Olympics....aka Shawn and Nastia's show

Reece and I are in love with the Olympics! In fact, we decided to get basic cable for the purpose of having NBC for this momentous occasion, and it's been well worth it! Our highlight has been watching Nastia and Shawn rack up the medal count every night. We've been on the edge of our seat as we await the scores for our two favorite gymnasts...it's been a blast.

In the midst of all the Olympic hype, I've enjoyed hearing athletes giving glory to God in their post-gold interviews. It's incredible to see God using this occasion to make himself known. If you're interested in hearing stories of Olympic athletes whose lives have been touched by Christ check out:

Happy Olympics!

Ready...Set...Campus!

It's campus time-- summer is over. The first day of classes for colleges in western North Carolina has come and gone, and now begins the rush of the first few weeks on campus! Today, Reece and I spent our whole day at club fairs-- 4 hours at UNC-Asheville this morning, then 3 hours at Western Carolina this afternoon. At one point, I was at Western Carolina talking about going to work out at UNC-A...this being on 2 campuses in one day was a little confusing for me. We definitely had a great time hanging out with out student leaders, and working together to welcome the freshmen and new students checking out what to invest their time it. Please pray that students would prioritize Jesus as a worthy investment. Here we are with our student leaders at Western Carolina:


Pray for us that we would have energy while being on campus, and that God would allow us to connect students to Jesus through the new relationships we form this semester!

Redeeming Love

Here are the pictures from our hike to Big Bradley Falls....


JP, Mallory, Me and Reece in front of Big Bradley

Reece and JP playing

Isn't summer the best? I've really enjoyed getting to spend time with friends, and take time for things I don't normally do during the semester...like reading! I just finished Redeeming Love last night, and it was so awesome. I had heard about this book for a long time, and Katie let me borrow her copy because she said I had to read it. Lately I've needed something to refresh me in my relationship with the Lord, and reading this book has grown my understanding of what God's love looks like. If you've never heard about this book, its about a Christian man who feels God tell him to marry a prostitute. He goes to the brothel (a place where you'd never expect this man to be) and tries to convince her to let him buy her freedom so he can marry her. I won't spoil the rest of the story, but it was so touching. It really made me think about God's love and how we as people are so like the stubborn prostitute. She didn't want to leave the brothel...she thought there was no way she could change or trust this man who wanted to give her a better life. Aren't we all that same way with God? Jesus died to pay for all our indifference and rebellion towards Him, but then we doubt his goodness and don't trust Him with our lives. This story was so great, and I recommend it to everyone!

My arms are Jello

Have you ever started working out hardcore after being lazy for a few weeks?

Well that's what Reece and I have been doing lately. Although we walked about 6 mile per day in New York City, our arms have been lazy for a long time now. Thanks to Ben, we're now doing the Hundred Push-Up challenge which has been so fun ( http://www.hundredpushups.com/). Check it out.

In addition to our new arm work-out, we went to Big Bradley Waterfall with JP and Mallory a few days ago, which further added to our fitness. I had no clue what we were getting into when we arrived to the trailhead that day, but about 20 minutes into our hike to see Big Bradley, the trail ended and there was a rope that led down about 15-20 feet of rock. JP told us that we had to rapel down using the rope. Thankfully, he made a harness for us to put on, because Mallory and I were pretty concerned about this adventure. But I'm glad to say that we were brave and went down, and back up on the way home! I'll post some pictures of the beautiful falls soon. It was definitely worth all the work!