chapter nine

so i figured it was time for an update. lots of news. well not really, but it sounds good haha

the trip to boston was great! the weather was in the 60s the entire time, and although it rained pretty much every second of everyday we were there, it was extremely enjoyable. much better than the 100+ temperatures down here.

tuesday, dad and i moved the rest of my big stuff (bed, dresser, nightstand) home to help get the pool house/game room finished for me to move into and live here for.. well, i'm not really sure how long it will be. i just knew that commuting to seminary, working a part-time job, plus other expenses would be much easier without a rent bill over my head every month so here i am. there's still some work that needs to be accomplished, but i hope to post some pictures soon. stay tuned :)

tonight is my first night to stay out here. i've slept out here countless nights over the years when i was growing up.. sleep overs. late night n64 parties (haha), watching tooth and nail compilation videos, shooting pool. good times. great memories. but tonight is different. its not just a sleepover-esque night with friends over and back to the house tomorrow.. no, this is now my home. i'm excited about it though. excited about what the future holds in store. everytime i've moved into a new apt or whatever, i can look back and notice a distinctly new chapter being written in my life. i'm excited to see what this one holds.

i received my official acceptance letter to seminary earlier this week! classes start august 17th, with orientation the thursday and friday before then, so i'm not quite sure what courses i'll be taking yet, but i have a general idea. i'm really excited to get started with seminary, immersed in the study of God's word.. it can't get much better than that!

all of the money i needed to raise for Ecuador was raised, plus some, so excess money is being set aside to help fund my tuition/books for my first semester in seminary, but it was definitely a blessing to have the Ecuador trip fully funded. thank you all for your help and support, both financially and prayerfully.

much love. trent.

greater things have yet to come

i want to start out by saying, i don't have a job. i've finished college. i really don't have much to do on a daily basis.. but i am extremely excited about what God is doing in my life right now.

as some of you know, i've been attending Christ's Community Church in Denham Springs for a few months now, and nothing against the church, but i never felt like it was my home. i basically settled because thats where my parents were going and i knew some people there. God had other plans in mind.

as of next sunday, i'll be the bass guitarist for Purpose (the 1130 band at Live Oak Methodist). Jonathan Hetrick is attending seminary, getting married, and thus moving away from Watsonopolis (hehe). Mrs. Terrie called me up and asked me if i was interested and, at first i wasn't 100% certain, so i did some praying about it and definitely knew God was calling me back to Live Oak. i attended the past two sundays and am really glad to be back. i know its all for a reason and can't wait to see what God has in store.

meanwhile, Christ's Community is moving into the building formerly known as Eden Baptist Church and will have their first service in there next Sunday. so i'm helping them do some construction/maintenance/repairs/remodeling around the church this week in preparation for their big move. the church members are really excited about it and moving to their own facility (even though only somewhat temporarily) will give them the opportunity for tons of ministry opportunities that were just unfeasible during their tenure at DSJH.

the mission trip to Ecuador at the end of the summer is shaping up nicely. the group that is going has really connected very well and i'm excited to see what God has in store for us in ministering to the kids in Ecuador. i know the experience will be an eye opener for me and can't wait to get that rejuvenation.. it'll be perfect timing too. we'll get home about a week before seminary starts.

seminary update: i contacted the seminary at the end of the previous week asking what documentation they were still waiting on. two of my references hadn't submitted their papers yet, and judson hadn't mailed off the church statement yet. i got in contact with all three at the beginning of last week and everything should have arrived at the seminary on wednesday or thursday. so hopefully, now that the seminary finally has all my paperwork, i will know something within the next couple weeks and i will be certain to let you all know.

God is doing a lot in my life right now and i feel like He's definitely preparing me for even greater things to come in the weeks and months ahead. i'm just excited to be a part of it and can't wait to see all that He has in store.

much love. trent.

video killed the radio star

I thought it'd be cool to change it up a little bit and do a video update instead of just tons of boring text. Who actually reads anymore?! Haha anyways.. hope you enjoy.

submission is the key to success

one night in late january, i was laying in bed frustrated with the status of my job search. i was racking my brain trying to think of every possible place i could send resumes that would lead to getting my foot in the door somewhere in the realm of politics. i was thinking so much, as i often tend to do, that i couldn't clear my mind.. and thus, couldn't get to sleep. finally, i said enough with it, i'm going to sleep.. and then it hit me...

what does it matter if i pursue a career in politics? where will that lead me? even if, by some rare chance, it lead to a lofty position of elected office, once that was over and my life neared its end.. what did it all matter? what did i do with the time God gave me? i don't want to work at some meaningless job all my life and have a half-hearted devotion to the work that God calls us to do.. why not devote my life to God's work, to what He calls believers to do (glorify Him and further His kingdom), and start now what I will be doing for eternity.. praising God. just as Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes.. life is meaningless. so why chase after even more meaningless tangibles.. why not chase after God. glorifying Him, rather than myself, in all aspects of my life, including my job.

i prayed about it long and hard to be certain that this was God's calling on my life and not just a futile search for something positive.. soon after, we went to a collegiate conference in alexandria and God confirmed the calling while i was there. i knew it was what i needed to do and as soon as i got home i was going to talk to my parents about it and start down the path to applying to seminary.

then, the week we got home from the conference, i was offered an extremely lucrative position for a political consultant based out of chicago working on high-profile political campaigns. i couldn't pass it up. my eagerness got the best of me and i put all my eggs into that basket, chasing that position. obviously, it didn't work out (i never heard back from the guy actually), but that was enough of a distraction to steer me on the wrong path, again pursuing a political job and allowing that struggle to distract me from where i needed to be for a little over 2 months.

i had an interview with the clerk of the louisiana house of representatives a few weeks ago and after that interview, the culmination of all the failed attempts to find a job were weighing on me very heavily and i met my dad for lunch. during our conversation, he asked me if there was a calling on my life that i was ignoring (i had never actually spoke with him about what had happened before)..  and i was stunned.. how did he know? God.. what are you trying to say to me? but ultimately i blew it off and decided the best course of action was to start applying to grad schools for a masters in political science. other things happened that week that kept trying to get my attention to refocus on what God had in store for me, but it all came to fruition that friday. i dropped off my transcripts at the post office for my first batch of grad applications and on my way home, i got a call from the seminary asking how everything was going.. how much clearer can you get?

so i said all that to say this: i finally directed my attention back to God's will for my life and away from my own. i have applied to seminary in New Orleans and hope to start in the fall. i'm pursuing a Masters of Divinity in Christian Apologetics (if you don't know what it means, ask me.. i'll be happy to explain). one of the main questions everyone asks me is what ministry do you want to get involved in once you graduate? the best answer that i can give is that.. i don't want to restrict myself to one area, because it's ultimately in God's hands.. not mine.

so all that being said, i would greatly appreciate your prayers and support, over the next couple months before school starts with all of the logistics, and after that, with the course loads and just an overall support group helping to hold me up and keep me focused.

i'd love to talk with y'all one on one about it in more depth but i figured this would serve as a general announcement and to proceed from there.. if y'all have any questions, comments, prayer requests of your own, please let me know.. either on here, facebook, myspace, or just send me a text/phone call.. hehe it felt weird typing that.. who actually calls anyone anymore.. weird..

much love. trent.

life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness

i had an interview on monday for a temporary position within the louisiana house of representatives. it felt pretty cool going to the state capitol for a reason.. not just as a tourist. the interviewer kept focusing on my lack of qualifications for a full-time position because they "haven't hired someone with just a bachelors in over 25 years".. thanks for that tidbit of trivia sir, but i'm pretty certain i went in there seeking temporary employment. which is why i started off by saying i was looking to get my foot in the door, make connections, and improve my experience. when i apply for a job in august, me in august would be a heck of a lot more marketable than me right now, if i were to get a legislative position of any kind.

as i walked down the hall leaving his office in the underbelly of the state capitol, my emotions overwhelmed me - not to the point of tears, but of some level of grief. i thought to myself, why am i getting emotional.. i soon realized these emotions weren't the product of one not-so-successful interview.. it was a culmination of over 3 months of continued rejection. that sort of crap starts to weigh on you after a while. and, i'm not going to lie.. it sucks. i hate not being good enough in practically every employers eyes.

i met my dad for lunch after and we had a good long talk that i really needed, to be honest. he told me some stories i hadn't ever heard of his and mom's life just outside of college graduation. it helped encourage me to keep my chin up and not allow the constant rejection to weigh on me. the rejection does suck, but i'm bigger than that. and frankly, what they think doesn't matter anymore because they aren't my boss. and it helped me also remember that i need to do what i enjoy. i want to enjoy whatever my life is and what it will become. i'd rather make $2 dollars a year doing something i absolutely love than $200,000 a year and hate my life. i am passionate about analyzing and debating government policy.

today, the u.s. house approved obama's 3.55 trillion budget for 2010. as i've now listened to floor debates for numerous massive spending bills (including ones during the end of the bush administration) i've always come back to one thing: sure these plans sound lofty and admirable, but is it the federal government's place to do these things? and the resounding answer is HECK NO! aside from bailing out banks and homeowners, those are obvious no's.. we get into things like ramping up emission standards on cars, throwing billions of dollars at an endless war on drugs, paying for volcano monitoring, bike paths, atv trails, raising taxes and mandates on cigarettes, reinstilling the death tax (not only are you taxed all your life, now you're taxed when you die!)... i could go on and on. 

the increasingly intrusive government has taken away more of your freedoms and more of your hard earned money over America's lifetime. we have abandoned what this great nation was established for - individual freedom and liberty. to make decisions for yourself. thoreau said it best in his essay "civil disobedience" when he said "that government is best which governs least." i had jury duty one day a while back and had the opportunity to read this essay during my free time. many people in today's society attribute it to the abolition of slavery, but i propose those are the people who have never actually read it. i too thought it was going to be all about the abolition, however, the subject only arose in one paragraph. i suggest everyone read this essay. its as applicable now as it was then.

this post turned out to be much more political than i originally intended, but i hope it encourages independent thought. i'll leave you with some more quotes to chew on.. (note: these are all founding fathers)

"the liberties of a people never were, nor ever will be, secure when the transactions of their rulers may be concealed from them."  - patrick henry

"the natural liberty of man is to be free from any superior power on Earth, and not to be under the will or legislative authority of man, but only to have the law of nature for his rule."  - samuel adams

"in all our associations, in all our agreements, let us never lose sight of this fundamental maxim - that all power was originally lodged in, and consequently is derived from, the people."  - george mason

and finally..

"when the people fear their government, there is tyranny. when the government fears the people, there is liberty."  - thomas jefferson