just a post to let you know im not dead yet

This is one of the guys I work with, Ryan Bakeman. Nice pose huh?

Tagged!

1. I live in the country.
2. I love sports and hope to get good at them this summer(last year was really embarrassing)
3. I've got 14 years of experience in living.
4. I 'm a die hard hunter(another thing I hope to get good at in the years to come)
5. I CAN NOT WAIT FOR SUMMER.
6. Me loves horses.
7. I live in my fort out in the woods
8. I love studying military strategy
9. I worked on a horse ranch for awhile
10. I think it's the stupidest thing ever to think that taking away the people's right to bare arms is going to solve anything.
11. I feel bad for Obama, he sure got himself in a mess.
12. I think if Christians are going to make a difference in this world they had better start making a difference instead of talking about it.
13. I think camping is awesome.
14. I am one of the species that view football as a war, not a sport. If I came away from a game of hard core football game without an injury I wasn't playing hard enough.
15. I play guitar(I think)
16. I have a really cool dad.
17. oh, and by-the-way my family has decided to someday become catholic just so my sisters can become nuns and never marry.
18. I love swimming as long as it's in a pond. My reasons for this is that pools are too small and lakes are way too COLD.
19. I would one day like to get dropped of out in the middle nowhere and live on my own for six months.
20. For a long time I was the oldest kid in my family but just recently I was adopted as a younger brother by some older girls.
21. I love being a younger brother :)
22. I'm still trying to be a good older brother.
23. I think MI is the coolest place to live and am trying to get all my out of state friends to move here.
24. I love wielding...
25. and carpentry
26. I was once held up in Mexico by a bunch of machine gun toting nuts.
27. I love training crazy horses.
28. I want to get a CCW when I turn 21.
29. I am so thankful for all my friends that keep me in check.
30. I go though friends like batteries, the last batch are in an insane assilem
31. I am 5' 11''(height)
32. I show in 4-H
33. I don't have a steady job but get small stuff when ever I can.
34. I really like going down somewhere and shooting off a few hundred rounds of ammo with my friends.
35. I like canoeing(a lot).
36. I weigh 165 lbs.
37. I like my coffee black(not some Starbucks mambo jumbo :)
38. I love the smell of a wood stove.
39. I really like running.
40. My favorite color is blue.
41. I love dogs.
42. God is starting to show me how bloody of a war this really is, and that only a few will survive, so God help me.
43. I am set, with Gods help, on doing what ever I can in seeing everyone of my friends endure to the end. Even if that means ruining a relationship that I highly value to save them from hell.
44. I hate sandals.
45. I NEVER where short's! EVER! PERIOD!!!!!!! I hate them with a passion!!!
46. One of my favorite songs is slow fade by Casting Crowns.
48. I really like wearing hoodies and vests.
49. I love 4-wheeling and riding dirt bikes.
50. I have blue eyes.

And I now tag Rachel Heyworth and Annick Marshall.

Love in it's purest form

It's crazy! I had just started a post when I got an email from a friend on the exact same thing!
So... I just cut and pasted it :)

I just hope she don't sue me on plagiary charges, but then again,I don't have anything worth suing for, so I think I'm safe :)

Sometimes, when we think of love,

We think of people being receiving, and sweet towards other people, all the time.

But love can seem cruel at times.

it really isn't. ( our flesh might think so)

We just don't want to categorize it as love.

Because we don't want to hear that part of it, that something could possibly be wrong with us

TRUE LOVE! Is,..... if you love someone enough to go to them on sin.

Do you care enough,

To sacrifice your friendship, to go to someone?

. Sometimes people don't like it.

They don't want to see anything wrong with them.

They might think you're being judgemental.

maybe you had no intentions on being that way. Or! on the other hand, Some people have different preferences, And think that if people! don't do things just like them, they are not as spirit filled,

THAT is judgmental! And you should go to God and repent! before you go to anyone else on sin!

Maybe its just the way it came out.

Or maybe you are being judgmental!!!!!

Or maybe, those people are just trying to direct the attention off from them selves.

So now! The focus would be taken off from them.

Because now you're judgmental! :)

It is very important to talk to God!

And make sure it is of him, that you should go to someone..

The question is... Do you LOVE a person enough to sacrifice yourself, looking bad, or being accused of being a tattle tale, or you are just.. exaggerating, straddling the line of truth, and all those other, hum dinger of excuses that people might try to use because of one thing,

(LACK OF HUMILITY!!!) true love has no limit, on how far you will go to help someone.

Listen to God he will guide you.

Anything you do, do it because it is of God! Not of man.

And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not LOVE I am nothing.

Love suffereth long, and is kind, love envieth not, Love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up. Rejoice not! in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth!! Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things endureth all things.

We need to put our focus on Jesus Christ, at all times, who has unconditional for all of us undeserving people! We need to strive to be like Christ. :)

Charity and Rachel Heyworth

Tag-a-phobia

Help! I don't know what to do, An epidemic has broken out. I was set on staying healthy but alas, I have been struck! Tag-a-phobia has been jumping from blog to blog and now,( sniffle) it got ME!!!

Seriously, What am I supposed to do? I was just figuring out what I was to write when I was tagged again. Now what does that mean, can I take it as me just being really special? That was what I thought at first, but then it occurred to me "maybe I was just picked twice because everyone ran out of all the interesting people". Think about it, wasn't I one of the last to get tagged? In the end I decided to stop feeling sorry for myself and just take it as it came. I AM the only one tagged twice, that's gotta count for something on the popularity list, right? So since so many of you want to hear about my extremely interesting life I will answer both questions not once but twice, FREE!!!

Oh, and here are the culprits that passed on the disease, Bethany and (did you notice the and? that means two :) Leah.



A movie I watched: Gettysburg

A moment I will always remember: The time I was out by myself hiking along the river with just my pack and a gun. I started up the thirty foot embankment (the river was it a deep gorge) so I could walk along the rim. Just as I made the top I heard a strange flapping noise behind me. I spun around just in time to see a bald eagle soaring on the same plane as me just above the river. That was one time I find hard to explain how I felt.

A new skill I acquired: Well I wouldn't say I exactly acquired it yet, but I am acquiring the skill of welding. My neighbor is certifying me as a structural welder. I go over every day and weld for an hour.

A lesson I learned: The virtue of silence(or trying to learn :)

A new place I visited this year: 4-H Fair

A book I read: Do hard things was a book that changed my outlook on the teen years. Very good book that I think every modern day teen should read.

An inspiring verse or quote: Life is ten percent what happens to you and ninety percent what you make of it.


And again...



A movie I watched: Iron Will

A moment I will always remember: I was at the 4-H fair for the first time and just trying to learn how things worked, trying to stay in the back light for my first year.
I took my foul out for a walk to let him stretch. As we got close to the show ring I got in a conversation with someone and some how Squirt got of his lead line. He immediately bolted for the open show ring gate before I could grab him. What followed was at the time one of the most embarrassing moments of my life. the ring was flooded with riders and as I ran in after Squirt the announcer kept yelling dismount, horse loose, dismount. Trying to look like a tough cowboy is very hard to do while running after a baby mule in a show.

A new skill I acquired: Roping

A lesson I learned: Sometimes the older I get the darker the world seems, But that just makes the light shine brighter.

A new place I visited this year: my first pawn shop(really cool)

A book I read: Hostage Lands

An inspiring verse or quote: If you don't take chances you can't expect victories.

Here are the rules:(or at least this is what everyone keeps on saying)
1. Fill in your memories of 2008.
2. Link my blog to yours.
3. Tag others and comment on their blog so they know they've been tagged

And my cup overflows, again

I just thought Id tell everyone about something God has blessed me with this past year.

See, I have never had any hard core christian friends that have walked with me on this hike.
It's always been hard on my own. And if I could have had anything I asked for it would have been hands down, a godly young person who was not just interested but passionate about God. A true Friend who lived close enough to interact with.

I've had one or two christian friends, But they've always been either nominal or lived half way across the country.

It was a real need in my life, especially as I got older. I just needed someone who I could let my guard down and talk too. Someone who I didn't feel like I had to keep my hand on my sword if you know what I mean.

Anyway, I was really discouraged and frustrated. I was around some very Godly older men and women. But it just wasn't the same as another young person who felt the same pressures that the world puts on teens.

I know you hear the saying all the time "You know brother, we're in a war". Man do I hate hearing that some times. Because most the time it's just words that the get thrown around not out of conviction but out of habit.

Now with that said I will continue. :)
We are in a very bloody war and we need to realize that.
And I was getting ripped apart trying to stand alone all the time. I would pray and cry at night asking God for a friend, but it just wasn't happening.(or so i thought)

This was going on for years, but especially in the past three or four.
Then a little more then a year ago I went through a really hard time. I was in such need of a friend, and it didn't seem like God was listening. So I started looking in the wrong places for some friends. Of coarse they weren't real friends, just thought it was fun to hang out, and then I got sorta hurt because of some different things that happened.

Then this summer we had a family camping trip at my house.
That's when God started answering some serious prayers. On that trip I met some very neat young people and started really connecting with some acquaintances. Sense then it's been a snow ball effect. God has put me in contact with tons of hard core christian teens who want to be warriors for God and storm the gates of hell.

I feel like I went to God asking for a cup full, and he backed up a tanker and hit me with it all at once.

I'd like to thank all those friends that have stood by me in the face of the enemy, pushed me under cover, pulled me into the fight, covered my back when I needed it. And just put up with me all the other times. :)

I know I'm not the best of friends sometimes(ok, a lot of the time) I'm horrible at returning letters and emails. I can be pretty annoying sometimes, Bossy others and a whole list of other things I've got to work on. But thank you so much for being willing to work with me on this stuff. (and by-the-way, don't feel bad about telling me to shut-up sometimes)

You have no idea how God has used all of you in my life, and all my blogging friends included. Even though I haven't met many of you I have been vary edified by what interaction we've had so far.
I look foreword to meeting you all some day.

I was thinking the other day, a lot of us don't really have much in common. I mean I'm a hard core hunter, love the outdoors, and am really crazy sometimes.
But there is one thing that binds us all together, and that's Christ. Having that in common is like no other thing that draws teens together. Because we get past the stage of friendship and move on to become like brothers and sisters.

I thank God every day for what he has done for me in this area.

So thanks again for being willing to be used by God in my life. And if it ever gets to be to much for you, just let me know and I'll find someone else to drive crazy. ;)

Ryan

P.S.
If you do email me or send me a letter and I don't get back with you right away, please forgive me.
It's not that I don't appreciate it, I'm just a jerk sometimes. :)

Pictures!!!

Hey everyone, that whole J.J. thing was really funny!

Sorry for going AWOL, I've been kinda busy lately.
Here is my first picture post. (oh yeah :)


















This is Ronny Bakeman, A friend from here in Croswell.
This is from last year when some friends
come over rabbit hunting. After shooting some thumpers we sat around and played eucher.
The catch was who ever got euchred had to wear the "euchre hat".
















And Ryan Bakeman...














and my tough looking cousin...














and last but not least Jordan Bakeman.

Yeah, mean looking bunch of hunters.
Well the bunnys think so :)

On our way to "Paradise".....

In September 2007 a friend from MO called my dad about a trip he was thinking about taking.
He said they needed more guys, so after thinking about it my dad called the man who was heading the team, Sam Ash. The outcome was Dad, my brother Joel and I signed up for the trip.
We didn't know to much about it except that we where going to the copper canyon in Mexico. Don't ask me where on the map, I have no idea :) Anyway, we did hear bits and pieces about how hard and dangerous it was but I kinda rolled my eyes a little. I guess I thought it was going to be just like all the other "mission trips" I've heard of, where every things planed out and kinda dull. I guess I just wanted some adventure. Boy did I get what I wanted :)
Eric Armstrong came up to Michigan the day before thanksgiving so we could drive down together.
We took off thanksgiving day at four in the morning (that means we like, totally missed all the food!). The game plan was we would be picking up more guys on the way down, but it was going to be a looong drive. In lower Michigan we made our first stop for Willy & Andy Buck, two young men that I had never met. Willy was the older of the two, 18. Andy was the younger brother and he was 16. Both were very intelligent and kept us updated with how many calories of trail mix and beef jerky we had in the van. Not that any of us could ever understand how much there really was(I normally count the stuff buy the bag. :) Eric by the way is a young guy that stayed with us for a while, really neat guy. He's 23 and is the greatest guitar player I know.
Second stop was Missouri, some where near Saint Louis. There we picked up Grady Gamble and Jason Bradshaw, two awesome guys that I was privileged to be teamed up with on the trip.
That night we stopped at about ten thirty at Grady's cousins house. It was really cool, we didn't know where we where going to spend the night so Grady called his cousin and asked if we could stay with him. He said he was out of town but told us where the keys where so we could get in the house. Thank God, we got a much needed rest. But first we argued over who got to sleep where. Everyone wanted everyone else to sleep in the good spots(see what you fight about when you go with a bunch of Christians ) Well that was one argument I lost(bummer), I got the bed. :) The next morning we packed back into the van and drove on toward our destination. All day we talked, laughed, played eucher, sang songs and slept(or tried to as we had to shut out the Bucks discussions of calories and the shouts of victory from the eucher game).

About eleven that night we made it to El Paso, Texas and headed for the Denny's restaurant to join up with the rest of the team that had drove from Colorado. I staggered in and slowly made my way with the others toward the back room. We walked in and I leaned up against the wall for support. Dead tired I looked around the room and saw all the guys that I would get to know over the rest of the trip. I remember thinking well this wasn't really the first impression I wanted to make, slouching up against the wall to tired to see straight.

After a good meal(one we thought might be our last for some time) we continued on toward the border crossing. Once in Mexico we drove to the mission station where we where to stay for the night. About 1:30 in the morning we where taken to the barracks and given beds. That's the one time in my life when I think I was asleep before I hit the pillow. :) I'm sure if we had known what we would have to go through in the next week it would have been a lot harder to fall asleep.

Ryan

Excuse time

Sorry everyone, I was intending to post. I just got caught up in some sensitive business over in Russia for the CIA.


Ryan

Drum roll please

Some of you have asked me to write about the trip a bunch of crazy guys(myself included) took last year. Ever since we came back I've wanted to write it all down, So this will be good for me. This will be a vary detailed and thorough account of every thing that happened, so its going to take a whale. I've been going through my journal that I kept while down there, Its crazy some of the things I've forgot about. There will be a bunch of posts instead of just one and I'll try to get pictures. I guess you can say this is the introduction. So stay up to date. I'll get started on the first one tomorrow.

Ryan

I can't think of a good title...

I was walking through a thrift store the other day looking for a coat. As I meandered around rack after rack of clothes a little girl caught my attention. She was circling the racks one by one, walking down the isles. But what I noticed was the expression on her face, she was looking for something. There was a sense of urgency in the way she was searching. As I watched, the urgency turned to panic as she raced around looking, searching, trying to find whatever or whoever it was she had lost. I realized she must be searching for her mom, but what this little girl didn't know was her mom was just a couple of racks away. I had a big advantage over the little princess, I could see over the racks. In fact most every one in the store could. She was just to short to see the big picture, if she had just asked for help. Or better yet, if she had called out for her mom she would have been "found".
I remember one time when I was little going shopping with my mom at Toys-R-Us. It wasn't to long before I was distracted by some baseball stuff(by-the-way, baseball is the coolest sport ever). And as I stood there enamored by those awesome bats and gloves, my mom got farther and farther away. It wasn't until she was half a store away that I realized she wasn't there with me anymore. Then I started thinking stuff like what if she forgets me ? If she can't find me she might just go home!
I know now that's crazy, but when you're five it seems like the end of the world. But think about it, aren't we like that sometimes? Getting distracted by things of the world and taking our sights off God. Its like driving, hasn't any one ever told you " don't look at the road right in front of the car, look at where you're going, look at the destination. If you look right in front of the car you'll be all over the place but if you keep your eyes fixed strait in front of you, you'll go strait." Don't be focused on what your trying to fix in life, zero in on christ and you will hit the mark.
The little girl had lost her mom because she got distracted by other things. When was the last time you lost your wallet whale you had it in your hand? You didn't. You don't loose things when you are paying attention to them. You loose things when you loose interest in what you are supposed to pay attention to. You pull up to a gas station, get out of your truck, put the nozzle in the tank and walk in to the station. You get your coffee and step in line. The catchier asks for your ID so you put your wallet on the counter, hand her the money and walk out. About two miles down the road you realize, Oh no I forgot my wallet! You didn't leave it because you had a sudden brain shut down. No, you forgot the wallet because you where distracted be the thought when was the last time I checked the oil? See if I would just keep are eyes on God I'd be doing great. It's when we start thinking about ourselves that we get lost. Most of the time in this rat-race that we call life I'm to short to see the big picture, so I need to ask for help. And that is why I've got YOU GUY"S :) (and girls :)

Ryan

Happy New year

Doesn't it just feel different? OK, not really but I was just thinking, so much has happened in the last year. I'd never have thought I would know some of the people I've met, or do some of the things I've done in 2008. Then I thought, "but how productive have I been spiritually? How many times did I have an opportunity to do something for the kingdom and didn't because I was ether a coward or to proud? Have I matured as much as I should have?" The answers are sobering. Now I'm siting at the keyboard kinda in the dumps. I know I can't just dwell on yesteryear getting frustrated, depressed and angry because we're new creatures in Christ. It would be very easy to just ignore it all so I don't feel guilty and just go on with life. Or I can come to grips with the fact that I'm just a failure, and that I need God with me all day every day. Sometimes it seems easier to just be depressed, but the longer you stay depressed, the harder it is to just hand it all over to God. Please don't take this as me trying to preach at you, trust me, I'm the last person you need preaching from! Sometimes I feel like a tractor stuck in the mud, not making any headway no mater how hard I try. I'm just trying to encourage everyone to realise with me, that life is much to short to spend kicking ourselves about the past. We need to look at the past just long enough to learn from our mistakes and then turn our face to the wind and kick it into gear. With God's help lets try to make this year a year of honoring and serving God with everything he has given us.

Ryan