WHAT!?! A NEW POST?!

I know I know... I know... It has been 2 months and frankly I was pretty surprised with how many people were annoyed with me not updating this thing. So yes Finally I will get back to updating this on a regular basis! ......hopefully..

"Chris What was with the hold up?! What took you so long to update the blog?!

Well it was a mix of a lot of stuff... School, Church, Business... and throw in there a little lack of motivation/laziness at times.
There were times where I felt like I just couldn't excuse it sometimes when I should be working on more important things... Right now, I definitely don't have anything important to work on! its great!.... Okay I shouldn't say that, but I dont have to work on stuff RIGHT NOW...
Another reason was there were times where I didnt feel like I had a quality photo to post! But Now I am acquiring many good photos to post for the pic of the day!
So I am sorry to my loyal fans..

What are the updates in my life that you should hear about? GOD IS SO GOOD, AND IS SO REAL... that isnt really an update, cause it should be a known fact.... But anyways what is there?
Almost officially done with school, all stress is done with though which is GREAT!. My website is almost finished and looks AMAZING thanks to Ben Tipler. My business is going different places than expected and has great potential for this summer! Oh yeah and tell your friends if they didnt know KNOX PHOTOGRAPHY does weddings now..Spread the word.
What else? Church is amazing! I love my church so very much..we are more of a family than a church.
I am still trying to get Family Time going for this summer to get most of our locations college groups together and pretty much see what happens! I think it would be a great way to connect with our locations and really let the new people see the bigger picture of our GCM movement
so yeah way excited for summer LIKE WHOA!!

Another thing I am really excited for is I get to see my brother Caleb on Saturday... I miss him very much, so it will be the first time I have seen him since December.. Its been a while.. Looking forward to give him a huge hug.. HUGE.

God has been doing a lot of sweet things recently in my life and just in the church. I wish I could take you through everything but it would take to long. I feel like I have been growing a lot over the past couple months, but I also have felt like I have taken a few steps back sometimes in somethings but that has just help me Understand How deep and how powerful God's Love is. That is one thing, I feel like I am grasping that even more and more and I love it.
These verses from Philippians have been very important to me and really have been standing out..
Philippians 1: 9-11
9.I pray that your love will overflow more and more, and that you will keep on growing in knowledge and understanding. ¹⁰ For I want you to understand what really matters, so that you may live pure and blameless lives until the day of Christ’s return. ¹¹ May you always be filled with the fruit of your salvation—the righteous character produced in your life by Jesus Christ—for this will bring much glory and praise to God.

But this is the Big one!

Philippians 1: 20- 21
20. For I live in eager expectation and hope that I will never do anything that causes me shame, but that I will always remain bold for Christ, as I have been in the past, and that my life will always honor Christ whether I live or die. 21. For to me Living is for Christ, and dying is even better

Seriously there is nothing better than living for Christ. BTW

Anyway thats all I have tonight..

PIC OF THE DAY!
Its from my mock wedding, tell me what you think!
What is it?

(some kind of deep, inspirational title that relates to this blog post)

Where Do I begin? Like seriously, I have no idea how to explain this week. It has been revolutionary for me and I dont believe that is an exaggeration either.. Nope not at all. This blog is going to be a little more intense than previous ones.

I have realized that there are so many things that I need to change about my life, my habits, and my personality. And the cool thing is that I am actually taking action in it, rather than just talking about it. I have been really selfish in what I want in my life, and not thinking about what God might want with my life. There was kind of a big decision that I made that I was so reluctant to make but I know that God wanted me to do it. I had to make sure it was the right decision so I got into the Word.. and this is what God showed me.
Jeremiah 8: 4-6
⁴ “Jeremiah, say to the people, ‘This is what the Lord says: “‘When people fall down, don’t they get up again? When they discover they’re on the wrong road, don’t they turn back? ⁵ Then why do these people stay on their self-destructive path? Why do the people of Jerusalem refuse to turn back? They cling tightly to their lies and will not turn around. ⁶ I listen to their conversations and don’t hear a word of truth. Is anyone sorry for doing wrong? Does anyone say, “What a terrible thing I have done”? No! All are running down the path of sin as swiftly as a horse galloping into battle!

After Reading this I knew exactly what I needed to do. With making this decision God gave me so much peace and so much comfort that it was exactly what I needed to do. Its all in God's hands. This is such a cliche statement in the Christian world, but its so true, " This life is not my own." That God spoke to me about so much stuff that I am doing wrong in my relationships and how I can be more purposeful, and how I can be more of an impact player in God's Kingdom.
That Night I read this Psalm which was also really good.
Psalm 37
²³ The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives.

That Thursday night I went to bed at like 10 30, Which is way early. Woke up 530 for accountability group and it started out like any other group time.. But it turned into something so much more. THE CORINTHIAN COVENANT was made! I am not going into the details but its a promise that the Guys and I made to each other and to God that we will stay pure in big aspects of our lives.. No details, but seriously this is a huge thing for all of us! And I know God is already blessing it. And I love those guys so much and I am so thankful for them. Great guys right thur!!

This week has just been great, like seriously it has, and most of it was just in the past 2 days. Stuff is starting to come together!
And oh yeah! I just got a new lens. Canon 70-200 2.8 IS Lens... It is a beautiful thing, but I have not yet been able to use it to its full potential. Eventually I shall! I have a lot of photoshoots coming up that I need to tackle here soon. Which reminds me anybody want some free pet pictures?! Contact me if you do.

Tonight I am kind of being a loser and staying in tonight, but I am kind of happy to be staying in. I am going to work on a bunch of pictures and update a lot of albums cause I have really procrastinated on that for a while


Pic of the day?! YES sir.. let me see what I got.. Oh snap I have 2 pictures of the day!
This one is pretty crazy..



And one a little less crazy.. what do you think?

Really Rough start....

Oh snap I am not feeling too well right now, the taco bell I had isnt sitting well....

So ANYWAY.... I was very worried about how this day was going to end up because I had a really rough start. I will tell you why..
So Last night was just like any other Wednesday night going to the Bee's and hangin out with everyone, but this time we stayed a little later because some cool people came by like right as we were about to leave. I am totally cool with that but I did get home around 1130 and that wasn't cool cause I had some homework to do. It wasn't a lot of homework but lets just say I wasn't very concentrated last night... Like seriously I couldn't sit still, and I was having way to much fun with other things like talking to people and NOT doing my homework... Okay so long story short, I went to bed at 230 am... I have to wake up at 645 on Thursdays... you do the math!
As I wake up just regretting myself going to bed so late, I realize I slept a little later, so now i am in a slight rush. I hate being in rushes! One of my biggest pet peaves cause I feel like something bad always happens when I am in a Rush... I will continue..
But first a side note: My favorite thing on an early morning is my shower. And I dont know if your like me but on some mornings I have "the Shampoo Debate". Its the moment in your shower time when you have washed your entire body and now its time to wash your hair, but you come to a stand still.... "Do I use this shampoo? Or this one? Oh wait I could use Conditioner!... but no, I think I used that yesterday... or was that the day before that?... hmmm What do I do?" Sometimes my "Shampoo Debates" are so intense that they last several minutes! The weird thing about the "Shampoo Debates" though is that I enjoy them...dont know why but I do!

Okay so anyway back to my day! I could not have my Shower Debate this morning cause i was in a hurry. So I got all my crap together and Got all ready. When I am in a Rush I usually forget stuff so this morning I made sure I didnt! So as I was heading down stairs to head out the door, I look down toward my shoes and I see something just awful! My shoe laces on my right shoe are almost alway undone......ugghhhhhh! I forgot that some girl thought she was being so funny last night at Applebee's by undoing my shoe laces... Luckily I stopped her before undoing the entire shoe, but still it was so annoying to look down at my shoe and see that...When I am in a rush... But actually I wasnt too annoyed cause it did make me giggle.. I didnt fix them till I got to school so it was kind of funny, So in a way It acutally made me slightly Glad..HA!
When I got to school, I realized I wasnt as tired as I thought I would be(wow thats a lot of I's in one sentence).... "hmmm thats nice". As I sat in class being very pleasantly surprised that I got a good grade on my assignment considering the effort put into it, I realized I was tired... VERY Tired. I almost fell asleep at least 3 times in class, and that was being trying to stay awake. " This is my first class! How will I make it through the day?!" DING light bulb!! I have an hour break between my photography classes! I took a nap in the student lounge! OMG OMG OMG OMG It was the best Idea I have had all year! And I am so glad I found out this within the first 3 weeks of school! IT WAS .....I dont think I need to finish it.. but I will .. FRICKEN KICKEN! I awoke at 1053... 7 minutes before my next class started, and I realized I had a huge smile on my face.. I was rested! My friend Jenna let me know I had an indent from my coat on my forehead which i used as a pillow... But I didn't care, I wasn't AS tired and I was... Seriously I think I will do that every Thursday now.

So now onto other things, I kinda had a little testimony/message that Bill wanted me to share.. But the whole night was kind of unorganized and it felt kind of messy... but oh well I said What i said and I guess people thought I did good So yeah. I had like 5-10mins to cram a bunch of crap in so I was all over the place but whatev. Why I am saying this is because I found a verse that kinda goes along with what I was feeling before I started. Dont get me wrong I love speaking, and I really wish I could do it more. It was just the atmosphere that was kind of weird and I felt really rushed but anyway... I found this today during my break, and I love it

Jeremiah 1:6-7
V6. "O Soveriegn Lord" I said, " I can't speak for you! I am too young!
V7. " Don't say that," The Lord replied. " For you must go wherever I send you and say whatever I tell you. (V8) And dont be afraid of the people, for I will be with youand take care of you, I , The Lord, have spoken!

Oh man thats good stuff... Good Obedience verse and a great comfort verse. Do what He is telling you, and dont worry about it He's got your back!




Okay now for the pic of the day! Shelby is up again! OH YEAH and my teacher actually gave me a compliment on my images today! YES! Nicole said she liked mine the best, thanks nicole!!
Tell me what you think..I think I might crop it differently.. but I dont know

So here's the thing...

I was informed last week that my blog was not up to par with what it should have been, and I totally agree. So I am thinking maybe thursdays are not the best days to update my blog every week. On thursdays I usually am dead tired, and I think that can sometimes reflect with the quality of my blog. I am now rethinking if I should have another day where I do this, so I am more rested and so my blog can be ....oh yes ... FRICKEN KICKEN!

I also dont want to feel forced to update this every thurs

day, because than it becomes a chore, and I dont want that too happen! So anyway this is going to be a short one and I am sorry for that but I feel like I am being rushed... but first quick story..

You know whats one of the most annoying things that can totally ruin my day? Let me inform you. Okay Wednesday nights are usually pretty late nights because I hang out at Applebee's and than I usually get home around 1130... Not too late, but the thing is I have class at 8, and usually I dont make it to bed till like 1230, so I get pretty tired. But what happened today just got me so mad, and it only happens rarely... I 

usually set my alarm clock to 630, so I really enjoy trying to get as much rest as possible. So today I wake up cause I realized i had to pee, and I was like " Wow I am sleeping really good, one more hour and I will be all rested for the day" and So I peed and than came back to bed all excited to sleep. I thought I had at least 45 minutes left to sleep before I woke up. So I lay down, and than  say to myself "Maybe I should check the time just for kicks" ...........Its 6:22... UGHHhhhhghhghhghhhghghghghgh I hate when that happens.. I just let out a huge sigh and than set my alarm for 645 just to try to cheat my way into more sleep... but it didnt work. So now I am really tired wishing that didnt happen this morning... SO GAY.

But yeah next time I update my blog, it will be better.. so sorry if has been lacking its usual CHARM

Anyways I got a pic of the day FINALLY!... check it out.. I had a cool assignment yesterday and Shelby helped me with it... tell me what you think

Dang ADD...

I am really not sure how to start this off because I am so fricken tired... but here goes nothin.... I have a feeling this is going to be a short one.. pretty tired

If you didn't read my blog last week, I have made a commitment to update this thing every Thursday because I really have nothing better to do. I could go study some of my photography books or just other generals I am taking... But come on, do you actually think I would do that?! Ha GOOD ONE! Especially not today anyways...I will explain
You might be wondering whats with the Title... If you know anything about me or my personal study habits you would know I have ADD. Sometimes I think ADD is just a lame excuse for lack of self control, and I would have to admit, sometimes it is. But than their are times where I am positive I have it. If you really know me and hang out with me, you would agree.... strongly!
Today I forgot to take my Ridalin, NOT good. Last week I took it and i was crazy productive and I read a whole bunch and I was like "YES get owned 21st Century Ethical Toolbox!!!
Today.... Not so much, I have been trying to read my books and I cant even start hardly. I blame it on not taking my pills, but also being dead tired... But anyway I think you get the point. I am getting nothin done this Thursday and it disappoints me...

Anyway, (The word Anyway(s) is going to be used many times in my blog...if you havent noticed already) Like I have been emphasizing over the last couple of blogs, this Semester is going to be crazy busy for me, Which is awesome! Usually this is a bad thing for most people but not for me, because I think it will be a good challenge for me
Here is what I got going just to let you know.. just like I promised to you
1. School- 5 classes- 2 classes with studio time not included
2. Youth Group Leader- Doesnt really take up any other day than Wednesday. But Throughout the week I like to think about what I might want to go through with the guys.
3. Weekend Band at church- Takes up Friday Night, and Sunday 8 till like 1.. but also include time for practicing songs throughout the week.
4. Youth Band- They do not have a current bass player, so I am filling in till they can train one in..MITCH DYBING...cough cough..
5. New Band-Danny, Kwesi, Steve and I are starting to Jam together and are starting to spit out songs.. We have some really cool Ideas with it and I am really excited to see what God has with it.
6.My photography business- Like I said last blog, I have a lot of stuff to do and I am slowly but surely getting stuff done. Talkin to Ben Tip on monday about website stuff so that will be sweet!
7. Studio time for Assignments- I dont include this into school cause assignments take about 3 to 4 hours. But its fun.
8. and than Church.. I love my Church...

So I guess its not as much as I thought, but its time consuming.
So yeah this semester is going to be awesome and I am looking forward to it.. And I also will be taking my Ridalin Like every day! its going to be sweet!

OH YEAH! I almost forgot.. Lisa Tipler Gets a shout out for answering the question I had last week! LISA... We go way back.. Prayer BUDDIES

For the pic of the day I have a fun one I made for John O'sully. I need to get a zip drive so I can get you guys a pic of the week every week... but here you go!

So thursdays...

Good Or Bad?

You know I have not decided yet...  If you didn't know thursdays are going to be my longest days out of the week this semester cause I have 3 classes. Not to many I know, but I have a 3 hour break in between classes to do whatever I want.. except go home. So I have to waste 3 hours in or somewhere close around the school. This ,for some reason, seemed to be a daunting task for me, but its not as bad as I thought. I have sort of changed my mindset from "wasting" time to actually doing something of value, like studying or something ridiculous like that! HA! 

But seriously I feel like these 3 hours could be used very wisely without just messing around and doing pretty much nothing.

One thing I definitely want to do every thursday during my break will be to update this thing.. So yes, for my dedicated readers out there you will be happy to know that every thursday there will be a new Blog Post by yours truly...Cute huh?

Another thing that I will be doing during my break is getting into the Word...The Bible, Good Book, you know that really cool book that changes peoples lives?...yeah that one! Its not like this is a new thing, but I will have 3 hours to just sit down at study and read the Word which will be sweet. I also have never read my Bible in a public place before, which sounds weird but I havent.. So I am kind of looking forward to see if that will open up any interesting conversations if anyone notices.

With this break I will also study my books for my Classes.... YUP thats right.. Chris is going to become a good student now! How bout that?! Yeah its not a revolutionary thing but I seriously hardly ever do that unless there is a quiz or a test on the materials. This semester of School is going to be extremely vital for my business. My photography classes have always been pretty helpful, but these new ones I am taking are going to really challenge me and pretty much make me get my Crap together. I have a lot of work to do with my business and a lot of things to think through on where to take it. So it will be a very good semester for me.

As cheesy and as cliche as it sounds.. I feel like this semester has a chance to be an entirely new chapter of my life.. Yes I totally said it, let me explain.

As I said this semester is going to be extremely vital for my business, but if I dont man up and do the things that I need to do.. they will just be classes and I will have wasted  this semester. My photography business is very small right now, but it has potential for "AGGRESSIVE EXPANSION"..(whoever gets what thats from gets a shout out..Nate Knox cant guess). But seriously if I dont do the things that are needed for my business this semester leading into this summer.. I would be shooting myself is the FACE! to put it lightly...

Also, I feel like this is going to be a big summer for my church. The college group is turning into an amazing thing, we started small, but we are definitely growing and I LOVE IT... Great group of people, I LOVE THEM. Youth Group is also growing big time, and I love being a leader in it. I have some great Ideas for both  and I cant wait to bring them up to some peeps and see what people think. I LOVE MY CHURCH.

I do feel like I have a lot of growing to do over this coming year. There are many flaws that I see in myself right now that I know I have to change soon..... But seriously really exciting year coming up.. I Feel like something big is going to happen.. and all this has nothing to do with our New president.. just to get that clear!

one more thing.. I don't know how often I will have a Picture of the Week up... but Hey I will keep you posted!

Well, I guess school started...

Right before I started writing this blog, I realized I was in a predicament... What do I listen too?! Recently I have been on a Coldplay kick, their new CD. You can say what you want, but I like their new CD. But anyways I kind of have overdone it with Viva La Vida. And I was feeling something chill, but also something that would get me pumped... I will give you a hint.. IM NOT YOUR FRIEND!!.... Do you know? Oh yes, your right. I got Sowing Season by Brand New kicken right now. Its GREAT.. I havent listened to the whole CD that Sowing Season is on.. so this will be an adventure...

Anyway, Classes have technically started this week. And oh boy it will be an interesting one. I say "technically started" because I believe that School doesnt really start till you have had your first:
"Oh Crap,..."

"What do you mean by that Chris?!"

Well, Kenny(awww.. patience), What I mean by that is your first panic or first stress inducer: for example
"Oh Crap, my paper is due tomorrow"
" Oh Crap, I have a test tomorrow that I haven't studied for."
" Oh Crap, that was due today?!"
See the first week of classes are nothing really. They just give you your Syllabuses and tell you what to expect from your class and what its going to be like the whole semester, and than bam your done with class and there really isnt anything to worry about....Yet.
My schedule this year is pretty dang Kicken! Not Fricken Kicken... but Just Kicken.
Monday- No class!
Tuesday- Ethics at 1pm
Wednesday- No class!
Thursdays can die- Portraiture III at 8am, Wedding Portraiture 11am.. and Public Speaking at 4pm
Friday- Class at 9am... that I might change so I am not saying the name yet.
But yeah That is a pretty sweet schedule right?! Not too bad? Except for Thursdays...Boo. There are maybe 2 things that I don't like about Thursdays.
1. Class at 8... Chris doesn't do that.
2. Class that ends at 1 and than next class at 4. I havent decided if I like this or not yet. I have decided to stay at school in the future or at least close by. The only thing is I dont know exactly how to fill that 3 hours between classes. Here are some of my options for the future... I am not putting "getting food" in the list because that is just going to be assumed.
1. I could find a place to sit down and read the Word! Which is extremely beneficial.
2. Find a secluded place to lay down and take nap... Which might be difficult but very necessary.
3. Walk around the EP mall.
4. Try to find someone I could hang with at school.
5. go to the EP mall, and watch a Movie! Never have gone to the theaters by myself, but I have a feeling it might happen this year.
6. Go down to the lake and go on a Photo Safari.
7........ (Help me out.. if you have any Ideas Comment on this Blog post)

In a way I am really excited for this semester. My photography classes are going to be extremely helpful to me with my business this coming year. Well at least I hope they are. I am really excited for my Wedding class because it will force me to do a lot of things that I have been kind of putting off. I am really excited to get into weddings, because I feel like I could eventually be very good with them. So yeah this semester will be sweet, but a lot of work... which will be very good, especially cause I was so lazy this break!
I just want this semester to go by very fast, which it will, but its so easy to look into the future and say it will be a while... but before you know it you remember thinking that when you get there. I am really excited for this summer and what it will bring. I got some cool Ideas involving the church and the youth group that I want to implement. And I am also excited for my business stuff too, which hopefully will be very fruitful. ( God Willing) I am also interested what relationships will arise and which ones will last, Which ones will come back again.. and which ones will be lost.. Cause it happens. I feel like some big things are going to happen.. Not sure what, but BIG!

I think thats all I got for today... but anyway I feel kind of bad because I havent taken any pictures.. but I was going to post one, but the photo upload thing is being gay right now.. so ADIOS

What is it?! Who? What? Where? When? and of course... Why?

Oh man I am just going to jump in to it right now... I am not sure what is going on with me right now but something is not right and needs to change in my life. Yeah It sounds cheesy and everything but hey, God is definitely telling me a lot of stuff right now and showing me that I need to change A lot in my life..( I dont Know what your(the reader) views are about God are, but There is only one true god and he is Jesus Christ. And I don't want you to view me as a"religious person". I am a Christ follower and I have a personal relationship with my God.) But anyway...
God is telling me a lot of stuff that I really dont want to hear. Honestly it is a lot of stuff that I don't want to do but I know I have too. I know it. I cannot tell you what it exactly is, but I will tell you that it is with certain relationships that I have. There are relationships that eventually I need to let drop...maybe naturally but I am not sure yet. I think God puts relationships into our lives for us to grow, and mature in our walks more. Some relationships are here and than out the door but I feel each one has a purpose or had a purpose, and I love when you can look at those and see the purpose of them. One person could really help you see how selfish you are being. One relationship could show you that you really need to change certain things in your life. All these relationships and their purposes Really helps let you know God is in control.
I also just need to start growing up.. as gay as that sounds. I think I have been kinda almost scared to "grow up". And yes again, I am not too sure what exactly what that means but I have some Ideas. I really need to put a lot of my energy and Time into my photography business. I need to start getting that really going and really get to the point where I can support myself and eventually a family. And yeah that too me is pretty dang scary.. But hey I AM 20 HA!

I feel like God is trying to show me so much right now, and I think Faithwalkers triggered a lot of this. When I was there I didnt feel like I learned too much from anything.. but more of the experience as a whole, and from hangin out with everyone. The thing is out of all the stuff I feel He is speaking to me about, I am not sure what He is trying to say yet. But that will come in time.. right?! I had a good drive home tonight just talking to him... and I remember thinking this.. "I wish he actually talked to me" Than I shot that thought down!.. He does ...so much just in different ways and you can feel it! Its like a certain pressure on your heart, or like a bad feeling, or the feeling that all your burdens were taken away.. He is amazing. I think he also speaks through circumstances in your life. He shuts doors and opens new ones... Its great but can also be so frustrating because you cannot see what He is doing!
I dont really know what else to say... but I feel like there is more.....
God is the only true source of Joy... there is nowhere else you can find it... you will try but nothing satisfies like true living water that Jesus offers.
Psalm 138
3V: When I pray you answer me; you encourage me by giving me the strength I need
V8 The Lore will work out his plans for my life- For your faithful love, O Lord endures forever. Dont abandon me for you made me!

I think that is all.. no pic of the day..sorry!!