ALBERT LACEY

Long deserved update

2006-08-11T22:04:00.000-04:00

It's been a while so I thought I should give a quick update on what has been going on in my life this past week. I doubt anyone reads this anymore but it bugs me that it has been so long since I have updated :)

Last Wednesday my sister and I competed in the St Joseph County 4H fair youth talent competition. (picture to the left) I sung a Bebo Norman song and got 3rd place ... I was happy with myself since this was my first year although I was also kicking myself for messing up towards the end. I never messed up during practice and I wasn't even nervous ... that figures.

This past Tuesday I filmed a music video for a Shawn McDonald contest. Took a total of about three days to complete the video including writing/planning, shooting, and editing. Three days for a three-minute video ... never ceases to make me appreciate any kind of technical art ... it is not as easy as some may think. It was a lot of fun working with my new video camera shooting in downtown South Bend (and everyone staring and asking what we were doing ... ha-ha) and of course getting some good sun.

Past couple days I have been at a leadership conference at church. It has been greatly beneficial to me and the nuggets I have taken away from the past couple days will last me a while. Some very good speakers with some very good things to say ... much worth the time investment.

Well that's all for me from the past two weeks. Hopefully I will update again sooner rather than later ... if you are still reading feel free to leave me a comment and motivate me to update again :)

An update

2006-04-10T23:36:00.000-04:00

As we approach the Easter weekend, the word from one of the Hospice nurses is looking like it might be tomorrow sometime. Of course, in her words, "We aren't in charge" We all know that God has His perfect timing in this whole situation. Thanks to all of the prayers I know are being prayed for this situation. Everyone seems to be holding up pretty well, on the outside anyway. Just trying to stay focused on the task at hand and not think about anything else.

Been looking at old pictures of Grandpa. It is really nice because it helps me to remember him how I want to remember him. I just really pray for my Grandma because I know this has to be really hard on her, and I just pray for God's divine comfort to be on her through these coming months, days, hours.

Thanks again to everyone who has been praying for our family.

Prayer Request...

2006-04-05T21:56:00.000-04:00

I could really use your prayers for my Grandpa. As many of you know he has Parkinsons and has been struggling for quite a while. Well, the way he is looking now, he may not be around for much longer. He really is ready to go home, so it is a bittersweet moment as I know that he will be in a better place where he won't have to struggle with his fallen body. However, I could really use your guys' prayers that God will be with us all as we continue to go through this situation. And also for my grandma that she would be able to cope well with losing him.

"Yet I still belong to You; You are holding my right hand. You will keep on guiding me with Your counsel, leading me to a clorious destiny. Whom have I in Heaven but You? I desier You more than anything on earth. My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak, but God remains the strength of my heart; He is mine forever." -- Psalm 73:23-26 (NLT)

My third media...

2006-02-12T15:11:00.000-05:00

This week I produced my third media for GCC on the India mission trips. I only had a week to work on this one as opposed to several months on my first one and two or three weeks on my last one. However, I think it turned out pretty good. Clocked in my total time at around 20 hours from start to finish.

Watch the Media

(Note that the media may seem a tad out of proportion ... this is just because the media was produced in 16:9/widescreen and apparently YouTube only shows videos in 4:3/fullscreen)

I used the song "All We Need" by Charlie Hall

How to spot mad cow disease

2006-01-26T14:15:00.000-05:00

Have you ever wondered how you can spot mad cow disease? This should help ...

If your cow sound like this ...

... then fire up the barbecue!

If your cow sounds like this ...

... may we suggest
the fish.

Good quotes

2006-01-19T00:22:00.000-05:00

Came across several good quotes recently that really spoke to me. I picked out several of the best ones and am putting them here. Read them slowly and thoughtfully...feel free to comment on them!

If we seek to manifest love by utilizing our inherent abilities to serve others in whatever we are doing, we find the greatest opportunity for development, for then we are giving expression to our love for our neighbors and ourselves.
- David and Bruce McArthur

True love does not come by finding the perfect person, but by learning to see an imperfect person perfectly.
- Jason Jordan

If you love something, set it free. If it comes back, it was, and always will be yours. If it never returns, it was never yours to begin with.
- Unknown

To fall in love is easy, even to remain in it is not difficult; our human loneliness is cause enough. But it is a hard quest worth making to find a comrade through whose steady presence one becomes steadily the person one desires to be.
- Anna Louise Strong

This is awesome!

2006-01-09T11:38:00.000-05:00

You may have seen this video on a lite beer commercial...it is truely awesome and I found the full length video (a full three minutes) Yeah, I know the holiday season is basically over but this is just a fun video to watch. A truely creative use of stop-motion animation...too bad you couldn't really get your house to do that. Your neighbors would FREAK!

Click the icon below to watch the video (you'll need DSL)

The smiles are contagious

2006-01-07T12:16:00.000-05:00

This morning was our church's annual food drop where we unload semis full of food and distribute them to needy people here in the community. This year was great, as always. For everyone getting up as early as they did (on a Saturday no less) there was not a frown to be found. I had the privelage of working right next to a ten year old girl and her attitude was so inspiring. The food boxes were a bit heavy, especially for her, but she refused to give up or take a break. She was all smiles as she passed the boxes along.

Overall just a great time serving God and the community. We truely were the hands and feet of Christ and making positive impacts on the community for Him!

Merry Christmas!

2005-12-26T14:48:00.000-05:00

Hoping all of you had a great Christmas with your families! It was kind of nice this year having Christmas fall on a Sunday because it means that there is an extra day off work in there. New year is just around the corner so may God continue to be with you all in 2006!

Chronicles of Narnia review

2005-12-11T15:02:00.000-05:00

I went to the 7:10 showing of The Chronicles of Narnia: the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe Friday evening with a friend and my family. I won tickets on Pulse which made for an awesome evening! I will post a brief review and will not give away anything for my friends who haven't seen the movie yet.

I was very very pleased with the whole movie. It kept very well to the original book which was such a relief. It has been a while since I have read the book but I kept looking for them to change something but did not notice it hardly at all. High quality from beginning to end!

Going into the movie I expected pretty mediocre computer generated graphics. I was again very pleased! I found out that they used some of the same people that worked on the CG in Lord of the Rings which should alone tell you how good the graphics were. In a movie that relied heavily on CG-effects there was only a couple times when the veil of realism was broken. Most of the creatures were amazingly realistic--especially the half man, half beast creatures like the horse and the goat. I have seen other movies try to do this and fail miserably.

The battle scenes were excellent again thanks to some of the same technology used in LOTR. You would not expect a PG-rated movie to be this good or this intense! Excellent job keeping the blood/gore out while leaving in the intensity and great battle scenes.

Must see movie! Most definitely getting this once it comes out on DVD and probably even will go see it again once it comes to the dollar theatre. Really looking forward for the next movie to come out!

It's a matter of the heart

2005-12-05T23:50:00.000-05:00

Great article I found here. I resonate so much with what this author has to say and it is definitley worth the read. I will dissect the article a bit by providing a few quotes and delving into my own commentary. Hopefully you'll stick it out and read it...even if you don't necessarily agree.

Marriages that flourish are friendships that are characterized by the daily decision to take delight in and to give grace to one’s spouse. Through glories and shames, through thick and thin, it is those two habits of heart that distinguish good marriages from not-so-good ones...

...I was confronted with one more failed “relationship.” I had acted selfishly, again. And so rather than a deepening of commitment and communication because a real friendship knows how to address selfishness — repentance and forgiveness — we “broke up.” What else could we do?

I have posted a couple times on this subject. And many of you who read this blog may have come to some conclusions about me. Contrary to what many of you may think...I do not shun dating and embrace so-called courtship. "Dating" and "courtship" are only words you can apply to specific circumstances. No, I do not call this one word bad and that one word good. I beleive it is more a matter of the heart.

I agree wholeheartedly with what this article talks about. That when you put friendship as the ultimate goal instead of romantic intimacy you ultimately have a much stronger relationship with the other person. Instead of a painful breaking up as would happen in dating (or whatever you wish to call it) your relationship will grow and deepen through the hardships and disagreements.

I was committed to trying to be different, to trying for the first time in my young life to enter into friendship with the young women of my life with no other motive than to love them unselfishly. In a word, to be a friend.

This is another key that clues you in to the matter of the heart. Having a relationship with the other person with no ulterior motives. Loving them as a sister (or brother) in Christ and seeking to discover how you can help them along in their spiritual and life journey. On the other hand, what if you are loving them because of their looks, or what they can do for you, or just because you need to satisfy your romantic longings. Is that really loving the person unselfishly?

This is one commitment I have made. It is not as easy as I may make it sound--yes, I have feelings and everything within me (as well as society around me) urges me to act on them. But, regardless of any feelings, I have committed to pure friendship, to not endulge in my feelings until the time is right, and to make sure any feelings I have do not influence the friendship. I want to be a brother in Christ and not be distracting away from God's ultimate purpose and plan for the other person's life.

My deepening convictions led me to wonder about the possibility of “redeeming friendship,” to see what it might be like to believe and behave as if friendship was not second-best, after all. In fact, to act as if it was God’s standard, His expectation, for unmarried men and women — whether they were 20 … or 60.

It seems society has this whole thing backwards. If you are attracted to someone first you start flirting with them, get them to like you. Then you ask them out on a date. If things don't go right on the first date or any date after that then you break up and become "just friends" As if "just friends" is something of lesser desire.

What if when you are attracted to someone you get to know them based on who they are and who you are. You don't pretend to be someone your not, and you don't put the other person in the position to be pressured to be false. You build your friendship around God and what you have in common not just each other. As the friendship deepens you get to know each other more--the whole time not worrying about if the other is putting on a show or being who they are not. You get to know their heart for God, how they treat their family and friends, and what makes them tick. And as the friendship grows God may bring the two of you to the point where you are ready to pursue something on a higher level.

There is something about friendship, a redeemed friendship, that makes it possible for those outside of marriage and within marriage to care about the qualities of companionship, camaraderie and collegiality, characteristics that sustain relationships anywhere and everywhere. To put it another way, friendships that are marked by the gospel of the kingdom, formed out of fidelity to a biblically-informed worldview, are ones in which friends care more to serve than to be served....

...Marriage turns out to be a long friendship, in the end; surprise of surprises, it is not a long date, after all.

This last quote is SO true. A good marriage truely is a life-long friendship where your love is true and your heart is towards serving the other person. What is better then to start it off right and start building the foundation of friendship on which you can eventually grow and thrive?

Take away the foundation, the building has no choice but to crumble no matter how many bandaids you try to throw on it. Build it without one to begin with, and it will not get off the ground no matter how hard you try. But, lay a solid foundation of true friendship and a mutual love for God, and that building will not only stand tall but will be able to withstand the winds that are guaranteed to blow.

My babies

2005-12-01T19:34:00.000-05:00

My two beautiful cats. Boomerang on the left and Rugsby on the right. I took this picture this afternoon and it turned out so good I just had to post it :)

Surprise!!!

2005-11-23T23:40:00.000-05:00

Wow, I am still reeling...I am so blessed to have such awesome friends, and I have no clue what I have done to deserve them.

Anyway, it all started out Tuesday. Worldview class for the evening was cancelled because our teacher was "sick" and I had to meet at the home of a certain client to discuss some logo revisions I had done for him. I got there, walked into the dark family room and SURPRISE!!!! A bunch of friends completely blew me away with a birthday party! I was so stunned and it took me a minute to say anything at all--I just couldn't believe everyone who was there...and I had absolutely no clue at all that this was coming!

I had friends from Worldview class show up: Erica, Ann, Brittney, Shelby, Korynne, and our teacher Mrs. Kampa. Also, friends from Lifeline: Corey, August, Scotty, Jim, Courtney, Candace, Lindsay and Angela. Dustin and Kim from church also showed up. Also, a long time friend Gary and another friend Brittany. Plus, my mom and sister, and Mr and Mrs Engel as well as Sierra and Heather. Some of you guys I would have never expected to come--which completely hightened the shock and surprise!!!

Ate cake, ice cream, and puppy chow and got to hang out. I then opened cards and had a little scavenger hunt which was pretty fun. All in all an awesome evening which I will never forget...and I can't say thank you enough to everyone that showed up. Never had a surprise party...and that was the best party I have ever had!!! Thanks as well to everyone who put so much work into planning this and throwing it for me. You guys did such a great job!!!

This was so sweet...a camera made of money! Took me a second to figure it out (yeah, I'm slow)...but it is so cool and creative...it even included "film"! The money was to go towards buying a new digital camera. Thanks also to everyone else for their cards and gifts!

Oh yeah, and if you are wondering...I did have my meeting--after the party :)

Hey...y'all have an awesome Thanksgiving!!!

What really matters?

2005-11-20T23:59:00.000-05:00

Our worship leader at Lifeline said something quite thought-provoking which I will try to paraphrase and expound on here. As you are sitting at the computer reading this, stop for a minute and completely zone out from your surroundings as best you can. Breathe slowly and think about this...what if these breathes you are taking are your last?

Go further. The next time you are really pissed off at a friend, your parents, or your sibling(s)...what if this was the last time you would talk to them? When you are feeling bored...what if this was your last day on earth?

What if you would live every moment like it was you last? Can you imagine the passion and fulfillment you would have in your life? Don't lose the opportunity to say "I Love You" to the people that mean something to you. Take advantage of every minute, nay every second to live a life full of fire for God! This is a hard thing to do, and I don't know anyone--myself included--that can do this to the fullest, except maybe Jesus. But I know this is a lifestyle I strive for.

Have you ever found yourself just thinking about heaven and eternity with God? I know I do. And the more I find myself thinking about it, the more my life falls into perspective. I have all of eternity to look forward to compared to the brief fleeting time here on earth. Shouldn't I use my days wisely and really put effort into the things that matter in the perspective of eternity? Makes me really think when I get down about something, or get stressed about a situation...does this REALLY matter?

Breakdown

2005-11-18T16:45:00.000-05:00

Wasn’t it long ago
Wasn’t it on a new england coast
Wasn’t it the standard - people praying to
The son and the father and the holy ghost
One nation over god
Is that what we’ve now become?
The founding fathers left a noble legacy
To their sons and daughters
To their sons and daughters
Look at what we’ve done
Look at what we’ve done

In the song "Breakdown" Michael W Smith sings about how far our country has strayed from the path that our founding fathers set it in. I am a big Smitty fan and I get a lot out of his music, so I couldn't help but post this.

It seems like every time you turn on the TV you hear something about how our nation is trying to sever it's roots that are planted deep in God and His Word. From "un-consitutional" displays of the ten commandments, to the pledge of allegiance, to taking the phrase "In God We Trust" off our currency. And, even further the Terri Shaivo battle, the ongoing issue of abortion, and being able to teach kids about intelligent design in the schools.

Breakdown, breakdown, breakdown
As we learn to bite the hand
That tries to feed us
Breakdown, breakdown, breakdown

The chorus of this song rings so true! Our nation has truely learned how to bite the hand of God that tries to feed and sustain us. How can we say "God Bless America" when he already has so richly done so? Why do we run back to God when there is a national tradgedy such as 9/11, but then completely forget about Him and try to get rid of Him when the danger has subsided?

The battle isn't about keeping religion in our government, that battle is about keeping our nation alive. The day we finally sever our ties with God will be the day this mighty nation will fall much like ancient Roman civilization did. We start questioning morals, and ultimate truth, and authority and ultimately where we end up is a country in complete devestation.

The reason our country is so mighty is not because of our massive and well-equipped armed forces, it's not because of our riches, and it's not because of our powerful politicians. The reason our country is so great is because of our great founding fathers carving our nation on the solid foundation of the Word of God. Lose the foundation and the building crumbles—lose God and the nation is destroyed.

See the powder on the glass
See the pillow on the street
See the charter of a modern love
With no obligations...or promises to meet
Hear the fear of disease
Hear the baby never born
Hear a people crying out
Somebody save us - oh, please somebody save us
From what we’re headed for - from what we’re headed for

Read this

2005-11-15T23:41:00.000-05:00

I was reading a book and found an excerpt from an article that sounded really good. I Google-d it so I could read the whole thing. It was really awesome and I have the link here that I would encourage all of my friends to read:

click to read article (opens in a new window)

This is a very interesting article entitled "(Don't) Kiss Me" and discusses kissing before marriage. Honestly, I have shared the same conviction as the author of this article but never have I heard it expressed so well. I am sure some of you will look down on me for believing this way but you are getting the real me here! And don't get me wrong, I in no way think kissing before marriage is "wrong" and I don't look down on people who do kiss...just something I have decided to save until marriage.

Here are a couple quotes from the article that really stood out to me:

I believe it's partly because kissing is treated so nonchalantly — it's something we exchange between dates, and it's justifiable as long as the people involved are Christians and they don't take it "too far." It has little to do with God; it has been reduced to a touch exchanged between two, instead of its intended purpose of three-way communion between man, woman and God. The Bible never says "Thou shalt not kiss" so we assume Jesus doesn't come into our physical connections until we are on the way to marriage.

Kissing — which quickly turns passionate when you are in love — carries a current intended to light a fire. In the Old Testament, the Hebrew word for "kiss" (nashaq) is derived from the primary root meaning "to kindle." I don't want to open the matchbox. "Why preheat the oven when you can't cook the roast?" as Doug Wilson puts it in Her Hand in Marriage.

Reminds me of what my senior pastor at church said once: "Don't raise expectations you cannot righteously fulfill." and also of what my youth pastor said: "In light of my past experiences, current circumstances, future hopes and dreams...what is the wise thing for me to do [or not to do]?" Something to think about!

This is great

2005-11-07T10:38:00.000-05:00

Thought you guys would enjoy this. Just took this picture thismorning of my cat Rugsby and a very defiant squirrel. This squirrel started running up the tree so my cat went chasing after it. When the squirrel saw Rugsby climbing the tree after it, the squirrel turned around and just glared at Rugsby. Then he ran up a little ways and just perched on a branch looking down at my cat.

You gotta love it!

Men's retreat media

2005-11-04T23:13:00.000-05:00

As of 4:00PM this afternoon I am officially finished with the GCC 2005 Men's Retreat media. This project was a total of 40 hours of work spent over two weeks. I am very excited to have this done, and I am really looking forward to seeing it on the big screens this weekend!

Jacob and Rachel

2005-10-28T17:06:00.000-05:00

I was doing some homework thismorning and my grandpa was listening to a Bible audio cassette. It was on Jacob and Rachel. I couldn't help but listen and as I listened I got drawn into to the story, even though I've heard it a dozen times or more.

Jacob was so in love with Rachel that he made a deal with her father Laban to work for him seven years in exchange for her hand in marriage. Can you imagine? Seven years of hard farm labor with your only payment being the woman you are madly in love with. Wow! Well, we all know the story, and it ends up that Jacob works fourteen years before he gets Rachel. Double wow! And not once during this time did he complain or get mad at Laban (which he had every right to) He was so in love with this woman he would do anything just to spend the rest of his life with her.

It got me thinking: could I do the same thing? Could I love someone enough to spend 14 years pursuing them? In our society nowadays it is all about falling in love and getting married right away. There is nothing wrong with that but what happens when the parents of either individuals suggest the couple wait a year to get counseling, get a steady income, etc? Usually the two go off and elope because they just can't wait.

I look forward to the day when I can approach the father of the woman I love. I would consider myself blessed if that man would test my maturity by asking me to wait a year and study scripture with him.

I want to say something to my male friends that may be reading this to think about. Can you be a Jacob? Can you wait patiently for the woman God has planned for you? Or, are you impatiently trying on women for size until one fits?

When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. - 1 Corinthians 13:11

The same goes for my female friends: can you be a Rachel? Can you patiently wait for the man God has planned for you? Is the guy in your life willing to hold off on the romance and grow in maturity and get closer to God spiritually? Or, are you so absorbed in romantic crushes that you don't see the true man?

I say the measure of a man
Is not how tall you stand
How wealthy or intelligent you are
'Cause I've found out the measure of a man
God knows and understands
For He looks inside to the bottom of your heart
And what's in the heart defines
The measure of a man
- 4HIM "The Measure of a Man"

True love

2005-10-23T09:44:00.000-05:00

This weekend at church we talked about "Bullhorn" and how many of us as Christians are shouting so loud that we are turning people off to the gospel. It was a very interesting message and featured clips from a short film done by Rob Bell. I am going to focus on one part of the message that I found especially interesting.

In one of the clips Rob Bell said "Love with an agenda really isn't love at all" Referring to people who love the lost people around them for the sole goal and purpose of bringing them to Christ. This really isn't love, because we are loving them under the motivation that we will bring them to the gospel. And while this isn't bad, it tends to come across really wrong. Instead we should love them as they are and not with any underlying motive. This doesn't mean we have to agree with the choices we are making but we need to love the person and hate the sin. We need to, like Christ, love people where they are at in life.

This also got me thinking about something else. Have you ever had a friend that was being your friend with an agenda? Maybe you were popular and they wanted to be part of the in-crowd. Maybe you were talented at something and they wanted you to do something for them. Maybe you are really beautiful and this guy loves you solely because of your looks. I am sure we can all think of someone like this and I can sure think of a few people. Odds are, these people weren't your friends for long, if at all.

That feeling of being completely used and thrown out; of not being loved for who you are but what you are. What a horrible feeling! Are we doing this to someone around us?

Now, think of that person who just loves you because of you. They are genuine and no matter what happens they are right by your side ready to cry with you, laugh with you, pray with you, or pick you up after you have fallen. Isn't this kind of love so invigorating? You can be yourself around this person, not be fake, and know that they will still love you.

Read this following verse slowly, meditate on each point. First, think to yourself "Am I showing this love to people around me?" Then, think of someone in your life who is showing this love to you. Whether this be a mom and dad, friend, or someone else. Hold on to this person, there are very few people like this, and know you are blessed to have them in your life.

Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.
Love doesn't strut,
Doesn't have a swelled head,

Doesn't force itself on others,
Isn't always "me first,"
Doesn't fly off the handle,
Doesn't keep score of the sins of others,

Doesn't revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,

Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.
- 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

My gift wrapped heart

2005-10-17T22:08:00.000-05:00

I was going through email and some of my favorite message boards and I came across a cool poem that a friend of mine had in her signature. Again, poems don't usually resonate with me but this one was pretty cool:

My Gift Wrapped Heart - James Louviere

My gift's a secret hid beneath
this golden foil and bow.
My father wrapped it in His love
for only one to know.

My gift is very precious
and the wrapping's precious too;
The one without the other
spoils the mystery and the clue.

For though the pressure's strong
my God is with me from the start,
and He'll be there with me when
I give my love, My Gift Wrapped Heart.

If you didn't get the depth of the meaning of this poem, read it again. It is such a beautiful depiction of how us singles should remain emotionally pure for our future spouses. How often have we heard about the benefits of maintaining physical purity until marriage? But have we ever really thought about our emotional purity?

Above all else, guard your heart, for from it flow the springs of life.
- Proverbs 4:23

This challenges me and I hope it challenges you as well to take a look at your emotional boundaries. Are you getting too emotionally intimate with someone instead of reserving this intimacy for marriage? It is easy for me to forget how important it is to maintain a healthy emotional boundary. But, just as I have committed to physical purity I strive to have emotional purity in all my relationships.

A woman's question

2005-10-14T15:09:00.000-05:00

I am not a big fan of poetry, not because I don't like it but just because it has never really spoken to me. However, every once in a while I find a poem that just sets itself apart and really speaks a message to my heart. I want to share this poem entitled "A Woman's Question" that really speaks to me as a single guy looking forward to the day God unites me with His chosen one. I especially want to say to other single guys out there that might be reading this: how are you pursuing a woman's heart? Are you recklessly pursuing romance and the love of a woman like "a child might ask for a toy"? May this poem remind us of just how special women are and how privileged we are to receive their love.

A Woman's Question - Lena Lanthrop

Do you know you have asked for the costliest thing
Ever made by the Hand above?
A woman's heart, and a woman's life -
And a woman's wonderful love.

Do you know you have asked for this priceless thing
As a child might ask for a toy?
Demanding what others have died to win,
With the reckless dash of a boy.

You have written my lesson of duty out,
Manlike, you have questioned me.
Now stand at the bars of my woman's soul
Until I shall question thee.

You require your mutton shall always be hot,
Your socks and your shirt be whole;
I require your heart be true as God's stars
And as pure as His heaven your soul.

You require a cook for your mutton and beef,
I require a far greater thing;
A seamstress you're wanting for socks and shirts -
I look for a man and a king.

A king for the beautiful realm called Home,
And a man that his Maker, God,
Shall look upon as He did on the first
And say "It is very good."

I am fair and young, but the rose may fade
From this soft young cheek one day;
Will you love me then 'mid the falling leaves,
As you did 'mong the blossom of May?

Is your heart an ocean so strong and true,
I may lauch my all on its tide?
A loving woman finds heaven or hell
On the day she is made a bride.

I require all things that are grand and true,
All things that a man should be;
If you give this all, I would stake my life
To be all you demand of me.

If you cannot be this, a laundress and cook
You can hire and little to pay
But a woman's heart and a woman's life
Are not to be won that way.

Mens retreat

2005-10-14T08:21:00.000-05:00

Well, it has been a little while so I thought I should take a free moment and update my little corner of the web.

I went to the mens retreat this past weekend and I am so glad I did. I had no idea I was going this year but apparently God had some other plans. The theme this year was "2 Fast, 2 Furious" and it could not have come at a more appropriate time in my life. One thing that really stuck out to me: Passion leads to focus, business leads to bluriness. Also, Ted talked about how you only notice things you care about: he showed two videos in which an individual went onto a university campus and asked a professor for directions. In the middle of their conversation a construction crew carrying a door walks between them and a guy carrying the door switches with the person asking for directions. Does the other person notice? No in both instances even when the items the person is wearing changes noticeably. Ted put across an interesting point: what have we missed because we didn't take the time to care?

So, the mens retreat was an awesome weekend and it really challenged me to slow down a *LOT*. I can't tell you how blurry things have gotten lately and I desperately don't want to miss anything God has for me!

An interesting week

2005-10-07T13:53:00.000-05:00

It's been an interesting week. Keeping busy with school and business as usual and it seems like the running never ceases.

Wednesday night I was moving some roofing shingles and disturbed a mouse nest. Found four little tiny baby mice which of course I couldn't just leave there. I called my friend Erica and ended up taking them over to her house for her to take care of. She found a baby rat last year so she has a little experience with these things :) Anyway, just hoping they don't up and die on her cause I would feel horrible knowing that she would be upset over this.

Well, I'm packing for the mens retreat this weekend. Leaving this evening and coming back Sunday. Didn't think I was going this year but I guess God had other plans! Looking forward to some good time with other guys and an excellent excuse to get some good God time! I may call in a post from Camp Mack depending on how good my cell reception is and if I have a free moment.

Our social shells

2005-10-01T07:48:00.000-05:00

In the song "We" by Joy Williams, she sings these lyrics:

He's on the top of the social scene
He's stylish cool and clever
He's got a cool attitude that screams
He's got it all together

You'd think he's addicted to himself
But he wishes he could be someone else

We are not that different from each other
We just want somebody to discover
Who we really are when we drop our guard

When I first heard this song it really spoke to me and I can relate a lot to the person she is singing about. It seems that people look at you and think that you could not possibly have any problems because you've "got it all together" However, how lonely is it when you need someone to talk with about something and no-one is there for you?

One thing that this song can also teach us is that we all put up social shells when we are around other people. Whatever happens we don't want them to know what is really going on or how messed up we are. We need to be more vulnerable around people, especially our brothers and sisters in Christ. We also need to realize that other people are not as perfect as they seem to be. We need to be there for them so they know they can drop their guard and have a shoulder to lean on when they need it.

I will be the first to admit that I am far from perfect and have more than my share of problems. Sometimes it just helps to be able to talk with someone about what I am going through. The issue I have is being too embarrassed to talk or not wanting to burden someone else with my problems. I have found though that even when I don't have anyone I can talk to about a problem, God is there waiting to listen.

Review of "The Island"

2005-09-27T21:42:00.000-05:00

This movie just came to the dollar theatre this past week so got my mom and sis to go and see it Monday.

It was a very good movie and was very thought provoking in a good way. The premise of the story goes like this: This guy lives with hundreds of others in this utopian-ish society after the rest of the known world was contaminated somehow. The only spot left untouched is "The Island" Periodically a lottery is performed and the winner gets to travel to the island to live outside of this place. It all sounds well and fine until he finds out that the winners of the lottery are not transported to the island but in fact killed. Every single person living in this society is a clone of a person living in the outside world, people have paid to have these clones made for themselves as "insurance" in case something happens they can just grab and organ or two and keep living. After he finds this out, a female friend is chosen in the lottery so he has to help her escape her pending doom.

Hopefully my synopsis was not too confusing. Anyway, I would definitley recommend this movie. Great action, chase scenes, and cool futuristic environment but above that a great underlying message. The movie explores the dilemma of human embryo experimentation and even beyond that the ethics of abortion. Are they really alive or can they be destroyed like any other thing manufactured by a human that happens to have a defect?

As far as objectionable content--pretty clean (PG-13) but best for mature audiences (teens to adults). Lots of action violence: cars blowing up, shooting, etc. A brief sex scene but no nudity or major objectionable content. We also briefly see half-developed clones, robotic bugs entering someones brain through their eye socket, and a failed organ retreival in which the subject wakes up in the middle and runs down the hall. In all the violence though, very little if any blood/gore. Language was not terrible either.

Overall a great movie though and I would definitley recommend. It definitley met my expectations! If you get a chance, go see it--let me know what you think!

I'm still here!

2005-09-22T23:14:00.000-05:00

Alright, so I set myself down and told myself I had to post this evening. Ughh! I hate being busy!

Nothing much going on...just finished a slide design for the church today. Ended up being a little more trouble then I allotted time for. Had to trash a couple designs a put together because of that little "something isn't just quite right" feeling. But, I ended up with a finished product that I can be happy about.

I can't believe it is fall already! As of 5:15PM today fall was upon us! Already have gotten into the regiment of raking this hundred-acre woods of fallen leaves which is always a good task. I like the season of fall because of the cooler temperatures and beautiful leaves but I don't like raking said leaves or the implications of the season to come.

Tuesday at Worldview we talked about "hell" after reading the first book in Dante's divine comedy. Interesting topic, I know. Had some interesting conversations and the report we had to write on the biblical view of hell has really grown and changed my understanding of it. Next week is "purgatory" (the guy who wrote this was catholic by the way)

We are still trying to sell our house. Finally had to break down and sign with a realtor. Praying that this gets sold quickly!

Well, until next time...whenever that is!

A God moment

2005-09-17T07:28:00.000-05:00

I took this picture between 6:30 and 7:00 thismorning. I have been convicted to setting aside and scheduling time in for God. The problem I have found is that I get too busy so that I can go maybe a week or more without talking to God much. So, for the past week I have been getting up around 6:00 in the morning; I get dressed, do my devotions, and then go for about a 3/4 mile run.

Thismorning was one of those "God moments" where God just really speaks to your heart. I take my iPod with me on my run and listen to various Christian artists. Thismorning the selection fell to David Crowder Band--which gave my heart a great worship time. I also got up a little later than usual so the sun was just coming up and my breath made clouds that mixed in with the light fog swirling around. Altogether just a great time with the Creator.

I encourage you, if you don't have regular time set aside for God to do so. I have found the morning best because it is just so crisp and beautiful that it really puts my heart in the right place. However, I know a lot of people who aren't morning persons. The sunset can be just as great! But no matter what, you will so benefit from regularly scheduled "God time" no matter what time it is :)

Worldview group

2005-09-13T22:12:00.000-05:00

Tonight was the first week of the second semester of worldview class. I really enjoy this class as it is has really grown me spiritually. We have some pretty interesting discussions that really make me think about different things. This evening we studied the Middle Ages and Renessaince--and how similar our society is now compared to then. During that time period they were at a crossroads between pure humanism and truely recognizing God as the creator. Even now, our society is teetering on going down one of those paths.

One of the people in the discussion group asked a question that I will throw out at you. When you are talking with someone about God, how do you respond when they confront you with the issue of why sin is in the world? Specifically, what do you say when they tell you that God created us just for some sort of big cosmic game of good vs evil? Leave a comment if you have any thoughts.

Ready for the weekend

2005-09-08T22:46:00.000-05:00

Wow, have you ever awoken in the morning only to get up and go through your day on autopilot? That's me today. By the time it was noon I thought the day was almost over only to find out that it was time for lunch. Have you ever taken a shower in a bathroom other than your own, only to find that the shower head is only around 5 1/2 feet tall and you are 6'2"?

Boy am I ready for the weekend.

On days like these God likes to remind me that I can't do it all on my strength and that I need to rely on Him constantly.

It's been a while

2005-09-07T21:54:00.000-05:00

Well, what has been keeping me the past few days? Not alot, but then I guess enough to keep me busy. I will give a brief outline in case it is of interest to anyone.

Today, I spent most of the morning in Warsaw for a meeting with the county visitors bureau discussing updates and reworkings for their website. I have been working with them for several years and before that I was apprenticing a guy down there of whom the visitors bureau was a long time client of his. Needless to say, I have a lot more work coming from this client that will keep me pretty busy.

Monday and Tuesday were spent working on small projects around the house and doing school. School officially (more or less anyway) started mid last week and I must say that I am glad this is my senior year. Yeah, after this comes more education in the form of working towards a business degree in college. Lets just take the victories as they come and not look too far into the future ;)

Speaking of looking into the future, I am really hoping that our house sells quickly. As of right now it has been on the market slightly less than a week but I am antsy, and so is pretty much the rest of the family. It is so frustrating because right now there is nothing we can do except wait and pray that God sends us the right buyer quickly. Maybe it is God once again telling us to trust Him and His perfect timing but I still can't help but feel anxious.

Anyone who is reading this I would ask your prayers in a couple areas. First, for me, that I would be able to juggle school, business and other responsibilities in a way that honors God while still being able to get done what I need to. Second, for my family, that our house would sell and we could get moved smoothly and God would guide everything to work out for the best. Finally, for a friend that is going through some rough times that they would keep trusting God to work out everything for their good as He promised.

Conversations

2005-09-03T22:41:00.000-05:00

So, the past couple weeks I have been having some pretty interesting conversations with God. I have always "prayed" before I go to bed, thanking God for the good things that have happened in the day and asking Him for things. But, for some reason recently I have turned from "praying" to actually having more of a one-sided conversation with Him. Alright, so maybe that is not the best way to describe it--basically I have made a turn towards what feels like a more personal one-on-one prayer time with God instead of a religious motion.

There has been one thing that God has been teaching me for a while now. This is offering my dreams and wishes as sacrifices at His feet. Now, that sounds a bit odd but let me explain. For so long I have been living with the mentality of if I dream of something and want it really bad all I need to do is ask God for it. But lately, God has been telling me that my dreams and wishes reach only a fraction of what He has planned.

It's kinda like the little kid who complains because he doesn't get what he wants when, unbeknownst to him, his dad has a bigger surprise planned. If the kid complains enough, the dad might just give in and give the kid what he wants. The kid will be happy but what will the dad be thinking? "If you had only waited you could have enjoyed what I had planned for you--a plan bigger than you could have imagined!"

God has really been telling me that in some things I am like the little kid complaining to Him about what I wish He would give to me. If I keep asking Him, keep complaining, keep pushing for what *I* want, maybe He'll give in and give me what I thought I wanted. Maybe I'll be happy but maybe like the dad He will know what I am missing.

So, this is what I mean about sacrificing my dreams to Him. Instead of saying I want you to give this to me, I am telling Him that I realize He has a bigger plan and realizing that if my dream would be in accordance with his majestic plan He will fulfill it. And maybe He will not only fulfill it but totally and completely exceed my expectations!

And that takes me back to the conversations thing. This idea is so easy to type out on the computer but believe me it is SO hard to actually do it! I am constantly feeling overwhelmed with impatience instead of relying on His perfect plan in His perfect timing. So, this has been part of my nightly conversations with God--just admitting again that I need strength to continue to be patient and trust in Him and once again sacrifice my dreams at His feet.

Currently I have two major dreams that I am struggling with--namely goals of my business and my future wife--that I have to almost nightly turn over to God's will. It is HARD, but I know that if I continue to trust Him that He will exceed my wildest dreams, even if it doesn't turn out how I think it should right now. I don't know how these two dreams will pan out but I look forward to the day when I can look back and say how thankful I am that I trusted Him!

It's official!

2005-09-02T22:38:00.000-05:00

Our house is officially for sale--woohoo! I thought the day would never come! The sign is a little small and we should probably put a bigger one out but we have gotten several leads so far! Now just praying that God sends the right person quickly so that we can start stage two of this whole headache :) Check out the website I put together for selling our house.

Katrina

2005-09-01T22:21:00.000-05:00

Prayers go out to everyone affected by hurricane Katrina. I can not imagine living through what they have had to live through. Losing everything you own, having friends and loved ones missing or killed and not having the basic necessities such as food or water to live off of.

We take forgranted so many things. When was the last time you flipped the light switch and thought "Gee, I hope the light turns on"? You just *expect* it to turn on because you have taken it so forgranted you don't even think about it. May we all be reminded constantly of how blessed we truely are.

My youth pastor Corey Mann had a great idea of how to help the people affected. Click here and here to read about it and put it into action if you can.

Nothin much here

2005-08-30T21:50:00.000-05:00

Well, busy as usual. As they say, no blogging for the weary--at least that's kinda how it goes ;) I apologize to my avid readers (yeah...right) Anyways, brief highlights of the week.

Went to a fundraiser Friday for the Coopers who we served with in Mexico. Also doubled as a Mexico reunion which was awesome. Got a CD of some of the photos from the mission trip which was great. I'll have to post a couple sometime. Which reminds me: I still need to post a brief lookback at the mission trip. Hmmm.

Still working on the trailers although I am VERY close to being completely finished! Woohoo! I will post some before/after pictures in the next couple days hopefully. It looks so awesome with them gone and I can't believe that we got this far already!

My uncle may be going to Wyoming to work in the oil fields. He saw the report yesterday evening on the news and I did a little e-sleuthing to find the contact information for the company down there. He called and they have initially told him he is a prime candidate for the job--which came as no surprise to me as he is currently an iron worker. Pray that things work out for the best but ultimately as God would have them work out.

Had a nice break from the grind and treated the fam to Starbucks this afternoon. Thanks to a marvelous invention called a giftcard (which mysteriously don't dissapear as fast as cash) lol

Well, sorry for the boring post...maybe something earthshattering will happen in the next few day that will be worth reading about :)

Learning new stuff

2005-08-27T22:06:00.000-05:00

This evening I got a little instruction on using an acetylene torch getting the iron frames of the trailers chopped up. My uncle did a lot of it since I was at church but when I got home I got a good hour or two of my own. It really is a lot of fun and I enjoyed in tremendously. The sparks fly everywhere once you really get going (it's really beautiful) and your arms land quite a few of them. We had to stop later in the evening because the tubing got too close to a spot we had been torching earlier and burned a small hole in the oxygen side (at least it wasn't the acetylene lol)

One of the advantages to having torn down these trailers is being able to do stuff I would have never done before and learning new stuff like the acetylene torch. I do have to say though that this was one of the most enjoyable parts of the job.

Adding to the 24

2005-08-25T21:52:00.000-05:00

Have you ever felt like the day is too short? Too much to do and not enough time to do it in. Yeah, that's what I have been feeling like lately. Why is there only 24 hours in the day? Is there anything I can do to make it longer? It feels like no matter what I do I can never fit everything I have to do into the time I have to do it in. The moment you think things are going to slow down a little they just speed right back up again.

Now, I know I should not wish for or want "downtime" where I have nothing to do at all. You can end up falling into deep temptation during these times of inactivity (just look at David and Bathsheba) No, all I want is just to be able to accomplish the things I need to accomplish which seems like an impossible task.

I feel like I'm constantly trying to add to the 24 without success. It feels like I am on a high speed train just speeding through life. I find myself at the end of the day wondering what happened to the last day/week/month. I look forward to special events such as a summer mission trip or a all day music festival only to find that the time has come and passed.

What I would give to be able to slow down and absorb life.

The revolution continues

2005-08-24T21:31:00.000-05:00

Ever since this "REVOLUTION" idea has started at Lifeline (my church youth group) I have been challenged to make "drastic and far reaching changes" in my life for Christ. One of these revolutionary ways has been brewing for several years but has become increasingly more prevalant with this new challenge.

I get asked many a time by people if I have a girlfriend. Well, yes I have friends who are girls but I don't think that is what they are asking. Probably they mean to ask me if I have an individual of the opposite sex whom I am in a romantic relationship with. I can't go into this alot but basically I have come to believe through the past couple years that until I am ready for marriage I should not pursue a romantic relationship with anyone (ie. "dating") Instead, I should focus on building solid friendships with individuals of both genders. Once the time is right God will allow one of those friendships to deepen and eventually the next step will start.

In dating, romantic attraction is often the cornerstone of the relationship. The premise of dating is "I'm attracted to you; therefore, let's get to know each other." The premise of friendship, on the other hand, is "We're interested in the same things; let's enjoy these common interests together." If romantic attraction forms after developing a friendship, it's an added bonus.
- Joshua Harris "I Kissed Dating Goodbye"

I have come to feel that for me at least, this is the way that God wants me to do things. Right now, I am in the time and season of life to grow in my relationship with Jesus Christ, perfect my wrong attitudes and things in my life that are not pleasing to Him, and lay solid foundations with my current and future friends. When my next time and season arrives I will be ready for it and be able to build upon that friendship-foundation and form a great long lasting and Christ-centered marriage.

Workin hard!

2005-08-23T21:58:00.000-05:00

When you first look at this picture you may think that it was taken at the site of a hurricane or tornado destroying a house. This is not the case and actually was all that is left of the buildings I'm tearing down as of yesterday. I spent the entire afternoon working on finishing up the final two buildings with the help of my mom, grandma and uncle.

This Sunday evening watched Dateline which was talking about hurricane Andrews in 1992 hitting Florida. They were showing footage of some neighborhoods and mobile home parks that were completely flattened. I must say I have an enormous respect for people who have to clean up after something like that. It is so much worse then cleaning up after a couple trailers have been purposely destroyed. I can't even imagine doing that times a whole town!

Here are a couple photos of the final trailer being destroyed. This afternoon got the rest of the debris completely cleaned up and now only a small amount of work involving recycling the copper, aluminum and iron but I must say I have an enormous feeling of accomplishment :)

Taken just after knocking down part of exterior wall.

Flipping the last trailer over to crunch up.
(And no, I didn't get to play with the backhoe lol)

MercyMe Photos

2005-08-22T21:21:00.000-05:00

Alright, so the minute I walked onto the shuttle bus at the Pulse fest I realized I forgot to bring my camera. Needless to say I was kicking myself all day because I was going to meet MercyMe and have no photos to remember the occasion. Well, it ended up that PulseFM had a photographer that took some pictures for everyone and emailed a copy out. So, you don't get any pics of the festival itself but here are two from MercyMe:

The interview taping for the Harvest Show that I got to watch.

MercyMe and me! lol

Pulse Fest 05 report

2005-08-21T22:31:00.000-05:00

Saturday was the 2005 World Pulse Festival and let me just say that the weather could not have been any better! The news was calling for rain on Saturday all week but it ended up that the rain passed through really early in the morning and cleared out by the time we got to the festival grounds.

So it ended up that my friends decided to go afterall which really made me happy (it was their first time going) and they ended up having a blast which made me even more happy that they came. All four of us (them, myself and my sister) ended up volunteering at the Feed the Hungry tent and sold wristbands all day between the bands which turned out really well because 1) we got free preferred parking almost right across the street from the grounds 2) we got a free lunch and 3) we got to walk around and see a lot more people then we would have just sitting down. But I guess the main benefit was the unseen one and maybe mostly unoticed one which was simply that we were doing our part to help a great cause.

The lineup for the day was: Superchic[k], Phil Kaeggy, Nicole C Mullen, Jars of Clay, TobyMac and MercyMe. The first three artists were okay but I must say that I didn't care much for the latter two even though all did an excellent job. When we were walking around to get food during Phil Kaeggy we saw Nicole C Mullen and Erica got to say hi and get a hug from her which she (Erica) was really excited about.

After Nicole C Mullen performed I was taken for my backstage pass to meet MercyMe. I could take one person along so I took my sister since she made the finals in the contest and ended up not winning. It was SO awesome! We first got a tour of the PulseFM radio station and where they do their programming. Then we got to watch them tape an interview for the Harvest Show on WHME46. After that we got to say hi, get autographs, and take pictures which was pretty cool.

I ended up missing most of Jars of Clay because it was during my backstage meet and greet. Even though they are a fav artist I totally didn't mind missing them for that experience. I am sure though that they did great. TobyMac was pretty good and was one of the artists Erica was looking forward to. So both she and Brittany went up to the front and were able to get really close and have an awesome experience. They were so excited!

MercyMe finished off the day and I must say I wasn't completely excited as they took the stage even though they are such an awesome group. I was getting hot, I was tired from walking around the entire day, and a part of me was really just ready to go home. However, after about a couple songs they started doing some worship songs and I just decided to put my feelings behind me and just engage. I must say that I not only accomplished that but I was touched in a way I haven't been touched in a while during the worship time and it was really amazing. There is just something about that sacrifice of praise that God just loves and rewards and I can testify to that.

Afterwards our friend George who came for the weekend from Iowa took us out to dinner. We went to Famous Dave's BBQ (a first time for all of us except George I think) The food was really awesome and we had a great time talking and laughing and just plain having a good time.

So, I had a great day! Thank God for the beautiful weather, the company of awesome friends, and the privilege of being able to worship Him with thousands of other people!

Mid-week update

2005-08-17T15:26:00.000-05:00

Alrighty, so I haven't posted in a while. Busy week as usual and no time to put together a post.

The WPF is this weekend so that is the major anticipation. They are calling for a chance of popup showers Saturday so please pray that the weather stays nice for the festival. I just found out that my friends may not be going with us this year because of the rain--they haven't decided for sure so I really hope they change their minds cause I was really looking forward to going with them.

Found out thismorning about a cool opportunity thanks to my youth pastor, Corey. I am going to be volunteering at the Feed the Hungry booth at the festival which is going to be awesome. Going to be walking around selling wristbands to feed people in foreign countries. Yeah, it isn't a major service project but help is needed and I can help so I welcome the opportunity to serve. Thanks Corey for letting me know!

Hopefully my next post won't be so long coming, just depends on how busy things are. A bit discouraged about how things are going on the house--still a lot to do and not enough time to do it in. On a positive note though, got a lot on the trailers done Sunday so should have those COMPLETELY GONE in the next week or two!

A good question

2005-08-14T22:01:00.000-05:00

I was following a blog-trail and found someones blog where I read this:

I was watching Deep Impact on television last night and I was wondering what God would do to people who selflessly sacrificed their lives to save others. If you've seen the movie then you know what I'm talking about. Do you think God would allow someone into heaven for laying his life down for the sake of humanity? I FIRMLY believe that Jesus Christ is the only way to reach the Father, so I don't know how to answer the question.
- unknown

It's a good question. I know that without the saving blood of Jesus Christ you won't get into heaven. Otherwise, who draws the line between what good deeds are worth the reward of heaven and which aren't? If I buy a homeless person a hot lunch and warm coat in the dead of winter that makes me a good person and as such I should go to heaven right? No.

This is a really tough question. Why would a person go to hell, for example, if they have given their lives for another person and have not trusted in Jesus as their saviour? First of all, I believe that everyone who dies and goes to hell has heard about Christ and had the opportunity to change their life and made that decision for themselves: for Him or not for Him. Babies and infants who have not reached the "age of accountability" fall under the header of dying and going to heaven even if they have not given their lives to Christ. Second, I have come to not believe in the "traditional" view of hell with flames and torture and demons running around. I don't want to go into too much explanation but basically I believe hell is simply the absense of God. If you think about it God is all good, all good is from God, so the absense of God would be nothing good.

So, if you think about it, if the person has had the opportunity and made a decision against Christ, that person is simply given his or her wish and lives eternity without God.

This reminds me of one of the books in the Left Behind series that I read a while ago. It was talking about that some people who were not Christian were refusing "the mark of the beast" and being killed for it. Would these people go to heaven because they refused to align with the forces of evil? No:

This is war, and there is no neutral ground. If you're not on my side, you're the enemy
- Matthew 12:30a (MSG)

Something to think about... I'd love to hear your thoughts and opinions on this subject--leave a comment!

One small step...

2005-08-13T22:51:00.000-05:00

This evening my uncle finally went with us to church. Now, I know better than to think that actually means something but he did say that he liked the music and Mark Beeson which hopefully means he may come back too. I still pray for him and that he makes a life changing decision for Christ and sticks to it.

15 minutes

2005-08-13T22:40:00.000-05:00

One of the things I do in my very brief and very rare spare time is moderate and manage a local community gifting program called Freecycle. Recently I was interviewed for an article that was put in the South Bend Tribune. I don't know but there is something so incredibly cool about seeing your name in print (unfortunately I was unable to buy an actual copy of the paper as it was published the weekend I left for Mexico.) It is a rather lengthy article but I here are links where you can read it in its entirety if you so wish.

Link #1 - Original story | Link #2 - Mirror

Each local Freecycle community is run by a volunteer moderator.

“There’s a lot of generosity, a lot of people helping each other,” says Albert Lacey, owner and moderator of South Bend-Mishawaka Freecycle, which began Dec. 15, 2003. “I liked the idea of helping people without getting anything in return.”

While many area groups have fewer than 200 members, South Bend-Mishawaka Freecycle has more than 1,300, making it the largest in the region.

“Just in the past week,” Lacey says, “we’ve had 37 new members.”

Making progress

2005-08-13T13:38:00.000-05:00

Last night, with some help from my Uncle Mark I got the whole front wall of one of the trailers completely torn off. The whole process took only maybe an hour or less! I had only expected to remove a couple windows and am very excited with how fast that went. Right now I am working on the website for the house as it was raining this afternoon so I didn't want to work outside :) Still pushing hard to get this stuff done!

Busy busy...busy

2005-08-11T22:36:00.000-05:00

Sorry for not posting over much of this week. The past few days have been rough and also extremely hectic which isn't a good combination. The Wednesday deadline came and went on the house and it was pushed to Friday (tomorrow) but who knows if that is going to stand. I have to draw encouragement from the accomplishments I do make and try to not get stressed out by what I have left to do.

I had a good devotion time thismorning that really punched home. In Phillipians it says:

...In order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing. But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering...I am glad and rejoice with all of you.

With all the business in life, the stress of having so much to do and so little time, and especially this task in particular I have really been asking myself if it is really worth it. But reading what Paul says, that even if he is being poured out like a drink offering he is glad and rejoices for it. It really got me thinking about things and why would someone rejoice if they are being completely used up for nothing? The point I found was that even if it feels utterly futile you can be glad and rejoice first of all because of all that God has blessed you with and second of all because you are being used for God's glory which above all is worth more than any other reason. This really encouraged me and even though I am still tired and more than a little stressed it gives me the strength I need to move on and face the task at hand.

I have been wearing my Lifeline "REVOLUTION" shirt as I work to sort of remind me of my ultimate goal in life. I am happy to say it has worked several times when I am on the brink of giving up or complaining I look down and see that one simple word and it makes me think: "Would this be a drastic and far reaching change in ways of thinking and behaving or would this be what you would expect anyone else to do right now?" Now, I admit I have slipped up more than a couple times but it is still a great reminder of how I should be striving to live.

Pulse Fest 05

2005-08-11T21:52:00.000-05:00

The 2005 World Pulse Festival is only shortly over a week away--can't wait! Yesterday, I was very excited to finally get my t-shirts I designed in the mail and try them on. (Bad pic...I know) They look so awesome and it was fun seeing them post-production and not just on my monitor. Thanks to everyone who voted for me, I won by a margin of 117 votes which was really awesome! One of the perks is a back stage pass to meet MercyMe at the concert and I am so looking forward to that.

Also, there is a secret to the design that only a few people know about. Ask me about it and I just might tell ya! ;)

P.S. I just found out that I can post audio blogs using my cell phone so I may have to try that out during the Pulse Fest :)

A sense of accomplishment

2005-08-08T21:56:00.000-05:00

Today was a day well spent and I must say that I end it with a sense of accomplishment. I spent all day working some more on tearing down the old buildings (actually, cleaning up debris after they have been torn down) I have the second building COMPLETELY gone! My grandma came and helped for a while and wow did that make the process go faster...or at least seem like it did.

Still a LOT to do but at least I have a little bit of joy I can tuck away this evening as I prepare for the rest of the week. Anybody else hate Monday?

Lifeline is back!

2005-08-07T21:24:00.000-05:00

Well, almost. Tonight was the kickoff party even though Lifeline doesn't officially start until Sept 18th. It was really awesome seeing people I haven't seen since May and catching up with some of the people I spent a week with in Mexico. Trace and the band totally rocked (as usual) and we had a surprise visit from Matt and Julie Cooper who run Back 2 Back in Monterrey. Corey shared with us the media he made from the Mexico mission trip (which was pretty awesome btw) and had a great message on "anger" and how you can use it for good (as Jesus did)

Sept 18th seems forever away...can't wait!!!

Back to work!

2005-08-06T21:59:00.000-05:00

Now that I'm back from Mexico it's time to finish some work to get the house ready to be put up on the market. This afternoon was spent digging a 3ft by 11ft by 2ft deep hole. A lot of work is still left to be done yet. Hoping to officially have the house up for sale by Wed of next week.

So, basically my itinerary for the next week is: Finish removing old buildings from property, clean my room, office and other places in the house and finish up the website for our house. I have the garage completely removed except for a couple shingles and peices of siding--a slab of cement is all that remains and I am very happy to have it gone. The building next to it is almost all cleaned up and then just need to dismantle and destroy the two trailers. Whew--definitley a good summer project :)

The gap

2005-08-06T19:28:00.000-05:00

A bunch of people crossed "the bridge" this weekend at church symbolizing them crossing the chasm from the darkness of a life of sin to to the light of Jesus Christ. It was really awesome and I pray for each and every one of them that they would keep this commitment and would live in a life of abundance through Christ!

The cry of the revolution

2005-08-05T22:51:00.000-05:00

This song has been playing on the radio recently and it is so awesome. Just read the lyrics to the chorus--a true cry of a heart beating for the revolution of Christ:

I want to live like there’s no tomorrow
I want to dance like no one’s around
I want to sing like nobody’s listening
Before I lay my body down
I want to give like I have plenty
I want to love like I’m not afraid
I want to be the man I was meant to be
I want to be the way I was made
- Chris Tomlin "The Way I Was Made"

What a way to live! Just imagine it! If everyday you lived like it would be the last day you would have on earth, what would life be like? I would cherish every moment with my family. I would never take forgranted the precious friendships I have. I wouldn't be afraid to say "I love you" to the people that need to hear it. I would look for opportunities to share Christ to this desperate generation. I would try to spend every last bit of energy my body can muster to serve God's people. If I knew I would be meeting Jesus at the end of the day what fire would burn in my heart to make a difference with the precious moments I had.

As I imagine this my heart beats fast but then a question comes into my mind. Why is it so hard to live like this? I know the stress of everyday life always gets in the way but why is it so easy to lose sight of the goal? Can I live even one full day where I am really and truely living to be the man I was made to be? It is something I strive and hunger for every day--I will probably never attain it but with God's help I will do my best with each available moment.

And All I’ve forgotten help me to find
All that You’ve promised let it be in my life

A good day

2005-08-04T22:18:00.000-05:00

As many of you will remember, I won the World Pulse Festival t-shirt design contest several months ago. One of the prizes was PulseFM sending myself, my family and my friend Gary to Cedar Point which we did yesterday. It was an awesome day as my first time to Cedar Point after wanting to go for a long time. I have been to others including Six Flags but Cedar Point is by far the best. Sorry for no real photos from me--I couldn't take my digicam so I have to wait for the disposable to get developed :)

The weather was really nice, a perfect blue sky with just a few clouds. The heat on the other hand was not so nice. When you are standing in line for an hour with a sun beating down on you to the effect of 95º it gets a little oppresive. Lots of ice water was in order after each ride.

We split up early in the day with Mom and sis going off and myself and Gary hitting the coasters. We got all the coasters except for Millenium Force, Top Thrill Dragster and Mantis before lunch and they were all very good--some much more than others. My favorites of the coasters we hit before lunch were Raptor and Wicked Twister. We ate lunch at Midway Express which was pretty good--a little expensive but that is to be expected. Then we hit the others and for each of those three we stood in line for AT LEAST an hour.

Mantis was first and was pretty good. You actually ride the coaster standing up which was a pretty neat ride going upside down and twisting and turning while on your feet. I don't think the over an hour and a half wait for the ride was quite worth it but it was still pretty good.

Next was Top Thrill Dragster and it was totally awesome and the highlight of the day for me. We stood in line again for over an hour and a half (for a less than 15 second ride no less) but boy was it worth it. 120 mph top speed going straight up and then straight down 420 feet. The initial excelleration which pushes you from 0 to 120 mph in *4 SECONDS* was simply amazing. We actually rode Top Thrill Dragster twice, once in the afternoon and then again later in the evening when it was dark which was really awesome as well. Check out the view from the top (mine wasn't this clear as it went so fast...lol):

Millenium Force was really awesome as well. We got in line late afternoon and by the time we got strapped in it was dark which made for an awesome ride. Being dark though, there were a lot of these little knats flying around so the people in riding in the front of the coaster were literally human bug shields and their arms and clothes were caked with knats by the time the ride was over. This comment from the PA announcer pretty much summed it up "If you came wearing a white shirt you will not leave with a white shirt"

After we hit everything we wanted to it was exactly 11:00PM Ohio time (park closing) so Gary and I went and found the girls and headed home. We had decided against getting a hotel room so I drove home that night and we ended up arriving home at about 2:30AM thismorning. The day was really awesome and I had a lot of fun hanging out with Gary who I don't see very much anymore. Thanks to PulseFM for sending us and thanks to my mom for putting up with us a full day which was huge for her since she can't ride most of the roller coasters.

I'm baaaack!

2005-08-01T22:19:00.000-05:00

I got back from Mexico around 4:30 on Saturday afternoon. Thanks to everyone for your support and prayers--the trip was great! The whole team is so awesome and I got to know some really cool people this past week. We got a ton of work done and had a blast with the kids. I got a pretty bad case of sunburn and was completely exhausted so I have been literally out of action and in bed the past two days--things are getting better now though :)

I need to get my photos developed and then I will post a more detailed report. In the meantime give me a call and I'd love to talk to you about how things went down in Mexico!

It's here!

2005-07-23T05:24:00.000-05:00

I can't believe it! In only a few short hours I will be on my way to Chicago with everyone to fly to Mexico! This will be my last blog for a week or so until I get back. If you're interested you should be able to check daily updates (keeping our fingers crossed) on this blog set up by my youth pastor.

Well, yesterday my sister and I had some friends over. It was so awesome. We went out to eat and then I did Chemistry with Erica. Okay, so maybe I can't say that the chemistry part is "awesome" but it sure makes it a lot more fun when you have someone to do it with. Although, we probably did more chatting then Chemistry...lol But, I had such a great time so despite the fact that I'm doing school during the summer and am really tired from getting ready for Mexico and other stuff, I really enjoyed myself.

I am sitting here drinking my coffee trying to wake up completely, considering I got only 6 hours of sleep. Yeah, I'm still really excited about leaving soon but I don't think it shows very well right now...ha-ha I'm a little nervous about going--not only for spiritual reasons but just little things that I don't usually leave for a week like my cats, my businesses, etc. I am trying to trust God completely to take care of everything for me while I am gone.

I should probably get going, I am for the most part ALL PACKED ;) But before I go I want to outline a few prayer requests that I would really covet from anyone who is reading this:

1) Our entire team would be kept safe during travel and there would be no problems going through customs etc
2) We would let ourselves be vessels of God's love and be flexible and allow Him to do with us what He wills.
3) For me personally, that my life would be changed for the better. That I would not come off this trip with a great "experience" but really hear from God and be transformed through Him
4) For the little things at home that everything would go smoothly and I won't worry too much

THANK YOU so much to everyone who supported me financially to get me this far! THANK YOU so much to everyone who didn't support me financially but have been remembering myself and the team in prayers! God is so amazing and I can't wait to see what He does through us!

Okay, my coffee is getting cold...gotta go! :)

Mexico countdown: 33 hours!

2005-07-21T22:15:00.000-05:00

In exactly 33 hours we will be leaving for Mexico! Am I ready to go? Heck yeah! Am I packed? Well...almost lol Yeah yeah, me and my procrastination. Had to do some laundry and some last minute shopping--today was my third and final (hopefully) trip to WalMart.

Anyways, I got this email from Kimberly Ann from PulseFM after sending an email to her during the lunch hour. Thought I should share it with all my Mexico teammates as a bit of encouragement and motivation:

Hey--Hey--
Just talked about you guys on the tail end of the Lunchtime--did ja hear it?!~~
We are all praying ==AMEN!!
Get busy and be a SUPER witness for Christ---that IS what this life is about!!
God is AWESOME!
Blessings and protection
Luv ya,
in Christ~~
Kimberly Ann

Crowbars, tofu and rain!

2005-07-20T16:36:00.000-05:00

Got up thismorning at around 7AM and worked some more tearing apart the garage. I got a lot done and there is only a small corner of debris for the one building. It was incredibly hot and humid and my hands are a bit sore from crowbar swinging...lol Received a special treat as my grandma came over midway through the afternoon with half-frozen tofu cookies! It was so awesome--she makes the best tofu cookies! Just came inside a few minutes ago because it started raining really hard. Of course, by the time I finished putting all the tools away I was soaked to the bone. But, we need the rain so I can't complain too much :)

I'd better get going. I've got some packing for Mexico to do--woohoo! Until tomorrow...

All done!

2005-07-19T13:23:00.000-05:00

Just got back from a morning of working at church and I had to put in a quick post. I'm really excited because the project I have been working on at church for the past few months is ALL DONE!!! Furthermore, it will be shown this weekend at church!!! I am so excited, a little sad cause I won't be able to see it since I'm leaving Saturday morning. Kim did a great job of training me and helping me out with tips, pointers and ideas along the way and I am SO excited to have this done and am really happy with how it turned out.

So, be sure to check it out this weekend...I won't spoil the suprise if you don't know about it already :)

4 days to go!!!

Packing party!

2005-07-18T22:34:00.000-05:00

Tonight was our cookout and packing party for the Mexico mission trip! Mom sported the digicam and made some good shots so I'll share them with ya. Look at all the donations we packed--wow! It was a lot of fun and a big reminder that it is only a few days away! Had an awesome meal of fresh grilled hamburgers and chicken (thanks chefs!) and then our last short info meeting. Then we got split up into our teams for the week and I must say that I could not be happier with the team of guys I am with--Brendan and Dustin--totally awesome!

With our new teams we proceeded to pack up all the donations. Each of us got assigned certain items to pack in our individual backpacks we bought for the kids down there. No sooner had we gotten our donations all packed up into our backpacks then BOOM! plan "C" We dumped out our backpacks into our luggage and packed it that way. Gotta love plan "C"!

You're probably getting tired of hearing me say this; but I am SO pumped about going! We have an awesome group of people that are going and I know that God is going to do a great work through us. Only a few days away!

P.S. A couple big prayer requests about the mission trip besides the general safety of our group. 1) For Corey, Lanette and the other leaders who work behind the scenes in orchestrating everything. They have such a load and could really use the prayer support. 2) Hurricane Emily is going to dump some pretty good rain in Monterrey when she strikes. So, just pray for the safety of the people down there and that their homes and stuff won't get flooded or washed away.

The good and the bad

2005-07-18T15:11:00.000-05:00

Wow! As things grow closer and closer to leaving for Mexico everything seems to be getting very hectic and stressful. Things have been going pretty well as far as getting ready to leave. Still, there are some things I am stressing about a little.

The good...

Leaving for Mexico in just under 5 days!
I just found out that when I turn in my final donation this evening at the packing party I will have raised ~$1,165! My goal was not only to pay for myself, but to exceed it and I can't tell you how pumped I am to see it realized! Not only that but I had to raise money for donations, my own supplies to go down there, and a doctor visit--all done succesfully!

The bad...

The downside to owning your own business is that you can't just take a week off. I knew since I signed up for this trip that I would need to find someone to keep an eye on things for me while I am gone. However, as of yet I still have not found anyone. I feel really bad about neglecting to do this and also really stressed out over trying to find someone.
I dropped a railroad tie on my foot yesterday and it really hurts...lol

But, I really have to say that the good right now far outways the bad. I am trusting God to work everything out and doing my part by doing what I can.

There You Go

2005-07-17T15:18:00.000-05:00

When I ask for and deserved a stone
You broke and gave Your body as bread
And even the stone that dropped down and rolled away
Spoke of the one who bled

There You go working good from my bad
There You go making robes from my rags
There You go melting crowns from my calves
There You go working good of all I have
Till all I have's not that bad
- Caedmon's Call

This is so encouraging and so true! It seems that God is always doing this in our lives--taking the bad and the ugly and making it good and beautiful--even if we don't see it. I can look back at many times when I have gone through a tough time and God has worked it out to His best.

Alot of this song is based on the verse in Matthew that talks about how no good father would give their son a snake when he asked for fish or a stone when he asked for bread. The thing that is so amazing is that God is so much better than an earthly father by sometimes giving us what we don't ask for but what He in His infinite knowledge knows we really need. Like the verse in the song says "When I ask for and deserved a stone, you broke and gave Your body as bread." There have been many times when I have asked God for something and then gotten upset because He doesn't answer the prayer and give me what I want. What I have learned to realize is that when God doesn't give you what you are asking for it is usually because He has something better planned for you!

It's coming!

2005-07-15T22:48:00.000-05:00

Wow! I can't believe how fast the summer has gone! Already next weekend we will be leaving for Mexico! I am so pumped up about it, but in a way a little nervous as well. I'm not nervous about the trip there, or being away from home, or anything like that. What I'm nervous about is if I am really ready for this?

I feel really excited about this, but is it an excitement for the right reason? Is my heart in the right place where I can minister and not be a hindrance? Before signing up for the mission trip I really prayed hard about whether this was what God wanted me to do, or whether it was what I wanted me to do. I really sensed an answer of this is God. However, since then I haven't really kept up on really praying and seeking God's will for me. Why? No matter how hard I try and whatever regiment I try to get myself to adapt to, I just can't seem to stay on a steady and consistent course of reading the Bible and seeking God. Why?

I am looking forward to this week-long mission trip for two main reasons: 1) I will be able to help make an impact on people who desperatley need God. I will be obeying God's call to go and be His hands and feet bringing His love. 2) I hope that as a result of #1 I will be able to deepen my own personal relationship with God which will reflect in my actions here in my own life.

Those of you who are reading this who will not be going to Mexico with me: Please keep me in your prayers during the time leading up to and during the mission trip. One of the things I fear the most is that I will come back from this trip and in a couple months be the same as I was before--as if nothing happened. I pray that with God's help I and the people we minister to down in Mexico will be forever changed to His glory.

I Still Have the Dream

2005-07-14T16:37:00.000-05:00

Somebody threw a brick at my vision
Tried to sabotage my mission
Either way, I believe
I will be around

I wanna know, people are you with me
Open up your heart and just believe
Take a step, let me hear you say
I will be around

Hey world, it's me
I still have the heart, still have the dream
- Michael W. Smith

I have to say that this is one of my top favorite Michael W Smith songs. Gotta dance to it every time (not a pretty sight I might add) The lyrics are so positive and I can't help but feel better no matter how discouraged I am.

Have you ever had someone throw a brick at your dreams? I know I have and it really hurts when someone just passes judgement on you when you show them your vision. It seems like this happens constantly in our society. Society says that if you don't look a certain way, wear the best clothes, weigh a certain weight, have the hippest hair style--or another one of the many things--then there is no way you can be worth anything. It even happens in the church and "Christian" circles, the top putdown, especially for teens, being "you're too young"

Now I know that I get discouraged at many of these things sometimes. But I realize that I need to take a step back and look at things through God's perspective. First of all, the Bible says "Do not conform to this world" So, if the world is telling you to wear this or that, or look a certain way, we can just dismiss that right away because we aren't supposed to be like the world! God says you are unique and created in His image--so who cares what the world says! Second, there are many instances in the Bible where God uses young individuals (especially when the old ones wouldn't listen) If God is calling you to do something, just DO IT!!! and don't use your age as an excuse.

Let's reverse things around for a second and mention something that I know I am guilty of. I know how discouraging it is when someone throws your dreams to the wind--but for some reason, I do the same thing to other people sometimes. I say we need to stick together and help each other and again not be like the world and judge others based on petty things.

Next weekend, I am going to Mexico with 40-some other people from my youth group. This song should be our battlecry as we go down there, knowing that we are following the call of Christ and will make a difference by being His hands and His feet to the people that need Him down there.

For He knows the plans He has for you
A plan to prosper and not to harm you
To give you a future, and a hope
- Jeremiah 29:11

This is great

2005-07-13T21:20:00.000-05:00

I'm getting really tired of these Phillip Morris USA commercials (the cigarette company) They try to make themselved out to be such good people by running commercials about how to quit smoking. In other words, running commercials to stop people from buying a product they are selling. Of course, all this is political as they can't run any smoking ads on television anymore so it is the only way they can remind people of their product.

Cue Superbowl XVIII and one of the best commercials I have seen. Shards O' Glass Freeze Pops. The commercial featured a company executive warning consumers on the dangers of freeze pops with shards of glass in them (a jab at the tobacco companies)

Check out their website too! So hilarious! Everything from health concerns, to product facts, to tips about quitting licking. And such an eerie resemblance to the tobacco company's website. "We now agree with the overwhelming medical and scientific consensus that eating glass freeze pops can be dangerous. Those who eat glass freeze pops are far more likely to develop shards-related ailments than those who don't eat them." "Talk to your kids about not licking. They'll listen." --You gotta love it! They've even launched a new product: Shards O' Glass LITE! lol

Here's the Superbowl commercial...enjoy :)

Ahhh, the joys of...

2005-07-12T22:01:00.000-05:00

...watching a movie without all the junk. Tonight after a long hot day of work myself and my sister watch Bruce Almighty. I have to say that this is one of my favorite comedies! However, it did not use to be this way.

The first time I saw the movie, I watched about half of it and the hilarity of it was completely lost and by the end of the movie I felt like it was a total waste of time. If you have seen the movie, you probably know what I mean. The sex scene, the monkey scene, and several other minor cases of disgusting sophmoric humor completely ruined the movie for me.

However, I am now able to enjoy the movie thanks to one of the businesses I own. Watching the professionally edited version of Bruce Almighty gives me the ability to enjoy Jim Carrey's very funny self without having to see the junk and hear the language. Now, the movie is very funny with no groan moments, and has a good message.

And that's the way the cookie crumbles...

Rain! Finally!

2005-07-12T18:47:00.000-05:00

Yeah! Thanks to remnants of hurricane Dennis we got a good soaking of much needed rain this afternoon! And still raining as I type--not just a few sprinkles but actual puddles in the yard! Okay, you can tell how eventful my day was since my post consists of celebrating rainfall :) Actually, most of the day was spent going though the rubble from the old garage and cleaning up--the rain was a much welcome cool-off to the afternoon!

The Interpreter

2005-07-11T22:37:00.000-05:00

Tonight was 50¢ admission at the dollar theatre, so myself and the family went out to see The Interpreter with Nicole Kidman and Sean Penn. It was a very good movie and I would recommend it as a good one to watch. It was nice sitting through a PG-13 movie that didn't push the line as far as content goes. There were only a couple small bits of language, a short strip club scene with immodest dress, and some suggested violence. On top of that, the underlying message of the movie was very good--killing someone for revenge or justice is neither right nor satisfying in the long run. One of my favorite parts of the movie is when Nicole Kidman's character tells Sean Penn's character about the drowning mantra ritual in her native country--very neat. The movie as a whole was not as suspensful as I thought it was going to be but was still very good nonetheless.

Needful Hands

2005-07-10T22:33:00.000-05:00

For those under the clouds
Staring up in awesome wonder
As tears come slowly down
I'm reaching up a needful hand

You are my eyes when I cannot see
You are my voice, see, sing through me
You are my strength in weakness be
- Jars of Clay

There are many times when I have done exactly that. Just looked up to the sky and cried out for God's help when I can't go through something on my own. Each time I have done that, He has responded and helped me where I need Him. It just fills me with such awe and wonder that He would care enough about me to do that! I mean, who am I in this vast universe that He should even give a second thought about me?

To think that sometimes I think so highly of myself. I think that I can make it on my own. When problems come, sometimes He is the last person I turn to. I try to solve the problem on my own strength and with my own knowledge when all I have to do is admit that I need God's help! Why do I do this? Is this a time when my faith is weak--do I really think the person who spoke everything into existence cannot help me with my tiny insignificant problem? Am I to proud to ask Him for help?

Times have come in my life when God has really humbled me and shown me that without Him I would not be able to deal with everything that comes my way. My only prayer is that I can be as humble as the words in this song and admit that I need Him to be my eyes when my own are clouded with the problems of this mortal world, my voice when I cannot find the words to sing, and my strength when I am too weak to go on.

Thank God that He is faithful and will answer this prayer every time!

Coming down! (part 2)

2005-07-09T22:25:00.000-05:00

Thanks to our neighbor we got the rest of the building torn down. Yay! Now all that is left is to clean up ;)

Bringing down the garage!

Finishing off the back end of the garage with a chain!

Bringing down the second section!

All done!

Coming down! (part 1)

2005-07-08T21:19:00.000-05:00

The old garage is almost all torn down now! Tomorrow, our neighbor will hopefully come with a backhoe and help us knock the rest down safely (I'll post pictures if any turn out good) Today was tearing off the siding and knocking down part of the roof! Thanks to my uncle's expertise we were able to make it come down safely and without any problems!

Someone had to hold up the roof!

Knocking down the last support as the roof comes down!

God is great!

2005-07-08T08:18:00.000-05:00

I was doing my devotions lastnight when I came across this verse in Psalms:

For God is great, and worth a thousand Hallelujahs. His terrible beauty makes the [pagan] gods look cheap; Pagan gods are mere tatters and rags.
- Psalms 96:4

This really stood out to me because this past year I was in a worldview discussion group and we did a study on the Greek and Roman gods, reading Homer's Illiad and Odyssey. I remember Erica (my friend and study partner for this class) saying she could not imagine living in that time and believing that those gods were real. I totally agree as the Greek and Roman gods were incredibly jealous and given to fits of rage. You could never tell when they were on your side or trying to deceive you.

Now contrast this with God and all the things He is. His love is everlasting and never fails. You always know that He will work things out to your good and never try to trick or decieve you. That is what makes this verse so true; the Greek and Roman gods really do look cheap in comparison to Him!

More fun stuff

2005-07-07T13:13:00.000-05:00

Thismorning was another morning spent tearing down the old garage. Got all the inside siding torn off and the insulation bagged up. Should have the whole thing torn down in the next couple days! It is a lot of hard and sweaty work but I really enjoy it and it will be so nice when it is finally gotten rid of!

(That's me to the right swinging the crowbar and ripping siding off...ha-ha)

Countdown continues...

2005-07-06T21:59:00.000-05:00

This evening was our last official Mexico mission trip meeting before our big packing party. It opened a little strange with Corey loading the entire team on the bus for an unknown destination. We ended the journey at the Feed the Children warehouse in Elkhart with the mission of packing boxes of food. After an hour in an assembly line type setup we had pumped out 376 boxes (give or take a few) which was awesome considering the average hourly accomplishment was only 200!

Needless to say, it was a lot of fun. Can't believe we leave for Mexico in only around 16 days! I am so pumped to see what God is going to do through our team down there!

This is cool...

2005-07-05T15:44:00.000-05:00

I always have fun taking a look at the stats for the couple websites I operate and seeing where all my visitors come from. Last month, one of my sites got hits from 17 countries all over the world:

United States	Italy	Australia
Kuwait	United Arab Emirates	Canada
Great Britain	European Union	Saudi Arabia
Russian Federation	Malaysia	Mexico
India	Singapore	Estonia
Argentina	Germany

Using my gifts to serve

2005-07-05T08:13:00.000-05:00

I know of two gifts I have been given that I have been called to use for God. One of them is graphic/visual arts and the other is singing. I have really been feeling a calling to get involved and use these abilities for Him instead of just standing in the sidelines. Earlier this year, I tried getting involved in both areas and God opened a wonderful door with the media team at church. At this moment I am coming in to church twice a week to work on a media; I know that not only am I enjoying it, but I am also following what God wants me to do.

I also still feel a real urging to find some way to use my vocal talent for Him as well. I just pray that if it is something He wants me to do that He will open the right doors that will lead to what He wants me to do, just as He did for the media team at church. I don't care if it is a big door or even just a little door as long as I am doing what He wants.

I am looking forward to seeing where He leads me. I have learned to not tell God what I want Him to do because so many times He brings opportunities that are so much bigger than even I could ask for.

Remember, our Message is not about ourselves; we're proclaiming Jesus Christ, the Master. All we are is messengers, errand runners from Jesus for you.
- 2 Corinthians 4:5 (MSG)

Happy Birthday!

2005-07-03T22:15:00.000-05:00

Just want to post a brief note and say Happy Birthday to my sister Elizabeth! Being born the day before Independence Day, you get fireworks for your birthday!

PLMF Report

2005-07-03T13:40:00.000-05:00

Friday evening and all day Saturday I was in Warsaw for the Pro-Life Music Festival. This was my first year going and I really enjoyed it. The two bands that hinched the decision to go for me were MuteMath and Jeremy Camp--both of which totally rocked! Alright, here is a brief summary of the festival...enjoy!

DAY ONE

Friday evening opened up with Sides of the North, Red Cloud and The Elms. I didn't much care for these groups as far as their style of music goes, but they were good groups and seemed to have their hearts in the right place. Kudos to this ASL interpreter (in the tan shirt on the left) who tried her best to keep up with the extremely fast lyrics of some of Red Cloud's songs.

The evening closed with Barlow Girl and Seventh Day Slumber. Barlow Girl was very good (sorry for the poor quality picture). They have a great message and a great heart for God. I could not agree more with their stand on dating/pre-marriage relationships. For an all-female group, much of their songs are very relevant to both male and female audiences. I was looking forward to seeing Seventh Day Slumber but it was getting cold and we were tired so decided to leave early :(

Thanks to some friends in Warsaw myself and the family were able to camp out in their backyard Friday night. The evening was cooler than expected which was nice in a way. We also got to sleep in a little longer since it didn't start until 10AM, not 8AM like we initially thought.

DAY TWO

Saturday morning opened The Migraines (funny name for a group), Falling Into Place, The Roosevelts, Adelaide and Slingshot 57. Again, nothing incredibly great about these groups. The Roosevelts had some pretty strange songs as far as subject matter, one of them being about a time the lead singer dreamed he was an ostrich...lol

The weather was extremely pleasant with a warm sun and a nice cool breeze with only a few scattered clouds in the sky. After Adelaide we took a quick trip back into downtown Warsaw and I treated everyone to ice cream at McD--a much welcome break to several hours sitting in the sun.

After the break and about 40 minutes of sound check after Slingshot 57 we had Inhabited (above), Poor Man's Riches and Stellar Kart (below). All three of these groups were pretty good and I enjoyed them, most of all Inhabited and Stellar Kart. Stellar Kart actually blew out the sound system near the end of their first song which led to some tense moments on the part of the sound people who were running around figuring out what was wrong.

The RE/MAX hot air balloon was assembled and launched from the festival grounds later in the afternoon (left). Also, this guy did a thing called "SPLAT" which was pretty cool (below).

And of course, the highlight of the festival was MuteMath and Jeremy Camp. Both totally rocked and I was able to get pretty close to the stage. The first time I saw MuteMath was at Lifeline and I think they have a very big future ahead of them. It was Paul (the lead singer's) birthday so a group of people near the stage sang happy birthday to him as they were setting up. Paul tried stage diving near the end but not many people were paying attention so he didn't bodysurf for very long before coming down--btw: his key-taur is totally awesome huh?

Jeremy Camp was awesome as well. He has a great heart for God and his passion and the lyrics of his songs just resonate so much with me. Later on in his performance he had his Dad come on stage (right) to play the harmonica and sing with him which was pretty cool. Then, towards the end he followed Paul's lead and jumped off the stage. He waited until everyone was ready, though, which mean that he bodysurfed through the crowd and back onto the stage.

Well, that is all I have. We got back home at about 1:30AM after I drove home when the concert ended. I am extremely tired and my ears were still ringing (literally!) when I woke up thismorning but I am so glad I went. I only wish I could have shared this awesome experience with more of my friends :)

What If?

2005-07-01T08:10:00.000-05:00

What if I climbed that mountain, what if I swam to that shore
What if every battle was victorious then would you love me more
Would you love me more
What if I were everyone’s first choice, what if I went farther than before
What if I stood high above the rest than would you love me more
Would you love me more

What if I ignored the hand that fed me, what if I forgot to confess
What if I stumbled down that mountain then would you love me less
Lord would you love me less
What if I were everyones last choice what if I mixed in with the rest
What if I failed what I passed before then would you love me less
Lord would you would you love me less

What have I done to deserve your son sent to die for me
What can I give I want to live give me eyes to see
In a world that keeps changin’ there’s one thing that I know is true
Your love is stayin’ there’s nothing else I’ll hold onto
- Jadon Lavik

This is one thing I stand in awe of every day. Would God love me more if I would be better at this or that? Does God love me less when I sin or do something wrong? The answer of course is No! He loves me with an unconditional love (Agape love...thanks Rob!)

The last paragraph in SO true. I wish I could pay Him back for His sacrifice but all I can do is live my life in a way that honors Him and serve Him at every opportunity and with every last piece of strength in my body. It is so comforting that even though the world around is so crazy, we always have shelter in His arms.

Which time zone?

2005-06-30T17:26:00.000-05:00

In the debate over what time zone Indiana should be on, I had to laugh at this quote from an article in the Elkhart truth:

We should be making Kentucky and Michigan come into the Central time zone where they belong.
- Gunnar Jenson, South Bend

Good grief! The debate should be what OUR time zone should be and not why everyone else is in the wrong timezone. Personally, I prefer Eastern time but I don't have any strong reasons for this besides simply as a business owner so close to Michigan it would be easier to be on the same timezone.

Kittens for Mexico

2005-06-30T09:42:00.000-05:00

Every year we have several litters of kittens from the several female cats we have. We usually end up with a sign at the end of the drive to sell most of them. This year we had some of the most beautiful paint and calico kittens. The timing was just right and we decided that for these litters we would sell them and use most of the profit to donate to the Mexico mission trip! Here are the only two kittens we have left: Uno (left) and Solamente (right).

Cheesecakes for Mexico

2005-06-29T20:43:00.000-05:00

A friend of mine makes really delicious homemade cheesecakes and he came up with the idea to have a cheesecake fundraiser for the Mexico mission trip! I got the opportunity to taste his eggnog cheesecake a while back and I can not tell you how awesome it was! Just look at the picture above...Mmmmm. Thanks Mr Engel for your help, I can't brag enough on your cheesecakes :)

The semicolon nemesis

2005-06-29T09:56:00.000-05:00

It never fails, no matter how close I am to getting a web job finished I always see the dreaded: "Parse error, unexpected $ found on line 404" or similar error. What follows is sometimes an hour worth of going though my newly created code until I find the problem. Usually: my nemesis, the semicolon: ";"

This little guy doesn't seem like he would be that much of a problem. He is sometimes seen disguising himself as a winking happy face: ";-)" But there is a dark and sinister side to this seemingly innocent character deep in the land of coding, and he waits to strike when you forget about him.

Okay, enough with the silliness. Basically, if I don't put a semicolon at the end of every line of code, the entire script doesn't work. And even though I know that this is the #1 cause of problems for some reason it is the last thing I look at.

I was just thinking about this and how God should be the semicolon in our lives. The definition of semicolon (funny, a definition for a punctuation mark) is:

A punctuation mark indicating a pause, typically between two main clauses, that is more pronounced than that indicated by a comma.

We need to let give God regular pauses in our life--more than just 5 minute "commas" Whether this be praying, reading the Bible or just being still before Him. Really and truly giving God a semicolon in our lives helps us grow closer to Him and also prevents problems with sin sneaking in. You have to fill your life with something and if God takes up most of the space that leaves little room for sin.

And funny, like in my coding, how often I forget my semicolon in life.

Here I am!

2005-06-28T16:25:00.000-05:00

And I fall, at Your feet
I'll give it all, until the day we meet
Here I am
Ready to give up my life for the One
Ready to pour out my heart for the Son
Here I am
- Michael W Smith

Wow! This is the way I want to live my life for Christ! To live my life not as my own but as His to do with as He pleases. I may have goals and dreams but they should be lived through the direction of His will.

If He wants me to be a witness in my workplace--Here I am. If He wants me to go halfway across the world and leave the people I love to do His work--Here I am. Even if He wants me to give up my life for Him--Here I am. It's a dangerous prayer; one thing to say it, another thing to actually live it.

The passion with which Michael W Smith sings this song is so inspiring. I only hope that at the end of my life I can look back and say that I lived my life not for myself but for Christ. I hope that my own selfish goals and desires will not deafen me to what God is saying.

Fun stuff...

2005-06-28T09:24:00.000-05:00

Myself and the family cleaning out an old garage. Used by my great great great uncle Homer in the 1970's to build looms. Cool huh? Now it's time to clean it out and demolish. The pile of wood we are at are mostly leftover chunks of wood when Homer would take logs to the lumber mill to be made into boards used to build his looms.