Track 2

Yeahp, so I start Fire in the Night Track 2 today! Which means a few things. For starters my schedule just got a whole lot busier! Also means I am moving back over to Hernhut Apartments this afternoon. I've definitely enjoyed the last 3 months that I've lived at Kris's house, and I'm really torn about moving out. I realized that for the first time in my life I had my own room! There was one other time that I had my own room, but it was only for like 3 months, and I was only like 12 so that doesn't really count. The last 3 months really have been a treat. Besides having my own space, having the privilege of inviting people over to hang out in a great backyard was really great as well. Cooking my own meals wasn't so bad once I started venturing into the world of cooking. (Props to Kris as he really motivated me to try with all the great meals he cooked for me!) Along with moving to Hernhut that means a new address so, for the next 3 months you can mail me stuff at...

Isaac Smith

3517 Red Bridge Rd.

Kansas City, MO 64137

So ya, ya know. Just send all em' sweet packages my way =) Despite all the restrictions that come with the internship, I am really excited to see what the Lord is going to do in these next 3 months. I have prepared my heart for any change the Lord would prompt me in. I want to be soft clay that can be molded and shaped however the Lord would choose to use me.

For victory is seen in the Beholder, and Beholding is Becoming.

Strength & Honor,

Grace & Peace.

Isaac

Writing Remedy

My heart is longing for the wholeness of the Beauty I behold.

There is a strange amount of contentedness that I feel in this

deep echoing cry for more.

It is almost as if there is a mutual agreement between the cry

for more and this contentedness.

I will go, I will follow. I know that I will, but there is a

opposite will in the forefront of the battlefield that wishes to stand

directly between me and my desire for Righteousness.

It must be moved, it will be moved!

But not by my strength. There is one who whispers the thunder and

lightening. This one that speaks and calms my heart like stilled waters.

I must speak to Him, Yes, I must partner with Him!

I foresee a great battle within my heart, a stake will be driven,

a decree will go out.

To love Righteousness and hate wickedness.

I must sharpen my sword, raise my shield, take up the breastplate

of Righteousness, put on my helmet of Salvation, with swiftness take steps

of peace, and most surely fasten the belt of truth, as it is truth

that will guide my path.

I wait in the quiet for orders to ring out.

Wisdom must be my guide as I engage. There must be tactfulness

and strategy in my attack!

But I will fight with a different zeal.

May my Faith and Hope shoot straight arrows, and may their tips

pierce deep, despair and uncertainty.

May my Love go forth as a penetrating blow to Hate, Slander, and Lust.

So, I take up my cross and I die to myself. For I live to a

Higher Calling!

Life as of Lately

Wow, it's September 17th. That was fast! It's been so nice to be back in the swing of things on NightWatch here at IHOP. Despite the long hours of the week, I really do enjoy having a schedule. I have another 2 weeks of a nice free schedule, and then I will be starting the "Fire in the Night" track 2 internship. Which will be a fast intense 3 month season of my life. As the first track was really good, I am excited to see what God will be doing in me during this next track. It will be good to be in a cooperate setting once again, running together with people my age for the deeper things of God!

Let me just say I have thoroughly enjoyed the two months time that I have been able to spend living with a buddy of mine. The joy's of having your own space has really captured my heart. Being in an apartment is one thing, but sharing a house is totally different! I've enjoyed so much everything that comes with a house. Chores yes, but even more than that, a nice backyard that is really peaceful. A nice big family room, a very elegant dinning room. My own bathing facilities, a fully equipped kitchen (BYOF - Bring your own Food) of course, but I have actually started venturing out into the art of cooking! Yes, I am going to miss my house life very much as I will be moving back into Hernhut apartments in a couple weeks.

So my getting a drivers license has been a great ordeal in itself. I wish it was like it was in the old days when you'd just get in a car with some old guy, drive around for about an hour, make sure you could parallel park, then give you a license on the spot. Nope, gotta take a written test, get your permit (which I now have), wait a month, then take a road test and hope to goodness you don't get some old wretch that critiques every little thing you do, so you might pass! I'm hoping by Christmas to be able to make a trip home and finish the whole process! Then we ask Jesus for a Nissan Xterra!!!! So, just let me know if any of yuns got a car that you wanna give me, you'd be surprised what I'd settle for =)

iLife 09' has transformed my life for photo and video editing. I love it. If you're a Mac user and don't own it. Get a couple people that also have a Mac and don't have it, and order the family pack and pay $25 each for it. IT'S WORTH IT!!! Now if I can find someone that doesn't have Snow Leopard yet....hmmmmmmm

Grace and Peace,

Strength and Honor.

Isaac

Note to self, God has not forgotten me!!!

Here I Am Again

The speed at which this summer has passed me by is really quite amazing. It's now September 2nd and I feel like it was June just the other day. I spent the last month touring the country with my family, and creating some memories that will last me the rest of my life! Never again will I travel 6121 miles in a van with 7 other family members! I just don't think that should be forced upon anyone in a lifetime. EVER! But again, there are some things that I will NEVER forget! After spending the first 2 and a half weeks on the road camping, driving, and sight seeing, we finally got back to Michigan, where I spent a little less then 2 weeks spending more time with family, (as if I hadn't gotten enough family time) but it was good. Throughout the trip as a whole it was definitely really hard to not be able to spend as much time as I had been in prayer and the Word. Very quickly after leaving Kansas City to start the trip did I miss spending the nights in prayer, and waking up in the morning to worship music and spending some time in the Word. So after a month of vacationing, I was really really ready to return to IHOP. Even though I have lived in KC for only a grand total of about 5 months now, I really feel like this has become my home. It just seems like the Lord has had me leave my father and mother's home for a reason. To establish and declare myself as a House of God! Really, God has orchestrated it all! Upon getting here and creating many new friendships and connections that have surrounded me and encouraged me along the way, this really has created an atmosphere new beginnings along with new family. There is an unmistakable feeling about being exactly where you know God wants you to be that really is the most amazing feeling in the world! Out of anywhere I could have been this fall, I'm here in Kansas City, and it now really feels like home. Something that really added to the whole detachment from Flint connections as home was my family moving to a new house. It's kind of a different feeling when you go back "Home" and you no longer have a room, you no longer have a bed, you get either a futon, or a pull out bed. It was nice to be there in a secure environment with people that have known me for my whole life, but, it was different this time. It felt more like visiting, then visiting home. I stopped in Chicago and saw a couple people as I was making my way back to Kansas City and really enjoyed meeting a few new friends there as well. But even in the one day delay felt like such a long time after being away from KC for so long. Needless to say I my heart was so happy when we departed with intentions of driving through back to KC. In the last 10 miles of getting back to my house, with the surroundings that became more and more familiar, my heart was so lifting with every mile we traveled! Such a peace about being back in the place that I knew I was supposed to be at. To get back into a routine of seeing the face of God in scripture, and encountering His personality in Prayer. Even now sitting here in the Prayer Room at 3 a.m there is a deep longing of my soul that is crying out for more. Each moment, each song that is sung, each prayer that is lifted, every person that engages in corporate prayer, feeds this deep longing for communion with God. And my heart says, "It's Gooooooooood!" In other news I've been training like some might say, a dog, for different road races of sorts. When I was in Michigan I ran in a 10 mile race called the Crim, and I guess it was shortly after running that race that I decided being in shape felt good, so I decided to keep that streak going. So I'll be running in the Helen Gold 10K next Saturday. I'm not sure what to say about this sudden spurt of running training, because I've never really been one that enjoys running, especially anything over the length of a soccer field. But I really have found a joy in training and spending quiet time with the Lord during these runs. I mean, 45 minutes with just me, God, and some worship music, that's rare in any case these days. So I guess you could say I'm running with the purpose of God in mind. I'm thinking I'll be doing a half-marathon of some sort this fall, the problem is they are so stinkn' expensive, and I'm really playing with the idea of doing a full marathon in the spring sometime?! I'd say now is the time to do it, before I get all out of shape and get a gut that is. Plus, not to many people just get to say, "I've run a Marathon have you?" =) J/K But still, the challenge has been reason enough in my brain to at least do one in my lifetime! Well, that is in brief what has been taking place the last few days of my life. I haven't done such a great job keeping this thing up to date lately, but I look to get better at this as I get back into a routine schedule! So until next time...

Strength & Honor.

Grace & Peace.

Isaac