Okay, I've been at this now for coming two months and I'm kind of curious as to who is looking in at my life. If you could PLEEEEEAAAASSSSEEEEE take the twenty seconds it takes to leave a comment with your name or even something simple like, "hi", that'd be great. I'd love to see who's looking in on me.
What a phenominal first half of my day. I got eight hours of sleep and I am so well rested. It's phenominal. I can't even describe how great I felt when I woke up. It was one of those mornings where you don't want to get up because it's so chilly and your bed is so warm. But you are so ready to wake up too. And when you get up, the cold hits you just right and wakes you up. I put on pants today and a long sleeve t-shirt and it was phenominal. I roller bladed to class and the brisk chill air put a massive smile on my face. I LOVE FALL!!!!! Even a guy who ran into me on his bicycle couldn't get me down. How silly is that...he ran into me!!! What a tard. I stayed awake during physics lecture and then came back and ate...Now it's time for the reality of the day to set in. I've got to study and do homework.
Well, I tried to post this earlier and my browser was being retarded. I had two exams yesterday, and I was awfully drained from it. Especially when I had Iteam afterwards. It was good though. Played some MVP with the roomie after an entire day of studying. I'm glad I'm done with those tests. Too bad I've got more now.
I just realized I didn't post about yesterday while I was studying. I guess I'll post now because I deserve a break from my whole 10-15 minutes of studying. I fasted yesterday and for half of today and it was really helpful. It just led me to a place where God was important more than anything else. Our iTeam planning meeting was good and I'm excited about this weeks study. Now I've got 2 exams tomorrow, so I need to get back to studying.
Let's see if I can break this weekend down into something tangible and readable.
I got to the retreat about 15 minutes after it started. Not a problem though. The reason I was late is that I had to wait for Lori to get to Champaign from Indianapolis. When Lori got here, Sydney, Lori, and I rode northwest to the fine place called Camp Manitoumi outside of Peoria. We got to catch up and share memories from the summer. The first night was just really simple. It was a worship time and a short talk from Pavi Thomas, the special guest speaker we had in from Florida. He just opened told us about the life of Paul saying that is was very "Cross Shaped." He said the Cross Shaped Life is formed by three basic things. These are suffering, death, and resurrection. We got more in depth with those specific things throughout the weekend. After the teaching, we got to have a sharing time with our iTeam. That was incredible. The hearts that people have for each other is so encouraging and I love the community that our iTeam has. That night afterwards, I got to hang out with TONS of different people that I haven't seen or talked to in a while. I got to catch up with ISU people like Ross and hang out with people from UofI that I'm continuously getting to know. I finally made it to bed way too late. I was perfectly fine when it came time to wake up though. In the morning talk, Pavi talked specifically about reconciliation. He was saying how we really need to reconcile ourselves to others and not just God. That led me to think about the people that have wronged me and I've wronged and how I desire to fix those things so I can be better connected with them and with God. Then we got to have a quiet time with God and he really spoke to me. He just really told me I've been pursuing certain things because I haven't been pursuing him with all my heart, mind, soul, and strength. After that, I got to set up THE GAME. I got some help from some guys, so that was very helpful. It was a complete success. I was honestly very worried how it would go because I had to set it up and thought I'd screw up somehow. Everybody had fun though, and the team my iTeam was on won too, which is always helpful. Then we had some free time that I got to do a little bit of homework during and clean up. Then we ordained three pastors for the church at ISU. It was a cool experience, although for me it didn't have a lot of meaning. However, you could tell that these men were loved and they definitely were deserving of the post they were receiving. Greg Van Nada, the dad of my friend Amy from LT, was there. He is a very important man in Great Commission Ministries and was there to help with the ordination ceremony. He gave a shout out to Amy's LT friends for her. She was planning on going to our retreat, but her church had their own retreat this weekend. It was really sad that she couldn't come. Her dad also said that she was 21 when I'm pretty sure she's 20. During dinner, I got to meet Amy's dad with the rest of our Project group that was there (Ross, Lori, and Syd). We got to talk a bit and he said that Amy specifically said hi to us. It was a really good thing. Later in the evening, after dinner, we got to attend a pair of seminars of our choice. I went to one on being a man. I'm pretty sure I could never hear enough of those talks. It also helped me to realize what I've been going through and doing lately. The second seminar was very touching and powerful and it really dealt with specific weakness. Then we had our bonfire. It was pretty cool. I got to hang out with people from my past and people that are going to be important to my future. I smoked my first cigar. It was interesting. While I smoked it, I walked awfully far and talked with Mike Olson about a bit of everything. He's a great guy and I'm a huge fan of his. After we got back, I got to hang out with Ross, Lori and Syd for quite a while. We just talked and goofed off. I loved it. Then I got a solid 8 hours of sleep. How spectacular was that???? I got up to a breakfast of biscuits and gravy...ROCK ROCK ON!!! Then Pavi gave his final talk of the weekend. He really got us to think about God being made perfect in our weakness...When our strength disappears. Then they had a short Q&A time. One question was asked that really touched me incredibly. The question was along the lines of "How do evangelicals/protestants reconcile with Catholics?" I loved that question because it hits so deep to the core with me. Pavi mentioned how we just need to discuss the issues with understanding. Our generation really seems to be one that is willing to take those steps too. His thoughts, and I agree with them, are that the pillar of the faith needs to be the cross and all other disputable issues will not matter as much. I loved it. Finally, we had to pack up get out of there. I said goodbye to everybody, and headed off in a new vehicle with Megan, Erik, and Pamela (all in my iTeam) to Clinton for the Apple & Pork Festival. I was pretty excited. I got to see my mom for a short period and I wish I could've gotten to see her longer. Then I got to load up on all sorts of sweet food. I got to talk with Erik about Islam and other world religions. He's a very knowledgeable guy and has done his research. I love that he could seriously answer some nagging questions that I had. I feel more equipped to discuss Christianity with a Muslim without being retarded about it. Now I'm back in Chambana and I'm back to the routine of the real school world. I got a chance to reflect on some of where I am and I'm glad I went to the retreat soooooo much. If you could, pray for me and make sure I put myself at God's will in EVERYTHING....Not trying to supply my own way out. He is make perfect when my power is depleted.
I just realized...I'm not living for God the way I need to be. Not that anybody is completely, but I just realized, with some of the circumstances that have been going on in my life right now, that I've been not trusting God and I've been honoring myself over him. Just in little things. Why would I do that? I really don't know. I need to humble up and recognize his sovereignty. I'll tell y'all more about the fall retreat soon.
Well, I'm off to the Fall Retreat in a matter of moments and I'm very excited to see people and have God teach me some sweet stuff. I took my TAM test today, and other than something silly, I think I did quite well. I felt stupid that I couldn't balance forces completely. I got to lift with Justin (roomate from last year if you didn't know) today and play some bball. I'm excited about him getting stronger and more confident in himself. I hope he really learns about himself just by keeping himself in shape. I love that kid. I hope you all have a good weekend. BYE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I got God time today..it was good. I haven't had a good God time for quite a while. I got to sing my lungs out to God...pretty good time. I also got to work some more on some more stuff for the game. One of the coolest parts of my days was going to THE CAVE. It's a 3D vr simulator at the Beckman Institute. They showed us some cool demos of things like a roller coaster. It was so weird riding on the roller coaster because my body and my mind were conflicting. I wanted to be kinda sick. It was such a cool and realistic simulation. They also ran us through some other awesome demos. It was very cool. I got to hang out with Julianne and Kayline and then Rachel for a bit. I've also gotten to study for my TAM test..ROCK ROCK ON...back to the studying and such
Well, I'm procrastinating right now typing in here, but I thought I'd let y'all know what happened in my life today, not just random thoughts. I got to hang out with and talk to Spence today and it was great. He's the man and he's a really challenging thinker. I love his probing questions. I also love the accountability he offers. Then I got to talk with Ty about "the game." I've got a lot to take care of for it and I hope it turns out to be very fun at the retreat. I get to tell the rules and organize it, so I'm excited about my responsibility. I also got to work on my ultimate Madden playbook today. I got a few plays made that hopefully will stump the best of them. We'll see how it goes though. Then I got to work on some homework. Belive it or not, I do in fact do homework. Then I got to go hang out with Rachel at Busey Late Night and she was so kind to buy me some food with her credits. I love it this year because I've got all sorts of people willing to give me some of their credits from late night for me to eat a little something. Then I got to hang and now I'm back here doing a bit of homework before I have to wake in the morning to lift with Lamkin. I'm glad we're lifting...he's really keeping me accountable and I'm gonna feel way better about myself.
Well, I'm off to see the TAM wizard...lata
So, I was thinking today. I know what you're thinking, "Did it hurt?" NO...ok, sorta.
Anyway, I was thinking about how God says from dust we came and to dust we will return. I was also thinking about how electrical forces hold things together at a molecular level. So I decided I know how God will find the perfect way to return us back to dust come time. He'll just shut off the electricity. That's right, he'll just flip a switch and all the electrical forces, the strong force, the weak force...they'll all go away and we'll fall down to the earth. That's just my thought.
Once again...I'm posting twice in not even half an hour, but I thought I'd throw this out there for you. Technology is amazing. The new Nintendo controller for their new system code named the Revolution is phenominal. It has all of the potential to change the way we play video games. Here's a pic. There are also stories about it all over the web on such fine gaming sites as IGN. Check it out.
ps: I know it looks like a tv remote control...it's so much more though. Imagine a computer mouse, but in 3D space.
I got out of my PSYC 100 class feeling like I'd learned a lot. We got to watch a movie that talked about the animal instinct of our brain vs. the higher part of our brain. It was really cool that we could possibly know how our brain processes information. However, it was kind of sad for me because it totally portrayed us as beings you could break down with science when we are so complex and God made each of us very special. It makes me sad that we know alcohol turns off our higher brain and has us working on instincts and primative urges. The primative part of our brain rewards us with pleasure when we do something to further our existence (i.e. eat, drink, sleep, reproduce) and we're totally cool with manipulating that. It's sad because we're meant for so much more than hedonism. It's sad that we know alcohol shuts off our normal brain processes and yet we drink in excess. It's sad that we talk about the pleasure our lower brain gives us from participating in a sexual act but we don't talk about the heart that's broken after the dopamines die off. I dunno...just my thoughts on a very enlightening class...lata peeps
Who would've thunk that the two best teams in the NFC North would start off 0-2. Not only that, but the Bears and the Lions are 1-1. THAT PISSES ME OFF!!! But, I'm not going to get angry about it because there is a misplaced passion in sports in that area of my life. Our defense is HORENDOUS...just pathetic. I promise you it is WORSE than the Illini D. They gave up just a pathetic amount of points to the Browns. The Browns suck. This is really bad. But the season is young. The Pack started 0-4 last year and still won the division. This is really hard to fix though. SUCK SUCK SUCK SUCK SUCK SUCK SUCK
OH...there's a stat they just put up on FOX saying that Green Bay and Minnesota have never started the same season 0-2. Wow. This is the season
OK, that's just a weird song title for the record. So the Illini lost to Cal. We put up a good showing however and the recruits should be impressed by it. We only lost by 15 too. Today was THE laziest day I feel. I watched the Family Guy movie, not once, but two times today. Now I'm watching Star Wars episode 3...I know what you're thinking, "neither of those movies is out right now." TRUST me...I have full intent to buy both of them when I get the money when they're out. I got to hang with The Chad today, which is always an enjoyable experience. After SNG tonight, I got to play some Mafia and eat some pizza with friends...always guaranteed to be a good time. Getting to know people better has been exciting. I got to hang out with fellow yunguns Julianne, Kaylin, Mike, Megan, and RACHEL (the caps are an inside joke). I'm excited to keep getting to know them and so some awesome stuff.
OOH OOOH OOOOOOOOOOH. Funny story. So Elizabeth, my iTeam leader is the most innocent and sadly, gullable girl. She's really cool though, I promise. So she called me to ask where I was after SNG to invite me over to where she and others were hanging out. SOOOOOOOOO, I cranked up the music in the car and started yelling, "I can't hear you, I'm at a really loud party!!!!" I had the other people in the car yell. She totally bought it. So when we got to the apartment, she was weirded out that I would ditch hanging out with her and the rest of my iteam for a loud party. It might sound funnier in my head than on this website, but....I told it anyway.
So tonight we had our "freshman sophomore mixer" and I was pretty excited about it. But first, the day.
I didn't get my homework done because I'm sure I forgot some stupid identity, so I'm pretty frustrated about that. Hopefully I get most of the credit for the work I put into it. I got a chance to do laundry...YEA!!! I have clean underwear. I definately spent the last two days wearing swim trunks and athletic shorts as underwear.
So we had this get-together tonight and it was pretty cool. I got to meet some new people and got to get to know the people that I knew somewhat already. It was really fun. I got to talk about music, which I love and we played some games, had tickle fights, and pretty much had wholesome fun. I got to show some girls how to somewhat throw a football properly, which was cool. It's fun to just hang out and relax. I also got the opportunity to stay true to my philosophy about girls walking at night on campus (i.e. they shouldn't walk alone unless they absolutely insist too. You don't want them to get into trouble walking alone) by walking a girl home. I stopped by one of the street beggers and bought him something to drink. I hope just my heart to do something like that helped him and he got a chance to see God's glory through me. Then when I dropped her off, I got to be really real with God and sing my lungs out singing his praise. I loved it. Now I'm back at the dorm, chillin' like a villian. Keep it real, I'm going to watch Family Guy.
This is such a desperate call out to God right now. WHY am I not understanding school...I want to work for him. I'm just not understanding. I've spent 3 hours on 2-3 problems that should take 15 minutes each at most. I FRIGGIN' SUCK AT THIS SCHOOL THING. I'm not even sure what I'm cut out for right now God. I think I'm doing this for you and yet I don't seem to be able to face the challenge...WHY???? I'm missing a piece of the puzzle. God, give me the strength to get the puzzle made. I need this grade. I need this grade. I need this grade. Why is it so hard for me???? God, this is hard and I ask why???? I love you and you are my hope, but it's hard for me to see this hope struggling with homework at 2:45 in the morning.
-your servant
EDIT: Don't take this post as me being a dramatic freaking out person on the verge of collapse, school is just so frustrating when you don't understand something that you want to do for the rest of your life.
Shoot, my computer is retarded and it is making me repost my stupid thing that I wrote. It's gonna sound a lot less poetic this time around. Anyway, I love that God paints a picture each day in our lives and it's too bad that we're too busy and too small to be able to see it. It would be incredible if we were able to. Today I got to catch a small glimpse of what God drew for me. I have been extremelytired, so he gave me an hour and a half nap that I was so deserving. It was amazing and not only that, I got up just in time to go down to dinner before it closed. That was great. And there were chicken strips...which is always a plus. I also got to talk to a guy who is a missionary with St. John's and catch up with him. I also got to talk to him about my views of the church and my views of the Church. It was really cool to do that...THAT IS ALL
Check this out. My roomate and I came up with a slang term that we need to catch on on Urban Dictionary. Give us many thumbs up. here it is. http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=hit+the+wet
So iTeam was tonight. I love our iteam. I think some awesome bonds are forming and we're seeing some incredible growth in people and relationships. Today's lesson was just phenominal. We talked about how we adhere to false gospels and our lives tend to become about those things. Some examples were the gospel of acceptance, or the gospel of materialism. I think I realized for myself, it's a gospel of apathy. I know God for what he is and I understand (as much as my pathetic human self can) God and what he wants of me. Yet I don't care. I would rather be comfortable and sit around and not challenge myself. I love the idea of watching a football game. I love downloading some stupid app. for my computer. These things in and of themselves are not evil things. They are instead gray areas of my life. They are great things that God has given me to enjoy life. However, I cannot, and this is hard for me to admit, let sports be as much of a focus for me as it is. So I must make God a higher priority and be "sold out" for him, to use a cliche. It seems funny too, because I think about school work and say, why should I be doing this stuff. It doesn't matter in God's eyes. Yet that is my apathy and taking the easy way out sinking in. I forget the reason why I'm at this school. It's to further God's kingdom. I can't teach and coach if I don't work to get there. So I must keep my eyes on the prize of God's kingdom covering the earth and work hard. It seems ironic that I almost seem to be making more time for God by taking less focus on him for school. It's just another balance of Christianity that I must strive to learn and achieve. Remind me some time to tell you about my thought on balances in Christianity. Alright, those are my thoughts. I love you guys.
ps: That guy in the picture is Illini linebacker J. Leman. He is a great guy. He's crazy, loves to hit, has a mullet, and pretty much is amazing. He's celebrating our 2-0 start this year in the picture. The part of this that's interesting is, I found out he's a Christian today in a newspaper article I stumbled across. That's really exciting to me. I probably have the most respect for him out of any men I've never met but know a lot about. That is all.
MAN...I really dislike fashion of today's world. It's retarded. The first trend that I find so odd is popped collars. What the heck? It's such an odd look. It automatically makes you look like you've dropped 20 IQ points just for wearing it. The second article of clothing is even stupider if you can imagine it. It's those FRIGGIN' HUGE sunglasses that the women of this world have decided to wear. They look so retarded. I hate stereotyping people, but when I see a girl wearing those as I walk along the quad, I automatically assume she is fake because those glasses make her look stupid. I wish I could come up with the next stupid looking fad so I could be rich. I think I'll have people start wearing the three cornered hat again. That's a fashion that's way overdue for a comeback. Plus it's actually cool. Who's with me????
First off, I know I just posted about 20 minutes ago, but this must be put out there. Google is an amazing group of geniuses. They've made some of the most important technology in the world right now and they're constantly pioneering the newest things. GMail, Hello, Picasa, Google Maps, Google News, the actual Google search engine, and they've got many more things in testing. This may be one of the most intriguing things they've done. It's called Google Earth. I don't know the exact URL, but if you google for "google earth" the first hit will be the site for the program. Download it (the free version), install it, and launch it. It's an entire earth compiled by satellite images. However, that's not even the coolest part. They have textures so you can change the viewing angle from right on top to at an angle and see mountains and things like that. I was able to find Long's Peak, which I climbed. So it's pretty cool...just thought I'd let y'all know.
I have a friend who is very fond of saying, (and I agree with him) that every person's life, no matter what they've been through, if put into print, could be a best selling novel. For me, the last 2 hours have been a story worthy of making it into that novel.
I got back from class right around three o'clock today and was about to sit down and do physics homework when I got a call from a friend of mine saying that there was a man comdemning people preaching a false Gospel on the quad. So instead of sitting down to do my homework, which would have ended up sitting around doing nothing, I went over to the quad to hear this and see what I could do to help fight the good fight. I was honestly unsure about what I could do other than pray, but my friend kept prodding me to talk, and I started talking after a time. It was good. The only problem is, nobody seems to believe in an absolute truth. That meant people weren't going to accept the message of Jesus Christ. I really can't even tell this story coherently, other than the idea that it was a powerful God experience for me. I got to see a friend of mine, Kim, get up and talk about love and the message that Jesus brought to us, the idea that he was and is love. I got to talk to some Muslims about their beliefs. It was interesting, because I still feel like there is something missing for them. As much as they might have going, maybe it's my bias, but I know they're missing something. I loved the idea to express my beliefs and have people of other backgrounds listen. I pray that God may just change those people's hearts so they will listen to what he has to say. I just want them to be able to know. There's not a lot I can put into words, print or spoken. It's hard for me to even communicate what has happened. I just hope God is all over the situation. Sorry to be vague and incomplete, I just had to tell somebody
what a great weekend for sports. Lots of football and the NFL season has started at a monster pace already. I'm excited. This however, does not mean that I'm excited about the prospects of my favorite teams. The Packers lost to the friggin' Lions and it's just bad news. At least the Illini won. The Colts Ravens game was almost everything I expected it to be. The first half was incredible and my favorite picture from the game was one a camera man took pre-snap with peyton Manning under center pointing out defensive mismatches and Ray Lewis facing away from the camera pointing and doing the same for the defense. It was incredible to have that. But back to my griping, let's just say the Bears lost too :)
This was told by Wayne Wager and Father Tom, both in their sermons this weekend.
There was a woman in a church who claimed she was able to talk to Jesus. She said she could talk to him and he would listen and he would talk back to her and she could hear him. Many people in the church revered her as very blessed. One of the elders of the church was more skeptical and he asked her in a condecending tone, "So I hear you can talk to Jesus?" She replied that she could. He then asked her for proof. "If you're so sure of this, could you ask him to tell you what the last thing I confessed to him was?" She said that she would. A few days later, the elder ran into the woman around town and asked her, "Did you talk to Jesus today?" She replied that she had. He then asked her, "So...what was the last thing I confessed?" She said matter of factly, "I don't know, he didn't tell me." The elder looked at her puzzled and she finished her statement, "He forgot."
Okay, my last couple of posts have been really long. Here's a short one to make you feel better.
You wanna give people pictures over the internet, but you hate the idea of emailing them or waiting for AIM's slow transfer rates...download this program called Hello (www.hello.com). I know many blogger users proly have this program. This is for those friends of mine who don't have blogger.
So....where do I begin. I should proly start at the start.
I looked at the doctor as he pulled me out of the clutches of my mother's womb and....OK, I think that's too far back. Let's start from the beginning of today.
I definately got another free ticket to the Illinois game. I've been to two so far and haven't had to pay a penny. I've really been blessed by that and I'm VERY thankful to the people and to God because I don't have the money to buy football tickets. We won again. This time in a more convincing fashion. 40-19 was the final score and it was great that we could win like that. Next week against Cal will be our first big test. They're ranked in the Top 25, so we'll see how that turns out for us. They should probably be able to light us up in the passing game. Our offense however, looks splendid. I love our running backs and Tim Brasic is growing up before my very eyes.
After that, I watched the best marching band in the country, the Marching Illini, do their thing. They're very impresive. They are talented, but I'll admit it's hard for me to get into the band culture. It's something I'm working very hard on to respect. However, the drumline is always cool.
THEN...I went out to dinner with a "friend." By putting that statement in quotations, you (possibly) think I'm talking about a girl. I really don't mean those quote marks. So, I ate din din with Spence. He's a great guy and I wish I'd be spending more time with him. So now I'm making sure I make a conscious effort to spend at least some time with him, an hour or two, at lunch once a week to talk about life and the things like that. Our talks are always challenging and exciting.
Following that, we went to SNG (Saturday Night Grace), which if I haven't mentioned it, is iLife's Saturday night service. It was really cool. The message wasn't challenging, but it was very cool. Wayne Wager, our paster, put a very interesting spin on the Gospel. Not a blasphemous spin, but a very enlightening spin.
Finally, we got to the climax of the evening. Capture the Flag on Krannert Fine Arts Center. If you don't know what that looks like, it's amazing. We played outside the building, but it takes up and entire city block, and the boundaries are the streets, so you can go anywhere on this block, and there are like four different tiered levels to walk and jump around on. It was very intense. We had 40+ people playing. It was VERY exciting. I loved it, although I wish I'd explained the rules better. But it was totally cool because I think everybody left the game feeling like they had a good time.
Even after all of this, I wasn't ready to be done with my day. I went to Late Night at one of the dorms and I bummed meal points off of some other people and we hung out and it was great. I got to know a couple of the guys a bit better so it was a good time. Then I walked back to my dorm and today ended. What a good day.
I just got called an f***ing jagoff tonight for walking near a car. I definately can tell you I didn't miss that part of a college campus.
I think I could be a football coach for sure. I've designed some pretty sweet plays on Madden 06 and I'm keeping strong on making many more. I want to make an entire playbook of my own plays and own forms.
I really hope I'm not losing my high from LT. Tonight we had something called Upper Room which was a time of worship and prayer. The worship was great, but I just wasn't feeling the prayer tonight.
I hoppe the Illini put a good showing up against San Jose State. I really want a great team by my senior year and bringing in recruits now will harbor a good year then.
Theresa Grentz, the head women's basketball coach came into my TAM class today. That was kind of weird. Although it really showed an effort and she is somebody I really respect for doing that to get students to come to her games.
I really don't think I'm losing my LT high though, it's more of tonight was just not feeling me and I not feeling it.
Why do I have no motivation to do my classwork even though it's technical stuff that I like? I feel like I'd rather just be doing physical labor.
Let me just say as I continue to type this post, an interesting development is coming into my life. God is definately surprising me like I asked him to.
Girls are a funny breed.
My favorite color changes. Does anyone else find it odd that I can't stick with one color?
I've been to lazy to call people this week and because of it, I've got one friend thinking I'm ignoring her and my mom thinks I'm still angry at her from last weekend.
I'm excited about the new people at iLife, although I'm disappointed I haven't had more time to invest in them. It turns out Engineering takes a lot of time.
Madden NFL 06 is an infinitely superior game to ESPN NFL 2005. I can actually move my defensive schemes around so much, it's crazy.
It's 3:07. I should proly go to bed. NAH!!!! I'm not even tired.
It's 3:22 and I'm starting to get tired.
This making a whole playbook thing could take longer than I initially thought. I just like to run the same play over and over and make sure it works.
I'm glad I met friends this summer that live in mountain time so they're willing to talk to me at 3:20 when it's only 2:20 there.
I love God a lot.
Sydney is gonna be really disappointed with me as I've already fallen disgustingly far behind in our deal to read the Bible in one year together. That could pose a problem. I'm gonna have to do a lot of catching up.
I think I'll end this post now.
p.s. - the picture is of my day campers at our Fourth of July parade. We were dressed as Packers fans. It was probably one of the greatest days of my life.
STUPID PATS!!! Tom Brady isn't as good as everybody makes him out to be. I could throw for a few hundred yards against that soft zone coverage. Once again, I'm up late doing some homework and it's a Thursday night. I hope that I get it done bgefore it's too late. Oh, one more thought. I got my Vince Lombardi "What it takes to be number 1" poster today in the mail and I'm very excited. I can't wait to put it on the wall in a sweet spot. Ok, time to get back to my silly homework.
I, my friends, am a walker talker. Some people are coffee shop talkers, others are classroom talkers. I am a walker talker though. I love to just do something physical and talk about life. Lifting weights and discussing life issues is very enjoyable to me. Walking a few miles around campus for a couple hours with my roomate is also fun. That's what I did last night. We walked and talked for like 2 hours last night when I probably should have been doing homework or something else that seemed to be productive. The walk was however very productive. Many people would ask how that's possible, but it definately is a glorifying to God experience just talking and discussing life. Discussing God's worth to us right now...how important he is, always growing in him, talking about girls, discussing school and our desires for life (both now and for the rest of it), those are the things that we do when we walk. This was our first one of the year and it was very glorious. I was really glad that I got to do it and I hope for many more this year.
P.S. - I love God and what he's doing right now. I pray I won't lessen his worth in my eyes.
This is a pretty sweet picture showing just how much my knee got messed up today. I was rollerblading to class and minding my own business weaving through people as usual. I'd have yet to come close to or actually hit anybody on my blades. Well, I got to a bottleneck in traffic on the sidewalk...going the opposite way as me. No problem, right? Well it ends up being a problem when nobody is looking. So I decided to go over to the woodchips on the side of the sidewalk, but the one guy who saw me had the brilliant idea of going there. Good plan on his part, too bad the guy behind him didn't see me. I slammed into the guys shoulder at a pretty good clip and somehow I was the guy who fell over. My knee hit the ground and skidded. I'm lucky it wasn't any worse or my head. It was pretty cool and now I've got some killer scars to show for it. On another note, my blood is very bright red. I'm glad that I have lots of oxygen in my system.
What a crazy weekend. It was definately so very busy. Not restful at all but more crazy busy. Very busy, but sooooooooo much fun. I haven't had that much fun in one weekend in some time. I got to watch a sweet Illinois victory, got to hear a great talk at SNG, and got to go on a frustrating roller coaster ride with my parents on desiring to go to Louisiana. Sunday I slept in some and got to watch some football and hang out with my roomate from last year. Justin is great. And on Sunday, Ross from ISU and from LT came down to Champaign from Bloomington. He's on the right in the picture. We're probably playing Risk in the pic (which was taken at LT). He came down and we just got to hang out. I got to catch up with him and see how he's been. We played like 3 games of Madden and we talked and played a sports trivia game and played Risk and played volleyball and listened to music and more. We also got to catch up with Spence and Sydney about how life was and catch up and remind ourselves how much fun we had in Colorado. It was great to just experience that fellowship here even though LT is long over. I just think it was great hanging with Ross that he got to come to campus. I'm excited about the fall retreat when I'll get to see him and the other ISU people from LT as wll as Lori. It's gonna be very exciting.
My heart goes out to all the people in on the efforts to help clean up down south and the people who are stuck and involved. It's not a good thing at all. And I really think it's the greatest tragedy we've had in this country in a LOOOOOOOOOONG time. I can't even begin to comprehend the impact it has on people. A friend of mine posted something very cool on her blog making me think about something I've already thought about. Although thinking about it isn't making things easier for me. Please listen to the previous post to get a better idea of what I mean.
So the first game of the football season is here for the UofI. Let me tell you that I am STOKED!!! I love football with such a passion that you have no idea. I can't wait to just watch the great battle on the gridiron tomorrow. Sure it's Illinois football (we haven't been too hot lately), sure it's against Rutgers, it doesn't matter. It's gonna be great!!! We're starting an era with a new coach. We'll have a new offense. We'll have a new defense, and hopefully we'll have recruits knocking on our door to play here. Let me tell you I'm excited about football in general though. The Packers should be decent and I'm very pumped about their coming season. I just hope we can have a dominant defense this year. I'll watch any football too. It doesn't matter. My high school team is still fun to watch. I will sit and watch a game any day any time. That is one of the reasons I want to coach it. Because I love it and have such a passion for it. But I also can't wait to influence some great lives too. Football is one of the GREATEST experiences a man can have, if not the greatest. It, along with God, grew me to who I am today. So here's to the greatest sport ever!!! Go Illini!
Stick with me now, there is something funny in this one.
So I definately heard gas prices reached $3.53 today!!! Wow!!!! That's a lot of money. I can't even begin to think about spending that much for gas. Thank God that I don't drive right now. It's saving me a fortune. Remember when gas prices were like 96 cents per gallon. This is crazy and out of control. And before those of you who are smart and understand money go and try to explain it away, who cares!!! It's still way too much. And what about alternatives to expensive gasoline powered cars. There are hybrids, complete electrics, and hydrogen powered cars. Why aren't these being used. Okay, that was my rant. Sorry you had to hear it.
Now, what really needs to be invented is an amazing piece of technology. I really would love to fund the research for a project like this. How about a car that runs on urine. "WHOA...WHOA...WHOA...whoa...whoa.........whoa. Alan, that's gross! Why the heck would you do something like that. First off, it's cheap. All you gotta do is pay for drinks to fill yourself up and let your body take care of the rest, i.e. peeing. Now you say to me, why would I want to pee into my gas tank in front of everybody??? That is in fact the best part of the UrineDrive (I just came up with that name). YOu never would even have to stop for a potty break. Just have a system of tubes set up so you could pee in the car and never have to stop for gas or potty breaks. It's BRILLIANT!!!! Go ahead, tell me if you're interested in this system. I think it's a great idea that really could revolutionize the way we get around in our country.
.jpg)
Posts
All Comments
