Supafly.com

Candyce and I are a on a flight to Texas for a weekend vacation. Coincidentally, my mom and my grandparents are visiting my uncle in at the same time I am doing a talk in Houston. So I’m flying in a couple days early and bringing Candyce to hang out with the family.

Candyce has so many qualities that I didn’t see at first. My life isn’t normal by any means…I fight for five-second impressions on a twenty-two minute episode of ‘The Real World’. I meet hundreds of new people each weekend, and only get to share a couple minutes with each of them. So first impressions are all that I have: charisma, humor, beauty, and charm.;

There’s a line in Scripture is etched in my memory: “Beauty is fleeting and charm deceptive. A woman who loves the Lord is to be praised.”

When I first met Candyce, I knew I was attracted to her. But I made a decision not to recruit every pretty girl that I meet. I didn’t make a decision to takes things slow; I didn’t really decide anything. I just woke up the next morning and kept going. Now here we are three years later, happily dating.

I used to be skeptical of anyone who were friends then one day started to date. If there was a spark, then why didn’t they start dating in the beginning? Dating seemed like the last resort after other options ran out.

My mother has always been my romance councilor. She told me a couple years ago something that makes a lot of sense: “When you marry someone, you are choosing someone to be you companion on the roadtrip of life.”

After every break up, I look back and wonder how I wasted so much time. I would spend months trying to clean up the mess. Day after day I’d play catch up, trying to make up for lost time. It seemed like the past relationship had distracted me from what was really important.

But life with Candyce is not like that. She loves and respects me and what I do. She understands what is important, and she holds me to that. It’s amazing.

I spent the last three days in the mountains of Northern Arizona on a Life Teen staff retreat. There were over 25 staff members who came in from all over the country for the retreat.

It was exciting to have Fr. Dale there to lead us. He is a charismatic, dynamic guy. Since he works with so many people, he’s learned to lead through service and humility. But this weekend I watched him step-up up with commanding leadership. It was cool.

The drive from the mountains of Prescott down to Phoenix is so scenic. You drop down 3000 feet and pass through a few different types of desert. I felt like I was in a; jeans commercial. I listened to oldies and felt like I was on a real road trip. But it got a little scarey.

A strong wind charged across the plateau and nearly threw my car off the road. As I held my car in my lane, I looked ahead of me and watched the wind blow into a the Uhaul in front of me. The truck was fine, but the trailer hauling a van took a hit. The top-heavy trailer rocked frantically back and forth. With each tip, the trailer wheels lifted higher off the ground. I slammed on my breaks and prepared fro the van to flip off the trailer and onto my hood. The driver instinctly sped up and pulled the trailer back onto the road. He shot off into the distance as I crawled to a stop. My heart pounded. I got out of the car and peed on a cactus.

I want to make a website that shows the history of America and it’s cars. I was watching Band of Brothers last week and

I was a white guy living in Harlem. NYC averages 8000 people on each block. I only knew two other white people that living on our block, and they were both my roommates.; The other 7997 were mostly black, some Latino. I got a different perspective on what it means to be a minority.

One of my neighbors said something about white people, then blurted out, “I pray we don’t have to go back to the 50’s. In the 22 years of my life, I had never heard anyone say something negative about the 1950’s.

It dawned on me that every time an old black man sees a ‘57 Chevy, he doesn’t remember that as the “good old days.” For my entire life I’ve waxed nostalgic about past generations of cars, and have been utterly ignorant about the era surrounding them. I think most other white people are as ignorant as me, especially teenagers.

How many people were getting fat and driving fancy cars while millions of Jews were murdered? In “Band of Brothers,” a American soldier holds a baker at gunpoint. The baker was furious that the soldiers were looting his shop to feed thousands in a concentration camp on the other side of town. The baker said, “What concentration camp?”

It makes me wonder about all the suffering that’s going on in the world while we pimp our rides. Am I rich and ignorant?

I spoke to my buddy Stephen today on the phone. I asked him advice on picking out a good plantain to fry up Caribbean style. Stephen has always been the better cook since we were in Boy Scouts, where we first became friends. We ended up at the same high school, then both went on to Georgia Tech.

Now He lives in Los Angeles now and his job brings him all over the west coast. On any given weekend, he and I each on an airplane, leaping from one city to the next.;

We laughed because he’s been riding his bike and I’ve been sleeping in a tent–just like the good old days in Boy Scouts. He’s riding a bike because his nice SUV was crushed by an LA driver. I’ve been sleeping in a tent in my backyard since February, mostly just because my life was becoming too normal.

He’s been dating a gal for several months now and I’ve been with Candyce for almost a year. We laughed at the revelation that he’s going to be 25, and I’m pushing 26.

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I was laying in my tent last night thinking about the glitter of being a twenty-something. I have nice investments, a nice house, a nice car, and nice clothes. It seems like this age is “the life” that’s glamorized by the media. But it’s so selfish and vain. It’s a bunch of empty promises.

8:30 AM
Yesterday I went up to the chapel to cried. I couldn’t help it…I am so heartbroken.

The new Lifeteen.com is a gift I want to give to the world and I believe it is going to help so many people. This website will be a true instrument of God’s peace. And the people we hired to help finish it are not doing their work. It devastates me.

I have prayed so hard the past five days. I mean, I’ve prayed with my whole being. I’ve called many friends in desperation, begging them to pray with me.

I know that God is faithful. He is my father and he loves me. He will not leave me orphan.

Candyce called me yesterday afternoon and she and I talked about it. I told her that; this website will tap into the gift of the Internet, and use those gifts to unleash grace.; She said, “That’s it. Satan does not want this website to work because it is going to help so many people.”

I don’t like explaining every situation in terms of spiritual warfare. I believe spiritual warfare is real, that good and evil are at war. But, when I’m trying to figure out who’s winning, I am not a doing my part. But, if this website is going to lead people closer to Christ, then the Evil One doesn’t want it to happen.