In Honor...

I have seen several posts of people posting about how they make a list when they get 1000 views on their blog. Well, I have no idea how many views I have on my blog, but I'm going to make a list anyways.

25 things you may not know about me:

1. I love Nintendo!
2. I love Jesus! (not in that order)
3. I sometimes argue with those who aren't of the same faith as me.
4. I dislike mega-churches (churches of quadruple digits)
5. I have used the same pencil in school for three years.
6. The reason I have no school spirit is because people betray me at that school.
7. Rocker chicks = Mega awesome!
8. I don't use "hot" to describe girls; they are princesses and should be treated as so.
9. My interest in heavy metal was sparked as a joke.
10. I don't care what you say, Butterfinger's are the greatest thing on this Earth
11. I am an addict of Lost and Family Guy
12. Fart jokes are used often by me, especially at the least opportune time.
13. I couldn't tie my shoes till I was 11
14. I couldn't whistle this time last year
15. My feet are ridiculously tiny
16. I had braces, lost the retainer, and now my bottom teeth are crooked.
17. I was offered to be a screamer for two different bands. One I tried out for and they didn't like me because they understood what I was screaming, and the other was in Clemson
18. The entire 2006-2007 school year, no girl talked to me because they thought I was gay. Last year, a gay guy rubbed my leg. I would have punched him, but a teacher was watching. He made him move. Haha!
19. I had the chicken pox, despite getting the shot
20. My Vans have lasted me almost three years now.
21. I'm afraid of thunderstorms.
22. Women = Mentally insane!
23. NASCAR and Hockey are my two favorite sports
24. I have scoliosis
25. My favorite verse in the Bible is 1 Timothy 2:11-15 because of it's controversy

Help Wanted

A big-time struggle I'm noticing lately, especially with high schoolers at Wren, is the fact that they have horrible judges of character, which is natural for teens. I mean, I'm a nice guy, but I'm also a realist. Here are a few incidents I noted:

• If you are dating a guy, or like a guy, that is a total jerk to you, but you still stay with him, you need to get out of that relationship and as soon as possible. You are not going to change him and chances are, that jerk personality is his true self. Do not, I repeat, DO NOT, stay in the relationship and try to change him, it will not work. The best thing to do is just walk away.
• People always have issues, that's just a fact of life everyone deals with. However, some people turn to the wrong people for guidance. If you struggle with drinking or smoking or anything along those lines, the absolute worst person to turn to is someone struggling with the same thing you are. The best person to talk to is GOD. The next best is a mature adult, whether it is a youth pastor or a counselor, preferably of the same sex.
• If your friends are telling you to change, but you don't think you need to, chances are you have an issue you need to deal with. Denial is just satan trying to pull you into his world, and the best thing you can do is to come to terms with yourself.

If you are reading this with the intentions to change some of these things, talk to someone you can trust and tell them some of the problems you are dealing with.

I've Been Tagged

Ok Brady, I'll play!

Here are the rules:

When tagged place the name of the person that tagged you and URL on your blog.
Write 7 random facts about yourself.
Name 7 bloggers that you are tagging.

7 facts:
1. Thunderstorms fear me
2. My ringtone is The Little Mermaid
3. I snore, loud
4. I don't like conformist (people who change their personality to those of the people they want to be like by)
5. I like girls who listen to any of the following bands: Norma Jean, August Burns Red, As I Lay Dying, Between the Buried and Me, The Devil Wears Prada, Killswitch Engage, or anything in that general genre
6. My major in college is either going to be Ministry or Computer Sciences, still haven't decided which
7. I'm going to SWU! Woo!


I'm tagging:
1. Matt Rhodes
2. Deborah Rhodes
3. Jen Clay
4. Kristen Hodges
5. Cody Thomas
6. Heath Mulliken
7. Eddie Smith

Let Me Do Surgery, I Watch House

Dad had a good message tonight. He mentioned that if 30 people in a gang can strike fear throughout an entire school, imagine what 30 christians can do. I thought about this and replied back with, "We have 50 people like that at Wren, and only like 10 gang people, and there is still fear." And then I thought again, are there really only 50 christians? That seemed like a bold statement in my mind, but it was actually true. There are over 300 or so people who go to church, but that doesn't make you a christian. Christian is a follower of Christ, not one who believes his teachings. I believe what my science teacher says, does that make me a scientist? In order to be a christian, you have to not only follow Christ's rules, but respect them. No matter what. There are a few statements in the Bible he makes that I don't entirely agree with, but oh well, that's the way it is. And I know his intentions on it, but it's just something I don't like. I still follow him though, cause he is my father, my savior, and my redeemer. Even if the book of John kinda bores me a little. That is what makes a christian, not just going to church.

Despair or Deliverer?

Tonight, I got pushed around by satan. He put a few memories in my mind that made me feel not only sad, but borderline dispair. I had an hour or so of just walking around or sitting, and just thinking. I eventually thought I'd try to kick it, so I signed on Facebook. The very first thing I saw after I logged into Facebook was an advertisement for To Write Love On Her Arms. And it hit me hard. Just like that, I went from down in the slums, to high and feeling spectacular. It's like God knew exactly what I was going to do when I was going to do it. He intentionally placed that ad on me to tug on my heart strings. It's just an amazing feeling. How someone can go from feeling sorrow and sadness, to feeling his praise and singing "Some Will Seek Forgiveness, Others Escape" by Underoath, and feel blessed for every minute of the day. I'm just so happy that God is so awesome that he can change my life with just one glance, and it mean so much

Writer's Block

As I start to write this blog, I am hoping to put something about religion, and how it impacts my life. I know that as I write so far about absolutly nothing, God is going to somehow turn this entire thing of nothingness into a really good message. And how I yet to figure that out, God is dangling the idea right in front of my eyes. Which just shows how awesome he is. He knew that I was going to write about nothing, and by writing about nothing, I can still talk about him. How he created the Earth in a couple of minuet seconds. How he made everything in 7 days. How he is the only on so powerful to end all things whenever he wishes. He is the same spirit that made that organ inside your chest pumping blood throughout your body, so you can breathe, walk, sing, listen to music, whatever. The same being that has the amazement to not only exist in this life, and the next, but in the previous. That's how awesome our God is. And to think, all that came from having not one topic on my mind...

ONE YEAR OF BLOGGING!

Not really a blog, but a fun announcement! I started this blog one year ago today, just a cool fact

If Faith Were A Prescription, Call Me Ashley Olsen

There is a problem I have seen going around school, and I hate it with a passion. There are two different types of christians, according to Wren High School, those who go to church, and those who take church with them. There are multiple kids there who claim they are christians, but definatly don't live a Godly life or attitude. They say "Oh I go to church, and my parents are christians". I'm about to blow your mind if that is your logic, it doesn't matter how your parents are. Your parents can't buy your way into heaven, no matter what they want you to believe. That work has to be done by you and you alone. I'm also perfectly aware that it is high school and there is peer pressure out the butthole, and that makes it very hard to live and declare yourself Christ-like, but don't let that be your excuse. I hate to make people sad by this, but God doesn't take any excuses. It's his way, or no way. Plain and simple. Now as a side note, I would like to congratulate those students reading this, and know exactly what I mean. If you agree with 92% of what I'm saying, good for you. Heck, if you only agree with some of it, thats still good, keep living the good life, cause it will pay off. As for those I describe, don't give up hope. The best gift we can ever get, we get everyday, forgiveness.

As I Lay Dying

A band I like, that some of you may have heard of, is As I Lay Dying, which is a hardcore, Christian band, who has become very popular among hardcore music lovers. They just released a new album a couple months ago, and one of the songs is called Nothing Left. They recorded a video for the song, but I will get to that in a second. The song is a really good example of christian symbolism, as it says in the song, "Like those gasping for their last breath. We cannot hide, there's nothing left. This world was never worthy, but how can I call it 'unfaithful'? Every promise was fulfilled as decay crawled from its throat". What this is saying is that in society, every right we have as christians is virtually taken away from us, and we are critisized and pursecuted for doing things wrong. The video for this song represents faith in a really strong way. The video starts out with a woman, from the future, waking up from sleep, and noticing she has a dark mark on her neck and shoulder, with a television on of a dictator speaking with the subtitled, "Condemn the Infected". The video continues to show her trying to hide her mark with a red scarf, but decides to remove it. This causes people around her to point and judge her for having a dark mark. The next part of the video shows her naked in a coliseum (its not like pornographic or anything), standing next to the dictator, with people yelling, screaming, and throwing things at her. The final shot is of people pointing guns at her, and virtually shoving her off a cliff. This video shows a great view of how us, as christians, are critisized and judged for doing wrong, but we are still people nonetheless. It also represents satan saying, symbolically, "You are trash for doing wrong". And luckily for us, we have a GOD that doesn't see it that way.

In Accordance with State Law...

I have a bone to pick with television advertising. For the past week, I have watched many commercials, but not one mentioned a small phrase most people these days say, "Merry Christmas!". Instead, we got to go a little strict on the constitution and grant people freedom of religion by saying "Happy Holidays!". That's so dumb! We already know there will be only three holidays celebrated this month, Christmas, Quanza, and the Jewish one. So why aren't we saying Merry Christmas? People are getting mad at politics, saying that they are pushing Christianity on people, and saying Merry Christmas is an example of that. We can say Merry Christmas if we want, Quanza is virtually the same thing, and Jews are cool; they don't care. So instead of being a wussy, let's take a stand and bring back the two words that can brighten up anyones day.

The Church Optimus Prime Would Attend

*The main reason for this is only pure opinion, I do not intend on insulting anyone's religious beliefs, sinful ways, or church preferences. If you know anyone I mention, even though I do not give exact names, please do not exploit them Also, if I have offended you in any way, talk to me, cause thats not the reason for this blog*



Lately, I have had this struggle with mega-churches, like Newspring, Marathon, Rock Springs, etc., and the religion supporting it.



Problem 1: I have talked to people who go to these mega-churches, and if I saw some of them walking the streets, I wouldn't be able to know the difference between if they are pure of heart or just a good person. One person backed me up saying that their church baptises 200 people each week. Thats awesome! One thing though, where are they? If you have all these people coming to Christ, then why aren't they making a difference, or spreading the witness? I have also heard that certain people coming down to the alter and crying every single Sunday. Thats a problem. You shouldn't be having these big huge revelations week after week. I'm not saying there is anything wrong with the alter at all, I LOVE THE ALTER!, but when you are making commitments every Sunday, that I normally would every year, then you truly aren't seeing the beauty of Christ full-on.



Problem 2: Massive churches like that are big for mainly only one reason, entertainment. I love getting pumped for Jesus, screaming and moshing is a blast, but every week is ridiculous. Sometimes, people need to hear the truth. "You are saved! Now you get into heaven without any question!" WRONG!!! Sometimes, it's hard being a christian. There are some days at school where I want to curse, or nights when I want to look at pornography, but I know how to handle them because my church has prepared me, as opposed to teaching me only about how good GOD is. I want the church to tell me the truth. "Sometimes faith isn't easy, it takes time, and it takes downfall. Everyone is going to fall, bad. You need to have the strength to get back up and not give in once things get hard", which are things I hear some Sundays.



Problem 3: Why the heck do pastor's need body guards? Shouldn't a man who has dedicated his life to Christ have enough faith to be able to walk to "the stage" and not need 3 big guys following him? I heard that some of these pastors have body guards, and I wanted to cry. You shouldn't have worries during a Sunday morning service, ITS CHURCH! There shouldn't even be people who want to kill a pastor in a church anyways. Am I saying ignore bad people in a church? No, not at all, those are the ones we need to help. But those body guards put up a big sign that says, "I'm scared of helping the lost, so I'm going to have these big guys between me and a lost soul, so I can't make close contact with him and don't get hurt" Thats wrong!



I laid it on pretty thick in this blog! Its just something I had to get out there!

Live/eviL

In Sunday School this past week, Alex stated that the cure for all evil, is to destroy evil inside and out. A rebutle came out of Dad and Eddie saying that if we destroy all evil, and all those who are evil, we aren't staying on Earth very long, cause we are going with them. I think that the cure to evil, however, is evil itself. My theory (just a theory) is that one day, evil people will become so prideful and drowned in their own shame that the only place to go, is up. Thats where us as Christians get to have our joyess fun of bringing others to Jesus. I have another theory (two blogs in one today). The best way to witness, is not to witness. Let those who are drowning in that sin look at you and realize that they want to be like you, pure and good for Christ. So prepare yourself for those who ask you, "Why are you like that all the time?", you can just look at them and smile.

In regards to the title, I have this to say. If we have no evil, there is no life. I also thought it was cool that if you reverse evil, it makes live. Just a side note.

|←Read Between the Lines→|

I made an interesting myspace summary the other day. I will always get on about 9ish or so, just to check it before I go night-night, and I will always see at least 3 different posts in bullitens of someone saying "I had the worst day ever!". Odd thing is, it's always from non-religious people. Now, I'm not sure if this is just me being lucky or something, but I have had Jesus in my life since birth, and my bad days since then have totaled to 3, ever. Out of my 4200+ days on Earth, only 3 have been actually considered to me to be bad. But its me who is the one who needs to show the others that the reason for your bad day is not having Jesus. Think about it, if you are a christian and reading this, you know that there is that one secular friend you have that is just having a crap life. If that applies, it should be your initiative to witness to that one person.

Even the Rooster Sleeps Later Than This!!

Well, it's that time of year again, Clemson games. One more year of waking up at 3:30 AM. One more years of yelling jerks. One more year of the hot sun. One more year of the hardcore directional pointing. One more year of the magical green vests. One more year of walking 10 minutes to go pee. So far this year, I have almost collapsed of heat exhaustion, gotten run over, almost witnessed a fight, reported multiple cases of indescent exposure (peeing out of the bed of a truck is just stupid), gotten burnt twice, 4 ant bites, 7 misquito bites, gotten offered beer, been called mulitple words sailors use, and it has only been 3 games. Although all this trouble, I still have to realize that all this pain will pay off with Set Apart 07. And its kind of fun getting to spend time with friends. I will have a full blog on the subject come mid-December.

Roller Coaster Tycoon

Tonight, Matt compared christianity to a balloon ride, but I think that is a little innaccurate (not meaning to bag on your sermon Matt, it was a really good one). In my opinion, your relationship with Jesus is like a roller coaster more than anything, the higher you are on the coaster is like your religious "spice". Here is my reasoning for saying that. A strong religious event, like a convention would be in my case, would get the kart on the track going up the first hill, as being compared to rising up for Jesus. And everyone likes that feeling of being on top, knowing that you don't know whats coming, and your adrenaline is just going all over the place. Then, you start to fall (and everyone falls). For some people, that first drop is amazing, while to others, its a scary feeling they don't want to experience again, but yet the ride continues. And there are some loops occasionally where you get those few moments of excitement, but nothing too outrageous. Eventually though, you will end up back at the station, where you can start your religious track again, or get off the ride. That may seem a little harsh, but we all know it happens. I want to be like that safety bar though, and hold people into their seat as long as possible. What does this mean for you? You are the one building your ride. GOD just has the blueprints already. Make it however you choose. Mine however, is unfinished, and I like it like that!

Repeating Repentence

Steve Pickel preached on something this morning that I thought was very interesting, and made me wonder. There are those people who think that they can do whatever they want, and know they can just ask GOD for forgiveness later. Yes, you can do that, but why would you? Just because you can say you are sorry for drinking or cursing or whatever it is, and GOD will give forgiveness, doesn't mean you always should. "Repenting is a gift", Steve said this morning. If you use a gift too much beyond its advantage, you are going to loose it. Forgiveness only goes so far. So here is the picture I'm trying to create. You can ask GOD for repentence, but when you sin intentionally, just so you can ask for that thankfulness, I don't think thats right. What are your thoughts on the issue?

PEN15 and Birds of Prey

Well, I haven't posted in over a month, so sorry for not giving you stuff to read. School starts back on Tuesday, and I could not be more dreadful. I get to be a sophmore this year, which has its pros and cons. I won't get made fun of nearly as much as a freshman, I get to have better classes, my day is going to seem a lot shorter, and I'm used to the routine. The downside is that I get thrown out into the high school field to deal with all the jerks in the entire school, I will have to work a lot harder, and I have a career center class (that may not seem bad, but I get sick on bus rides, so I'm probably going to get sick on the way up there every day). It could be a lot worse, but I just have to get in my mind that GOD is going to be right there by my side, and that i have nothing to be worried about (except for the fact that Lindsey is in the homeroom next to me, which is anybody's biggest nightmare. JK). So I will try and blog more often, but with school coming around, I seriously doubt it.

Initiation

Tonight, Matt was issuing everyone challenges. Almost all of them regarded the opposite sex. Shawn has a month to get a date. Jen and Hannah had 15 minutes to take 5 pictures with 5 different guys, and barely passed. Evan had to get three girls' numbers, but didn't, so he failed. I personally passed my challenge in two minutes; I had the whole night. I had to take a pic with a hot girl that Matt, Jacob, and Shawn all approved of. I was happy, Matt owes me an ice cream!

Camp Stories Part Two: WWE

In our room, we had brawls out the bunghole. There were various things including tackles, drop kicks, and wrestling. Jacob even introduced us to a game of nutball(email me for the rules). Also, we had chicken fights where two guys would run from one side of the room to the other, and just barrel into each other. Thats all I got, but its something none of the girls knew!

Camp Stories Part One: I Need A Towel

Thursday Night, all the campers were hanging out outside in the pouring down rain. Curfew comes comes around at midnight and it is raining the hardest I have ever seen. Olivia comes to our door and asks for a towel. Now knowing Jacob, since this was his bad-boy idea, he always does the exact opposite. Instead of getting a towel, he gets a bucket of water, and throws it on Olivia, when she asks for a towel. Michael Mosley comes in giving us all fives, saying that it was the best prank all camp, and I agree. More stories coming later!