So much to learn still...

So I'm interning at a church this summer, which is pretty exciting, I'm getting paid to do all the stuff I use to do for free! I'm getting paid to do what I love....well for the most part lol. It seems like the summer is going by so fast and I'm pumped because I love school! I can't wait to see what is going to happen this up and coming year, and everyone I've kept in touch with seems to be having a good summer if not a busy one! It is no different on my side, I feel a excited about it all tho. So planning a VBS is a lot harder then just being the goofy side-kick on stage, but the people here are more then willing to help with ideas...still having a hard time finding volunteers but such is life right? My home church has a junkload (1200-1500) of people and yet you still see the same people doing three of four jobs (I use to be one of those people). So needless to say I'm getting to see it from another side now which is pretty neat!

I'm grateful for my dad more and more as his wisdom is spot on all the time. It hasn't been a perfect summer by any stretch of the mind, and I have things I'd prefer to be solved and fixed but God knows what He's doing and thought the harder stuff I'm being humbled and learning. I always joked with my dad that doing the Lords work would be so much easier if not for His people, to which my loving dad reminds me that I am one of those people as well and it is true. If we are the family of Christ then there are going to be family disputes and issues, and while thinking about it all, it is getting past those moments and working thought those issues that makes the love we have for one another purer, stronger, more sincere. Because we learn to love people past their faults and in doing so learn to love ourselves past ours. So while I don't enjoy the tension, or the process and the pain that can come with it, it always serves as a reminder that we are all in a state of changing and growth.

Reading 1 Samuel in the past few days has inspired me. I mean if David who was hunted and had Saul trying to kill him for no other reason then fear, his name was slandered, all that he had was taken from him...yet he showed no ill will towards Saul ever, and even weep for him at his death...I mean it is so sobering, David saw Saul as a man to be honored and even praised him. It is a look at how we should love one another.

Ephesians 4:1-6 "Therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, bed you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God. Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other's faults because of your love. Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace. For there is one body been called to one glorious hope for the future. There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father, who is over all and in all and living through all." (NLT)

So after all this reading and what not, I realize that no matter what it means if it's having to humble myself, if it is having to wait upon God's timing for justification, if it means trying again and again. I want to do all that I can, make every effort to keep myself united in the Spirit with those around me. I know this isn't the happy-go-lucky or as my friend Julian says "endless joy and happiness" Mike that most of you are use to, but this has been so heavy on my heart mind and soul that I had to share it, God is changing me for the better, I'm still a work in progress and very capable of mistakes but my God loves me anyways and works with me past it all. How can I do anything but love others the same way He love me?

Well that's about all I can think of right now if you liked this pass it on to someone you know :P

Blessings

Mike C.

It's been awhile...but I'm back and updating weekly!

Hello fellow bloggers and readers it's been a while,

I've had an eventful year off from blogging and so I have complied a lot of ideas, stories, and just gotten back into writing. Most of my focus this year have been to write lyrics and songs, and it's been very productive, about 14 songs from Jan-Mar and 4 or 5 in the works right now. I will be posting links to my songs once they are finished. www.purevolume.com/michaelconrad is where most of my finished stuff will be. Right now it's only one song but there will be more come the end of summer. I've been on the move a lot and the closest thing I've had to a solid home over the past year and a bit has been my school's campus.

I realized that my backpack has started to feel like my home because it's about the only thing I always have with me and have had with my this whole year. Like a blanket but for a big kid haha. Africa was stretching I think this year was just as stretching if not more so, but in different ways. Humbling as always God's plans prove as always to be far better then my own, and His time is always spot on. It doesn't really surprise me anymore, but it sure is nice to be reminded on those rough days. Thats about all for now, I might post again tomorrow but we'll see. To all of you loyal readers thanks for your patients its nice to be back.