Uprise Festival 2014

     The reason I haven't posted in several days is because I've had a really busy weekend. It was an awesome weekend that really helped to relieve a lot of the stress I've been feeling lately, but I just didn't have time to sit down and really write a post. And the best part of my busy weekend was Uprise Fest! If you don't know what Uprise is, it's an annual two day concert event where tons of Christian bands come to perform, and there's food and activities and a petting zoo, and college scouts and all that awesome stuff. My youth group has been going for the past three years, and this year we only went on Saturday, but it was amazing, as always. I always leave Uprise feeling really good, like recharged almost, after spending a whole day surrounded by other Christians, and listening to nothing but Christian music, and hearing people speak about their testimonies and stuff. So then for a while I ride on my awesome Jesus high, pumped from Uprise and ready to be an awesome little Christian teenager and bring others to Christ and all that. And about three or four weeks later, it all wears off and I'm back to my same mediocre self. And that makes me really mad. Why do I need a particular event to make me want to be a better person? I mean, don't get me wrong, Uprise is basically the highlight of my year, and I hope to be able to attend for as long as I live. But I shouldn't need a concert or a big event to make me reevaluate my life as a Christian. I should be trying to be the best I can every day simply because that's what God wants from me. I know you probably don't want to hear all about my soul searching or whatever, but I think this is a conundrum a lot of people can relate too, even if not about Christianity. After you do community service once, it makes you realize you should do some more, and so you're all into volunteering and helping people for a little while, and then it wears off. Or if you do a 5K, you realize how much you enjoy running, and go on daily runs for about a month, and then it pitter patters off after the novelty of it wears off. Why? Humans are pretty weak, if you ask me. We stink at sticking to something. But I don't want Christianity to be something that I just make myself "stick to". I want it to be my life, you know? And the same goes for volunteering and running and anything else that people love. Like Mumford and Sons says, "Where you invest your love, you invest your life." So let's invest our love people, not just for a little while, but forever, for the rest of our lives, let's dive into the stuff that we love! Keep volunteering, keep running, keep playing your instrument, keep writing, keep telling people about God, keep singing, keep learning, keep being the person you want to be. :)
     My pep talk for the day is over.

                                                    -VaughnDL