Walkin in High Cotton

OK, so I am not walking in high cotton down in Alabama, but I am hangin out in Arkansas for the week.  Sadly, there is no high cotton around during this time of the year, and I am NOT walkin in it, but I am still having fun down here!

Two nights ago, Becca's family down here had a giant family reunion.  After eating, they all pulled out their guitars, banjos, bass cello things, bongo drums, and voices.  For the next three to four hours they played and sang whatever they knew and more.  A lot of what they played was improv.  Their improv was better than something I could practice for months.  You simply had to start singing a song they never heard before, and by verse two you would have a full guitar band backing you up because they could simply hear how the song was supposed to go.  Insane.

Yesterday I went for a quick frog hunt.  We didn't get any frogs while I went along, but they had caught four of them at 2 in the morning previously.  Later, they cleaned them and I was able to eat my very first frog legs.

Today I am going to go swimming in the above ground pool in the back yard.  I think it might be home-made.

We've stayed up till almost 4 every day since we got here.  We play games, laugh, and sing (of course, always singing).

It's been pretty fun.

Oh, and sorry if I talk weird when I get back home.  I am horrible at southern accents/drawls, but being surrounded by it down here has made me talk... different (it isn't like a southern accent, it's just... different).

I think.


I'm here till Friday, and then for the next three nights I'm staying at Branson.  I have been told that I will be the youngest person there by sixty years.

That's about it...

Y'all be good now

It's The Final Countdown!

Duuuuh Duhdun Dun... (That was the brass instrumentation)

Anyway... The world is supposed to end at 6:00 tonight, so what am I doing with the last six hours of my life?  Well, I am golfing this afternoon with my father and my brother, and then at 5:00, I work.  What better way is there to spend the last six hours of my life playin a round of golf?

Also, I always knew that I would experience the end of my life/the world at the Pizza Ranch.

Oh well, it's better than spending the last minutes of earth at the Tulip Festival.

Suckers.



Oh and on a final note, I was told that this whole end of the world thing is supposed to happen at 6:00 everywhere with earthquakes and such, so when it is 6:00 in New York and 5:00 here, we will be able to see New York get hit before it makes its way west.  So once this all starts happening, you all have an hour to come find me and hang out for a while.

Toodles

The Post You've All Been Patiently Waiting For

So it has been a good while since I have last posted.  My bad.  The end of the school year got busy, I guess.  I think I wrote about 934,389,393 papers during those last few weeks (Which is one more than Kristin).  I also don't really have anything mind blowing that I just have to share with the entire world (minus 5,999,999,989 people (Get it? Cuz I have 11 followers? LOL ROFL LMAO ETC)).

Anyway... I have been working.  I work full time with my dad and two farmer/carpenters.  I tore off siding last week and then put new siding up.  This week I have been in the shop building cabinets with my dad.  I have also been working part-time at the Pizza Ranch (2-3 nights a week. Woot (not))!

I still haven't unpacked fully... My room was so full of crap I no longer want or need when I got back, so I decided to sort through all of it and organize before I brought in all of the college stuff.  Well, I didn't quite get done with all of that before I started working full-and-a-part-time, so my car is still jam packed.

I went to Des Moines with the lovely lady last Saturday to take a look at the Botanical Garden Center.  We finally figured all the wedding date details.  We'll be getting married there in Des Moines on December 20 and having a reception in Sioux Falls on the 23rd (only seven months away... whoa)!

My back hurts right now a lot, I don't know what I did to it.

I think I am going to go to Sioux Falls now to buy new goalie gloves, a new sword, and probably to sell stuff because I got fired from my full-time job for the afternoon because there is not much for me to do since the farmer/carpenter's are tending to their farmer responsibilities today and my dad had to go on a "lumber run," whatever that means.

*Awkward Silence... Sniff... Foot Shuffle... More Awkward Silence...*

*...*

K Bye

Undercover Jesus

So as I was thinking the other day, an interesting think occurred (That was intentional. Why? For fun.).  I wondered, "What if Jesus would come to earth in His physical, human form and began preaching and testifying in all different churches from different denominations on Sundays.  I wonder how many churches would boot Him out, saying His doctrine wasn't right.  Maybe His views on predestination or free will were incorrect.  Maybe His views on common grace were just simply off.  Undoubtedly, many churches, if not all, would find some kind of error or heresy in His preaching."

Must there really be so much division within the church?  I didn't do my research, but if I had to guess at how many different denominations and splits there are in the church just within the United States, I would say that the number lies approximately at a lot (now that is an effective statistic if I have ever seen one).  Now, of course the church has to be sure to be following the straight and narrow path, but these splits occur far too often and over issues that REALLY don't matter in the long haul.  There are too many people who seem to think, "Oh, I disagree with (insert issue here), I am going to go start a "different church,"" as if Jesus proclaimed to be the head of not just one body of believers, but instead the head of many bodies.

I realize that to ask all the churches to agree and unite again into one singular church is something that is quite unlikely to be accomplished by we who continuously fall prey to sin.  We should, however, be able to at the very least, agree to disagree on theological and doctrinal topics, so as not to come to disagreements and then, as a result, scorn each other or look down on one another.  Unfortunately, too many churches and denominational groups tend to look at other groups in a negative light.  Looking down at the other churches or denominations often makes one look like he believes that his doctrine or theology or whatever is perfect and right, and anyone else who disagrees is ultimately wrong and not invited in worship, praise, and study.

Give me a break.

We really don't have to imagine a scene in which Jesus comes down in body and starts preaching in our churches.  The Bible gives plenty of accounts of when Jesus, preaching nothing but truth, is scoffed, threatened, and deemed a heretic or one who is demon possessed by those who seem to have it all figured out.  It really doesn't seem like times have changed all that much.    

As Promised...

Here it is!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG4pam1UenY

And if you write me, I'll be sure to reply... I take the responsibility of responding to fan mail extremely seriously...

Hollywood Bound

The final cuts have been made, and it's a wrap!  Now we all just have to wait for the editing!  Within a month the final production should be available for viewing! 

I had the priviledge to star in a short horror movie with the working title of "The Purrrfect Crime."  It might be a stretch, but I'm crossing my fingers for a Golden Globe or maybe an Oscar for my role. 

I'll be leaving in a couple weeks for a promotional tour of the movie for it's opening debut in Europe.  The version that is planned to be released in the US will be released a week later than in Europe, and I will be concluding the promotional tour here in the States. 

When the final edits have been made, I'll be sure to post a free link to the video to all my followers (so naturally I am expecting my number of followers to increase into the hundreds, but likely the thousands (at the very least)). 

Good Thing I Don't Do Things Like That

If I would time travel to ancient times and then get stuck there, that would be bad because eventually my contacts would either wear out or fall out and then I would be as good as blind.

"...and when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you?"

So... a few months back I was in Sioux Falls.  I was trying to leave Wal-Mart and was waiting for the stop light to turn green.  I looked out the passenger side window and saw a man with a coat and a hat and he was holding a piece of cardboard that he had written something along the lines of...

 "Going to (fill in the blank), but anything helps."

I remember thinking that the only place I was headed was Alvord, which would be getting the guy to almost literally nowhere.

As the light turned green, I drove off.  As I was turning onto the street, I saw a car pull over and roll down its window.  The driver handed the man what I am guessing is money.  The man half ran to the window and took the money with an expression of deep joy and gratitude.

What I noticed more than his expression was his hands.  They were pale and looked painfully cold.  It was, after all, the middle of winter, and he had nothing to keep his hands warm.  This image bothered me as I drove halfway across the city of Sioux Falls.

I don't understand why, but it wasn't until I had driven almost the entire length of the city that I finally looked down and saw the gloves I wasn't using.  I even thought about how I have more gloves at home apart from the ones I had with me in the car.

Furthermore, I don't understand why I didn't turn around, drive back to the man without gloves, and hand them to him.

I wanted to.
But I didn't do it.

It still bothers me a lot.

"Anything helps..."

And I gave nothing

My Dad Always Said...

http://www.photographyserved.com/gallery/Novartis-Reflections-Campaign/329834

I stole this link from a friend's post on facebook.

The pictures remind me of something I learned last semester in Life-span Development.  At one point in your life, you're going to look into the mirror expecting to see an image of the young adult version of yourself staring back, but will be completely surprised to see a middle adult or older version of yourself with wrinkles and gray (or no) hair.  We tend to imagine ourselves to look like the way we did when we were in our prime for many years after we have developed beyond it.  This is not meant to be depressing or disheartening in any way.  In fact, when I begin to think negatively about growing old, I think about something my dad always says...

"Maybe being old sucks... I don't know... But getting old isn't so bad..."

and

"If you don't want to get old, you have to die young... and who wants to do that?"


Anyway, I liked those pictures.  I thought they were neat.

I Want to be in a Band

Listening to good music is great... One of my favorite things to do.

Singing along to good music and doing it well, whether if I'm singing along with the itunes in my car or in a choir or voice lessons, is quite satisfying, and again, one of my favorite things to do.

I dink (apparently spellcheck does not approve of this word usage) around on the piano quite often and have made up a very small number of catchy... pieces or... songs? I enjoy doing this quite a bit, and when it (rarely) becomes something I deem as kinda good (for me to write anyway) I put this under the category of one of my favorite things to do as well.

Even guitar hero... a game in which I have not touched for months and months...  when I play guitar hero I sometimes get great satisfaction just because it FEELS like I'm actually producing some cool tunes (yeah, I play on expert :P ) 

I wish, though, that I could be musically talented enough to be a creative force in a band.  I would LOVE to play the bass guitar I've got collecting dust at home with a couple of guitarists, a drummer, and a singer or two, and maybe a keyboardist and who knows what else.  

Some will say all I need to is haul the ol' bass guitar out and start slappin de bass-uh... but that would mean I devote a large portion of free time that is really, really hard to come by while college is in.  Not only that, but in order for me to be in a band, I would have to find a handful of people who would also need to devote said hard-to-get-by free time.  

Even if I could find the time and the others to join... I'm not sure if I have enough room in my talent cap to become a useful member of a band anyway.  Sure I am decent at music... I've got a scholarship in singing here at Dordt, but I have also found that the music that Dordt is expecting me to be able to perform in voice lessons is impossibly hard, and while they say they are only trying to stretch me... I feel there is a point where I have been stretched a bit too thin (and I feel this also applies to the insane busyness that we get caught up in college).

Meanwhile, I will just continue to stretch myself thin during voice lessons and to push my creative abilities on the piano with the pieces of melodies and harmonies that have been started, but have ultimately remained unfinished, all the while wishing that I could do more.  

Maybe this is a bad attitude.  Perhaps I should be happy with the talent I do have.  

Or maybe this is a good attitude.  Perhaps I should not be happy with my present ability, but work hard to push my limits.  

Bottom line:  I enjoy music, and whatever I do with it, I will be sure to continue to enjoy it.  If I begin to not enjoy music, I am doing something wrong.  

If you made it through this entire post, I am impressed by your commitment and determination.
Now give yourself a hug and cookie... cuz you rule.

  

This Is Why

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ab_Mri-M5go

Above is the link to a song and lyrics to a song that was suggested to me.  Yeah, the voice is a little weird/creepy and hard to understand, but I think that it is almost perfect to the emotion I feel is being portrayed.

THIS IS WHY I'M DOING WHAT I'M DOING

There are people who are hurt all around me.
There are people struggling with true and deep hurts and pains (some self-inflicted) all around me.
There are people who need a friend all around me.
There are people who need to be loved and taken in all around me.

They don't just need my love, but Christ's love.  These people need to find Christ's peace, friendship, love, and grace.
These people are all around me, and I need to show them to Christ.

This song served as a powerful reminder to me of all this.
Sometimes I wonder why I'm bothering with so much schooling and why I'm working so hard in school.
Sometimes I need a reminder.

This is why

Peace of Mind

http://www.gregboyd.org/essays/essays-predestination-free-will/how-do-you-respond-to-romans-9/

This is in response to my last post.
I was comforted by reading this commentary after reading Romans 9.

The scariest bit of Scripture I have ever read...

Romans 9:6-24

"It is not as though God's word had failed.  For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham's children. On the contrary, 'It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.' In other words, it is not the natural children who are God's children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham's offspring. For this was how the promise was stated: 'At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son.'

Not only that, but Rebekah's children had one and the same father, our father Isaac. Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad - in order that God's purpose in election might stand: not by works but by him who calls - she was told, 'The older will serve the younger.' Just as it is written: 'Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.'

What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! For he says to Moses, 'I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.'
It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: 'I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.' Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.

One of you will say to me: 'Then why does God still blame us? For who resists his will?' But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? 'Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, 'Why did you make me like this?'' Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?

What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath - prepared for destruction? What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory - even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?"






The scariest part is the fact that I find it scary

I Counter Thee!

"While at Dordt, take advantage of the opportunities you have now to learn and be involved!  Sign up for more classes!  Join clubs!  Join choirs and bands!  Never again will you have this many opportunities to learn!  You're here and you're paying, so why don't you get your money's worth by doing all that you can now while you're here and young!"

Well, what about the fact that never again will I be surrounded by so many cool people that rock my face off?  What about the fact that in a few years I will be working every day and I will not be able to walk down the hall and chill with the coolest people ever?  Shouldn't I save some time in order to take advantage of THAT?


I rest my case.



Now time for more homework

God wants YOU to be involved in politics

I have actually picked up on a theme in my intro to politics class...

Something we as Christians should be doing is finding a unified political philosophy in which to base our voting on.  By "finding a unified political philosophy," I mean to say that Christians that are involved with politics need to forget about the battle between Republicans and Democrats, and have our own party, one that captures and agrees on all political concepts from a perspective that finds its foundation firmly rooted in the Holy Bible.  Can you imagine?  Through this, we must strive to bring God's Divine Law and Truth into practice within our society on earth.  Furthermore, we have to try to make this Divine Word of God attractive to our secular neighbor.  Simply labeling our political philosophy as the right and Divine Will of God is most likely going to result in turning our secular neighbor away from it.  Rather, we can use the term "The Common Good" instead of Divine Right.  This way we can maybe, as a unified body of believers, attract the votes and support of all people from every religious (or anti-religious) background.  All of this must be done in order to bring God's justice into our society and into our world.

There are some things that must be said about God's Justice, however, before I can stop writing.  God's justice is not the type of justice that most people think of today.  Most people equate justice as punishment or revenge.  Justice is served when he who has done wrong pays for the sins he has committed.  This is not Biblical justice.  Throughout the Old Testament, the word justice is almost always used hand in hand with the word Righteousness.  To bring justice in the world is to bring about righteousness.  In order to bring righteousness, one must "make right" the wrongs of the world.  In other words, when we strive to bring justice into our fallen world, we are simply trying to make right all the wrong that sin has caused in our world.  This does not mean we must punish all wrong doers.  Instead, it means that we are here to RESTORE our fallen world.  Restoration falls more in line with forgiveness than with punishment.  Wrongdoers, instead of being punished and isolated from society for the rest of their lives must be worked on in order to be restored, forgiven, and able to return to their calling of being and Image-Bearer of God!

After understanding Biblical Justice, we can move toward restoring justice to those in our society who have become oppressed by social and economic injustice!  God's justice in the Bible proves to be partial AND impartial.  God does not excuse the poor, widowed, orphaned, and alienated when they do wrong.  In this way, He shows impartiality.  But He does show partiality in trying to restore justice to those who have suffered from injustice.  He gives advantages and benefits to the poor throughout the Old Testament.  The Old Testament Law demanded that every seventh year was the year of jubilee.  Debts were canceled, slaves were set free, and the fields of the farmers were left unharvested in order that the poor could take advantage.  Throughout the years between that of jubilee, the farmers were commanded not to harvest from the corners of their fields and not to go into the field more than once to harvest.  Rather, what was left on the ground was to be kept there for the disadvantaged, those who were poor and alone.  Every fifty years, all the land was returned to its original family that owned it, and never was there to be an interest put upon loans.   All these laws were in place to restore justice to the poor who had been trampled by the rich and were unable to fulfill their calling.

Just as it was important then, now too it is important that we give aid to the poor.  We must give what we can in order that the disadvantaged can live comfortably and as Image-Bearers of God.  This does not mean that we have to give up all that we have and live among the poor.  Ronald Sider explains that being rich is a blessing and it is good, under two conditions.  First, we must not gain our riches through the oppression of others, and second, we must share our riches with our neighbor, giving to those who are poor.  Personally, this thought lifted a weight of guilt off of my shoulder.  I had begun to wonder in the past couple months whether or not Christians should give up all that they have and live among the poor.  I think it is great that many do this, but I do not think it is necessary.  Gaining riches and sharing it with the poor is a process that is beneficial.  While you continue to gain, you are able to continually give.  As long as you maintain the giving part, gaining is truly a blessing!

Anyway... I guess I am learning a thing or two in my intro to politics class.  First, we are called to maintain justice in our fallen world.  This justice is about restoration, especially in areas like social and economic injustice.  All throughout both the Old Testament and New Testament, laws have been set up to love and build up our disadvantaged neighbor.  You might say that all this can be done outside of politics.  While it is true that if everyone who claimed to be a Christian would tithe, we'd be able to restore most of the economic injustice, think about how much more effective and efficient it would be if we could get the State involved in this process?  A state built on Biblical principles would be a huge aid in the restoration process of the injustice within our fallen world!

This is why Christians need a unified political philosophy.
This is why Christians need to do their part in politics, whether it be through holding office or voting.



Whoofta

Oh, and just so I don't get in trouble for plagiarism, most of these ideas came from Ronald Sider's The Scandal of Evangelical Politics.

Old Habits? DIE!

Don't ever start talking to yourself out loud in a public bathroom unless you have checked to see that all the stalls are empty when you walk in...   I wouldn't know... but I'd imagine it's embarrassing...

At least he was nice enough to not say anything about it when we were both washing our hands at the sink

Fail

I, Trevliam Boonspeare...

Have completed my first and finest piece of play art!  A full ten lines of dialogue in length!  I, being so proud, even paraded down my hall of dormitorium glory to make known the gloriousnessity of my genius! Only, when I arrive, I am met with darkness and emptiness!  No "Hurrahs" or "Twiddledeedums!"  I leave in shambles of shame, shuffling ever sho shlowly to my shire and shi- uh... sit... on my broken throne.  As I hang my head in sorrow that only regret has ever known... My computer cries out!
"Nay Friend," I say, "Do not weep for me!"
But Alas!  As I gaze upon the screen, I see that it hails a message for me!  Surely this message is one of apology from the room that hath just rejected mua!  One of regret and sorrow and plagued with the begging of forgiveness!

Nay

"Socks!"

Activity For The Day

I thought I'd start off my blogging career with a fun (or maybe fun isn't the right word) activity.  This is what I want you to do.
1. Go to your facebook profile (as if we don't all spend too much time on facebook already, do it anyway).
2. Under your picture, click on photos.
3.  In the section entitled "Photos and Videos of You," click "View Photos of You."
4.  Let the page load.  If you're like me, it may take a while for it to load the billions of pictures of you that are on facebook (I know, I am so popular).
5.  Starting at the top (which are the pictures of you that have been added to facebook most recently), take some time to scroll through all of the pictures until you reach the bottom.  Don't just simply look at the pictures.  Take some time to dwell on them.

As I did this, I was able to see 934 snapshots of my life from sophomore year of high school up until now.  It's not surprising that this activity became one of upmost nostalgia.  What was your life like during the photos at the bottom of the page were taken?  Who were you?  What were your plans?  Where were you going?  Who did you hang out with?  It's insane to see how much life has changed in just four years.  Until you really take time to dwell and reflect on it, you really don't notice.  Unless there is a sudden and significant occurrence in your life that jolts you out of your normal routine, you just really don't notice the change that's occurring.  Life has a habit of changing so slowly that you don't even notice what's different now than what it was just a few years ago.

These photos that you just viewed show where you have been, and the most recent ones show where you are now.  It's almost scary to think that this group of photos is going to continue to grow throughout the future.  In another four years, my photos on facebook could double, showing where I've been.  What are these photos going to look like?  What am I going to be doing?  Who will I be in the photos with?  Where are these photos going to be taken?  I have an idea, but I can't really know... scary.

Someday we'll be referring to days like today as "back then."  Hopefully I can look back at a picture of today and not have to think to myself, "Wow, I really wish things were the way they were before... I really miss some of those relationships that I had and the things that I did with those people for fun."  Of course, when I'm all growed up and out of college, I won't have the opportunity to mess around and have a good time with my friends like I do now, but I really don't want to have to look back at old photos and think to myself, "man, I wonder what these people are up to now" and "when's the last time I did something fun like that?"   I guess the ol' cliche saying that is driving this post is something like "live life to the fullest."  But more than that, don't forget the people, places, and things (hey, nouns!) that made an impact on who you are, where you are, and who you are with.  Although you may see people or things in old photos that are not a part of your life in the present, they nevertheless helped lead you to where you are now, and have made it possible for you to live the life in which you live.