// Thirsty?

This weekend was Merge weekend, and I honestly was blown away! I mean... I was completely blown away... I've divided this post in two parts; The Fun and The Real Thing.

The Fun
immediately when I arrived at the church I knew that this was going to be an awesome weekend. I went up in the White Twinkie, which is now the new name of the van, and I like it! Inside the twinkie was Kyle, Andy, and I. We stopped at McDonalds in Richmond first for food, and both Kyle and I got chicken nuggests! Brilliant idea! It was too last us both for the night, and morning! I finished my nuggets on the ride up, while Kyle was chewing down on nuggests the next morning!

I was completely overjoyed Friday after the first session. We checked into are hotel and we were so noisy, and I loved it! Once settled in, we went to Save-On-Foods where there was this moose head on the wall and it freaked me out so bad!!!! I then got 8 chocolate bars, Oh Henry and Eat More, and 2 liters of Coke and 2 liters of Sprite! That was awesome...lasted us the entire weekend (I still have like 1.5 liters of mixed pop in my fridge). Kyle and I ordered up Stleath which turned out to be an okay movie. It was entertaining, yet I had trouble staying awake. We ended up going to bed at about 2am, thus ending Friday!

Saturday we woke up an hour earlier then expected, and I was sleepy! Quickly I shook of my sleepy ways, and was back in action! The afternoon included a trip to The House of James where I purchased my new bible! It's pretty styling and its covered with metal so I'll never destroy it! After that, we dropped Annick off at the hotel, and went to A&W for a light snack. Stephanie was beating me up, and then she started laughing for a reason I'm still unsure off, and I just laughed because Steph is just so awesome. We then visited Andrew up at Summit. I was going to say hi to Dave, but he wasn't there! Boo! Twas a quick visit, but it was good to see Andrew again. A trip to Swiss Chalet happened after picking up Annick, and I wasn't to impressed, and then we went to the third session. Afterwards, I think a lot of use were blown away, or just tired, so we were really quiet. Even thought we were tired, we still managed to get Steph into are hotel room and watch Wedding Crashers! Funny movie... Another 2am bed time...

I woke up at 9am, fully refreshed, but to only see an empty bed beside me... Kyle left early with Andy, and I missed both of them, I was the only guy left. Nevertheless, I would not let it ruin my day. Steph came over to entertain me, and we duked it out in a pillow fight, revenge from Historymaker 04, it was long anticipated! Muhahaha! She says she won, but really, I did. Steph was more impressed with her stuffed French toast from IHOP that morning though, and I do admit, it was a good omelet I had. After the fourth session we made are way home... And I truly had an enjoyable time.

The Real Thing
Let me start off right at the beginning... We were given nuts. These nuts were put on the earth for a reason, had endless possibilities, was God's creation, and he loved it; just like us. We were put on this earth for a reason, we have endless possibilities, and God loves us! That makes me excited! That made me feel renewed almost! This was at the first Session, which started at 8pm, and we arrived at about 7:30. Leading worship that night, and every other session, was Michael Larson. I love this guy... He is incredibly talented. He has an awesome voice, and he can really worship. He was an inspiration, and I really could worship God that weekend. He was originally from the band Flood, then Surreal, and I recognized a couple of songs off one of the CD's I have, which was really cool. The speaker who spoke for three of the nights was Ian Green, director of Next Level International. I thought he was a great speaker, and he sometimes yelled, which freaked me out.

The things that stood out the most this weekend was the one of the truth talks, and the third session. During the truth talk for leaders, the person leading it said we can't make excuses anymore...And I realized that I had to stop making excuses... That was huge in my life, my whole relationship with God is an excuse... I realized that had to stop.

The third session Ian Green was telling us how he was pick-pocketed, getting is wallet stolen with his passport, credit card, and $300US. He told us how he wasn't pleased, but he said the Lord was telling him that he was blessed.

I am Blessed. That's so amazing...We are blessed.

One more important thing I took from the weekend is that God keeps on giving, no matter what we do or say. He loves us and we are a work of art; a master piece. This helped me since I had turned my back on God these past couple of months, and I have finally realized it's time to step up and make myself a better Christian. Another important thing I learned, the best way to change your life, is to change somebody else's life.

I had an awesome time, and now I will start to rekindle my relationship with God. I can't let this fire burn out, or grow cold.

I am blessed.