So here I am. Sitting outside of my dorm room, in the town of Lakeland, Tennessee, watching new friends of mine climb a tree right outside of the dorm building. Across from me lies my new school, Visible. It's a worship and arts college, and it's literally the smallest college I've ever heard of, much less attended. First thoughts may drift towards run down and crappy, but God is definitely here. Since Sunday I've been here, getting to know the 90 or so other students on campus, and doing my first two week class during orientation. How did things change so much, so quickly? I guess it's time for an update…

About two or three months ago I began an application with Visible School in Lakeland, Tennessee, just because I had a small thought that maybe I could go. Meanwhile I was working on campus at LBC, enjoying campus safety and making the extra money I needed to pay my bills. I was having fun (for the most part) and enjoying the summer. Then I started my online classes and realized the internet on campus was just not going to be able to withstand the use I needed to get my work done. So I packed up my life and moved back home, reluctantly. I really wanted to stay because of the job, and because it was really the only place I had known for the past two years. LBC became like home and leaving it for good was something I really wanted to put off until the last moment.

So I moved home, and began the search for a new job. Day in and day out, applying with companies and handing out my resume to anyone that would take it. Nothing came through. I began to suffer from insomnia and just have one rough day after another, because all I would do with my regular day was get up by noon and go out searching for a job for a few hours, come home and eat, then go back to bed. It became quite the vicious cycle, and I felt sick quite often. As June ended and gave way to July, I became depressed and was quite sick of not finding a job. July came and went and I moved into August, and finally got a call from Circuit City. After about a week I got a job there and was enjoying it. Four days of work later I got an email from Visible School about financial aid stuff and figured it wouldn't hurt to see about my application and where it had ended up.

That was a Wednesday. I got accepted on the phone that same day. By Friday I was on my way to Lakeland, to start orientation for the semester. Yeah, pretty crazy, huh? Although it seems that's how God works in my life. I got accepted at the beginning of the week for LBC and moved in that next weekend. So it's just normal.

I was struggling a lot this summer. At the end of my last semester at LBC I had planned on going to community college and getting some kind of two year degree so I could attend Full Sail University down in Florida for music business. As the summer started, I began to seriously doubt that I could make a decent living out of music. So as I believed in my doubt, I began to think more about everything else I was interested in. I tried photography. I tried business. I tried film. I tried journalism. Nothing filled me like music. So when this opportunity to come down to Visible presented itself, it was almost like God saying, "Hey, remember that passion I gave you? Why don't you try that?" So I've stepped out fully on faith, and I'm not looking back.

Being here for just under a week already, I've realized that all the people here understand how I am. The pure fact that I can sit in someone's room and talk about band after band after band for hours on end. They get it here. Up in Pennsylvania, so many people would get annoyed with me about how much I could go on about music. They just didn't understand what it means to me. These people here, they live it. They live music every day. Just like I want to, just like I long to. Every one of these people get how I am. I'm an artist. I'm a musician. What I need is a family (90 members...haha) of musicians to live with.

And that's what I have here. This is going to quickly become home, I can feel it. The staff and faculty are amazing as well, and in one week I'll be starting my first music and artist development classes. Even better, tonight I'll be going to my first show with bands from the school, and I'll be helping manage it. Before I even take one class. This is the kind of hands on education I need.

I miss so many people from PA, including my parents, my dogs, and all my LBC friends. To them, I apologize that I won't be able to come visit this coming semester. But know that I'm where God wants me. I'm doing his work, in the best way I know how. Through the passion he's placed on my heart.