I'll be home for Christmas

Its awesome to be home. I never realsized how much my family and freinds meant to me until I am gone for awhile. Six whole weeks before I go back to Texas. I have one more semester of Paramedics. Its going well and I love it. IVs, EKGs, Intubation, drugs, needles, its just awesome. And sirens too. Yeah.

Everyday has been an adventure with God. Life is so awesomely full of awesomness. Everyday I learn, and the next day I apply. I'm learning to chase God. Talk about extreme. Its like sticking your neck out and letting people hit at your face. But then its like walking on water all at the same time. Did that make sence?

Miss all you guys,

God Bless

Currently Reading Do Hard Things: A Teenage Rebellion Against Low Expectations By Alex Harris, Brett Harris see related

Awesome God, awesome summer, awesome life!

 Life can be an incredible adventure. I think  it depends mostly on what you live for. If I am living to gain fame and get rich, than I made absolutely no progress this summer, this whole last year in fact was a complete waste if viewed from the standard of self glorifying success. But, my life is an awesome life (even if you don't think so). It has been an adventure because my aim is to see Christ glorified through me. It is awesome to see the amazing opportunities that God has given me to see him glorified in life. So, what been going on.

January 5th, I began emergency response training at ALERT in Big Sandy, TX. It was a blast to do some fun stuff down there after just finishing Basic Training last fall. Our topics included basic high angle, basic fire fighting, rescue systems, first aid, Scuba ( advanced open water and special response diver) , sawyer, counseling,etc. I was also able to go on a deployment to Indiana on Tornado relief. I quit ERT(emergency response training) one week early to do Cadre training. The Cadre just so you know are the most hardcore guys at ALERT. I was the Medic for Basic training unit 39. That was an incredible experience, putting young men through the same hard stuff that I had struggled through last fall was not exactly what I considered to be fun(although I am ashamed to say that it could be at times) but it was awesome to see the guys conquer and watch them turn to into men with a do or die determination to get what they came to get. I saw boys enter manhood the same way I had.  Let me clarify some things here, I do not think that ALERT basic training is a necessary event if one is ever to become a man. Neither do I think that basic training recruits all come as boys who have no idea what it means to be a man, some recruits enter basic already well on their way maturity and manhood(like me). Having said that, there is certain character that only be obtained through hardship, and that is what basic training is for. Being the medic was awesome, I was gaining medical experience, I was able to talk to all the guys one on one, not just a squad. I was able to learn more what it means to be a leader and godly example, I got to do all the hikes with the guys like the 12 hour and 24 hour, I could be easier on the guys than the squad leaders and DI could, and if I want to I could drop a recruit for as many pushups as I wanted. It was great! As I watched the recruits grow, I was also growing a lot myself and going through some of the hardest, driest times in my spiritual walk that I have gone through since finding God. But God was proven faithful again as I began to search for him in desperation to find the refreshing of my relationship him. I began to understand more about God who is living water, he is all satisfying. Needless to say, even though this spring semester was challenging my relationship with God was deepened, I struggled and matured, and God was glorified is my life, and for this I thank Him.

Upon completion of my spring semester at ALERT, I came home(surprising isn't it ). My brother Donald got me a job for boss hanging drywall. He is an amish man with a small business. Donald has recently quit working for him while he is getting his CDL. It was a hard decision for me to go back to work instead of going back to Streamside. When I decided to work  doing drywall I prayed that God would give me the opportunity to glorify anyway this summer. My first big opportunity was Camp Tohiglo.

This was I believe my sixth year at Camp Tohiglo as a counselor, main difference this year is that I was a senior counselor for the first time. I love camp, I love working with the other young people like me who love comp. I love the kids and thank God for the awesome opportunity to show them things about God that they had never seen before. I love working with kids who struggle with things that I struggle with. I love kids who are bad and the one on one time that is the result. It is my passion to tell kids about God and His purpose for their lives. I just love it. I even embrace the pain and stress that come when I really give everything that I have for them. In short, it is just way too awesome to be used by God, and to see Him gloried. By the way, the week at camp went really well, it was probably the smoothest running week that I have been involved in there. I had a great cabin( the only one with out a bathroom inside) we called it summerized 3(inside joke). My junior counselors were great, my brother Dan, Ben Cook, and Adam Shafer. they did the work. and saving the best for the last, one of my campers asked Christ to come into his heart and be Lord of his life. God was glorified.

Next mission, Young Mens Apprenticeship Bootcamp. Colin Cash is one of my closest friends and he and I decided to put on a program for young men similar to one that we had attended but had been discontinued. We want to get a group of young men together, spend a week camping together and each day go out and minister to the needy in our community. This will be done mostly in the way of supervised construction and landscape work. This is something that is big and we will not be able to make it work on our own strength, not only did we need the help of other men and women to be able to run it, but we will need the blessing of God. We are young, but we are attempting to revolt against the low expectations that placed on us. Remember the old man in the movie "facing the giants" who said two farmers desperately prayed for rain, but only one went out and prepared his fields to receive it, which one believed God to send the rain. That is what we are trying to do, we are praying for a miracle and preparing our fields to receive it. May GOD be GLORIFIED for HE ALONE is WORTHY to be PRAISED!

If you have made it this far on this post than I congratulate you.

LIFE

I kinda thought that since I haven't posted since July, I should tell you guys whats been going on. Well, life is good and I'm not saying that just to be normal either. In the last uh...five months I have gone through some hard and some stretching times, but there has been many wonderful times and lots of growth. As i reminisce, it is almost funny to think how purposeless and stupid life would be if it were not for Jesus Christ and His Father. There just wouldn't be any reason for doing anything unless the reason were self conceived. Anyway, I think that I must stop before I get too deep into that which I don't understand.

I believe my last post was just before Camp Tohiglo. Camp Tohiglo is owned by a group of Independent Bible Churches and is located in Greencastle, PA. I went down for a week of summer camp to help staff Junior Week.  I was in a cabin with my brother Drew and Jerrill and Joel Wyler. We had a ton of fun, a challenging bunch of boys and it was great. Four of our guys made decisions that week.

Back at Streamside for one more kids camp. It was again challenging but rewarding. I think I had four campers come to Christ. It is completely awesome the way God works in those kids. I know that I am far from a perfect counselor and probably not even a good one, but God still uses me. I have never been more humbled then when I'm working with kids.  They pull, they stretch, they find all your buttons, they push all your buttons, they drive you crazy, actually they drive you insane, and IF you survive and still love them, then they respond. Its crazy, its awesome, even after they've seen all my weaknesses, they've seen me ask for forgiveness, and they still respond. If I were to die today, I would have no regrets that my life was worthless, that I accomplished nothing for good, because my life was worth something in theirs. Of course, for the lack of regret in this area I have plenty of others to make it even.

Then I was home for about a month. I did a vacation bible school, and a couple roping programs but besides that I really didn't do much except get ready to go to ALERT in September. It was fun to be able to spend time with my family and not really be tied to anything.

ALERT (Air Land Emergency Resource Team) Basic Training was nine weeks and went from September 10th to November 10th. The main focus of ALERT is to produce men of character and discipline with skills that will help them serve in their ministry.  It was a very challenging time and the Lord used it in a mighty way in my life, both to strengthen me and to reveal weaknesses in my life. We did a lot of physical training and long hikes, a wide range of rope work such as repelling, river crossing and mechanical advantage.We did a lot of land navigation and search and rescue training also. Add a little medical training and thats about all we did. Not really, you can fit a lot into nine weeks and we did. We also had uniforms to do perfect and rooms to keep spotless and things like that. Anyhow, I enjoyed it inspire of the difficulties and made some good friends.

So now I am home, and here I shall stay. Well actually I am going back January 5th for Emergency Response Training. I will be gone twenty weeks this time. I've had some trouble with this computer and haven't been able to get on some of your sites for some reason.Oh well, not that I get on here that much anyway. So life goes on.

Hello everyone.

I am not going to apologize because I have already done that far to much on this thing!!! I have not been on xanga in 3 weeks because I am not allowed to use it at camp. Don't ask me how I got permission for the last one. Camp is going great. I am really enjoying working with the kids and I the Lord is teaching me some really awesome things this summer. I am home this weekend for 2 hours and I am going to Camp Tohiglo. You can all feel privileged that I am using my precious time to update you. Lets see, is that all I had to say? Yes I guess so.

My regards,

DOUG 

Camp Sreamside

Sorry that I have not kept up on this, but I just got permission to get on xanga. At camp we are only allowed to send email, but since this is very much like email, we may now use it. I am doing fine now, but this week started out really shaky, and stared to go downhill fast for me. Concequencely, I think I may have had the worst 'or at least most interesting' birthday of my life. Actually, although it was rough, the day did have its highlights. Things seem to have leveled from the downhill slope, and I am having a great time. Thank you all for praying for me.

Ok, now some of you are wondering 'What in the world is camp Streamside?'

Streamside is a camp in the Poconno mountains of Pa where kids from the inner city can come for a week to get away from the 'hood' as they call it and learn about God, have a ton of fun, and make new friends that they can trust. I will be working at streamside for summer camp. Ok, of 24 hours in a day, I have exacly 1 hour and 35 minutes of free time. Why am I here? Because the this is not my free time, the kids are asleep 'I hope'!

If you wnat to know more about Streamside, go to Krystals site.

Thank you all for praying.