Myspace Blog: I wish I could run really fast

This morning, I called my dad and talked to him for about 10 minutes. While I was on the phone, I heard a rustling of bugs just in front of me in a hedge. Given the number of dragonflies around, I assumed nature was running its course and little baby dragonflies would soon be born. I looked in the bush though, and saw a spider that was about a half-inch long biting into the neck of a mosquito hawk about 2 inches long. It didn't catch it in a web, it just bit it. So I watched as over the next ten minutes, the spider stayed focused, and the mosquito hawk gradually stopped struggling. The spider lowered itself with its spinnakers (word of the day), as it continued to kill its larger insectoid partner in the dance of death. After the big guy died, I cut off the branch to try to take some pictures with my phone, but they didn't come out, so I shook the branch. The spider dropped its prey and hid, but a perfectly intact mosquito hawk remained, utterly stiff. Perhaps entomologists should use spider venom to kill insects for their displays. This whole ordeal led me to be really interested in just sitting and watching the things around me today.

I had a lovely memorial day at 2 different Barbeques, or as my friend Erika calls them, "cookouts." Lunch at Rachael's house consisted of Hamburgers, and Dinner at Amy's apartment consisted of Baby Back Ribs (that Jeremy cooked with much fanfare and suggestions from the annoying neighbor kids).

While the sun was going down, I made a comment about how I wished I could fly around the world at the same speed as the earth was rotating, just barely off the ground. That way, you could watch the sunset forever. You could pick a shade of the sky that you liked and start flying. You'd go around the world, and the sun would never get any lower (or higher). Eric, Jeremy, Amy, and Dan proceeded to squash my dreams. They said that I'd run into things like mountains, trees, buildings, antelope, gorillas, and the like (they didn't give those examples, I added them). Someone (I think it was Jeremy) suggested that maybe if you could just run that fast it would work. You could run over things and hop over fences. That way you would live.

I said that if you could run that fast, you could just hold your hands out with a slight curve and use Bernoulli's principle to get some lift and take flight. Eric had to re-squash this dream when he pointed out that flying at such a speed in our atmosphere would cause me to burn up. I said, well, maybe my body is made out of titanium. He said nope, it would have to be made out of a yet undiscovered alloy.

By this point, I was starting to get a little bit frustrated. Why can't people let me just imagine? I'm a dreamer. Not in the sense that I have my own dreams for my life, but in the sense that I like to just work out my imagination. We all imagine as children (and it seems that the smart kid always imagines more). Why do we lose that? I think imagination is so important. A.W. Tozer writes in The Pursuit of God that imagination is making up reality out of nothing, while faith is believing in reality that you can't see. He says they're opposite in a way, but that doesn't make imagination wrong.

So, by this point, I was starting to get really annoyed by people's personality quirks (mostly Eric and Patrick, whom I tend to spend a lot of time with in a short period). So I sat outside and looked at the ducks swimming in the Sacramento River a couple hundred feet below, and the lights of Redding. If you haven't seen Redding from the bluffs or from the back of the Manzanita Manor apartments, I'll describe it. Imagine a forest with two hospitals, a jail, the top of a sundial that has a red light on it, and extremely few other buildings. That's Redding. I love that you can see the city lights while you can see a ton of trees in the twilight. I came back in for a short time, then I left. I lingered outside for awhile longer and took in the view before I took off. I felt so refreshed.

I wish I could run really fast so I could run by myself and just be with God. Then I could run back and be with the people around me. Then when they got annoying, I could run just with God for awhile again and be refreshed. Oh wait, that's how life already is. I'm running at the speed of light through time (If you don't know about this, research Einstein's General Theory of Relativity). I'm running with my Maker. I run with other people beside me, but sometimes, I need to get off on run to the side of the road. Sometimes, I begin to run alongside others. I call these people friends. Someday, I'll be running next to someone at the perfect pace and know that I could run with that person for the rest of my life. That's why people should get married.

Marriage is a weird way to end a blog about not-marriage. So, I'll let you all know that I now own the movie Garden State.

I just wanted to add that I wasn't mad at anyone or frustrated at anyone, just kind of in one of those irritable moods.

Currently listening : Unclassified By Robert Randolph & The Family Band Release date: 05 August, 2003

Myspace Blog: leading worship with some confidence

Nate asked me to lead some songs again tonight. At first I was just going to lead one. Strangely, I have known that the next song I would lead at the Stirring was "You Alone," since the day after Spring Break (So the last week of March). Check out my blog on the first time I led worship about my strange foreknowledge in that instance. We had practiced that song with Stephanie and Nate leading, and me on mandolin (oh yeah, I played some mandolin tonight too!) for the first half and electric for the second half. But Nate asked me to jump up and lead so he could pray for people, so I led it.

Nate and Patrick said I should lead "mission's flame" since it's really good and we were talking about evangelism, but no one knows it. So we sang "You Alone" which actually had everything to do with what we were talking about. Actually, we had never sung it at the Stirring. I ended up leading a very small number of people in a couple more songs after ("Facedown" and "One Thing"). I was a bit nervous (not nearly as much as last time) when I started singing, and "You Alone" is quite low, so my voice wasn't cooperating as well as I would have liked. Usually I can't handle the high stuff, but tonight it was opposite. Also, the fact that the Monitor wasn't set for me led to some vocal issues later. But my nerves grew under control, and my voice strengthened as the winging and singing progressed. By winging, I mean I didn't know what the next song would be.

Oh, we had a "guest" soundperson tonight, because Levi and Eric both couldn't make it. That led to problems too, since she left and I was stuck with a ringing mic. I could tell that, since I could hear the vibrato coming out of my mouth but not out of the monitor--the ringing feedback was covering it and acting as reverb. How weird.

Anyway, all this to say I am growing in confidence as far as leading our whole church goes, so I think I can handle leading a whole night with Nate now. Well, God can handle the orchestration of it. I guess a better way of saying it is that on a musical level, I am growing in confidence. I know I have been given God's authority to lead others in worship, and Nate's authority when he asks me is given, too. But I do need a level of earthly confidence to overcome stagefright/nervousness. Mostly, though, I wish my voice would be strong when I'd jump up behind the mic, like it is in smaller settings when I just have an acoustic guitar.

After the Stirring, which went reeeally later than usual, I went to Denny's with Patrick & Bethany and Jeremy & Amy. Dan Jump came over later. At first I was in the state of being in which I was so tired that nothing was funny. Then, an hour later (which is the normal length of the nothing-funny-period), I started thinking everything was funny and that I was hilarious. This is also the next thing that usually happens after the nothing-funny-period. I did say some funny things. Then, I came back and read Jackson's blog on his diarrhetic experiences in Ecuador. I have not laughed that hard since the end of school, at least. Perhaps I have never laughed so hard at anything I've read.

Personally, I think that the adrenaline rushes I got from trying new sounds at the Stirring (Slide guitar, mandolin, the "space-invader" effect I used on "Send Revival") and the larger rush from singing in a mic and leading people in the presence of God greatly contributed to my weirdness. Oh, and I had to get up early today for my home group leader meeting/breakfast that we do every other week, and I stayed up late last night (but not on MySpace). I actually wasn't going to blog today, but leading worship is significant enough for that. OK, now my sleepiness is causing me to ramble, so I'm going to stop before I say something dumb.

Currently listening : The Lime CD By David Crowder Release date: 23 March, 2004

Myspace blog: A chorus of Thunderous Mandolins

Thunderous is such a weird word to write that I had to type it in Word to do a spell check. I wish I didn't blog so much, since I feel like I'm sharing less significant things than previously, but I can't tell what is blog-worthy and what isn't so I'll just post it all and you can read what you like and post mean comments about the rest.

At 12:30 tonight, I decided to go outside and play mandolin. Last night I spent just over an hour playing guitar and singing in worship outside on a bench next to LaBaume-Rudat Hall (no one ever says the Hall part, but that's a classroom building, to you non-simpson folk). So I played mandolin for an hour and watched the light show. You know, that fire-in-the-sky that God makes? The kind He might have used to consume the altar in 1 Kings? That He uses in the prophetic judgments? The kind that has so much power that the world's electrical needs could be taken care of in one instant if we could capture it? That God figured out how to make, and we can't figure out how to harness. The kind of fire-in-the-sky that God uses to say "Fear me, for I am the Lord, God of the Heavens." I love gazing at the heavens. Sunsets, rainbows, stars, moon, lightning, clouds, airplanes, birds. Tonight, this is what I saw:

The stars are veiled by the haze. A canopy of splendor concealed by the soft fog in the sky. There are also bigger clouds, the kind that are majestic by daylight. They glow with a slight orangeness from the lights of the city to the South. The lightning is far to the North. The separation deafens the deafening thunder. The simple strumming of my mandolin serves as the soundtrack to a distant tempest. I start to sing a new song.

I started singing to God about His power and the way He is there when the sun is setting and the storm is coming, how He is there when we are going into a dark period (which I'm not, as far as I know). I ended up with the chorus to a song I wrote in April that was chorus-less. I've now completed 3 songs (that have lyrics) in my life, and this one has got to be at least 10 million times better than the other 2 combined, since I didn't force it, but went with what God was showing me. I actually wrote the chords in March, then the words for the verses just came to me while driving home to see mdy parents at the end of April. I wrote them down while I was driving on I-5. Dangerous, but I can't help it if God likes to talk when I drive.

I hope to one day hear this song in worship to the roar of thunderous mandolins. I guess that could only happen in heaven.

PS--I saw 3 yellow ducklings in the pond today. This raises the total duckling count at Simpson to 8. 5 mallards and 3 ugly white ducks in the making. If you want to know how I feel about the white ducks and the mallards, read my blog for april 12.

Currently listening : Glo By Delirious? Release date: 10 October, 2000

Myspace blog: I'm popu-freakin-lar

Read the following with much sarcasm, or you'll think i'm stupid. maybe you'll think I'm stupid anyway. **edit: I have begun adding links to previous blogs that tie in to current ones very well.

I hear a bunch of area high schoolers graduated today. So in honor of High School, I am reverting to the world of popularity. My first blog is about popularity, too. I never was the popular kid, not that I had a desire to be that girl. I mean that guy.

But, now, yes, now. Oh, things are different. Quite different. Not only are 223 people reading my blog weekly, but I have 3 pages of friends. That is the key to MySpace. The more friends you have on MySpace, the better person you are. Take that all you pretty girls. I mean pretty boys.
-------------------------
Wow, either MySpace is ridiculous or popularity is. I lean towards popularity being absurd.

Tonight, I heard some girls at Target talking about MySpace. I was price-comparing stuff like coffee makers, fans, MIDI cables, and CD holders between places like Bed Bath & Beyond, Best Buy, Target, and Wal-Mart. Obviously not all of those places have all the items on my list. Here are my thoughts on each store:

Bed Bath & Beyond and Best Buy (the "B" stores)
There are 3 kinds of stores in the world. There's the mom-and-pop.
There's the chain that goes in every town (the reddings of the world).
There's the chain that only goes in big cities.

I have 2 favorite stores in the third category: IKEA and Urban Outfitters.
I have 2 favorite stores in the second category: Bed Bath & Beyond and Best Buy. I went to both tonight (for some reason I always get Bath & Body Works confused with Bed, Bath and Beyond. I already wrote a blog about Bath & Body works a few months ago).

Target vs. Wal-Mart
I went to Target first. The word for Target is "posh."
I went to Wal-Mart second. The word for Wal-Mart is "Redding," although "trailer" and "Cottonwood" also work. Perhaps "Red Bluff" is even better.

When I go to Target and buy stuff, I feel good, because I am not supporting Wal-Mart's low employee respect and their use of sweatshop labor. But I didn't buy anything at Target, and all I got at Wal-Mart were some Grab-It dusters and the first Coldplay CD, because I bought the 2nd one first. Whenever I have a band's 2nd CD and their 3rd one is "about to drop," I try to get the first one. How did you like that use of "about to drop?" That was posh. I think posh is my new word, but it reminds me of the Spice Boys. I mean girls.

Currently listening : Parachutes By Coldplay Release date: 07 November, 2000

Myspace blog: One more message for the world

I already gave instruction to all the naked people on MySpace, now it's time for the next group of heathens.

Someone stole some things from the music department at Simpson, so now I can't get in the practice rooms at night. They made it so you have to ask a music prof for permission ahead of time. But when I want to play the piano, it's usually a sudden urge that I must take care of immediately. That means I can't schedule piano time ahead of time. I have a keyboard in my room, but it sounds so much worse, and I can't sing in my room while playing keys at night, because of our paperthin walls.

So, to all the thiefs of Simpson University: if you're going to steal, why do you go to a Christian college? And beyond that, why are you staying at a Christian college over the summer? Ever heard of morality?

I'd like to let all of you commenters know that I did not really have an urge to dance earlier. All of my references to dancing are related to my picture, which looks like it's dancing. I'm not one who is known to dance. Rarely, I will do something incredibly ridiculous, but there would have to be people around for that to happen, and I was blogging in solitude, so I really just wanted to keep eating. I'm sorry to all of you for being such a horrible liar while blogging. I am so incredibly repentant.
Here's some truth for today: I really am watching a movie while blogging-that's a first. Mostly, I'm just listening to the music.

Currently watching : Drumline (Widescreen) Release date: 30 September, 2003

Myspace blog: The return of the MySpace

Ding Dong the witch is dead. Or the witchhunt is over. Simpson has re-opened the floodgates of MySpace. I will do a rain dance. Oh wait, I already am. It's really hot today, walking around in my long pants for work. At least I'm in the AC all day. Now I really want a rain dance, but that would make me really overheated. I was going to say hot, but I realized that me doing a raindance probably isn't very hot.

Myspace blog: Simpson University Witchhunt leads to MySpace Demise

Today, sometime between 2:30 PM (the last time I was on MySpace), and 4:30 PM (when Eric checked it), Simpson decided to block MySpace. Or maybe the Shasta County Office of Education did (and Simpson uses their filters, or at least they used to). I can still access anything that is not www.myspace.com. Since the blogs are on blog.myspace.com, I can still get here, and I can get to my group pages, because those are groups.myspace.com. Just don't expect any comments from me, except on your blogs. But at least I can still blog, which is pretty much the main reason I'm on MySpace. So, take that, witch hunters. And to all you naked people on MySpace, please put some clothes on or go somewhere else so I can keep spending my entire life on my computer.


If I start an off-site blog, would you guys go to it? Or should I keep doing this?

My feet hurt and my eyes are dry. Goodnight moon.


Hey, you all should check out this book I'm reading. Have you read it? Today?

Currently reading : Zondervan NIV Study Bible By Zondervan Release date: 01 October, 2002

Myspace blog: Hackers and insight

So someone hacked into my myspace and loaded up a picture. Hmm. I wonder who that could have been. It was Eric, the world's most mature person. I must admit that I was tempted to mess with his myspace when I was on his computer last night, but I resisted. Then, I logged on to his computer, and he either just changed my picture after I left, or he went back on later, because he figured out my password. But I changed my password, so now he can keep his grimy hands off of my account.

Too bad I had to write about that. I thought MySpace was for people over 16 years old, but I guess not.

Anyway, what I really want to say is that I finally have figured out whether I'm a detail person or a big picture person. I've never been able to tell, and I honestly think I'm both. But my job has revealed that the big picture is more important to me. A lot of the things we do at work involve only knowing our own part, and not what the rest of the office is doing. Sometimes I get frustrated, and often I am curious. I remember praying that God would show me which category I fit into better so I could answer people. And He did. It wasn't a big issue, just something I wanted to know, and now I do.

That makes me want to do a rain dance with a rainbow.


PS i'm not mad at Eric, just disappointed.

Currently listening : How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb By U2 Release date: 23 November, 2004

Myspace blog: experiments

I have a tendency to cut my own hair late at night. My roommate is gone for the weekend, so after getting off myspace around 3 am, I started cutting my hair. I decided to use the clippers for the first time. I think it came out pretty well, but I was up until 5. That experiment went well.

I just experimented with gif animation and made my new picture for myspace. It was easy. I don't know if that experiment went well. It cracks me up, though. But I often crack myself up.

Now that my Jamba card is almost empty, I have returned to my favorite treat of last year-slurpees. Jeremy calls them the "poor man's smoothie." A year ago, I didn't even like smoothies. That was a result of a vivid memory I have at age 11 of having a smoothie right after dinner and feeling very sick. Then last fall I got a Jamba, and eventually I got hooked to the point of going 4 times in one week about a month ago. I still say there's heroin in them--that's why they're so addictive. But I didn't feel in a very healthy mood and my Jamba card was also not in a healthy mood, so i went to 7-11 and enjoyed 40 oz. of sweetness for $1.49. That's cheaper than gasoline. wow.


**edit**
about an hour after I wrote this blog, I went to Jamba and got a smoothie. Now the card is empty.

Myspace blog: A long day

Yesterday was long. Except that I didn't get out of bed until 2:20. I went and saw Star Wars last night, then we hung out at In-N-Out for awhile. I also had not slept in for about a month.

Cherish and Richard got married at 3. I got there almost on time, but weddings start late, so my lateness wasn't even an issue. It was the first time i've been to any of my peers' weddings. I've been to a lot of weddings, but they were always for people who were older than me. Usually I'd go with my dad if he was performing the wedding. I even got paid to run sound once--that was fun. You know what's funny about weddings is that usually they play Bach's "Air on the G string" when the Groom walks in. That's so funny--think about it, you'll get it. We guitar players make lots of G-string jokes, because it is the most frequently broken string when you're playing.

I've got a number of ideas on what does and doesn't work at weddings. But my dad says that when I get married I'll have to keep them to myself, because it is the day that brides plan for their whole lives.

I was thinking about that (getting married someday) while at the wedding and realized how glad I am that I'm single. I don't want to get married for awhile. They say that when your friends start getting married, you start to feel left out and want to get married. Well, for me, it makes me enjoy being single all the more. that's a good thing.

After the wedding, I went to the concert in the park called portal that I thought was last week. I saw 2 1/2 songs from the Myriad. Join that with the 1/2 song I saw last night, and well, I'm not very punctual. Oh well. It was fun to see people, even if I missed the band I wanted to see. Afterwards, a bunch of us went to Red Robin for a couple hours and a smaller group went to Starbucks for an hour and a half. Levi, Matt, and I talked about how it's good to be single for a couple minutes. I guess that was the theme for my day.

Also, Melissa and Levi asked me if I'm addicted to blogging. Of course I am. But you're all reading it (my blogs have been read 743 times--199 times this week!--and my profile has only been viewed 779 times), so i'll keep writing about my life.

I posted some more pictures recently, so you can check them out. They're nothing special, except i like the blurry one I took of no people. that was fun. As you can see from my pictures, I own far too many black and brown shirts (I think I have 5 or 6 brown shirts, for some reason).

Dang myspace doesn't even have a picture for the Format. I didn't even want to listen to this cd right now (it's too country for 2 in the morning). I just did it so I wouldn't have to post that I was listening to the same band as two blogs ago. I try to show off my wide collection of CD's and I can't. I guess that's what I get for trying to be cool.

Myspace blog: as promised, the bling bling

Before you read this, check out the last blog and the incredible number of comments found. Thanks for the love, people. In addition (sounds very academic), you may want to see the blog before that and read the article I linked to. My friend, Levi, also just wrote a post on God and money. I don't agree with some of what he said, but I had been planning on writing this before he posted his opinions, so it's not like this post is anti-levi or anything. looky looky, it's point-counterpoint!

SO, the bling bling post.

Prosperity Doctrine has always been ridiculous to me. Some call it "health and wealth" theology or something like that. Basically the idea is that God wants to bless us in every way. The argument is made that Shalom is the Hebrew word for so much more than just peace. In the BDB (the standard in Hebrew lexicons), Shalom is defined as "completeness, soundness, welfare, and peace." In the right context, shalom can mean financial well-being, or prosperity.

As a result of this definition, some people believe that God wants to prosper us in every way, including the financial. It makes sense that God would bless us in the less spiritual more readily than the more spiritual, so money should come first. I now see where this idea comes from, but the problem is where the argument goes next. Oh, and there is no such thing as less spiritual and more spiritual. All things are spiritual, there is no secular, except in our own minds if we allow that lie to enter.

Many people believe that if we are following Christ, we WILL be prosperous and healthy. This implies that sickness and poverty are covenantal markers of unfaithfulness to God. Have you ever read Psalm 73? It says that the righteous pilgrim is jealous because the wicked man dies in no pain, which implies that the righteous die in pain sometimes. It says the wicked man is fat, implying his prosperity, which indicates the poverty of the righteous man.

Here's the best thing the OC Supertones taught me (I am ashamed of them): how can one say that the marker of Spiritual health is financial health? I am not being bold at all when I say that the faith of the average Christian in countries like China, Iraq, Algeria, North Korea, and Indonesia is far beyond my own. Those who live in areas of persecution or communistic atheism are probably much healthier disciples than myself. To say that my financial prosperity shows I'm closer to God is insulting and wrong.

However, I recognize that God is the source of all I have been given. And I'm so thankful that He has chosen to bless me in the way of finances. (I was proof-reading this and I thought it said fiancees. It would not be a blessing to have multiple fiancees). While He may bless some people (like me) through finances, remember that "shalom" only means "prosperity" in certain contexts. God wants to bless all of us, but it looks different from person to person. Prosperity Doctrine takes the approach of modernism in that it takes a universal stance on a non-universal issue. God is relative in some things. Yes, He's absolutely God and there is absolute Truth, but Prosperity is theology is not doctrine. Doctrine is absolute, while theology can vary depending on background and revelation, and not create exclusive viewpoints. Jesus was God, and He did not have a place to lay His head. Time for me to get off my Golden soapbox.

Myspace blog: Sunsets and Rainbows (uh, Lucky charms?)

God opened up the heavens tonight. If you missed the sunset tonight, you also missed the brightest rainbow I've ever seen in California. Eric and I took some pictures of it, and I posted one in my pictures section. But here it is, too.



Fun times.

Also, that last blog I posted led me to think on prosperity doctrine vs. the idea that we should be poor. I'm going to post a blog on that in a couple days. Levi just posted his thoughts on it, too. I agree with him in many areas, but also disagree on many parts. stay tuned...

Myspace blog: God, Inc.

Some of you probably know about how I feel about the Church copying business so much, and Yahoo's business section is spending a week looking at the connection between the business world and the church world. If you have some time, read this article and let me know what you think.

Also, I just want to let everyone know that my ex-roommate, Eric Henneberque is now on MySpace. After he gave me such a hard time about being on MySpace when I first joined, I'm going to only give him a hard time about his MySpace. If only there was a place for MySpace enemies....muahaha. (In case you don't know, eric and I are still very close friends, we just don't live together, so no one says we're married anymore, like they always used to).

Myspace blog: There's lots to do in Redding...

My sister, Lauren, came up to visit me last weekend from Friday afternoon until Monday morning. I decided to show her around town and do some things that I enjoy doing. So, Friday, we went to In-N-Out for a quick dinner. Oddly, some High School kid thought she was my girlfriend, which has happened way too often, considering that most people think we're twins. After I told him she was my sister, he asked me "why are you dating your sister?" Weirdo. Then we went to the Sundial Bridge for a couple hours. We sat at the cafe for a couple hours while it got dark, so she could see it in both day and night. We didn't do much else, and I took her to her friend Sara's house, which is where she stayed while she was up here.

Saturday, I thought there was a concert in the park (Portal), but it's actually this week. So, we left to get some lunch around 11, but my car battery was dead, so we had to go to Wal-Mart. We got some lunch over at Tecate Grill and then came back and bought a battery, which I changed in the parking lot, in my brand-new pants. That was dumb. I should have changed my pants before I changed the battery (ooh, parallel sentence structure--nerd moment). But now my pants have some "character," or as most people call it, "grease."

We headed over to Caldwell Park, and found out that the concert was not that day. So, we headed over to the fish ladder, and found out that the Salmon run was not that day. (more parallelism) SO, we headed out to explore the backroads and ended up going four-wheelin' (sort of) and drove around Whiskeytown on the gravel road that goes around it. Then we walked around Brandy Creek beach for about 10 minutes, then drove around at Whiskeytown some more. Gas is expensive, and I had already used a quarter tank, so we went to Starbucks around 5. We got hungry, so we didn't stay at Starbucks for that long, and headed over to Express China (I tried to take her to the places we always go), stopping at the Bluffs on the way. Afterwards, we had no idea what to do (since we had already gotten coffee, our best idea was already gone), so we went to the Christian store, then Barnes and Noble for an hour, then I took her back to Sara's.

I realized that there is a lot of stuff to do in Redding, but you have to keep doing whatever you're doing for a few hours, or you very quickly have to go home. Like on monday, Eric, Levi, Josh (Not me), and I (Me) hung out at starbucks for a few hours, then In-N-Out for another. But, when it's just you and your sister, it's harder to just sit for hours, so then Redding gets boring. We could have gone hiking or swimming or something that takes a longer time and is out of town, but we thought that concert was going on, so we didn't have the right equipment for that. "I have all your equipment in my locker. You should probably get it, cause I can't fit my numbchucks in there."

Sunday has already been written about in my previous blog, so I won't bother to tell you about that. Monday involved getting up earlier than usual to show Lauren the Simpson bookstore, coffee shop, and a taste of the new building, then saying goodbye right before I went to work. It was an interesting, fun weekend, and it was really good to see Lauren.


This has to be the least interesting blog I've posted. Agree/disagree?

Myspace blog: i was blind and deaf this morning

I was supposed to play guitar this morning at Risen King, so I woke up at 6:50 to get there by 7:30. I had a feeling I was getting the stomach flu, so I ate applesauce for breakfast and headed to church. The service starts at 9:00, so we gathered to pray at 8:50, and I started to feel really sick while we prayed, and I got really dizzy and sweaty. It was weird. So I had 5 minutes between prayer and the service and I started heading to the restroom in case my stomach went crazy. This is a fun blog to write (trying not to be graphic and all).

As I started to walk, my vision and hearing started to cut out. Everything went white and was very, very muffled. Voices were unintelligible murmurs. Everything that was fairly close to me like people and doors looked like out-of-focus shadows on a blinding white background. I felt better after about 3 minutes of this weirdness and I got back to the stage on time for the service, still feeling pretty sick, so I played easy stuff all service.

I picked up my sister, Lauren, from her friend Sarah's house. Lauren is in town for the weekend, and I'll probably blog on our adventures tomorrow, after she leaves so I can write it all at once. The second service, I felt way better, but still a little odd. I ate an apple and rice for lunch because I know that's good for you. I took a nap this afternoon and got up to go to the Stirring. I ate a piece of whole wheat bread (I know you're only supposed to eat really broken down stuff like white bread, but I only have wheat bread. What to do?)

At the Stirring tonight (I wasn't playing), people were praying for healing, so I went up and got prayed for, along with probably 20 people (a lot when there are just about 100 at the whole thing). As soon as Patrick put his hand on me to pray, my stomach settled. Ben started to pray for me, then Bill Randall prayed for me (which honored me, because he could have prayed for a lot of other people, but I think I know him better than the other sick people, and I'm thankful for him). He anointed me, and I totally felt better. I went to Denny's and ate food that's harder to digest, like syrup (for my pancakes) and bacon, sausage, and eggs, so we'll see how much better I am.

The interesting thing is that the first time I remember being anointed for being sick (i was around 6 or 7), is the only time I have ever passed out in my life, and today was the closest I've come without actually passing out. That was a cool connection. Maybe God likes me to faint, because then I realize I need prayer.

Myspace blog: time for a new blog

at work, we spent thursday through tuesday shredding old files so that people can't access private information. We were shredding files from people who were going to come to simpson in 2002 (the same year as me). The fact that these were people who would have gone to school with me messed with me a bit. What if one of those people was supposed to be someone I would have a huge impact on or would have a huge impact on me? What if my supposed-to-be future wife was in there? This messed with my thoughts on destiny, which aren't very solid anyway.

To keep a whole week of shredding interesting, i tried to read SAT scores to see if anyone beat my 650 on the verbal and 800 on the math (which you can't beat, so i wasn't worried about). 6 people beat the verbal score, and 2 people tied it. The best anyone did was 720 verbal and 680 math. pretty good.

(If you read this earlier, I re-read what I wrote and it was a lot meaner than I thought, so i changed it).

The lowest score I saw was a 200, which is the lowest you can get. That is quite a range. I don't think I'm violating anyone's privacy, so i think it's legal to share this info, since I don't even know any names. it was just a fun game.

I guess what all that showed me is that different people are gifted in different ways, and I tried to convey that in a witty way earlier, but failed. I'm thankful that God made me how I am-brainy, so a little bit nerdy, but I also know other people's strengths have distinct benefits too. That's why we need each other. *queue some cheesy 80's song*
i already knew that, but the SATs showed it to me again, so that was cool.

Myspace blog: I have no fridge

I'm only writing out of habit now. I guess even when I have nothing important to say, i'm going to blog it, and you guys can read it if you want to, and not read it if you don't want to.

School ended just over a week ago, and for the last 7 days, I have been living in a dorm room (same as the one from the school year), but without a fridge of any substantial size. This has led me to eat junk food all week. Pizza four times, fried chicken twice, and fast food for every lunch. i feel gross and greasy. But, i've been eating fruit, too, so It's not that bad. I still haven't seen super size me, but when I do, i'll probably be disgusted by this past week. I feel like the guy who has moved out of his parents' house and can't cook. Oh wait, I kind of am that guy. except, I think once I get my fridge and have space for leftovers, I will cook, and it will be ok. We'll see. It should be at least somewhat better than the Simpson University Cafeteria

Myspace blog: a dumb post that's not worth reading about Napoleon Dynamite & my jacket

Napoleon Dynamite--I've seen this gem 11 times now. Wow. twice in theaters. Once on Christmas day, after I gave it to both of my siblings. then, the first week of last semester, Eric and I watched it 7 days in a row. then I avoided it for 4 months. Tonight, though, we intitiated mr. Dan Jump. He has seen the light, and is blinded with joy.

In somewhat related news, I wore my red adidas jacket today. I got it last year at a thrift store in Santa Rosa for $1. I think it's from the mid-80s. It was supposedly a guy's jacket, but I can tell from the sleeve length and the side that the zipper is on that it's a girl's jacket. I stopped wearing it for awhile because of that, but now, i figure all the guys are wearing girls' pants, so i can wear the jacket.

You might be wondering how that's at all related. 2 ways: it's an 80's jacket, and Napoleon's clothes are from the 80s. secondly, the last time I wore that jacket was in late august--on the night that my brother and I first saw ND. Yeah, that's right, August. I saw it before most of you. YESSSS!!!

Myspace blog: Peace In

I think I may post the most blogs out of any one person on myspace (at least for the last few days, maybe)

I have always felt stupid when I'm trying to sign something online. You know, you could write "see ya," but "ya" looks dumb written down, and "see you" is even worse. "Bye" sounds childish, and everyone writes ttyl. If you know me, you know I hate the old IM lingo that AOL polluted the world with (lol is the worst). So I usually just leave the last sentence with a couple enters, then "--josh"

A lot of people say "peace out" or just "peace." that's cool, but they don't mean it. I think if people said "shalom" and meant it, it would be similar. But, shalom means not just "peace," but "wholeness," "completeness," "health," and "prosperity." Since no one know what shalom really means and that I really mean it, I decided that shalom would just come across as cute and funny or maybe anti-semitic and sarcastic.

So I decided to say "peace in." at least on-line or in e-mails, I'm going to try to make "peace in" my little sign-off.

May peace be in you and flow from you, as it flows from Him and through you.

Peace in.

Myspace blog: Transformers--Jesus sold separately

There's a thing going on in redding called Redding Transformation, which is a drive towards unity among the Christians and trying to reach our city for Christ. I think they're going about it in a really good way. A lot of times, unity gets worshiped instead of the Unifier among these kinds of movements (it did in the one in Santa Rosa), but this seems to be going well so far. Unity is a fruit, it is not God!

One thing i'm not so happy about is that they're based on the transformation videos. If you haven't seen them, they're documentaries about cities that had unity and prayer, and suddenly, crime is down, the mayor professes Christianity, government supports the church in places like schools, and ridiculously large crops are harvested. It's all based on 2 Chronicles 7:14--"if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land."

As a Bible Major with an Old Testament emphasis, I could systematically show you that all references to the land in the OT are specifically covenantal--they are intended only for Israel. However, the heart of God (if we follow those steps, He will restore us) is the same for the Church today.

The problem with the Transformation videos is that they are deceptive. Yeah, it's great that the Church is doing so well and is united in these places, but I've heard stories from people involved in these movements in these "transformed" cities that show the city is worse than ever. A missionary to Cali, Colombia (where the first Transfo video is) said that she had seen the church's health skyrocket, but the druglords still rule the city and many people live in fear. My dad, a pastor in Santa Rosa, told me that the maker of these videos wants to make a video for Santa Rosa. I can see how he'd do it. A few newspaper clippings from the annual mayor's prayer breakfast, stories about the churches coming together for Easter outreach events and community service projects, and stories about the financial resurrection of the area after the telecom bust of 2001 would sure make Santa Rosa look transformed. But I can tell you that it's not true--for instance, Redding is way more spiritually alive than Santa Rosa.

I am not saying unity is bad or that being intentional about reaching the city is bad, but deception and propaganda are not very Godly. Neither is taking scripture out of context.

A couple hours ago, I was out at the bluffs, and I had the whole place to myself. You can see all of the west side of Redding from the bluffs, and there is a straight drop-off of a couple hundred feet (no fence, mom!) into the Sacramento River, right where it bends from going East to going South. Beautiful view, but the place is trashed. You know, bottles all over, condom wrappers, etc. I started thinking how much better it would be if the bluffs were known as the place where people prayed for the city, rather than the place for sex, drugs, and rock n' rolling off a cliff. I started praying for the Redding Transformation thing--there's an 11 day prayer event going on all over the city starting today. God showed me that I had a desire to transform the people who go to the bluffs. If I wanted it to be a place of prayer, then the way to do that would be to talk to anyone I ever see out there and build a relationship that could end in their life being transformed.

Here's what I learned: While Jonah 4:11 indicates that God is concerned for cities, God is way more concerned with one person coming to know Him than the 99 churches who hang out together and pray (Matthew 18:13). I think God would care more about an individual than a whole city, except that the city is made up of individuals. But everyone is always saying, "city, city, city," instead of "i love you and God loves you." Maybe it's better to be God's transforming hands in a life than trying to be the Transformer (God should be the center, not us), and trying to transform a city. But, I still think it's good to pray for the whole city, and hearing the people in charge of Redding Transformation speak, I can tell they want people to be personal and relational, and not try to save a city, but just be love in the places we go. So, I think they have it right, and I have ranted for far too long.

You know what's funny is that on the data entry system at work, we push F10 to save, so I keep trying to save with F10 instead of clicking what I should click.

Myspace blog: Cool Runnings

Tonight, we went to take my friend Ike’s car to the shop. We had to take it down to the end of Shasta View, to a guy who volunteered to help Ike fix his car, which has been out of service for 5 or 6 months. The problem is that it overheats really fast, so we could only go about 2/3 of the way before we had to stop.

After it cooled off for awhile, we went another mile or so, then we had to stop again. I decided that we should push the car through a neighborhood parallel to Shasta View. So, David and I started running with the car in front of us.

My legs are sore now.

It was raining, so the cold air and pushing the vehicle felt a lot like bobsledding. I tried, but I couldn’t remember the little cadence that is in Cool Runnings (you know, “feel the rhythm, feel the rhyme/vibe”… I forget, still). Eric pushed the car with his car for a short distance, too. We got it through that neighborhood and drove to the next, where we were going to push it some more, then a guy with a truck volunteered to pull it for us, which was less fun, but a lot easier.

Ike stayed to fix his car, and the other 3 of us went over to Patrick and Bethany’s for pizza and a movie. I had called Patrick at our first stop to let Ike’s car cool off. That was at 6:15, and we didn’t get to Patrick and Bethany’s until 7:40, so we were out pushing and waiting for a long time, but it was fun, and probably good for us. Except my leg is still sore.

Myspace blog: Assorted Thoughts on Early Summer

Don't you hate it when you post something really long, then accidentally delete it all?
I just did that

I'm living here at simpson, working for enrollment services. I love my office job, because it was 80 degrees yesterday morning and cold and rainy today. I thought data entry would be boring when it came to repetition, but it isn't really. Today we had to throw out all the fliers/flyers (i think both are correct, if you're half british) for Genesis weekend (simpson's spring visitation weekend for new students). we threw out 1500-2000 of them, which all have a picture of some guy's butt with a map of redding in the back pocket. That guy would be me. at first, when I got the picture taken last fall, I was really nervous, but now I'm proud of the fact that I am the face of Simpson University. Well, maybe not the face. But, prospective Simpsonites around the nation received my backside in their mailbox, and I feel like I have done something incredibly manly, but immature--the college guy's dream.

The weather is weird. Yesterday reminded me a lot of Hawaii--raining, but still warm enough to not wear a jacket. we stood outside in the rain in the deserted parking lot at 10 PM. Warm rain is so good. Cold rain in the warm air is almost as good, and that's what we had last night.

I had to move out of my room and move back in, so I could rearrange it with my new roommate Chris (who used to live next door). Then, when I got back in, they had turned off my internet access, so I had to re-up that, but my cable is busted, so I have had no internet, and thus no Myspace. I was pleasantly surprised to see that I did not have any withdrawals.

Living here feels a lot like camping, because there are a bunch of people living around me who I have to share a kitchen with. Like the way you have to share a bathroom, faucets, and showers with people at campgrounds. And everyone's going to bed early because most of them have to work at 7:30 AM (I don't start until 9:30 MUAHAHA). But, that means I have free time at night, so redding people, call me or something.

Myspace blog: Concerto

I went to a Number One Gun concert at the Space in Redding last night. Worst venue ever--hot, loud, teenaged. But, I like NOG a lot, so it was worth the $3. And I met Melissa (who I knew from MySpace) and Jordan, who I think I met once before. They both go to the Stirring, so hi guys, if you're reading this. Stirring kids will take over redding. But all we did was talk about myspace. Not really, but we did a little. Now, to go disc golfing, yeeha.