The Labor Has Ended, But He Never Ends

So I made the decision that I want to keep this blog going. I may not have the time to frequently update it (like I had time before right?), but I will update it because I feel that sharing my life with those closest to me makes it more colorful and people do care enough to know what's going on (some too much that they tweet every two seconds...I boycott twitter). So this blog will live on and may not always be spiritual, but Jesus is always there no matter what.

So to start things off, I am back at CSU after taking a year off to participate in the 1 year Christian Internship and to put it this way...it's almost as if i never left. I'm an engineering major and the guys I met freshman year are in the same program as I am (CO-OP) so they still have a couple to a few years left. I'm right back at my old job working in the computer lab and it doesn't seem different at all. The only thing that has really changed is the mass migration of church friends to CSU. In the first two days I saw nearly all of them and thought it was cool that they are all here with me. I also have a goal for this semester and that is to talk to one person every day I'm on campus about Jesus.

I'll end this post with some of my writing. Y'all will be seeing spiritual and non-spiritual pieces of work appear here as parts of a post or an entire post. Some even from my earlier years of writing. I figure they've been sheltered from the public eye far to long. Disclaimer: some will be unedited and may not seem that good, but this is what comes from a creative mind of a child. Enjoy!

There is a God

By Josh Watkins

Look upon the stars,

Gaze upon their majestic beauty,

Their warming glow,

Their jubilant glimmer,

And tell me there is no God.

Listen to the ocean,

The waves crashing upon the shore,

The songs of its inhabitants,

The wind that moves it,

And tell me there is no God.

Smell the fragrance of the rose,

The aroma of the lily,

The scent of the a daisy,

The essence of a tulip,

And tell me there is no God.

Taste the fruits of the earth,

The sweet honey nectar made by the bees,

The fresh mango plucked from a mango tree,

The sugar cane as it sways in the wind,

And tell me there is no God.

Touch the blades of cool grass on the prairie,

The wetness of the river,

The feathers of a parrot,

The shape of a diamond,

And tell me there is no God.

Feel the texture of my hand,

Listen to the sound of my voice,

Look into my beating heart,

And you will see that God is real,

                                                            And forever more he shall be.

They Call Me a Dreamer

Lately I've been thinking...I really haven't personalized this blog at all. So this post will be a personal post rather than an "update." The reason for this is that I have so much to share but to actually take the time to write/edit/publish it that I set it aside and forget. I will try my best to keep it going because I care about you guys and know you want to know what's going on in life.

Let's take a journey back to my childhood. Back then I had an amazing imagination and what some would call a dreamer. My world changed dramatically day by day. One day I would be a valiant warrior, attacking castle after castle, reducing their once awesome beauty to heaps of rubble, getting wounded time after time but never dying, always victorious. At the dawn of the next sun, I would have a tree house that looked normal from the outside, but from the inside it contained a mansion-esque  interior, with hundreds of modern marvels not even created yet. There was even a lava pit in the center to get rid of all dross and refuse. My best friends were with me and we were in a constant battle to defend our turf from those yucky girls. Capturing them at will and taking over their tree houses.

By the turn of the moon, that scenery would fade and I would find myself in a total world war (I liked battles okay.) I was fully clad in an indestructible suit that was equipped with every weapon know to mankind and would take an entire army to even scratch it. I could fly from region to region, continent to continent, eliminating the bad guys all over...until I would be hit by a stray rocket and be blown to a land unknown. My navigation unit was broken and I had to find my way back to the ball, which was always a painstakingly long journey. Sometimes I also believed I was the greatest athlete in every sport. Pummeling the opponents and sometimes even recovering from a bad injury to help our team win it all.

Today, most of that part of me has faded. No more epic wars, no more putting girls in jail, and no more valiant heroes rising from the ashes. But the one part of me that still remains like a scar is that I'm still a dreamer.

All my life I've dreamed big, let my mind run wild with all the possibilities of things I want to do, places I want to see, people I want to meet, and moments I want to experience. Growing up in a large family hindered many of those dreams because of money and time. Don't get me wrong, my family is awesome and I love them dearly. I guess I can see that as a blessing in disguise. Because as a little kid, you just don't appreciate things as much as you do when you are older. I guess you could say it fuels my fire and drives me to see these dreams become reality.

My biggest dream right now is to see the world, especially Rome, Italy. I love to travel and everything about it. New lands, hidden paradises, strange culture, new faces, God and man created wonders, and so much more. I'm a go-getter. If the opportunity arises, I would pounce on it like a tiger in the grass. Also seeing as today is Independence Day, I would love to tour this great land. I've been west of the Mississippi once but was not even 2 years old so that memory I do not possess. Hopefully one day I will get to see it all.

There are many other things I dream about and sometimes I think that I've been dreaming about these things for so long that they may never happen, but one never knows. It's good to dream, to hope, to make dreams come true. They call me a dreamer.

Steel City and Gospel Blitz Week

April went out like a lamb but May came roaring in like a lion. My first adventure took place and a burgh of Pennsylvania know to some as the Steel City but to most as Pittsburgh. There we were able to see the young people there, play some disc, pool, ping-pong, go carpet skating (it's an interesting experience worth trying...google it), and enjoyed some Jesus. It was really good to leave Cleveland for a bit and spend time with other saints. I ended up driving a bunch of people back late Saturday night and then getting up early the next morning for the Church in Cleveland's Jubilee meeting.

I had about a day's rest before I was off again. My new destination was Hanover, PA, a small town that I grew up by. I went with Ian Konopinski, Peter Elhardt, Zane Biddle (another local), Sarah Watkins, Derek Schmalz, and Orion Fu. Corbin Moon from Hanover joined us as well. I was uber excited for this because people who I've told about where I grew up were actually coming with me to see it for their own and to evangelize it.

The first day started slowly because of the rain and school was still in session, but the highlight was talking to a young woman who didn't believe in God and wanted nothing to do with Him because she lost a lot of people in her life. In a last ditch effort to somehow put Jesus in her life, I asked her if I could leave her with the Bible that was in my hands. I thought I was going to get shot down and refused, but she took it right away, no hesitation. Not such a bad ending to a mediocre day.

Day 2 was a whole lot better because we ventured over to Gettysburg College where there were loads of people who had a diverse opinions and beliefs about why creation exists and how they got here. Surprisingly, the largest group of people we talked to were Catholic. There were a handful of decent conversations including one with an atheist who pulled other unsaved people into the conversation. I tried telling him about life after death and eternal salvation. He responded with "So you're doing this to get into heaven?" I didn't want him to think I was a Jehovah's Witness so I quickly responded with "No I'm doing this because God loves you and because I care about you and your eternal destination." He was at a loss for words and didn't try to argue that point further. There were two other guys he dragged into the conversation and we talked with them a little longer. Out of the three, I thought the atheist would be the least receptive, but like the day before, he was the only one who accepted a bible from me. We talked to a lot of people, had some good conversations, and spread Jesus to the point that multiple people had been talked to more than once about Jesus and ones who hadn't been talked to, heard about us.

Day 3, my team headed back to the Golden Mile (a mile of road packed with stores/restaurants/hotels/theaters...basically you can find whatever you want within that mile) and had a number of cool conversations with Christians. But the real highlight was we prayed with a guy named Brad for the Lord to be real to Him again and we got another guy thinking about where his life is headed. Corbin and I were asked to leave the Kohls parking lot after we tried preaching to the manager...Oh well. At least he was asked about his beliefs. Later that evening we had a live mobile band in Hanover Square. Ian played the guitar, Zane on the French Horn, Derek on the viola, and the rest of us with our voices. Some random stranger gave us an appreciating hug and people in cars were singing along or making requests. Once we were ready to call it a night, we raced over to a local ice cream place (Tropical Treat...so good and such nice people) and got there at 10:00pm...closing time. However, these kind-hearted people stayed open long enough to serve nine hungry people. Just one of the few things I miss about where I grew up.

Besides the gospel, we stayed at a dear sister's, name Sue, house. My family met in her house for 8+ years when we lived there. It was good to see her house filled again. We also had dinner at my Grandparent's and I hung out with my bud Joe D. who I've known since the age of four.

Zane, Peter, and my sister stayed an extra day and the Lord really shone on them, allowing people who were saved but didn't know it to realize it and had more amazing conversations throughout the day. Overall the trip went well and the Lord moved in Hanover. Hopefully, He will send someone to later reap where we sowed.

Labor Adrenaline: The Boost that Doesn't Go Away

Today I checked my blog and saw that it had 171 page views. I also noticed it has been over a month since my last post. It made me realize how many people care about what's going on in my physical and spiritual life and how many want to know what's going on in the labor and that I have been depriving y'all of that so I apologize but also say thank you for sticking with me. I'll make a good effort to post more often.

These last two months have been insane! Since my last post, a lot has happened. I spent half of a weekend in Columbus with the young people and it was sweet chilling with those whom I see a few time during the summer. We played some ultimate, sang songs, had a sweet bible study, and enjoyed us some Jesus. I pray that the Lord would continue His work with the YP in Columbus and that they would remain strong through all of life's surprises.

The second half of the weekend was spent in Akron, Ohio for our monthly young people's day. We first went bowling and then later headed to the hall for some food and singing. What was really cool was that each and every single young person in Akron stood up and gave a testimony of how the Lord was working in them.

Following that weekend the Church in Cleveland hosted a spring conference with messages on the Psalms given by Brother Titus. There were around 400 saints there from all over the Great Lakes. One key aspect that stood out to me was that we need to strive to one day be mountains in the church.

A few things upcoming for the labor is a young people's conference in Pittsburgh the first weekend in May and then the following week we will be going to different cities on a week-long gospel blitz. I will be traveling with 7 others to my old stomping grounds in Hanover, PA. We will be spending roughly 6 hours a day in the gospel. I'm excited!

One last things I'd like to mention. I can't say it enough about how much it means to me to be doing this internship with all the other interns. To get to know them better and to be able to do things labor related or not has been a great joy to me. The time we spend doing gospel stuff or playing frisbee, mean a lot to me and it'll be one of the major things I miss when the labor has ended.

I cannot wait for this summer because it is going to be awesome!!! I hope to see y'all there. Until next time.
~Josh

Summer-Like Weather in March = Serenity

I am in an amazingly good mood...why? Well let me see. This past weekend was a college conference at Ashland Woods, I'm going to Akron this weekend for the young people's day, Mark Greenwood is came over to hang out, I got free Chick fil-A the other day and this weather is supposed to be sunny almost all week and in the 70s all week!

I know I haven't posted in awhile and this sad habit may continue seeing as the labor keeps becoming more intense, but it'll be all the more epic when the next post comes out!

So last weekend there was a college conference at Ashland Woods. Normally these conferences attract around 80 or so people. However, because there was a strong push in the internship to bring friends ans overwhelm the facility, the final head count was 156! That is number that we get only for a week long event that is in this summer...and this was practically 2 days! Plus there were at least 20+ new people.

The Lord answered many prayers that weekend. Two sisters were baptized into the Kingdom of God! Since the pond was too cold to baptize them, a make-shift baptismal had to be built. Daniel Schmitkons came up with the idea of taking mulch bags and building a rectangular pit out of them. Then a tarp was put into the middle and filled with warm water. Plus the sun painted the sky with a sweet sunset.

On Saturday we played a 10-on-10 game of ultimate frisbee which was awesome and so much fun because of the soggy field. I don't think one person left that field without "getting nasty" from the mud and puddles.

This upcoming weekend is the Young People's day and right before that I am going to visit the Church in Columbus to be with the young people there. I hear we are going bowling in Akron and then we will be going back to the hall for some stellar music, food, fun, and Jesus.

As for spreading the Truth, I'd like to give a shout out to T-Mills for his friend's clear salvation and his heart turning to the Lord.

The Lord has been moving like a thunderstorm and I pray that the winds keep coming. Thank you all for your prayers and keep them coming for the labor, the people we are with, the events, the young people, the gospel and our strength to continue on. JEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSUUUUUUUUUUUUUUSSSSSSSSSSS!

A Conference to Remember

This past weekend, the young people of the Church in Cleveland hosted a conference for those in fifth grade to those in 12th grade. The topic of the weekend was that Jesus is Real and Relevant today. We sent out an invitation all over the Great Lakes area and we maxed out at 130 people! They came from the land surrounded by four Great Lakes (Michigan), the Capital of the Buckeye State (Columbus), the land where the hairy beasts roam (Buffalo), the place where humans are grown (Mansfield), and the cities surrounding the home of Rock N' Roll (Lorain, Willoughby, Akron, and Cleveland Heights).

The first night we broke up into small groups and asked the kids to share their "AHA!" moments which were the moments in their life when knew Jesus proved Himself real to them. At first, I thought only a handful of them would share very small and simple moments...boy was I wrong. These kids were like a floodgate waiting to open and release the many rushing waters kept at bay. The stories they told ranged from quite hilarious, to bizarre, to sincere, but through their own lips, they proved that Jesus is real. Even when I asked them to pray, I didn't have to encourage/volunteer/force them. The majority prayed on their own.

The next morning we were up bright and early at 7:30AM to go tobogganing. The week before this conference, the weather fluctuated between the upper 30s and 40s, and it wasn't looking like good tobogganing weather. But when Saturday rolled around, lo and behold, it was 21 degrees and snowing...hard. We had a blast. It was especially fun flying off the track with snow pelting you and trying to see who could claim the fame of the farthest distance. There were also nice, warm fires and plenty of hot chocolate.

There rest of the time consisted of power full messages and killer activities. The three messages portrayed Jesus as the friend of sinners, Jesus walking on water and calling us to Him and to have faith, and the story of the paralytic and of all the people that were at this scene the question was "Who are you?" There were also two really good testimonies of Jesus being real to these people.

The activities for the time were Live Guess Who and Fort Knox. Live Guess Who was the board game "Guess Who," but played with people as the game pieces and Fort Knox was a game where you had to steal "gold (a.k.a. medic balls)" from your opponents forts while defending your own. Also we had Chipotle for dinner that night. Booyah!

The Lord answered a lot of prayers during that weekend and I think it's safe to say it was a success.

One last note (changing topic) when I went to preach the gospel at CSU on Fri. Feb 17th, Paul Mann and I ran into a Deist, which is someone who believes that their is only one deity, but that deity has many different forms (Allah, God, Zeus, all Greek gods, all hindu gods, and every other God throughout time). It was a very interesting conversation, but it's too bad it ended up being a wild goose chase.

This week (19th-24th) the interns will be going to Ashland Woods for a corporate time with Brother Titus. Please pray for this time as well as the upcoming summer events because the summer is fast approaching!

Song I've been enjoying this week: "I Lift My Hands" by Chris Tomlin.

Have a God week everyone!

First Post of 2012!

I cannot begin to comprehend where 2011 went and that it is truly 2012. It seems like time is like the wind. One second it's there, the next it's gone. I am happy to say that 2011 left in a blaze of awesomeness.

The very last week of December, approximately 200 people (112 high school and 88 serving ones) went to Toronto, Canada for a conference called The Rock. This was a time for the high schoolers to get into God's word and really come to know and love His Word. The topic covered was the trial of Jesus, through His crucifixion, to His resurrection. It was eye opening to take a closer look at something that started so dark and evil that ended up the being the most glorious, most wonderful, most amazing thing that this world has experienced.

One big highlight of the week was the gospel outreach activity we did in downtown Toronto. We first went to a populated square and spread about 130 people across the streets and each person had a portion of the Holy Bible. All at once we read the entire Bible for everyone within that vicinity to hear. Then after that, we moved near city hall and had a giant flash mob of frozen people pretending to read the Bible or holding up signs with verses on them. We got a lot of weird looks and it was freezing cold, but for Christ we suffer willingly. One person was even frozen in wearing shorts and flip-flops!

The second half of the week, around 150 college age and older gathered at the church retreat center called the Ashland Woods Manor. This time was called Empower and we spent an intense 3 days diving into and dissecting the book of Galatians. Just being with all these people, whether it was in the meetings, in small groups, eating food, or just hanging out, is something I cherish and treasure deeply. It's amazing to see what God can do in one week.

The very last week of our break, 10 interns (4 from Cleveland, 5 from Buffalo, and 1 from Ann Arbor) went down to North Carolina to visit the saints and have a little vacation as well. This trip moved me in many ways, the first being before I even left.

When I first heard about this trip, I was down for going right away. Who wouldn't want to ditch the Cleveland snow and hang out with some pretty awesome people for a week in 70 degree weather? Well, on the first day of break (a week and 3 days before departure) I got a grand jury summons for the day I was supposed to leave for NC. And that puppy is not easy to get out of. And then a few days after that, a situation came up at the apartment I live in (I was at my parents house for break) that was going to hinder me from going. So I did the only thing I could do. Pray. I just gave everything to the Lord. I told Him that I really wanted to go, but if I was meant to stay, I would. I also told Him that I knew He could take care of these problems.

Five days later, on the way home from Toronto, as soon as I crossed back into the good ol' U.S. of A. I checked my email and there in my inbox was and email saying that my jury duty was not deferred but rather I was released...meaning instead of being re-selected around a specific time, my name gets put back into the pool and I am as if I wasn't even selected before. As for the issue at the apartment, we had to take a brother with us down to NC but he couldn't leave until 2 days later. So in that time, we managed to take care enough of the issue that I was able to go to NC. The Lord is so amazingly sovereign.

The trip was amazing! On the non-spiritual side, we did things such as ice skating, shooting 12-gauges, toured Duke and UNC, scavenger hunt in downtown Raleigh at the history and science museums, mini-golf, laser tag, go-karts, launching a home-made parachute of the roof, manhunt, bonfires, and getting fed lots and lots of food. On the spiritual side, we went over to Cody's cousin's house where we got to meet a chunk of his family, had some good fellowship and sang hymns for over an hour. The next night we went to a saint's house (Luke) where we met his family, had more food, and shared some experiences in our lives. Saturday we went to the YP meeting. They sing some songs, then get into a book of daily lesson by Witness Lee. So we went over the lesson on ministering and shared some of our own testimonies. Then on the Lord's Day, we attended the meeting of the Church in Raleigh. The saints there were so warm and welcoming. All the interns gave testimonies and the saints were all very appreciative of our coming. Finally to end such an amazing adventure...you guessed it. Food. That was the biggest love feast I have ever seen.

This new year has started off with a bang and I hope and pray that the Lord will outdo Himself as he has done year after year.