~ The ABC Game is awesome (took less than 1hr to finish...yep, we're that good)
~ Caving is awesome
~ Wearing a rebel flag bandana and receiving strange looks from Lost Sea cashier lady is awesome (Brent dared me to wear it throughout the entire trip)
~ LED Headlamps are awesome
~ Cave "flowers" are really awesome
~ Huge underground trout in the world's second largest underground lake are awesome
~ Sleeping underground...not so awesome when you can only manage to get 3hrs of sleep...but it's always an experience sleeping underground
~ Seeing 2 girls get "reborn" in a cave is awesome...along with the guide (he should've tried the breach-birth)
~ Beef jerky, granola bars, and Poweraid-water are awesome dinner components
~ Sifting for (and finding) jewels is awesome
~ Almost falling asleep while driving on the way back...yeeaah, not so awesome...but Full Throttle and Vault brought me back...

All in all....that was an awesome trip!  The rest of yall should go next time...now I must crash and make up for all of the sleep that I lost...'nitey nite

Late night (early morning) post, here I come...

So, went to 7|22 tonight...at first I didn't really feel that gung-ho about going but boy am I glad that I did...Jarrett Stevens started a new series titled The Deity Formerly Known as God.  I definitely needed to hear this message...he talked about how willing God is to give us everything that we need (and sometimes want) but how we, as Christians, are usually afraid to ask for it.  Jarrett emphasized the fact that we need to start praying "Non-Just Prayers", meaning that we should completely cut out the words "if" and "just" when we are praying to God because it is as if we are leaving loop-holes for God to not grant our prayers.  When we pray, we should pray with the utmost faith that God can and will deliver what we ask of Him, not diddle-daddle around the point:  For example:  "Lord, if it is Your will, could you just provide for me to go on this mission trip?"

Instead, we should pray with confidence: 

Hebrews 4:16 "Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need."

Jarrett told us of when he went to Africa to help those in a certain town who were severely affected/infected by AIDS.  He and his wife walked around the town with 3 local women who had all lost someone to AIDS; one of which was actually infected with AIDS.  Well, they started walking from house to house, praying for each family in the homes.  However, these women prayed like no one Jarrett had ever heard pray before.  They prayed with absolute confidence that God WOULD, not could, bring healing to those families.  Here is how they prayed:  "Almighty God, because of who You are, because of Your glory, because of Your power, HEAL this family now, Lord, HEAL this family because of Your majesty."  The amount of faith that these women had completely amazed Jarrett and opened his eyes to his own shortcomings when it came to prayer.

Once Jarrett pointed out that a lot of Christians pray like they are afraid to ask for what the Lord is yearning to give to us, I realized that I pray that way all of the time.  I am constantly praying with the thought Well, I am going to pray for this, but I must prepare myself for rejection incase it is not His will and thus, I almost always insert a loop-hole clause into my prayers.  Do any of yall ever do that?  I do...but I intend to change it.  Wheeew, it's really late!  Time to go to sleep...'nite peeps...

I'm a doubting Thomas, I took a promise, but I don't know what's safe...oh me of little faith ~ Nickel Creek