God had different plans for my life, and I’ve been running from those plans for quite a while now. This morning, I publicly surrendered my life to preach the gospel. You can’t believe the overwhelming peace and joy that I’m feeling. I still don’t know what the future has in store, but I have complete peace that God is in control and that He will lead me each step of the way.

Here’s the way it went down: I spent this last week as the bus driver and a sponsor for our group at Daniel Springs Baptist Camp in Gary, Texas. We had an amazing week. Late in the week, the camp evangelist used an illustration of Peter jumping out of the boat to be with Jesus (John 21). He said that some of us needed to “jump out of the boat” and follow the path that God would have for our lives. It hit me hard. Really hard. I knew God was using the evangelist to talk to me.

I spent a lot of time in prayer from that point until we got home. When Saturday rolled around, I knew I couldn’t wait any longer, so I spent about an hour in the living room of Dustin Wisely, our youth pastor. After I finished talking to Dustin, I knew there was only one option for me – total surrender to the will of God.

This morning during Sunday School time, I spent time talking with Bro. David Watkins, our pastor, and when the invitation was given at the close of the service, I made it official. It felt great!

I was also excited that Zach Phillips, a young man who had also served as a church camp sponsor from our church, surrendered this morning as well! God is good!

I don’t know all of the details of the future, but I do know that I won’t be quitting my job any time soon. At the encouragement of Bro. David and Dustin, I will be looking into a seminary degree. There are options that will allow me to remain in Magnolia for the time being and take the classes through a combination of intensive one-week studies and online work. I will also be preaching my first sermon soon. I’ll keep you updated on that.

God is in control! I don’t know what tomorrow holds, but I know who holds tomorrow.

Stay tuned . . .

I hope this cooler weather continues this week. I’m heading out tomorrow for a week at church camp. I’m excited about it! This is the first time I’ve been to church camp in probably 10 years, and this time I’m going as a sponsor. When I signed up I asked if all I had to do was keep the kids from doing what we used to do at camp. I was quickly told that they come up with new stuff every year. I’m sure they do!

I have a lot of great memories from church camp. We used to go to Daniel Springs Baptist Encampment at Gary, Texas. It was hot – really hot. The cabins were not air conditioned, but after the first day, no one ever seemed to notice. This year we’re going to Ozark Baptist Encampment at Grove, Oklahoma. It’s a 7-hour drive, but I’m told the cabins are air conditioned! We have about 40 kids signed up, and I think around 20 of those are boys. The other two male sponsors and I will have our hands full.

I’ll be tweeting all week from camp. I hope to have lots of good news to share. I accepted Christ as my savior at church camp when I was 10, and I hope we have a lot of similar stories to tell when we return. Please pray.