I love this place. Send all of your money to it :) Really, if we could get this model up and running in more places, I think that would be amazing.
www.eagleranch.org
Saturday, January 19, 2008
How I ended up in Georgia
When I finished Columbia International University, I was in love. The girl I was dating was that girl that only the luckiest of guys have the opportunity to marry. You have this girl that if she even showed the least bit of interest, you would drop everything for and marry. Well, my wife happens to be that girl for me. She is brilliant, beautiful, and a regular Proverbs 31. But our marraige was pretty much surrounded by drama because she has a little boy, and the perspectives of my in-laws of me at the time was that I was one of those Bible tottin, male chauvenistic, control freak, preacher boys. They really had no conceptual framework for an intelligent thinking young man that for the lack of a better word happened to be labeled a Christian because of his relationship with God. Couple that with the fact that being slamed with the blessing and responsibility of this little boy we were both very overloaded. I felt like Joseph introducing Mary to people, "Yes, this is my fiancee, and yes she is pregnant, but God did it."
Need less to say, I wasn't really crazy about living in my hometown after college because I didn't think that our marraige could survive lovely but over concerned in-laws, my allready overly dramatic redneck family, and a giant struggle with my little stepson's biological father who is a descent young man, yet not highly motivated to quit making excuses and take responsibility (a.k.a. get vocational training and an actual job).
Plus, the coolest thing ever happened. I had this dream back when I was little that I wanted to build a ranch for kids that had struggling families like mine. So I had designed the whole thing. I named it Eagle Ranch. In college, I even flew to Vermont to see a model of what I thought I may one day build. What I found out was that they had build it allready an hour and a half away. I went to see it, stopped at a Chick-fil-a where I thought to myself, "Wouldn't it be cool if I ended up moving here." And then cried as I looked at the place that I had dreamed about for so long. The next day, I went to an interview at the YMCA for a management job. This was a big deal because I had been working for the Y for five years allready, and this town actually had an opening right by Eagle Ranch. I couldn't get a job at the ranch because you had to be single to work there in the only job opening they had, so I took the job at the Y when they offered it to me.
This is how I ended up in Oakwood, GA. It was like God said, "Brandon, this is your city of refuge, your Egypt. Pharaoah will try and get you, but hang tight and you'll be safe here."
My wife and I really do like it here. Our little boy does too. And I got the opportunity to get my Masters degree to teach, so that has given my a great position where I work with this guy who actually worked at Eagle Ranch for five years. He is awesome and the principal is really good about trying to build a school that is about helping the students the most. Truelly. My wife works at the church and is finishing here degree too. She is helping plan all kinds of incredible things.
A long time ago I decided to do this: "Trust God to Provide and Go Along for the Ride!" When I came up with that, I had no idea how many curve balls life could throw!
Need less to say, I wasn't really crazy about living in my hometown after college because I didn't think that our marraige could survive lovely but over concerned in-laws, my allready overly dramatic redneck family, and a giant struggle with my little stepson's biological father who is a descent young man, yet not highly motivated to quit making excuses and take responsibility (a.k.a. get vocational training and an actual job).
Plus, the coolest thing ever happened. I had this dream back when I was little that I wanted to build a ranch for kids that had struggling families like mine. So I had designed the whole thing. I named it Eagle Ranch. In college, I even flew to Vermont to see a model of what I thought I may one day build. What I found out was that they had build it allready an hour and a half away. I went to see it, stopped at a Chick-fil-a where I thought to myself, "Wouldn't it be cool if I ended up moving here." And then cried as I looked at the place that I had dreamed about for so long. The next day, I went to an interview at the YMCA for a management job. This was a big deal because I had been working for the Y for five years allready, and this town actually had an opening right by Eagle Ranch. I couldn't get a job at the ranch because you had to be single to work there in the only job opening they had, so I took the job at the Y when they offered it to me.
This is how I ended up in Oakwood, GA. It was like God said, "Brandon, this is your city of refuge, your Egypt. Pharaoah will try and get you, but hang tight and you'll be safe here."
My wife and I really do like it here. Our little boy does too. And I got the opportunity to get my Masters degree to teach, so that has given my a great position where I work with this guy who actually worked at Eagle Ranch for five years. He is awesome and the principal is really good about trying to build a school that is about helping the students the most. Truelly. My wife works at the church and is finishing here degree too. She is helping plan all kinds of incredible things.
A long time ago I decided to do this: "Trust God to Provide and Go Along for the Ride!" When I came up with that, I had no idea how many curve balls life could throw!
How I ended up at Columbia International University
I had no money, no car, and I had this itch to leave my hometown. I was going to college in my hometown at the time, but I knew that I had to go on some kind of epic journey. Maybe I had read to much Wild at Heart, watched to many movies, or just maybe, just maybe I was taping into that world of the truely unknowable. Whatever it was, I found my self lead towards Columbia International University. To me, this is the Hogwarts of the Evangelical World. Where places like Liberty University declare themselves the world's largest Evangelical institution, CIU was different. More like a secret tucked a way.
I needed a secret tucked away. I was exhausted from trying to much to fast in my hometown. And I was exhausted by family issues as well. So I took a leap of faith. My friends drove me to the school with all of my belonging, donated to me by the way, in a plastic garbage bag. I got out with my two bags and was hoping they could find a room for me.
On the way there, I stopped to meet with this youth pastor. He was a great guy that had graduated from Columbia International. He talked to me, but one thing that he said stuck in my mind as he handed me two hundred dollars. He said, "I want to give this to you as an investment. But promise me this. Don't become so heavenly minded that you are of no earthly good."
I've thought of this often as I go to church and see the disparity between what the Bible declares to be the life of a believer and what the church has become. It has a lot of amazing things going for it. It is a place where people can come and grow, but it is also a place where a lot of people carry massive misconceptions about how God looks at them and others. It is a place where victims of spiritual abuse sometimes bash the life out of each other with Bible verses and a model of perfection that even Christ couldn't attain (A giant house, perfect clothes, up to date fashion with matching vehicles). It is the only place where the work acoholic is praised, exalted, and lifted high to dispense both judgement and helpful advice to the transparent.
That two hundred dollars was a huge blessing in the end because it was the exact difference between my financial aid package and the cost. The journey taught me to listen to what this veteran youth minister was saying.
How is a young idealistic leader to survive the harsh realities of helping careers?This was where the rubber meets the road. I realized that the power of the University and Bible Study in general was in giving a critical thinking mind into the very heart of this idealism. Taking the heart of a warrior and giving it ample wisdom was where the application of heavenly mindedness would lead.
The two years that I spent at Columbia International prepared me by giving me the world. I was able to travel internationally to thirteen different countries, interacting with an amazing array of cultures and people while learning the history of the world. And when I found my calling in teaching I was able to take this into the hearts and minds of the students. Helping them gain Critical Thinking while the world begs them to turn off their minds and buy stuff.
This is where the rubber meets the road. A Christianity that shuts up and puts up. Not driven by programs and feel good environments, but driven my wholistic pursuit of knowing God, in failure and in triumph.
I needed a secret tucked away. I was exhausted from trying to much to fast in my hometown. And I was exhausted by family issues as well. So I took a leap of faith. My friends drove me to the school with all of my belonging, donated to me by the way, in a plastic garbage bag. I got out with my two bags and was hoping they could find a room for me.
On the way there, I stopped to meet with this youth pastor. He was a great guy that had graduated from Columbia International. He talked to me, but one thing that he said stuck in my mind as he handed me two hundred dollars. He said, "I want to give this to you as an investment. But promise me this. Don't become so heavenly minded that you are of no earthly good."
I've thought of this often as I go to church and see the disparity between what the Bible declares to be the life of a believer and what the church has become. It has a lot of amazing things going for it. It is a place where people can come and grow, but it is also a place where a lot of people carry massive misconceptions about how God looks at them and others. It is a place where victims of spiritual abuse sometimes bash the life out of each other with Bible verses and a model of perfection that even Christ couldn't attain (A giant house, perfect clothes, up to date fashion with matching vehicles). It is the only place where the work acoholic is praised, exalted, and lifted high to dispense both judgement and helpful advice to the transparent.
That two hundred dollars was a huge blessing in the end because it was the exact difference between my financial aid package and the cost. The journey taught me to listen to what this veteran youth minister was saying.
How is a young idealistic leader to survive the harsh realities of helping careers?This was where the rubber meets the road. I realized that the power of the University and Bible Study in general was in giving a critical thinking mind into the very heart of this idealism. Taking the heart of a warrior and giving it ample wisdom was where the application of heavenly mindedness would lead.
The two years that I spent at Columbia International prepared me by giving me the world. I was able to travel internationally to thirteen different countries, interacting with an amazing array of cultures and people while learning the history of the world. And when I found my calling in teaching I was able to take this into the hearts and minds of the students. Helping them gain Critical Thinking while the world begs them to turn off their minds and buy stuff.
This is where the rubber meets the road. A Christianity that shuts up and puts up. Not driven by programs and feel good environments, but driven my wholistic pursuit of knowing God, in failure and in triumph.
Mission Statement
Don't you know anything? Haven't you been listening? God doesn't come and go. God lasts. He's Creator or all you can see or imagine.
He doesn't get tired out, doesn't pause to catch his breath.
And He knows everything, inside and out.
He energizes those who get tired,
gives fresh strength to dropouts.
For even young people tire and drop out,
young folks in their prime stumble and fall.
But those who wait upon God get fresh strength.
THEY SPREAD THEIR WINGS AND SOAR LIKE EAGLES,
THEY RUN AND DON'T GET TIRED,
THEY WALK AND DON'T LAG BEHIND.
Isaiah 40: 28-31 The Message
He doesn't get tired out, doesn't pause to catch his breath.
And He knows everything, inside and out.
He energizes those who get tired,
gives fresh strength to dropouts.
For even young people tire and drop out,
young folks in their prime stumble and fall.
But those who wait upon God get fresh strength.
THEY SPREAD THEIR WINGS AND SOAR LIKE EAGLES,
THEY RUN AND DON'T GET TIRED,
THEY WALK AND DON'T LAG BEHIND.
Isaiah 40: 28-31 The Message
Friday, January 18, 2008
The World of Blogging
I really have no idea how or why to blog anything? But I guess I'll figure it out. Yep. Welcome to the wide open world of randomness!
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