there are two kind of people in the world (possibly more, but i am going to severely limit myself here for a bit). when asking a child what they want to be when they grow up the first type will answer something fabulous like a doctor, a teacher or an architect. the second child will answer just as clearly a similar uplifting, goal oriented future with lots of money and cars or a fabulous lifestyle. the difference comes when these two grow older and begin to make decisions about said future. one actually goes and does it while the other, well you know what i'm getting at.

when i was a child i always wanted to be just like amy grant. if i had been allowed to listen to anything besides christian music and the occasional country twang i might have had a different heroine. this being said, all i truly ever wanted to be was a rock-star. they are fully immersed in the one thing i have ever loved with a passionate intensity: music.

this idea of a becoming a rockstar always twirled in my head. when people would ask me what i wanted to be i would say something heroic like an astronaut, but deep within i really just wanted to surround myself in melodic passion.

one thing rock-stars have that always troubled me though, is a fantastic ability to overcome fear. this has hindered my rockstar career tremendously. fear has always held me back. in almost every memory i have there is one constant. fear.

fear is good sometimes. it keeps us from doing truly stupid things; like driving on the wrong side of the road without your seatbelt on because your friend triple dog dared you to play chicken with an eighteen wheeler. fear is a healthy emotion that will play as an important checks and balance system throughout our lives.

unless you let it take over. this monster living in me; this fear of everything has severely limited my creative potential, my friendships, my family and most importantly my future. it has taken away the things that i have held dear. it has thwarted my desires and has turned me rotten. i have even lost part of my true meaning in life: my faith. my passion has lost its flame all because of this small yet overpowering word.

i have been reading (and rereading) a book that has since shook my world. the world without fear has been found. i am not here to preach a sermon. i am here to say that i am being renovated. i am becoming a new being, with new vision and a new outlook on life. i have found that "faith that counts, then, is not the absence of doubt; its the presence of action." -brian d. mclaren

to live a life well to me is a choice. at this point in time i honestly could do anything. the coolest thing about life is you get to choose. so here i am. i choose to live life and not let it live me. i choose to have faith, passion and knowledge. i choose to be happy. i choose to live WITHOUT fear. most importantly i choose jesus.

this is epic. this is changing my life.

this is the augustine adventure.