The World is Our Friend

Here is the official road trip update!

Friday, 3/5

• Left ONU
• Passed through Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee
• Went to the Nashville Predator's Arena and got VIP parking - got to go backstage
• Stayed at Jen's (Katie's sister) apartment in Brentwood

Saturday, 3/6

• Left Jen's at 9AM
• Passed through Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas, Oklahoma
• Drove through Memphis
• Ate lunch on the border of TN and AK overlooking the Mississippi River
• Saw nasty Tyson chicken houses in the Ozark mountains
• Went to the Ozark National Forest and set up camp in the mountains
• God scared our of our minds, packed up and left
• Drove until late in the night and slept in a rest stop in OK
• Sonic :)

Sunday 3/7

• Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico
• Went to church at Bethany First Church of the Nazarene and Southern Naz University
• Stopped at a starbucks and paid for a car in the drive through
• Drove on Route 66
• Talked about Chili's a lot, then saw one!
• Got free chips and salsa and left a big tip
• Saw a GIANT rainbow!
• Stopped at the Flying C Ranch - proud owners of 50 billion billboards on I-40
• Stopped at a Denny's in Santa Fe for coffee and Bible talk
• Rick was our waiter, we talked to him
• Drove north until we found a rest stop that wasn't sketchy

Monday 3/8

• Woke up freezing and left the rest stop at 6:30AM
• Washed our hair in a Sonic bathroom sink
• New Mexico, Colorado
• Went to Capulin Volcano and ate breakfast
• Peed at the base of Capulin Volcano
• Had a snowball fight in Northern NM
• Topped in Trinidad, CO for an oil change (got ripped off, I'm still bitter), walked through an antique shop
• Went to the Great Sand Dunes national park - saw nothing, too foggy
• Drove past the 38th parallel (separates N and S Korea)
• Saw many mountains
• Drove through a blizzard
• Stopped at the Red Rocks open area and went walking/climbing
• Agia Sophia coffee shop - great coffee, in a house, religion books everywhere
• Katie sat on my camelback and soaked her butt...haha!
• Went to a thai restaurant for dinner in Colorado Springs
• Texted Katie's friend Buck, who said we could stay at his sister's house, whom we have never met
• Stayed at his sister, Lauren's, house. Hung out with her roommates. Slept in warm bedS! :)

Tuesday 3/9

• Katie showered
• Saw Pike's peak
• Passed Castle Rock
• At breakfast at the Red Rocks Amphitheater
• Walked around, stood on stage, went to the visitor's center
• Hiked along Dinosaur Ridge and saw fossils!!!!
• Drove into Denver and went to the greatest bookstore in the world - Tattered Cover Bookstore- after getting lost many times.
• Browsed for hours
• Went to the world's largest REI
• Bought turkey jerky
• Went to Colorado State to stay with my friend Mike
• Played rummy 500
• Slept on a futon

Wednesday 3/10

• Slept in and at warm breakfast
• I showered - PTL
• Went to Mugs coffee lounge and it was wonderful...we got silverware made from potatoes
• Mike showed us around
• Walked around Old Town Fort Collins
• Went to 10,000 Villages fair trade shop and bought cool things
• Authentic Thai food from Toy's Thai for lunch
• Hung out at Wild Boar Coffee Shop, read, did a puzzle
• Ate dinner in a bomb CSU caf - mongolian gril. yes!
• Hung out the rest of the night

Thursday 3/11

• Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri
• Left
• Drove, a lot
• Saw a sign in Nebraska that said: Outlaw Sodomy. Haha!
• Stopped in Lincoln, Nebraska for dinner. Katie got lost
• Read The Life of Pi a lot
• Went to the International House of Prayer in KC, it was their student awakening so we went to that. Big crazy party.
• Sonic
• Got pulled over by officer Valentine bc my tail lights were our
• Went to the actual prayer room

Friday 3/12

• Missouri, Iowa, Illinois
• Worshiped, prayed, and slept until 4am
• Katie drove until 530
• Slept in a McDonalds parking lot until 7
• I drove after a big coffee
• Finally made it to illinois
• Katie thought it would be a good idea to throw her apple out the window, but instead she opened the car door, WHILE she was driving 70mph down the highway. Dumb.
• Finished The Life of Pi...Pi was our friend.
  
• Made it home around 3 in the afternoon and slept the afternoon away
  

3,832 miles.



Done.

Road Trip

I'm going on a road trip with my best friend
We don't know where we are going
We want to spend every night in a different state
We feel called to tell people about Jesus and do random acts of kindness
Time for an adventure!

Do we even really need God?

Sometimes I ask myself:
What is the purpose of life?
Why are we here?
So I get a college education, get a job, work, then die.
So what's the point?
I won a national championship, in three years nobody will remember who I was.
Why do we work so hard?
I couldn't even tell you my great grandfather's name.
Pretty good chances that my great grand kids won't know mine.
So why do we toil?
Why do we work so hard?
Why do we care?
Because this isn't it.
There is more to life.
There is hope for something after this.
Our lives are lived in a way that we can be independent and rely on ourselves, but when we lay in bed at night, there are always things that haunt us.
Purpose is something that always crosses my mind.
If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work. If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.
I don't want to narrowly escape through the flames.
God is our purpose.
Our hope is in him.
Without God, life is nothing.
Even if we impact someone's life, we will both die and that relationship will be meaningless.
God promises more.
God guarantees full life not only in this life, but in the next one.
Resurrection.
Purpose.
Meaning.
Hope.