Friday, October 24, 2008

Snooze Button

So, as most of you know I like to sleep.. a lot. One thing my room mate and I have noticed is that our morning routine is the same. Our alarm clocks go off right about the same time every morning, and every morning we wake up and turn them off only to go back to sleep again. This happens at least twice every morning. And when we do finally get out of bed neither of us talk. We are more like zombies until around 11ish. In fact, since we have been in the same room, we have not spoken to each other before 11am ever.

Often times my first thoughts are major excuses as to why I do not need to get up, and comedian Bill Dwyer says it perfectly. I have often said I am going to get up take a shower, grab a pop tart and microwave it for 3 seconds, then go to class. That has yet to happen. Most days, my alarm goes off and my first excuse is I can get 3 extra seconds of sleep if I don't eat that poptart, so I go back to sleep. The alarm goes off again. This time, a bit more agitated I say to myself, I can get a shower later, that will get me 10 more minutes of sleep. And finally by the third or fourth time my alarm goes off, I give in. I sit up turn my alarm off get out of bed, and as soon as I get out of bed, I turn around and lay my head back down on my bed, trying to get a few more seconds of rest. About this time my naked room mate stumbles by and almost always runs into the couch. Finally, it's about 15 minutes before I have to be in class and so I get dressed and go to class.

Monday, October 20, 2008

Mohawk!

So as promised I have a couple pictures of my new hair cut... at least until the World Series is over. Then I will just have short hair.


LETS GO RAYS!!!!

So tonight the Tampa Bay Rays went went from possibly worst to first by beating the Boston Red Sox in game seven of the ALCS. David Price came on in the 8th and SHUT DOWN the heart of the Red Sox lineup.

For anyone who has followed the playoffs this season, you may have noticed that all the Tampa Bay Rays have mohawks. SO, while watching the game with a friend I was dared to shave my head and get a mohawk if the Rays won tonight. Well long story short. The Rays won and I have to get a mohawk tomorrow afternoon! So here is one last picture of me with my normal hair. I will put a number of pictures up from the the shaving tomorrow afternoon.

Friday, October 17, 2008

Exit 39

Have I ever said God provides before? I think I may have mentioned it in my last post. Read this. Its long and may not make sense but read any way!

I had my car towed to the shop to get it fixed this morning. I got it fixed and everything was peachy. Except for the fact that it cost like $250+ but that's another story. But anyway, I drove it around town a bit to make sure everything was working properly and everything was dandy once again. I was in a happy state of mind.. kinda. I went and home and hung out at the house with the family before I came back to school. I also wanted to miss rush hour traffic in Charlotte so I stayed a while longer and ate with the family then headed back to school in the rain.

Everything was going great until I hit the Salisbury area. I stopped to get an energy boost and then put $15 that my parents gave me in my car. Well, this is where the fun begins. I pulled up to the gas station and ambulance is sitting in the middle of the road with its lights on so I figured there was an accident and said "Thank goodness I stayed home the extra twenty minutes or else that could have been me." I got the gas and drink and started down the road. I get like thirty seconds from the gas station when my stupid battery light comes on again... same problem I just spent $250+ on. And to make things better, I was in a traffic jam on the interstate going a grand total of 15 miles an hour! I think I was going to fast.

So I began thinking, "well I know my car is going to break down any time now how long is it going to last. It wont make it home, and it wont make it to school." So I make it down to exit 39 before my gauges flip out on me. So I pull off the road and start driving for the next off ramp... by this point my car has shut off and I am literally drifting. I hit those stupid bumps on the shoulder and my car WIGS out. ALL the lights come on. It seemed like a fire cracker went of in there it was SO bright, but I now had power and make it up the ramp where my car dies yet again. So now I am drifting to the gas station just down the road and I park it.

Needless to say, I was not a very nice person to be around at that point, at least until I got to the gas station. I called my Dad and told him the situation and we began talking through situations. But the neat thing is exit 39 is the exit my Dad has to come to when he has to get parts for work. Hmmm. Coincidence? I think not. After I got to the gas station, something hit me, and it wasn't what I had expected.

I was grateful. I still had a place to stay warm. I still had a place to stay dry. I still had a place to get food and drinks if I wanted them. James 1:2-4 popped into my mind, and so did Job. If we look at Job's situation, he had everything he needed and more, and so did I.

Job went through losing EVERYTHING he had, and remained faithful to the One he served. Now I have not even come close to losing everything, but I think the situation is similar. Job questioned God and so did I. I have asked why, and how more time than I can count in the last 3 weeks. The neat thing about the whole thing is that through Job's faith, the Lord blessed him ten fold. Quite frankly, I hope the Lord doesn't bless me ten fold. That is to many cars to have to replace alternators on ever 24 hours. But in the end, Job came out stronger, wiser, and more complete, than he was before all of the trials began.

James 1:2-4 says,
My brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but joy, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance; and let that endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing. (NRSV)
Job displayed this verse in an exemplary way. And I have been humbled by the fact that I am not in control of the things that go down. They happen for a reason; that reason is to build us up. To make us mature and complete, lacking in nothing. And I do not think I have been happier to have car problems.

Have you had your Beavers?

So today has been GREAT overall. I went to class and then came home to pick up some stuff I forgot over spring break. While I was up here Some friends invited me to play some disc golf and hang out afterwards. On my way home, I noticed that my battery light had come on. I didnt really think anything of it because I was to excited to see my family again. That came back to bite me in the butt.

I left my friends house around 9 after a great day and I got about 5 minutes towards the house to say bye, when my car shut off. Nothing worked. My head lights went out. All the lights inside went out. ALl the gauges stopped working. I was able to drift into the Dominos parking lot and then I went off. I lost my cool. And that’s putting it nicely. I was extremely frustrated to miss a VERY busy day of class tomorrow. I called around and got a hold of my mom. She came and picked me up and I was not a very happy person to be around at this point.

I got home and deicded to take some time to be by myself and cool down. I went outside and smoked a cigar, and while I was out there I thought of a text message that was sent to me that reminded me of how much I have. I am truely blessed. I have a family that loves me. I have a ton of friends. I have people to talk to. I have three meals a day. I have a roof over my head. I have a car that can be be fixed.

As I was sitting out there staring at the clouds moving in front of the full moon, I was completely broken down because I have a surplus. I have a surplus of everything that is needed to live. God blesses us all with more than we need even when it seems that there is nothing positive about the situations we encounter.

God provides. That means something more to me now. He not only provides the resources to live, but also some of the wants we have. Why is it so easy to become complacent with the “stuff”, the wants we have? Why is it so hard to become complacent when we live day to day. Pay check to pay check. Meal to meal. When we have nothing but the necessities. Lack of faith. Simply put. We all encounter it. We doubt that God will come through for us, but yet, time after time after time He comes through.

Tonight I was at home. I had people that would come get me. I had a family to talk to. I still have food. I still have a place to sleep. God provides. Simply put.

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Too Many Questions.

So I think everyone has experienced the person in class who asks too many questions. This morning in Old Testament we were discussing Isaiah 9:6-7 and how it referred to the Christmas story and how it reminded us of Handel Messiah and the Hallelujah Chorus.

Naturally, there were people in the class who had not heard of Handel Messiah and the Hallelujah Chorus so they began asking questions. Understandable right? Aparently not. After we had already established that these three things went together, someone in our class said, “Wait, the Hallelujah Chorus and Handel Messiah are related to Christmas?” My teacher looked at this person somewhat dumbfounded that she still hadn’t grasped the concept and said plainly, “yes.”

It was then that my smart self thought to myself that I should ask that question once more… I failed to do so. However, I would like to inform EVERYONE that the Hallelujah Chorus by Handel Messiah, the Christmas story, and the oracle in Isaiah 9 ARE in fact related. Enjoy the youtube video of Handel Messiah’s Hallelujah Chorus.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Adventures in Odyssey

This blog is about my adventures in Odyssey. Only I wasnt in Odyssey, I was in Thomasville. And that being said Odyssey has a lot more fun involved so this will probably be a semi-boring post.

So I havent written a blog in about a century and a half on here... but if you here you can find my school blog that I have been updating because it is a grade. Anyway, nothing really interesting has happened lately. I had fall break which was exciting to go home and see all my favorite people again. It pretty much made my day, or weekend whichever. I skipped class on Friday to go home a little earlier and got to hang out at the church for a bit. Then I had a BUNCH of errands to run so I did those then hung out at the house until I went and had an AMAZING steak dinner and smoked a cigar while catching up with my favorite Sunday School teachers.

Saturday was fun! I got to go up to App with the Kriegel family! We went and watched the band competition up there. Ledford v. East. Man how I want to see Ledford beat East overall just once before I die. It would make my entire life worth living.. only not really. But we had a good time just chillin and watching bands. Some good.. others not so much. I got home around midnight and finished watching the baseball game. GO RAYS! and then went to bed.

Sunday was super fun too! I got to see pretty much everyone in the whole wide world and then went and taught the 9th graders for Sunday School. They are fun! I like them a lot! After an afternoon of hanging out with my Dad on his 54th birthday I went to take Grace back to Carolina and then came back and hung out with the Beavers and the Bryants. They all make me happy!

Monday hmmm. boring. I played disc golf. I am BAD! and after that I chilled at the house until Monday Night Football came on and went over to the Bryants to watch the game with Matt.

Tuesday was yet another boring day. I did laundry and homework and then I went to the church and hung out some more. And then waited until my Dad got home and I came back to school. Boring day I know.

Today Wednesday. I created my first budget... $200 is not a lot to work with. Needless to say I have $17.82 until November 15th! I am kinda excited to see how far I can make $17 go. It should be interesting! But other than that this has been a boring post.