The last three weeks have been pretty darn busy.  I don't want to take away from the importance of certain events so I'm going to split them up. 

Three weeks ago I went to Orlando, Florida for Universal Studios Florida's Rock The Universe Christian Festival.  I was asked to speak at this event months ago, but I really hadn't any idea what I was getting myself into until a few days before I left. 

Pretty much, the plan for the two day event was for some rad Christian bands to have concerts in the park and for me and Mark Stuart (Audio Adrenaline) to have 15 minutes a night to talk to the crowd, which was mainly made up of youth groups.  A few days before I left, it really started sinking in what I was going to do.  I was going to stand up on stage and speak to thousands of kids about my faith.  Now, I'm pretty good at public speaking, but I normally only speak about BMX Racing and/or how I've overcome my size disadvantage to be successful.  I can't ever remember speaking to 2 people about Jesus, let alone the 3,000 I was told I was going to be speaking to.  I was scared to death.  You see, I feel most of the time that I'm not worthy to speak about being a Christian because many times I feel I don't live my life the way I should.  But I knew that I was going to be on a huge stage, so I started trying to plan out my speech and memorizing some good things to say and I thought I had it all figured out.  However, the night before the event I could not for the life of me continue through the 15 minute speech without stopping 10 times to look at notes.  As I layed in bed at 2am stressing about my speech, my friend Tony Hoffman sent me a text telling me good luck for the following day.  I told him how nervous I was and he said Proverbs 16:1 "The preparations of the heart belong to man: but the answer of the tongue is from the LORD." 

Great Tony, thanks a lot!  So, pretty much all the planning I did was for not, and I needed to just get up on stage and let God speak through me.  I was more nervous now, but at the same time I was also more calm because I knew this was the way it had to be done.  Long story shorter, I rode my bike on stage in front of about 3500 kids and winged the whole talk.  But really, what Tony told me, helped me with my speech.  I was risking going on stage looking like an idiot if I couldn't think of anything to say, but don't we take risks everyday?  About trying to succeed with something people say isn't possible?  Or going against the crowd by living a Christian lifestyle, when maybe it isn't the most popular thing to do?

I filled the 15 minute speech and then introduced the band Pillar onto stage.  I then caught Jeremy Camp's set right after that and then the following night saw Casting Crowns, Third Day and a few others.  I also did a couple Christian radio interviews earlier in the day.  I definitely got stretched out further than I ever have before by talking about my faith but it was probably one of the best things I have done so far in my life.  It's really hard to figure out what your meaning of life is, but I'm having a blast seeing where God is taking me.  Thanks again Tony and for everyone at Universal Studios Florida for a great time.