Random collisions with my brain

Biblical roles

2009-07-19T21:12:00.002-07:00

I believe that God has a different plan for each of us at the different steps of life that we are in. God has made distinct roles for each time in a person’s life. Here is a very summarized and brief explanation of the MAIN roles god has given individuals at each level of age. Again I emphasize that these are the main roles not the only roles

Children:
In short the biblical role for children is to obey their parents (Eph 6:1) and grow in their love and knowledge of the savior. It is at this stage that an individual is trained in character and habits of abstaining from evil that will stick with them the rest of their lives. This is the section of life when statistically most people come to salvation (Mat 19:14).

Single people: aka teens and young adults
While it is still extremely important for individuals at this stage in life to continue learning more about God, their focus shifts to include the importance of ministry (1 Cor. 7:32, 34). A lot of Christians and churches today (including SBCC to some extent) I believe focus to much on teaching youth to abstain from evil and not enough on the importance of service. However scripture makes it clear that the christian life has two aspects; abstaining from evil and service (James 1:27).

Adults:
While the roles of learning and serving continue, the role of an adult expands to take on the new aspect of teaching. This is divided into two sections; parenting (Prov. 22:6), and teaching in the church (1 Cor. 12:28).

In case anyone was wondering were in the world this completely random post came from it was inspired by 1) working with children in CEF and 2) thinking about what I think the roles of the youth and children’s ministries should (in my ever so humble opinion) be at the new church.

True Success

2009-07-12T21:31:00.000-07:00

God showed to me this last week just how much I judge success of anything I do by the outcome of it. If it’s a test, by what score I get. If it’s playing the violin, how few mistakes I make. If it’s working with kids, how well they behaved and how many decisions for Christ were made. But God has been showing me that it’s not just about visible outcomes. If all the kids at day camp are being little brats that doesn’t mean I’m a failure or that I should just give up loving on the kids and go about the day half-hearted. No. There are things and outcome going on that I can’t see. I am still required by the word of God to work at that activity with all my might as working for the Lord not men. I used to look at that verse and think that the hard part about obeying that verse was doing hard activities. But maybe the hardest times to obey that verse might be when we have to fight the mental battle against thinking that we’re failures and wanting to give up. So don’t give up my brothers and sisters. Continue of working for the Lord. Because even when you can’t see the labor of your work you can know that your labor is for the Lord not men.

Does God Twitter

2009-07-09T20:15:00.000-07:00

(a very) Random Update

2009-07-02T21:50:00.000-07:00

Since it’s been forever since I’ve posted I figured I would just post a bunch of random stuff. All of these are things I could have made a whole post about but haven’t.

- Went to see transformers 2 today. It was mediocre. But what is it with action packed movies and destroying beautiful buildings. I mean forget the fact that there are people dying, buildings are being destroyed here (am I a future architect or what).

- During my last quarter at Whatcom I was frustrated that my teachers were so big on needing to cite sources to back up my ideas. I’m thinking that for me personally I don’t care about sources. Unless it’s someone really famous I don’t really care if someone else agrees with you. Then I began to realize that it’s because I have the word of God to base my judgments off of. These people need sources because that’s all they have. Kind of sad.

- It switches off about every other day as to whether I’m excited, nervous, or dreading University of Washington.

- Work (Child Evangelism Fellowship day camps) begins on Monday. I CAN’T WAIT!!!

- I have a Facebook so that’s part of the reason I haven’t been blogging lately

- I love Rascal Flatts

- Did I mention I was excited about CEF

- I miss my Russian friends. Those guys were amazing and I’m totally missing getting to see at least one of them every day. I’m hoping to go to their church this Sunday for anyone who is interested

- Something else Christian should go here so you don't think that my life is all about secular things.

- Looking back I’ve grown a lot socially in the last two years. My entire first year I was so unsociable. My entire first year pretty much the only reason I sat with Silver Beachers was because it was better than having strange faces around. But now I’ve really begun to break out of my “home school shell” and enjoy being around people. Actually I’m kind of missing getting to be around people every day. Well at least certain people.

- The new church is very exciting!

Well that was my completely random update on my life. Did I mention I can’t wait until CEF begins!!!

here

2009-06-30T22:46:00.000-07:00

I'm alive. Honest. A new post is comming soon.

Hannah Montana- Hoedown Throwdown Music Video

2009-04-26T22:57:00.001-07:00

You you're lame and desperate when the best you can do for a blog is find the lamest video you can find on youtube and post it.

God is awesome

2009-04-19T15:31:00.000-07:00

God has definitely been leading my decision into which university I should go to. The last 4-5 month have been hectic and strenuous at times as I had some really big decisions come up about which school I was going to attend. It all began back in December when I was applying to WSU I began thinking about how nice it would be to live closer to home and began to reconsider UW. So I applied and was accepted to both schools. Now the decision process began. Relooking at things we began to remember the reasons we liked WSU better to begin with: UW has an extremely difficult acceptance into the 2nd year of the program (as in one in three get in). And then my fafsa (financial aid) from UW came in from UW and it didn’t look pretty so things weren’t looking good for UW.
Then dad and I took a trip to UW to talk with advisers there (we talked with WSU last summer). There we realized that even if I took one year at UW I might be able to switch/apply to more than one school for my second year which might ease up some of the stress about having not getting into the second year of the program. After that we began looking at the actual costs o living on campus and realized I could get a triple room instead of a double and buy some meals at the grocery store instead of at the cafeteria to save on money. Then on top of that Fafsa came back from WSU looking even worse than UW. So it seamed very clear that this was how God was directing me.
Now believe me this was just an over view and there were WAY more details I left out. There were so many ups and downs on this trip to deciding which college and I wish I could say I was patiently waiting on God through them all but I must confess that I got really stressed a lot these last 5 months. But now I look back and I’m so thankful for how faithful God was.
BTW I bought the sandstone colored tee-shirt (see post bellow).

2009-04-18T22:40:00.001-07:00

Si hubiera estado alli Jesus Adrian Romero Ayer te vi

2009-04-17T18:15:00.001-07:00

Thanks for sharring Emily. Awesome song.

Beck Studio Guest Passes Out On Air - NOT Scripted!

2009-04-14T19:53:00.001-07:00

New Again - Brad Paisley and Sara Evans

2009-04-12T22:50:00.001-07:00

One of my favorite easter songs.

Ok so maybe off on a few details.

2009-04-12T12:34:00.001-07:00

Which shirt?

2009-04-09T22:44:00.000-07:00

So which shirt should I buy? Vote on my poll at right.

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Just buy a WSU shirt. They're so much cooler and no one will notice right?

Rascal Flatts - Here Comes Goodbye - (HD) Official Music Video

2009-04-08T22:35:00.001-07:00

My random life

2009-03-26T17:22:00.000-07:00

1) School is out

2) I think I got A’s and I’m hoping I didn’t get any of those nasty minus signs

3) I still haven’t made my decision between UW and WSU.
a. UW is closer and I have friends going there.
b. WSU has a higher acceptance rate (you only know if you’re accepted after the first year in the program)

4) One more quarter and I’ll have gotten through 2 years of WCC without a B. *crosses fingers* Every finals season my mom tells me I should have just gotten a B that way it wouldn’t be so dramatic when I finally got one.

5) My point, Abbie, was that while a lot of people believe that “ing” words such as going, leaving, and heading imply a current state of action, this is actually a common mistake as noted by countless children every Sunday morning when they are told “we’re headed for the car”. Gosh it doesn’t sound as funny now as it did in my head.

6) I’m excited about working in CEF this summer

7) After reading the Narnia series the last year, I finished the Last Battle on Monday. Now I’ve begun The Hobbit. Both are classics but they’re both good.

Finals is comming

2009-03-15T20:53:00.000-07:00

Finals are comming... AAAAAAAAHHHHH. Please pray that i wouldn't get so bogged down in the sturying and forget The most important thing, God. I get so stressed thinking about grades, but seriously, in the grand scope of things does it really matter if I an A- instead of an A? Now if I were to get a B... ok, just kidding. It doesn't matter. God is good through it all (even if I have to move to Mexico because I got a B).

Praise God

2009-03-10T08:56:00.000-07:00

Dad had his first day at work yesterday. Prase God for his provision. Please continue to pray that dad would be able to make sales because it's a commision only type of job.

What God has been teaching me lately

2009-03-08T15:59:00.000-07:00

God has been showing me that while I’m a schedule person and need to plan out a specific time of day for my devotions other wise it doesn’t get done, I need to have more flexibility during my quite time. I’m to much of a: I’ve read today’s devotional, check. I’ve read my scripture for today, check. I’ve had my time of prayer for today, check, type of person. God has been showing me that someday I might need more of one component of my quite time than I do other days and that it’s alright to cut another part short or even *gasp* cut it out all together for the day. So there you have my random bit of what God has been teaching me lately for today.

This morning at breakfast

2009-03-05T16:18:00.000-08:00

Me: so I hear that the Subway in Ferndale got robbed on Monday

Undisclosed family member: There's a subway in Ferndale?

Me: Yup

Undisclosed family member: No. Where does it go?

Oh, life is good

Randomness

2009-02-27T16:59:00.000-08:00

Just to proove how brave I am to Abbie I put both Nickleback and Green Day on my playlist. I thought about putting Stacey's Mom by Fountains of Wayne on there but my better judgement won out. It's kind of a funny song in a twisted sort of a way for anyone who is brave enough to look it up.

Well today I got accepted to UW. So now I have a decision to make. I still need to find out from them how well my credits will transfer down there and the only way I can do that is to go to one of their "transfer Thursday's." In case you couldn't tell by the name it's on thursday's in the afternoon which is when my Spanish class is which I really can't skip which makes it really inconvenient. So I think I'll go down there durring spring break. I also have to wait to hear back from FAFSA (financial aid) before I can finalize my choice. I also emailed Montana State today to find out more about their architecture program.

Ps. The councilers at UW are really anoying. I tried calling them today to find out about transfering credits and for all of my questions she kept saying "did you look at our website?" Yes I did, that why I'm calling you idiot.

My testimony

2009-02-22T20:35:00.001-08:00

I don’t remember the date when I first asked Jesus into my heart and even as a child I prayed a sinner’s prayer several times. However even though I don’t remember the date, I remember one time when I was about 5 of 6 I was sitting on the couch being bored and I remember feeling very aware of being a sinner separated from God. I remember looking all around the house, not being able to find mom, and being very sad because I needed to ask Jesus into my heart right then. Well finally I found my mom outside and we prayed together.

I wish I could say that from that time on I was perfect but that would be another sin to add to my repertoire. I was not a good kid. While it may be hard to believe, at 7 years old I was quite a ladies man. Kind of scary. Heading into my preteen and early teen years, things didn’t get much better. I didn’t get along with my parents or my younger brother, I couldn’t care less about school and I couldn’t wait until the day I would move out. Well God in his sovereign hand began to use my own sinful motives to begin to mold me.

Around 14 I realized that if I was going to be able to move out, I would have to go to college which would mean starting to actually care about my schooling. So I began to work hard at my school and started to show a little more respect towards my parents. My heart still wasn’t devoted to following God, but then God began to change me. There wasn’t any one defining moment but through a series of events such as a move, new friends, new church, and an experience at Christian Youth In Action (C.Y.I.A.) camp God had really brought me to the point of desiring to please him.

Now I still can’t say I’m perfect (all of you reading this know me to well for that), but God has really helped me desire to live for him. I no longer am longing to move out. In fact I dread the thought of moving out this fall. There are still many aspects that I wish God would suddenly make me perfect in, but he continues to mold me and I am forever grateful for what he has done for me.

I thinned my hair.

2009-02-17T16:51:00.000-08:00

So I got through today and neither Hannah or Emily noticed that I thinned my hair. Woot!!! (in case you were wondering they gave me a hard time when Hannah hilighted her hair and I didn't notice.)

Long weekends are awesome

2009-02-15T17:08:00.000-08:00

I love long weekends. So far this weekend I've gone to two parties, visited a friends church and had my Cousins from Portland over. And we still have tomorow off of school. But I dread going back on Tuesday. I'm really not a big fan of school at all.

Wow this post was completely random.

Sleep Depraved #2

2009-02-10T17:05:00.000-08:00

You know you're sleep depraved when

1) you spend two minutes at night arguing with yourself about whether you should set your alarm for 6:42 or 6:43 the next morning.

2) You send Hannah an email explaining about the atachment that you just so happen to forget to attach.

In all this sleep depravedness, I didn't forget to get my GF something. Mrs. S. Posted the pics on her site here. (would you look at that I actually remembered to actually include the link before hitting the publish now button.)

It's not long but it has a photo

2009-02-07T10:18:00.000-08:00

So Valentines Day is next Saturday and like any good boyfriend I got my GF a present

CEF

2009-02-05T16:58:00.000-08:00

Woot CEF sesion is just around the corner. I can't wait. Applications are due March 14 so if you're interested talk to either me or Holly about an application. And if you know of any guys that are interested we would LOVE to have more guys. (Emily you should talk to your Victor about it.)

WSU here I... maybe come

2009-01-30T14:21:00.000-08:00

Woot! so yesterday I got accepted to WSU. I haven't totally decided whether I prefer going to UW or WSU but it's good to know that at least one of them will take me. It was funny, the second line of the acceptance leader said that now that I've been accepted they want me to send them $200 ASAP to confirm my plans to enroll there. Fortunately it doesn't have to be paid until May 1st. By then I should have heard back from UW.

Oh, and to add even more options to the mix, I'm looking at applying to Montana State. When I took the ACT I had my scores sent there and since then they've been hounding me with mail and phone calls trying to get me to apply. Plus they say they will offer $8,000 in scholarships per year which might be really nice. But at least for now I know that I have at least one option.

Why

2009-01-29T23:03:00.000-08:00

So probably most of you have heard by now that within his first week in office, president Barack Obama has already put forward his stance on abortion by allowing the continuation of government support to organizations that perform abortions. Let me say that if you don’t believe unborn babies are not really human, I can sort of understand how you could think abortion is ok. However I don’t understand why anyone would want to use government money to support such abortion. If your ignorant and thus think it’s ok is one thing, but why do we have to support it?

If this sounded at all disrespectful, I’m sorry and that was not my intention. Just letting off a little steam (I’m sure Hannah and Emily could come up with a better term for that.)

I can't think so I'll be random

2009-01-25T22:11:00.000-08:00

Waaaaaahhhh... I just remembered that set my alarm again for tomorow morning. Man the weekend is nice. Spanish is killing me. The thing is since my teacher gives practice tests I could probably just studdy the practice tests and do way less work and still get a good grade, but no, it's that stupid thing called a work ethic that makes me want to actually learn the darn material.

I'm so soar. On saturday a bunch of us helped out a family from our church who had had a mudslide right next to their house the last big rain storm we got. So I spent an entire day hauling 35-50 pound sand bags straight up a hill that was steaper than Alabama, about 3/4 as long and that had so tough a terrain it was at times slightly difficult to find a footing. Fun fun.

Randomness

2009-01-19T22:12:00.000-08:00

To be completely random I thought I would start off with a couple of book recomendations

My utmost for his Highest - I know everyone knows about it and I've even recomended on my blog before but let me just say once again that it is an amazing book.

"Hankbook to Prayer: praying scripture back to God" by Keneth Boa. An outstanding prayer book consisting of lots of great bible verses. Truly amazing.

Ok on a little more corny side, tonoght my GF won the limbo contest at the all church family skate night. I was so proud of her. I felt like such a nervous parent watching her every round. But in the end she was amazing. I do have to say that I feel sorry for you abbie, but only, you had nothing on Aidoo.

Do I need coffee?

2009-01-13T16:53:00.000-08:00

Today I got home from school and decided I needed some coffee. So I made myself a cup just fine and dandy. When I had poured my cup of coffee…

“ah the smell of Caffeine,” said I.
Janel responded sarcastically, “you don’t need coffee do you? You can’t be tired.”
“Yes I need coffee” retorted I.

Then I turned around but apparently I must have turned around to fast because with a swoosh my coffee sailed up and over the rim of my cup and from there proceeded to quickly make its dissention to the floor below where, with a terrific splash, it made a ever so messy puddle on the floor. Case in point: you know you need coffee when you can’t even keep the coffee in the cup.

And for anyone who was wondering I’m not complaining about school. Hannah and me decided that it’s grief sharing not complaining (she’s taking a head-shrinking class incase you couldn’t tell).

I survived

2009-01-11T22:11:00.000-08:00

So I maid it through the first week of school. Spanish is going to be a killer. But I've heard from two sources that the first couple of weeks are the worst. It seams kind of strange that I have two tests already on Thursday. Who has to take tests on the second week of school

Abbie, you'll be glad to see that I added a history for you.

Back to school

2009-01-04T19:45:00.000-08:00

If you had of asked me four days ago if I was ready to go back to school I would have said no way. But now I think I am. Both of my College application (UW & WSU) are sent in and I think I'm ready to take this on. So... Here I go. Back to school again (what joy).

This past week was actually really cool. You see, every day I made a schedule and every day I didn't think that I would be able to complete as much as I needed/wanted to get done in that day. But God proved himself awesome and everyday I completed my list of things to do.

Origami

2009-01-02T12:48:00.000-08:00

Ella: I'll warn you that I'm welled versed in the ancient art of Origami.
Bad dudes: Paper folding?
Ella: I hoped you wouldn't know what that was.

So while you all are recovering from the fact that I just quoted from a chick flick on my blog, I would just like to inform you about the new hobby that my little brother has picked up and gotten quite good at.

Does this swan look familiar to any WCC people?

In case you were wondering there's a swan, ninja star, dog, ninja star thingy, and throwing nives pictured above.

Whuz up

2008-12-29T12:35:00.000-08:00

So I downloaded a new blog template. What do you think? Post your comments and vote on the poll.

Less than a week before school starts again. Waaaaahhhhh

Christmas

2008-12-26T21:37:00.000-08:00

Our family opened presents on Christmas Eve day to make room for all that we had planned on Christmas. After opening presents, mom, dad and I went to the mall to go for a walk there. Well actually they went for a walk while I went shopping for a present for my Girl Friend and some stocking stuffers for mom (she fills all of our stocking and we forgot to get her something. So ashamed). After lunch we watched the movie Cristian had gotten, Indiana Jones: Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Then was supper and after supper we watched my movie, Narnia: Prince Caspian. Unfortunately Candlelight service was canceled at church so we didn’t go to that that evening.

Then Christmas day arrived and with it a bunch of new snow. Unfortunately part of the plans had been to go up to Lynden to visit my moms parents and bring grandpa to see grandma. It’s a long, sad and complicated storry but basically mom’s parents (who have been married for like forever) aren’t able to see each other very often because of health reasons. Dad took the van down the driveway to see if he would be able to get all of us out but then the van got stuck in our own driveway but with a lot of shoveling, some very cold body parts and a lot of help from the neighbors truck we finally got the van unstuck. Needles to say we didn’t try to make it to Lynden after that. By late afternoon the roads had cleared enough that we were able to get out and bring my dads parents over to our house for an early supper and a short visit. It was an interesting and different Christmas but different can be fun too.

Essay responses

2008-12-23T18:44:00.000-08:00

I haven't actually submitted these to WSU yet. I'm going to wait until after christmas to give me more time to look these short responses over and to have my family look them over. So if you see anything, please feel free to comment.

Leadership/group contributions:

When I was fourteen I was involved with the Vacation Bible School at my church. For three hours a day for five days I was in charge of ten five and six year olds. For the last two summers I have been involved with a Christian day camp for kids in which I was in charge of up to twenty children as well as two other teen workers. This past Christmas season I organized a group of teens to carol at a retirement home. I have also been in charge of an after school club at a local elementary school.

Knowledge or creativity in a field:

I have played the violin for over eleven years and enjoy playing a variety of styles including classical, old time country-western, swing, and celtic. For the last year and a half I gained an interest in drawing and have taken a class at my community college in drawing. I have drawn a number of scenes such as portraits, still lifes, landscapes, buildings and Japanese Manga. I also enjoy photography and have had the privilege of photographing landscapes and wildlife in places such as Yellowstone, Glacier, and Crater Lake national parks as well as along several backpacking trips through the cascades.

Dealing with adversity:

In 2001, my father left his electronic engineering job to purchase a woodworking business which, for years, struggled financially. I worked for my dad so that he wouldn’t need employees. Two years ago, dad sold the business to start an electronic engineering company. Unfortunately he recently realized the project he had worked on for two years was not coming together and he is now looking for work. To help financially, I work with children during the summer to pay for my personal expenses. Through this challenge my family has bonded together and I have learned to be a hard worker.

Community service:

I am a member of the Washington Old Time Fiddlers Association—a group of musicians who go to different nursing homes and play old-time music for the residents. This past Christmas I organized a group of young people to bring cookies and carol for the residents of a local retirement home. During the past two summers I have helped with a day camp that provides very low cost child care service to various communities including smaller outlying communities throughout Whatcom County. This school year I have been in charge of a free after school program in a local elementary school.

Handling systemic challenges:

I have the privilege of coming from a multi-racial family. Ten years ago our family adopted a little boy from Guatemala named Cristian. Growing up, some of my best friends were our neighbor’s grandkids from Nigeria. Some of my best friends that I’ve met in community college have been from Taiwan and Thailand. Even though I know lots of people from other nationalities, I have been blessed to not have witnessed discrimination personally. However I have attended a diversity panel at my school to hear about discrimination that others have witnessed. I look forward to Washington State University’s international atmosphere.

Goals/task commitment:

One of my biggest goals has been to become a better public speaker. I appreciate my homeschooled upbringing. Unfortunately it lacked the opportunity to give speeches. To overcome this challenge, I have spent two summers teaching stories to groups of up to sixty children. I have also spoken several times in front of my church of over one-hundred-and-fifty people. I have already taken a class on public communication in running start and plan on taking another one this spring. When I was eleven our family bought a home business in which I sometimes worked up to thirty hour work weeks.

WSU application

2008-12-22T10:48:00.000-08:00

Well I've been filling out my application to WSU and I thought I would share with you a few of the wonderfull short essay questions that I've been answering.

Knowledge or creativity in a field: Describe any of your special interests and how you have developed knowledge in these areas. Give examples of your creativity: the ability to see alternatives; take diverse perspectives; come up with many, varied, or original ideas; or willingness to try new things.

Dealing with adversity: Describe the most significant challenge you have faced and the steps you have taken to address this challenge. Include whether you turned to anyone in facing that challenge, the role that person played, and what you learned about yourself.

Community service: Explain what you have done to make your community a better place to live. Give examples of specific projects in which you have been involved over time.

Handling systemic challenges: Describe your experiences facing or witnessing discrimination. Tell us how you responded and what you learned from those experiences and how they prepared you to contribute to the WSU community.

What Does Mama Say?

2008-12-22T09:55:00.001-08:00

Christmas is comming

2008-12-19T17:03:00.000-08:00

I decided to finally install a christmas background. After trying on almost all the themes from the website, I decided to go with this one. It is a bit feminine, but I decided that true men don't have to protect there masculenity.
Bellow are our family christmas photos.

A perfect day

2008-12-18T21:48:00.000-08:00

This morning, Janel, Cristian and I decided that instead of spending the day cooped up inside we would get out and do some Christmas shopping. But instead of trying to brave the roads ourselves we decided to take the bus which goes along Northwest. So we trucked out to the end of our road and took the bus into Cordata station. Unfortunately the bus was 15 minutes late so we had to wait out in the cold. From Cordata we took the bus to Wal-Mart. After we had finished there we walked back towards Cordata station making a Starbucks stop on the way. From Cordata we then proceeded to take the bus to Bellis Fair where we did some shopping, then eat lunch, then did some more shopping and ran into Chris. After we had finished shopping we saw Madagascar 2 at the theater in the mall and then did some more shopping that we had forgotten about. After that it was back on the bus to Cordata then back to Northwest where we got off and walked home. It was a fun excursion. At times it was a bit cold but it still made for a fun, very full and tiring day.

Choir

2008-12-16T22:28:00.001-08:00

Best of luck to the choir on Sunday.

2008-12-14T22:21:00.000-08:00

Woot school is out. Sometime I'll have to actually write something intelegent but for right now this will do.

Oh, p.s. I actually wore a tie twice this week. (something very, very amazing.)

I'm going in

2008-12-07T21:52:00.000-08:00

Yup, tomorrow begins finals week and if I don’t come out of finals week alive, well, Cristian you still don’t get my computer. This is going to be a killer week. Here’s my schedule

Monday – School is mostly review. I’ll probably skip my physics class (oh my gosh). Today is also CEF after school club

Tuesday – I have two tests (Math final part 1 and econ final chapter test)

Wednesday – 2 tests again today (math final part 2 and Physics final

Thursday – Econ final and a AIA architects award show. I’m just attending so it’s not like there’s anything to prepare but still it’s supe fancy and it involves food. Also there will be people in high (salary giving) places there if you get my drift.

Friday – study study study for the ACT

Saturday – Be in Lynden by 8:00 for the ACT. In the evening I’m going to a company diner at Janel’s work (logos). The only thing to worry about here is that I’ll go to sleep and my face will fall splat onto my plate.

Then I already have a lot planned for my winter break so maybe sometime I’ll blog about that. That is if I make it through this week.

Kristin Chenoweth sings

2008-12-05T19:01:00.001-08:00

This is especially for Hannah who has to take philosophy text quarter. Something to look forward to.

Another rant

2008-12-01T19:31:00.001-08:00

Ok so I realized that it’s been a while since I’ve done a good rant and since ranting is what I’m known for I decided I’d have a good rant. My target of ranting for the day is Praise 106.5 this Christmas.

1) Let’s start with the music. A lot of it isn’t Christian. When I turn to a Christian radio station I don’t expect to hear songs about Santa Clause. I know that praise has started playing more and more non-Christian music throughout the year but it seams like they’re especially getting bad during this Christmas season.

2) Their promo clip thingy. It goes something like “We’re celebrating the reason for the season: Hope, Love, family, and faith.” It’s like did you forget faith and just decide to tack it on at the end? The reason for the season is Jesus Christ. Pure and simple.

3) Their “Drive through difference” program. When I first heard about this I thought it was an awesome idea. When going through the coffee drive through you leave enough money to pay for the person behind you as well as a little print-out poster for them. I thought “what a marvelous way to witness to people around the Holiday season.” So then I go to there website at look at the poster. Not a mention about God or Jesus. It’s all about “I just wanted to bless you and do an act of kindness for you in the Christmas spirit.” I was so ticked off.

Does this type of thing make anybody else mad?

Late work?

2008-11-30T12:00:00.000-08:00

This is for all of you who, like abbie, procrastinated to the very last minute about getting homework done over thanksgiving holiday.

Thanksgiving

2008-11-27T21:11:00.000-08:00

About twice a month I try to get together with a group called the “Old Time Fiddlers Association” which goes around old time music at retirement homes. Well last Tuesday we were at Alderwood Health Care just off of Northwest. There I up on a bulletin board they had posted little paper leaves that the residents had made. On these leafs the residents (with a little help from the staff) had written things that they were thankful for. On these leaves were written things like the name of passed away spouses and good health, but one that caught my eye read “salvation.” I found it very touching to see that written there. It reminded me of how blessed I am to have such a godly heritage. God has blessed me with four amazing grandparents and two superb parents. I am so thankful for the influence and upbringing that they all have given me. Indeed I have much to be thankful for. (And my friends and siblings aren’t half bad either.)

Thanksgiving comics

2008-11-25T22:07:00.000-08:00

What's in your playlist?

2008-11-23T22:10:00.000-08:00

Ok so I got this from a friend. Here are the instructions:
1. Put your iPod/Playlist/CD Player on random shuffle
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.
3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS!

So here’s my list. There were more but I only posted the ones that came out funny.

IF SOMEONE SAYS "IS THIS OKAY" YOU SAY?
Hold On – Stellar Kart

WHAT WOULD BEST DESCRIBE YOUR PERSONALITY?
Zero – Hawk Nelson

WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL?
California – Hawk Nelson

WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO?
I heard the bells on Christmas day – Steven Curtis chapman

WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?
Jesus is life - SCC

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?
Something’s gotta give – LeAnn Rimes

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?
Flowers – Brad Paisley (look up the song, it fits my life perfectly)

WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
Skin (Sarah Beth) – Rascal Flatts

WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?
The night before Christmas – Steven curtis chapman

WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET?
My blanket and Me – from the Soundtrack “you’re a good man Charlie brown”

HOW WILL YOU DIE?
Take Me – Hawk Nelson

WHAT SCARES YOU THE MOST?
Happiness – The Charlie brown CD again

DOES ANYONE LIKE YOU?
Post Cards – Cindy Morgan

IF YOU COULD GO BACK IN TIME, WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE?
God’s will – Marina Mcbride

WHAT HURTS RIGHT NOW?
Remembering You – Steven Curtis Chapman

OT storries

2008-11-17T21:53:00.001-08:00

For after school club we’ve been teaching the storry of Elijah. I love getting to teach these old testament stories. You glean so much more application from them when you teach them vs. when you just read them. I don’t know about you but sometimes some of those OT stories seam to just become history when you’ve read them for the 10th time. So I really enjoy getting to teach the storry of Elijah.

BTW. Please pray for me. While it’s just over a week until our long thanksgiving break, I have three tests and a bunch of homework due before then. On top of that I’m sick. So please pray.

2008-11-12T21:34:00.000-08:00

Well after seeing the choir at church perform last Sunday I thought about my choir outfit and how I should have joined the choir so I could show it off. Notice the black footwear, the black neckpiece, black pants, white shirt? Check the choir dress requirements. It’s all up to snuff.

Post election day

2008-11-05T21:53:00.000-08:00

Well It's post election day and all I can say is "where's that monkey? I need to shoot something." (from pirates of course.)

I all seriousness though, on the way to school today I was thinking of Christians in countries where the outcome of who becomes may decide weather they live or die. While I doubt Obama's willingness to uphold our religious freedoms, I doubt it will come to life and death.

In the end God's glory will be upheld. As Jesus said in the gardne, "not my will but thine."

Verse of the day

2008-10-29T22:17:00.000-07:00

Man cannot live by bread alone
But he can on coffee

Deuteronomy 8:3 - the College is about to kill me verson

2008-10-16T21:59:00.001-07:00

Ok so the video is a little (like a lot) weird, But I love this song.

Voyage of the Dawn Treador Ending

2008-10-15T17:13:00.000-07:00

This is part of the ending of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Since the end of the summer I've been reading this book and finally finished it last night and was struck by this part.

“Please, Aslan,” said Lucy. “Before we go, will you tell us when we can come
back to Narnia.”

“Dearest,” said Aslan very gently, “You and your brother will never come back to
Narnia.”

“Oh, Aslan!” said Edmund and Lucy both together in despairing voices.

“You are too old, children,” said Aslan, “and you must begin to come close to your own world now.”

“It isn’t Narnia, you know,” sobbed Lucy. “It’s you. We shan’t meet you there. And
how can we live, never meeting you?”

“But you shall meet me, dear one,” said Aslan.

“Are-are you there too, Sire?” said Edmund.

“I am” said Aslan. “But there I have another name. You must learn to know me by
that name. This was the very reason why you were brought to Narnia, that by
knowing me here for a little, you may know me better there”

School

2008-10-14T21:56:00.001-07:00

School is exhausting. Some days are highs other days are lows. But I’ve finally come to realize that God guides me through them all. Not every day is going to be a low and I need to stop zeroing in on the few bad things and look at all he has given me. But school is exhausting at times. I also found out that to transfer to WSU I’ll have to take the SAT. I had formerly thought that I didn’t. Well it turns out the only date I can take it to get it back before my application to WSU deadline is the Saturday before finals week. AHHHH… the thought of it makes me shiver.

The biblical perspective on why Barrack Obama should be president.

2008-10-06T21:50:00.000-07:00

Matthew 5:39 but I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on
the right cheek, turn to him the other also.

Not only will Barrack allow terrorist to attack our nation, he’ll make friends with them too.

Matthew 6:1920 19"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where
moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20But store up for
yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where
thieves do not break in and steal.

Better be storing up your treasures in heaven because all your earthly possessions will be taxed away.

Colossians 3:2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.

Better be prepared to die… can you say nuclear war?

So as you can see It’s obvious that it biblical to vote for Obama

Praise God

2008-09-26T21:45:00.000-07:00

For the last 6 month my Grandpa has had to live in an assisted living home while my Grandma’s had to stay at home. During the last 6 month they’ve only been able to see each other a few times (complicated storry). During the last six month there’s been some progresses and some down hills. Some ups and some heartaches. But today I learned that he’s back at home with Grandma. Praise God. Now we have no idea how long this will last. He could go back down hill at any moment. But praise God he’s back.

Why did God create colds?

2008-09-24T18:41:00.000-07:00

Why did God create colds? To let us see how inviting death really is and how much we can’t wait for perfection in heaven where there are NO COLDS. Don’t worry though, I’m not considering suicide… yet.

A blog game

2008-09-21T15:53:00.000-07:00

Wah. School starts tomorrow. Well, anyway. I was thinking of trying to get a storry going. Kind of like that game that Chris H. taught us this summer but with just writing. So here’s how it’s going to work. I’m going to start with writing a sentence. One person (and only one) is going to respond by commenting with a link to their blog. Then on their blog they are going to post the next sentence. One person (and only one person) will respond to that post with a link to their blog and so on and so forth. So, you may be asking, why make it so complicated by going from blog to blog? In this way I hope that people will not read the whole storry until the storry is ended. That way the storry will be more random and funny. So how will you know if you’ve found the latest segment in the storry? You will know when you find a line of the storry that has no comments on it. So here’s a couple rules.

1 Never respond to a sentence that already has a comment (Please keep it a single storry)

2 Only write one sentence

3 As initiator of this game I retain the right to determine when the storry is over. At that point I will post a comment on whoevers blog the storry was last posted on and then I will write a blog post here with the complete storry.

You guys ready? Here’s the first sentence.

One day three blind pigs walked to the store.

Good News Clubs

2008-09-20T15:30:00.000-07:00

This fall I get to do two Good News clubs and I’m so exited. Today at the training I got to see one of the families and one of the kids (Audrey) that came to one of our Day Camps this summer (her mom is teaching a Good News Club.)

Another hike

2008-09-15T10:36:00.000-07:00

Well yesterday (Sunday) our family (all but mom) went for a one day hike up to the base of mount baker (It felt like we were right there). It was a fun trip, a lot of uphill and after the backpacking trip earlier in the week it left our family very tired, but we had a blast anyway. I've uploaded some pics from the trip to my flickr account

Tina Fey as Sara Palin on Saturday Night Live!!!

2008-09-14T20:04:00.001-07:00

Ok, so I know it does make fun of Sara Palin, and I'm a huge Sara fan, but, hay, its funny.

If the vid doesn't work try this link

Follower

2008-09-13T10:35:00.000-07:00

So in case you hadn't noticed, I added a follower bar to my blog. If you guys don't sign up as a follower I will be offended lol j/k. All you do is go to your dashboard and at the bottom there's info on followers.

Another awesome vacation

2008-09-13T09:53:00.000-07:00

I love the outdoors. Seeing all that God has made for us to enjoy and subdue makes me so grateful we serve such an awesome God. Well this backpack trip was our hardest yet. It was only 4 miles, but it was over a mountian so it was 1800 ft. elevation to the top then a 1700 ft. elevation loss to the lake. So that's 1800 ft up in 2 miles. With 35 pound packs thats difficult, but well worth it. I've updated my flickr account with pics. of the trip here.

Job

2008-09-07T20:47:00.000-07:00

Well I’ve got a (very) part time job working at my college doing tours of the campus for new students. It won’t be much (3 hours a day, two days a week for two weeks) but still it’s paid and it’s with friends. My first day is tomorrow so hopefully that will go well. And then on Wednesday my brother, dad and me are leaving for a backpacking trip so I’ll be gone until Friday night.

The alter call - part 1

2008-09-01T19:09:00.000-07:00

I found a few posts on a blog about children’s ministry that I thought had a lot of thought provoking ideas. I would really like to get a discussion going about these things. Here’s a couple inserts from this blog.

… rather than altar calls, the children’s worker give invitations. He suggests that the leader invite the child to come and seek counsel after the meeting is over. This allows them time to think about what they are doing and to come on their own initiative – rather than being influenced by others.”… Many times the methods used in formal children’s ministry settings can limit a child’s true response to the gospel. This occurs any time the child is put in a position of feeling that he must respond in order to please teacher or go along with his pears… The gospel, rightly presented, has its own appeal. The Savior has His own drawing power. This is the divine work of the Holy Spirit in wedding human need and response to the winsomeness of Christ.” The children’s worker in today’s evangelistic setting must be willing to accept this “divine work of the Holy Spirit.” Altar times cannot be forced, pressure-filled, events in the lives of children.

and on a little different subject…

“If we provide small children frequent opportunities to say, “yes” to Christ in accordance with their limited comprehension of Him, we shall never err by hindering them from coming to the Savior, nor by being responsible for their making a mere profession before the Spirit has prepared the heart.

Thoughts from devotions

2008-08-29T21:45:00.000-07:00

For my quite time I’ve been reading through 1 Corinthians. I’ve been reading the first few chapters where it talks a lot about wisdom from God vs. earthly wisdom. It talks about how God doesn’t give mind to weather a person is wise by this worlds standards. He didn’t pick me because I’m specially brilliant (you don’t have to say duh). It also reminded me that we shouldn’t be thinking things like “If only Bill Gates became a Christian. He could do so many great things for the Lord.” God uses those who are poor in the eyes of the world to do his work. And the third thing I learned from this section was that it’s impossible for us to “win over someone for God.” 1 Cor. 1:18 says “For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing.” and in 2:4 “My message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of Power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.” It’s so good to know that when we’re sharing the gospel with a child, or with a friend from school, that it’s not our responsibility to share the gospel in a way to save them. It’s our responsibility to share the gospel, and let God do the rest.

He's A Pirate (Tiesto Remix)

2008-08-28T09:19:00.001-07:00

Thou Shalt Laugh6

2008-08-26T22:04:00.001-07:00

Comedian Mike Williams Stupidity Is A Gift Part 2

2008-08-26T21:40:00.001-07:00

An awesome summer

2008-08-23T09:24:00.000-07:00

Well I’ve had an awesome summer. But CEF is over now. I’m actually really sad that it’s over. I’ll miss working with the kids and my co-workers. You guys are the best. Now I have about a month before I start my second year at Whatcom community college so I’m trying to decide weather to get a part time job or just do projects around the house. Here were some of my favorite kid quotes from this summer.

(When child has been once again acting up)
Teacher: "(child), look into my eyes"
Child: *looking briefly into teachers eyes* “ewe”

Then there was another kid who was five year old who would randomly through temper tantrums and at the top of his lungs scream “You odiot You odiot.”

2008-08-03T21:35:00.000-07:00

So here's some pics. of our team. Sorry that I can't show any pictures of the kids online.

Love this comic

2008-07-31T21:35:00.000-07:00

Whats up

2008-07-19T10:21:00.000-07:00

Well we just finished our second week of camps. Both weeks have gone extreemly well though we've had fewer kids than expected. The first week we had 15, the second we had 16. But God can work through big or small groups however he feels. Next week our team is joining with the other team to do a day camp at a larger church. Please pray for us. It will be a big change going from 15 to as much as 150 kids. Please also pray that janel and my team will be able to bond as a team. We have had some issues with "stepping on toes" so to speak.

Down for a while

2008-07-13T21:39:00.000-07:00

I'm afraid that CEF has taken over my life. Well sort of. I'm just super busy this summer. So I won't be blogging very regularly. I may update with cute kid quotes and pics of my costumes, but it won't be very regular. However I hope to start back up in the fall.

The whole picture

2008-06-27T21:38:00.000-07:00

We’ve probably all seen an image like this right? On one side is sinful man, on the other is Holy God, in the middle is the pit of death with the Cross of Christ as our only way across. What’s the first word that comes to your mind when you see this image? Salvation right? Well I think all too often we as believer tend to forget that this is the cornerstone of our faith. It doesn’t have to do with only our salvation, but the very way we live our Christian life. Oh I don’t mean that we totally forget a bout this image or what it symbolizes. Instead we focus only on one aspect. We need to take in the whole picture, and see how all the pieces fit together in a totally cool way that God designed.

A focus on Sinful Man
Too often we focus on us-the sinful man. Indeed the bible does call us to examine our lives and root out the sin, but as Romans 13:13-14 points out, we are not only to take off the sinful man, we are to also put on Christ.

Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in
lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and
make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.

God has given us a desire to be fulfilled, content, and happy. If we’re not looking to God to fulfil that, then I can assure you that we will look somewhere else.

A focus on the Cross
The cross is one of the most well known and well loved symbols. The cross represents for us the cost that was paid to take away our sin. However we forget the words of Matthew 6:24-25

Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and (B)take up his cross and follow Me.

What? You mean we have to take up a cross too? Yup. You mean just being thankful for the cross is not enough? Yup. Suppose a fireman were rescuing you from a burning building. Your legs were broken and you were completely incapable of saving yourself. You are extremely thankful that the fireman is saving you, but as he carries you through the burning building, you find out that burning buildings tend to be hot. Quite hot as a matter of fact. All of a sudden you don’t like where the fireman is taking you. “Why this seams to be the hottest part of the building” you tell yourself. “Why in the world is the stupid fireman taking me here?” You start to kick. You don’t like this. You want down, but the fireman hangs on to you. He’s strong enough that no matter how hard you pull, you can never get out of his arms. Finally he stops and turns you around so you can look at him. He explains to you that this is not only the quickest and best way, it is also the only way out. You see being thankful for the Cross is not enough. We must also not shrink away from the molding and shaping that God is doing in our lives. However it is not us who are doing the shaping, but Christ. However as the saying goes “we can do this the easy way or we can do this the hard way.” In our focus on the cross, we must not forget that God is Holy, We are Unholy. It is God who is molding us; we are only his vessels.

A focus on Holy God
Ever heard a little boy who dreams of being a baseball player some day declare “someday I want to be just like (famous baseball player)”. You see it’s only natural for us as human beings to long to be like someone who we view as “the best” in a category and God most certainly rules in the Holiness category. It’s simply unnatural for us to study God and not long to be like him. As much as a 7-year-old boy longs to meet the best baseball player in his town, so also as we get to know God, we also want to draw closer to him.

Camping trip

2008-06-21T21:43:00.000-07:00

We had an awesome time on our backpacking trip. We hiked 5 miles in. Made camp. Stayed there a couple days, then hiked all 5 long miles back out. This first pic is of the lake where we stayed at night.

This is a pic of the lake from a mountain that we climbed (there was no trail so we bushwacked it). In case you can't tell, that is really far and really steep.

Here's a little marmet that we saw. We also saw a TON of dear. They seamed to be everywhere in that valley.

Schools out!

2008-06-15T16:52:00.000-07:00

Woot! Well schools out. It’s so nice to get one year of College down. However, it’s hard to think that I still have 6 more years to go. The problem with community college is that it’s just prerequisites. It doesn’t feel like you actually learn any life skills. I’ve learned this year that if you want to get anything out of community college you really have to study to apply it to life instead of just studying to get a good grade. Well, anyway. WOOT! It’s summer! Next week my dad brother and I are going camping then it’s gardening work around the house until I start work in CEF in three weeks. I can’t wait. It’s so exiting. I just wish the weather would hurry up and turn nice.

economics

2008-06-02T14:49:00.000-07:00

Now thats what I call economics

My bad spelling

2008-05-30T14:40:00.001-07:00

Bees: A Spelling Quiz

Score: 30% (3 out of 10)

To try for yourself click here

Carrie Underwood - I'll Stand By You

2008-05-29T21:37:00.001-07:00

Social Darwinism

2008-05-23T21:53:00.000-07:00

Here is an exert from my history term paper on the European colonization during the late 1800's

Charles Darwin, who was born in 1809 into a wealthy family, possessed a love for plants and animals. In 1831 he began a trip around the world as a ship’s naturalist. It was on this trip that he made several discoveries that led him to write the book On the Orgins of Species by Natural Selection in which he set forth his ideas on natural selection and the evolution of living beings. Darwin’s belief that slowly, over millions of years, plants and animals have changed from very simple organism, to what they are today, flew in the face of many Christians who believed that God had created the world in seven days. However others embraced the idea of Darwinian evolution. Evolution not only affected the world of science, it also affected the very ideologies that men live by.

Ever since the time of Darwin and, one could argue, even before the time of Darwin, the idea behind Social Darwinism has reared its ugly head. Darwinism only fueled and created an excuse for man’s behavior of do what he has to to look out for number one that has been prevalent since the dawn of time. Many soon took the theory of evolution so far as to exclude God completely from the picture of life. And when men feel that there is no God to answer to, why shouldn’t they just look out for number one? If this world is all that there is, then live life to the fullest here before it’s all over. Immorality has plagued our world since the Garden of Eden, but evolution has given an excuse for such practices as Euthanasia, Anti-Semitism, and many other immoral movements. The theory of evolution has given man the “right” to take natural selection into his own hands. Should those who are old be allowed to live and take up valuable space and resources on our planet? How about those who are dumb? How about the handicapped? And so Social Darwinism opens up a whole world of issues about morality and what is right and what is wrong.

Bob Smiley's Snow Ski Bit

2008-05-18T12:57:00.001-07:00

Clean Christian Comedy

2008-05-18T09:25:00.001-07:00

A very random update on me

2008-05-13T18:03:00.000-07:00

Well today I registered for classes for next fall. Man. It’s hard to believe that it was only a year ago that I was first signing up for Whatcom. Time flies. Signing up for classes was actually a relief in a way. I had been planning on possibly having to take a class during the summer which would have 1. meant that between school and CEF I would have practically no free time this summer and 2. I would have to quit the softball team. But it turns out that classes weren’t going to align the way I thought they would. So while it would have been nice to get more classes finished, I’m also very relieved that I don’t have to do summer school.

Here’s the very random part. Did you guys know that you can watch TV shows and movies online? I probably shouldn’t be suggesting this stuff because it’s probably illegal, but there are some great movies you can watch on Youtube such as American Outlaw, The Newsies, and the Goonies, and many more. Also television networks are posting there shows online. I really enjoy watching Extreme Makeover: home edition (it’s my favorite show).

It IS possible for our team to win!!!

2008-05-06T16:51:00.000-07:00

Woot. Our team one its softball game yesterday by one point. Unfortunately I think the umpire was partial towards our side. There were several instances when the opposing runner and the ball reached the bag at the same time and the umpire called him out instead of giving the tie to the runner like he should have. But, still, we won!!!

A History Lesson

2008-05-01T21:16:00.000-07:00

No I didn't learn this in my history class this quarter, I got this in a chain email.

Abraham Lincoln was elected to Congress in 1846.
John F. Kennedy was elected to Congress in 1946.

Abraham Lincoln was elected President in 1860.
John F. Kennedy was elected President in 1960.

Both were particularly concerned with civil rights.
Both wives lost their children while living in the White House.

Both Presidents were shot on a Friday.
Both Presidents were shot in the head

Now it gets really weird.Lincoln 's secretary was named Kennedy.
Kennedy's Secretary was named Lincoln.

Both were assassinated by Southerners.
Both were succeeded by Southerners named Johnson.

Andrew Johnson, who succeeded Lincoln , was born in 1808.
Lyndon Johnson, who succeeded Kennedy, was born in 1908.

John Wilkes Booth, who assassinated Lincoln , was born in 1839.
Lee Harvey Oswald, who assassinated Kennedy, was born in 1939.

Both assassins were known by their three names.
Both names are composed of fifteen letters.

Now hang on to your seat.Lincoln was shot at the theater named 'Ford.'
Kennedy was shot in a car called ' Lincoln ' made by 'Ford.'

Lincoln was shot in a theater and his assassin ran and hid in a warehouse.
Kennedy was shot from a warehouse and his assassin ran and hid in a theater.

Booth and Oswald were assassinated before their trials.

And here's the kicker...
A week before Lincoln was shot, he was in Monroe , MarylandA week before Kennedy was shot, he was with Marilyn Monroe.

Different members, one body

2008-04-27T11:50:00.000-07:00

Here’s a little example from what I’m learning in economics

Ann can produce either 8 loaves of bread, or 4 bagels or any linear
combination in-between in one
day.

Ben can produce 3 loaves of bread, or 3 bagels or any linear combination
in-between in one day.

Cal can produce 1 loaf of bread or 2 bagels
or any linear combination in-between in one day.

So, who is the most efficient producer of bagels? Ann you might say. She can produce the most. But in reality it’s Cal. Lets look at an example. Say we need one bagel and as many loafs of bread as possible. If you have Cal make the one loaf of bread, thinking that he is the least efficient maker of Bagels, you are wrong. You will end up getting 3 bagels from Ben and 4 bagels from Ann for a total of 7 bagels. But if, however, you have Ann produce the one loaf of bread, Cal will produce 2 bagels, Ben will produce 3 bagels, and with her left over time Ann will produce 3 ½ bagels making for a total of 8 1/2 bagels. So in actuality, Ben is the most efficient producer of bagels, and Ann is the least.

I know this is a stretch, but when I first read this I really thought to myself of 1 Corinthians 12:12 which says For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. This doesn’t really sound encouraging at all I know, we see our work in the church as being small, and someone else might even actually be able to do this better than me, but this is where I can serve best, and by serving here, I allow someone else to serve somewhere else. So just a quick little (I hope) encouraging thought.

First Softball Season

2008-04-22T16:28:00.000-07:00

Woot! We had our first softball game yesterday and we... well... let's just say we had fun.

An Engineer's Guide to Cats

2008-04-19T15:28:00.000-07:00

Setting our Sights

2008-04-17T21:35:00.000-07:00

In life we quite often tend to focus too much on the negative. I find that when I work with kids, all too often I’m correcting them to much and forgetting to praise them enough. But I also see this is my own life. I focus too much on hating evil and the sin in my life that I don’t focus on righteousness and my righteous savior. Hebrews 12:2 says Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. Now you may be thinking “so what’s the difference between focusing on staying away for sin, and focusing on righteousness?” And indeed I am not trying to make a big doctrine out of this (as I am so known to do). And I am certainly not trying to say that there is no place for focusing on the negative and our sin problem. Anyone who’s ever worked with kids knows that no matter how much praise you give a child, there still remains those times when a stern word of discipline is needed. So we also need to be aware of the sin in our own lives. But in so doing, we must remember that it is impossible to take off wickedness, without putting on righteousness. I think far too often our attempts to live a holy, set apart life end up being our attempts to overcome sin on our own. And as I’m sure we can all testify to, that doesn’t work so well. So again, my point is not that we should be aware of sin in our lives, but that only through God can we have righteousness. Because God is righteousness. Any attempts to put on our own form of righteousness will be futile.

Poll

2008-04-13T16:10:00.000-07:00

Well it looks like Mickey Mouse beet out Barrack Obama and Hillary Clinton. 5-0-0. Good job Mickey! The new poll has to do with what I’ve been learning about in physics. Is a glass of water more valuable or a glass of diamonds? Post what you voted for and why below.

A few thoughts on cat baths...by The Cat

2008-04-06T17:12:00.000-07:00

No, no, no, NOOOOOOOO

Holy Smolly, you call that warm?

But... but... but I thought you loved me

Traction. I'm loosing traction.

Lambs 2008 - 2

2008-04-01T17:24:00.001-07:00

Baby lambs

2008-04-01T16:46:00.000-07:00

Well one of the sheep lambed today. Aren't they adorable?

Wooot!

2008-04-01T07:43:00.001-07:00

Wooot! As of right now, the Mariners are ahead of their division. Of course they’ve only played one game and this may be the last time all season they’re ahead-but for now, they’re ahead.

An update

2008-03-29T21:50:00.000-07:00

Spring break is almost over *Sniff* *Sniff*. Well in case anyone was interested, here are a list of things I did during my break.

- Put rocks along the far end of the pool
- Put pavers on the close end of the pool
- Move one of the flower gardens back towards the house
- Redo some of the siding on the garage
- Redo some of the facial board on the garage

I’m very proud of myself that I actually did something with myself during this break.

I don’t know if it snowed at everyone’s house, but it certainly snowed at mine today. As in sticking snow. As in here in practically April. I say we all drive our cars and hurry up this whole global warming thing. I’m tired of this cold.

Laughing Baby

2008-03-29T09:05:00.001-07:00