Just A Foot Print .com

2006-11-28T19:41:00.000-08:00

So, I am sitting an scrolling through a bunch of web pages and thought that it has been a really long time since I have writen in my blog. In fact so much has happened to me that I can't even think of where to start.

My Strength Comes From God

2006-09-20T12:46:00.000-07:00

I won my second triathlon. It was the season end Triathlon at Wasaga beach. There was just under 400 participants in my event which was the most I have ever raced against. My family as well as my coach’s family was there to watch an support me which is probably why I did so well. Thanks.

Doug Pilkington

2006-09-19T13:11:00.000-07:00

My brother in laws father just died, Doug Pilkington. He was 58 years old this year and was a husband, father, and grandfather. He died to a sudden stroke after a twenty minute bike ride. His death made me think about my father and how devistated I would be to loose him. There is so much more I want from my father and there is so much more I want to give him.. so now everytime I think of Doug I think of my father and the small amount of time I have left with him. Makes you think of how fragile we are, even if we feel on top of the world. It makes me think of how I often consider my life mine, through my choices I can stay alive. Though in reality, what was given to me by God can also be taken away just as easily.

“Your life is but a vapour, it appears for a little while and then vanishes away.”

The West Coast Pacific Rim Trail

2006-08-11T11:53:00.000-07:00

From July 31st to the 6th of August I followed a winding, treacherous trail on the western shore of Vancouver Island. The trail was originally established in 1890 because of the thousands of deaths that took place on the shoreline. So many Ships sunk on this fog-prone coastline that it was given the name “the grave yard of the pacific.” Though when modern technology became reliable enough the trail was no longer needed for washed up sailors and such. At that time ambitious hikers looking for a challenge took the trail over. In the recent years the West Coast Trail has attracted over 8000 hikers per year and though they come to experience the beauty they are also challenged by the most arduous and dynamic hiking terrain in the world. Described, “as the toughest trek in North America” by many, there is still those that would agree with me, “it’s a walk in the park.”

I have taken just under 400 pictures of my travels…I know, I know, there’s a lot though I just couldn’t stop that index finger. Highlights; well the highlight for me was meeting such a wide range of culture, which inevitably comes with the diverse nationality. I met only three people from Canada and a whole slew of people from around Europe as well as the all over the eastern world. Talking with these people was a pleasure, from the heavy accents, to the unreal lives these people lead. Another highlight was of coarse the profound beauty of this coastline. I must tell you that most of BC is beautiful but the West Coast Trail is especially beautiful.

My suggestion for anyone wanting to the West Coast Trail in the future is to pack light, light, light! And plan to do it in ten days not 5-7 as the site suggests. You need time to chill and with 5-7 days it’s go-go-go.

hike it up.....tri a tri to...

2006-07-20T10:14:00.000-07:00

Well I have been crazy busy. Trying to pack my schedule as full as possible. But, now its time for a break. I am going to Vernon, British Colombia to chill with all my old friends and then I will be on the west coast trail on Vancouver Island! 10 days of pure exhilaration covering a wide variety of terrain including 70ft rope bridges. I am taking my mother and sister along....I hope they make it alright. The trail is fairly renowned and people travel from around the world to hike it. Do you think I am excited...heck ya! God is definitely blessing me. My life is rolling along pretty good though I wish I could make more time for God. Though I believe that my vacation will help me to clear my head and draw crazy close to God.
On another note, I participated in my first triathlon last weekend; and I won! Hurray! It’s a sprint mini and it rocked. It was on the shore of Ontario Lake in Toronto. It went great and I can't forget to mention my great company. One of my best friends came for the whole day and gave me crazy awesome support! What a blessing. The triathlon consisted of 400m swim, 10k bike ride, and 2.5k run. There was 140 people participating and to top it off this year had more participants than the last several years. My parents are so proud. Signing off for now and I will throw some pictures on soon. T-1 hour and 30min…(lets fly)

The PFF. sky dive!

2006-07-03T06:59:00.000-07:00

Jfjdjslkdj;lgkjal;gdkhjal;ksgl;kajsd So I went to go sky diving on July 1st with my father though after the six hour prep class and exam the wind had picked up to 35 km and a storm was moving in. So my father and I didn’t end up going though we have the next 60 days to rebook. I signed my father and myself up for the PFF sky dive. This means Progressive Free Fall. The cool thing about PPF is we get to dive and free fall by ourselves on the first shot, which is basically unheard of; though the swoop Dundas skydiving school offered it. What happens in PFF is there are two instructors diving on each side of you and if you don’t pull the shoot they will pull out your pilot for you; which ignites your shoot. Then you glide to the ground for about five minutes and the radio strapped to you allows the instructor to talk you through the maneuvers and landing procedure. I can’t wait.

Swoop sky diving

wedding photos

2006-06-03T19:04:00.000-07:00

Went to one of my friends weddings from grade school and it was great! I got to see alot of old friends and I captured some perfect moments with my camera. I was working with photoshop and created these.

other neat photos...

Cow Milking...!!!....Have you done it?

2006-05-22T08:06:00.000-07:00

So a couple weekends ago I went to NY and got to milk a cow with my sis. I have to say it wasn't all I hoped and dreamed for...well I didn't really dream for it..lol. but it was still pretty neat. Anyway I just had time to upload pictures from both the cow milking exerience and my sister Laura's Grad from Davis. check em out @ www.JUSTaFOOTPRINT.com in the 2006 picture menu.

God has given and God has taken away.

2006-05-22T08:02:00.000-07:00

My Aunt Betty died a week ago and her funerals today... my moms pretty sad right now... though my aunt was a strong christian so shes with her father in heaven now. Rock on...so jealous... in heaven with God!!! gtg.

Sad... / ...Happy

2006-05-14T13:20:00.000-07:00

I wrote an entry and lost it...So sad...Due to my negligence though. So I think I was talking about transporting a garage from the other side of the street. One of our neighbors was getting rid of a gargage and we asked if we could take it. So wall by wall and roof piece by roof piece many a people transferred the garage from one property to another. Though the walls are all up and together there is still a lot of work to be done. We did basically move it all in one day!

so its mothers day today and I think my mother is having a great time. My step mother that is. Though I didn't call up my biological mother yet. Will have to do that now.........ahhh no answer, I had to leave a message. Went to Hope church this morning with my father and the pastor preached on a cultural tendency. That being, we tend to make ourselves an idol and put ourselves in the place of God. The pastor was actually Farley sporadic with his thoughts though they did capture my attention non the less. We read about Micah in Juges 17 and how he made a 'satellite' temple and said "surely God will bless me." We often think that God will never put us through trials, though God will always have our best interests in mind, He may put us through hard times. The pastor ended from a verse about Job and how Job had almost everything and then everything was taken away and he was left with nothing. But still Job said...The Lord has given and the Lord has taken away all praise to Him. So basically the Pastor was trying to say the lord will bless us on His terms not on ours.

Back on Line!

2006-04-30T05:41:00.000-07:00

Just got the computer back from the repair shop...ya! Life is good...lets see what is new in my life.................................oh. I am biking everywhere and I am taking my car off the road for the summer. this, I hope will provoke me to bike and not to slack and say "well I am just going to take the car". In addition up in Canada the gas prices are unforgiving so giving up a car full of terrible expenses doesn't seem so bad. I joined a summery hockey league and a summer bball team....funfun. Oh we just put on an addition on our house and it looks so much better. I will have to take a picture for the blog, but until then you can all imagine.....lol.

A Happy Australian Snow Day

2006-03-05T17:19:00.000-08:00

Recently our family had some Australians stay at our house for a while and my father captured the Australian foreign snow look. lol. perfect!

Citius, Altius, Fortius (faster, higher, stronger)

2006-03-05T16:41:00.000-08:00

Wow…I got day shift for who knows how long…God rocks! At work I am working in the tool room fixing molds and working with electrical from 7am-3:30pm. God rocks!

It’s Sunday and the service was humbling. Mr. Mann, the pastor of Yes Church talked about the passion of the Olympic athletes and the zealous drive they have in reaching the goals they set out to accomplish. And for what? For a medal, for temporary praise; for something that is fleeting and only of this world. The challenge Mr. Mann delivered to us, is how much more passion and tenacity should we have for serving the Lord who holds treasures for us that are unfathomable by our finite human minds. Its great to start a trek make a footprint in the direction, but starting well only has value if you finish well.

Create a vision in your life and drive for the goal, says the Holy Sprit through the vessel of Mr. Mann.

I love to run in marathons and I am ambitious to participate in a triathlon. After long research into a bike for a tri I decided to check out a bike show. On Saturday, I went to the international bike show in Toronto. I found a bike which was a good deal and purchased it…So excited to get it on the road after all this slush goes away!

Exposition

2006-02-22T22:36:00.000-08:00

Is it hard to expose yourself? Of course it’s hard to expose yourself. One of the hardest things someone can do is show who they really are.

Though for some, it’s obviously not as hard as others…

Why do we tend to hide who we truly are and in public live a carefully chiseled character?

We know what others want to see and thus it becomes easier to go with the flow then against the current.

What happens when you expose yourself?

You get support
Set free from a mask
You become real
You no longer need to hide
You can begin to really live
Your conscience becomes at ease

“Exposition leaves you no where to hide and leaves you nothing to hide from.”

Northern Jesus Praising - You Coming?

2006-02-17T08:18:00.000-08:00

Going on a youth retreat this weekend to get a little more Jesus in me and to get CHANGED! Going up north and doing some northern skating and Jesus praising.

The White Wave

2006-02-09T09:32:00.000-08:00

Yesterday champagne powder covered the small, Blue Mountain ski resort. After a cramping three hour ride north to the mountain Jason and I arrived at its base. Looking upon the artificial blizzard pumping over the mounds of fresh snow it was saddening, though we couldn’t help but be excited. We jumped on our boards and began our boarding adventure. It was nostalgic to be back on my board after a year in Florida where there was no snowboarding to be found. After surfing for most of last year I grew home sick for the northern white wave. So here I was strapping in and hearing my contemporaries buckles clicking just as I remembered, it was if I just snowboarded the day before. After a six hour ride darkness began do spread its blanket, we decided to retreat to the car. Another drive and I was back at home finishing the night off with a good book.

Bring the light to the darkness and the truth to the lies

2006-02-01T01:31:00.000-08:00

Tonight I went to Freedom House, which is the name of a church that I tend to go to more often then others. Boy was there a message strait from God; I believe it was said for me in particular though it was fairly broad that anyone could have eaten some of that meat. Interestingly enough it wasn’t even the main message that spoke volumes to my heart it was the occasional blurb that pierced. The main message was about honesty, and about who we are under the mask we wear. Even more to the point; are we only our entity or is our identity more than what are entity is. First we looked at an article that argued that we are our entity and every piece of our entity is directly what we are. Next we looked at a comic of two older people talking in an internet chat room and telling each other what they could have been best at 40 years ago as if it were the present. Though the comic picture shows the real story and how the man and lady are actually far from what they are weaving with their words. Then we looked at another article explaining that we are a lot more then just our entity because we have the ability to change elements outside our being. The argument was written air tight, using the analogy of O2 and CO2 and how we inhale certain elements and exhaled chemically altered ones. In conclusion there was a cool piece of writing that was composed by the speaker which is similar to what I wrote about myself:

Secretly I am mad when I try my best but still don’t succeed
Secretly I am a “glass half empty” person
Secretly I am shy and an introvert
Secretly I think I am dumb
Secretly I wonder if I am handicapped sometimes
Secretly I am most often wondering about what others are thinking about me
Secretly I have low self-esteem
Secretly I don’t what to get married though I know it’s what I need
Secretly I hold back a good thing when people around me expect me to
Secretly I stray from relationships because I am selfish with my time and resources
Secretly I know that relationships are more important than what I would sacrifice to get them
Secretly I need a close friend
Secretly I find myself wanting things this stupid world has to offer
Secretly I hate when people tell me my idea a time later and juice it up a bit and count it there’s
Secretly I have a hard time breaking from my(really Gods) money
Secretly I try to be smart
Secretly I hate that I present myself as vulnerable because I most often become the butt of the joke
Secretly I wonder where the heck God went sometimes
Secretly I slack in things that count and push myself in things that won’t ever matter
Secretly I wish I wasn’t a burden to people
Secretly I wish I could be just smart enough to keep from being a burden to people
Secretly I take pride in how fast I can tie my shoes
Secretly I often know very little about what I pretend to know a lot about
Secretly I forget so fast I get frustrated with myself
You know those guys that use big words to sound smart but aren’t, Secretly I am one of those people
Secretly I want to be more passionate about everything
Secretly life seems so short and yet I blow it most of the time
Secretly I will only go so far and then give up
Secretly I wish I got all the jokes people pop
Secretly I wish I could be a better communicator
Secretly I want what I don’t have instead of cherishing what I do
Secretly I don’t feel I am living up to the expectations of my parents
Secretly I am fairly lazy
Secretly I am scared that I know what my destiny is though I am to comfortable going with what someone tells me that I won’t fulfill it
Secretly I feel that I fail to meet the expectations of my Mom, Dad, Co-workers, Boss
Secretly I feel my father has been a Christian want to be his whole life
Secretly I feel I have to work on my reading
Secretly I need to work on my times tables
Secretly I think my step Mom is cruel and judgmental
Secretly life seems so worthless
Secretly the thing that satisfies me is to build or create something
Secretly I hate working at my family business
Secretly I get weighed down when there is expectations over my head that I don’t believe I can fulfill

where is your EYE?

2006-01-30T13:36:00.000-08:00

Another day of play and another day of work. What am I aiming for and am I looking at the target or are my eyes straying. Interestingly enough if you are shooting at an opening in a net or throwing darts your eyes have a lot to do with where the object will end up. Looking at the exact place you want the object to fall is a key to how accurate you are in getting it there. The same concept undoubtedly applies to the direction of our lives. Where is our focus, what will people say about us when we are gone, what do we want more then anything in the next ten years, and “what are we shooting for!” These are some open ended questions that often help me. By asking these questions, I can get my focus or eyes if you will, back where they should be. God is in these questions for my life, but often I tend to squeeze God into these goals. Though what I have found works well, is starting with God in your long term goals and then build rather then ending with the creator of the universe…

My father and I have been enjoying some awesome father to son talks about a variety of life’s struggles and kinks. We are starting to build a strong relationship of a different type then what we previously had. In such, my father has become a more directed mentor for me. In a conversation about different qualities I had and lacked, he said there is one area that I need to work on. My extroverted character. I guess I have, over time, built myself into an introverted individual: Staying at home instead of going out among the goats, being a monotone speaker, and lacking passion in many areas in my life. Well where can I pick the ball up again? Where can I find a passion to bur onto?

A life within a life

2006-01-27T00:30:00.000-08:00

The chilly night hosted a full moon that cast eerie shadows in the woods. The dripping of water from the trees made a hollow lonely sound. Wind moved soundlessly through the forest, carrying with it a light mist. It was raining hard on the canopy of the forest. The ground was soft and unstable, hidden under layers of moss and dead plant life. A dark figure emerged through the mist, trudging along the rough unused path of the forest. A cloak was wrapped around the ominous figure tightly, just as the hood and muffler. A bright ray of moon light passing through the canopies foliage strayed across the path lighting up the figure’s face. A young maiden looked in the direction of a sudden noise, her eyes piercing through the shadows but finding nothing. Her face was not of a stunning magnificence, but held unique enchanting beauty. Her countenance as well as her face relayed a determined look. In her hands she carried a basket; its contents sealed tightly by a cloth. The forest was keeping a close eye on this young maiden. The forest hardly ever has visitors, nor do many travelers dare to take the gloomy path within it.
The maiden appeared and disappeared behind the long shadows of the tree trunks. She walked steadily onwards to her destination. The cold wind blew against her, licking her bare skin which sent shivers down her spine. She went to lean behind a tree, but as she approached the crooked trunk, a raven swooped down from a branch and clawed at her hood, pulling it off her head. The maiden eagerly grabbed a stick from the ground and swung at the raven, but the raven had long gone and was no where to be seen. The young lady shakily pulled her hood back over her head and wrapped her muffler tighter. Her basket was still hooked tight in her arm as she started off again.
The trees began to get denser along the path as her brisk walk continued. The moonlight was being filtered by the thick branches roofing the path from the rain. Thin spidery branches hung low and tugged at her clothes as she walked on. Roots strayed across the path catching her feet. An owl hooted behind her, and as she turned around to look her foot caught on a root and tripped her. The basket rolled out of her hands as she hit the ground with a dull thud. She leaned up on her hands as a tear silently rolled down one cheek. The maiden sat up, clutching her knees as she kept alert to her surroundings. After a few minutes all was still silent so she got up and went to pick up her basket. A strong gust of wind sailed down the path from behind her, ruffling her cloak and skirt pushing her down the path. The forest was warning her—it did not like her there; “continue if you dare,” it said. The girl reached under the cloth covering her basket and pulled out a large stone that fit roughly into the palm of her hand, and then she took out a small wooden stick that was pointy at one end and thick at the other. She held both the rock and the stick together, thick end pinned tightly to the stone.
“Grow,” She whispered, and then blew onto the stick and stone, “Unite.” The stick then spurted tentacles that wrapped themselves around the stone making the stone and the stick one. “Lumière,” She said as she squeezed the stone quickly. A blue light emanated from the tip of the stick showing her the path that lay ahead. She could afford no more delays; time was running out.

Holding the morphed stick out in front of herself, she continued down the path. The illumination from the wand like instrument shed light quite a ways, piercing the darkness with day like brilliance. It seemed that the power that she now held in her hand gave her new confidence. And where she found new confidence, the forest drew back out of fear and recoiled as a realization was instilled in every fibrous leaf. This realization was that this was not just any lady; this young maiden held power from on high and within her lived the spirit of the Holy Ghost.
As she progressed through the dark, hollow forest she stopped dead at a rock face. Her eyes scanned its length; looking from side to side. Fairly strait the wall of rocks ran further then her eyes would take her. The rock face looked more like the wall of a castle then a simple pile of rocks. Its height, comparable to its length was staggering, for she could not even set her eyes upon its top. Hopelessness began to feed the maidens spirits, but at that feeling she collapsed to her knees and tilted her head upward toward the sky. Words of a nature not of this earth were spoken toward the heavens. Weakness overcame her flesh and the Holy Ghost stirred within her. The young maiden rose to her feet. Her eyes clamped shut, she moved among the uneven ground and amongst the thorns drawing closer to the wall. Stopping a few feet from the rocks, she slowly extended her hand. A cold shiver was all that greeted her, as her fingers met nothing but the clammy air. Opening her eyes she saw that there was a fault in the rocks, large enough for a grown man to crawl through. It was easy to see that it was the only passage to the top of the cliff. She would have to go spelunking.
The young maiden pushed her basket in ahead of herself and then followed it with determination. Crawling; the ceiling of the cave was about two inches from her head and rocks on either side jutted out making her weave through the narrow tear. As she labored for every foot of ground the ceiling began to slope down until the cave was a foot high. She no longer was crawling but lying prostrate, pushing herself and her basket on ahead with an impending sense of claustrophobia. As she moved along the cavern, the air became musty and the walls damp. The distinct squeals of rats followed her but she gave no notice for she was absorbed in what she was facing. As time passed, the squeals progressively became louder. The rats were close. The maiden could no longer ignore the sound echoing through the burrow. Her heart began to beat faster. She felt the first bite come down hard and fast; her right slipper was torn and her bottom lip quivered with pain. She kicked back in reflex action moving the rats back for a short time. The tunnel was such a tight fit; it wouldn’t allow her to turn back even if she wanted to: she could only kick at them. It wasn’t very effective. The rats would come right back anyway but it was all she could do for now. The rotted yellow teeth were now through the soft slipper that enveloped her foot. Tears flowed from her eyes and slipped down her cheeks as repeated bites began to draw blood. Enduring the assault, she moved at a good pace and with strength of mind she overcame the pain. After those few minutes witched seemed like eternity, a stream of light caught the maiden’s eye. Glancing up ahead, moonlight gleamed down the tunnel. She moved quickly to reach the light. The cave began to open, welcoming the fresh air. The new air came as earthly salvation to lungs that hadn’t drawn a full breath in a long time. The surface was close. A sharp bite to her left foot; she kicked the furry beast away. At long last the moons light fell on her face and the rats disappeared back into the darkness where they had first come.
Clear of the cave she turned to examine her feet. Both slippers were torn and both feet were bleeding in several places. As the moons light sparked at the sight of her tears, she slipped her hand once again into her basket. Retrieving a coiled, bright, red leaf the maiden unrolled it. Thick green ooze lay on the surface. She applied the medicinal aid to her wounds. Ripping a few strips from her muffle, the young maiden tightly wrapped the wounds on her foot. After perfecting the bandage she sat still for a short moment.
Balancing, as not to put to much weight on her toes, she rose with purpose seething from within her. Attempting a step she dropped to her knees. Tears once again threatened to come alive. She let herself fall on her face and spoke in a reverent plea to a presence that was not visible, yet by faith remained firm.
“Lord, undeservingly I come before you. I request that you heal these mortal wounds. I ask that you also quicken the spirit that lives in me, laying on the fullness of your presence. Now, calling upon you oh great physician, heal me so that I might not lean on my own strength but yours. I ask this in the precious name of the most holy, Jesus Christ.”
Once again she pushed herself to stand and with wonder she stood with no pain, jumping and dancing the young maiden praised the Lord.
The forest was now at her back, where death was hiding in the dark and where evil pleasure held life within its cruel claws. Looking around for the first time the maiden realized the life that emanated from her surroundings. Blossoming flowers filled the trees, and beads of due magnified each color perfectly. There was no longer a canopy that hid the sun and the moon light. But now the eastern sky allowed the sun to rise and beam in all its brilliance. The maiden was ready for whatever lay ahead and as she lifted her head to the sky a blinding light of hope shown within her eyes.

love

2005-12-24T11:06:00.001-08:00

I pray that you are having a blessed Christmas.

What a change I am seeing in the way people are acting toward each other in this christmas season. It’s like we think that this season is a time of love and that the rest of the year doesn’t count. Why must love be boxed into one season and not broadcasted to every moment.

I was told about a website that gives creative and simple ideas on how to show love at various ocations throughtout the year. Servantevangelism.com is a website dedicated to giving practical and personal ideas of showing Christ’s love in whatever season. Remember love is an action not a thought or feeling that sits dormant. be and bring the love...

what am I...

2005-12-10T16:37:00.000-08:00

I am a Christian. Though as a Christian I will not pretend I have it all figured out, that I have all the answers you want and desire. Though, I will testify that I have been lead to the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ and have had the Lord open my eyes to Himself. You must understand that I do not hold a religion of any kind; I do not seek to follow the traditions of man but the words of God. I am without the label of a Baptist, Methodist, Pentecostal, or a Reformed, though I am simply a “Christian.” What does that mean? The actual words from the Greek are translated “little Christ.” That is what I aspire to be every day, though I am not yet perfected, so I am not without fault. I tell you the truth, there are many lies in this world and lies are what seek to blind us from the truth. This world is infected with the inhabitants of many beings that are desperately seeking to blind all from the promise of one vital truth. If someone promised that there is an escape wrought out of certain death, wouldn’t you want to know the words of that promise, so you could escape? The lies are death, but the bible tells of the promise, the promise is the path, and life is at its end.

a new day, a new hour, a new job, a new life

2005-10-07T13:14:00.000-07:00

I have arrived back in Ontario and am now starting my new job… my new life. I am trying to get my body on track with this job’s schedule. I work two weeks of nights and then I flip to two weeks of days on a continental twelve hour shift. I am perusing a millwright ticket and I am putting in hours by starting with a job titled “mold tec.” So I am basically learning how the processes of injection molding work. Eventually I will be applying this knowledge by troubleshooting and maintenance for the furtherance of the business…funfun. I am trying my hardest though sometimes I get “blah” for lack of vocabulary, so if you could pray for me and my work ethic; that I might work for God and not for a keen eye of a supervisor.

Here are some pics from my summer in B.C.

The present is where I am, and where I should be

2005-09-16T18:09:00.000-07:00

One day, just one flippen day, can you believe it!!!argg.. I come all the way to Florida and the waves hold up one day and then digress to a flat, stagnant, festering puddle...can you read my sadness. I so badly want to surf and the waves just don't respond to my calling...lol. What can you do hey. I am making the best of it though, and the families that took me in are awesome; and strong Christians to boot. I shouldn't complain, the weather is good and I am having some good times. I recently came upon an idea that helped me and even pierced me. I have this problem of always being on the move and looking to the end of things. This builds to such an extent that I stop focusing on the present and instead put all my mind on the end. This might not seem like a big problem but I see how dramatically this one characteristic has affected my life. You see, I hardly ever stop, calm myself, and take in my surroundings while on the way to the goal or finish line in my next task. I believe this creates missed potential fun, relaxation, and feeling in my life. I am often so busy concentrating on the end that I rarely take in the present until the past. To explain that brain teaser, I often think back just after the event and realize what fun I had, instead of realizing and eating in the great times while I am experiencing them. I hope you all understand all that I have wrote. Anyways, from now on focusing more on the present then the future/end. (though still keeping that in mind.)

Meeting The Hoplessness

2005-09-05T21:21:00.000-07:00

My summer continues and I am constantly meeting new people. Meeting new people throughout the beaten path of life is such a privilege and is simply, neat. When I meet someone I want so badly to pick their heads and find out everything about their life in hope that I will find something that I can apply to my life, or possibly something that I could help someone with down the road. It is interesting though, coming from a Christian perspective; I see the hopelessness and the futility of not having meaning in life. You see how people want only happiness in life, and then you see them seek that happiness out in all the wrong places. It’s like they go from day to day, from one fix to the next, or as Solomon puts it; it's like “casing the wind.” If they ever find happiness, it turns out that it only lasts for a short time and then its gone. If only I could more effectively pitch the gospel and the endless joy that envelopes your life once you immerse yourself wholly and completely in it. Though I continuously have to bring myself back to the reality that I am not really doing anything. It’s the Holy Spirit. While in British Colombia I have met an awesome family. within just a couple of days I learned, about hospitality, love, and trust. I pray that I don’t stop engaging in social events, where I meet new people and reflect to them Jesus Christ in everything I do and say.

It was a sunny day in the small, quiet city of Vernon; a day when you know something good has to happen, because the air is ripe and the water is close by lapping on the shore. Then it happened, a hand was extended and a life was changed forever.

A white, plastic disc made its repeated rounds encompassing the Wood’s yard in a square pattern, feeling boxed in to say the very least. Then appeared a ball of beans that soared into the air any number of times, and on occasion flew hard, at the backs of the expectant. A near by young man, stood watching the onslaught of the weak; scanning the expressions of the different individuals involved. In so doing, the young man stumbled across a face, holding eyes that had a reflection of pure beauty and that radiated with life. The sun slowly burned the day away and the two pairs of eyes met several more times before the day had tapered off. As the darkness moved in, the young man looked in awe at the landscape; featuring a lake, mountains, and a radiating moon that filled the sky with its crepuscular rays. The young mans mind contemplated how anyone couldn’t see a creator in all the beauty and intricacies of just this one view. The night of the youths was spent out in the open, where friends lay in the cool air snuggling in blankets and looking to each other for the comfort of warmth. Another day was catalyzed at the breaking of the sun only to create another beginning to another end.

in memory of our summer together

God's got MAD SKILL'S

2005-08-27T11:02:00.000-07:00

On the plane ride across Canada, from Ont to BC, I talked to the guy beside me periodically. I was some how trying to bring up Christianity in a nonchalant manner, as not to scar yet another potential away, before relaying my testimony and the gospel message. I must admit I was hesitant and not only that; butterflies were raging in my stomach. I was scared and how sad is that; being scared to tell a mere human about my creator, Lord, and savior. It’s the best news I have ever heard and yet I shy away from a perfectly good opportunity to share it. Well I was about to burst out with something when the captain of the plane informed the passengers that we were coming in for a landing and to buckle up… there was no time left… I failed! What the heck, all because I was so selfish and incompetent...! Well I am happy to tell you that though a mere human as I failed: God succeeded! The plane descended fairly rapidly from above the clouds, to in the clouds, then below the clouds; the runway was in sight… The plane leveled preparing for a landing and then without any warning, the plane pulled back up above the clouds once again. Before long the captain came on the PA explaining how the runway was tied up and he went on in saying we had to circle around for another approach which would take approximately five minutes. NO DOUT IN MY MIND! God himself gave me those minutes and I acknowledged such an act. I wasted no time in edging into a conversation and got to show not only the man to my left the gospel and my testimony but also the man sitting to my right who curiously peaked over my soldier listening intently. Praise God from whom all blessings flow! WOW, He is able to work beyond imagination and to an extent no one knows.

People say they want a specific miracle to believe in God; I say why box God in, instead ask him to open your eyes to the reality of the miracles that are breaking the matrix all around you.

The Sunflower Seed

2005-08-25T10:05:00.000-07:00

After school was officially out at the end of the summer, I was making my way up to Canada; though I decided to take a five days or so and go surfing. So I stopped at a few friends houses on the east coast and I had a stupendous time. Both of my friend’s homes that I stayed at were conveniently close to the ocean front and very hospitable. In addition, I learned so much about surfing and scurfing (which I found out was the terminology for surfing behind a boat). But my time quickly ran out and I needed to start making my way back up to Ontario to catch my flight to BC (which is on the west coast of Canada). I drove 26 hours with two hours of sleep under my belt and I will tell you that is probably not the best way to drive. I have a couple of techniques that I picked up over the years from all my road trips as to how to stay awake. All should know that opening the car windows, having the music blaring, and eating something all help you to stay awake. Though I found that I still tend to fall asleep with such practices. So in addition to those three techniques; I find that eating not just any kind of food but something crunchy heightens my awareness tenfold. Another catalyst in staying awake is to listen to an audio book, because in so doing you find that you are too interested and too focused to want to go to sleep. The number one way to stay awake on the road is sunflower seeds. The reason for this is that your mouth is constantly maneuvering the seed to strategically remove the shell from the seed. So though I don’t really hold sunflower seeds in high regard, I still eat them on almost every road trip for one seed could save my life.

I arrived in Ontario safely and the next morning caught a plane to Kelowna B.C. where I am currently residing with my mother. Praise God!

Summer Summery

2005-08-22T14:12:00.000-07:00

Well I finally have time to write in my journal again, I pray that everyone hasn’t totally abandoned reading it because of my extended pause this summer. I guess I should start with a summery of the summer and how it blessed my socks off, unexpectedly, I might add.

I started the summer with no hesitation, Instead I jumped in with both feet and soon found my niche. The people I worked with were so supportive and were an awesome encouragement to me, because if I ever fell short in one area, they would step up and fill in the gap. Though, the kids were the highlight, the most interesting thing I learned from the campers this summer, is how we all struggle with the same issues in life though we create a fallacy when we tell ourselves that we are the only one going through any certain experience; and moreover “no body could possibly understand, or help”. Every week I talked to teens who were struggling with the same areas in life. It’s so awesome to have that big book (The Bible) beside you, because you know that you have a book with all the answers you could ever need, and not only answers, but the right answers every time. You think counseling would be so tuff, but the Bible gave me all I needed to let God help these kids. I believe this summer helped not only the kids but me as well. Besides the peaceful feeling of being in the center of Gods will; I found that my communication skills were heightened, problem solving strengthen, and seeing people for who they can become instead of who they are, which gave me strength.

Anyway as my summer tapered off I started to realize that all the people I have grown so close to over the years would soon be moving on, and so would I. What can you do, life changes, and no matter if it is for the better or for the worse. To myself I would say “God has a plan for the end, even if it’s hard in the present.”

See Ya lata!

2005-06-09T09:50:00.000-07:00

During the summer I am afraid that there will be a shortage of posts due to Word of Life camp and my participation as counselor.

A Life Gaurd

2005-05-22T05:13:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was my first day of training to be a lifeguard through the organization of the YMCA. My teacher is great; having a confident demeanor and a very reassuring attitude our class seems to be motivated; moving along with a positive spirit and a becoming attitude. I never knew all the legalities that came with such a job. It seems that lifeguards have a heavy load to carry when on duty. If procedure is not carried out textbook style a lifeguard could be held responsible. Our course group spent about four hours in class and about four in practical training shriveling into prunes while in the pool. We practiced a variety of distinct dives, stokes, and some neat saving maneuvers. Today we were able to practice mouth to mouth and compressions on some plastic manikins. It was interesting to see the differentiation between the ratio of compressions and breaths administered to adults, children, and infants. As my training continues and my school year comes to an end I am finding that there is so much to be learned out in this massive universe and it’s basically all at our fingure tips. How privileged we are and yet we often take such casual stance on this concept. One interesting fact I recently learned is that back in the industrial age information was doubling every ten years, but now information is doubling every one-year. We are in a time when we have to be very picky, for there is so much to take in and so little time! I suggest starting with the timeless, informative, applicable, living revelation of the Word of God…The Bible!

The Power of Words...

2005-05-16T15:52:00.000-07:00

The website for my church is what I have recently found very informative with a great message for all. The church I am attending is called Watermark, and its in Pasco country, Florida. The neat thing about the website is that it has such a powerful message the moment you click onto their site. I hope that all of you will check it out…all you have to do is click HERE!

Donuts...

2005-05-10T10:45:00.000-07:00

I went to a donut factory with some of my friends and witnessed the creation of hundreds of donuts, and even got to sample a couple…mmm. Then I bought a box full…lol…all ‘down hill’ from there. Click here to see the pictures…it’s really quite thorough.

For all you who have been asking me what the origin of the name of Canada is; I have graciously looked it up: When Jacques Cartier arrived in the St. Lawrence, he asked the local Iroquois(Indians) what lay up river. “Canada,” they replied, meaning, "Our Town". For a expounded meaning, click here.

Chalk Talks

2005-05-09T09:24:00.000-07:00

Sunday was awesome again. The climax is all I will write to you about but the whole day was superb. At supper I was eating with some of my peers and they were thinking of skipping night church and though I wanted to go, I got an impulse to follow the crowd and not go: I didn't. I had a sudden inspiration to go ask someone for a ride to church and convents the person I asked, had one seat left in his SUV. The service was a treat. We had a young man preach about how Jesus only wants a relationship with us and that is the only point. Then he showed us how he was going around the world drawing pictures of the gospel and seeing people getting saved. One of the neatest things about chalk drawings is there is no language barriers. The actual name for this type of evangelism is “chalk talks”. I have heard about these renowned drawings off and on periodically throughout the year though I couldn't quite see how it would work. Though, tonight I did; basically the artist starts off with a sermon...not all the time but dempending on the audience, though when he is done preaching he illustrates with some relaxing music to set the ambiance. So for all you who don't know what a "chalk talk" is, checker out...I took pictures periodically for all of you to see… and if you want some music to listen to look for the Xanga link in the right hand column in blue.

Click Here

Cyclic

2005-05-06T12:42:00.000-07:00

Well, the classes seem to be rotating quicker as we struggle to get through as much matirial as possible. Our days are getting so jamed packed that you just don’t have time to yourself. Though that isn’t so bad, we are learning tunns and it keeps the mind focused. Our schedule is: We have a break on May 27th for a week, then back for counseling training on the 4th of June, and then summer starts with tunns of campers running around rotating so they don’t get tired out…ahhhh. My ankle, being recently sprained, is still swollen from three months ago. I must admit it is getting better though it seems to be takeing an abnormally long time. Though reseaching sprained ankles I have found that they usually take longer to heal then when you break something!…who would have thought.

Love

2005-05-03T16:16:00.001-07:00

I have chosen to engage the topic of love for my research paper in one of my classes at WOLBI. Love is one of the main things Jesus emphasized when he walked the earth way back in AD 25. In fact, the word love encompasses the New Law for the New Testament. I am finding that the word love is so underdeveloped in the western world and in the English language for that matter. We should argue our words and make sure we get the best possible definitions. Our western society, flamboyantly throws this word, “love” around so lightly in some situations, and so intensely in others. I bet if a survey was done with the question, “what is love?” You would get nothing but stunned faces. “Why shouldn’t we quarrel about words? What’s the good of words if we don’t quarrel over them?” As important a word as love is, we should know it pretty scrupulously and even exhaustively. I hope to do a thorough exegete on love. Looking into other languages I found that the Greek language had FIVE different words that packaged love up in a neat and organized bundle. I thought you could chew on these definitions and have it digested, before I come back with the tougher meat…

(Greek)
Agape – giving of yourself without yielding to a “what’s in it for me” it’s a selfless love.

Phileo – Casual "friendly" kind of love.

Epithumia – A strong desire for someone. Referring to the topical or surface attraction: lust. “love at first sight” has derived from this word. "desire, lust, longing."

Eros – Where we get the word “erotic” in the English language. Sexual love or even more often, sexual yearning.

Storge – a deep family love; even more exact a mother to baby relationship.

Wind?

2005-04-29T16:51:00.000-07:00

I had an amazing Sunday as I told André: my roommate. We decided that there is something about Sundays, something special; though we couldn’t identify the exact quality. This Sunday I was driven to church with my best friends, and on the hour drive we caught up on all that we have missed in each other’s lives during our busy week. The pastor, at our abnormally amazing church, put together a superlative message that caught my attention, as usual. It was a run down of the biblical distinction of a man, and how this world seems to be meshing the two genders together so there is not, to a point, that special division or distinction. Now, the book of Proverbs is one thing (being one of my favorite books), and having an awesome teacher teaching proverbs is on a much higher level, though being able to have crispy cream donuts, coffee, and juice during church is on another level all together. I know Church is about the Word of God, and its application to glorifying God in our lives and not the tidbits popped in here and there. Though there is a quality to going to church that we often miss in our cliché church worship. That is the comfort and the intimacy level when taking in the word. Lets be more open having Sunday being special and fun, not a thing to consider not waking up for! Not, the same old routines so that our every word of praise and our every movement becomes a ritual that you perform half asleep and in a daydream of what we COULD be doing.

After church we went off to our lunch; and yet another great meal put on by WOLBI (which is the college I am attending). But sitting outside eating in the sunshine I noticed a napkin float a thermal off someone’s plate. I realized the power of the wind. I also remembered the kite a friend had recently bought me and the stunt kite I had recently bought myself. So I called a huddle, and with Jenny, Becca and Cory we drove off to fly these colorful contraptions. Several minutes later we were at Hudson beach, and connecting the poles with their partners, while trying to keep down the kite until we were ready. Finally we were; and both kites shot up with brilliant ease and composer. Low and behold the kites drew in spectators. Which was a perfect opportunity to put into action the new skills I learned: evangelism. I caught them in a stopped position and gave out about twenty tracks, which were all received with open arms. I pray that they read it, but that’s up to God. After mastering the kites back and forth in the sky we started doing larger sweeps and the one kite caught the strings of the second kite and cleanly cut the line…ahh. The kite landed far enough out in the water to have to get in and swim for the thing. Mmm .. We were fully clothed and it being a chili day only furthered our apprehension at the dark tide. I had to do it – I stripped down to my boxers and swam after that kite. Just when I had secured the safety of the kite, we saw these ducks without a parent and with the enthused encouragement of my friend, I cupped a baby duck. I handed it off to him and I quickly got dressed again. The duck is now a star on campus as he is so cute and learning to follow his master. I never really knew ducks could be pets but I guess they are, and a favorite in the opinion of some.

JuSt A fOoT pRiNt . CoM

2005-04-22T11:36:00.000-07:00

Well My website has, at long last, been revamped and updated... I hope you will all checker out.

Why does the sun orbit the earth at just the right distance to support life? Why is the moon in just the right place so that there are not ten feet tidal waves perpetually invading the coasts? Did humans really come from primordial ooze? Do we humans have a purpose in our lives, or are we just temporary beings chasing the wind? There are so many answers to so many of these kinds of questions, and more, rate hear at Just a footprint! If only you enroll yourself in the possibility you could come to a peace only known by a few… and if nothing else you’ll have had an interesting adventure…Check out JUSTaFOOTPRINT.com and maybe, just maybe, you’ll find out, what element in your life you always thought you were missing but couldn’t really grab a hold of…

Popcorn

2005-04-15T11:34:00.000-07:00

A while back I discovered kettle corn. Which is essentially popcorn with a light taste to it. It doesn’t have all that butter dripping from it like when you go to the movies, though it is still just as good. That of course is my opinion and relative, but there must be somewhat of a consensus because the manufactures couldn’t make profit off of just one buyer…so ya its good. Though this whole popcorn thing got me thinking and I thought I should know what, exactly, I was eating … this is what I found: “A popcorn kernel is actually a seed. Like other seeds, inside it has a tiny plant embryo (a life form in its earliest phase). The embryo is surrounded by soft, starchy material that would give the embryo energy for growing into a plant. A hard, glossy shell protects the outside of the seed.

The soft, starchy material holds some water. When the kernel is heated to a high heat (400 degrees F), the water inside the kernel turns into steam. The pressure from the steam causes the kernel to explode. The soft starch inside bursts out at about 40 times its original size, turning the kernel inside out. This creates the fluffy white area of a popped kernel.

The ideal popcorn kernel contains about 14 percent moisture. If the popcorn is much drier, it will not pop. Popcorn kernels should be kept in a tightly sealed jar so that they will not dry out.”

Source

Pokerfaced

2005-04-14T16:57:00.000-07:00

As you well know, April fools came and went. Though I forgot to tell you one very important event that made my, otherwise ordinary day, pulsing with life and bewilderment. My day started off as any other day, though I had a most momentous occasion to attend: a reunion with my kin. I had not seen my parents for quite some time and finally we could come sit face to face and play catch up on all the outlying events that we both missed in our separation. The four of us were to meet at Davis College, which my sister, Laura, is currently attending. Laura called to tell me that our parents were just about to arrive from their four or five hour journey southward to Davis. So I went through the morning motions of dressing, eating breakfast, and then finally hopping in the car and putting off. Arriving at Davis, I popped out of the car and went in search of two faces instilled in my mind. My Mother, a middle aged women, though of course looking far younger then any of her peers, was, shortly there after, seen by my eyes overly relaxed and with a slight recline in a lawn chair. She was engaged in a conversation with my sister, who was standing adjacent and hovering over a young women’s head, overlaying and under-ducking a weave into her hair. As I steadily approached across the yard I saw that my slim figured mother had gained some wait; pot belly to say the least. I neglected to comment for it would have been rude to say such things. Instead I went in for the customary hug that the situation required. My Mother didn’t get up to hug me, which I thought strange. I quickly overlooked the minor detail in the mist of my excitement. After our small embrace my sister brought up an unexpected event that had taken place within the past few days. It was my car that I had left back at home, it contained all my furnishings for my room and all my personal items; basically a car sized Tupperware that I stored some items in. It had caught fire from some unknown source and had received minor damage, but devastating all the same. After bringing that up, Laura went on to say; “that isn’t the only surprise Justin.” At that point I knew it was not a mere chocolate or a present but something big, something shocking. For she used my name and when someone uses a name in a fraise and context such as this, you know that they took just a second more time out of your unknown so that they could hold in a hanging anticipation. She then gave a nod of her head, and directed my eyes with hers eyes down, down, to the plump belly of my mother. With a second of hesitation, just enough time for my thoughts to swirl through my mind and arrive back at the same place just as bewildered and jangled as before, she said; “Moms pregnant!” with straight-faced enthusiasm. The two of them waited for something to sink in, for a facial expression, anything: though I didn’t know what to express! My face wanted to frown, though I knew I should have been thrilled. A smile maybe? I stood perplexed, flabbergasted, and even more bewildered then before. Trying to arrange the muscle flexing to contort a smile out of the subliminal frown that had started to form. Though just when my face had started to perform as it was directed, my mother began fiddling with her shirt and in unison both Laura and my mother belted two renowned, statistic words; “April Fools!” A shit/baby/trophy came out from underneath the other; and there I stood. I was now disillusioned from their pokerfaced lies, and free from the needle poised at the bubble of my comfort zone. I wanted to go spelunking in some deep cave. I was beat…

Fun In The Sun

2005-04-11T08:12:00.000-07:00

Down here in Florida the weather is gorgeous and now I remember one of the reasons I picked the Florida campus. My ankle seems to be healing speedily from my recent sprain and I am swimming quite frequently in hope of restoring it to full strength. Summer is steadily approaching; the sun seems to burn up the time faster and faster as the months melt away. With this warm temperature the bugs are coming out and those things get into everything...arggg. It seems, one day there is non and not progressively but its like over night they all converse to raid the campus and that is when it happens…dundundun… I never really realized it, though there is amazing bird watching in Florida. The hawks travel higher then most of the airplanes themselves...neat to see. School is as busy as ever and we have Mr. Ryre coming to teach us in the near future. I would assume you have heard of him, but if you haven’t he is a fairly renowned author of countless books and he majors in the “end times” which is eschatology if I am not mistaken. Anyway I should get off this computer and enjoy some of the sunshine…

Just another sunny day in Florida

2005-04-09T13:20:00.000-07:00

Well today it is sunny to the MaX. I woke up and washed and waxed both my car, and my grandparent’s car. Both cars sparked like new. It really does make you feel good to accomplish something; you get this odd high of completion. Anyway it seems as though summer is moving in down here and Florida and everywhere I look there are flowers popping from the ground, in slow motion of course. Well that is all for today, don’t want to stay on this time consuming contraption all day, I need to get out there in the sun…

Pictures of my adventures

2005-04-06T15:20:00.000-07:00

pictures are up and ready, to see them, click here

Spring Break

2005-04-05T18:24:00.000-07:00

Well, I just had spring break and it was awesome… I went with two of my new best friends up to New York (feels so weird saying up now because I am so used to saying down) Interesting individuals; rebellious, yet caring; outgoing, yet selfless.hmm. We headed up and were going to stay at Jennies house with her and her parents. Cory and I didn’t really know what to expect because of the personality of Jenny; though I guess you have to know her to understand. We started the long 24-hour assent up to New York starting in a drizzle that festered into a downpour and then cycled back to a drizzle. Dreary to say the least; actually come to think of it, the rain didn’t stop till we left at the end of the week. Anyway we got there without any mishaps, though tired and cramped. Following the recovery snooze in Jennies parents wicked, nice trailer, we entered her home. Dun dun dun. Welcomed with a hug and breakfast, I was surprised to find that Jenny’s family is not all that different from my own family. For the remainder of the week the three of us were in and out delving into friends and families lives as best we could. A highlight was meeting someone I have been chatting to on AOL for quite a while…a friend of a friend kinda thing. Interesting to put all the characteristics in place blindly before, and then seeing where you were right and wrong. I expect a similar feeling as putting “the tail on the donkey”…lol… blindfold on, blindfold off. The week turned to the home stretch and everything was moving fast. We said our goodbyes to our family with a Denny’s breakfast and headed down to Florida. It was about fourteen hours before we were down far enough to escape the perpetual rain of the northern spring season and to be received into the warm and comforting arms of the sunshine state: Florida. The most relaxing part of the whole journey was when I stopped the car after arriving under the clear blue at a rest stop, grabbing my sleeping bag out of the trunk; I laid in the middle of the side walk, in the sunny morning, curling to sleep…there is nothing like waking up directly into the blaring sunny afternoon of a sun filled day in the state of Florida…Currently getting back into the swing of school…

A Sprain!

2005-03-22T08:21:00.000-08:00

So I sprained my ankle today; which is the first time I have ever, to the best of my knowledge, done anything to hurt my ankle. It was quite surprising that I did hurt it because I took every precaution to prevent an injury (helmet, nee pads, wrist guards) and my ankle just happened to be the only place I didn’t have any padding for. I thought it a good idea to go skateboarding the other day with Cory, and to my surprise I still had a bit of my old skill from back in eleventh grade. To make it better I quickly progressed, learning a new trick or two. I was excited, though the play was in action and it required my full attention the next couple of days. However one morning there was an hour gap in the schedule between breakfast and our attendance for the play. So I grabbed Steve and we went in the park. One of the only things I wanted to learn to do was drop into the half pipe. So I was warming up though I didn’t warm up quite enough but I needed to face my fears.lol. I decided that I would try and there I go rolling my ankle on the way down…ahh. Sucky, it doesn’t hurt that bad though it’s a swollen.

I went to Orlando with some of the cast from the play. We went to a restaurant called “The Medieval Times” with the knights of the Realm. I don’t really think it was worth the money but it was neat and defiantly a new experience. We all had to eat with our hands and they fed us course after course of food…mmmm. We ate while watching some horses do little tricks and dances, and then knights dueling as the finale. It was defiantly a neat experience and I would recommend it, though I think it might be just a one-time thing.

Random Interesting Facts

2005-03-12T18:25:00.001-08:00

pulled some of the more interesting facts out, I found these things interesting, I hope you do to!
INTERESTING FACTS:
· There are 86,400 seconds in a day.
· A dime has 118 ridges around the edge.
· No word in the English language rhymes with month, orange, silver or purple.
· Rubber bands last longer when refrigerated.
· Peanuts are one of the ingredients of dynamite.
· An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain.
· The average person falls asleep in seven minutes.
· The cost of raising a medium-sized dog to the age of eleven: $6,400.
· The average number of people airborne over the U.S. any given hour: 61,000.
· Honey is the only food that doesn't spoil.

Random Interesting Facts

2005-03-12T18:25:00.000-08:00

INTERESTING FACTS:

· There are 86,400 seconds in a day.
· A dime has 118 ridges around the edge.
· No word in the English language rhymes with month, orange, silver or purple.
· Rubber bands last longer when refrigerated.
· Peanuts are one of the ingredients of dynamite.
· An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain.
· The average person falls asleep in seven minutes.
· The cost of raising a medium-sized dog to the age of eleven: $6,400.
· The average number of people airborne over the U.S. any given hour: 61,000.
· Honey is the only food that doesn't spoil.

Common Read It! It won't bite I Promise...

2005-03-02T18:53:00.000-08:00

Something interesting I received from a family member...

You are called of God (2 Timothy 1:9),
You are the first fruits among His creation (James 1:18)
You are Built upon the foundations of the Apostles and the prophets, Jesus Christ Himself is the Chief Cornerstone (Ephesians 2:20)
You are an ambassador for Christ (2 Corinthians 5:20)
You are forgiven of all sins and washed by his blood (Ephesians 1:7; Colossians 1:14)
You are a new creature (2 Corinthians 5:17)
You are the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19)
The apple of My Father's eye, (Deuteronomy 32:10; Psalm 17:8)
You are being changed into His image (2 Corinthians 3:18; Phillippians 1:6)
You are God's child for I am born again of the incorruptible seed of the Word of God which lives and abides Forever (1 Peter 1:23)
You are Chosen (1 Thessalonians 1:4; Ephesians 1:4, 1 Peter2:9)
You are God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works (Ephesians 2:10)
You are made nigh by the Blood of Christ (Ephesians 2:13)
You are victorious (Revelation 12:11)
You are delivered from the power of darkness and translated into God's Kingdom (Colossians 1:13)
You are Set free!!!!! (John 8:31-32)
You are blessed (Deuteronomy 28:1-4, Galatians 3:9)
You are dead to sin! (Romans 6:2, 11; 1 Peter 2:24)
You are joint heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17)
You are MORE THAN A CONQUEROR (Romans 8:37)
You are sealed with the Holy Spirit of Promise (Ephesians 1:13)
You are elect (Colossians 3:12, Romans 8:33)
You are crucified with Him (Galatians 2:20)
You are free from condemnation!!! (Romans 8:1)
You are circumcised withe circumcision made without hands (Colossians 2:11)
You are redeemed from the curse of the law (Galatians 3:13)
You are Strong in the Lord (Ephesians 6:10)
You are a saint (Romans 1:7, 1Corinthians 1:2, Philemon 1:1)
You are the head and not the tail! (Deuteronomy 28:13)
You are above only and not beneath (Deuteronomy 28:13)
You are in Christ Jesus by His doing. (1 Corinthians 1:30)
You are accepted in the beloved. (Ephesians 1:6)
You are COMPLETE IN HIM. (Colossians 2:10)
You are Alive with Christ. (Ephesians 2:5)
You are reconciled to God (2 Corinthians 5:18)
You are qualified to share in His inheritance (Colossians 1:12)
You are Holy and whithout blame before Him in love (Ephesians 1:4)
You are firmly rooted, built up, established in your faith and over-flowing with gratitude (Colossians 2:11 or you should be!
You are the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 Peter 2:24)
You are overtaken with blessings (Deuteronomy 28:2; Ephesians 1:3)
You are His disciple because you have love for others (John 13: 34-35)
You are the salt of the earth (so get out of the salt shaker!) (Matthew 5:13)
You are One in Christ (John 17:21-23)
You have the mind of Christ (Phillipians 2:5; 1 Corinthians 2:16)
You have access by one Spirit unto the Father (Gebrews 4:16; Ephesians 2:18)
You are in the world as He is in heaven (1 John 4:17)
You are Born of God and the evil one does not touch you (1 John 5:18)
You are a fellow citizen with the saints and of the household of God (Ephesians 2:19)
You are a partaker of His divine nature (2 peter 1:4)
You are raised up with Christ and seated in heavenly places (Colossians 2:12; Ephesians 2;6)
You are beloved of God (Colossians 3:12; romans 1:7; 1 thessalonians 1:4)
You have overcome the world (1 John 5:4-5)
You always triumph in Christ (1 Peter 2:9)
You have everlasting life and will not be condemned (John 5:24; John 6:47)
You have received the power of the Holy Spirit; power to lay hands on the sick and see them recover; power to cast out demons; power over all the power of the enemy and nothing shall by any means hurt you. (Mark 16:17 & 18b; Luke 10:17,19)
You can do all things in Christ (Phillipians 4:13)
Your life is hid with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3)
You POSSESS THE GREATER ONE IN ME BECAUSE GREATER IS HE WHO IS IN ME THAN HE WHO IS IN THE WORLD!!!! (1 John 4:4)
You have the peace of God which passes all understanding (Phillipians 4:7)
You walk in Christ Jesus (Collosians 2:6)
You live by and in the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:2)
You show forth His praise (1 Peter 2:9)
You shall do greater works than Christ Jesus (John 14:12)
You should press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God on YOUR life! (Phillipians 3:14)

Legendary Daniel, Living A Legendary Life!

2005-03-01T10:49:00.000-08:00

I am sorry I haven't written for so long. School has been extremely busy as of late. So since I am so busy at doing my schoolwork I had an epiphany, I could bore all of you with my most resent essay…enjoy…lol.

At the date of 605 BC, there was a young Jewish man named Daniel, who after being taken captive by the Babylonians, was quickly arising through the ranks of this nation, one of the greatest kingdoms ever known. The king was Nebuchadnezzar; and it was he who requested young apprentices to be trained and strained in order to find the best individuals to run and control the different positions of his kingdom. Daniel, backed by God, climaxed at one of the top positions with three other individuals: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego. These four devout followers of God are a great testimony to how God will raise you up, if only you cling to Him with everything you have. Throughout Daniels recorded life we see how Daniel successfully follows the will of God, through not only the hardest of times, but also the smallest and seemingly insignificant areas of life. The hand of God becomes more and more apparent as the reality of Daniels life develops. At the climax of Daniel’s career, he seems to be immersed in the great political decisions and of course intense interpretations of the divine dreams that God had laid upon Nebuchadnezzar and himself. Throughout the courser of Daniels recorded life we see his unfailing devotion for God. Through Daniels tunneled purpose there is a deep-seated respect and a prayer life that towers high above his other admirable characteristics.

From the very beginning of the book of Daniel, we see his devout commitment to God. Daniel made up his mind to live for God in every facet of his life and thus he had a clear and unwavering purpose: to glorify God. You can see even in chapter one of Daniel’s book, what young Daniel’s standards were for his central focal point. But Daniel made up his mind not to defile himself by eating the food and wine given to him by the king. By this simple, though strong thought, penned into the Bible, Daniel tells his readers that he is ensuing a life that would glorify God. A life that will glorify God not only in the big things that we often look at as heroic, but also in the things that most of us look at as minor, or even over look altogether. In this same chapter we also see how strong and deep Daniels roots really go at such a young age. One thing that you must understand is that the society encompassing Daniel, and which he is immersed in, is a very immoral and repulsive one. W.A. Criswell puts it “As the kingdom of Judah reeled dizzily in Wait on idolatry and wickedness, Daniel girded himself to withstand rather than to drift with the current of his time.” You should also understand that this polytheistic society was filled with humans that, just as today, pressure and harass people into doing what they are doing and believing in what they believe. Now, Daniel was in training at the best school available in the country, provided by the king who personally utilized magicians, enchanters, sorcerers, and astrologers for answers to his everyday problems and concerns. At the palace Daniel learned for three long years by charismatic manipulative professors. These professors undoubtedly brought their polytheistic beliefs to the surface both subliminally and intentionally, at least enough to drill into any mind that what they said, is what is, period. The powerful words of Fred M. Barlow state “Daniel was subjected to such studies and every intention of the idolatrous masters to make a heathen of him.” All this pressure for him to backslide, Daniel must have just brushed it all aside, staying strong in his purpose and not turning apostate. Much later in Daniels life, he is tantalized again by Satan and was offered the heirdom to the most powerful kingdom at that time and of course a plethora of riches. Though looking at Daniels purpose once again, to glorify God, we see that he is motivated differently from the current of the world. Daniel has rid himself of worldly desires and is solely interested in the will of the Lord. The words of Daniel’s jealous opposers, the princes and administrators in chapter six of the book of Daniel, proved that Daniel was in fact set apart, sanctified. “We shall not find any occasion against this Daniel, except we find it against him concerning the law of his God.” What an amazing crime to be tried for! In conclusion W.A. Criswell says, “The great revival (under Josiah) may have been lost upon the wicked Jehoahaz and Jehoiahim and Zedekiah and Jehoiachin, but the revival round a glorious response in the hearts of Daniel and Hanianiah and Mishael and Axariah.”

One of the most admirable characteristics that Daniel has, is his deep-seated respect for not only his friends and elders but also, so much more apparent, for his enemies; or rather those you would consider to be his enemies. This Characteristic of Daniel is one that really stands out in his approach to a wide variety and flavors of situations he encounters. In our postmodern society we have forgotten to bring something back in addition to traditional styles of art. It is easy to see that teenagers in our present age, just don’t have the same appreciation for those that have walked the path of life before them. In Daniel’s life there are countless mediums that must have festered a sharp reverence for his God. A reverence that seemed to carry over, or more, overflowed from one focus of his life, God, to all surrounding aspects of his life. The first instance where you can clearly see Daniels respect for his elders is in chapter 1 verses 8-14 of the book of Daniel. Daniel is presented with a relatively scrumptious meal, though it is against his Jewish heritage and beliefs, specified from the commands of God, not to eat the majority of the food. He makes his decision that he would not defile himself by taking part in it. Daniel met a situation that he didn’t want to go along with. Now, this is some thin ice Daniel is walking on; for this is the food that has been ordered down from the king himself. Strong willed Daniel approaches the situation by simply asking for permission to eat something other than what has been layer out for him. “He didn’t just stamp his foot or talk piously about how he had to obey God rather than man, no, he simply asked permission of his elders, the older men over him.” We see how big of a request this really is when the chief official says “I am afraid the king will have me beheaded for neglecting my duties.” So Daniel pushes once more asking if he could possibly have a ten day trial or test to see if this diet was actually better then his veggie delight. The attendant agreed. It’s that gentle approach that won the heart and swayed the balance of those authorities over him. It is the element of respect Daniel has and how it is most always, no matter how low he puts himself, working to his benefit. It even seems that the more he humbles himself and the lower he puts himself, is the instances he receives the most respect and gets what he is looking for. Taking into consideration, that this characteristic of Daniel can only be presented to us predominantly in his speech, it is enough to see his consideration, love, and encouragement for those around him.

To run hand in hand with Gods plan, and essentially God, you need a prayer life; such was the life of Daniel. In the words of Theodore H. Epp “not all the prominent men of Scripture had a prayer life equal to that of Daniel’s.” Paging through the book of Daniel you will find that Daniel set aside at least three periods of time per day to fellowship with God. It is noted in 2 Chronicles 7:12-16 that prayer is needed and should be brought before God in a manner such as this. It is suspect that Daniel had a prayer life prior to that of being taken captive from Judea and thus knew this request of God. Often routines such as these wear off and humans tend to go stagnant. Though it is easy to see that even as Daniel climes the political later of some renowned kingdoms, he stays consistent and never becomes too busy to pray. “Someone has said, ‘if you are too busy to pray, you are too busy.’” Daniel may not have known this exact quote but there is no doubt that he knew the principle. One of the chief occasions, that we see Daniel in intense connection, prayer, with God, is when King Nebuchadnezzar had a dream that no human person could interpret. For this is when Nebuchadnezzar had one of his dependable fits of anger and sentenced all his magicians, enchanters, sorcerers, and astrologers, and the wise men to be put to death. Unless of course someone could tell him the dream which he had no remembrance of and more, go on in interpreting it for him. Daniel was one of these men that was in a position in which he would have been subject of death. As soon as Daniel found out about this decree, he must have felt a tad bit happy. For he knew, and had a relationship, with the only one who did know what the dream was, and what it meant. Daniel, remarkably, took the same steps of what is recorded in the New Testament; to come together with more than one and pray, and if it is the will of the Lord, it will come to about. Daniel called on three of his friends and urgently requested a prayer gathering. The details of their prayer session are not given to us, though a prayer of thanksgiving that follows this ominous revelation of the kings Dream, is given.

"Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever;
wisdom and power are his.
21 He changes times and seasons;
he sets up kings and deposes them.
He gives wisdom to the wise
and knowledge to the discerning.
22 He reveals deep and hidden things;
he knows what lies in darkness,
and light dwells with him.
23 I thank and praise you, O God of my fathers:
You have given me wisdom and power,
you have made known to me what we asked of you,
you have made known to us the dream of the king." (Daniel 2:20-23)

It is clear from this prayer that Daniel didn’t take any of the credit from God. John F. Wal Voord insights, “He gave all glory and praise to God. Including proper nouns and pronouns, Daniel referred to the Lord thirteen times and used only five pronouns to refer to himself and to his three friends…What incredible maturity for a young man of seventeen.” Yes Daniel truly was a man of prayer. “Daniel was always ‘prayed up’” for whatever hindrance that seemed to antagonize different elements of his life.

The character of Daniel seems to present purity in every part of his life. Whether in his headlong purpose, his deep respect for those around him, or his intense prayer life, Daniel shows his devotion to the one who sincerely matters to him: God. The fact that Daniel lived in a society that is so comparable to that of our present day society makes his life very applicable, giving a thrusting motivation to us in our own lives. There is a Sunday school song that is not as popular as in the past, though it does retain some insightful lyrics that outline a couple aspects of Daniel’s Character. Some of the lyrics are, “Dare to be a Daniel, Dare to stand alone, Dare to have a purpose firm! Dare to make it known!” No matter the way you approach the character of Daniel, no matter the character traits you choose or even miss, every trait will show that he is unquestionably in “Heavens Hall of Hero’s.”

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Watermark

2005-02-21T09:01:00.000-08:00

Well school seems to be getting busier and busier, though I am keeping up. I have just recently tried out a new church called Watermark and the service was awesome! With about 25 people gathered in a small classroom of a local school, the style is modern, lax though still full with passion. It was very cozy and more personal then any service I have ever attended. The pastor was optimistic about us(the congregation) making a trip to the back of the room to grab a coffee during the service any time we thought it necessary. Which I think will help more people stay awake, or at least help them to focus more because the struggle of staying awake, often catches you in a drowsy stupor. One of the aspects of the church that I liked is the lengthy sermon, which was directing, enthusiastic, thought provoking, encouraging, and thus captivating. In short it was a new neat experience. I think this will be my new church.

I had an awesome Valentines. The school I am currently attending (Word of Life Bible Institute) hosted a Valentines Banquet for all the students and their specials “someone.” I decided to take DJ a staff member from of our school and the evening couldn’t have gone better! (Tons of Pictures) Corry and Jenny,(two of my friends down at WOL) went together and successfully pulled off the whole Goth thing with fling shades. It was funny because WOL isn’t really into dressing out of the ordinary, though there is no clear guidelines restricting certain cosmetic adjustments. So they went through with their rebellious act and got the looks they were looking for.lol.

Alligators

2005-02-12T08:55:00.000-08:00

Often I walk in the dark not six feat from slimy and surprisingly loud swamp waters. I fearfully contemplate an attack from an alligator or a crocodile, so I decided to check up on the two reptiles so that I might have the advantage if anything were to happen. The first thing I found was that alligators, not crocodiles, are found in hundreds swimming in the swampy flat lands of Florida. Second I found out that the major identifying feature of a crocodile is that the two front teeth stick out the front of their nose and more obvious, crocodiles have a longer and more pointed snout. Two neat facts I found out about crocodiles is that, just as trees, crocodiles have growth rings in their spinal cords that make it easy to determine how old the crocodiles is and even more interestingly they have been clocked at speeds of 80 kilometers per hour. Though Furthering my studies on alligators, (the true threat) I found that in the winter they are pretty much dormant, not coming out unless it is a warm winter day around 70 degrees. More to the meat of my focal point, is that crocodiles usually eat at night. The young ones under six feet eat small stuff like insects, though big ones eat larger stuff like fish, birds, snakes, and even turtles. Alligators don’t chew their food; their teeth are merely for catching and killing prey.

Just for interest sake, I got a little deeper and found:
-Female alligators live closer into shore where as males tend to keep to the deeper areas of the swamp.
-The reason you see alligators with their mouths ajar is because they are trying to regulate their temperature.
-The reason it is bad for people to feed alligators is because alligators begin to associate food with humans, and then you know what happens.
-In conclusion alligators live around 80 to 100 years old and can stay under water for about five minutes, so they still breath air, just as us.

Musical Drama

2005-02-11T18:35:00.000-08:00

I got the privilege of watching this musical drama today, and I must say that though it started off slowly and a bit boring, it quickly shot up, elevating to some amazing skits.

Today the majority of out students left to something called “snow camp.” Which is a camp that is way up back into the gloomy snow and winter in New York. I would take the sunny south over the northern winter blizzards and the stiffened nasal hairs any day.lol Now that a minority is left on campus; it feels as though, the possibilities have multiplied and situations are festering. Our resident assistant for example, was late to in dorms tonight and he refuses to write himself up. So our dorm has broken out into mutiny, and everyone is taking chunks out of him for the purpose of easing up his somewhat Nazi nature. Though he really isn’t that bad of a guy, though sometimes he needs a swift kick but don’t we all at some point. Corry, one of my new acquaintances or I guess I could say a good friend, is all pumped for the visit of his girl friend. I know just how he feels and that is why I think I am seething with anticipation just as him, while the degree must be a little different. Though I am to settle, to calm, to boring a person to show any emotion. I mean I have emotion, though it just isn’t a zealous emotion that is so admirable on the faces of some people. Maybe I need something to open the porthole.mmmm. Who knows? I wish I could look at myself from the point of view of an outside audience. I often wish that someone could video me every day for a full week and then I could really see what I looked like; and who I am; from a external or topographical view. It sometimes seems that everything that is snowballing around me is fake and all encompassing confrontations aren’t really happening. Its hard to explain though this is because I obviously haven’t figured out some elements of my life or maybe my identity…though that is a cliché that often gets analyzed through the negative connotation. Is hindsight really twenty twenty, I don’t believe it is, how could it be. You forget the tiniest things about anything and everything. That is why it must be an external view of yourself that really shows you who you are. Wouldn’t it be the most amazing experience to tap into your life from an external point of view, to really evaluate yourself through a totally different point of view?

mmm...Just another day

2005-02-08T10:37:00.000-08:00

Well it is another day in the life of Me! In class we are now studying the book of Acts, which supposedly talks about the church and how it brings the gospels to a converging point. My birthday went great. No cake thoughL, I probably didn’t need it anyway…lol. The weather is absolutely gorgeous today! I think it is one of those days where you do all your homework by the pool, while soaking up some crepuscular rays. I learned a new word for today; gargantuas. Which means a person of great size or stature and of voracious physical or intellectual appetites. I thought it just sounded cool.lol. Gotta bounce.

The Big Two Zero!

2005-02-06T13:25:00.000-08:00

Well today is my birthday! I am trying so hard to control and restrain the seething joy or high within me. It seems that I get uncontrollably hyper on my birthday. I remember in grade 5 or 6 I got in trouble for talking in class over and over again. Its something inside that makes you want to jump up and down and role in the grass...lol. If you don't know what I am talking about maybe I'm just weird. I think Christmas is the closest thing to a Birthday high. Anyway if you need me I will be rolling in the grass while enjoying the soothing sun of Florida.

The Cycle

2005-02-05T09:14:00.000-08:00

Laws and rules are a few preventions that seem to always get in my way. I see them and I cringe just as some indefinable feeling begins to build up inside of my mind. I don’t try to stop the compelling need to break through these restrictions; they taunt me, why should I, I have something to prove. I probe rate to the edge to see where the line can be broken.

Do I ever stop and really contemplate what those rules are established for? Do I ever take into consideration who it is that has established these rules? Do I ever run through why these borders are built.

Why do parents tell their children to not play on the road? Why do friends tell their friends not to drive drunk? Why does that annoying leather bound book, titled, “The Bible” place those florescent orange cones on each side of the road blocking any and every shortcut and why must it post speed limits so as to tell me, A Human, how fast I should go?!…

I often blind myself to the reality that is encompassing me. I have found the penetrating answer staring me bluntly in the face so many times before. Yet I am numb and un-swayed through the many years of conditioning myself that every rule that is over me, is put there like a utensil ready to fork me up and chew me back to the dust from which I came.

Do I ever enroll myself in the possibility that those restrictions might be grounded for nothing other then the benefit of myself? Could not rules and laws have been established for that of my well-being? Moreover, could they not have been established in an act of love?

I find myself looking back at the barrier that I took so many steps to hurl myself over. I look at the funnel I just ran through with such zealous determination. I look back at what I had, and how I can never return. Now my every thought eats at me, how contrite I feel. For the other side was better and my spelunking has caught me in a squeeze! Though the melting pot of feelings seethed until I weakly gave into what looked like gold.

I once had pylons and now I have bars, I once had sign postings but now I have guards. I thought I was so concealed and boxed by those minor rules that hung over my head. Now I find I have entrapped myself, I am caged in the freedom I gave so much for. I now look to the future, moving myself on, out of what I will always remember.

Prayer…

I am back on the road and I look to my left and to my right and I see parts of the fallacy flitching in its metrics. I see pieces of the gold rubbing off into steel, the lush leaves merely bats hanging from branches. Now I see a little of the truth though I still am drawn toward that same funnel of hell. If only I could cup my eyes and entrance myself in a tunnel vision...I can’t, I can’t do it. I am bared once again and my spirit longs for life once more.

Prayer…

I grow slower of mind and am physically depleting, I see what I did once again and slowly I am withering away. But still I have another chance, when will I settle.

Once again I look to my left and to my right and I see what I have seen so many times before. The fallacy spits tantalizing lies and I…Pray…the fallacy asks me to come and I…Pray…I find I have not lead myself off the road. A strength has over taken me and did what I couldn’t…prayer?

I came across this one day and I thought I should post it. It seemed to make sense to me, does it make sense to you?

Ecclesiastes

2005-02-02T11:14:00.000-08:00

Our class is now immersed in the book of Ecclesiastes; which is my favorite book in the bible. To trump it the teacher is awesome, so I think this is going to be one of my favorite classes. Our school video’s the classes and I really want to post a few on my website, though I need to verify that I have permission….if I do I will through a few up for all of “whoever” to check out.

A few interesting notes from class…

Our Professor verbalized this quote while tiring to paint a picture of the worlds pointlessness with out God.
Hemingway’s suicide note:
“Life is just one blank thing after another.”

Happiness – Earthly – external – fleeting
Joy – heavenly – internal – everlasting

P.O.D lyrics“Grab your nothing an hold on tight” ….. referring to worldly possessions that amount to nothing in life after death.

34 things happened when you were saved

2005-01-29T13:47:00.000-08:00

You became part of God’s eternal plan (Rom. 8:28, 29).
Your friendship with God was restored by Christ (“Reconciled” – Col. 1:2, Rom. 5:10).
Your sin-debt was paid (“Redeemed” – 1Pet. 1:18).
You are no longer condemned (John 3:18; Rom. 8:1).
You have come under God’s mercy instead of God’s judgment (“Propitiation” 1 John 2:2).
Your sins were taken away (1 Pet. 2:24).
You are “dead” to the old way of life and can live the Christian way of life (Rom. 6:4, 8).
You no longer live by “the ten commandments” but by grace (Rom. 6:14).
You are a child of God (Gal. 3:26).
Adopted into God’s family (Rom. 8:15).
Acceptable to God (Eph. 1:6).
You were declared righteous in God’s sight (Tit. 3:7).
You were forgiven (Col. 1:14).
Brought near to God (Eph. 2:13).
Rescued from Satan’s power (Col. 1:13a).
Moved into the kingdom of God’s Son (Col. 1:13b).
You were put on a’ solid Foundation (Eph. 2:20).
God gave you to Christ (John 10:29).
You were purified from sin (Col. 2:11).
You are a priest and king (Rev. 1:6).
A chosen and protected person (1 Pet. 2:9; Tit. 2:14).
You can now approach God (Heb 4:16).
You are under God’s “much more” care (Rom. 5:9, 10).
You are God’s possession (Eph. 1:18).
You are God’s heir (1 Pet. 1:4).
Christ’s junior partner (1 Cor. 1:9).
A citizen of heaven (Luke 10:20).
In God’s household (Eph. 2:19).
You are “light” in the Lord (Eph 2:8).
You are “in union” with Christ (John 14:20).
You were: born again, baptized, indwelt and sealed by the Holy Spirit (John 3:6; 1 Cor. 6:19; 12:13; Eph. 4:30).
You are glorified (will have a resurrection body – Rom. 8:30).
Complete in Him (Col. 2:10).
You own every spiritual blessing (Eph. 1:3).

Passage Search

Before the Flood.....

2005-01-28T13:44:00.000-08:00

One of the strongest theories to have arisen about history……

In the past, before the flood, man (as expressed in the bible) lived for longer intervals of time that ranged anywhere from 500 to just under a 1000 years, on average. Well I learned in class today that the reason man lived longer is because of the composition of the atmospheric canopy that existed before the flood. The flood seemed to destroy this canopy making mans life span decrees drastically; this same theory is what is thought to have caused dinosaurs to become extinct.

Other interesting things about life before the flood:

The sky color would have had a pink hue to it.
The rainbow is what has come out of this atmospheric change as well. Wounds would have healed faster and men would have had more cognitive abilities. More species of animals were herbivores just as people would have been.

Mere Christianity

2005-01-24T13:59:00.000-08:00

I am paging through a book titled Mere Christianity, by CS Lewis; and this is an amazing book; I have to say. If you haven’t read it, it’s a book for you. Basically the book negates every fallacy that the media has drilled and is drilling into our heads. And more exactly it outlines a direct confrontation with God through mediums that can’t be denied, unless you choose to deny yourself. I guess this book’s motivation is for non, or struggling Christians but I found it a great read any which way.*****

The Way of A Flame

2005-01-23T08:34:00.000-08:00

I recently stumbled upon some facts that seem to match up with the Infallible Word of God. I thought that it was a neat concept, though of course, it might be a touchy topic for some.

It has been proven that the hottest flame is not yellow, blue, or even white; but black. This seemed to parallel with the thought of hell being completely dark while still being completely immersed in flames as an inferno.

CLOUDS!

2005-01-22T18:35:00.000-08:00

Today, while I was driving, I saw the most amazing formation of clouds. So in light of this experience, I decided to find some information and explore the different and unique characteristics of clouds. I was pessimistic about finding something, though to my surprise I found some most interesting information. I love to learn, and I thought you might like to learn with me…this is what I found.

Clouds come in many shapes and forms. Some are high in the sky, while others are so low they touch the ground. No matter what shape or elevation, clouds form the same way, by having water vapor condense onto small solid particles like dust, sea salt, and pollution.

Clouds serve several important functions. One of these is providing rain and snow. They also help retain heat, so it doesn’t escape quickly back into space. On hot days, clouds provide shade

There are three main cloud types.

Cumulus clouds are the puffy clouds that look like puffs of cotton. Cumulus clouds that do not get very tall are indicators of fair weather. If they do grow tall, they can turn into thunderstorms. The bottom of cumulus clouds are fairly close to the ground.

Stratus clouds look like flat sheets of clouds. These clouds can mean an overcast day or steady rain. They may stay in one place for several days.

Cirrus clouds are high feathery clouds. They are up so high they are actually made up of ice particles. They are indicators of fair weather when they are scattered in a clear blue sky.

Nimbus is another word associated with clouds. Adding "nimbus" means precipitation is falling from the cloud.

Cumulonimbus clouds are the "thunderheads" that can be seen on a warm summer day and can bring strong winds, hail, and rain.Nimbostratus clouds will bring a long steady rain.

Contrails - A visible trail of streaks of condensed water vapor or ice crystals sometimes forming in the wake of an aircraft. Also called vapor trail.

Persistence of contrails is neither an indication that they contain some kind of chemical, nor that it is some kind of spray. As a matter of fact, sailors have known for years to look specifically at the patterns and persistence of jet contrails for weather forecasting. If a jet is flying through air at altitude with a low humidity, the moist air from the jet engine might produce a slight, short-lived contrail. These short-lived contrails are a sign that the weather will be fair. A thick, long-lasting contrail indicates humid air high in the atmosphere, and can be an early sign of a storm:

Continuing Good Weather:Clear, light blue to dark blue. Bright moon. Jet contrail disappearsimmediately or doesn't form.

Possible Change:Large halo circling moon or sun. Jet contrail lingers thickly before falling apart.

Crepuscular Rays - beams of sunlight radiating from the sun through comolus clouds.

Buddha's fingers. Sun drawing water. Ropes of Maui.

These phrases are descriptions of the same phenomenon, crepuscular rays. The image above is an example of what crepuscular rays look like-- beams of sunlight radiating from the sun. Why do they form? Why do they appear to diverge from the sun? The answers to these questions originate in two processes: a physical process called scattering and an optical process called perspective.

Work Sited:
http://www.ems.psu.edu/~demark/471/CrepuscularRays.html
http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/weather/2.html
http://www.borderlands.com/contrails/contrail.htm
Jen

Guitar

2005-01-20T17:57:00.000-08:00

I am learning my very first secular song on the guitar. In the past couple of months I have been learning worship songs but now I am supplanting myself in the oldies, to work my way up through the years and thus the styles of an assortment of artists.

COLD TURKEY EVANGELISM!

2005-01-18T16:40:00.000-08:00

A family went on a trip to Africa, though tragically the parents both died from a bad case of malaria leaving a child behind. The child was taken back to America and supplanted in the home of its biological grandmother. The Grandmother had some strange beliefs that men were horrible and contained the evil in the world. So the grandmother thought it her duty to keep the little Jessica away from men for the rest of her life. The grandmother decided to bring the child deep into some forested mountains where she could protect the child against the world and the evil of man. Low and behold the grandmother soon died, leaving the nineteen-year-old stranded with no one. The young women began to feel lonely and left the mountains in search of others. She came upon a city and because she was an attractive women, it didn’t take long before she made many friends that took her out and spent time with her. One of the men who was consistently taking her out with a couple of his buddies thought that he was ready to go in for the kill. He asked Jessica; will you marry me? Jessica said, “What is the word ‘marriage’ you speak of.” For the word had never been taught to her by her grandmother. The man replied well we hang out together, you sleep over at my massive mansion, and get free food. The girl questioned, “free?” What do I have to do to get this marriage thing you speak of, asked Jessica. The man said, you must only say, “yes” and accept it.

Jessica and this man, her new husband, were married a week later. After there wedding day, the man said well were off to go to my uncle’s cabin down by the lake for our honeymoon. Jessica again was mystified at this word, “honey moon?” The man explained, “well we go away together, just me and you, and we spend time together.” Jessica said oh, so is your friends coming; they were always really nice to me and brought me out to eat and kinds of stuff. The husband replied, “no, its just you an me for the next ten days; its so we can start our new life together; just me and you.” Jessica was distraught at this point, and said, “you did not tell me about this honey moon, or spending the rest of my life with you.” Jessica went on, “I don’t like this marriage thing anymore.” The man countered, “well its final, and that’s that.” Jessica was now filled with anger that this man had not told her the whole truth. Jessica said firmly, “ well you can take this marriage thing and keep it, I don’t want any part in it.

There is something to be said about “cold turkey evangelism.” It’s not too hard to tell someone, “it’s free; all you have to do is accept this free gift and you’ll have eternal life.” Yes that is part of it, but what about explaining some of the ground around their feet. Where you are asking this person to step into something like this, engage the topics: what kind of commitment is this, what will change in this person’s life; these are some of the elements of Christianity that we are most always hesitant to reveal, or even bring up. You don’t want this person to end up making the commitment, or praying the prayer and then find this huge commitment that’s been swept under the rug where they were prompted to step on. Being a Christian is a high calling; it’s not a sit on the couch and let God bring you the bacon kind of relationship. We all know it means giving everything over to the Lord at the instant he asks for it. Yes, it’s a high calling, and its hard on all plains, but its worth it in every way as well. What I am trying to explain is that you must be upfront with people because though it’s hard, you might end up pushing them further away in the end. God is upfront with us when he tells us plainly in the bible about the life that demands commitment to him; our God is a jealous God.

Apps Mills

2005-01-10T04:43:00.000-08:00

My most defined childhood memory is walking with my family through a park. Not a park like in our present day, with plastic slides, and steel monkey bars; but rather a forest filled with trees towering to a climax that seemingly would touch the ruffles of the seething clouds. Leaves snowing down in fall, they would float the thermals to where they were to settle, but just when you thought their journey had ended, an airstream would curl under and lift them up once more.

I remember the colors so vividly; the distinctive pigments of rust and dirty orange. Not really an image of perfect beauty, but somewhat one of ripe, distinct wisdom. The colors of the leaves, I believe, really tantalized the barriers built into my mind, and yet the free movements of those shapely objects instilled a calming stillness.

I hope to never forget the times my parents and I ran through the heaping piles of leaves and hid under them still as a rock. I hope never to forget the soothing walks through the tunnel of hovering branches which created a tranquility not yet matched. Though above all, I wish never to forget my kin; the ones who pushed me down those paths so I could look in hindsight and see what might never have been.
Inspired by: Jess

Long time no write.

2005-01-08T09:13:00.000-08:00

Well, Christmas vacation went great. I could not have expected it to go any better. My friend Leonard as well as myself drove over 7000 km in the last 15 days; now that is a road trip.

Our first stop was Kennedy Space Station. Located on the east coast of Florida. (The Kennedy space station is supposedly the largest space operation on this planet.) We arrived at twelve at night and thought we would just sleep in the car down the road from the space station. We were stopped for no more than 5 minutes when along came a couple of police patrols who engaged us. We quickly found out that the security was so tight around the space station that no one could even stop on the side of the road within 20 miles of it. The police even went as far as taking our pictures and writing in detail, all our identification information. After this, we decided to hit a 24hr Wal-mart for a parking lot to sleep in.

We got the full admission passes at the space station and received the full tour and got to go on all the simulations. It was neat though it didn’t really meet my expectations.

We headed off to Texas to pick up a new car; at our arrival we took a tour of a plastic pot factory were my uncle manages. After much anticipation I finally received the keys to my new car. It’s a Honda del sol hardtop convertible; it feels exhilarating to cruse through town with the air combing through your hair. Though to top off the night we got to ride in my uncle’s corvette that took me up to speeds well over 100miles/hr. My uncle Ron is the president of the corvette club down in Texas and he showed me some of the finer points of driving. Slowing things down we took them out for a delicious Mexican meal.

On the way back to Florida we stopped in New Orleans and checked out the French quarter, and strolled down Bourbon Street. We decided to stop for some fresh seafood, but were disappointed when we only received deep fried and breaded fish and shrimp. We met some pretty interesting people and saw some amazing architecture on our exploration through the city. I would say one of the most interesting things I saw in New Orleans was how close the poor lived to the rich. There seemed to be a high class side of town where the fancy hotels, and the immaculate sports cars where located, but you only cross the main street in the town and all you see is homeless people, bars, and garbage cans; sad but interesting. Though at the end of the night we felt tired and dirty so we decided to bounce.

Leonard and I decided that we were worn out from driving, so we were looking for a free place where we could set up our tents for a couple hours. We stopped at a truckers weight station just out of New Orleans and pitched our tent out in the open field near the back. At that time we were so tired and grumpy that we didn’t really care where we slept as long as we got some sleep. I awoke to a resounding, pulsating horn of a police patrol. We scrambled to get presentable and jumped out of the tent greeting the police officer with sleepy faces. I think we said something like, “where just travelers from Canada and didn’t know where to sleep, so we just stopped here.” The police glanced at our license plates and said that was fine but to leave within the hour. Those Canadian license plates really seem to come in handy at times.
We arrived in Hudson to pick up supplies and my surfboard from my dorm, and headed off to Jacksonville.

We were informed that the best campsite to stay at in Jacksonville was Hanna Park; so that is were we resided for the next week. Hanna Park was truly an amazing campground. It was rate on the ocean and it had plenty of forest, making it a little more like real camping, though the electricity countered that not quite. We went surfing everyday and developed quite a bit of skill. The waves progressively improved and Jacksonville received abnormal waves of about 5 to 8 feet making a sweet surf. We met lots of random people and fellow campers while we were there, socializing around the campfires, I think, is one of the highlights of camping. At long last we left on the Friday before Christmas; we headed south to spend a relaxing few days with my grandparents. On Christmas day my grandparents made a feast for the two of us and then we caught a couple movies at the local cinema. But after a couple days at my grandparents we started to feel a little boxed in, we needed to be on the road again. So we headed out to catch a few days with Mickey at Disney. We looked for about two good hours before we found a deal on a hotel for a couple of nights. Exploring the local shops we expected to find outrageous prices but we were flabbergasted at being able to find shirts, nice shirts, for fewer than five dollars. Anyway, we picked universal studious as the park we wanted to visit, it was pretty good. I think the best ride was “The Mummy”. While we were walking from ride to ride we met the most dynamic people and because they live in the area they took us around to all the best rides. In the evening we thought we would have one last outing to the renowned steak buffet that was mind-boggling; for a person who likes good food and a good deal this place was awesome. As the great adventure came to a close, the time had been burnt up so quickly by the sun, that it seemed we had only just begun what we had started 15 days ago.

Random

2004-12-12T04:52:00.000-08:00

I am exhausted, Christmas always does that to me. Its all good though, because I’m just about on my Christmas vacation. On the 14th I will be leaving with Leonard to Texas and maybe Mexico. After we see my uncle, almost immediately we will be returning to chill on the beaches of the east coast of Florida. I recently made the acquaintance of a very good sponsored surfer and he has agreed to teach us. Leonard and I also hope to be hitting the Kennedy space station, supposedly the largest space station in the world. In closing, we won’t miss a pic with Mickey mouse at Disney. Oh ya and Christmas dinner at my grandparents…

There are about a hundred new pictures on my web page under the heading wol miscellaneous. I went to see the Lakers vs. Magic in Orlando a few weeks back with some elect few from WOL who got to actually go on the court and jump around. There are some other cool pictures to, but their all kind of random. Oh, though I sent them today they won’t be posted until the 14th or so but check them out as soon as they're up.

What I do in my spare time.

2004-12-07T18:54:00.000-08:00

I just spent the last three hours sitting in the emergency room, waiting for someone to patch me up. I guess the USA is not all that different from Canada except that you have to pay for bad service. I don’t really understand why exactly they call it the emergency room if they don’t treat anything like an emergency. I mean, here I am, a sweaty old shirt patched with blood is pressured to cover the gapping hole on my head in an attempt to prevent the pool of blood from dribbling down either side of my face. My arms, my shirt, both drenched in blood and there I sit waiting for the nicely dressed people to walk calmly into emerge so the doc could maybe look into there ears, or something undemanding like that. I must admit that the bleeding did stop but come on…three hours. I wouldn’t even wait three hours for something exciting like a ride at Disney Land, but I wait three hours for the sharp pain of steel staples and the annoyance of a flamboyant man popping three of those gruesome things in the frontal of my head. Though I shouldn’t complain you should see the other guy.lol

Oh ya, I don’t like American football anymore!

Who are you going to first and foremost?

2004-12-06T10:44:00.000-08:00

Do you know what is hard for me? When I have a problem I call one of my friends, my parents, or a mentor to ask for advise for how to deal with it. You know what, if you really believed that there is a God and that this God is omniscience, omnipotent and omnipresent who would you go to first. If you trust in God for your salvation, then why is it so hard to trust in him for help, guidance, and just basic answers? I think we often underestimate the power of God and we often forget he’s rate there beside us. Whenever I go to everyone for answers but leave God as a last resort, I start to question my faith and what I truly believe and trust in.

Life; is there any meaning or are we just chasing the wind.

2004-12-05T10:45:00.000-08:00

What do you think is the main reason people fall into the clutches of depression, or even, commit suicide? I believe the main reason is because life is hard and it seems so pointless. You see our society has encompassed us with fallacies to provoke happiness, we were raised in a virtual reality of “happiness” where, everywhere we look, (especially the TV) we see it; love stories, happy stories, and just nice things. All the sadness in the world is suppressed into a tiny hole where no one is suppose to look. And the happiness is made alive through deep-seated aesthetics and fiction, either by media or other mediums that are plain but over time become fixated and eventually subliminal. But when it’s all over and everything is crap, we ask ourselves; “what happened”, “why is my life not happy like everyone else’s?” “why can’t I find this happiness that everyone seems to have?” When we arrive at home, we are clothes lined by reality; our entire world seems to crash in on us, making us feel hollow and worthless.

The fact is, though societies presentation of a life is a perpetual happiness, it’s a misnomer; the natural world is seething with sin and holds very little happiness. The AUTHENTIC reality is…LIFE IS NOT SUPPOSE TO BE EASY! As we see plainly in the bible life was choked by sin and made quite simply…HARD. There will always be hard times, there will always be struggles, everyone has had a relationship that didn’t work out, a sad moment in their life, and not just a sad moment, but plenty of them. There is, however, a peace that can found…and this is in Christ. Without looking to Christ in every situation there is no joy, not even a little, and life is literally pointless.

To see the error of the world you must first learn the truth. Once the truth is within you, then you will be able to pinpoint the untruth. The only truth is God and God’s revelation is predominantly the bible. We must immerse ourselves in his word every day to get closer, or every day we will grow farther away.

The safest place to be is in the will of God and if it is agreed that you believe in your heart and confess with your mouth that Jesus is your lord and savior and you trust him in this aspect of your life than why do you not trust him in all areas of your life. Despite the doubt that seems to continually cloud our minds He is in control and he has a plan for your life…he has a plan for your life…he has a plan for YOUR LIFE. Proverbs 3:6 Seek his will in all you do, and he will direct your paths. But how do we know his will? Everything leads back to the bible, Gods direct word to YOU.

We will fall, but we must fall forwards for if we fall backwards we will find ourselves farther and farther from our goal. When you do seek God in all you do and you still suffer, these word will keep you going, keep you falling forward. Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will give us later.

Read Ecclesiastes...I think it is one of my favorite books in the bible. It talks about Solomon’s quest for something of worth.

Game Plan! - Cutting Temptation out of Your Life

2004-12-04T07:00:00.000-08:00

WOL (the school I am currently attending) had a lecturer come in today to give us some guidelines of how to overcome sin.

Things to keep in mind.

Temptation in and of itself is not sin. People usually start with sin when looking for correction, though it has been proven that it is better to start with the temptation rather than the sin. Cutting out the temptation leaves little fertile soil for sins growth.

We often rationalize or compromise with sin; we often forget how wrong and unprofitable sin really is.

Be specific with what you are trying to change and then lets put it off and put something on. Put on the armor of Christ, hide His words in your heart for the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. The word of God should be very instrumental in our lives.

Our conscience is one of the strongest weapons God has given us to know sin and overcome temptation. If you think what you are about to do is wrong, then you are probably right. Though you must be careful with this concept because you can often seer your conscience and not even feel that what you have done is wrong. This is possible when you do something consistently and you start to condition your brain to the point where you brainwash yourself, and then the sin becomes subliminal. In the case that you are not sure always turn to the bible.

Remember, sinful things you put in your mind no matter how insignificant, will become the tools of the devil into your future.

Where to look in the bible?

James 1:13-15 We are enticed by our own lust.

Genesis 39:9 An example of how to successfully handle temptation.

2 Timothy 2:22 Keep your focus on God.

Hebrews 4:12 The word of God is powerful and should be instrumental in our lives.

What’s your game plan for overcoming sin?

A NBA couch always has a game plan when going into a game; this is especially true when the team is up against tuff opposition. This is because the couch wants to be prepared to win a game that shouldn’t be lost. Sin is obviously way more serious than a simple game like NBA basketball; it’s a fight to the death and thus it should be treated that way.

Game Plan, Step #1: You have to make a decision to live fully for Christ.

Game Plan, Step #2: The best line of attack is to pray to God and trust in him to help you through it. But don’t think that your just going to sit back and if you sin you can just blame God. God will lead you but you have to be in action as well. If God did do it all for you, then would we not just be robots?
Most people say that they think God will help them but they don’t truly believe, they try to do it by themselves. Whenever I have trouble having faith that God is rate there beside me helping, I only go back to the first real commitment I ever made, trusting in Him. If I can’t trust in him for a simple thing like guiding me, then it makes me wonder how real my salvation really is. Trust and pray to God to lead you.

Game Plan, Step #3: Make up your mind before anything happens. I can’t stress the importance of this. It helps you so, so much, though it may seem insignificant and a minor thing, it should not be overlooked. Knowing what you want for yourself before the confrontation is one of the best methods because you create the decision to stand above all the emotions and persuasions that often cloud your mind when in the mist of whatever your dealing with. (Girls, this applies even more to you)

Game Plan, Step #4: If you think about temptation in your life, you will probably find a clear pattern of the times, places, and / or situations. If you think you are going to fall into temptation in a particular situation, then don’t go into it! Remember this has to be applied practically and with a balance between confidence and fear. If it is a visual sin – “out of sight out of mind.”

Game Plan, Step #5: Pick a song…rate now, that you like, that you know the words to, and one that really talks about the holiness of God. Whenever you are tempted, just start singing the song, either in your head, or silently, or if you’re by yourself and confident, then just belt it out. This will keep your focus on holiness of God. In that mindset it becomes very hard to sin. (2 Timothy 2:22)

Game Plan, Step #6: You should ask yourself, “What am I going to do if I fall even though I tried everything I thought possible.” At this point you should acquire an accountability partner to help you sort out the mess and keep you accountable. Basically you should have them call you after every time you arrive out of a tempting situation or even everyday. Have them ask you “Did you overcome the temptation.” And try to figure out where you went wrong and where you could improve. Your foresight of their question will work alongside your conscience to eat at you, until you overcome the temptation.
If you can find, or put together a group in addition to your partner; then get together every week. Having to tell six or seven people will keep you honest.

Game Plan, Step #7: Lastly make consequences for yourself and have your accountability partner enforce them.

Remember, sinful things you put in your mind no matter how insignificant, will become the tools of the devil into your future.

Your mind will always retain the act

2004-12-03T13:55:00.001-08:00

It's weird, though we sometimes aren't conscious to the fact that we can unexpectedly pull random experiences, words, feelings…ect; out of our past when we least expect it. I know whenever I go into something that I shouldn't go into; like a movie, or a situation, or just having a talk with someone, I tell myself, it doesn't matter if I don't take it in, if I don't drink, if I just watch or just listen; it won’t hurt me in anyway. But this notion is totally negated when you realize that things, bad things, popup from your past that you didn't think you still remembered that you didn’t think were still there. Your mind tries to cut these out of your memory banks but they are always present though repressed. Until of course your off guard and then they come flooding back. “Your life can be cleansed but you can be certain that your mind will always retain the act.”

Inspired by Rachel .V

The Internet Story

2004-12-02T07:09:00.000-08:00

I found this interesting...Maybe you will to.

The Internet has been around for much longer than most people think, with its roots able to be traced back to the 1960s. This web site will give you an insight into the background and development of the medium. You’ll find information on its rapid growth, the fierce competition generated and the major players involved. Clear goals have driven some, whilst others have become household names almost by accident. Find fascinating facts on a phenomenon that has changed communication to an extent which was previously totally unimaginable.

1960s: Advent of packet-switching network heralds birth of Internet 1968: US Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) furthers packet-switching development1970s: ARPA introduces network for defence and develops e-mail. US universities join network1973: First intercontinental network connection as University College of London joins network 1975: Bill Gates creates Microsoft as PC sales grow1979: USENET is developed, pushing Internet’s rapid expansion1985: Forerunner of America Online (AOL) is launched by Steve Case1990: Tim Berners-Lee develops Internet computer language and address system1991: WorldWideWeb browser and server software made available by Tim Berners-Lee 1993: Mosaic, the first properly developed web-browser, takes Internet by storm1994: First World Wide Web Consortium conference held1995: Amazon launched by Jeff Bezos 1995: eBay basis set by Pierre Omidyar 1995: Yahoo launched by David Filo and Jerry Yang1998: Google opens its doors1998: ICANN, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, is born2004: Google stock market launch

Home ARPA Tim Berners-Lee ICANN Provider E-commerce AOL Amazon ebay Microsoft Google Yahoo PayPal Online Advertising Copyright Weblog Web publishing

Today, yesterday, and the day before yesterday.

2004-12-01T07:25:00.000-08:00

Well I am currently finished school for the smaller part of the year. Though I am still required to work for the 2 next weeks while an evangelistic program called the Sights and Sounds of Christmas is taking place. I feel so use because of all this required work that I am suppose to do, and no is getting paid… I guess I should count it all joy and justify the work through the portal of evangelism. On another note my car is currently being fixed and for the next two weeks I will be stuck on campus and working hands to the bone…Well actually I probably have never experienced this “real work” before but it just flowed out of my hands. I am still planning out my Christmas, I don’t know what exactly to do but it will most defiantly be a spontaneous adventure through Central America with a best friend. This is the first time that I will not see my parents for Christmas…ahh. This is all the time I have for today…I leave you with…the joys of life are all encompassing, one must only look.

Turkey Trot

2004-11-27T18:01:00.000-08:00

Well, low and behold the American Thanksgiving is identical to that of a Canadian Thanksgiving. I even managed to find a marathon to run, it was called the turkey trot. Not a very strong name, but you would be surprised at speed of some of the runners that competed. I came in 51st place out of 4200 participants; I ran the 5km in 19:14. And because I was in the top 100 I received a bobble head turkey. It seems weird; I always try to practice as hard as a would if I were actually running a race itself but whenever I get out there and the gun fires I always feel like the exhaustion is over whelming.

Thanksgiving In America

2004-11-25T13:22:00.000-08:00

It's my first American Thanksgiving...

Nothing Big Today

2004-11-24T09:17:00.000-08:00

Seattle has the highest shades sales per capita because when the sun finally shines you can't find yours and you're not going to waste precious moments looking

http://www.keyhole.com/ this is an interesting site check it out.

Tidbit

2004-11-23T04:06:00.000-08:00

I was recently looking for tips to post on the scrolling text on my web page. I came across this tidbit; I hope you benefit from it as much as I did.

-"If you are willing to change, everything will change for you."

-Exercise is very important for a good sleep, but be sure to exercise in the morning or afternoon. Exercise stimulates the body and aerobic activity before bedtime may make falling asleep more difficult.

-Most adolescents need about nine hours and fifteen minutes to be at their best (although eight-and-a-half hours may be adequate for some).

I will be posting new tips and new quotes once a month so check them out!

“I can do something to the exclusion of all else.”

2004-11-22T05:22:00.000-08:00

I was talking to someone a few days ago, someone that knows me very well. We got to talking and this person really gave me some amazing insights about myself. One main element that I feel is a real struggle is summed up in “I can do something to the exclusion of all else.” I wish you could know how true this is in my life. Once I get going on something I block all encompassing aspects of my life out, just to focus on that one important, though not life threatening, aspect of my life. I often bring it to an extreme moving headlong into something for days at a time… I will from now on be working on this.

Tradition vs. Biblical, partaning to the Sabbath

2004-11-18T10:46:00.000-08:00

It is interesting to note that there is only nine commandments referred to in the New Testament. Where as in the Old Testament there is of course ten. The one commandment that is not referred to in the NT is the command talking about the Sabbath. Still we should recognize that we need a day of rest and a day of worship but at the same time realize that the strict pharisaical extremes are no longer upheld and even more rejected by God through the coming of Christ and Typified through the New Convenient. A great example is parents eliminating organized sports on Sunday…grrr....lol...jk

Tri-Unity

2004-11-12T05:06:00.000-08:00

God is the light of the world and has been compared to white light passing through a prism. Light is divided into three primary colors: red, yellow, and blue. Putting these colors through a prism will project a single beam of white light. Similarly a single beam of white light when passed through a prism will divide these three primary colors.
God has three separate persons: Father, Son, Holy Sprit, though at the same time God is also one person. This complex thought has previously been called “the trinity” but recently a better word has formed through some of the greatest theologians of our day. This compound word is the “Tri-Unity.”

“He who would try to understand the trinity would lose his mind; and he who would deny the trinity would lose his soul.”

Creeping Sin

2004-11-08T15:47:00.000-08:00

The skeletal structure of sin really struck me today. We had a lecturer that gave the analogy of a specific species of tree that grew by means of a seed almost smaller than what is visible by the human eye, and that seed one day growing into one of the biggest trees in the world. The lecture skillfully applied and converged this analogy to sin in our everyday life and the tiny, tiny, little white lies that creep up on us, soon enveloping every facet of our lives. I thought about this and really saw the major commitment one has in a relationship with God, moreover, the many people who are blind to these strait forward commands throughout the bible.

You see even the tiniest and most minor sin ‘in your mind’ is still SIN! A lie is a Lie! Making fun of people is still making fun of people, gossip is still gossip, and furthermore, sin is SIN! That was the bat that knocked me into awareness.

PRAYER

2004-11-05T13:24:00.000-08:00

Guard Your Heart

“Above all that you guard, watch over your heart, for out of it are the sources of life.” Proverbs 4:23….Berkeley.

Stand guard over the fountain of your life! Shake off the lethargy that would make your heart indifferent and soft. We all need to pray with J. Sidlow Baxter: “Dear Savior, give me complete victory over fear… fear of sickness, fear of accident; fear of poverty; fear of persecution; fear of ridicule; fear of loneliness; fear of trials; fear of old age; fear of death itself; fear of the beyond. Gal 5:19 FEAR

Dear Savior, help me to guard my heart over pride … pride of family; pride of natural gifts; pride in possessions; pride in the merely physical; pride in dress; pride in dress; pride in intellect; pride in how I may have excelled others. Dislodge all such vain pride, and instead give me humble gratitude to thee. PRIDE

Dear Savior, enable me to garrison my heart over envy … envy of another’s physical appearance, gifts, possessions, advantages; envy of those who seem more used than I. Help me be content with what you have purpose or permitted me to be, knowing that in thee I have all things and that heaven will perfect all my holy ambitions. ENVY

Dear Savior, keep my heart from the rack and ruin of hatred … hatred of those who wrong me; hatred of those whose nature is offensive; hatred of those who seem to obstruct my progress; hatred of so-called foreigners; hatred of those linked with heretical sects or non-Christian religions. Give me a heart that truly and discreetly loves all. HATERED

Dear Savior, place the sentry at the door of my heart in areas of doubt … doubt of my eternal salvation when I am emotionally cold; doubt of Thy promises in Scripture when circumstances seem to negate them; doubt of Thy goodness in permitted sickness or other adversity; doubt of Thy faithfulness if all I have done for Thee seems overthrown by the enemy; doubt of the Gospel when it seems powerless to arrest and save people; doubt of Thy Sovereignty when evil things happen. DOUBT

Dear Savior, top on the priority list is complete heart-victory over “the flesh” … over physical desires; over extravagant appetites; over habit forming ill tendencies; over every kind of lust: over laziness, self –indulgence, and every form of intemperateness; over headstrong assertiveness; unconsecrated ambitions; misuse of the tongue in exaggeration, insinuation, idle gossip and tale bearing. VICTORY

“Dear Savior, finally, give to me this day a heart that knows victory over anxiety …anxiety over yesterday’s consequences and tomorrow’s omens anxiety over domestic, business, financial and all other problems; anxiety about my family and loved ones; anxiety about the trifles of life that continually have me in unrest;” Every wise man who reads this challenge will make this his foremost, all-pervading prayer.

Oh…………I just finished my web site and everyone is required to check it out! I have some neat links and an academic archive and around 1300 pictures of previous adventures and lots more……

!!CLICK!!..http://www.JUSTAFOOTPRINT.com/..!!CLICK!!

Proverbs.

2004-11-04T04:29:00.000-08:00

I have a test today on the book of Proverbs; this is one of my favorite books of the bible, because it outlines the divine wisdom (looking at life from Gods perspective) and how to abtain it >>> Anyway wish me luck!

"If there is No Pain, then there is No Gain."

2004-11-02T16:48:00.000-08:00

Today our dorm was well prepared to receive a new vacuum cleaner. Previously walking on what felt like an outside sand dune, ok not quite but now we actually have a clean floor where we can confidently place our feet.

Not much has happened. Though my website is improving daily, I still have some major improvements to make before it is up to par. I am really getting excited for the marathon coming up, my time is consistently improving and I think I am almost up to a reasonable time. I think the biggest thing when practicing for a race is to practice like you would be running in a race. This seems logical an simple but in the past I remember practicing, and all I did was a fast jog, which helped, but this jog would never get me to where I wanted to be. You see once I got in the race I was sprinting and that was an entirely new feeling, a pain feeling, that almost makes you want to give up or throw up. I now realize “if there is no pain, there is no gain.” Now I am practicing hard, and I feel more confident than ever before.

I’ll leave you with a little story from class today…

A man went out for some coffee with a girl he really liked. Sitting at the table the girl asks "what are you thinking about." The guy replies the way most guys do, short and simple, saying "nuthin." Though within the deep crevasses of the mans mind.........
What if… what if there really is a God. It certainly doesn’t sound extremely unreasonable… I exist… I’ve never questioned that before! Why should I rule out the possibility of something…or is it someone…Greater than man. It would surely explain a number of things, wouldn’t it? And there does seem to be more and more talk these days….and even more evidence…of spiritual things. Maybe tonight in bed I’ll be able to relax enough to leave my body…then I’ll find out. Although, if you really thing about it… I’m sitting here, she’s sitting there, this table is solid, the carpet is red, that man over there hates his wife… There must be a reason for all this. What could it be? Why do I care? What is God up to? Why did I just ask what God was up to? I wonder what is going ON!!? I guess everyone asks these questions sooner or later… I wonder why Judy isn’t asking these questions, at least I’ve never heard her asking…But then again she’s never heard me asking…Maybe we’re both asking and neither of us knows the other is asking…I’ll ask her… No! I won’t. She’ll think I’m silly, or maybe she’ll think I’m changing…I Don’t want this business to come between us. I really love her. Love her. Love. Love? Where did I ever get the notion to love somebody?!! From my parents? Where did they… What is love… Why do people love other people…or why don’t they love? I’ve heard it said that God is love, or was it, love is God…or, wait. What was that bible verse way back in Sunday school?” So God loved the world and he gave his only forgotten…” No, No, “his only BEGOTTEN son, and whoever believes in him will not perish but will get everlasting life.” That’s certainly a blast from the past! Uh-oh Now I’m starting to think about Jesus Christ! This is really getting crazy. OH NO. I’m going to become like Jerry at work. “God, please don’t let me be like jerry at work… “God, can you hear me? God, if you can hear me, put a tingle in my left little toe…” Nothing!

The definition of God

2004-11-01T10:13:00.000-08:00

If by definition we mean a complete explanation of God, then He cannot be defined, for we who are finite cannot wholly explain the infinite One. On the other hand, God may be defined in-so-far as He has been pleased to reveal Himself. If He had not revealed Himself, there would be nothing we could know or say about him. But in His grace He condescended to communicate truth about Himself by His works (General Revelation) and words (Special Revelation).

General and Special revelation constitute a whole, each being incomplete without the other (Ps. 19:1, 4, 7)
Without SPECIAL REVELATION, GENERAL REVELATION would be for sinful man incomplete and ineffective, and would result only in leaving them without excuse (Rom.1:20).
Without GENERAL REVELATION, SPECIAL REVELATION would lack that basis in the fundamental Knowledge of God as mighty and wise, righteous and good, maker and ruler of all things, apart from which the further revelation of this great God’s interventions in the world for the salvation of sinners could not be either intelligible, credible, or operative.

The Big Three One...

2004-10-31T17:44:00.000-08:00

Today I worked a double shift washing dishes, and you know what I had a great time. I am getting to know the staff, and I am really enjoying their company. After dishes, I worked on my web page for a good two hours, boy is that addictive. It seems that anything I excel in, I develop a passion for.
I think I have a eating disorder, or something, I eat and eat and eat. The problem is this stupid buffet every night, there are no limits and almost everything is eatable, I can only think of one time that I had only one plate of food. I have committed myself to eating smaller and more moderate amounts…thanks Mom "everything in modetation."
I entered a marathon a week back and I am off running every other day in preparation two win. It probably won’t happen with about 3000 people running but I will still try my best.
I went ticker treating with two other guys from my school, we created our own evangelistic message, and spit it out at almost every door. When I say spit it out, I mean we were a bit rusty getting the words out; I don’t know what it is but it’s hard to tell people about Jesus. It’s hard telling people what they don’t want to hear, what their numb to, what they know is true. You see, I hypothesize that everyone knows that there is a God and whether it’s the God or another god, they’re just to scared to admit that this could be a possibility. Think about it, it is pretty scary if you stop and think. Everything you do is worthless and every move you make is sinful, you are only made to glorify something or someone you have never met, someone you will never see, someone more than you will ever hope to be, someone……perfect... I wish I wasn’t one of these people.

Halloween?

2004-10-31T04:25:00.000-08:00

Happy Halloween

Jailed !!!!!!

2004-10-28T18:42:00.000-07:00

Schoolwork is pilling up to an extreme, creating a mammoth workload….ahhh…But for my sister, I still had time to write in my journal. You better be reading this sis!!

I had physical education today, we played football and this being about the sixth time since I came to America I am finally starting to understand the game and even excelling. We do have football in Canada but it seems vastly popular in the USA. Here at school the rules seem to get stricter and stricter as the year progresses, and now these rules are almost unbearable. I am locked down on campus or “campused” as they call it, and this all because I got a few demerits. I can’t find anyway to justify that this crazy school should jail me here. I need to get away from this place at least once a week or I’ll go crazy, I know it...ahh

There is a large amount of people on campus that play the guitar, and after I got four or five peoples promises to teach me, I purchased a Guitar. It’s a Rogue acoustic electric guitar and I bought it for a ridiculously low price off the Internet. I had a few guitarists critique it before I bought it and it turned out great. Once the guitar arrived, I was informed that I got an amazing deal. Supposedly it is worth over $400 dollars more than I paid. Made my day. Anyways, I can now play the song “The Famous One”, though my transitions between notes are very slow. I will keep on it..

This is a story I wrote through the source of one of our devotional speakers.

What are you pursuing? A man is low on cash, but he really likes someone and wants to gift this someone with something special. So this man takes extra shifts at work and really works hard to earn some extra money for this gift. One day, after the purchase of this gift and the struggles to get it, the man approaches this special someone. Conversing with this person for a while the man sets the stage by informing the person that he has a gift for the person. He pulls a small black case from his pocket and hands it to the recipient. Taking the box, the recipient opens it and inside is a beautiful ring with a diamond the mirrors the sunshine into thousands of radiating spectrums. After the two persons take a few seconds to adjust their eyes, recovering from the glowing radiance of the stone, the recipient smiles taking the ring and discarding it on the floor. Looking at the box the recipient says, “thank you so much, this box is beautiful.”
This was an analogy of what God gave to humankind and how humankind occasionally treats his precious gift. The ring can relate to our salvation through the medium of Jesus, while the box, to our flesh and how that is often where humans place their focus. Of course this does no justice to the price and the quality of Christ’s gift, but it does get the message across in a more modern and understandable way.

Hebrews!

2004-10-26T13:12:00.000-07:00

Today we got a new teacher, Rev. Bill Boulet, and he seems like another good one. We have only had a few bad ones and they had good content they just didn’t present the material with a captivating line of attack. You see we, as students, need a few funnies and something to get our wheels turning up in that head of ours, because with just six ours of sleep a student isn’t fully present and if the teacher is not a pleasant presenter the ‘little guy with the jackhammer can’t get out of your head’ causing us to shoot ourselves just after they finish. Anyway, I remember two phrases relayed to me from Rev. Boulet and that really caught my attention. They were, “you can’t master the scriptures, but you can let the scriptures master you.” What I think this one means is that we can never perfectly live out the laws and practices God gave us in the canon but we can let the scripture be the central guiding force in our life. And one more is, “God is the one and only uncaused cause.” Meaning God caused everything but nothing created him he was and is always there, oh and one last thing God did not create us because he wanted company but he created us to glorify him. And that’s all for today tune in tomorrow for just a little more of my foot print….ya I know its silly.

Tipical Monday

2004-10-25T13:13:00.000-07:00

It’s a Monday and time seems to be flying by. I don’t have school today but there is many a things to do, and it feels like the hurrieder I go, the behinder I get…lol. I like Word of Life, but I think I am a bit home sick…not saying I want to go home or anything. I am currently finishing a character essay on Rachel, Jacobs wife (bible ot). It seems good so far but I seem to be putting off doing it just for the high of rushing to get it finished just before the deadline. I wish I didn’t do those kinds of things because I am sure I could do a better job if I started now. It must be the years of conditioning myself all through out high school. Well not much has happened just same old, same old. Though I did go to an evangelistic gathering called judgment house. It wasn’t bad though I think they need some work with making it more realistic, some of the scenes were a tad premature. It wasn’t that bad and I would suggest it to others but some of the actors need a little more rehearsing. For all you who have never heard of judgment house, it’s a church and almost all the rooms are propped to the max to fit the a particular scene. Volunteer actors, like myself, act out a whole story line in an attempt to deliver the gospel in a realistic manner so that all can realize that we are dealing with a vital choice that is lost the second one moves from this world. This evangelistic technique is being used in many locations all over the USA, the popular time of year is at Halloween because some of the scenes try to depict hell in its fullness and that fits the Halloween theme. In addition, it works as a great medium to get kids off the street on that mischievous night. Anyways signing off…

Oh…………I just finished my web site and everyone is required to check it out! I have some neat links and an academic archive and around 1300 pictures of previous adventures and lots more……!!!!CLICK!!!!! …….www.justafootprint.com….!!!!CLICK!!!!!

First Experiences of Life in Florida

2004-09-25T10:52:00.000-07:00

Many have requested an informational letter regarding the conditions of the campus, the hurricane status, and trip down to Hudson Florida, my new home for the next 12 months.
The twenty-four hour journey down to Hudson Florida started unpleasantly, though progressively improved. Starting off in a traffic jam and with a drenching nosebleed. While in this horrific state I managed to miss my exit, and not only that, but see myself pass it by, being in the far left lane of the traffic jam I was stuck like a turtle placed upside down. This trip, only a tiny expanse of my life, became worse when the border control gave me vague directions as to where to get my immigration papers approved. Looking for door number two, in the direction of the border patrols outstretched arm, I soon found myself on the highway without approved passage into the United States. The state police were searching for me but I luckily made it back to the office before they located my position, and thus was able to explain the directionally challenged border control personal. Climaxing, I traveled the last four hours in a downpour and in the heavy winds of hurricane Frances. With three to four inches of water on the road, accompanied by spraying rain from spitting tires, I began to plead, to no one in particular, for faster traveling conditions. The rain progressively thinned as I arrived in Hudson and to the encouragement of traffic, the sunshine beamed through the clouds. At last the clouds blew away and the sun began to shine as brightly as you would expect it to, in the State of Florida. Thus my adventure to the United States of America.
Once on campus, I was able to relax in front of a scenic pool deck and bathe in the sun, which emitted a temperature that was absolutely superb.
Our dorms here are of the lowest quality; “shack’s” is the campus joke. Not being allowed to bring in our own beds or mattresses, we instead sleep on plastic coated, cushioned, bunk beds, six people to a 15’ * 15’ room. Though cramped at times we are able to work around each other and thus create a bond through our arguments and struggles. Learning to work together and accepting other people’s ideoiocrices will be more beneficial then living in a “five star” dorm…that’s what they tell us anyway.
The wild life and myself are getting well acquainted down here in Florida. Frogs, lizards, snakes, fire ants, and misquotes are of a consistent annoyance. A half an hour of chasing wild frogs out of my car, taught me not to leave my car windows open when stopped. Miniature lizards are everywhere, though they don’t cause too much trouble. Snakes seem rare but I have been instructed that the majority are poisonous, and to stay away. Fire ants, for all who don’t know, are just like red ants but extremely aggressive, climbing up you leg even as you walk. When these ants bite, you will receive an inflammation of the skin that feels like a mini bruise; their bite is effective in causing minor scares. Mosquitoes are prevalent though not overwhelming because the campus is sprayed weekly to resolve some of the insect problems. The city of Hudson confines a plethora of marshes, ponds and the like. This stagnant water creates a perfect niche for Mosquitoes to thrive.
At the earliest opportunity, I had to checkout a beach. Clear Water was my first choice, about a 45 min drive, brought me to one of the nicest beaches in this region. It most assuredly upheld its reputation, containing a peer, palm trees, a long expanse of white sand, the novelty of bay watch lifeguards, and cool little showers to wash off the salt and sand from your body. There is other beaches about 10 minutes off campus but I hear they aren’t worth going to, though from what I am used to in Canada, I think these beaches would do just fine. Here on the Gulf of Mexico there are only small waves. So I am leaving for the east cost next weekend to experience the renowned surfing conditions...wooohoo
School is keeping me busy, it seems the teachers keep piling up the workload so as to leave the student body in a constant stupor in front of his or her desk of notes. Though no melancholy is expressed on campus dew to the passage in the bible “count it all joy”. Our professors thought it important to start off the school year with a verse that would push smiles, even in the most horrid occasions.
The athletic competition is awesome. I am currently playing basketball every evening. I am now getting into the shape I always wanted to be in but never made the time. Now because everything is within a 5 min walking radius of my living location, the limitations have extended to an excellent level. Everything you want is on location and at your full disposal. In addition, the food is no less then amazing, a fully furnished salad bar, a full hot meal line, and a full veggie and Fruit bar every meal.
You have probably heard about the hurricanes that have recently passed through Florida. Frances, came through the day before I arrived and did some damage to the word of life campus. Some flooding, fallen trees, branches, ect, were dispersed around the campus grounds. The campus only had a taste of the hurricane considering we only experienced the hind end of it. On Sept 27th, Jean, another hurricane in close range, is currently in course to hit the city of Hudson, and thus the Word of life Campus. In addition, tornado warnings have been posted on media airwaves throughout this region. Sadly enough we, the student body, are confined to the campus for no less than 2 days. Tonight we are sleeping in the sanctuary, which is a large balky building on campus. This building is the community scapegoat for hurricanes, because of its category 5-hurricane resistance status. Me, as well as other students are beginning to experience our first symptoms of dorm fever. With no music, movies, or fresh air we have begun the bouncing off the walls routine…ahhh..
Standing by at WOL Hudson, Florida…..

My current e-address and phone #

Email: Justafootprint@hotmail.com

My # is …… 1-727-379-5727