Rompin'

My doods and I went adventuring to Hamilton Pool this past weekend.
It was awesome.

I took a looooong break between this post and my last. For awhile I just didn't know what to say, and more recently I've just felt like what I have to say isn't really worth saying. I haven't been able to explain how I've met God the past few weeks, and I still don't. A perfect example of a place I'm meeting Him is literally right now. I'd like to be able to explain what has been going on the past two weeks, not just on here but to my friends or family, but I find myself unable to. And that is SO frustrating. I can't put into words what is going on, and that is hard. It reminds me of a moment I remember all too clearly from middle school. I was trying to do math homework, but I couldn't figure it out. My dad tried to help me, but I was too frustrated to accept help. It made me SO angry that I couldn't figure out how to do that math homework. I ended up ripping it in half and retaping it together before the night was over. I don't remember what happened after that. It's kind of funny looking back, but I feel the same exact way today when faced with a similar situation. I have a test tomorrow that I haven't studied for yet. I honestly don't know how to do study for it. We don't a review, and I didn't take notes. Honestly I'll probably do fine because I always participate in the class discussion/activities, but its frustrating for me because I don't know what to do to prepare for it. And this is where Jesus waits for me. This is where we are communing. This is where I'm getting to know Him better. I say "Jesus this is hard! I am willing to be loved here." I don't know how to explain what He does for me. I don't know how to explain how it happens, but I do know that something is happening when I go to Him when it gets hard. My friend Mr. Jon O compares it to drinking water, and I think I've used the analogy on this blog before but whatever... "Its like drinking water. You drink it when you're thirsty. You may not know exactly how it quenches your thirst, but it does." Take it for what its worth, but I like it.


I'm just putting this out there...

The doods of WYLDLIFE.

Last year I became a WyldLife Leader at Jane Long Middle School, an urban school in Bryan, TX. WyldLife is a part of Young Life and is a Christian organization created to share the gospel of Jesus with middle school kids. Wyldlife basically functions in 3 ways. Every week we have what we call “club”. At club all the students are invited to hang out, play games, and watch myself and my fellow leaders participate in ridiculous skits. Before we leave for the night we sit everyone down to talk about Jesus. Besides club, we spend time with the kids by going to visit their school lunch period or find time to hang out with them outside of school. A third component of WyldLife is summer camp. I went to camp last year with a group of middle school guys, and I absolutely loved it. Young Life declares camp as “The best week of your life!”, and it does not disappoint. It is hard to explain the experience of camp. Quite simply it is what I would imagine Heaven to resemble. There are great, epic stories of Jesus introducing Himself to kids at camp, and I really hope our kids get to be a part of that. 

Jane Long is located in a low income area, and very rarely do kids have both a mother and father to love and provide for them. As a result of this, many are denied the opportunity to go to camp. They simply do not have the money. We ask for help. If you’re interested in making a donation to help send a kid to camp, please do. Any amount will help, but it costs $375 to fully send one kid to camp. More importantly we ask for prayers. Getting kids to camp is nothing short of a miracle. There are a lot of moving parts with raising money, getting forms signed, getting them to commit, and any prayer for anything logistical is appreciated. Prayer is also great for kids while they are at camp, that they actually come to know Jesus as their Savior. Personally I feel like its tough to pray for something so general, so if you are interested I’d be more than willing to send more information about individual kids or more specific issues. All donations are very much appreciated. 

My buddies Marc, Cameron, Malik, and Jackson.

If you’d like to donate, please make checks payable to Young Life and send them to:

Calvin Mark

515 Nelson Ln.

College Station, TX 77840

God bless,

Calvin Mark

*For more information about Young Life and the ministry, visit www.younglife.org

*Call me at 903-941-1192 or email me at calvin9524@tamu.edu for any questions.

*To watch a camp promo video go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9KmPabPb44