Jeremy became a very active senior, participating in showchior, theater, and yearbook. Larissa moved on from Micah and became one of FMHS's heart thobs. Jeremy got another crush on a girl from U-Turn, who he eventually asked to be his date to senior prom, who naturally rejected him. Jeremy was crushed, but found comfort in the timely freindship of 3 girls from Kenosha he met at Winter Camp, Brittany and Bethany Burger, and Lizzy Ryssemus. Jeremy searched elsewhere for a date, eventually going with his good friend Sara, and her friend Liz and John. It was a great night, despite Sara's evil ex-boyfriends plots to sabotage it. Meanwhile, Jeremy's mom kept a job as a telemarketer at APAC, while Jeremy continued at McDonald's for the 3rd year. His dad had been talking to Ken Jones, who recently left Shenandoah to start his own church in Lincoln, Nebraska. In May that year, St. Joseph Master's Commission came to U-Turn with their "Transparent" presentation. Jeremy signed up to go there after he graduated. And he did, with a large party at his house with all the friends he'd made over the last 3 years. That summer he spent at Camp Hickory, working with the Burger Twins and his sister, with whom he also took a road trip across Iowa with, visiting Cornerstone and old friends in Shenandoah, like the Shearer family. At the end of the summer, Jeremy was saying good-bye to everyone and ready for Masters Commission, a life away from home. Just about that time, his long time now friend Carrie Patterson began to have a prominent place in his heart.
Master's Commission challenged and changed 18 year old Jeremy's life. He was thrust into inner city kids ministry, in-depth Bible study, living in a house with 24 strangers, working in a new huge youth group, and hardest of all, he couldn't like any girls for a year. By the end of the first semester, Jeremy was having fun, but still not sure where all this was leading. He found out Carrie had a boyfriend in Texas as well, and even though he wasn't supposed to care, he did. Meanwhile back in Fort Madison, his parents where thinking seriously of moving to Lincoln to help pioneer Ken and Diane Jone's little Church on the Rock. After Jeremy and Larissa went to another Gathering, and seeing the Fort Madison friends and Kenosha girls again, they made the decision to pick up thier stakes and leave everything again to help pioneer a little church. Larissa went back to Fort Madison to say good-bye and help move, while Jeremy went back to St. Joseph for Master's Commission, very heavy hearted. With his home in Fort Madison soon to be gone, he began to wonder if he would ever have a real home.
2003-
"The Year of Dreams Coming True" was the prophetic word Pastor Brian gave the church Jeremy was still attending while in Master's, Word of Life Chruch. Jeremy took that to heart, and spent a year pushing himself into areas he'd never been before. The first major one was him being given the directors chair for Master's hour long production "Transparent", which he also wrote and starred in. His lifes definant labor of love, he worked on it almost non-stop for 5 months, which drove him to some very scary emotional boundaries he'd never encountered before. But the Lord and his friends where with him, and together they took Transparent to 7 different churches and saw dozens of kids get saved, recommite their lives, and some even rescued from suicide. It wasn't long after that Jeremy graduated from his first year and moved back to Lincoln, Nebraska with his family. That summer proved to be a tough one, as Larissa went to Camp Hickory with the Burger twins for the entire summer, and Jeremy was left with vitually no friends. He planned a trip to see Carrie in Midland, (after hearing she'd broken up with her boyfriend) but it didn't work out and was rescheduled for Christmas. He visited St. Joseph often, and finally decided to move back in August, since his 2nd year of Auxano would start soon anyways. On the way there his car broke down beyond repair, and he had to get it towed to The Shack, a very small house he and 3 of his friends (Patrick, Joe, and Anthony) would live in. With no car, he and Anthony began to job search, which eventually got Jeremy his job at GameXchange, a used video game store. By the time Auxano started, Jeremy found that almost all the single friends he left in May where hooked up now and felt his singleness like never before. As the new first years came (Jeremy got JP, Jeremy Carmody, and Jake) he faced the challenged of being a first year. Soon the entire Auxano team was busy working on styrofoam sets for the church Christmas play, and it was then Jeremy took the plunge to tell Carrie his long harbored feelings for her. To his amazement she returned them, and a long distance relationship of sorts began. His friends were very happy for him, and Jeremy's life became defined by counting down the days until his beloved came to his home for Christmas. However, things didn't run so smooth. A good friend of Carrie's began to show interest in her back home, and she became torn between her heart's love 1000 miles away, and great potential in her own backyard. She still hadn't fully made a decision when a car wreak left her taking pain medication for several weeks, making her very tired most of the day. It was then that Carrie came to see Jeremy after 2 1/2 years. Jeremy's romantic ideas for their time together set her off abit, as memories of Midland filled her head on Christmas Day. That night she talked to her parents and they decided to come and take her home. They arrived late the next night, finally meeting Jeremy, who left Carrie with them. An hour later he knocked on her hotel room door and sat with her in the lobby, and finally fully confessed his love for her. She told him how sorry she was she couldn't return it, and left. Jeremy went back home and spent the rest of the year in a daze of emotions. Could he ever love again? Would he learn to forgive his best friend? Could he finish Auxano when it was going down the tubes? Would he be trapped inside the dirt hole of GameXchange for the rest of his miserable life?!?!? Would he ever just get a friggin' girlfriend, for crying out freaking loud?!?!?!?!?
As always, there's more to come
2004-
