Busy

I was excited when I re-started my blog again. I was excited about being able to express my thoughts and ideas, however ridiculous they may be, with the entirety of the world - or the two people who may stumble into this blog. The problem I have found is that to sit and create a "blog" takes time. Time is something this semester that I have had little to NO free time this semester. Thus the title of my blog - busy.

What makes me so busy? Well for starters, I am a full time graduate student. This fact alone consumes a good bit of my time. Secondly I have more responsibility at work than last year. This pretty much translates to this equation: store open + Tyler not in class = Tyler at store. This equation removes some of the free time I had last year. Finally, and I'm not saying this is a bad thing, I have acquired a special companion. Meagan gets the best of the remaining time I have to offer. The sum total of time required to fulfill the commitments of this paragraph actually equates to more than the amount of hours in a week.

My struggle is this: I am struggling in the realm of time. I anticipate a brief vacation this coming weekend to Gulf Shores with the Wilkes. I am ultra excited to have some time to get away and just do pretty much nothing. I am just getting over a pretty vicious cold, which has caused me to be laying around doing nothing.

All this summed together means that I am desperately longing for some quality time with the Lord. I give my best effort to find time to sit and study and talk, but minutes are few. I try to spend a good amount of time loving on those around me and ministering to them, even if that means just trying to share a laugh at work or listen to someone ramble in class, etc. Beyond that, I long for some true time with the Lord. As camp approaches, the necessity of my abiding in Him is becoming increasingly evident. I am having trouble getting prayed up for this summer because I don't have time to be fully prayed up on the current events of my life.

This is a weak blog moment, and I recognize that. This is my plea for prayer from all 2 of you. I would love it. Pray for my daily life. My relationship with Jesus. My relationships with people. Camp coming up and all related prep work. My family. School work. I got nothing but much love for you, so your prayers are greatly appreciated.

Much love...

CK5

So I'm rolling CK5 this summer. Here's my summer schedule:

Training stuff: Campbellsville, KY May24-June3

Week 1-2: Lake Yale, June 8-12 (Florida)

Week 3: Eckerd College June 22-26 (Florida)

Week 4: off week. party time.

Week 5: Eagle Eyrie June 6-10 (Virginia)

Week 6-9: Skycroft June 13-Aug 7 (Maryland)

Prepare to send me some love.

Much love...

This is the Day

"This is the day that the Lord has made; let us REJOICE and be glad in it." Psalm 118:24.

How many times have you heard that verse? Roughly 1,247, give or take, maybe? I think we all have no problems ascribing to the idea that the present day is one the Lord has made. Today, yesterday and tomorrow are the Lord's doing. How else would we exist if the Lord hadn't created the world, the things in it, and the chronological thing called "time", we know as days. (Ponder the idea that the Lord is not constrained by "time", and that should lead you to your knees. But that's neither here nor there in this post.)

The part that rocked my world a few days ago is the single word 'rejoice' that the Psalmist includes in this verse. According to m-w.com, "to feel joy or great delight". We are to feel joy/GREAT delight in the days we wake up and simply exist. This got my wheels turning for sure. Which day are we to rejoice in? This day. Which day is 'this day'? Well that's going to be EVERY day. Whoa! Mad props to you, if you're living that one out. Every day should provide us with joy/great delight! Every day is a day that the Lord has made, and is continuing to carry out His purpose and mission in the world. Every day is an opportunity for us to worship him for creating days, for allowing us to be a minute fragment of His plan. God is moving and today is a day for me to rejoice in that fact and have opportunity to join him!

This left me pondering the application and how it should effect my life. Being a student, there are few days that I wake up rejoicing, and I'm not saying that this verse means we should always be happy-go-lucky because there is obviously pain and suffering in this world. That should mean that I need to be more aware of the joy that exists within me because of the Lord. I guess the verse struck me (the Word has the uncanny ability to do that to me). I have so far to go before I'll look like Jesus.

Hope your world is well. I'd love to hear about it.

Mad love...

Song on the Heart

Here's the lyrics of a song that's been resonating with me the past few days:

"Take my life and let it be
Consecrated, Lord, to Thee.
Take my moments and my days,
Let them flow in ceaseless praise.
Take my hands and let them move
At the impulse of Thy love.
Take my feet and let them be
Swift and beautiful for Thee.

Take my voice and let me sing
Always, only for my King.
Take my lips and let them be
Filled with messages from Thee.
Take my silver and my gold
Not a mite would I withhold.
Take my intellect and use
Every power as You choose.

Take my will and make it Thine
It shall be no longer mine.
Take my heart it is Thine own
It shall be Thy royal throne.
Take my love, my Lord I pour
At Your feet it's treasure store
Take myself and I will be
Ever, only, all for Thee.
Take myself and I will be
Ever, only, all for Thee."

I suppose you could call it my prayer for now. Honestly, I would love it if this song poetically summed my life. I hope you don't mind me posting lyrics. Song lyrics are big with me, so I will likely post them every now and then. Hope all is well is your world!

Much love...

I Know So Very Little

So I am in my 4th semester at seminary. As I just finished up some reading for a class making up my 4th semester at seminary, I felt struck by the fact that I have no idea where the Lord is leading me. I get excited in talking with many of my classmates and peers about their very definitive calling. I have heard the stories of seasoned veterans in the ministry knowing from the get go what their calling was, and that excites me.

....then there is this young preacher boy. Let me interject that I am in no way fearful because I haven't the foggiest idea of the specific calling the Lord has placed on my life. What I am saying is that I suppose sometimes my excitement overtakes me. In being overtaken with wonder and curiosity I get to the point where I just want to know what specifically it is the Lord is prepping me here at seminary for (never end a sentence with a preposition). It is in these moments that I struggle to remain content. I'm happy with my classes this semester, my job, friendships, etc., but I'm itching to catch the ever elusive glimpse into the future.

Lately I have been thinking that maybe, just maybe, the Lord is leading me to be a pastor. Eeek! That's scary enough as it is. I have a hard enough time picturing myself being used for anything productive, let alone a pastor. Before I lead you to believe anything, I should mention that I am currently taking a class called Pastoral Ministry, so that could have something to do with my thoughts being focused in that direction. Anyway, today I was struck with a disheartening reality: I know so very little. This likely comes as a shocker to most of you who really know me, as many of you constantly rave about my intelligence, wit, overall wonder, etc. (I hope you have caught the EXTREME sarcasm). The fact of the matter remains, that whatever the Lord calls me to do, Tyler Crosson will be expected to shepherd a flock (the members/age of the flock are what remain in question). You might be thinking, good thing you're at seminary then! My response, if you haven't heard it from me before, is that the more I learn here at seminary, the more I learn that I don't know and have so much yet to learn.

This leaves me right where I hope the Lord desires me: craving His guidance and leadership in recognition that any attempt on my part with end with utter failure...craving His Word. Thus my being struck today with my inability and lack of knowledge led me to the point of stopping, taking a breath, and being satisfied to run even harder after the Good Shepherd (John 10:14). Mad props to the Lord for being sovereign and in control!

I would love to hear your thoughts, and I do have a comments section to enable you to do so. There is no need to mock me for being an idiot. :)

Much love...

I Set Myself on Fire

Many of you may be reading this post to see exactly what I meant by saying that I set myself on fire. You're probably thinking it is some sort of ridiculous gimmick to get you to read this post, which is partially true. I thought about naming this post "Tyler's Day in Bizarre-O World". Obviously, however, I went the "setting myself on fire" route. Before you stop reading this post, let me go ahead and inform you that this is not a typical day in my life...but it sure makes a good read now that it's over. Here's how the day went:

Yesterday I got to sleep in late before having to go to work. I went to work about 1:30p, to dominate my shift and shut the store down at 5:30p. About midway through the shift, I was checking out a lady, who, before the craziness she created, was strange enough in and of herself. Anyway, she approached my register ready to check out. As I was ringing her up, she started into these bizarre coughs. I though she was about to hock up a major wad of snot. She was bent over and really getting into these coughs. My co-worker/friend Meagan, handed her a trash can to assist with the ejection of said snot. What happened next caught me off guard. She began throwing up into the trash can...in my checkout line...with a checkout line on either side of her (for the record: the people in the other lines acted like business as usual and didn't even think twice about the woman puking in the middle of the store). It was disgusting. After she hurled a few times, the exact number escapes me, she handed the trash can back to me. I asked if she was alright. Her response was something to the effect of something had upset her stomach. Her next question added to the strangeness of the already unusual day. She looked at me with intent focus and desire and said, "Can I have an application?" I was shocked. I've never had a day like that one at LifeWay.

After those events, I decided that I need an awesome dinner because of the crazy day. These types of days are rare, so I decided to go all out with it. I went to The Melting Pot. Expensive and amazing. This was the sight of the next event of the Bizzare-O Day. We were to the main course of the meal, and I decided to drop in a peace of broccoli to cook in between some of the meats I was fonduing. I went to fish the peace of broccoli out with the spoon and  set it on my plate. In setting the broccoli on my plate, I burnt my arm. I was thinking about how hot it was when it dawned on me: my arm is not touching the broccoli, so why would the broccoli be burning my arm? I looked down to inspect my arm, and lo and behold there was in fact a massive flame that was engulfing my arm.

This moment in my life was one of those times in life where everything seems to go in slow motion. I had a million brief thoughts go through my brain: this is really hot...how did my shirt catch on fire...this is hot....was it the broccoli that caused this...this is hot...did the fondue pot set me on fire...this is hot....i need to put this out somehow....this is hot...this will make a great story...this is hot...this shirt is ruined...this is hot...how many people will have a story like this...this is hot...PUT OUT YOUR FLAMING ARM!! So I patted out the fire. It was hot, but I didn't get burned badly...just pinked. As my arm smoked and smoldered, I realized that what must have happened was a bad approach to fishing out the broccoli. Let me make clear that I have no idea what happened, but I do have a best guess: In fishing out the broccoli, I must have dangled my arm over the flame of the table's candle, which consequently lit my shirt on fire.

Just so you all know, I did continue on with a delicious meal. The story gives me a great laugh every time I think about it. This shirt didn't survive the fire. It was burnt enough that I threw it away as soon as I got home. Well that's all I've got for now. I hope this finds you well.

Much love...

The First Post

I have felt the desire recently to start blogging again. Here's the background story: I used to post some blogs in undergrad, but it slowly died off. Nobody ever really read it, and I don't really foresee many people reading this one either, but I guess my purpose for doing this at this point is for personal reflection. I can process thoughts a little better to write them, obviously being able to type, read and reflect on these thoughts will just help me process life a little better. At least that's the goal. I make no promises on the frequency of my posts. I make no promises about the quality of reading this will provide. Basically, this could be a total bore for you to read, and I'm ok with that because I'm really just doing this more for fun than entertainment. That being said, if you have the motivation to read the blog, I would ask for your thoughts, comments, differing opinions, etc. Don't be the guy that just reads and never says anything. Step up to the plate!

To lay the foundation, here's the basic general information of where I am right now in life:

-I love the Lord Jesus.

-I'm in my 4th semester at NOBTS, and it just started. I am not a fan of classes.

-no idea of the specific ministry that God is calling me to, but I'm ok with that.

-I have become very fond of the ministry of camp.

-I don't see my friends as much as I wish I could.

-I work at a bookstore.

I think that will suffice for now. This is the very general overview of where my life is right now, but these 6 things will play a heavy role in what comes from my mind into this blog. I hope this first post finds you well, and I do hope that you will check back occasionally to see what's going on.

Much love...