Summer......What Summer?

I really suck at this updating thing but at least late then never. This picture was taken around this time last year at the Quarry in B-burg. You don't know how amazing it is until you have been there and actually jumped off the 40 ft. cliff that I am standing on. The water is clear blue which makes jumping a little daunting because you can see straight to the bottom. But man, you have to try it at least once. It's the main attraction other than Tech in these parts. Sadly, I haven't been able to go all but once since I have been. It's not really a big deal but it is just one activity that I had planned for this summer that I have been unable to pursue. That's been happening a lot lately.
To give you a background about what's been happening this summer I must start on day I got back from Rockbridge. Well, that was my first day of work at the wonderful restaurant of Wendy's. I work the night shift from 5pm-2am and I don't get out of work till around 3:00-3:30am. I also have a another job that starts at 8am till around 3pm watching my baby niece. Thankfully, I have weekends off where I try to hang out with some friends here that I haven't seen in awhile. Talk about a shock. I wasn't as prepared as I thought I was for this kind of work schedule. I now know the how valuable sleep is. The first few weeks I was running on about 4 hours of sleep each night except on weekends which does not help while watching a 3 month old baby. She's the funniest baby I have ever seen; making faces that I make and that my sister make just cracks me up which then makes her laugh which then makes me laugh and it becomes one big laughing fest. But man, she can cry very loud. I mean that's how she tells you that she crapped her pants or she's hungry, but with no sleep, that crying seems to multiply a lot.
So that was my week life: work, 2-hour break where I loaded up on coffee and food, then work again, then sleep, then work........ So this hard schedule was not something I was prepared for this summer. One thing that I looked forward too this summer was going back to my old church and the new college bible study that they were offering. Well, talk about two let downs. This church is awesome and extremely active but I just don't connect to it anymore, which was very unexpected. This "bible study" which is more like sunday school, and the teaching method is more of "let me tell you what the bible says instead of you figuring it out for yourself and applying it to your life". I understand the concept that you get out of it what you put into it but you must understand that I was pretty excited about it and had a great attitude going into it. I don't believe I had high expectations for it, just that I thought it would be a great time to get to know my fellow methodist peers that are in college, living life as a Christian. It was more like the same old cliquish youth group back in high school which I disliked then and dislike now. So basically, I'm trying to say is that I feel like I've lost my spiritual community when leaving Old Dominion which isn't right. Why can't I find that sense of spiritual community here in Blacksburg? Where is that sense of support that I once had?
Anyways, it sounds like I'm whining (give me credit, if you had to do this you would be complaining too, for a little bit) and I wanted to give you a background of what has been going on so that you may understand why I have not been myself lately.
I was talking to my amazing friend recently about all this and she gave some awesome advice: count your blessings.
Count my blessings? What blessings? oh wait.. haha...dang. Man have I been being dumb recently complaining. What good comes out of complaining and comparing your life to others and wishing that you could go to the beach everyday or hang out with anyone you like whenever you like or having a better job or wishing that your life was someone else's? One, that is an insult to God. Two, it produces nothing but pity parties and bad moods. Yeah, it is easy to say wow, they have it made. But something I've come to realize is that there is always someone there saying that about you. That there is always someone worse off than you are and instead of complaining I should be thanking...thanking God for giving me this life no matter how difficult it is. Thanking God for giving the best friends a guy could ask for even when they don't call when they say they would or hanging out with you when they said they could. Thanking God for giving me a church I can go to when there are thousands of people in the world who don't have a church to go to. Thanking God for giving me a job when there are millions of people in poverty, struggling just to survive. I mean, here I am complaining about working at a Wendy's to pay for college when there are people working there to just get food on the table. How messed up is that? That is not right. That is not godly. Instead of complaining and comparing I should be thanking. And quite frankly, these past few days have been the best this summer. Not because I did anything exciting or hung out with some cool people or I went to the beach or Busch Gardens, etc. but because I have been counting the blessings that God has given me, being ever so thankful for the life he has given me and being grateful my best friends, two of which are in the top right hand corner.
So if you're ever in a tight spot or feeling incredibly down about random crap or just feeling like no cares for you( which is a bad habit I get into, but more on that in a different blog) think about your blessings, the wonderful life that God has given you no matter how difficult it is, and ultimately think about the best gift/blessing that has been given to you: JESUS. Just thinking about what Jesus has done for me just blows my mind. Every life is a great life with Jesus.