So recently, I got into a couple of interesting debates with a couple of really good friends.  These people disagreed with me on issues that I didn’t think they would.  These are also people who rarely disagree with me.

I was caught off guard.

Im actually not going to get in to the main issue we discussed.  We did discuss this smaller side question, and I’d like to see some thoughts on that before I post the other question. (If I do it at all….)

Here’s the question……

Are there different degrees of love?  Are there only different types of love rather than degrees?  Do the different types of love represent different degrees of love?  Should there be different degrees of love?

Ready… set… COMMENT!!!

AND I REALLY DO WANT YOU TO COMMENT ON THIS!! ANYONE CAN COMMENT. YOU DONT HAVE TO HAVE YOUR OWN BLOG ACCOUNT!!!!

-Kurtis

In case anyone is interested, I’m gonna post a real quick summary of how we got engaged.

These are the three main things i was focused on….

1) Food

2) Song

3) Ring

My original plan was to take her on a picnic, since we had kinda talked about doing that anyways.  I ran into a couple problems with that though…

Problem 1) The weather.  The ground was wet, and it was still cloudy and kinda depressing looking.

Problem 2) We are currently in McDonough, so there arent really many good picnic destinations. (Unless you like Nascar, fishing, camo, and beer, in that order.)

Problem 3) She decided to go shopping with her mom that day, not knowing i had this planned obviously.  By the time she was done, i figured it would be too dark/cold to do a picnic.

I had to change my plans last minute which kinda stressed me out.  I know with something like this, you shouldnt have to change your plans last minute, but i did.  And it worked out.

Basically what i did was set up a fancy table for dinner and lit a ton of candles.  She was not expecting this when she got to my house, so that was a surprise in itself.  I got some Olive Garden to-go because she likes italian food and i figured id rather get something good rather than try and cook it myself. ha.

After dinner, we went to the other room where i had several candles lit.  It looked pretty awesome.  I told her I had another surprise for her. (By this point, i figured she knew what was about to happen….) I got my guitar and sang her the song i wrote her.  Keep in mind, she has been wanting me to write her a song for the last 4 1/2 years, but i was too big of a loser to do it until now.  She started to cry a little bit, but not nearly as much as i hoped. haha!  Shes just not much of a crier.  I think the song was cheesy, but girls like that kind of stuff.  She loved it!  After that, I told her I had one more surprise.  Thats when I said all the sappy stuff and got down on one knee.  It was pretty awesome.  I was nervous/excited the whole time.

So I know it may not seem like this super extravagant  proposal that you might see in a movie, but it was really special and personal to us, and thats what matters most.  All I know is that I am super excited and I feel kinda bad for her because she has to put up with me for the rest of her life!!!!!!  But i sure do love her!!!

Thats all!  Here are a couple pics…

Im sitting in class learning about budgeting within the church.  I guess its important stuff if I’m going to work in this field, but its pretty boring.

In more important news, I’m still pulling for Phillies and Yankees in the World Series.  Its looking good.  I want the Phillies to win the World Series, but Im not so sure if they will anymore.  I dont think the bullpen can hold a team like the yankees.  Oh well, we will see.  There isnt any reason for this post.  Im just bored in class.

How bout them Falcons?  The dirty birds have been doing dirty work lately.  Are the Falcons super bowl contenders?  Thoughts?

“Throughout time, somewhere between forty-five billion and one hundred twenty-five billion people have lived on this earth.  Thats 125,000,000,000.  In about fifty years (give or take a couple of decades), no one will remember you.  Everyone you know will be dead.  Certainly no one will care what job you had, what car you drove, what school you attended, or what clothes you wore.”

- Francis Chan – “Crazy Love”

Thats right people.  We are just a mist on this earth that soon disappears.  We are just the extras in GOD’S movie.  You know, the extra where you only see the back of their head for about 1/10 of a second…. The one no one cares about.  All the things you think matter in life, (cars, clothes, being trendy, ect.) well, they dont.  Not even a little.  Why do we still act like everything is about us?  I’m guilty too, as always.

Our lives are supposed to point to God. Period.

- Kurtis

So, I was picking the Braves and the Yankees to play each other in the world series for a while now.  People thought I was crazy, but I have more confidence in my Braves than most people.  People always want to talk about how bad they suck at baseball, but they are forgetting they were among the best for 14 years in a row.  Toward the end of the season, they came close to winning the wild card.  Suddenly, I didnt look as crazy.

The Rockies ended up winning out, so we didnt make it.

Since the Braves didnt make it, im calling Yankees and Phillies in the World Series.  I will be rooting for the Phillies not because I am a Phillies fan, but because I want the NL East to be well represented.  It makes the Braves look better I guess.

With that said…. who are your World Series picks?? (I know that no one will comment on this.  I will continue to look like a loser.  Its worth a shot though…)

So I’ve been listening to a couple new records that I would recommend to everyone. Here we go….

Thrice – “Beggars” – This is a great record. Its not really like anything else Thrice has ever put out in my opinion, but I guess all of their records are like that. When you can change it up with every record and it still be good, you are a good band. Most bands cant pull this off.

MuteMath – “Armistice” – Another great one.  This band is still at the top of my “best live bands” list.  This record is also a little bit different than previous releases.  It seems like its more “computerized” with less real instruments.  The cool thing is, i know they still pull off all the “computery” stuff live.

Emery – “In Shallow Seas We Sail” – This is still probably my favorite out of all of them right now.  Ive even had this one for a while now and im still not tired of it.  I think its that good.  I’d probably listen to anything these guys put out.  They have been one of my top 3 favorite bands for a while now.

Paramore – “Brand New Eyes” – I havent listened to these guys (and girl) in a while now, but i decided to check out the new record.  I havent got all the way through it yet, but so far the first song on the record is the only one im that impressed with.  But that one song is really really good.  I havent listened to enough of it yet though.

Ive also heard that the new “Muse” record is good.  I havent really got a chance to listen to it yet though.

Are there any more good records that have come out lately??

Everything has definitely improved.  Things have come a long way since my last post!

Anyways, i move back into school tomorrow.  I still dont know what classes im taking.  I guess i should take care of that.  This is a completely pointless post, i know.  I guess thats it!

This is unreal.  I wasnt planning on writing about this, but i have to.

As many of you know, these past couple weeks have been the most difficult of my life.  I still to this point, do not have any clue what is going on, or why this is happening…. well on second thought…. i do.

While on the crosswalk tour, i grew significantly spiritually and mentally.  I really feel like I am a better person now than I was when i left.  But ive come to realize, that doesnt mean the devil cant continue to pick at you.

The devil has had a ridiculous hold on me these past couple weeks.  The weird thing is, i havent particularly done anything wrong.  In fact, i feel like ive been doing almost everything right.  The problem is, after growing so much on this trip, i should have been ready to come back and share my experience and use it as a tool to witness.  After all, i saw some INCREDIBLE things… even some things i had never seen before.  Instead, I had the biggest curveball of my life thrown at me.  Im not going to get into that story right now.  A lot of you know all about it anyways.  I have been an absolute wreck the past couple weeks and because of that, I havent been witnessing and I am yet to tell ANYONE about my trip.  Thats awful i know.  Instead, ive been telling everyone and anyone who will listen about this curveball thrown at me.  Actually, it wasnt a curveball.  It was a 104 mph fastball that hit me square in the face. Literally the most painful thing that has ever happened to me.

The devil has been kidnapping some of the people that i care about the most in order to get to me.  He will make people do things that are completely out of character in order to hurt you and distract you.  He did this to me.  He doesnt like the changes that have been happening in my life.  He will do everything is his power to stop it. I have been an absolute wreck.  I have been completely distracted from my entire purpose on this earth because of my situation.  I have all these mental images in my head.  I tell myself, if i dont step in and do this, or say this, then “this” (meaning the mental images in my head…) will happen.

Thats just not true.  Doing the things and saying the things i feel i need to, in other words not providing space, only make things worse.  It seems the devils favorite way to ruin a God centered relationship, or a relationship that is well on its way to being God centered is to add a 3rd person.  Its happened to both parties now.  The devil isnt a complete idiot i guess.  He knows the changes I have made, and he does not want to see this work out.  He wants us both to hurt.  I hope im not giving away too much.  Im trying to respect the privacy of everyone involved, but i had to get this out and share it.

God’s timing is perfect, but that doesnt mean the devil cant have good timing if you let him.  He threw this fastball at my face just as i was heading home ready to completely refocus everything around my Savior.  I was literally healed of some of the things I had been struggling with.  It was incredible.

In closing, what ive learned tonight is that i have to not worry about it. Some people reading this may not be believers and thats fine, but i believe with everything in me that ALL i need is JESUS.  Im not going to hurt forever.  Im not going to let the devil win.  And because of everything that ive said, if we give up on this, then the devil has won…. and im not going to let the devil win. not on my watch. unfortunately, ive done everything i can do at this point.  All thats left is to give it to God, and I think im finally learning how to do that.  I have to stay focused on being the right person, and making sure that I’m doing what is right.  I cant keep worrying about what other people are doing.  If someone does something that hurts me, chances are it will hurt them way worse in the long run.

This may have made zero sense to some of you.  But thats ok. I really didnt go into detail at all as to what is going on. If you are a believer, just know that all you need is the love and peace of Jesus.  I feel like thats why all of this has happened. I just needed to realize that.  Hopefully ill eventually get what I want, but maybe i wont.  Living with that thought is extremely difficult.  Its not what I want, but its what God wants that matters. I know that whatever He has in store for me is going to be OFF THE CHAIN!!!! It blows my mind to think about that at this point though. I literally cannot wrap my mind around it. I just need patience.

So far this tour has been awesome. Today is the first day we have really had any kind of break. We are sitting right outside of Philly waiting to go to the next facility. Me and Greg wondered around the local mall for a while. It was just as lame as any other mall ive been to.

I’m surprised how big an impact we seem to be having on these kids lives. It’s awesome that we get to show them a better way and that God has bigger plans for them. It’s pretty clear, since they are locked up, that their plans aren’t working so well.

More to come later. Were heading to New York tomorrow. I’ll try to upload some pictures soon.

I am ready to leave for tour already!  Sitting at home is lame, especially when a lot of your friends are out playing rock n roll for Jesus without you.  I am glad that I decided to go with Crosswalk this summer though.  Last year, i made one of the worst decisions ever and chose not to go because I thought I had other plans.  Now, i know that might sound ridiculous to say it was one of the “worst decisions ever,” but since I had an opportunity to travel the entire United States, play music every day, and share the Good News with kids all across America, and i declined such an incredible opportunity for what turned out to be nothing at all, it was bad choice. LESSON LEARNED!!!!!!!! Lucky for me, (and i do seem to get screwed over a lot when it comes to this sort of stuff) Crosswalk hasn’t fallen through yet, and i dont think its going to.  Hopefully this is something I can be more involved in.

Anyways, this is just a rant that was on my mind while I was sitting here working on summer school.  Summer school isnt very fun incase you were wondering, but its not like I’m doing much else the next couple of weeks anyways, so I might as well get ahead.

Other than that, i’ve just been watching the Braves (who are having a mediocre season. Hoping they step it up soon!) and listening to the new Emery CD, “In Shallow Seas We Sail.” This is a must have.  Aaron Sprinkle did an INCREDIBLE job producing this record.  I wish bands like this could be more famous, because they certainly deserve it more than most the garbage on the radio these days.  But I wont get started on that….

Are there any other good records that have come out lately?  Leave a comment if theres anything else I should check out!

Back to work now….