Man Alive! Its been awhile. Quick Update.

It's been a long time! I haven't posted in like forever...or at least since October 30th!

So, where does that leave us? ...a quick run down of my life recently (and not so recently): My teeth are healed up, didn't have problems with them at all after the wisdom teeth extraction (that was an answer to prayer), Dess, my girlfriend, stayed at my parents' house with me for Thanksgiving break, I went back to school for 2 weeks and now I am home for the Christmas break. I fly out to Montana New Years Eve to spend a week with her at her parents' house; and then come back home to NY for a couple days only to head back to Davis for the spring semester.

So yeah, I know, it ain't much...but it will have to do as I am short on time.

Lastly, before I leave off here:
Please pray for me: as I am going to do the most traveling in my life in one week; also pray that my acoustic guitar gets "unstolen" (since it was in lost and found and then disappeared from there); I am going to be making some big choices very soon, dealing with everything from school, life, and work. Last but not least, please pray that I remain strong in God's strength, not relying on what I can do (cause I can't do anything by myself), and that I would continue to seek God and His will in my life.

Thanks for reading, may God bless you, and remember, that Jesus is the reason for this season. Merry Christmas, and good night.

Oral Surgery – Post Op.

(Written Thursday, Oct 29, 2009)

I had my surgery yesterday. I felt great, and no it wasn't just the anesthetic making me feel all warm and bubbly inside. I woke up this morning and all I had was a little soreness from the extra 4 holes I have in my mouth.

If you don't know what's going on, I had oral surgery yesterday (Wednesday) at 9:30, I spent the day playing guitar in worship band and in my free time. I asked my parents to drop off my acoustic guitar when they came down yesterday.

But yeah, I was given a script for pain meds, but I am not taking them because one, they don't make me feel any better and two, I don't really need them…I am just having a little soreness, I don't understand why I would need a narcotic that I have the chance of possible addiction to, if normal Tylenol will do the trick.

Fall Break

I haven't updated my blog in a long while. I realize that, and I am sorry for that. I have wanted to update it but never found the time to. As I am typing this I am on my way back to my "home" at Davis Bible College at the end of this fall break.

 

My break was pretty crazy…Jac's father came and picked her and myself from school on Friday, we started home and I was home by 6:00, immediately after arriving home I dropped my laundry off threw my bass and mini amp into the car and headed off to the Case home for Bible study. After the Bible study was over I had the opportunity to jam out with Pastor Dan, Erik, Cody, and Allen; it was so much fun to get back together with them and just praise God with music.

 

We shut it down around 12:00 midnight but ended up sitting up and talking until almost 1:30-2:00 and I pulled into my driveway shortly after 2:30 a.m. Later that (Saturday) I went over to my grandparents' house for my grandfather's birthday. It was really good to see my friends and family again since I won't see them until Thanksgiving.

 

Just Some Thoughts...

Today I was just kinda sitting here thinking, being in a Christian atmosphere, how loose a lot of the guys are with their language. Not swearing, but just the way they talk about other things. I realize that not everyone is as “strict” with the words they speak as me, but I feel that we as Christians should rise above things “questionably close” to what the world would think nothing of to talk about or say. Coming into Davis as a transfer student I don’t have any “leverage”…authority is a better term, but just some of the guys, even the seniors, are great encouragers; but then talk about trash, just plan garbage and its sad.

So if you get a chance, please, just pray for me. Its hard to strive after God when I feel like I am the only one who wants to be pure in all areas of my life. The thing that kills me though is that this is a Bible college, a Christain college…but I feel like it is just becoming a “christian” college…

I finally got a chance to read "My Utmost for His Highest" about 12:40 because I did not have enough time to read it yet today. The verse was 1 Peter 1:16, “Be ye holy, for I am holy.” This is the second time going through this book, and immediately I remembered what this devo was all about. The last paragraph states, “Never tolerate through sympathy with yourself or with others and practice that is not in keeping with a holy God. Holiness means unsullied (is synonymous with pure, clean, unblemished, faultless, untarnished, or immaculate; I like untarnished as we are called to be His vessels and be pure, like a pure silver which can become tarnished unless careful attention is paid to it each and every day to keep it clean) walking with the feet, sullied [untarnished] talking with the tongue, [untarnished] thinking with the mind—every detail of the life under the scrutiny of God. Holiness is not only what God gives me, but what I manifest that God has given me.”……………………wow…we have been called to life without reproach, staying pure, unsullied in all manner of conduct; both in front of Christians and non-Christians alike. It doesn’t matter how long or short of a time that we have been a Christian…God has called all of His children to be examples of himself, and sometimes we might need to act as if He was with us…cause He is.

As I end, I just want to say thank you to all of you who have stood by me in pray and in word.

Thursday, August 27, 2009.

Today was pretty low-key. Practice was at 7:15 this morning instead if at the normal time. Coach didn’t want me running to Cosmo’s so he could keep an eye on me. I ran the track while the guys ran. I kind of felt back cause I wasn’t pulling the same as the rest of the guys. So when the guys ran the second time I was ready to go with them, but coach held me back, so, once again I ran the field but this time I dribbled the soccer ball around. I made it about 10 times around before the guys came back. We didn’t have practice this afternoon cause there was a bunch of guys who weren’t going to be there. So I took the afternoon off to just rest and kind of not do anything. I met my roommate he came in today, it was kind of weird cause everything that his mother said/did, I had to laugh…cause, my parents did that. But yeah, his name is Justin; he seems like a pretty cool guy. We convinced him to play on the soccer team; he wasn’t prepared, but he is now…his mom took him to Dick’s Sporting Goods and got some cleats and stuff. The College had a sort of meet and greet pizza thing this evening that was ok, a bunch of us guys just hung out. Tomorrow we were suppose to have the day off, but cause we didn’t have practice today, we have a last one tomorrow.

Tuesday, August 25, 2009.

I woke up this morning kind of sore from yesterday but nothing too bad; I had no idea what was going to happen. I ate the apple in my fridge that I picked up from dinner last night about 5:45-ish just so I would have some sugar in me since I didn’t eat a big dinner and have enough time before practice so I wouldn’t cramp up too much. Practice wasn’t too spectacular…at the beginning, we did our 5 laps and I actually stayed up with the group despite my legs; we did passing drills, which is when I started getting tired out and fast. We ran another 5 laps before doing the ball control and pushup drills; then we got a 3 min break before running to Cosmo’s and back…today we “picked up the pace”…I was already so dead from all of the stuff we did prior to running to Cosmo’s that I was beat. I stayed with the pack down to Cosmo’s where we took a 2 min stretching break, then we started back. We didn’t even turn off the street that Cosmo’s was on when I started to fall behind. The guys got a pretty good distance ahead of me when they turned around, ran back to me, and pretty much pushed me to the end…literally. Josh, the RA, had his hands on my back pushing me forward around the same pace that we started out with…it was murder; I was so afraid I was going to fall, my legs were so dead, my arms were so dead, my body was so dead, that I didn’t think I could stay on my feet any longer. The guys ran about 300-400 extra yards because of me on that run. After that I was feeling pretty sick, like I was going to throw up; we scrimmaged offence/defense and I was so sick I could barely stand. Coach just pulled me from the field since I wouldn’t have asked for a break; I tried to just walk it off, but I couldn’t my muscles were so sore, and I just kept feeling like I was going to throw up. It was nearing 8:00, when Isaiah, one of the guys on the team, was going after the ball and collided with another guy, Evan, and took each other out; there was a huge smack, like two pieces of plastic smashed together, except no one was wearing shin guards and that sound was bone on bone. Coach dismissed all of us to head back to take showers and eat; I took my shower, ate my other apple and headed to breakfast. My stomach hurt so bad, I barely ate anything even though I was so hungry; so I headed back to the dorm and tried to sleep; I ended up NOT sleeping but rather getting sick. I finally fell asleep around 11:30 only to wake up at 12:00 and not feeling any better; I saw Coach on the way to the bathroom and he asked me how I was and what was up and he told me to get better for the game tomorrow and not to come to practice unless I was 100% (I was NO WHERE near 10%...more like -300%). He left and talked to the nurse and she gave me some pills that would help calm my stomach down as to not throw up anymore, along with some saltine crackers, and a little ginger ale. As I’m writing this I have been here in the dorm for almost 12 hours; my stomach has calmed down and the only thing that hurts now is all my muscles; my lats and abs are killing me, and that is what the nurse was thinking was causing me to be so sick was because the amount of pain in my abdominals. But since I have been in the dorm, all I have eaten were some saltines, but haven’t eaten anything “real” since I ate a sausage and a half scoop of home fries this morning. But I am still alive, God is good.

Monday, August 24, 2009.

I woke up at 5:00 a.m. before my alarm clock went off. So I did my devotions before crawling out of bed. We had practice at 6:30, and it was murder. We started off by stretching out and all that then did a few drills, ran around the field 5 times (the “Knoll” is about the width of a soccer field but about ½ the length, and you run down a hill then up it), more drills which include half the guys practicing controlling the ball and the other half doing pushups or sit ups, then ran to Cosmo’s and back which is about maybe 2-3 miles altogether, then more offence/defense drills, more pushup/sit up drills…all this until 8:00 when we finally got to go and take showers and eat breakfast.

After taking my shower and eating, I went back to the dorm and played a lil’ guitar before just crawling back in bed at 10 and sleeping till 12:00. I ate lunch, slept for another 20 min, got ready for practice at the big field. We had practice from 2:00 until 4:00; that practice consisted of running around the “big part” (that’s equal to 2 soccer fields) twice, there was a hill climb that we did (hill climb= jogging in place waiting for the pair of guys ahead of you to get to the top of the hill then you go…5 times…), we played shirts vs. skins - 6 on 6 offence/defense (it actually wasn’t too bad kinda fun, except for the part of having to guard guys that are all nasty sweaty without shirts on…), but that’s how we ended practice, got into the van, rode home…ate dinner at 5:30 but I wasn’t feeling to good so I ate some fruit and grabbed an apple to eat tomorrow morning; and I have been here in my room photoshopping pics ever since. Its 10:45 and I’m going to bed now.

Sunday, August 23, 2009

I am currently riding down to Davis College where I am going to college for soccer camp/orientation. My goal for college is to complete a concentration in pastoral ministry and then finish up the concentration of foreign missions. The trip according to the GSP would take about 2 ½ - 3 hrs. I decided I might was well try to get a little sleep since for the past two nights I have not gone to bed before 2:00 a.m. Friday night to Saturday morning I was sorting clothes and making sure I had all my stuff, and Saturday to Sunday I was packing all my clothes and didn’t finish that until almost 2:30.

I slept for about 30 min. and have about 40 min until we get to the college. It’s been raining on and off for most of the trip, but thankfully has been pretty uneventful. Around 3:30 we were getting close to the exit, and so far everything we did getting off the freeway is a repeat of the last time we came down here. At 3:40 we finally pulled into the driveway and are looking to find where we register and get our housing information. At 5:00 I finished unpacking all my stuff and am just kinda waiting around till my parents get back and for 6:00 to hit so we can get on with this college thing. We have a meet at 6:0 for all the soccer peoples, so we can figure out our all of our goals for the season on a college level as well as on the individual level.

It’s about 10:40 p.m.; I’m getting ready to go to sleep. We had our meeting and all that, basically we all said our names, signed papers, and all that fun jazz. We have practice at 6:30 tomorrow morning until 8, then again from 2-4 that afternoon; everyone else is dreading getting up at that time, and I kinda just laugh inside cause it ain’t that bad. It’s kinda funny actually, but yeah the only thing that stinks is that I don’t have the code to sign onto the internet yet, but I am hoping one of the other guys has it…I’ll probably ask Matt the DA tomorrow. So far so good.

Updates...

I know it’s been awhile since I updated my blog; I’m sorry. There has been so much going on these past few weeks that just have been so crazy.
Well I’m not sure where I left off but I will just try to pick up where I left off; but it doesn’t matter that much. Anywaz…

August 13th-18th
We took a little vacation after I came home from camp and headed down to see my brother and his wife in Virginia Beach area. That was cool just to spend some time with them, having not seen them since I started camp, and won’t see them again until Christmas. We got to spend 4 days with them in their house, playing some guitar, bass, and drums. We shopped at some military supply stores called “Little G. I. Joes” where the military personnel go to buy rank insignias. That was fun to look at stuff there; I purchased a full set of woodland fatigues (pants and fall/winter coat), an urban fatigue fall/winter coat, a decommissioned pineapple grenade, and a set colonel eagles.

July 18th, Saturday, 4:00 AM. A Week in Review.

Monday.
Monday was spent driving down and getting ready for campers. I was assigned security and go-fer. (Go-fer them parts, go-fer that water jug.) I would follow Chip Wood around and wait for him to tell me what to do next. That was very interesting because when ever I would finish a task I would have to go find Chip and find out the next thing. It was hard for me not because the tasks were difficult but because I constantly was in between work and I felt like I was wasting a lot of time.

Tuesday.
Tuesday was spent in very much the same way as Monday, but I painted the paintball box for most of the day with Stephanie and started my other job as a Lamoka Dish Fish. I ended up painting on the box and completely forgetting that I had an elective to teach, archery. Garret ended up teaching it for me but I didn’t even remember that I had to teach it. Tuesday night I did security around campus. All that entails is locking up, turning on lights, and walking around campus making sure those who are supposed to be on campus are on campus and those who are not supposed to be on campus, leave campus.

Wednesday and Thursday.
Wednesday I realized that my days on camp are repetition in most areas. I am security at night, maintenance during the day while doing odd jobs for Chip Wood, and dish fish after meals. It actually was a lot of fun because of the variety kept it from getting monotonous and also helped me get to see other aspects of camp that I had never seen before. I stayed up till about 2:30 Thursday morning making sure that all the kids were staying in there cabins and praying that there would be no walkers (people from one of the four bars that surround camp who have had their car keys revoked).

Friday.
It was kind of sad today because it was the last full day of camp. It was encouraging to hear about all the decisions that were made last night at the bonfire. The bonfire seems to be one of the most powerful nights. It is nothing that we do, but God does such a work in everyone, not just the campers but staff as well, on that night.

Saturday.
Looking back, this week was a struggle for me. It was challenging because I had no campers. I really wanted to be involved with the spiritual development of campers and staff but as security you really don’t have a lot of time to be with a group of kids or to talk to staffers because you are going from one thing to the next trying to get all the jobs done as effectively as possible.

I feel and know that I accomplished a lot this week; but I wish I could have had a bigger impact on more kids. It was good to have some of the staffers and counselors tat I know pretty well to come up to me and encourage me with words or a look, and also to have some of those same people ask me to pray for them and just be open and honest with me. Looking forward toward next week I will need lots of prayer because of the number of campers that are coming and the number of counselors we have. The ratio now looks like for the guys as a 1:8 ration of a counselor and 8 campers and for the girls 1:6. don’t think that I am worrying about this because I do know that God will take care of all of us; but I would like you guys to be praying for the camp that we would be able to bring more of the staff back because right now they can’t afford to have everyone, but also that the registries would come in since registration is about half of what the camp capacity is.

Heading Back!

Tomorrow I will be heading back to camp with Jac. It appears that I will be working security this next week since camp registration is down. Katy is getting the week off which is a good thing, giving her time to rest and also to stay with her brother and sister. I do ask that you would pray for her and her family right now. Her Mom and Dad are out visiting her mom's mother. Their grandmother is not doing very well and this may be her last days here. Katy did not know if her grandmother was saved as they did not spend much time with her since her grandmother lives in another state.

Pray that God would give them all an extra measure of grace to help them through this time.

July 10th, Friday. Day 5.

Today was an awesome day. It was so cool to watch as the kids that have grown so much in this short time acting for God. Watching the “How Great is Our God” DVD. Seeing how all this that God can make something SO huge, like the stars in the sky, and care about us as people. He knows our names and knows everything about us. He has offered us life eternal and also given us a promise as children, that He will NEVER let us go! It is so amazing.

At one point Andrew was talking to some of his friends and after them telling one too many dirty jokes he said, "That's enough" and walked away. How much can God change someone in one day? A LOT!

God is good!

P.S.: there was so much more, this is just a brief overview of SOME of what happened this past week. I could not possibly write down all that I did do. If you would like to know more, ask and if I get a spare moment I will try to answer any more questions.

Please Pray for Andrew as he will be needing a lot of prayer in the future as he tries to live out a Godly life in an environment that has few Christians actually living their Christianity.

July 9th, Thursday. Day 4.

Today is the day when decisions are made. Often the bon fire is the most powerful night. Not because of what we do, but what God chooses to do. The day was spent in anticipation for the miracles that God was going to do. He hadn’t done them yet, but I was waiting on Him to. Last night I talked to one of my campers and he recommitted to reading his Bible more and being a better Christian; tonight another one of my campers recommitted his life, asking for forgiveness for what he has done, and was truly broken and wanting to live for Him. It was amazing how God works. As we walked back from the bonfire my camper asked me if we would be able to talk tonight; during the bonfire I watched as God worked on this young man and could see him fight God in his body language sitting there on the ground. We ended up talking for quite a while and he poured his heart and life out to me. I told him that all those things could be wiped away and God could restore their relationship.

I told him that either that he could pray and tell God what he wanted to say, or I could help him through the prayer. He chose to pray himself and you could tell that it was coming from the heart. Well he ended up praying himself and it was amazing; just how God works and makes everything go according to His plan.

God is good!

July 8th, Wednesday. Day Three.

I thought today was going to be a good day, it still maybe. Alex is no longer at camp because his problems are only getting worse. I feel that somehow this was Satan’s attack to prevent him from gaining a deeper knowledge of who God is. I failed with telling him how God cares about him and wants a closer relationship with him, but it just seems that all I have done was teach the kids sports. That isn’t my goal, so I failed. It is the “hill day”, half-way done. I need to talk to my kids on a deeper level and really find a more proactive way of getting through to these guys.

There is still a couple more hours (like 7) before the day is up, and I need to spend them wisely.

As the day progressed my legs started to hurt more and more, by the time chapel ended I was feeling pretty sick. I hurt and it hurt so bad I did not feel well. We played WWIII (more running) and by the time that ended I could not really take it anymore. I asked Cody to take over for me and prepared to head back to the cabin. I had to let all my campers know that they answered to Cody in my stead but I could not find Andrew. Last I had seen him he was with another kid from cabin 19 and Spidey hadn’t seen him either.

July 7th, Tuesday. Day two.

Today was quite challenging, at staff devos we found out that Katy was sick and they needed someone to step up and fill her spot. My body is hurting pretty bad because of some injuries sustained Monday. My fingers hurt pretty bad on my left hand from slamming them in the door, and my ankles are starting to kill from all the running around campus.

We had a live LCD that wasn’t a drill and that was annoying, but the kid was found so it doesn’t matter. that’s all that counts. What else…I read a lot in Colossians and have pretty good notes that I will transfer later. My 2 special campers, Andrew and Aleks (Alex) seem to enjoy disappearing to the cabin or walking away from the group without my knowledge. Its hard to keep tabs on them because they ain’t dumb and they watch me.

During quiet time Don played some amazing guitar for us that he learned from listening to it. Don is a very talented musician. We played paintball against Spidey’s cabin and their number advantage and having Jordan on their team with a tricked out gun didn’t help us any, we took out 6 or more (they had 9 players) each game and they took out our six (we only had six). It was fun also we had the archery people (all four of us) make a target and we shot the snot out of it. The kids had a great time making and destroying it! It was fun for me and Ben too I guess. Well, times up, need to go to devos and maybe I ’ll type later.

July 6. The Trip Down.

It 6:14, we left at 5:30 from my house this morning. We just picked up Katy and are heading over to pick up Sarah in Mt Morris. At 6:22 we picked up Sarah and are officially headed down for camp. Its about and hour drive from here and we expect to get there and unpack before heading up chapel hill for directions this week.

We arrived at camp and met on chapel hill a little after 8. We got our tasks and prepared for the campers to arrive. Its started off REALLY slow with two guys, Andrew and Josh. Neither of them are real go to guys and actually were cool spending time sitting in there bunks doing…nothing. I ended up with 5 campers. We took the swim test and all and then met Robert, Josh’s friend who came to our cabin late. The guys are pretty cool, I have a lot of respect for them though to most they seem a little odd; they are not all that different than the rest of us. Sure they might dress differently, or look different, but inside they are all the same, needing to be shown the love and grace for the One, Who gives them both.

I did get hurt a couple times yesterday, looks like I am most of a liability than much else: jammed my fingers playing Ga Ga Ball, got them slammed in the door, slipped over a burm next to the Ga Ga Pits and broke a board, got a pretty big scratch, and I fell a half dozen times playing capture the flag running on the wet grass.

Overall: 10 out of 10. God is GOOD!

Off for another EXCITING Week at Camp Lamoka!

Tomorrow morning I am heading off to camp for another week of camp. This week was family camp and Chip Wood the director didn't need a lot of staff on campus. But this week is Sr. High Week, ages 15-19. Apparently this next week is pack out, which is awesome because camp registration in all of NY State is down; so we were prepared for God to do something miraculous. Two weeks ago at CIT Week 2 of the week for youth campers only had 60 kids each, and normally at that time they are the most filled! But God is good, because before the week was out, those weeks both filled up quite a bit, I don't know exact numbers, but a significant increase of registrants in a very short time...It’s a God thing.

So I have NO idea what I am going to be doing this next week at camp, it is most likely between counseling and security, but you never know where Chip will need me. I'm willing to work anywhere.

But please, do pray for Lamoka Baptist Camp, or Camp Lamoka. God has collected a REALLY mature group of staffers there this year! Some items of pray would be: #1 that God's will would be done on at the camp, #2 that He would use us and teach us what He wants us to learn, and #3 that we fill up the camp for all the weeks. Some might say that we should fill the camp first, but unless God's will is done on at the camp, it doesn't matter how many kids are there, because they will never have heard the saving grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Pray for Chip Wood, the director, that he would have the strength to fulfill his jobs (and there are many that he does); pray for the churches that support the camp and the kids home churches, that they would be discipled (or that they would find one!); pray for all of us staffers that are going to be working there (it's a lot of fun, but it’s also a lot of work!); also pray for the speakers that are coming to speak at camp each week that their messages would be heard and learned from by kids and staffers alike; and not lastly or least (there are MANY, MANY more all of equal importance) pray for the kids that are going to be coming to camp, those who are saved that they would grow in their walk, and those who are not saved that they would recognize their need for The Savior and ask Him to come into their lives.

CIT WEEK! (sorry it took a week to figure out all that I did...)

So much has happened in the last week.

Cit week was awesome
I learned so much that I have no idea where to start. So I guess a good place to start is at the beginning. I left to begin the journey to Camp Lamoka at 5:55 am when I left my house and headed to McGinnis’s where I loaded my bag into the Cobalt and joined Mrs. McGinnis and Jac. We then traveled to Katy’s house got her stuff loaded and left for the official ride to Camp Lamoka for CIT Week! Fun! The ride down took about an1hr and a half from Katy’s house and was relatively uneventful. Monday was spent in a variety of ways: quiet time was WAY too short! (I mean really! 45 min to spend praying and reading the Bible was NOT enough time!), we had another session in Timothy, then swim test, raking the lake swimming area of rocks, and a 5 hour hike turned 6 ½ hrs. Sunday night my bro and his wife came up from VA we were hanging out and he told me to go get my bass and amp so we could play together before I left. Well on my way back down with a bass guitar in one hand and an amp in the other, I tried to jump over a glider chair that my bro Jeff was sitting in…except I weigh about an extra 75 lbs…which I didn’t take into account…bad. So basically I broke at least one of my toes…and then walked (as the bird flies 4 miles) but as our path traveled…closer to 8-10...up and down and crossing streams, creeks and waterfalls. But it was a learning experience.

Tuesday was much like Monday in that it was more learning from the Bible and sessions but Pastor Mike was there and `the girls that rode down with me, Katy and Jac, didn’t know that PM was speaking! It was awesome o drop the news on them! But PM spoke on 2 Timothy too and helped put another spin on it. I enjoy hearing him preach because he makes it fun to hear him and often make you think that you are having a ton of fun while being in a sermon! (Yeah, I know, I said it didn't I Pastor Mike...FUN! You'll have to work on making those more boring...or not.)

Wednesday was fun too. More sessions on counseling, with pastor mike and devos, all relating to the grace that God has given us and how He NEVER gives us more than what we can handle in the power of His grace! Also Wednesday night the entire staff spent about an hour in prayer, and it was really cool. We split up into 3 groups, one group was praying prayers of praise, another group was praying that we would be good soldiers of the faith that we would honor the One who enlisted us, and the last group’s prayer was glorifying God for all Who He is. I was part of the group lifting up praise to God, the reason I went over there was because often I fall short in that area of prayer and my thoughts were, “the best way to get better is try to pray more!” I ended up praying for 45 min and I never even realized how lost I got in praising God. It was pretty amazing. After some time I decided I should head down to my cabin and do my devos…well actually do some more…and I saw my friend Kurtis and Tim outside and we just started talking about the basic things that God did for us, like Jesus coming to the earth to die for us, He didn’t have too, but He did. He could have destroyed the whole world and started over again more easily that you taking a breath…because that is given by God. But we were joined by Seth, Ben, Josh, Cody, Andy, and Spidey. It was pretty cool and encouraging to have other guys sharing there hearts and asking for prayer in sensitive areas of their lives. I can see that god has really caused this group of staffers to really come together in 3 days.

Thursday we woke up and did our routine, we watched the fun bat safety video which told us how insensitive we are towards bats and how misunderstood they are…that is literally what they said on the video; it was fun[ny] to watch. We had another session of learning and a large break while Ally put a video together of CIT week that Erik put together. It was really good to see how all these individuals came together to form a pretty cohesive group. I packed up all my stuff during the break so I was ready to go when Mrs. McGinnis would pull in. Jac called her mom and her mom said she was in a huge thunderstorm and it was hailing. We started seeing the storm coming in from the west and could hear the rain start beating the lake. Jac called again and her mom said she was at the end of the driveway which is like a mile long. Her mom pulled up and we finished loading the stuff just before the cloud burst. The ride home was hilarious because I had gotten the least amount of sleep that week and I was the only one who was wide awake for the whole trip! (and that includes Mrs. McGinnis, she had worked a double shift at the hospital.)

When we pulled into Katy’s driveway we were attacked by her family happy to see her back home. Katy actually gave me a hug for like the first time ever…she was like the only friend that I have that never hugged me…kinda funny actually, but yeah, her family was glad that we all made it home safely and there was another family staying with them that she had been looking forward to seeing. I called my dad and had him come and meet us at Jac’s house and I drive home with my dad after unloading Jac’s stuff from their car.

Just so you don't worry...

Hey! I am going to bed to wake up in 5 hrs to gear up for a trip to Lamoka. Im working at the camp in Tyrone, NY this summer. This week is Training Week and it last through till Thurs. I wont have computer access while there so I will not be updating my blog or FB. Please pray for Jac, Katy, and I as well as the kids and other staffers that will be there, for safety and openness to God's will in our lives. Thanks love you all!

Andrew

Movie Night

Today was pretty tiring. We worked all day on the yard and stuff on the house. In the afternoon me and Jeff went up to the Corral and saw Night at the Museum 2 and X-Men Origins: Wolverine both were pretty good movies. It was a lot of fun to just hang out with my bro. We played one game and won like a crap load of tickets...its the one game you think you would never win at. Its the one that you drop the coin in and the little pushers slide the coins to the edge and you get tickets...well we won over 600 tickets on $5.00! It was great, and to think I didn't want to go! We did see Ted and Liz Wolf there, they had their kids, Claire, Grace, and Sam with their friends. I haven't seen them since we moved, they are really nice people and I kinda miss not having them as neighbors.

Well that pretty much sums up the day in short.

5/20 (Yes that was a while ago)

To day I worked on cleaning up the yard for most of the day. I worked on a video from some media I took on the "Anything Goes Game Night" (video clips/pics). I finished that up around 10-ish. I love making videos with pictures and stuff, it is a lot of fun. I use Windows Movie Maker; if any of you have a better (FREE, SAFE, and preferably LEGAL) version like a freeware movie maker that is better I would try it out.

Also today I figured out where I am going to college; it was between Baptist Bible College (BBC) or Davis College. I had a fleece test or two (kinda like Gideon) the first fleece was who ever accepted me first, well BBC should have because they had my information the longest, but Davis beat them out by 2 days. The second was not so much as a "test" but constantly asking for direction. One thing I learned (more like reinforced for me) was that God ALWAYS answers prayer! DUH! But really, sometimes it takes you asking (bothering) Him about it all the time. You need to prove to yourself sometimes if you are truly serious about wanting an answer. Well, this is how the second test came out: Conroy, from Davis College called up, he is a pastoral consentration who is now on staff at Davis. He was an international student from Jamaica (and he has a really cool accent and is just really cool in general). I came in from working and my mom was talking on the phone, no biggy, whatever; so I went up staires and took a shower. When I came out I found out that my mom was waiting to pass the phone off to me, because the guy wanted to talk to me...they talked for like 50 min or something! CRAZY!!! I found out his name was conroy and he just wanted to hear about my testimony and about what God was doing in my life. So we ended up talking for about another 30 min or something. The thing was though, before he hung up he asked if there was anything that I would like him to pray about; and I told him that I would like him to pray that I would make the right decision in college and I commented that I wish that God's will would be as plain and as understandable as the writing on the wall (but where is the faith in that?). But as he prayed, I felt God speak to me very simply, He said, "This is the place for you, where I want you to be." Now I am not one for having spiritual experiences or anything like that, but seriously....THIS WAS AS PLAIN AS THE WRITING ON THE WALL!!!! It was pretty awesome!

So yeah, Davis is my college.

It has been a While...

I haven't posted in quite a while...but there has been a reason...most of my posts would be very depressing. You might say, "WHAT?!?!" or, "I knew it!" But whatever you say, it really doesn't matter, and here is why, God has taught me so much in the last 2 weeks. School, or should I say college, has finished up this last week, and you might think that would make me happy...but for me, this may have marked one of my biggest failures. This is probably my biggest failure because it is my first major failure (in school at least) and it was very hard to get over...mostly because it wasn't my fault. I know, I know, you've heard that a million times before...and here is why this isn't one of those times...In my last post I complained about Rent and because I did not watch the movie I had to take a hit on final papers because, "I could not fulfill the requirements of the assigned task."

But you know...its OK; it took a bit of convincing from some friends, but they finally got it though my thick head. This is kinda short, but there is so much more...and it is like 1:15 right now...so I guess this is good night or good morning or good afternoon...whenever you read this.

It could have been worse...

Well today was not a BAD day...it wasn't all that of a good day. We have been watching Rent for the last class and today, and I have a major problem with it and I only watch 50 min of it! I know, there may be some of you people who REALLY LOVE the production, but, I do not...now I do not hate ALL of it...only parts of it. What I DO like: 1) the music, it is awesome, from what I saw of it the guitar playing and other instruments were awesome together...unfortunately that's all I have to say on that side of things...here's what I did NOT like about it: 1) it was lewd, the HUGELY emphasized sexual themes and nudity were all very much uncalled for; 2) the almost glorification of drug use and reference needed not be there; and lastly (there is more but it is included by these main themes) 3) the production is mainly about community love...but really the whole thing is about lust, plain and simple...whether it was lust from Roger (HIV possitive musician) towards Mimi (HIV positive exotic dancer), or one girl for another in the case of the lesbians Maureen (bisexual performance artist) and Joanne Jefferson (a lawyer and lesbian), or one guy for another in the case of Angel (a gay drag queen percussionist with AIDS) and Tom (a gay philosophy professor and anarchist with AIDS). So yeah...this goes against pretty much everything I believe and don't think it was worth watching 50 min. of it at all...

Video Blogging?

So yeah, I was just sitting in the car today on my way over to Castile and I just thought..."You know, I'm not doing anything...so heck, why not do a little blogging right now? I got a camera, I got the time, I'll start blogging at the moment...except when there are people around. So here it is I guess:

Go with the Flow

I was talking to a friend just a little while ago, and they said sometimes you need to go with the flow...this was about a trivial matter that I was jokingly being very rigid about (I think it had to do with like a type of potato chip of something of that nature). Anywaz, it got me to thinking...in this instance going with the flow meant nothing really, but going with the flow often lends itself to destructive behavior, the kid with his new license caught street racing the family minivan; agreeing to go to the party you shouldn't be at and compromising your beliefs and morals. My mom wrote a little quote in the front of a Bible that I have, "If you do not stand for something, you will [CERTAINLY] fall for ANYTHING."

I began to think about this in a deeper way along with going (or not) with the flow: Peter (of the Bible) was called the rock, "And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hell will not prevail against it." Matthew 16:1. Really as Christians we are all called to be a rock...a solid place on the foundation of Christ. But I ask you, "How can we be a solid place, where someone can stand; if we are going with the flow?" Can you hold onto a rock as it rolls down stream? NO! Can you stand on a rock as it rolls down stream? NO!

Be firmly planted in the Word of God:

"10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil...13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. 14 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; 18 praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints— 19 and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak." Eph 6:10-11, 13-20 (NKJV).

Think on this one last question I pose, "What kind of impact does a rock on the side of a stream have on the stream in comparison to a rock located in the center of the stream?" If you want to know what I think you will have to wait; but a clue is to use the above verses...oh suspense...can't wait I bet...

Well, thank you for reading, it has been a pleasure.

What is the Reason?

I wrote this actually for yesterday’s post, but I didn’t post it for some reason. Why do we put God on hold and go off and do our own thing? God loves us yet we push Him into the corner. Why? We say we are Christians, but never change; we act like nothing ever happened. Right after I was thinking this a song came on: Empty Me by Chris Sligh. The lyrics that caught my attention was in the chorus:

Empty me, Of the selfishness inside, Every vain ambition, And the poison of my pride, And any foolish thing my heart holds to, Lord empty me of me, So I can be, Filled with you. The thing that I keep remembering is at the beginning of the chorus as it repeats the second time, “I know how I can stray, And how fast my heart could change”

God, let Your light shine through the darkness of this world, “Cuz everything is a lesser thing, Compared to you, Compared to you, Cuz everything is a lesser thing, Compared to you, So I surrender all!”

IDK...let me know what you think...I enjoy getting feedback.

Early Morning Bible Study

This morning I was sitting in my dad’s truck, just reading my Bible before class. I just opened up my Bible and it fell to Hosea. Hosea was commanded to take a prostitute at wife. As I read these verses about how Hosea was to name his children, Jezreel,

" 4 Then the LORD said to Hosea, ‘Call him Jezreel, because I will soon punish the house of Jehu for the massacre at Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of Israel. 5 In that day I will break Israel's bow in the Valley of Jezreel’.”

I saw this in sorts as Hosea took this harlot, in the same way as Israel was given to harlotry with other gods. I have tried to take all that I have learned and somehow apply it to my life in some way. One way that I can see this in our daily lives is when we give ourselves to things other than God. Our fleshy lusts, which command our attention from the One Who should be getting out full attention; our “gods” that take the place of Him.

Tuesday, College and Gramm's

Tuesday:
I am tired; this past week and a half I think I am up to 28 hrs of sleep. I got a total of 16 hrs of sleep Friday and Saturday nights...and 12 hrs to split up among the bed times from 2-4 only to wake up at 6. I had history, psychology, and English today; I hate these classes. They are evil, I really do mean it. So much of what is being taught is so wrong, morally. In history, America is evil, Imperialistic, found on Deism, and greed. True some of these things are correct, but there is so much more to it than that. What about the Puritans, Pilgrims, and so many more groups who came for religious freedom? They are ignored. Psychology: we are all animals with only two things in our minds, survival of ourselves: protection; and survival of our genes: procreation. WHAT?!?!? We are taught that we are animals, and there is no right or wrong; everything is chemical reactions to experiences that we have had...again I say, "WHAT?!?!?" English: study of the humanities, arts. Do we study "The Last Supper", "Christ on Calvary", or other "good" works of art by da Vinci, Raphael, Angelo, or others? No...we study crap; worthless, corrupt crap, not even worth mentioning.

Well I did go to my Gramm's house, and that was fun. Got to hang out with Erica and Cory two of my cousins. We played the game "Fact or Crap" and that was fun. I won, I got 52 tokens. The game is all about trivia from around the world in every topic imaginable. Pretty fun game.

Goodbye Blood and Strength.

Monday:
Did I mention I gave blood on Saturday? I don't think I did. Well I gave blood on Saturday. K, I mentioned it. Well Monday I had my typical weight lifting class...only I couldn't lift ANYTHING with my arms. It was pretty bad. I had karate class today too; we did parts of a black belt test, which was kinda annoying. The thing that killed me was having to do 80 snap kicks in 90 seconds and 80 knee smashes in 90 seconds...I pulled one groin muscle doing the snap kicks and the other doing the knee smashes...so yeah. It kinda hurt to walk...but I wasn't walking with a noticeable change...least I tried not too.

In between weight lifting and karate I watched some Steel Roots DVDs. For those of you who don't know, Steel Roots is a group of Christian professional snowboarders. Jim Rippy is the oldest guy, he is 33 at the time of the filming. They do some pretty crazy stuff and also have a time of devotion at the end of each episode. One of the things I tpyed into my phone when I heard it was, "when we stress out about something, it is because our perspective is not on Christ." I thought, "how true is that?" He is the author and finisher of our faith, when we thing, "Oh crap, I can't do this!" You know what? You are 100% right! Hate to break it to you like this but...YOU CAN'T! Not me, but Christ, Who worketh THROUGH ME! When we start applying God's principles to our lives, things change. Things will change in drastic ways; He knows what is best for you and all you have to "do" is for us to yield our control to Him.

Notepad blogging. Sunday. No Half-Jobs from HIM!

April 19, Sunday:
Today was awesome, I got to lead worship with Jac and Laura; they did a really good job. We played guitars tonight, we did a couple songs that we weren't too familiar with, but I think we did a really good job. ALL PRAISE TO GOD! He saw us through. I played for all the songs and Jac and Laura switched on and off of the other guitar...half way through the main set of songs my wrist started KILLING me. It was hurting so bad I started messing up; and I thought I wouldn't be able to play the rest of the songs, but like I said, "God saw us through." I prayed that I would be at least be able to finish the songs, that God would slow the spread of the pain till after service, but the amazing happened...have you ever noticed that when God does something, He does it perfectly? Like He never does a half-job? Have you ever noticed that?...OK back to the story...the amazing happened when I was about to stop and give up, starting to believe that this was a sign from God wanting me to stop, when my wrist hurt so bad that I couldn't actually bend it...the pain stopped...not like stopped spreading, but stopped...ceased to indwell my arm, wrist and hand. It was amazing...but that's not all folks, we were playing the song "Give Us Clean Hands" and I have been experimenting with doing different bar chords from different octives to change the sound up a little bit, but none of the standard chords were sounding right at all. Generally that is a sign that there is a problem with tuning...or the player. And since I tuned the guitar with a tuner just before playing, I knew it had to be me. But once again I felt this feeling to move out of my comfort zone (...into the realm of the unknown, were Jesus is, and He's holding out His hands...) and try something I have been learning and practicing for months. I prayed before doing this change, and God blessed me once again with this ability, and IT SOUNDED GOOD! So...have you ever noticed that when God does something, He does it perfectly? Like He never does a half-job? Have you ever noticed that?

Our God,
Is an awesome God,
He reigns...

Check this video out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lvTsn32pWg

I am going to try something.

Since I have the Motorola Krave I have been pecking in little 360 character notes on notepad throughout the day. So I am going to start uploading the notes. I don't have time tonight, but will start it up tomorrow night. If anyone notices this before I post again, drop me a line and tell me what you think, as I will start tomorrow night, Lord willing that is.

Good Day.

Today was just one of those days...you know, the ones that everything just seem to go...right?

First off I got to play guitar today, I haven't done that in a while. That was fun. And I did a bunch of sanding on our door, which we also put wood finish on too. The weather was wonderful, it didn't rain at all, and I kept thinking it was going too. I wanted to go to the cafe today but couldn't as you will see in a bit. And secondly we got our phones upgraded. I have needed an upgrade (actually just a working phone) since before Thanksgiving. The battery was drained and never worked, I couldn't make a single call without having the phone beep "low battery" as soon as the other person would pick up their end. We finally left our house at 7:00PM to head to Batavia...I could not get my dad off Facebook...he is such a FB addict...So we (me and dad) ended up going to the Verizon store in Batavia...but they had no good deals (something for free). That was a problem cause my dad does not like spending money if he can get something of equal or greater...or lesser value...for free.

Since the Verizon store was a miss I told Dad that we should check out the Verizon kiosk in BJ's, where we got the good deal last time. HIT! They were running a special for 3 Motorola Moto UV204's for free with the purchase of ANY phone. We also had a $50 credit to apply toward a phone. Well, I wanted to maximize our purchase and noticed this pretty cool looking phone for $49.95 (after $50 mail-in rebate)...SCORE! $50 credit applied to phone with an immediate price of $99.95-$50.00 mail-in rebate=FREE! I told Dad, and used my persuasiveness (I told him that we might as well spend all the credit we are given cause they won't carry it over.) to convince him that we should get the Krave and give it to me. The Krave has a touch screen like a PDA, but a flip cover like a standard flip phone to protect it...and the flip is clear and actually the touch screen is made to opperate through the cover, which is pretty cool. I also found out I need to be VERY careful since if I was to just buy the phone...it would cost $360!

So yeah, we bought the phone, I love the phone, and I'm still trying to work out the texting issue (so I can txt with the phone)...but we are making some progress.

I got hit by a car...

I haven't posted in a while and was trying to catch up. I haven't had too much time cause of my school.

So I'll tell you about something that happened to me the other day...I was walking to the college building through a parking lot, and was in kind of a hurry and I walked between two big pickup trucks and the security dude that drives a Jeep all around campus came around a corner and hit me...I saw him coming but didn't have enough time to get out of the way. So I put my arms out and jumped, and he basically hit my legs as they moved...and my leg muscles hurt...but other than that I'm fine...how are you?

No wallet, no debit card.

I can't believe it, I forgot my debit card again...I can't get my license until tomorrow...grrr!

Well I had classes today, history, psychology, and English. I think I will be able to go for certain on the 2nd. We have a meeting with the teacher in English class, my last class of Tuesdays and Thursdays, so I should be able to get home before we have to leave. That will be good. I $10 in quarters so I went to BJ's and bought some "Big League Chew" (don't worry I don't chew tobacco, for those of you who don't know what "BLC" is, it is shredded bubble gum...and also is the stuff Napoleon Dynamite is chewing in the bathroom of the school. I got the big pack (its like 10 pouches) for just under $10, which is good cause thats all the money I had. Danny really wanted some and I told him I would get it for him.

We went to my grandparents' house. We weren't gonna stay real long cause Midge didn't get a very good nap but as it turns out we didn't leave until almost 10:00...she was crabby; and my mom made me drive home, and I am still driving illegally cause you are supposed to have your license on you at all times when driving...grrr.

Lesson learned: Don't lose your wallet.

I still can't find my wallet

I CAN'T FIND MY WALLET!!!! still...I went to the DMV today to try to get another license...but found out that it cost $15...If you read my earlier posts, you already know that, I DON'T HAVE $15!...epic fail. I also forgot my debit card at home...so I couldn't pay for it that way, and I was kinda pressed for time cause I had to get home eat and then leave my house for karate (I had my weight lifting class just before I went to the DMV.) So I went home ate, filled out the replacement license form, and went to karate; government agencies are annoying... We learned some more self defense stuff in karate, its pretty fun. It tires me out.

I figured with my luck...or lack or it, I figured I would be pulled over by a police officer or get in a accident or something fun like that. But that didn't happen, thankfully. I have to go tomorrow to see if I can get it. I hate not having that stupid piece of plastic...grrrr.

The lesson I learned today was, NEVER LOSE YOUR WALLET WITH IMPORTANT STUFF IN IT!!! OK, I'm good now.

Tiring Day at Church.

I was tired today...what else is new? Like really? I'm always tired. Partly because my body clock is all messed up and I can't fall asleep until after 1:00 or 2:00 in the morning and also cause I wake up so early at 6:00 every day. The other part of my tiredness is the fact that I am STILL sick (probably because I'm not getting enough rest). I was supposed to plan out worship for this week and I forgot partly and didn't have the time when I remembered. So because I dropped the ball on this one Jac ended up helping me out and planning the whole thing (which I feel very bad about cause it was my responsibility and I messed up.).

It was pretty hard to sing this morning, I am not really that great of a singer anywaz, but with a cold it is worse. The morning service went well, Mike helped me out a ton in one of the songs that there was a guy and girl part...evening service was a challenge, I ended up running sound board and because I didn't have the songs prepared I did not know what transitions I had to do. But through it all God did what He does and despite my failures His message came through. Don't worry I'm not taking this as an excuse for not having to fulfill my responsibilities but that despite my short comings my God is there to back me up.

That was the biggest lesson I learned, not having it all together really bugs me. And I don't like it at ALL! But God is teaching me more and more to trust Him that He WILL take care of me no matter WHAT challenge we are put through; we can overcome, if we let God take control.

The Bridge @ the Cafe.

I went to the Cafe today, it was a lot of fun. Got to listen to the Bridge: Gary Murphee, on guitar; Jeff, on drums; and Jon, on bass, playing some sweet tunes. These guys are REALLY good. If you ever get the chance take the time...these guys are really good.

I got to hang out with some of my friends there; it was good to see some people I haven't seen in a while.

Gary started out using his acoustic at the beginning but used his Epiphone Dot for the second set. It was a beautiful day in Geneseo. I don't know what else to say. I didn't have classes cause it was a Saturday, and life was pretty slow...moving towards the 7:00 time.

Oh, I still don't have a wallet. I can't find it anywhere...it is REALLY annoying; cause like I don't have a license, or gift cards, or money, or hunting license. I DO have my debit card, which is good...so I can get SOME money...I just lost the money that was in the wallet. Also it is pretty unnerving having to drive around in police infested towns without it...I don't enjoy breaking the law. It just happens. This has taught me to drive more carefully...not that I was a reckless driver, but if you get pulled over for anything you get two tickets instead of one...not cool.

I BOUGHT A NEW GUITAR!

So I had my classes and all that, but none of that compares to what I got... bought... today. Its a guitar! I love it so much. It is a Yamaha APX 500. It has a internal pickup and built-in tuner. The neck of the guitar is closer to that of an electric guitar in width (which I like) and it has a thin body (which I also like). I like the fact that I can play it without having to be amped, but also like the sound of the amped guitar. The guitar runs about $400, $459.95 at Roxy's where I bought it, but they had the special you can buy the guitar and get the hard case, with is smaller to fit the guitar (go figure) for $399 plus tax. So it ended up being around $440. I love the finish on the guitar, it is kind of like a fire burst, so it still has some style to it...the finger prints arn't too bad...just closer to the edges they show up.

I could write about the rest of my day, like art class and weight lifting...but this was pretty much the best thing that happened...I did go to hockey and got to see some amazing people, and that was fun, but I really like playing that guitar.

More college...and sore muscles...

I had my "normal" classes today, gosh I hurt. All my muscles in my upper body KILL! We worked out doing lovely sit-ups, push-ups, and squats. I did 36 sit-ups in 60 seconds, 20 push-ups in 30 seconds, and 37 squats in 60 seconds. I was so tired...that was the first 20 min of class actually. After that we where to work out until 11:00...so I went and played around with some of the machines and started lifting on the bench press machine of sorts and was feeling VERY weak cause I was only lifting 85 pounds. I found out after the fact that that is 85 pounds per arm...so...yeah.

I still do not like psychology, even though it is easy...I don't like it. Ugh! Evolutionary psychologists...

Today Katy told me that I was invited to the Lutz's house on the 2nd...I hope that all works out, cause I haven't really had time to spend with them. Last time I was there I we didn't really have time to spend cause Cody and I were going to Holiday Valley for the day. I do just wanna hang out with them...it will be fun if I can work everything out.

Still sick but slowly healing...

I had classes today, the first classes in history, psychology, and English since break. My cold is still pretty bad, I am on like 3 diff meds. every day. Some form of either night quill or day quill, some "Zycam" stuff (doesn't do anything), tussen, and ibuprofen, plus a menagerie of cough drops or analgesic throat spray so stop from coughing up a lung. Its pretty annoying. I think it might be because I don't get as much sleep as I have been getting, or SHOULD be getting, but I'm working on that.

I forgot how much I hate my psychology class, and the obnoxious over emphasis on evolution and evolutionary psychology, which is basic psychology...same diff I guess. Ugh! Make me sick. Wait, I already am...nevermind!

I went to my grandparents' house for dinner, like we do every Tuesday, it was fun...I took my guitar and my lil' cousin (who isn't all that little) played around with it and playing some fun riffs from stuff like: "Stairway to Heaven," "Smoke on the Water," "Sweet Child O' Mine," and "Strutter." It was a lot of fun; I love playing guitar. We stayed pretty late again tonight, around 9:00, Midge started to get cranky so we had to leave. We watched more military channel...some show called "Top Sniper" it was pretty cool, basically was a training and proving course for elite snipers.

Classes...new ones...Phys Ed.!

This weekend I was still sick, and not much really happened, other than I helped lead worship with 3 amazing people, which is a LOT of fun. Now I know why Pastor Mike liked it so much. But yeah, that is the majority of the weekend.

Today I had my first physical education classes like EVER! At my school where I attended from 2nd grade, we had gym class, but we did not get a "grade" per say but a...level of satisfaction...basically we pass no matter what, but we might get a bad mark on our report card if we don't participate. Well my class(es) today was weight lifting and karate...weight lifting is a 55 min. class and we did absolutely nothing, while karate is a 1 hr and 20 min class and we did a bunch of stuff. The teacher, Jones, is an 8th degree black belt and is the 6th step from Bruce Lee's instruction. She taught some basic punches and form; in this form the punch is made with a vertical fist and the point of contact is the first 2 knuckles. It was kinda hard to take her seriously, but I should work on that if I want to get any where in this class. There was one dude, about the same age as me that made me mad. He was there showin' off all his cool moves like some jumps kicks and stuff and the teacher, who was clearly not impressed, asked him to stop and he kept it up...unfortunately this is not a dojo and we arn't allowed to spar, cause I would PAY big money I don't have to watch the teacher show him how much he knows...I hate people who have to show off how good they think they are...

2 cameras, 18 hours, 180 miles, 1 ski resort, 12 church hockey games and one cold=me being very tired and sore...

Today was AWESOME! I got to go skiing with Cody today! It was so awesome, took a bunch of pics with that awesome new camera. It was so much fun filming him! I took a bunch of videos and made kind of like a mini movie, that was a lot of fun, I never played with Windows Movie Maker before so the movie is pretty simple.

I loved every minute of the time, Cody did a lot of freestyle stuff, just warming up while all I did was work on landing my jumps. He is a really good snowboarder...he hasn't snowboarded too long either, I guess this is both of ours' first REAL year.

I left my house at 6:30 this morning, got to his house in Bliss at 7:30, left from there and got to Holiday Valley in Ellicottville at 8:30...only to find that the lifts don't open till 9:00...oh well! We waited until 9:00 and i went to get the White Cards but couldn't find the one that I borrowed! I looked EVERYWHERE! No where to be found. Cody kept offering to pay for his pass, but I had promised him that it wouldn't cost him anything to go to Holiday Valley so I wasn't gonna let him pay (after all it was my own carelessness that forgot the card). Then I remembered something, something that I know was God's doing...when I was skiing on Monday, I was on my way out the door to start the day off and I stopped to fix my boot. I was kneeling in the front room where the lift tickets were sold and I heard this guy using his White Card swipe AND his free March pass on the same day. You see, with the White Cards the card holder is eligible for 9 8 hour lift tickets any non-holiday weekday and one "anytime" 8 hour pass to be used in March. So yeah, it didn't end up costing anything because God reminded me of that, which was pretty cool.

Well we skied and then left for home around 2:30-ish...on my way home my friend Pat called me and wondered if I wanted to play hockey...OF COURSE I DID! So I played hockey at the church until pretty late. My teams won all their games! WE ROCKED! I was very sore...and tired.

Sick of being tired....and sick.

Well I was going to go skiing today with one of my friends, Cody, but it turned out for the best. It was pretty warm and a warm day skiing is not all that great, I'm talking like 50 degrees...that means more of those mashed potatoes that I had to deal with Monday...but tomorrow is looking better.

I bought a camera Tuesday...and I hate it! It takes the WORST pics EVER! For starters I don't like using the flash; my theory if I can focus on the object with my blurry eyes, then the camera should be able to focus...but this one doesn't, very disappointing. So I took it back today and bought another one from BJ's. It is a Olympus Stylus, 10.1 mega pixel, with a 7x optical zoom, it takes only the Olympus xD cards, but it comes with a micro SD card converter. I am glad it has a micro SD converter cause otherwise I would be stuck using a 128 MB card and a 16 MB card...and when I use the highest quality that 128 MB card can only fit 50 pics...not good.

But yeah, I can't wait to take it to Holiday Valley tomorrow and try it out. It will be a lot of fun trying to figure out stuff literally on the fly (skiing down the hill follow camming I'm hoping!)

But yeah, all this fun has come with a price, I am sick...not fun. I have a REALLY bad head cold. I woke up with it and it has stuck with me all day...I hope it goes away before tomorrow. If not the day won't be a waste...

Tuesday, warm day means yard work...

Today I was so tired from skiing yesterday, it wasn't really funny. But It was warm today. I am looking to go skiing again on Thursday or Friday; and looking to take a friend...Thursday looks better.

I worked outside some today. Cutting and shaping some of the shrubbery around the house; I REALLY cut back some of the flowering shrubs too...My mom had me cut them back so far, I don't think they are going to bloom this year, which will be a bummer cause they look so cool cause there are like a million little yellow flowers on the HUGE bush. I ended up using the chainsaw to do pretty much all the work...including trimming the hedges...kinda like the Family Life Network morning show song...gotta love those guys!

I started signing up for more classes...even while on spring break I just can't seam to stay away from that whole college thing...I signed up for weight lifting, that should be an interesting class...I am taking that class on Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays from 10:10 till 11:05, which will make me all good and tired out for my karate class on Monday and Wednesday at 3:40 till 5:00.

I went into college today to get a request to send out my transcript...that was fun, cause they didn't have power...like it kept blinking in and out. I decided to finally buy that camera today...so I walked into Walmart and bought one...but I got home...and it wasn't the one I wanted. It takes TERRIBLE pics...you Have to use the flash otherwise the pictures come out grainy and blurry. I don't like it...I HAVE to take it back...I can't stand it.

Skiing Solo.

Today was my first day of spring break. I went skiing today, it was fun to just drive up to Ellicottville and ski all day. It was kind of a downer that I didn't have any of my friends to come with me... The skiing was pretty good, I was the first one down Morning Star. It was around 30 degrees, so everything was still pretty solid, but later it warmed up. I did some jumps, I am still working on landing, and also overcoming my will and hitting the jumps faster to go farther. Yeah pretty scary stuff. I rode up the lift with a 4 different people: one older couple was from a little town aboot 70 km north of Toronto, another guy stays at Holiday Valley all winter and skies everyday, and the last one was a guy who skis at HV about as often as me.

I saw a Very interesting family while skiing, the ENTIRE family was wearing "spring wear" like shorts and t-shirts and stuff...the little boy looked the funniest cause he had these shorts on with thes BIG HONKIN' snowboarding boots. He is sitting in the middle of the lift. It was pretty funny.

A lot of the boarders were having problems later in the day. The sun came out after lunch and it warmed up to 50-ish degrees; it ended up making like mashed potatoes...about 4-5 inches of mashed potatoes...not too fun...but VERY funny to watch from the lift. It was a very good day, I got a lot of runs. I tried to stay off the lift as much as possible, going pretty much all the way down the mountain before getting on a lift at the very end.

The drive home was not too bad...instead of driving home like the way I came (Rte. 98 to E. Arcade to 36 to 242) I just went 242 to 36 to 98. Which was simpler, since all I really had to do was to keep driving on that same road...quite simple. Fun day. I LOVE SKIING!

Sunday again. Learning experiences.

I never posted for yesterday...and I don't really remember too much about it...other than I ended up cleaning the bathroom, and me and Jeff went up to Cafe Shiloh in Geneseo...but the cafe was closed. Kristi was there and she let us in, but she was there to use the Internet...and we did too. I waited for one of my friends, Roy, until 8:30 but we figured he had already come and gone seeing that the closed sign was up.

Jeff wanted o go to Walmart so we did...and we bought Fallout 3 for XBox 360...it is a pretty fun game...Jeff has played it almost every moment he is home, except when he is sleeping or eating...I played it a little bit...there is the main quest and side quests...but I kinda just like to gallivant across the countryside taking care of bandits and also the myriads of pesky bees and giant rats.

We came home around 10:00 and Jeff was playing it until 1:00 or 2:00.

OK Sunday.
Today was the first official Sunday that "Pastor Mike," our associate pastor, was not there and pastoring his new church down in Ithaca. Jac, Mike, and I lead singing in the morning service and Jac, Laura, and I lead singing in the evening service. I would really like to get some younger guys (and girls, but guys espessially) to joint our little trio since the 3 (4 if you count Mike) is leaving for college this next fall, and Jac and I are going off to work at camp all summer long.

Because of today, and how it went, we have come up with a new way of figuering up worship since we are going to be doing this for both services from the way things look.

I would apperciate prayer in finding the next generation of worship leaders...since it has kinda fallen on me to do so...

The Art of hockey...not really, I'm not that good.

Man, I was sooooo tired tonight...I just got home from playing hockey. I had my very last art class before spring break...I am so glad. One whole week of not having to go to college. My teacher let us out early today...I think she wanted a head start on spring break too...that was good. I'm glad she is nice once in a while.

I got home only to remember that today was Friday...and what do I do almost every Friday? I play hockey...I was already tired...then to go play hockey with my friends...MAJOR tiredness...no...more like General Tiredness. But anywaz, every game that we played my team won...I was just lucky to be on the winning team; I played I think 6 sets, which is best 2 out of 3...I ended up coming home early at 9:15 and the guys played another 2 sets afterward. I was so whipped. my whole body ached for Ibuprofen...I actually escaped without getting any major injuries, and for that I am thankful.

Chalk another one done.

My last full day of classes is done before spring break...I can't wait. I'm thinking about skiing next week...if there is enough snow that is...

I was completely bored in all of my classes...this is no longer out of the ordinary for me now. I handed in my paper on a not very interesting book...Separate from the World...and stayed at school until 1:00 to listen to the author tell about his book and old people debate. (Waste of time) But because I stayed for that extra little class, I don't have to do the essay on the mid-term for English. Maybe it wasn't wasted after all...more like invested. So far no one has posted on my "Question" post...maybe next week...

Question.

Normally I do not post in the middle of the day...but I am, only because I wanted some feedback and maybe catch some other people who might happen upon my blog...anywaz. this is my question precluded my a little background, simple enough(I hope.) I am looking to purchase an electric/acoustic guitar; I am NOT spending more that $450 on it...I know this limits what I can get...but I am limited in funds. I would like something that holds some likeliness to playing an electric guitar, but still loud enough to play un-amped.

I would like a cut-away so that I can use the upper 12-22 frets, and would like a minimum of 22 frets. I am not picky as who makes the guitar, as reliable name is a plus. I am passed the stage of beginner and am serious in wanting a good, lasting guitar. I like it in black, only because I like black acoustic guitars...they look cool, other than the fingerprints. I am not to sure what else, but feedback is defenatly wanted on this. As I am looking to buy one sometime next week.

Just ask "Please"

I had another boringly fun day today. (That seems redundant, "day today"...idk...it is I guess.) apart from that it wasn't too bad. I woke up at 9:00 after staying up late last night. I could not go to sleep so I ended up praying a lot. The last time I remember seeing on my phone was 2:30 something, like 2:34? I watched my little sister, Midge, from a lil' before 10:00 when my mom took Jeff down to work then went to the local school here to look at enrolling my little sister into nursery school. So during this time I went upstairs and played a little Merc 2 for an hour, and Midge told me instead of throwing the people out of the tanks...my little sister told me, "You don't need to grab him, you just ask PLEASE." She is such a saint-ess...not really.

I went to Awana after spending the day cleaning up my room some more. I picked up all the clothes and put the clean ones away. I don't know how I ever ended up with such a messy room...I always used to keep it clean...but I was always in it...now I am never in it and it keeps getting messy. Anywaz, at Awana I listened to my two guys. Unfortunately they did not have anything for me to sign tonight...and we never finished anything.

I got home and my brother who is married called. I talked to him for a good half hour or so about his modifications that he is making to his guitars. He is the one who got me into making my own. I had some good times talking with a couple of my very good friends tonight...and late into this morning. (As it is currently 12:30a.m. as I write/type this.) But after the neutral day I had today (referring to Wednesday) this morning (Thursday) I have had a good lesson. Talking about relationships, and who is first in them...is it the other person...or is it God?

School again...then to G&G's House.

It is terrible...the past few days I mean. My mom got facebook...and she is ALWAYS on! She has had it since Friday, and she gets on it every night. She uses the excuse that this computer is her computer that is why she can kick me off of it. So I asked her if I could hook the internet up to MY computer and she said no...bummer.

I had class today, I learned nothing. Not that I wasn't listening, but that nothing that was presented in class was new. Very kind of boring. I came home and cleaned my room a little bit; and picked up some of the stuff I had left in the office...i.e. clothes, school books, random junk.

I went to my grandparents' house like my family usually does every Tuesday. This was the first week that I did not reload shotgun shells, but instead took my guitar and played around with it and wasted time. Overall it was fun. I got to see my cousins, some of whom I wouldn't mind not seeing, only because of the lies he is always telling...makes me sad that he needs to find fulfillment in lying about the things he does.

Trip to BBC.

I went with my parents and a good friend of mine down to BBC (Baptist Bible College, Clark Summit, PA) this morning. It was so cool...literally and figuratively (it was around 50 degrees and rainy). We wanted to leave at 4:30 so we could pick her up at 4:45...but that didn't happen, we got there just before 5:00 (this is a.m. btw) and headed off on this multi-state extravaganza! We had to be at BBC at 8:45 so we could be plugged into a 9:00 class. We made great time and would have made it there...but we got off the expressway one exit early and it took a little longer to take the back roads over to the college, but we did it, and we were only a lil' bit late! The first class we sat in was Gen. Psychology. I have been taking a secular Gen. Psy. at the community college I attend and disagree with much of what is said..."look at this as if you were an evolutionary psychologist...", to which my response is, "I can't." It was really cool to sit in the class as the subject matter was about intelligence and how 80% of intelligence is genetic..."where does our intelligence come from?" the professor asked. "Our parents." was the general response. Then the teacher said something that was awesome to me, she said, "Who made out parents?" It was awesome to have that confirmation of, "God IS a part of this school!" An accredited college that speaks of God, the true maker of all, openly and frequently! It is not just a facade that is tacked on the name of the school...it is the school!

We sat in a Cross-Cultural Communications class, and that was very cool how Coach John Jackson would show some of the video and then dissect it and get feedback throughout the film (Through Gates of Splendor the Jim Elliot and others' story). He also opened with prayer which I saw a lot of on campus...VERY encouraging!

The tour of the campus was very cool, they have a lot of "upgrades" from what i was last told about. I like the campus, college, staff...that is another thing the staff/faultily are VERY friendly, the student population is only about 530 I think this semester they said, but as we walked from Coach Jackson's class to the cafeteria (we were going to eat lunch with him so her could answer some questions, which was pretty cool to see all that he has done for God in his life) he would greet students that crossed our path, knowing their names and major. You could tell that there is definitely a professor/student relationship much better than that of a secular college.

As we were leaving my mom and dad wanted to stop by the "Underground Cafe" to get a cup of coffee, and a girl just walked up to us (we didn't have the guide with us anymore since we were in the process of leaving) and ask us if we were perspective students and greet us and just be nice to us. There was just so many nice people out there; it was just great!

Our trip home was uneventful compared to the exciting time at BBC...but that is a good thing when traveling 70 mph on the freeway...most events there are not very good, i.e. blown tire, no gas, hit a deer or another vehicle. We ate at the Outback Steakhouse and I was very unimpressed by it. (nothing special really.) We got my friend home around 9:30-ish I think, and we got home shortly after that. My parents left to get my lil' sis', Midge, at my grandparent's house cause she was still awake. After these last 2 days, of going to Yorkshire and watching the video of Mark Zook and today of sitting in the Cross-Cultural Comm. class I defiantly know that the foreign mission field is where God wants me.

In closing I ask for prayer as I will be making my decision of what college to attend (I still have one more college I want to see). The deadline is not until May, but that date is quickly approaching. I greatly appreciate it as I know that I will need it. Thank you, and please comment.

God's,
God's Student

Yorkshire!

Man, it was so awesome to see everybody at Yorkshire tonight. We had a double service at my church which includes, Sunday school, service, a lunch (we are good baptists!), and then another service. This was our associate pastor's last Sunday before going to pastor a church in Ithaca. So our afternoon/evening was free. Our pastor's oldest son wanted to go to see our friends in Yorkshire but we had planned not to go untill the 22nd...which happens to be long after they leave. To solve this problem, our good friend came up with a solution that worked pretty well...we would go down on their last Sunday here! So we did! It was awesome.

The trip over was pretty bad because the fog was so thick and the lovely driver in front of me from my church didn't have her lights on..."they are automatic." she said with the helpless bat of the eyes..."Well, your taillights arn't, and I couldn't see you." I said firmly but not angrily. We did arrive 4 minutes late, but not bad because the lights were off and they were watching the movie about Mark Zook and his missions with the Mouk people in Paupa New Guinea. We all shuffled in and sat in front of 3 of my best friends from that church, one of them was actually leaving that Sunday night to go back to Appalachian Bible College. It was awesome to see how God worked that out so we could hang out with all those awesome people there!

Late night...again.

Man...I am tired. This morning...I mean yesterday morning, I was supposed to help my pastor move his stuff to Ithaca...so I woke up early...too early, I was up at 7:30. I thought that was good since I needed to be at his house at 8:30 to leave...well I got an hour I will work on my art assignment...oops! Next thing I know my pastor is calling me wondering if I was planning on coming down cause it is 9:15! RATS! So I didn't go...and I wanted too...and was very angry at myself because of that. I spent most of the rest of the day working here at home on stuff around the house and papers.

One thing I learned today was the answer to a question I have had for about 3 months now, "Why arn't my cuts healing as fats as they used too?" I would get a cut and after a day or 2 the cut would be almost completely healed...I do not cover them with band aids, use antiseptics, or other types of medication like Neosporin; but I would have no sign of being cut in 3 days...like a non-mutant Wolverine. But the answer I have come to believe is the correct one is linked directly to the amount of sleep I get. People grow the most when they are sleeping; part of this growing is the growth of new skin cells.

I think this because I have a cut from almost 2 weeks ago when I went ice skating; the cut on my finger is still scabbed over...and not closed up yet. That is the conclusion I have come too. Like all my posts feel free to comment about what you think about this correctional experiment.

Tired yet?

I am exhausted...I woke up this morning at 8:30...I slept in. It was a pretty tiring day. My dad got a big sander this morning and we worked on that for an hour before I had to go to college for my art class. My teacher was not feeling well, so she ended the class at 3:30 instead of 4:30. It was good since none of us were really feeling that well.

After class was over I headed to Wal-mart to look at cameras. I am looking to purchase one...but I also am looking to buy an electric/acoustic guitar...so I don't know...I don't want to buy both...since I can't really afford it...and I hate spending money...my one character flaw.

When I got home, my dad was finishing up sanding the large areas of the floor while I used "The Mouse" sander to do the edging. We got all the bumps and ripples out of the finish, and vacuumed up all the dust and pieces of stain that broke off of the edges.

I left at 5:45 to help my pastor move the stuff out of his office at the church and then went over to his house to help move stuff out of there. After filling the truck up I left to go back to the church where we ended up playing hockey until 10:00.

To end this I wanted to type something that I learned today, but I can't think of anything...kinda sad actually. As I sit here, I think of what I COULD have done. I could have been a better witness for Christ. I know I could have told the people I love, that I love them. I could have been nicer to everybody. But I didn't. But there is still life, and where there is life, there is still yet hope.

Freedom from the smell...for today.

Today was just another fun day in my extremely boring life. I titled the post what I did only because we did not finish the floors today...which means I can move about the house freely for once. AND IT DOESN'T STINK! I hate that smell.

I went to bed...early...around 2:00 this morning, but I forgot my pillow at my grandparents' house so I deflated a beach ball that I happened to have in the office and put it in a fleece and used that as a pillow. It hurt my neck pretty bad, but it sufficed for one night.

I got up for college at 6:00 and left the house with 16 oz. of day old coffee and a bottle of diet Pepsi Max to fuel me through my day. It was pretty rough, but I made it. My classes were very boring and nothing really interesting happened...they kinda just...existed. Very boring.

I came home and then took my mom over to my grandparents' house and then left to go to my friend's house where the three of us planned worship service for Sunday. I got to her house only to find out that the other girl's brother did not come home yet. So we drove over to her house, picked her up and returned to start planning. We practiced guitar and went over some different variations of songs trying to find the songs that were easy to play, but in a good vocal range; great fun over all...ohhhh...wait...I'm Baptist...I can't have fun. Never mind. We finished up and I drove over to pick Jeff from work before heading back to my grandparents' where I ate dinner before getting dropped off at home when she was going to quilting tonight.

Switching places...

Transition mania...

Today was just another CRAZY day in my simple life. I did not go to bed until 1:30-ish...I was staying at my grandparents last night. I didn't fall asleep till after 2 I think...it was hard to tell cause there was no clock in the room and my cellphone was dead cause my charger was that my house. I woke up at 7:15...not the time I WANTED to wake up...but that is how my body clock works. So I spent the day there, well, until 10:30 when I took Jeff to work. I then worked on the floors, with my dad again...this makes the 4th time...tomorrow I guess we are renting a sander to polish off the rough spots.

I went back to my grandparents' house and took my guitar with me to pass the time. I looked up some songs on ultimate-guitar.com (only cause e-chord.com didn't have what I was looking for). I looked up "What Life would be Like" by Big Daddy Weave. I have played it at least 100 times this afternoon...AT LEAST. every time I touched a guitar, I played it...over and over and over again.

I went to church tonight...like most Wednesdays, to listen to "my" kids...we didn't accomplish much in the book...just one section...but slowly he is working though it. Tonight was my church's assossiate pastor's last youth group. So according to baptist distinctive #11: "You must have food at all gatherings." and according to Baptist distinctive #12 we called it a gathering, "There shall be under no circumstanses the word 'party' to be atributed to any social event being attended by church members, they shall be therefore called 'gatherings'."

Chalk another day done...

Well one day is done...and another one to come...the race is still to be run...and the price still to be won.

I don't know where that came from...but I just typed it spur of the moment.

One thing that I have thought about all day was the lacking of Christian testimony among the younger (teen) generation. Much like yesterday's post, I can't help but think about where this country will go if there is not some sort of revival for Christian living and belief...I'm not just talking about people getting saved, but people committing, or RE-committing themselves whole heartily to God.

Other than that, my day was consumed with college from 8:00 till 12:30 and then working at home on the floors for an hour or two...it doesn't take as much time now that I have gotten used to it.

I'm staying at my grandparents tonight...and spend my evening sorting out their computer problems...kinda fun actually. I enjoy problem solving. I did a visur scan and found out that it was Norton Anti-virus from 2005, so I installed another one called AVG Anti-Virus Free, and that found 4 Trojan Horse files...then I deleted the Norton cause it wasn't doing anything but slowing the system down. We had to keep restarting the computer every time we removed something, and my granpa just ended up giving me the password...even though I knew what it was cause I saw him enter it 4 times!

Like I said in my last posting...I want feedback from you readers...I know there arn't alot of you...but please, comment. Some one needs to hear what you have to say.