The Friendship Chronicles: Joel Mayward Edition

Have you ever met someone and at first you weren't sure what to think of them but after some time you start to see this person becoming a huge part of your life and no I am not talking about a girl. I am talking about my good friend/mentor/ spiritual older brother Joel Mayward.

Joel came into my life the fall of 2007 as my boss and the new Jr. High Pastor (Or director however you see it) at Red Mountain Community Church when I was starting my second year as an intern. The first time we actually spoke Joel actually asked me out to dinner to talk and catch up since we would most likely be working with each other. (Yes, we had a bro-date at Applebees and it was magical!) In this first time talking and getting to know each other I began to see a guy that would influence practically every fiber of my life. 

Joel has a huge heart for all things, he is true man after God's own hear. He has inspired me to be a better person and man of God. He is a great dad to my adopted nephew Copland (or as I like to call him Carlos). He is deeply passionate about leading the youth of today (Jr. High or now High School) to come to know the Lord in a more deeper and meaningful way. This is one area that he has greatly influenced in my life and one he continues to do through our times together. 

Joel and I share a deep love for movies, this was one of the first threads that brought us closer as friends. We have had many conversation about movies and their plots or characters, which ones are good and which ones we did not like. Through this bond Joel has helped me see deeper meaning in movies. i have grown even more to appreciate a fine cinematic adventure. Maybe someday we will do battle and through the board game Scene It to decided who the real movie nerd is. 

Random Facts about Joel:

- He is allergic to EVERYTHING, and I mean everything. Pollen, beans even poodles. 

- He loves to give High- Fives like they are going out of style

- He is constantly blogging about something (Check link above)

- He is always reading about 100 books at a time.

Joel thank you for all you have done in my life. You are true friend and a great brother in my life. 

Thoughts on making mistakes.

Have you ever done something that you wished you hadn't? I really mean that, has there ever been a moments that you wished you could hit the rewind button and go back and let it play out in a different way. Bad consequences make spur of the moment life decisions hard. It's like one minute you are enjoying yourself in that moment only to wake up and have the rug pulled out from under you and BAM! You are in deep deep dookie. (Sorry for the kindergarten talk.)

This past week I was feeling overwhelmed a little bit and just stressed with some stuff in my life. I lost the feeling to really do anything and just seemed to float through the week. I started to notice and kept telling myself I needed to pick up the slack or wake up. The sad thing is, I was good at acting like I was going through it all but really I was somewhat going through the emotions. Well that all caught up to me this weekend. Now I am at a lost on what will happen and what to do...

Here are my thoughts; I am going to face them. All my troubles head on. No more running, no more being afraid of the outcome and not facing them. No matter how hard things get or how hard things will be I have no other choice but to face them. To apologize where I need to apologize and face the consequences and out come what ever they may be. It’s easy to say these things, but a whole lot harder to live them out. I am praying that I am able to be a man of character, a man of God and face my trouble, knowing that God has my back and its not His fault that I am going through hardships but my own. Although it is my fault I know that the Lord is there and I won't have to face these things alone.

These are just a few thoughts I have been processing.