.

Even though David had everything, he still was human. Saul eventually began to hate David, for David was too successful and ultimately taking power from him. David, in fear for his life, ran into hiding for over 10 years. He ended up in a cave where he was able to realize what God really was and what God had given to him. What David had realized, in this Psalm, was that he had nothing of the World, he had no one. David, through prayer and song, came to the realization that he did in fact have God and that there is nothing better than having him at your side.

A wise man once told me: "If you were in a public place and someone came up to you, alone, and challenged you and wanted to fight you with a couple of his buddies, how would you react? Now what if you had your football team there with you? How about God at your side?" This quote made me realize that with God, I fear nothing. Through the ups and downs of life I realize that I still have Jesus there with me, watching me, caring for me. People seek concrete "things" or people in their life to go to when they are in a time of struggle and never get enough of what they are seeking. With God, I get MORE THAN ENOUGH! David had everything going for him possible and God decided that David needed to take a step back in his life and realize what God really is to him and it took 10 YEARS! Most people have their struggles and fears to deal with, but how about living with those for 10 years until figuring it out the God is there, and for you?!

Ultimately, what I learned after today's lesson was: "Is God looking to put me into a cave sometime soon and if so, why not act now? Why not realize what He has done for me and that He is here for me?" In order, though, to fully understand and accept this, we have to show humility to God. There are things everyday that I do where I seek recognition for. If I buy someone something or I go out of my way to help someone in their day, I look to them to at least say "thank you." Well last time I checked, Jesus died for me, He died for you, so that we may live in eternity with Christ and therefore why should i seek recognition for the acts that I have performed? I deserve nothing in comparison for what I owe Jesus and what He did on that cross. The way I look at it, whenever I do something out of compassion and humility, I am thanking God in some way for what He did and is doing.

God Bless

If any of you are looking to dig deeper into what David was going through, look at Psalm 57. David is praising God as the Alpa and the Omega while living in solidarity in a cave. When I struggle and am going through a tough time like a relationship or with school and sports, do I turn to him and rejoice His name? David had nothing going for him, and he did ....

Super Bowl

I know this is really is not a 'blog' but as of right now I am scheduled to work during the Super Bowl. This is possibly the first time that I can remember that I will not be able to watch the game, but work does take precedence in my life right now. To be able to balance God, school, football, and work, I must sacrifice some things, including the SUPER BOWL, in able to be successful and to achieve the things I want to do.
Once again this may seem like one of the most pointless blogs ever written, but it is times and scenarios like these that I am able to sit back and realize what is most important in my day to day life. Plus ... who even likes the Cardinals and Steelers ;)

A little motivation

Utenited ....

Most of you may not know what Utenited is and therefore I will give you some background before I share my thoughts a little more:
Utenited is a non-denominational group of college students who meet on Tuesday nights at 8:00 pm in the Heritage Center for about an hour to worship, socialize, and listen to a short message that we can apply to our lives. At Utenited we believe that college students juggle school, work, friends, clubs, and that a Tuesday night break from all of that is a dose of what we need from our stressful routines.

When entering college in 2007 at the University of Utah, I knew I wanted to live in the dorms to get the whole college experience. Ben Robie and I decided to be suite mates since we had been friends with each other at South Mountain Community Church. When we got to the U., we had an idea to start up a group for students, but wanted something different than other existing Christian groups. At first we thought of modeling it after a college group that was once held at our church. So, we contacted David Figge, who once led this group. He was game to meet with us and listen to our ideas and desires to start something that would nurture and invest in our college peers. I did not know much about David, only that he had once led this group and he himself was still a college student at heart.

After meeting with David, we knew we wanted him to be a part of our new group. Eventually we all had the passion that this group would grow into something bigger than us and would need more than 3 to make it happen. There was a calling from God to start something up here that could really affect the lives of students on campus. We decided that Ben would lead worship for about 30 minutes, David would talk for about 10 minutes, and we would close with a final song. With all of this in place, at this point, we decided to try our first "soft-starts". There were about 5 people total who attended our soft starts in a little room downstairs in the Heritage Center. Our first official launch was the second Tuesday of October '07, and we were so excited since we had about 10 kids show up and we used this cool little speaker system with a mic and Ben's guitar. We laugh now.

Long story short ;), I can happily say that we have grown, immensely. Today we average about 80 attendees every Tuesday night, thanks to Him. We have upgraded room size, picked up more vocals, a pianist, a drummer, and base player to go along with Ben and his guitar. Oh yeah, and a better sound system. My role during this past semester though is changing. Due to the growth of Utenited and fellow Christian students stepping up to help, I have now taken on a different role with my teammates. I have been given the opportunity to meet and fellowship to the athletes on the football team.

This point here brings me to the overall idea of this blog.
God is truly amazing. A year and a half ago I was a new student up at the University of Utah who walked on to the football team and had no idea where I was going with my life. Now, through all the struggles and roller coasters I have been through emotionally, spiritually, and mentally, I have come to notice how great my God really is. I have met so many people and developed so many great relationships since Utenited started. Truly I am so blessed. Unfortunately I spent too much time thinking about how mistreated I was in both football and the dating world.
Last night, at Utenited I felt something that I had not felt before, it was not pride in what I had accomplished, but it was realizing that through God, you really can achieve anything. As I sat back and sang the songs with 70+ other Christian students, I realized what God had done through Ben, David, and I just a year and a half ago. It's a great joy knowing that you have helped provide, through God, a way for Christians not only fellowship with other Christians but for them to grow closer in their walk with Christ. Most importantly it introduces other students to our God and show them how He really can be everything you need in your life.

Through all of this, I am encouraged with what God is doing in my life and the lives of so many college students. There are billions of people out there who know nothing about God, and if we were able to affect 80 people in a short time, IN UTAH, what can't we achieve? If we just trust in Him our goals will be reached ...... all we need is a little faith and patience that He will achieve what is best for us all.

Living for Him

Jan. 26th, A great, succesful day

This past Monday, yesterday, might have been one of the most stressful, yet fulfilling days in my young life. We had our first conditioning workout of the offseason at 6 am, and boy was I excited to get back into running ;). After the run, I got ready for class at 8:35. After my first two classes I was able to take a short break and go to the Student Union and work on some math homework, grab a quick bite, and get ready for my last class. So once I was done with my last class I went home, did some laundry, laid down for about 30 minutes, and then was off to my lift for football. Our lift was great, we had to max on a lower body squat lift, do some accessory work and then do a "GTFO". A GTFO is a workout in which the coaches throw a group of absurd lower body workouts together, out of nowhere, and practically look for kids to quit. Fortunately, I did make it through this workout and decided after, no matter how badly my body hurt, that I was going to go run some routes with one of our quarterbacks and catch some balls. The workout was great, I was able to get some quality reps in and was also able to work through the pain, thus hopefully getting better. After the workouts I drove my friend home who had missed the Trax bus while finding out that my wide receiver coach was returning, which was great news. Once returning home I was able to grab some dinner before heading out to my new bible study that I am in with some fellow athletes. The bible study was great and am really excited to dive into this since I have a lot to learn and am open for more of God in my life. After the bible study I was finally able to finish my homework assignment for math, turn it in online, and got an A on the assignment too.
WHAT A DAY :)