Last minute BLOG

Hey guys. Sorry this is REALLY late. I was laying down in bed drifting in and out of consciousness texting a friend... Then he just decided he was going to call and so I decided I should get up. Then I realized I hadn't even posted yet today.
I was going to post earlier but I got a message from Tim asking if I wanted to meet KT and him at the local (local for me) ice cream parlor. I gladly accepted! I was in the mood for some LEMON ice cream!!! Thus you can blame Tim and KT for the lateness of this post.

My day was very boring. I worked. I drove to Liberty, IL to drop my dad off at a mechanic shop where his truck was. Then I drove back home and went the long way through Golden so I could stop at Suzy's and get some food, just like old times minus my football buddies.

Then I played Halo. Lots of Halo. Believe it or not today was the first day in my ENTIRE gaming career where I played for nearly 4 hours all by myself. I normally just don't play if no one is on because I hate having to play by myself. But lately I've changed. I really enjoyed myself today. I played TEAM SWAT all day. I ranked up from a 17 to a 22... Until I got matched with these two little 5-yr-olds... No exaggeration. They were like 5 or 6. And one of them didn't feel like playing so she just let her character stand still the whole game. We lost needless to say. I am now a 21 rank. BUT!: I did have an exceptional game at Guardian. My new favorite map. I had 17 kills and only TWO deaths. That is very good for me!

Anyways...
I'm expecting another phone call here real quick so I must be off...

Once again sorry for the lack of scripture and the lateness!

God Bless!

This Day in Trend.

Wow...
THREE rk songs in one day's worth of blogs.

Anyways I finished mowing earlier... It wasn't fun. It always messes up my eyes real bad for some reason.Now I just got done talking to an old friend from Central. We haven't talked or SEEN each other in quite a long time. She and I video chatted via MSN Messenger, which was VERY cool considering she's deployed in Iraq! Crystal: God Bless you for serving our country! YOU are the reason we have freedom.

Now I'm waiting on a call/text from Mark, my roommate for next year, so we can play some Halo. Then after that we're going to go to our friend's football game. He, Brent, got invited to play on basically the All-Star team this year. That was pretty cool! After the football game, I think we may go and see Wall*E. It looks good!

Will blog later!
God bless

Faking my own...

Life.
Walk with Jesus.
Friendships.
Existence.
Everything.

This is how I feel all too often. Hypocrisy is a common word that comes to mind. Ya know what I mean?

God gives us all the tools we need to be successful in His eyes. So why don't we use them?!
I too often find myself just flowing with the crowd. The problem is that the crowd isn't Christian! I flow right into satan's hands. This is so sad to admit. I consider myself to be a leader not a follower; so why in the world am I letting non-Christians influence me???

Man. Life is crazy. It has so many ups and downs; it's like one massive roller coaster. Only the theme park ride-of-life goes subterranean. Meaning it has so many more downs than ups it seems. Can anyone identify with this??? Please?

I think that I'm so alone in this a lot. I KNOW God is with me. But we're supposed to help each other out. And I feel like either there's no one else struggling like this or they're too afraid to say something... The funny thing is that if I were to find someone to finally talk to and figure things out, that relationship would boost both people involved on the up and up.

Wow... Two Relient K songs in one blog...

Anyways.
Seriously if anyone ever has anything they would like to talk about, or if my blog picks your brain... LET ME KNOW! I want to help in any way I can! Just drop me a comment here or any of the other various communities I'm involved in. I am MORE than willing to talk and help you out.

After I typed all of that (^^^), I did some praying... I just have this funny sense that someone (one of my readers) is struggling with the very subject I just wrote about. I'll keep praying. I don't know who it is, but I ask (again) that if you need/want to talk, hit me up with a message some how!

Double-whammy scripture time!!!

Galatians 6:2-3 (New American Standard)
2 "Bear one another's burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ. 3 For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself."

James 5:16 (New American Standard)
16 "Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much."

These are just two scriptures in the Bible that command us, as believers, to get accountability and share our struggles with one another. I have been praying lately about my blogs. I felt they weren't fully doing their purpose... So I prayed about what I should write about. This came to mind...

Accountability is SO important. I am accountable to this one guy I met at the Crossing in QTown. He and I go out to eat occasionally and just talk about what has been going on in our lives lately. If I am ever at home and struggling with an issue or feel defeated about my religion then I just shoot a text his way or call him. I'm also accountability partners with a close friend of mine. He texts me and we talk back and forth about issues giving each other encouragement.

Accountability relationships are the coolest relationships I've ever come in contact with. I can tend to not be very trusting sometimes, and so to open up to people really lifts burdens off my shoulders! God works in VERY powerful ways through accountability partners.

God Bless

Fuel.

Sorry... Another quick blog.
I just got a phone call and was informed I was going to Fuel at the Quincy Crossing. Arty Poo my buddy called and said he needed someone to go with. So I figured it would be late when I got home so I have to do this now to satisfy my readers (once again... Tim.).

Today work was boring. Not going into too much detail there... I want you guys to keep reading not fall asleep! lol
Although I saw the funniest thing EVER on a computer screen. Computers continue to suprise me:
This computer when it booted up came up with an error message that simply stated, "Something bad happened in the application." HAHA!
I was like okay...

I just got home and then Art called... So that's basically all I've done all day is worked... But now I get to go to the Crossing so that GOOD!

1 Chronicles 16:25
"Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; He is to be feared above all gods."

I chose this verse because I'm going to the Crossing. I LOVE worship at the Crossing. When you worship God you should feel so empowered and close to Him! The Crossing is one of the few churches where this happens to me.
Also another thing that bugs me:
I don't care if you don't think you can't sing. PLEASE just try! The Bible says 'make a joyful noise.' So for goodness sakes! Just sing! I guess I'm musically inclined so maybe I'm being harsh, but honestly I wouldn't mind if you were right next to me just yelling. If that's how you worship then so be it! God doesn't care either! So just give Him what He deserves!
Steve Fee is a worship leader from Atlanta, Georgia. I have had the privilege to listen to him in person and he always starts off with a little rant about singing. He has all the people who think they're bad raise a fist in the air and then start yelling. Then we go straight into song. It's a powerful thing.
And honestly I don't understand why you wouldn't want to praise the Master of the Universe!

God Bless!

Baseball, RetroGaming, Mullets and more...

Hello. Sorry if you were waiting on me to post this (Tim). I just got home from my girlfriend's house.

So today work was boring. I dusted and vacuumed out CPU towers all day. It wasn't hard by any means. But let me tell you those computers were FILTHY! Then I started helping my mother put together the Annie DVD of our school musical... I lost track of time and was late for my g/f's little brother's baseball game.

Alex (Lindsay's little brother), plays center field for the Domino's Little League team. They won 3rd place in their division. Alex didn't hit very well, but he had a really nice catch that I saw...

After Alex's game, Lindsay and I went to the Crossing because they were having a RetroGaming night. They were bringing games like Pong, RBI, and PacMan to life with the K-6 graders. It was neat, but boring for Linds and I. We left and went to eat at McDonald's b/c we were both starving. When we were leaving I took a drink and then Lindsay said, "Oh no! He shaved his mullet!" Well any of my school mates can tell you that when I have a drink in my mouth, don't make me laugh. I spit lemonade all over her car and myself. Not fun. And she was pointing at some random guy with a buzz cut and a broken arm... She didn't elaborate due to her suprise lemonade car wash.

Then we went to her house and hung out with a friend of her's from Montana that she hasn't seen in a very long time. Allie (her name) was very funny and all around pretty cool.

1 John 2:17
"The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever."

Honestly. The Bible continues, to this day, to amaze me. I don't know why... It IS the Word of God!
Anyways, lately I've been trying to focus on letting God take control. I want whatever is in His will. I have been focusing on prayer, because communication is so important. And obviously this verse tells us that following our Father's will is very important too!

Who wouldn't want eternal life? Everyone is in a constant search on how to live forever. Well here's the answer! This reminds me of those make-up commercials on TV for the anti-aging creams... What a bunch of bologna. Here's the real anti-aging formula:
Reliance on God + Prayer + Baptism + Following God's Will = Eternal Life
There may be a few other variables I forgot to throw in here... I'm tired. Sorry.
If you would like, you can comment and make up your own version of a formula for Eternal Life.

God Bless

[Insert Blog Title Here...]

Ummm...
I just got done watching an amazing movie!
Jumper. It was phenomenal! Anyways I definitely suggest it...

I also got on Halo after the movie hoping to play with Mark, TImmAH, and Nathan but we can't play together for some reason... Our connections conflict or something. Since I couldn't play with them I played a couple Team Swat games by myself until the lag got REAL annoying. But the first game I played I did REALLY good. It was normal Team Swat on Swat Guardian. I ended up with 20 kills, 10 deaths, and 2 killing sprees... Not too shabby I thought.

So lately I just been feeling really Neutral. I don't like that feeling at all. I want to feel God. I've been doing pretty good on focusing just on a single day. Just taking it day-by-day works! Anyway I've been feeling poetic lately for some reason so the scripture is from Psalm tonight:

Psalm 143:1-4 (New American Standard)
1 "Hear my prayer, O Lord,
Give ear to my supplications!
Answer me in Your faithfulness, in
Your righteousness!
2 And do not enter into judgment with
Your servant,
For in Your sight no man living is
righteous.
3 For the enemy has persecuted my
soul;
He has crushed my life to the
ground;
He has made me dwell in dark
places, like those who have
long been dead.
4 Therefore my spirit is overwhelmed
within me;
My heart is appalled within me."

I thought this verse did a good job of describing how I've felt recently. Also I have a friend that would very much be able to identify with this passage. David wrote this. King David. He wrote this after his heart was broken; after he committed murder and adultery. The great King David.
David is pleading with God here. Often how I find my heart pleading for forgiveness from God. He delivers. Always. He is faithful to those who are faithful to Him. Often after I screw up there's the moment of happiness. There always is. The two milliseconds of happiness. Then the shame and guilt come flooding in. I think this is what David is describing in verse four where he talks about his spirit being overwhelmed and his heart being appalled.

Finally I would like to finish this blog with a [very] small prayer. It's actually Psalm 143:9--
Father:
"Deliver me, O Lord, from my enemies; I take refuge in You."

Truth - Part 2

Jacob and Esau.
Do you know the story of these two twin brothers?
Jacob was the younger of the two. Esau came out of his mother's womb first, making him the eldest. However when it came time for Isaac (their father) to give the birthright to Esau, Jacob deceived his own father into giving him the birthright that was truly Esau's.

I think I did a poor job of telling that story, but the short version is that Jacob was a deceiver. Jacob's name actually means "heel grabber" because he came out of his mother's womb clutching Esau's heel and it also means "deceiver."

Later in the Old Testament, Jacob figures out how foolish he was. Jacob is then given a new name (a recurring theme in the Bible). He is renamed "Israel." Which is a big deal considering God's chosen nation ends up being named after him...

My whole point of this story:
I often lie to myself. Telling my mind that I'm right with God. Slamming the door on the Holy Spirit and just thinking to myself, "I'm a good kid." WAKE UP. If this is you, then you're so wrong. Being a good kid, where does that get you? And by what standards do you even consider yourself good?

That would be correct. You consider yourself good by the WORLD'S standards. These such standards are DRAMATICALLY different than God's. His bar is set so much higher than that of the world's. But I don't want to scare you. Yes, honestly, God's standards are scary. They're set high! But:
EVERYTHING is possible through Christ Jesus our Lord and Saviour. (Philippians 4:13)

Never give up hope. God is always right there for you. Pray to Him and tell Him what you're thinking. He'll hear you. Trust me.

God has been kicking my butt lately. I've been delusional lately thinking I'm right where I need to be. But there is ALWAYS room for improvement. I had been deceiving myself. I had been telling myself that everything was okay. This however was not and IS NOT the case.

However, just like Jacob got a new name, I can (and YOU can) get forgiveness for your shortcomings.

FINALLY!

The tech work from the office part of the school I work for is FINALLY done. We've been fighting with it for almost a week and at long last it's complete.
AND:
The best part about it is the fact that we only lost e-mail address books for two computers. After fighting with trying to recover those for a several hours I just simply gave up. I informed the superintendent and the payroll secretary that they would just have to re-create their address book. Tough luck.

I'm looking forward to seeing "The Happening" with a friend today. After work we're going to go and see that in the theater. So that is exciting!

Other than that, I don't have much else right now...
I'll blog later!

today was Good

Sorry I missed my post yesterday. I don't even have a viable excuse. I just kind of neglected to get online and post. Which also means I didn't get into the Word.

Yesterday was a "let's have a new experience" day. I figured I might as well act as though I'm living on my own since I was for the weekend and will be starting this fall. I cooked myself a meal (which I made up my own recipe for...it wasn't bad). Then I did my own laundry (and I only had to call my mom once!). And lastly I did a little cleaning (emphasis on the little).

Today was a good day speaking from all points of view. Spiritually it was especially. I went to The Crossing church for morning service. The message was very unique and delivered very well. It was about making sure your heart was in the right place, trust, and apathy. Kind of an odd combination, but it was still good. Worship was...AWESOME! My favorite was when they did the Christy Nockles "Hosanna". I love love LOVE that song.

Then this afternoon I watched Bourne Ultimatum, which was very good. I'd been waiting to see it when I could watch the first two again, but I figured if I kept doing that I would never get around to watching the final installment of the Bourne series.

Finally I loaded up my car with Ham and Bung (my two gamer buddies) and we all went to Studio (youth group at The Crossing). It was great. The studio was PACKED tonight. The worship once again was phenomenal. Andy (the youth pastor) preached a very good sermon on being real. Not proclaiming to be a Christian and then not acting like one. Usually I've heard this type of a sermon so much that I tune them out and don't get much, but I was convicted tonight. I asked to set-up a meeting with Andy sometime this week to talk to him about some of my problems. I just felt so convicted tonight by the Holy Spirit.

Here's a verse from the sermon from the morning service that I thought was blog worthy:

2 Timothy 1:7 (New American Standard)
7 "For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline."

This verse I think goes along with the apathy part of Jerry Harris's (senior pastor at The Crossing) sermon. God doesn't want His people, who love, trust, and worship him, to just sit there during their free time twiddling their thumbs. He wants us out there in this BROKEN world proclaiming His name. He wants us living the life of Christ. Living with and showing the true faith. This verse hits home, because too often I find myself in a perfect situation to witness to a non-believer and I let it slip by. I do nothing. God gives us this situations to grab and use to further His kingdom. So why don't we?

F-to the-E-R-G-the-I-the-E

Not the song artist Fergie. This isn't a blog about Fergilicious...
Missy Ferguson. The chorus teacher for the Elementary and Jr. High students at the school district I just graduated from just called my house. I just got off the phone with her.

Mrs. Ferguson was the teacher who I grew up with. Since I have such a passion for the music arts, I learned so much from her. She is also a very strong Christian. I not only learned about music, but of God from her. Her husband was the director of the Campus Students for Christ organization that has an apartment building on the campus of the Uni I'm attending in the fall. I applied there and got accepted. I was thrilled. Well her husband, Charlie, resigned from being the director of CSC. I was sorry to see him go, but understood all the same. They are a pretty old couple. I'm not going to disgrace them by taking a guess, but they're older.

Why am I telling you this?

Missy Ferguson just called to tell me that she resigned from the chorus department at Southeastern School District.

She said that, and I was speechless. I just figured she would teach there until God called her on home to heaven. I can't even begin to describe how awful I feel. I feel terrible! But at the same time I'm happy for the both of them. She told me the reason was that Charlie took on a pastoral job at a church that is too far away to commute. I understand her situation, and I understand that God has HUGE plans for them. They're a great couple. God did good when He worked in their lives.

No one will every be able to replace Fergie at Southeastern. Her legacy of molding young minds with music knowledge and SPIRITUAL knowledge will live on.

camp out!

well...
i did it!
i made it through the indiana jones scavenger hunt.

we had a youth camp out at a friend's pasture. now if you need to know anything about me, it's the fact that I have OCD. I'm a germ-a-phobe. So, needless to say, I'm not exactly an outdoorsy person. But we had this wicked sweet scavenger hunt in the woods that had clues and everything. It was pretty cool. My group won of course and the other group had a 15 minute lead on us!

Then we roasted hot dogs and marshmallows on a camp fire. It may be a very odd skill, but people were calling it a skill nonetheless. I guess I'm very good at roasting marshmallows. I know how to get them the perfect shade of golden brown. So I roasted them for everyone else that tried (and failed) to match my roasting ability... I never knew that other people couldn't roast them like that... lol

Now things are winding down. I don't know what to do. I'm starting to freak out because I'm realizing how dirty I'm actually getting... No one knows that I sneaked into the house to blog. But I better get going soon before they come looking.

So the scripture:
I got this from a comment Ian left on my previous post:
Ephesians 3:20-21 (New Living Translation)
"Now all glory to God, who is able, through His mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think."

I just think that is such a powerful statement. Everything we do is only because our Father in Heaven allowed to or gave us strength to do it. He can do everything. I mean, He IS God after all... He's perfect. And He can give us the strength to accomplish everything in His name. He wants us to have the kind of faith to believe that we can go out and get everything done. But we must remember, after we've accomplished and won and achieved all these things, that all the glory goes back to Him.

That's all for tonight. Sorry its not that great of a post. I have the weekend to myself, so hopefully I can spend some of that time bettering His kingdom. Thanks for tuning in.

I serve...

a POWERFUL God.
Wow. I had the worst and best day of my life! It started off terrible and ended with a brilliant flare of self-affirmation, confidence, and a blossoming friendship.

Work sucked. End of story. I'm not going there! :)

After work I toured my apartment for next year. It was a mess and not very appealing due to the fact that three very non-OCD guys are still living in it. lol
I then got to hang out with Lindsay (my g/f) who was on the campus of my uni for a chorus camp.

Then I got home finally and chatted with a friend. God brought the two of us together for a purpose, and he and I figured part of that huge canvas out today... Ian is a young man from the UK who has a die-hard servant's heart for Jesus. He working to spread the name of our Lord just like I am. And he has struggles just like I and every other Christian have. Check out Ian's blog: http://thwtd.blogspot.com/.

Romans 8:28
"We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose."

Wow. I just thought that verse is amazing. God reaches out and calls us, touches our lives, and works through us with His Holy Spirit every day. We just have to hear Him, feel Him, and learn to listen to Him who dwells within our hearts. Once we become receptive to Him, He'll do great things in our lives! He'll also use us to do great things in others' lives. If you love God try spending a little bit in prayer asking God to work through you. Change your ways and surrender your life to Him. You won't regret it. I promise. I know I haven't!

oops

tonight's post is going to be short.
I had a rather disappointing day from the spiritual standpoint...
I think I'm going to change things up a little bit, not quite sure what I'm gonna do just yet... Gonna spend awhile in prayer about it here in a little bit.

work today was dreadfully boring. tomorrow is going to be EXTREMELY busy. oh well.

Psalm 27:14
"Wait for the Lord,
be strong and take heart
and wait for the Lord."

Food is good

1 Peter 2:2-3
"Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation now that you have tasted that the Lord is good."

I don't have any kids, but I do know that if my niece or nephew are over and they and when they're hungry they let you know. Sometimes you can quell their shrieks with a pacifier, but you know what they really want: a bottle.
Babies are very picky eaters. My sister breast-feeds my niece, Sadie, and my sister-in-law feeds my nephew, Jaren, formula. Sadie, when she's away from her mother, knows the difference between her mother's milk and formula. And she let's US know she knows the difference...
Anyway my whole point is this:
Babies are so innocent and their only thing they want is their food when they're hungry. What Peter is telling us in this passage is that God wants us to yearn and crave after Him like babies cry for their bottle. He wants us to be so sincere in coming to Him. He knows that He is the only thing that can satisfy our spiritual hunger. Peter also tells us that after we buy into God, after we get a good taste of Him, and trust that Jesus died for us, God offers us eternal life.

You may wonder what some examples of spiritual milk are:
1) Prayer--Prayer is a powerful thing. I have just recently found out just how much can be achieved through telling our Father whats on our mind. And the best part about prayer is that there's no certain way you have to do it! It's just like have a simple conversation with someone. Just talk and you'll receive an answer in time.
2) Scripture--Reading your Bible is important. I can't stress that enough. I have seen it happen to friends and to myself: staying in the Word always has a positive effect on your day-to-day attitudes.
3) Church--Find one! Having a church family to encourage and support you is always a plus. I have friends from many different churches, and so I know that if I ever need anything everyone one of those people would be more than happy to help me out. Going to church is a good way to be fed. Preachers almost always do a good job of delivering a convicting message. Here's a helpful hint I've found from going to so many different churches: Find a church with a congregation and pastor that fit your personality. If you do you will be so much more receptive to the Message.

These are just three simple examples of spiritual milk. There are all kinds of things that can bring you closer to God! These three are just what I would consider to be the core...
Thanks for listening!

God Bless

i'm. tired.

Wow. I don't even know why I'm so tired. Well it could be the fact that the last two nights I've gone swimming in my pool at 2am... Heh.
Today at work these two networking professionals came in to set-up our new server. I got to sit with them the whole day and watch what they were doing. It was pretty awesome. I would just sit with them and listen to them talk, and if I knew something on the subject I would chime in with my two cents. That was all I did ALL day. I even worked through my lunch break with them...
Then I got home and was suddenly tired so I went upstairs to my bedroom and laid down for a moment. That moment turned into an hour and half nap...

I can tell God is working in me. And I'm pretty excited about it. I felt like He's showing me what areas of my life need work and slowly the Holy Spirit and I are changing my words, actions, and attitudes. I can't thank my Father enough!

God Bless

Experiencing Truth - The Light of Jesus

Today I went to The Crossing. I love that place! This is the most unique church ever. The people there are so caring... Anyway they started a new series. The series there has always been 'The Experience' but now for the summer they're altering it to 'Experiencing Truth'.
All in all youth group went good! Except the game for the night was that dumb chinese 'wah' game... Oh well... I sat out.

1 John 2:3-6 (New American Standard)
3 "By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. 4 The one who says, 'I have come to know Him,' and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; 5 but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him: 6 the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked."

Andy (the youth pastor at The Crossing) challenged us to keep this scripture in mind during this week. So figured I would meditate on it tonight and then hopefully think about it throughout the week.

After reading this scripture I think that it says that to truly be close to God and be 'hardcore' for Him you must keep His commandments. Easy enough right? WRONG. Yeah I've never killed a person, but I know I struggle with lust. And in Matthew it says "that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart." There you have it. Commandment broken.
I want to KNOW God. Like I feel close to Him... Especially after starting this whole Challenge thing. But I want to truly KNOW God. I want to surrender everything to God and let Him take full control of my life. I just want to be able to serve my Father exactly how He wants me to... And I definitely do not want to be called a liar like this verse eludes to for claiming to KNOW God.
I want to walk as Jesus did. I want to show EVERYONE the love of Jesus. I asked God to start showing me my failures that I overlook. The things I do that are bad that I've become accustomed to and don't think are wrong. I'm guessing that this coming week is going to be the worst best week of my life. God is moving in me. I'm going to be stripped down and He is going to take control after I clean up my act.
Well I'm off to bed. Got an exciting day of work tomorrow! I get to help set-up the high school server tomorrow!
Keep me in your prayers this week!

God Bless

Happy Father's Day!

Church today wasn’t bad. I don’t know if I actually went in with a good attitude towards BCC (my home[?] church), or if the service was just particularly good. Worship today was especially good. I have only ever actually felt connected to God twice my whole life during worship at BCC. Today was that second time.

The sermon wasn’t even bad! It was on Faithful Fathers (it IS Father’s Day!). The scripture was out of Genesis 22. We’ve all heard it before: the story of how God tested Abraham by commanding him to sacrifice Isaac, Abe’s only son.
This story was always fascinating to me when I was younger. I always wondered why God would demand that His most faithful servant, Abe, to kill his son. I was even more amazed by the fact that Abe actually was going to do it. He had FAITH in God. TRUE FAITH.
My new Bible that I received for Graduation from the Plymouth Church (where I consider my TRUE home to be…) is the New American Standard translation. It’s also a study Bible and as the Bowen pastor read through the scripture I glanced at the foot notes. I was interested to find that Bible scholars think that Abe actually knew that God was going to either stop him from killing Isaac or was going to raise Isaac from the dead once Abe did sacrifice him. I never realized that. I think that this revelation can actually do two things for the story:
1) Take away from the significance of how devoted Abraham was to God. It now could be thought that Abe just knew that God was going to deliver Isaac so he didn’t really care that he was killing his son.
Or
2) It could add to just how much Abraham believed in God. He was so faithful that he KNEW that God would give Isaac back to Abe.

After church I gave my dad the Father’s Day gift I bought last night. I gave him National Treasure 2 and two boxes of Good and Plenty. He was happy! Heh… Now I’m on my way to my cousin’s house with my parents, my little sister, my niece and my nephew. The latter of which I was privileged enough to sit by. He actually isn’t being too bad right now. He went crazy earlier when I was texting a friend and I wouldn’t give him my cell.

I’m excited for this family outing for once. Usually they’re all awkward because I don’t really know my family very well, but my Uncle Gary and Aunt Jan from Georgia are going to be there and I don’t get to see them very often. They’re my favorite…

EDIT: We arrived at my cousin’s house. It’s a nice little house in the country and his wife did all the interior design and let me tell you: she did GOOD! The house looks amazing inside and out. Anyway the whole point to this edit is because my favorite Aunt and Uncle aren’t here… I must be confused on what family outing they’re coming too. Too bad. I guess I’m in for another awkward family thing. On a side note the food was good!

Well I’ll blog later… I’m still going to post a scripture today because the one early this morning was for yesterday.

God Bless

utterly stupid

It's 2am on sunday. i forgot to post earlier the scripture so i'm posting now b/c i just got home...

i went to my g/f's house to watch a movie...we ate at BDub's...it was good!
then i went to a friend's house to play halo...
Only we didn't play halo. We messed around for the longest time and then prank phone called people...
bad idea.
i'm done with pranks officially.
we pranked one of my xbox live friends and when i got home i had three messages from him tell me how disappointed he was in me that i call myself "christian but then i screw around with him and his whole family at 2am."
i felt terrible. i messaged him back telling him how stupid it was and how sorry i am...

this sucks. i try so hard. and then i pull some stupid crap like that...

Psalm 34:18
"The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit."

I'm glad I thought to look in that grad book. I flipped to the 'Grief' section and found this Psalm verse. I thought it was pretty fitting for the situation. I feel like crap.
However, this verse gives comfort. I need to understand the my Father is with me. He has my back. I don't need to grieve for my stupidity. This verse offers forgiveness and salvation.
I'm eternally grateful for God's sacrifice of His own Son. Honestly I just need to start letting go more of my life. I need to fully give Him control. I want whatever is in His will. Not mine.
Well I need rest for church tomorrow.

God Bless

OCD Dream

I JUST woke up. I had the worst dream for an Obsessive Compulsive person. I have undiagnosed OCD because I don't believe in going to the doctors or psychologists... Anyway the dream before I forget it:

It all started in a really skanky business of some sort. It was in a mangy run-down building. Some of my friends and I (at least I assume they were my friends... I already can't remember) brought our Nintendo 64's to this place to system link (which isn't possible) and play Mario Kart Wii (which DEFINITELY isn't possible). Okay well I kept both of my controllers on my system so I didn't have to worry about losing one of them or getting them confused with a friends or someone else.
Well everything was going good until this employee showed up and wanted to play. For some reason the employee HAD to play on my system with HIS controller. So the person that was already playing on my system got up and left and took my controller with him. Then all the sudden the employee wanted to leave and he left HIS controller. So I didn't think anything of it until we quit playing and packed up.
My good controller was there but the other one was gone. In its place was a generic N64 controller that was greasy. A HUGE no-no to an OCD person. At least it is to me. I immediately go nuts... I'm on a rampage to find that employee. I ask all my friends if they have my controller and they didn't.
Then all the sudden the dream shifted:
I was still in the same building, but apparently I wasn't looking for my controller anymore. I was sitting on a couch. And this very old lady that used to baby-sit my little sister (in real life) was next to the couch in a wheelchair (she doesn't have a wheelchair even though she's like a million years old). All the sudden I asked if she was okay and she responded, "No, the mouse bit me."
Now let me tell you I'm DEATHLY afraid of mice and insects. I know... I'm weird.
I run away from her and go and try to find help for her. I run up stairs of some sort and Bill Twaddell (a guy from my church) is suddenly there... RANDOM! Anyway I tell him that Glenadene Webster (the old lady) needs help she's been bit by a mouse. Then Greg Flesner (one of my friend's dad) is there and he's acting like an exterminator. He's looking at all the vents and giving suggestions and stuff.
Finally I get mad. I'm not sure if I'm mad that I still can't find my controller or if I'm mad that they never helped the old lady. I run over to something (I can't remember what) on the floor and flip it over in my anger. There's ANTS EVERYWHERE. I scream and try to run. I can feel them all over my feet and so I run while scraping my feet on the ground in an effort to get the ants off. The last thing I remember is sitting in the fetal position on the top of a couch and looking out as billions of ants crawl my way. Then I woke up.

Wow. I've never recorded or been able to remember my dreams before... This is great!
I hope you enjoyed this.
Will blog later.

God Bless

of the World

The rest of my day went smoothly enough. I went back to work after lunch. I worked in a computer lab on computers rather than in the server room on laptops... It was still boring. After work I went home and prepared for a friend of mine to come over and play Halo3 with me. He and I are rooming together in the fall at the Uni... He's cool. We pwned some no0bs online and then he had to leave to go to his g/f's house.
Speaking of g/f's mine is coming home from Indiana tomorrow! she's been at a CIY (Christ in Youth) convention all week. We've talked and texted... I get to see her tomorrow so that's cool. Its only about 8 o'clock and i have no idea what I want to do with the rest of my day...
Well here's the scripture for the day...............:



John 15:18-21 (New American Standard)
18 "If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out the world, because of this the world hates you. 20 Remember the word that I said to you, 'A slave is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also. 21 But all these things they will do to you for My name's sake, because they do not know the One who sent Me."

I have heard this verse many times. Today I just randomly opened my Bible and this is the first verse I saw... The world is a terrible place. God knows that. He put us here with the sole purpose of bringing/giving Him glory. So why isn't the world doing that? The people of the world are so lost. They must not know that, quite simply, they're going to hell.
This verse talks about how followers of Christ will be tormented, killed, and made fun of. All of this done to them just because we believe in who God is, and that He sent Jesus to die for us.
The little blurb about the slave and his master hit home for me. I'm prideful. I can be proud. Often times I'll find myself looking down on certain people around me. Why do I do this? More often than not its because I see myself as being greater than them.

This thinking is so wrong.

The last part of the verse talks about the reason the world hates Christians is because they don't know God. They don't know that God lowered Himself to our level in the form of His own Son and then allowed His Son to be killed. And not only killed but BRUTALLY beat and killed.
Well the solution to this problem is summed up in the Great Commission:
Matthew 28:18-20
18 "And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, 'All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.'"
We have to tell the world what's up. We have to show them the love of Jesus. The promise of eternal life.

We have to help them understand that they would rather be us than torment us...

God Bless

work is redundant

wow...
work is boring right now. all morning i've been given the job of turning on every laptop in the school district i work for and letting them register themselves on a tracing program. so i take the laptops out three at a time, turn them on, and let them update themselves.
while the latops turn on i have free time so i've just been randomly browsing the server. i found the video footage from the high school musical... had fun watching that... i may take some of it and post it here... who knows...


I know... Looks fun right?


i woke up today for the idea that it was going to be a new day. i prayed to God just to help me through THIS day. I'm gonna take this challenge one day at a time.

welllllllll my lunch break is over. gotta go
i'll blog later

God Bless

EDIT: I added pictures and also I just found an interesting verse for this blog...
i never knew this was in the Bible: "All hard work brings a profit." -Proverbs 14:23

Perseverance.

James 1:12 (New American Standard)
12 "Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him."

I went to grab my Bible which usually is on the floor of my bedroom right next to my futon. However it wasn't there and I remembered that I actually brought it to church this past Sunday and it was still on the downstairs dining room table. So I went to fetch it and when I got back up in my room I noticed a very small book on the back corner of my desk. Its title was "Promises for Graduates."
It was a gift from the local church where I attended Baccalaureate. It has about every problem a college student would ever encounter living life on their own. And then to accompany the problem there are many verses that help you solve that problem. Since my last blog was titled "The Challenge" I flipped to the 'challenge' page. That is where I found the James scripture.

First I want to talk a little bit about my day and then I'll come back to the scripture:
It was a typical day. I was late for work (thanks Jamie T.). I worked late to make for it. I talked to a friend about my Orientation experience. I mowed my dad's mechanic shop lawn. Here's where it got a little interesting (depending on how you look at it):
During work I had been reading various blogs (thanks Ian) and was trying to open up to God and relinquish control to Him. I got home from mowing and was planning on doing nothing... Maybe PhotoShopping a banner for my blog (which I got done btw...), but then my mom yells up the stairs for me to come down.
I went downstairs and she said that a guy from our church called and said his mower broke. He wondered if I would be willing to go and mow his yard today, right now. I hate saying that God was testing me, because Job told us we're not to accuse Him of this. But this seemed like a very pivotal moment for my relinquishing. I failed miserably. I asked my mom if she was serious. Then, by the look on her face, I grudgingly consented.
The whole time I was on the mower (about an hour), I was thinking. About how we're called, as Christians, to give willingly. I suddenly felt sick. I couldn't believe I'd already failed my 'mission'. In the end I finished the mowing and asked the guy if he needed any other help. He gratefully thanked me and asked how much he owed me. I told him it was on the house and left. I felt better not taking money for it, but I still could have had a better attitude about it.

Perseverance:
1) steady persistence in a course of action, a purpose, a state, etc., esp. in spite of difficulties, obstacles, or discouragement.
2) continuance in a state of grace to the end, leading to eternal salvation.
These are the definitions from Dictionary.com...
Isn't that just amazing? The second definition. Wow. That's what I began to think after I had failed God's 'test'. I must persevere on. I did my best to 'fix' my selfishness, so now I need to go back to where I was before. Overlook my failure.
Because:
That's what God does: Overlooks my failures.

God Bless

The Challenge.

God has been working on me pretty hardcore the last two days. Ever since I got home from Freshman Orientation at the Uni, I've felt like crap. I hadn't checked my e-mail for TWO DAYS--which is a big deal for me. I check my e-mail at least 10 times a day. Well I get home from F.O. and I have tons of e-mail to sift through.
I noticed I had a XXXchurch newsletter. Honestly I get them all the time and I never even read them. My mouse pointer was drawn toward that e-mail and so I clicked it. I skimmed through it and then saw that there was a blog for Teens. I was thinking: "Wow this is great I love reading blogs and this one will help me with Spiritual issues!
God touched my life that day, like He does everyday. Only this time, I felt it and responded.
I call myself a Christian.
Yet, I have gobs of problems. Yeah, I understand that everyone has problems. But, the thing is I'm so fake. I don't read my Bible, I don't pray very often, and I try to witness but I could do better.
The title of this blog is: "The Challenge."
Brandon Piety a person working/helping with XXXchurch and Ian a blogger from the UK have challenged me, even though they have no idea they have. Brandon through his blog and Ian through his blog.
I decided that for the next week I'm going to post a blog every night. Within that blog will be my thoughts on the day, a scripture from that day that I read, and my thoughts about that scripture.
So tune in if you care to hear my thoughts on random scriptures!
Thanks!

God Bless

Oh! I almost forgot!

A good friend of mine from California sent me a graduation present. It was a very thoughtful thing considering we only met each other once for a week. However, I feel like I've known her for a lifetime! She mailed me an authentic Hollister tee and a deck of California cards. Her one request was pictures. So here they are:

The AUTHENTIC Hollister shirt!

The deck of cards. A symbol of our friendship. Also this is a classic Jon Schneck blog picture... But none of you know who that is anyway... lol

M:
THANKS!

How to Set-Up a Pool: 101

Here’s the blog I promised a couple of my friends about a very… funny(?)…stupid…stressful day of my life. Here’s the basic story:

My parents randomly decided it would be cool to buy a nice, big pool for our back yard. When I say nice, by the way, I mean a metal framed pool NOT one of those crappy inflatable things that get torn up in a week. Of course everyone (my little sister) is THRILLED about this! So she begs Mom and Dad to set the pool up right away. Now I don’t know if any of my readers (if I have readers at all) live around the Midwest or have seen the news lately, but we’re experiencing some extreme weather. So this last Saturday my parents decide they’re going to set-up the pool. They’re being my dad and I…

Now the basic parts of a pool for anyone who doesn’t know:
1) A ground tarp-covers the grass of the area the pool is going to lay on
2) The liner-the part that is actually what you’re swimming in. A bowl made of very thick plastic.
3) Metal frame-metal poles that serve as a frame of sorts (some assembly required (sarcasm on the some))
4) A pump/Filter-self explanatory
5) A cover-self explanatory

We follow the directions step-by-step. We lay out the ground tarp and use about 50 bricks to hold it in place (first red flag). We un-fold the liner and lay it in the middle of the tarp. Then we assemble the metal frame. Here is where we meet our problem face-to-face. Hello! The wind is blowing practically 90 MPH (only a slight exaggeration). The liner is blowing all over the place and the metal frame is barely heavy enough to keep it all on the ground. We decide we need to put something in the pool to keep the liner down. Cue my little sister. My dad calls her out and tells her to climb into the pool. Then we decide we’re going to also start filling it. The problem is my little sister isn’t old enough to be smart enough to understand why she’s in the pool. So she’s basically no help. Finally we decide to call in reinforcements (my older brother who lives down the street) and we also decide to put me in the pool.

Let me re-phrase that: I VOLUNTEERED to get into the pool and then actually be of some help. By this point we have the framing all done but the inside of the pool is so messed up by the wind that I need to smooth it all out. I judge the height of the side of the pool to be about 5 feet. I think to myself: “If I had something to stand on I could easily jump into the pool.” Easier said than done. I stand on top of a picnic table bench and suddenly my idea is utterly STUPID. Almost dumber than setting up a pool in gale force winds. Almost. So my dad is laughing at me and tells me that I volunteered and there’s no backing out. So I jump.

Did I mention that we had started filling up the pool earlier? Yeah. Well, there were a good couple of centimeters where I jumped and I slipped and fell right on my face. Fun right? Well in the end I spent about 6 hours helping set up a pool that should take about an hour and a half. It was fun.

The Beauty. I have yet to swim in it in the four days since we set it up...

So innocent when all is said and done...

Here's an aerial shot of the pool and the picnic table bench I jumped from. Oh! Did I forget to mention that we found the ladder in the box after we had it completely done???

Passion, Annie, Yearbook and MORE!

Wow. I haven’t blogged in I don’t know how long! So much has happened! I’ve taken a trip with buddies from The Crossing to Atlanta, Georgia to a church convention called Passion; I’ve endured many stressful days that come along with being the lead in a high school musical; I’ve FINALLY finished a massive year-long project, also known as the yearbook; I’ve graduated from Southeastern High School!

PASSION.
I don’t even know how to describe it! It was so inspiring. I hope to be able to go again in the future. We left in four mini-vans on a Thursday night after Fuel. I got the BEST van—by far the best. Courtney and Kelly drove. Autumn and Lorree navigated. Bryan and I sat in the middle bucket seats and entertained. I would be lying to say that I didn’t enjoy the trip up there. Yes, it did seem endless and I was tired. And yes I got made fun of most of the time… But I wouldn’t have changed a thing. Once we got to the hotel in GA we just relaxed for several hours until it was time for the first session. Louis Giglio was what I would consider the host. He was an amazing speaker and was able to convict the hearts of many with his stories. The praise bands were… Phenomenal! Chris Tomlin, David Crowder Band, Charlie Hall, and others led us in worshipping our Father. They were so good. The trip home was about the same as the way there… Only a little more endless and tiring.
Passion Pictures:
#1
#2

ANNIE.
I don’t even know where to begin. Being apart of the musical was the greatest experience. I had SO MUCH fun. Whether it was rehearsals, make-up, or just screwing around with cast members… I will never forget the memories I gained from this experience. As my title eludes we produced a fine performance of Annie. I played the part of Oliver “Daddy” Warbucks. It was definitely tough, but we made it through. The showing on Friday went exceptionally well. I wasn’t nervous one bit. I felt like we just doing another rehearsal. The second night, I didn’t think, went as well. It was still good, I just felt better about the day before. Everyone about had a heart attack on the second show day because CJ, who played a lead role (Rooster), didn’t show up until ten minutes before show time. All in all the musical went well!
Annie Pictures:
#1
#2

YEARBOOK.
Stressful. Proud. Excited. Anxious. These are just a few words that describe how I feel about the 2007-2008 Southeastern High School Reflections Yearbook. It was indeed very stressful. We had deadlines. I spent ENDLESS hours PhotoShopping an ENDLESS amount of photos. I’m proud of what we, the editors (Kaitlyn, Josie, and I) have produced. This year’s yearbook will be the first yearbook in school history to be all color. I’m so proud to claim that I was a yearbook editor this year. Whereas last year I would have been embarrassed to admit that. I’m SO excited for August 8^th to arrive. That is the day the yearbooks will be delivered to the high school. I can’t wait to see the finished product in my hands, in HIGH RESOLUTION! I got so tired of seeing blurry pictures of normal paper. At the same time I’m anxious to see how the rest of the student body reacts to our creation. I’m confident that they’ll like it, but at the same time I just worked so hard I don’t want to be disappointed.
Yearbook Preview:
Page 24
Page 51

GRADUATION.
I have very mixed emotions on this subject. I will tell you one thing though. It WAS NOT just another day of my life. I have too often shrugged off important days of my life as “just another day.” Not this day. Yeah, all of this may sound so cliché, but I will truly miss Southeastern and the Class of 2008. We’ve only been together for 13 years!!! I feel as though they’re family. Sure, I didn’t know all 41 of them as well as I would have liked, and too often I treated some of them wrongly. I told many people that if I could move out on my own and still go to SHS… I’d be set! That to me would be the life. I love this community, and even though I look forward to living in Macomb next year, I can’t WAIT to visit!
Graduation Pictures:
#1
#2

I’ll get back to blogging more often now that my life has calmed down considerably. Thanks for listening! Check back soon!