Potpourri- 2: a miscellaneous collection

Winterfest 2011: Worthy

2011-02-20T19:19:00.001-08:00

This was my fourth Winterfest and I was looking forward to it. We had some fun 7th graders going, MG was gonna be rooming with Nick and I again, and Makennah was going for her first time.

The drive Thursday was fun and I got to listen to good music and play pokemon and use my laptop for entertainment some. I think what made this weekend seem shorter to me is we didn't have the "Central Arkansas Area Devo" at the hotel we stayed at which I guess makes it seem like you've been "at" Winterfest longer.

Getting there early on Friday was awesome and we didn't hit traffic. Hotel was a pretty good spot and anything seemed great after last years location. Randy Wood and MG were great roomates to have and had great stories and things to say.

Correct me if I'm wrong but the sessions were shorter this year and I was kind of disappointed at the small amount of time spent in sessions. Group Devo's were great and I really enjoyed them. The time spent roaming the town was fun but I felt like I had done the big stuff before and I didn't have a lot to shop much.

The new comedian guy was really funny so that was cool and a nice break from a familiar routine. I missed a drama/sponsor group type entertainment that I was used to and I feel like they had more speakers in times past as well but that could just be me. The poet/prophecy guy was really cool and spoke to me.

Having a group of seniors that I really look up to be there and lead songs like "At a Time Like This" was something that to me meant a lot and really helped me enjoy the weekend.

Playing "The Floor is Lava" and speaking for TV on mute with seven guys at one in the morning was fun too.

All in all a good weekend albeit fast. I feel like I left out a lot but I'm too tired. This is just some stuff and how I felt about it I guess.

Equality: When it's wanted and not

2011-01-21T21:03:00.000-08:00

Recently in math we had a Guys v Girls game. 10 boys v 10 girls. You go around the circle and the people do problems and whoever gets the problem right first gets the point. Guys won 11 to 3 or something like that.

Half way through the girls claimed that it was unfair because we were too fast and asked for some of our smartest guys. I don't see how 10 boys v. 10 girls in the same class being taught by the same teacher isn't fair. I guess it kind of bothered me that girls complain about guys when we act like they can't do stuff without our help or that we don't treat they equal or like they are as smart but in a fair competition want a handicap.

On the other hand we've been talking about "Their Eyes Were Watching God" in English and the treatment of women in the 1930s I believe is the setting of the book. How women aren't expected to do the same work as men and men do manual labor for their women to earn money while women cook and clean and stuff. Not saying this is now, just then. So I think it is fair to say that everyone has certain things they are better equipped to do and there is plenty of evidence throughout all of history that men get to do more or more physical things.

However when it comes down to a math competition in 2011 in a classroom. 10 v. 10 is fair and they need to just be happy they're treated as equal and accept they lost.

Will anyway enjoy reading all this? Probably not. It's OK, I haven't blogged since October.

"That's Great Kid But Don't..."

2010-10-17T15:41:00.000-07:00

If you heard Harrison Ford's voice finish that with "...get cocky" then you're right about what I'm going to blog about. Plus give yourself 10 points for getting a quote from Star Wars: A New Hope.

I got home from Bentonville High Schools annual Forensics Tournament. I got first place in Novice Debate. Two weekends ago I got second place at Novice Breakout.

Lets just say I feel good about how I'm doing in debate right now. The word of caution from all Champ debaters though is "Don't get cocky".

This is a problem for me. I like being good at things and coming home from somewhere with a total of three trophies (6th place speaks) this month makes me feel good. But there are plenty of great debaters that could beat me and it is only Arkansas and being cocky is never something that people like. I'm definitely going to try and make sure it doesn't become a problem. Props to my partner who got 4th speaks which is no doubt what rolled us over a team with the first place speaker.

Debate is fun but I shouldn't make it something where people don't like my attitude.

Chapter 9 World History Outline

2010-10-07T22:05:00.000-07:00

Civilization in Eastern Europe: Byzantine and Orthodox Europe

I. Vlad chooses Byzantium (Orthodox Christianity)

A. Trade and Military activity complemented by a religion with wider appeal.

B. A new religion would show authority and end internal strife

C. Byzantine was a close ally and he wanted to marry the sister of the emperor.

D. Byzantine Art and Literature affects Russia

E. Separation from Roman Catholic Europe

II. The Byzantine Empire

A. Political, economic, and cultural activity.

1. Roman politics

2. Constantinople was a major city that radiated one of the two major branches of Christianity.

3. New culture in Balkan and western Russia.

4. Christian missionaries cause northward expansion

5. Polytheism->Monotheism

6. Separation between Eastern and Western Europe

a. Trade from North to South

B. Origins of the Empire

1. Began in 4^th Century

a. Eastern Roman capital

b. Able to ward off attacks while West was falling.

c. Greek instead of Latin.

d. Egyptians and Syrians joined Byzantium.

C. Justinian’s Achievements

1. Fought off Sassanian and Germanic invaders.

2. Tried to take back the West.

3. Susceptible to his wife Theodora.

4. Rebuilding Constantinople

5. Systemizing the Roman legal code.

6. The Hagia Sophia

7. Over ambitious military caused tax pressures.

D. Arab Pressure and the Empire’s Defense

1. Hellenistic and Christian influence

2. Able to hold off Arab Muslims but not without taking heavy losses.

3. Held capital, partly because of Greek Fire.

4. Loss of farmers and free workers and tax payers.

5. Island of Crete lost in 9^th century.

6. Defeated Bulgarians in 1014.

E. Byzantine Society and Politics

1. Similar to China

a. Mandate of heaven

2. Theodora as empress

3. One of largest Bureaucracies ever

a. Included aristocrats and talented scholars.

b. Eunuchs were close to the emperor.

c. Governors and spies held loyalty.

4. Military recruited from within

a. Many given land

b. Many became leaders

c. Blocked road to Europe for Muslims, Persians, Arabs, and Turks.

5. Lots of trade and focus on food that kept the peasants out of power.

6. Hellenistic

7. New architecture and art.

F. The Split Between Eastern and Western Christianity

1. Western Church translated Greek->Latin

2. Eastern church recognized the Pope

3. Eastern priest could marry.

4. Mad patriarch excommunicates all Roman Catholics.

G. The Empire’s Decline

1. Turkish invaders in the East

a. Took Asiatic provinces and cut off the most prosperous sources of tax revenue and agriculture.

b. Lost battle of Manzikert in 1071.

2. New kingdoms such as Serbia arose.

3. Tried to get help from the West

a. Inspired Crusades to Holy Lands

b. Crusade turned against Byzantine and took Constantinople.

4. Turks take over in 1461.

a. Affects later the Ottoman Empire.

Staying Busy

2010-10-07T21:52:00.001-07:00

I have to wake up in seven hours and forty minutes. It's a really nice time to wake up. Thanks to knowing a junior with a car I get an hour and ten minutes more sleep this year than I ever have since first grade.

Even this makes me tired throughout the day. Just earlier I fell asleep while waiting for my laptop to install some updates. What's worse is that I know so many people, kids and adults alike, that are getting a lot less sleep than that and probably do more in a day than me.

If anyone reads my blog or loves me enough to go reference it, I wrote a blog at the end of August entitled Optimism http://scbennettamc.blogspot.com/2010/08/optimism.html in which I talked about how this was the first year I was ever overwhelmed with work. For some it has always been like this and for some I know its worse. AP World is a beautiful, in a terrifying way, example of a lot of work. I guess that's implied by the name but its a really hard class and the 30 page double column 12 size print with no pictures that fills the whole page...is a lot to read in a night. But more than that it is certainly a lot to digest and understand and take a quiz on the next day.

I know a kid that read the chapter 4 times tonight. I read once and did an outline on it and fell asleep at one point. He has an A in the class, I think I have a high C. The time needed to do all of this is beyond intense though. He had to spend at least three hours doing that, I know because I was talking with him, and he studied for Chem and Spanish in the same night.

The US is behind in education and Arkansas is the worst here so I don't even want to know what it's like other places but if you have a hard schedule and you want to pass your classes now in a high school in Arkansas I'm gonna say it takes a good three hours a night. He spent more. Who knows.

I think it's way too much. I know I sound like the generic kid fighting about no homework but we spend 7 or 8 hours at day at school and then getting home and school related activities, add 3 hours to that and that is 11 hours of our day. Then factor that they tell you to get 8 to 10 hours of sleep that doesn't leave a lot of time in between and we know we like to play around and goof off with friends. A social life is needed at this age and stress and lack of sleep are not helping at all.

Anyone that is doing Debate like I've started knows that if you want to be good at that its super time consuming too. It's all too much. We need more sleep, less work, and less stress. Educational reform is needed but with No Child Left Behind it'll probably only get worse.

I might've just covered about 10 different topics in a very unorganized way but I felt like writing it all out.

If you read it all good for you, you must like me or agree with me.

I'm gonna go get my minimal sleep now.

Cafeteria Preaching

2010-09-21T16:36:00.000-07:00

First off, I had a hard time considering what to call this post. I guess what I was looking for was of course Street Preaching but that generally has a bad rep and I figured people might not be interested. See what happened was at lunch at school today but once again I wasn't really in the cafeteria. Central is big and I was on the "Freshman Patio" eating lunch despite the fact that I'm a Sophomore.

For all intents and purposes it was Cafeteria Preaching. Oddly enough it came on the day of "See You at the Pole" rallies which our school of 2,500 has a dismal attendance of about 40 kids. However this kid wasn't even talking about God or any religion he simply came to our table and asked why we all looked down. This is a pretty legit question because we were all really tired, highschool does that to you. Then he goes "man this is a great day! it feels good out here today! this is a great day to be alive and happy! you're at a great school, you have money and clothes and food man you could be dead! I've been shot at I've been to ACL (Alternative Learning Center) Man its good to be alive its a great day!"

Some kids left the table and some laughed. It didn't matter to him he sat down and kept talking to those of us who stayed. While he used a lot of yelling and perhaps some language he had a really good message that when I thought about it we really could've and should've given some more thought. I mean we are really lucky to be where we are and to have the things we have. And while we like to say that a lot at church its a real wake up call when some random kid gets on to you for looking so down when you're so blessed. Preaching about religion or not it had religious implications to me. Life lesson for the day.

Purpose or Perhaps, Just Interest

2010-09-13T19:19:00.000-07:00

I liked the word Purpose for this blog post and really wanted to make a link to the Matrix with it. Any time I hear that word I hear Agent Smith emphasizing each syllable.

As I thought about what I really wanted to say in this post though it turned a lot more into Interest.

I was thinking about how after doing a lot of homework I just voluntarily worked on some Debate stuff. The last time I was voluntary in doing schoolwork was probably 7-8th grade EAST lab. Without going into a huge history (which I'm tempted to do) EAST is a program that focuses on service learning and is a class that is self taught. We didn't have a teacher we had a "facilitator" that basically did the adult things for us that kids couldn't do. But all in all the point was for us to be doing the adult things and learning.

Lots of service projects, improving the school, running recycling programs, fixing computers, running the morning announcements through the TV's, doing the schools yearbook.

All of this was our classes job last year (we were the 2nd year class) and as the only 13 2nd years we got all the fun and hard jobs. At one point I got to go to a website design training workshop and missed two days of school. The class was hard and rewarding but because of an amazing cast of kids and a "facilitator" that won the facilitator of the year award I loved being in that class and doing work for it.

EAST is an amazing organization but is often limited by the host school ie. why I'm not in it at Central.

Because of this I haven't had a class that has sparked my interest until Debate. We have one of the largest teams in the country with 150 kids. While not service oriented it's fun and teaches you a lot of higher level thinking skills.

I have an interest in that class and in some sense a purpose. It's fun to have one of those, you should all look into it.

Area Wide Retreat: Lessons other than Refresh

2010-09-10T21:22:00.000-07:00

The Area Wide/Exodus/Best Friends Retreat was amazing this year. Only my third I've ever been on but easily the best. We had the most kids we've ever had this year as well as the most churches. It was great to see how it had grown and how a "small" retreat had become to a lot of people there a really big deal.

The them of Refresh was really good this year and I had a lot to take home with me but as the title suggest that isn't really what I'm talking about is it?

I really wanted to post on something that happened during the retreat. On Sunday, the full day at camp several of us were participating in the wonderful game of "ninja". When a kid from another church (that turned out to be autistic) that I didn't know said he wanted to teach us another game similar to ninja. We all ignored him for another three games until he began yelling that he wanted to teach a game. Immediately everyone sat down (including me) and he was left alone. It seemed as if we would wait for him to give up trying to get us to play his game when one girl came to his rescue and stood up. Now of course once this happened and she asked us to get up and play we did, tentatively.

But why at this retreat of Christian's did no one stand up to help, to do what was the right thing and just play the game with him. It wasn't until we were following a crowd that it was OK for us to do it. But we really should've been following Jesus and not having to be the "first" to play but everyone simply saying "OK".

I felt bad about it so I felt like I needed to write it out a bit.

Other than that it was an amazing retreat I think the Loft was an amazing atmosphere for worship with how it was open to nature, high up, slightly compact, and a gym mat. How can 300 kids not have fun with that? Can't wait to go next year.

Church Songs

2010-09-01T20:28:00.000-07:00

I love singing. Lets just get that out of the way. Singing in church is one of my favorite parts. Although I hate to not have a great lesson too, and besides the singing and the lesson there isn't much else really. I guess that means I just love church, which isn't inherently bad, but probably more neutral than most would like to think. But that's another blog.

I also am kinda a critic, I think all of us are. But learning a lot of my singing from Jerome I guess I'm extra picky about it. So let me rephrase, I love good singing, which is what this blog is about.

I understand not everyone is amazing at singing. Generally no one is just plain awful and ruins everything though. In our youth group we have Paul who is mentally handicapped and I love the guy, but he sings and claps everything behind everyone else but it sounds bad and throws me off. Now as I was sitting in church and realized that I was thinking this and felt awful. What was God thinking of me. He doesn't care what we sound like, just that we give him praise and here I was criticizing a guy for how God made him. I still feel bad about it which is kind of why I wrote this out I guess. Despite how it sounds he is praising God the same as me, I should be focusing on that.

Optimism

2010-08-25T20:38:00.000-07:00

I like to consider my self an optimist. It really is fun to be an optimist especially to people that are down on something. Saying the best possible thing about that situation really lifts the spirits. I try to have something awesome to look forward to everyday to keep optimistic. It really has been hard starting 10th grade because this is the first time I think in my whole educational career I've actually been overwhelmed. I have 5 core classes, 2 math and AP World. While some kids have this every year or worse I'm straight up not used to it and the three hours of homework a night it definitely new. I've gotten almost all of the worst teachers and I'm legit lost in Algebra II and I'm used to being one of the smartest kids in class.

Needless to say starting this year has been tough of on me and staying optimistic has been hard. Did I mention tomorrow is the sixth day of school? I really need to buckle down and get used to this. Because no matter what there is an upside to every day, I have some classes I like, I have people at lunch I like to be with. I get extra sleep in the mornings this year. Monday's mean grandma (grandma's spoil you) is home, Wednesday's mean PV&J, Thursdays mean more grandma and Friday's mean the end of the week, so with the exclusion of Tuesdays there is always something nice to look forward to.

It's fun to be an optimist guys, lots of people will like you for it. You'll help a lot of people and I believe it also follows some scripture as to not worrying and trusting in God for the best. I'm praying to keep it up this year.

"Laborers in the Vineyard" I got the Parable!

2010-08-01T10:39:00.001-07:00

In Matthew 20 1-16 (http://bit.ly/af3wOa) Jesus tells the story of the master of a house who hired laborers. I'm sure you've heard it before. At the very beginning of the day the master hires people to work in his vineyard. Then two, five, eight, and ten hours after hiring his first workers he also hires more. He agreed to pay all the workers a denarius and he did. However the people who had worked twelve hours were mad that they did not receive more than the people who worked one, three, six, or nine. The master says "Did you not agree with me for a denarius...am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me."

Alright well see I never really read into this story. I thought the lesson was that people can do what they want with their money, not to be greedy, and to be happy with what you are given/what you agreed upon.

But I get one of those disciple moments now where they always ask Jesus what he really means. Because Chuck last week had a bit on this passage. It's about the first being last and the last being first in Heaven. About how the people who repent and do God's work late in their life also get to go to Heaven. And how the people that have been doing what they were supposed to all along will also get their reward and what they agreed upon. Heaven.

I just thought it was awesome because with the Bible and with teachers we usually don't have to read into much or look into much like the disciples did. But here I am fifteen years into my life, who knows how many times I've heard that story and I get a new take on it.

God is good

Open Eyes

2010-07-14T20:28:00.000-07:00

My lesson from PV&J 7-14-10: This is a bit of an outline, not exactly how it ended up

“The play ends, but your life goes on”
What is your play?

Acts 9- Saul/Paul
In one of the most obvious Open-Eye stories, Saul’s eyes are opened to Jesus and to what he is doing. Not only does he stop but he becomes a huge activist in the other direction.

Do we ever have realizations like Saul? That what we have been doing for so long is so obviously wrong, that its hurting us and those around us? If the answer is yes then the next step is to become a Paul, to work in the right direction wholeheartedly.
Open your eyes.

Genesis 28- Jacobs dream
As Jacob runs from his brother Esau after taking the blessing, he lays down for the night. He has the dream of a ladder or stairway reaching to the heavens with angels going up and down. When he wakes up his eyes are opened and he says “Surely the Lord was in this place and I was not aware of it”

Do we ever have moments like this? Where God is so clearly in a place or a situation and we aren’t aware of it? You know when you’re roastin’ on someone and about 30 minutes later you think of the best comeback in the world? What about 30 minutes later when you realize God just gave me a sign to do something and I totally missed it.
Open your eyes

John 9- Jesus heals a blind man
As the disciples see the blind man they ask Jesus, who sinned? This man or his parents? Neither this man nor his parents, this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.

I know I personally have had moments like this. Whether reading the Bible, or everyday life. Why God o why, did this happen? So that the work of God can be displayed. See the blind man isn’t the one whose eyes are being opened, it’s the disciples.
Open your eyes

2 Samuel 12- Nathan rebukes David
The story where Nathan comes to David, has got to be one of my favorites and that’s why I’m ending with it. Nathan gives you this sad picture of a mans only lamb, his pride and joy being taken from him by the rich man. Cause no one likes the rich man. And David’s anger is kindled against the man as he says “the man who has done this must surely die!”
Then Nathan goes “You are the man!”

Ever had a moment like that, its just about the scariest gotcha moment ever. When a friend gives you that serious look and is like we need to talk. And you’re like OK! You’re kind of excited ya know, you get to help your friend out with his problems cause hes gonna tell you about what someone has been doing that’s bothering them. And they give you this whole list and you go man that’s awful, why are you friends with them. Bam “that friend is you”
Open your eyes

We are called to be set apart and different, to have open eyes to the things of the world that need His attention.
Because whether our eyes are open or not, everyone else’s are, watching to see what the Christian’s do, what sets them apart.
If the answer is nothing there is a problem
My play ends here guys, the end of this lesson, but my life goes on.
I need to open my eyes

The New Heaven

2010-07-12T12:14:00.000-07:00

OK so I'm jumping into some weird territory here but while listening to Chuck's sermon yesterday I picked up on something that I hadn't thought of before. Sure I had heard it but never thought of it. The new Heaven, anyone else? I got the new Earth thing down that makes sense. But a new Heaven, is there something wrong with the one we have now? Where God and Jesus and Angels are somehow isn't good enough for after judgment? Although at the same time is it the same place? Because we're going to be on the new Earth (correct me if I'm wrong) but the New Jerusalem is going to come down and we'll be here right? And if God is living with us then wouldn't it be the new Heaven too? Or is the new Heaven just his formality home? Like in Percy Jackson and the Olympians. God can only be in His true form in the new Heaven but not on the new Earth. But of course we have Jesus for that. I'm confused and I might've confused you. Comments??

Uplift 2010: All in One (after)

2010-06-20T14:04:00.000-07:00

I have a post by the same name a bit further back but it was just talking about the theme. This is the after blog and there is plenty to be said. But I will start with something close to what I said one night at our group devo. It's why I love Uplift basically.

Uplift is a place where you can do anything. Some people might care but in general you can run around with a flag and a mullet (me) and be praised. Its a place where the things of everyday life don't matter, the things you would look at and laugh and ridicule are accepted and encouraged. The person that does the crazy and fun stuff simply has fun. Because we all know in our hearts that's what we want to be able to do day by day. Its a place of openness where the person that you've known for 30 minutes is the person you tell your life story and all your struggles. Where simply sharing the same hallway in a dorm means you will end up lifetime friends. Where the people you meet will be communicated with all year. Its a place where you can cry and no one cares, as a matter of fact we encourage it because it means you've opened up and we are here for you. It's a place where God's presence is prevalent. As Jeremy Keck said last year on a one night visit, "I've only been here one night and I can feel God". He is simply there, ready to work on soft hearts. It is a place of activity, we talked a lot this year about the danger of down time but also the gift of it. We have plenty of down time at Uplift but you are never doing anything "down" with it. Assuming you stay up late in your dorm you are averaging 4-5 hours of sleep and all other 19-20 hours of the day you are going non-stop and its awesome.

Now that we have this wonderful overview lets talk just a little about this year. It was our (PV) first year without Steven in who knows how many years. But we had some amazing people to fill the spots. Rambo was great as well as Barrie Jo in challenging the girls and I don't think we could have a better group of interns. Michael and Brett just blend right in with everything and do awesome fun things and deliver great lessons while doing it. (Schfing schfing) I don't know too much about Rachael (sorry) but PV has her so she has to be amazing. I met a lot of "Indie" campers this year and they are awesome, I always said if I was at a church that didn't go to Uplift that I would go as an individual but I thought it would be lonely. It is so obvious that that's a sweet deal cause basically you go with whatever youth group you want on stuff and get a bigger suite. I met some awesome people from Searcy and Wilson from Memphis and the hours spent laughing in our rooms with 5-6 guys sleeping in way too little space were epic. I missed out on a lot of the Ultimate that I usually love this year cause I wasn't feeling too great but I got to spend some time in the talent show tryouts as well as with Mak, Kaiti, and Sarah. I just remembered that last year when I wrote my Uplift recap I was writing Makennah as a new friend and misspelling her name. Now we're almost at 10 months :) love ya. Anyways It was a wonderful week even though we didn't get as many classes and Wiley Lowe wasn't there. Zoo's last year was sad but I got to go on stage and I won a lot of stuff and I had fun. Me and Wilson are bidding for the spot next year Uplift board.

The drama was pretty amazing up until the poor wrap up on the last night. But the prayer of the mother on day 2 almost made me cry. And if you sat by me you know I have a major crush on the Jane character.

That's just about it although after I post this I'm sure I will think of pages more, the recap via tweets that I did last year I think I'm going to make tradition so look out for that.

Uplift 2011 is just around the corner guys, Love ya and cya next year!

Amos

2010-06-20T14:00:00.000-07:00

I actually did some daily bible reading today and honestly it is the first I have done in 3ish months. I feel bad about this but I'm also happy that I picked it up today. Looks like we are getting into some Minor Prophets and today we went over some Amos. It was pretty cool cause basically what the Lord did was say what He was going to do to cities and why. So He isn't unjust about it, its like when kids ask why and parents say "cause" well God actually has this wonderful list of reasons that will make you feel bad. Israel of course had the largest list and was judged most harshly because they are God's chosen people. He even told of all the signs He sent to them and how they were ignored. Makes me wonder what our list would look like today. Would America be at the top? Cities like New York and Memphis with the longest list and most punishment. Some cities in the New Testament are said to be worse off than Sodom and Gomorrah, how bad are we?

My Steven Memories

2010-05-12T18:32:00.000-07:00

Ok guys I'm not a senior or anything but I do have about three years of youth-groupage with Steven, and I love this guy a lot and I figured there was nothing wrong with sharing a few memories.

I guess the first I knew of Steven was him and Sarah doing silly videos for us as kids in Faith in Action. But just in general when you were young at PV the fabled teen room was a big deal. I used to lock up the building with my dad and we would always go in there and play pool on their pool table. And the destructiveness of little kids like me is why they relocated the room and locked it (also we got a bunch more kids I think). But being in the youth group was a big deal and so I actually didn't like going to church before the youth group but I did go on the 6 Flags Trip and I roomed with Steven and Brandon. I loved talking to him and we all logged several hours watching The Cosby Show till like 1 in the morning.

So when it came time to get into the youth group he was basically why I went, it was a big deal and I was excited and most of my friends know this story. My first day, I think on the urge of Steven, I sat on the front row with the seniors. Well I was sitting next to Michael Capps and little did I know of how that class of seniors worked at that time. And so when he messed with me I was scared and I went home and cried because I thought the seniors hated me. Later I loved Capps and that whole class with a passion. Anyway, I kept coming because of Steven I didn't even necessarily have a group of friends because as I said before I didn't like church when I was younger and these guys basically saw each other every day because of CAC.

First trip with the youth group was Winterfest 08 and I didn't room with Steven but MG (Don Goodlow) who is also an awesome guy. But I remember talking to Steven a lot that trip and going to his room to watch LOST on his laptop with a bunch of people. My first real religious experience I think was in his hotel room when we had our youth group devos in there each night and I sat with Emma Rogers who in case you never figured out is an amazing singer. So when I got back Steven baptized me and I wouldn't have ever let anyone else do it.

I think it was around then that I decided I wanted to do for kids what he had done for me and be a youth minister. Especially since I think its just about the most fun job ever (if you do it the way our church does).

First Uplift I actually roomed with Ryan Smith to try and get to know the other youth minister really well but I remember playing Ultimate with Steven every day and his general craziness.

But Steven and I continued to hang out and he would come to my school to have lunch with me, and I ended up job shadowing him in 8th grade. Stuff like that where we really talked about stuff and he taught me so much and just inspired me more to be a youth minister. He is my "mentor" if I can say that and I definitely would have never really come to Christ or wanted to be a minister without him. He is my main role model over even John Riley which might come as a shock to you and I love him.

A few random memories
The first time he told me the three wells joke and I laughed like crazy
Me always asking why he called us here when he rhetorically asked
Me being an awful bed buddy with him in Birmingham where we eventually slept with a pillow barrier

And just anything else I mentioned a bunch up there and I'm tearing up way to much to type now but he did shape who I am today and I'll miss him

Homeschooling: Persuasive Speech

2010-05-09T19:27:00.001-07:00

Written for Comm 1 class as persuasive speech after my original idea contained too much religious content.

Why Homeschooling is bad for Children

Homeschooling means, ideally, that you will be schooled at home. But how do we know if you are getting a proper education. Some states have a lot of regulations on such things. (Arkansas is seen as moderate) But ten states in this country, which is one fifth, have barely any. Such as Oklahoma which only requires that you are schooled at least three months at home. That is only one fourth of the year.

The purpose is to make sure that children in America are getting the education they need. Every state has compulsory school attendance laws, making sure that kids are in school starting a range of 5-8 depending on state and ending at 16-18 depending on state. And all states whether having heavy or light requirements have home school. Some such as Oklahoma have no curriculum and only require three months. While others such as North Dakota and New York require several courses and a full school years instruction.

The problem comes in with very lenient societies and rules. Who is to say that with no curriculum and only three months that a child can learn and become a contributing member of society? It almost certainly guarantees that the child has no chance of college or a high paying job. Even in states that require certain classes and amounts of instruction who is to say that they are being properly educated? Even in elementary sometimes but certainly by middle school level we have specialized teachers. We have a person that went to school and has a degree to teach that certain subject. You don’t have one teacher to teach you eight different subjects. So in very rare cases will a parent be able to provide you with all that knowledge.

One other problem is the lack of course selection. Unless you are in a specialized home school academy, and in this case why not be enrolled in a public school, you will not have an extensive choice of classes. Classes such as EAST lab, photography, debate, computer applications, languages, or even AP courses cannot be offered. We know that colleges want extra-curricular’s and in some cases language, home schooling can hurt your chances of getting into a college. Saying that your mom taught you everything isn’t always as impressive either.

Saying all this I think there is a very simple solution, make public schools mandatory. And if there is extenuating circumstances then make it be validated that there is a good reason for the child to be homeschooled. Once that has been established the state still needs to make sure that the mother (or whoever will be instructing the child) can give proper instruction to make him ready for college or for the real world and a job.

Once a solution such as this is implemented we won’t have to worry about the education of our nation’s children. It is true that the children are the future because one day we won’t be children anymore. We need to have a proper education that gives us equal opportunity and the ability to be a functioning, contributing member to society. It isn’t fair to the children if they aren’t taught enough or correctly. If you really want to home school your kid then do it correctly and there needs to be some sort of monitoring to make sure it is. We live in a country that allows a free education so why would you not take advantage of that.

If you believe this to be true then I urge you to speak about it. Write a letter to a congress person, talk to a principal of a home school academy. Sit down and talk with a friend or neighbor that home school’s to see if they really are getting an education correctly. Because if they aren’t then I say it violates the law of compulsory attendance. Help educate tomorrow’s future, help the children.

The Great Debate, Superhero Style

2010-04-29T20:10:00.000-07:00

Me and my friends (including my girlfriend) have recently gotten to fighting over something that I'm sure any comic book fan has at one time or another. Its the famous Superman vs. Batman debate. However my friends would even have you believe that Spiderman could beat Batman. So we're gonna take a look at this.

First off, yes I think Superman has good chances against Batman. This does not mean however that The Dark Knight hasn't beaten the Man of Steel before. If you take a look at "The Dark Knight Returns" (from Frank Miller my favorite comic writer) Bruce easily beats Superman at 55! Also in Justice League New Frontier and several other animated series Bruce has shown that he keeps Kryptonite with him at all times just in case. He also found out Clark Kent's identity long before Clark knew his showing that he could use his real life to advantage. Now with Clark's ridiculous powers he could win several fights depending on whether or not Batman gets to Kryptonite in time or what Superman's powers are at the said time. Superman has gone through two or three changes in powers over the years and things such as flight were only added because it was hard for the artist to draw his 1/8 of a mile jumps. The source of his power is also questioned several times and the current excuse is Krypton's gravity gives him his power and the powers are only activated under a yellow sun (Kryton's was red) so as you can see they have to stretch to make this work. My final outcome is 50/50 on their fights due to variables but the Man of Steel can and has been beaten.

Second lets look at something most people should know. Superman and Batman both could whoop Spiderman's butt in a second. He's a loser high school kid whose powers from the radioactive spider include "super-strength, the ability to climb walls, and a phenomenal jumping skill" what is missing from here you ask? That's right web slinging, Peter has to make his own web fluid which he usually doesn't have money to afford the materials for. I would suggest that Superman could beat him easy and that Bruce's own very humanly gained strength easily outweighs that of Peter's superficial. Either way DC trumps Marvel here 100/0.

I welcome the comments that I'm sure will be coming, here are all my sources as well as some background knowledge.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dark_Knight_Returns
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiderman
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justice_League:_The_New_Frontier
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superman

Superhero Reboots

2010-04-20T16:41:00.000-07:00

Its reboot season for superhero fans. But there are also some new movies coming in too. The one I am most excited for as a Batman fan in the sequel to The Dark Knight but at the same time its the scariest because I think it can be messed up the most. I don't know if anything is going on with Superman but for other DC fun Green Lantern is supposedly in the making and that is really cool. Marvel is working on some big projects at the moment tho. A Spiderman reboot bringing us back to his high school comic roots is planned for 2013 I think. Then Iron Man 2 which is promising because I loved the first and Robert Downey Jr.'s portrayal of him. Perhaps some Captain America and the Avengers too. Within the past decade we've seen two Hulk's so I don't want another one of those. Either way it'll all be interesting these next five years.

Itunes Top 25

2010-04-20T16:33:00.001-07:00

I've been looking for topics to blog on throughout my day and I've had a few but I've been a little busy. But not I have one. I decided to talk about my itunes top 25 most played songs. I have 9 from the AVPM soundtrack, 5 from Eric Clapton, the top 3 are held by The Killers and I have some Lil Wayne, Coldplay, Fall Out Boy, and Green Day in there. And I had never looked at this list before and it surprised me. Now the 9 AVPM I can explain pretty easily. I love that musical and all the songs are short and catchy so its easy to listen to them a lot. The Eric Clapton while I love him I have no clue how he managed there big spots. The Killers dominating the top three is totally understandable because I love those songs. Green Day only having one apperance and it being "Welcome to Paradise" is interesting but that might be because I listen to Green Day in the CD player in my room a lot. The one Coldplay and one Hawk Nelson appearance make sense too. So in general while I was surprised I could justify most of these. Everyone loves music and itunes really is a great tool to listen to it.

Update

2010-04-15T19:12:00.000-07:00

Anyone who is actually reading this might be kind of aware that I haven't blogged hardly at all lately. That is because my daily bible reading is non-existent and my blogging comes in cycles as I mentioned before. The three months that I was blogging so often were a big deal but with the summer coming up hopefully I will start again. Also I'm quite positive I'm giving myself carpal tunnel with texting but I've stopped texting people and started to call. It has gotten a lot better already but I can feel a little strain as I'm typing but I'll get over it. If anyone would like to remind me to read and write often that would be awesome though. OK so summer is coming up and anyone that knows me remotely knows that I am excited for Uplift. When is that you might ask? Well its 58 days away on June 12-17th of course. I am so excited and I will be blogging on that soon but I can't seem to find much material on the theme which is

All in One

It's about giving every part of your life to God. Which is awesome. But anyway I've listened to the two new speakers that will be at Uplift this year that I didn't know. I like them but I am going to miss Wiley. I've considered trying to hit up Impact this year too but ya never know. Zoo is in its 10th year so I am expecting great things. Either way summer is on its way, if you actually like my blogs expect some new stuff to show up in the next few days.

P.S. if you are wondering what this picture has to do with the blog post the answer is absolutely nothing. I just wanted to show you how hard it was for Piglet during Swine Flu

Batman Speech

2010-04-06T18:55:00.001-07:00

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Notes, this was written in the way I was told to write it and it has to be spoken aloud of Thursday April 8th. Enjoy

If you were told that there was a man flying around town with the latest technology, driving a tank, and wearing a cape and cowl calling himself Batman you’d be kind of scared or worried, or at least interested. Whether you know him as “the Caped Crusader”, “the Dark Knight”, or “the Batman”, Batman is a fascinating character. I was interested in the animated TV show at a young age but as I got older that fascination moved into comics and movies as well. However the archetype hero whether as Batman or Bruce Wayne has a rich history of a very evolving and changing character. But his original roots are some of what you will here today. Today I will tell you about, how Bruce Wayne became Batman, his morals in fighting crime, and how he is different from other heroes.

First how Bruce Wayne became Batman, the story the most of you will know, starts with his parents being murdered in front of his eyes at a young age while exiting a theater. But a lot of the origin after that has been skipped in recent recreations of this story, up until the 2005 film “Batman Begins”. At this point Bruce’s life he is about 20 and has lived in Gotham all these years as the sole heir to his father, Thomas Wayne’s company, Wayne Enterprises. After trying to kill his parents murderer after his trial he decides to study abroad to learn about the criminal. He leaves everything and lives like a criminal for several years before going into training around the world in fields such as martial arts, man hunting, science and medicine. In one telling of this story, depicted in the 2008 animated film “Gotham Knight” he even takes training to eliminate the feeling of pain. When he returns home some stories depict it as him returning from the dead and no one knowing he was gone, while others have only his butler, Alfred, knowing about it. He decides that he wants to fight the crime and corruption of Gotham but he knows he cannot do it as a man. He has to become an idea, something iconic and something fear-inspiring. This comes from what one of his teachers tells him “You must become more than just a man in the mind of your opponent.” Going off his childhood fear of Bats, Bruce decides “its time for my enemies to feel my dread”

Next Batman or rather Bruce’s morals in fighting crime, because of his parents murder Bruce has many questions about the criminal and before he went into training while abroad he lived as a criminal. “The first time I stole so that I wouldn't starve, yes. I lost many assumptions about the simple nature of right and wrong. And when I traveled, I learned the fear before a crime and the thrill of success. But I never became one of them.” His first and in some cases only rule is that he will not kill. And no other villain tests him in this as much as the Joker. Joker has killed so many innocent people including several close to Bruce, even the second Robin, Jason Todd. But he refuses to do the deed; he just keeps sending him to Arkham where he will break out. His reason for this is murder would make him as bad as the criminals he fights, but is it ok to kill to prevent future killing? Of course several people have challenged Batman with this question including recently Jason Todd, back from the dead of course because it’s a comic and he asks him this. “Bruce I forgive you for not saving me. But why on God’s green Earth is he still alive…I thought killing me-that’d be the last person you’d ever let him hurt” The biggest dilemma that faces Batman here is morals and a lot of philosophers would say it is OK to kill the Joker. Taking a famous philosophical debate of the trolley tracks if five people are on one set of tracks and one on the other. Is it then OK for a bystander to pull the switch that would kill the one rather than five but also cause them to have to commit murder. But in Batman’s case Joker is the one person on the other tracks and the five people one the other he put in danger, so is it right then? I’ll let you decide that.

Lastly how the hero of Batman is so different from other heroes. The first and most obvious comparison is that he does not have super powers. But this doesn’t mean he isn’t a hero. Another is unlike a lot of heroes his persona is a scary one. If you were just some random kid you’d be more likely to run to Superman than to Batman at first glance, however much Batman needs the theatrics, costume, and equipment for fear and crime-fighting. Perhaps the biggest setback for him though is how his city does not perceive him as a hero often. He is one and possibly the only hero I know of that is considered a vigilante in his town. Not only does he fight criminals but he is often at odds with police and citizens.

I talked about, how Bruce Wayne became Batman, his morals in fighting crime, and how he is different from other hero’s. Whether you know him as “the Caped Crusader”, “the Dark Knight”, or “the Batman”, Batman is a fascinating character. In conclusion whether a casual, just-want-to-watch-the-movies fan, or a devout studier of the comics and philosophy, Batman is a fascinating character.

Day 71: Walls of Jericho

2010-03-12T21:09:00.000-08:00

I had no idea how close all of this stuff in Joshua was and by the way I'm doing the 11th and 12th today so two days of double blogs (makes Sam a dull boy?). The idea of marching around the city had to be insane to the Israelites but this is actually one of the few things I don't see them complain about so maybe they are getting better. Anyway they march around and the walls fall down and they kill everyone in the city, boom regular story, I don't like the regular stories I like going more abstractly into them. This leads me to two things here that caught my attention, one is that after the Israelites get the city it says Joshua's fame spread throughout the land. I don't know if this is favor among those of Israel or the people of the land or if this simply means fear (I doubt he is chiseling his name into people's favorite rocks) but I thought it was interesting. But the main point I was going to make is this when Achan, the moron who keeps some of the stuff from Jericho, sins God never specifically says a man sinned. He tells you that "Israel has sinned" and I think that was because Israel was not just the people. It was a way of living in tune with what God wanted you to and when someone lives out of sync with that God cannot be among them, meaning when they go to face AI for the first time they loose.

After this God has them search out this guy by tribe,clan,family,person and then they stone him. Now once again the Lord can be with them and they take AI in a fancy ambush and God says go ahead and take all the plunder of this city. Joshua is apparently very violent too because now he hangs the king of AI on a tree for a day before burying him under a pile of rocks, pretty weird how these guys work. Last thing to mention about this, at the entrance to this destroyed city with all of Israel present, Joshua reads the law of Moses to the people. We do realize this is the first time the Torah is read aloud and not just spoke from the mouth of the guy that would write it speaking through God right, OK good.

P.S. Never mind I don't think I'll be doing a blog on the 12th, its too late

Gmail accounts

2010-03-12T20:46:00.000-08:00

OK at last count I can think of 7 g-mail accounts I have. 1 for facebook spam, 1 for Twitter, 1 for some newsletters, 1 for anything else I sign up for, 1 where I am the CEO of a company, 1 where I am Jason Bourne and 1 where I am Tony Stark. Think I counted that right. While that email account was useful for that one moment in time it now becomes a hassle when everything you sign up for can be connected to Google and I have to sign out and in 50 times a day. I need to find a solution, just thought I'd rant cause my twitter g-mail is tied in with this blogger account.

Joshua is Cool

2010-03-11T20:27:00.000-08:00

I've kept meaning to mention this and I haven't so here we go. In April 09 I started this blog and had 20 post in 2009. Now in March of 2010 I am up to 23, which is way down from my quota but hey, I'm getting something done.

I didn't feel bad about missing a Daily Bible Blog on the 9th cause I had two other post but I missed yesterday so now I'm making up a little here. On the 9th day of reading (in March) Moses blesses all of the tribes of Israel and dies after God shows him the promise land that he cannot enter. And while this little section of text probably deserves a little more dissection than I'm going to give it I do want to focus on one thing Deuteronomy 33:1 "This is the blessing that Moses the man of God pronounced on the Israelites before his death. He said:" Did anyone else see what I saw there. "Moses THE man of God" now I went to bible gateway and looked up the exact phrase man of God and it is said 77 times in the bible. Twice in reference to Moses as THE man of God and then (not gonna say I looked at all 77 references) but every other time someone is A man of God. Moses is the only guy to ever be THE man. When Jesus comes He doesn't claim anything, that phrase is not used once in the gospels because Jesus is a humble servant. But wow, to be THE man, he talked to him face to face he did all the miracles, other than Jesus he is the closest man ever to God. That's just plain cool, and despite all that no promise land for Moses.

Now we are on day 10 and this reading is absolutely epic. This is why I am reading the bible this year because I knew none of this! Well right off the bat in Joshua 1, two spies were sent in (just like how only 2 were good before) and they go and stay with Rahab (I'm kind of wondering why they went straight to the prostitutes house) and she saves them and they promise if she has a scarlet cord they save her too, OK. Now for the parts we (I) didn't know about. First of all 2 tribes and a half of a tribe are staying on one side of the Jordan, after they help fight for Jericho and the rest of Israel they go back and live in some land good for their livestock or something like that. Next they order the Ark forward and this is so Holy that the Israelites have to have 1,000 yards between it and them, but then something cool happens. As the priest get to the water it parts (I had no clue this happened again) and all of Israel passes through, just like before with the Red Sea. I think it's pretty important what God does here. These people have been with Moses for 40 years and seen all this and now he is gone. Some of them have to be thinking "Who is this Joshua kid" right? Well God affirms that He is still with Joshua by showing them one of Moses's first signs before all of the Israelites. But I do think there is one important distinction...Joshua doesn't do it. Moses has the staff, Joshua is in charge but it is the Ark that holds the power, in other words God, the Mercy Seat. No one has that power but THE man of God. OK is everyone with me that all this is cool or am I just that much of a nerd, but wait, two more significant things in this one day of reading. Next they get to the land of Jericho and eat of its food and the Manna stops, did anyone else forget about it, I did. After 40 years they don't have to eat it anymore. Last and no where near least, as Joshua approaches Jericho a man appears before him and the text reads this. Joshua 5:13-15 "When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing before him with his drawn sword in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him, "Are you for us, or for our adversaries?" ¹⁴And he said, "No; but I am the commander of the army of the LORD. Now I have come." And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him, "What does my lord say to his servant?" ¹⁵And the commander of the LORD’s army said to Joshua,"Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy." And Joshua did so."

EPIC

Harry Potter devotion

2010-03-09T19:54:00.000-08:00

There is a series of books I have read. Countless times and sometimes out of order, sometimes for fun and sometimes to actually learn something about life, a book about a guy who can do magical things. Have a few guesses? Well its Harry Potter, and all 7 books together equal 4175 pages. That's a lot, and I haven't just gone over than once, I'd say I'm closer to 30,000 pages of Harry Potter no joke. I've read it so many times, looked over every minute detail, spent hours on the web looking up stuff and theories. I've listened to webcasts, I've written papers, given reports, watched all the movies...gone to the midnight opening of one. All for a boy named Harry and what will happen to him next. Why don't I have this devotion to the Bible? I just looked at my little backpack NIV bible, its 964 pages, maybe smaller font and 2 columns but surely it equals 30,000 or less pages of Harry Potter size. Why haven't I read it that many times or more, why don't I look it up, delve deeper into it, figure out what it really means, wonder what is next in it for me. Learn something about life, read for fun, read about a guy who can perform miracles. Could Harry Potter have been an idol for me? I guess so, its done now but I wish it wasn't, maybe I should pick up my bible instead.

P.S. pic of my backpack bible

Poster

2010-03-09T19:39:00.001-08:00

Today in school we had a weird schedule so my health class was shortened and I was almost asleep, after doing my work of course, when I took a look around the room. This room has like 50 bazillion posters OK, like its ridiculous. And being health class they are about not smoking and not driving drunk and not having sex and stuff right? Well there was this one above my teachers head that was really old and faded and looked handwritten in big marker. Here is what it said:

Life is not so much a matter of position as of disposition.
The best vitamin for making friends; B1.
Nobody raises his reputation by lowering others.
Ideas won't work unless you do.
He who forgives ends the quarrel.
Young people need more models than critics.
Frogs have it easy- They can eat what bugs them.
Patience is counting down without blasting off.
If you want your dreams to come true, don't oversleep.
A friend is someone who knows all about you but likes you just the same.
People don't fail they give up.
Smile you'll only use 13 muscles, frowning takes 64.
Kindness is a language the deaf can hear and the blind can see.
The heaviest thing you can carry is a grudge.
We lie loudest when we lie to ourselves.
A friend walks in when everyone else walks out.
Makes friends before you need them.
No man knows less than the man who knows everything.
There is no right way to do the wrong thing.
Having a sharp tongue can cut your own throat.
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

Day 67: Succession

2010-03-08T19:42:00.000-08:00

OK at this point we all know Moses right? Mr.Important, closer to God than anyone ever was, talks with Him face to face, leads all of Israel through the Exodus...right well he can't go into the promise land. Only Joshua and Caleb can so the Lord brings Joshua to Moses and says OK you need to pass on the leadership. Moses gives Joshua a big pep talk about being courageous and then to give him an extra boost God adds this. O ya and by the way all that stuff I mentioned in yesterdays reading (http://bit.ly/dnopu9) about you guys being bad, well I foresee them all being bad. Then Moses (by the way he is 120 now) goes in front of Israel and says you have been bad with me alive so you will surely be with me dead. So Joshua maybe doesn't have the best of stuff to work with and he is probably down on confidence a little now right? I would be. Well anyway, all the Bible we just read is thanks to Moses and he just got finished with it right here and so it gets put into the Ark of the Covenant. In case you didn't catch that, that's the Torah, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy...lots of words and I'm pretty sure they didn't have paper. Anyways he is done with that and God gives him a song to sing to the Israelites that they are to remember (this is a long song I hope it goes into the Ark to remember too)

P.S. guest art via a friend

Day 66: Conquering

2010-03-07T19:32:00.000-08:00

Alright guys, I'm back and if any of you are keeping up you know why. We are done with law and therefore it is easy to write again. Well today March 7th we are still in the Torah but starting the 10th we get into Joshua and that means a whole new story. This is what they have been waiting for since Abraham, they endured 400 years slavery and 40 years in the desert and right as they are about to go in God says "wait, you know those like 3 books of the bible I just gave you through Moses that are nothing but law, ya if you follow those I will do as I said I would, but if you don't I will take away everything and curse you and you will become cannibals and everything will die...but even then if you all come back together and follow Me I will forgive you" So I think in general it is a wonderful and fair way to end the law (but I think I'd find anything a good end to the law) and I think it is cool that they are required to set up an altar once they get over there. God has been with them since the beginning of time and finally they are where they are supposed to be but not even Moses will get to see this, only Joshua and Caleb will see of the original that came out of Egypt. Which while we are on the subject, you know the 400 years in Egypt are just so the Israelites know that God can save them, I mean they were really doing alright going into there. Joseph has his fancy rainbow coat and rules them all but they become too large and are enslaved. But God gets them out and saves them. Even when they disobey in the dessert He holds it off another 40 to show the people present He isn't kidding. And one more time He reminds them right before they get the land. But of course they mess up again and that's all in the minor prophets when Israel gets invaded, so finally He sends Jesus but I'm getting way ahead of myself but see the pattern here of good:bad:good:bad and we never get it? Ya so do I

P.S. I think the picture is very conquering

Day 57: Some Leviticus some Numbers

2010-02-25T20:00:00.000-08:00

Well I was off track and trying to catch back up but was still around a week behind. I then took some advice from Steven Hovater and decided to just start off from today and stick to it from there and it did make things easier. Because as I'm sure you know 10 days of Law is no easy task to read. So when I decided to blog today I was rather excited until I realized what we are still reading about. I honestly don't have much to say on it other than the fact that its awesome we don't have to do all that anymore. I also thought it was really cool that God looked out for the poor and lowered the offerings to help them. Hope we get to something fun soon while I'm in a blogging mood. Keep reading everyone.

Winterfest: The Veil

2010-02-22T20:14:00.001-08:00

Alright well last post was 18 days ago and that's about how far behind I was in bible reading when I picked back up again today and now I still have about a week to go. The snow really threw me off and these past two weekends I haven't been at my house and just a lot of stuff but at least I'm on track now. Well since I am still a week behind I have something else to blog about, Winterfest, which our youth group got back from yesterday. Its a long trip to Gatlinburg on the eastern border of Tennessee but definitely worth it, with the amazing theme this year and the always headlining speaker Jeff Walling. Well last year I didn't necessarily enjoy the theme but this year I thought it was awesome. It was the Veil and about taking it off, taking down the barrier of sin that separates us from God just as Jesus did when the curtain ripped in the temple as He died. And I never noticed the significance of a curtain ripping until I was reading about it being sown not to long ago in daily bible reading and I realize how different it was for everyone to be able to see the Ark. And I guess that is the difference between the Old and New Testament, the new testament I think is less strict but still shows how to live out the Torah "I have not come to abolish the Torah but to fulfill it" said Jesus. Sadly even with 6000 people the worship is always weak at these events and I think its a sense of apathy brought on by the touristic/materialism of the city but none the less I love it. I am wearing the bandanna they gave us to represent our veil to school and hope to use it to help me lead a better life. Now with Winterfest out of the way we are looking at 110ish days till Uplift so bring it on youth group trip season.

Day 35 Numbers 3,8,7,8

2010-02-04T19:05:00.000-08:00

Day 35 offers another great mix up of books thanks to the chronological stuff but it makes perfect sense and I like it, we'll read it all anyway. One thing is I didn't realize that the two people consumed by fire yesterday were two of Aaron's sons that were supposed to be priests. Well the second half of this reading is the 12 tribes giving to the altar and they all give the same thing but we take up 2 pages saying what each one individually gives cause the Bible is difficult. The beginning has some pretty interesting stuff tho. The blog I did on the second (http://bit.ly/brhTsK) had the story of how the Levites helped out Moses and killed 3000 of the Israelites because they worshiped the golden calf and it says that God will show favor to them and make them special and stuff. So guess what here is their chance, they are the tribe chosen to be holy and to be the workers of the Tabernacle. They do something to them that I think is really cool, they get the whole tribe in front of the Tabernacle and have the rest of the Israelites to put a hand on them. This is something our youth group does whenever someone is baptized and its something like 1 person in the middle and 100-200 people putting a hand on them. Well here using simple numbers we'll say every tribe has 2000 people, so 2000 people in the middle with 22000 people around them touching them. They totally just raised the criteria on us here but I thought it was a cool way to do that. But anyway the Levite men have to start serving at 25 and stop at 50...that's earlier than we get but I'm guessing the life expectancy is lower back then, of course they used to live to like 890 but now its 120 so 60 really would be half way through but OK. I guess they are strong after 25 years of work, I hope they get good benefits. Either way I also thought it was interesting that different parts of the Levites had different jobs in the temple. Alright that's it for today now some other random things.
Let me know if I'm spelling things wrong.
I thought of Levy while writing this.
Uplift registration starts on the 8th!
131 days till Uplift!
Another similar Tabernacle pic but still amazing, imagine that as your night light

My Story

2010-02-03T20:06:00.000-08:00

I am going to incorporate a lot of random stuff into this post that I have picked up over a lot of things I guess but the undertone of it is a little story about me and how I really got pulled into the church. If you care stay, if not go ahead and read my other post while you are here and comment.

In 6th and sorta 7th grade I was in a really bad place. I was running with a bad crowd and doing a lot of things I probably shouldn't have. The worst of which probably being I denied God and lets not forget "if you deny me before men I will deny you before the father." I still believed in God and knew consequences but I didn't really go to church often and it was easy to fit in by saying that you agreed with a lot of things the Bible doesn't. If I didn't outright deny Him then I at least was a fence sitter which is worse. He would rather us be hot or cold but if we are lukewarm He will spit us out of His mouth.
But thank the Lord for our youth group. Growing up I really didn't want to go to church, I was one of those kids that thought they knew things, "I've already learned about Moses every grade why do I have to again! *whine scream hit cry every Sunday morning* and so I didn't go a lot and when I did I didn't really pay attention. But the youth group grabbed my attention, there were a lot of fun people in there plus they had an Xbox. But I really liked Steven Hovater and Ryan Smith so even though I didn't really fit in with a group not being around while they all grew up seeing each other 6 or 7 days out of the weeks I came to hear the lessons. Well it did change me and at Winterfest 08 I decided I wanted to be baptized and I had Steven Hovater do it. Now I can't stay out of the youth group and I have parents and other kids parents hauling me to stuff all the time. I have a huge group of friends and might know more kids at CAC than at my school which is an accomplishment when we have 2500 kids. I know I kinda made a short story out of this but I just thought it was kinda cool how the youth group helped me out and how much I am on fire for God now. This year while reading the Bible in a year I feel very in touch with God and that I am taking personal initiative for once rather than with a group. I was just writing and felt like writing all this down so hope you enjoyed.

P.S. I don't remember anything about the Neverending Story but I remember renting them all from a movie store once so I must have watched them.

Day 34 Leviticus 8-10

2010-02-03T19:46:00.001-08:00

This is the first time our chronological Bible actually shakes things up really. Other than a few minor things we went through Genesis and Exodus rather normally. Now we get to the end of Exodus and are confronted with Leviticus 8 and by the way tomorrow is Numbers 3. Well I wanted to make a few comments about this section of reading for the day and before I do I would like to say that I mean this in a pure curiosity/observatory way and do not mean to blaspheme God.

Does anyone else think that God sounds cultish/creepy old Mayan religion at all through the end of Exodus and so far into whatever we are reading now. I mean this is like a mean/jealous/conceited/everyone has to give all this so I won't kill them God and this is not how I view Him later on and I guess that is why there is a New Testament. I mean He makes Pharaoh's heart harden so He can show the Egyptians wrath, and He has all these little rules and ask for all these different things from everyone because they are a pleasing aroma to God and He likes sacrifices by fire. (Can't blame him for that I love fire) But stuff such as when He appears before all the Israelites and shows His glory. These two guys try to burn an offering to Him and it says that "fire came out of the Lords presence and consumed them"
I'm gonna have to stop for a minute, is His presence the spirit incarnate? Is it light? Is it a cloud like it has been for so long? I can't help but picture the black smoke monster from LOST. But that is just plain cool, fire COMES OUT of the Lords presence and consumes them. Although I think that this side of God is rather weird its super cool. But either way I guess the New Testament makes things different and I'm pretty sure He tells us not to sacrifice anymore. I just thought it was a cool observation to make, God is still God and still right in everything He does.

P.S. I think that picture is beast

Execution and Shiny Faces

2010-02-02T16:08:00.000-08:00

I have kept up in my reading and I have wanted to blog but believe it or not Exodus 19-40 (the end of the book) are all laws and rather boring but I did find two awesome stories in there that I didn't really know about.
EXECUTION
Exodus 32:21-29 http://bit.ly/dq6Dn7 tells us of when Moses comes down off Mount Sinai. He has been up there forever and down below even though God is physically on the mountain above them the people are like "eh I don't really know if He brought us out of Egypt lets make a god" So they go to Aaron (Moses's brother) and tell him to make them a god so he gets all their gold jewelry and makes a calf. Well God knows this has happened (duh) and tells Moses and Moses comes down and ask Aaron about it and Aaron is like "I just magically got some gold and threw it in a fire and a cow came out!"
Well Moses is really annoyed so he stands at the entrance to the camp and says if you are still for the LORD come here. All the Levites come to him and he gives them all swords and says go kill people. So they go and kill about 3000 people and the Levites become blessed...Did anyone else miss that one growing up? You hear that Moses breaks the tablets and that he is mad but who knew this happened? Not me. A lot of random stories like this take place in the bible in between stuff, I mean this is just 8 verses. But either way it was a new thing for me. Next

Shiny Faces
Exodus 34:29-35 http://bit.ly/d4wTgr After the story I just talked about Moses has to go get new tablets right? We again know this part of the story. Well the Bible says that when he came down his face shone because he had spoken with the Lord and everyone was afraid. I don't know if it didn't happen before or it wore off but it didn't this time. Apparently it shone forever after this because it says Moses wore a veil except when he went into the tent of meeting to speak with God. Which by the way it says he spoke to the Lord as a man face to face as if they were friends (Exodus 33:7-11). So once again I am thinking Jesus because a few verses earlier (34:1-7) God shows Moses his true form the "I AM" but only his back because no one can see His face and live. Another interesting note that I picked up in "Velvet Elvis" by Rob Bell is that "back" in the Hebrew is probably something that means like "where I just was" so the closest Moses can get to seeing God's glory (which is what he ask to see) is seeing where He, It, I AM just was. In this way Moses has a relationship with Jesus that no man will again experience until the disciples.

Iron Man Faith

2010-01-28T18:50:00.000-08:00

I have pretty recently read the book Velvet Elvis, the subtitle is Repainting the Christian Faith. It is about how the same old faith and the same old ideas sometimes need to change. Things such as the reformation from Martin Luther are examples of how the everyday Christian faith that was accepted was changed. It talks about how we need to be constantly changing, getting rid of the things that don't work and claiming and holding on to the things that do. It made me think of the recent movie Iron Man, when he is designing his suit he has a hologram that he interacts with, he throws off the parts that don't work and keep the parts that do. When he goes up into the air too high and his armor freezes he then changes it into a different metal. This is essentially what the book says, strip off things and hang on and change others. This is what Jesus did when He came to earth. He had completely different ideas from what the people of that time believed. He went against everything the pharisees (sp?) said but at the same time He was teaching how to live out God's will perfectly. The book challenges us to do that, to have worship and ideas that are modern and are applicable to everyday life. Things that move us and give us experiences with God, not just "playing church" and sitting idly once a week earning brownie points. I like this book and I wish I was better at conveying what exactly the book says but I would advise you to everyone to read it. It is by Rob Bell and probably only $15 to buy and you might be able to find it at some libraries. Hope you enjoyed the reading.

End of Genesis-Begining of Exodus

2010-01-27T20:29:00.000-08:00

So I haven't blogged in a while because I'm a procrastinator but I've also been busy. Also when I make something into something I have to do it isn't fun so I am talking with God and I'm going to find a way where its just fun to write on this stuff and I have lots of stuff to say but it does take time. I feel like I am repeating myself too much from my last apology blog but I have been keeping up without even meaning to I read to exactly the point I needed to for today at school with a bible not marked by the days and chronologically. But we are actually about to jump into lots of random leviticus and numbers so. I really like reading all this and I really am learning lots of new stuff with it, if you are doing the same reading I am great keep it up. If not reading the bible daily really is fun. The picture I am providing I like because of the art and the star wars old vhs movie cover feel it sends me but the walls on each side of water seem pretty inaccurate but it does give you the number of people in good detail. I like it.

Uplift 2010: All in One

2010-01-21T18:07:00.000-08:00

Well after checking the Uplift website everyday since August (they told me the theme would be posted soon!) January 11 is not soon but it was posted on that day. And last year starting on May 5th I did a blog on the Sermon on the Mount in preparation for Uplift 09. I thought about doing some blogging on this years theme as well and the theme is All in One. And it is about dedicating every part of our lives, everyday to God and I think I can come up with some stuff for that, one thing honestly is tho that I usually do best blogging when I have a set thing to do. I did Sermon on the Mount and now I am doing the Bible in a year and I can do random stuff some days on things but this would require a little research so I don't know if I will do it but I will pray about it and figure it out. Otherwise I'm continuing doing stuff on the Daily Bible and I will be posting one later tonight. So tune in later people. 145 days till Uplift

Josephs rainbow coat and Judah and Tamar

2010-01-19T18:12:00.000-08:00

I am really excited for this post for a few reasons. One we are going over a very well known story from childhood so I always love going back over them when I'm older. Two the story of Judah and Tamar I have acted out in the youth group before on a Sunday morning. Three I do have some pictures of me actually working on my blog to add to this one so it'll be cool. Annnnndddd heeeeere we GO!

Joseph is 17 so we're talking jr/sr year of highschool and Israel (Jacob) is playing favorites with him (last time this happened we got the Jacob and Esau story). Israel makes a richly ornamented or coat of many colors for Joseph and all his other brothers hate him and cannot say a kind word to him because of this.
To make it worse Joseph then has two dreams about them (figuratively) bowing down to him in the form of sheaves and stars (I had to look up sheaves). And he goes and brags about it so he isn't necessarily super smart.
When his brothers go out to graze with their flocks Israel sends Joseph after them to check on them (so not only is he annoying his dad gets him to be the tattle tale) and when they see him coming they plot to kill him. They plan to throw him into a cistern (which I also had to look up) after killing him but one of the brothers, having mercy, says to just throw him in without harming him.
Then these traders come along and the brothers are like well we do like him a little, it wouldn't be too bad if we sold him into slavery would it? So they sell him for twenty shekels of silver which is about 8 ounces which is about the size of the first plastic cup you used as a kid that didn't have a lid...have a good idea?
They then dip his rainbow coat into some goat blood and fool Israel into thinking Joseph is dead, meanwhile he is sold by the traders to be a slave to the captain of the guard in Egypt.

Detour, so right in the middle of this story we are going to get another one and it is definitely interesting and awkward so I'm glad I'm writing on it not speaking like poor Rambo had to do, but even then he made us act it out.

Judah is one of Israels sons by Leah, he is a main character in the story, try to keep up with all the J names its hard...can't believe the Duggars (sp?) do it.
Judah gets a wife named Shua and they have 3 sons named Er, (is that like her thinking? doctor: what will his name be? Shua:Errrrrrr.... Doctor: Er it is!) Onan, and Shelah.
Judah gets a wife for Er named Tamar but because Er is wicked he is put to death by the Lord and because of laws and wanting to carry on the family line for your brother Onan is told to go lay with Tamar. But Onan felt awkward just as I do typing this and...didn't put out...so the Lord was angry and put him to death as well.
Judah promises to give Tamar Shelah too when he comes of age but until then Tamar is to live in her fathers house as a widow. During this time Shua dies and after Judah has grieved he goes to town to shear some sheep. Well Tamar hears about it and is not happy that she hasn't been given Shelah even tho he has now come of age so she dresses like a prostitute and fools Judah to have sex with her and she became pregnant.
Judah tries to pay her with a young goat but they can't find her whenever they send it because she is now once again a widow. So he just says OK we won't pay her. After about three months Tamar's pregnancy becomes obvious and they tell Judah and he says to burn her because it must have been from prostitution (O so right). But when they take her out to burn her she says the man that these belong to got me pregnant and shows the staff and seal that Judah had given as a deposit basically. So she isn't in trouble but apparently neither is Judah.
Tamar then had twins and one stuck his hand out first but then pulled back in and the other twin came out, then the other baby.

Daily Bible Blogging

2010-01-16T17:17:00.000-08:00

Alright guys so I have missed a few days and reading is hard enough without having to keep up with a blog. I missed a few days of blogging and wrote two to make up for it but there is no way I'm getting out 3 or 4 more. From now on if I don't have the blog I want out the day after the reading I'm just not going to blog on it. However I am staying up to date on all the reading. If you guys would please pray for me to help me remember to write and to write well and perhaps send me a txt a fb message or a tweet to let me know that you are hoping I'm getting these out. Thanks a lot guys and I hope you are keeping up with your reading as well.

Day 12 Genesis 27-28

2010-01-16T16:17:00.000-08:00

So from the last one I kind of got onto Jacob for being so mean to Esau but he isn't doing so hot anyway. He goes and gets 2 heathen wives and becomes a source of grief to Isaac and Rebekah.
When Isaac is realllly old and blind he calls on Esau and says go and hunt my favorite game and prepare it the way I like so I may give you my blessing. Just one thing here...didn't he sell his birthright? Doesn't that mean Jacob gets the blessing...I mean he will anyway but that's a little later on in the story.

Then Rebekah and Jacob conspire which all this deceit can't be good can it? I have no clue how they get away with all this. But Rebekah tells Jacob to go get two goats so she can prepare Isaac's favorite food. Then she takes the goat skins and covers Jacob so that he will be hairy like Esau. At this point if I'm Esau I'm lazy I'd be getting the goats from the flock too and not going out to hunt them but I guess that's a good thing about Esau huh, we haven't found too many about Jacob anyway.
Jacob then takes the food to Isaac and Isaac is like wait how did you do that so fast and Jacob says the Lord God gave me success. Again not only is he lying he is using God to do it...what is up with this guy. And Isaac eventually is like whatever I guess its you and gives him the blessing. Why isn't God coming to Isaac in a vision and warning him?

Esau then comes in like 20 minutes later (I guess God really did give him success) and figures out what happened and starts begging for a blessing. The blessing he gives includes him throwing the yoke of Jacob from your neck and because of this Esau held a grudge against him and he said when his father Isaac died he would kill his brother.

Rebekah tries to help Jacob and sends him to her brother Laban in the land of Paddan Aram and Isaac also blesses this journey because he wants Jacob to have a good wife. (again why is Jacob still getting the good treatment here) Esau then realizes that the wives he has are displeasing to Isaac and takes a wife from the daughters of Ishmael the other son of Abraham so this is his cousin but whatever that's how it goes back then.

On his journey Jacob stops for the night and rest and laying a stone under his head he goes to sleep. He had a dream in which a ladder was on the earth and reached to the heavens and the angels were going up and down on it. God then says that he is Abraham and Isaac's God but He does not call Isaac his father, He calls Abraham his father and then says of Isaac. I just thought it was interesting. Anyway He says He will give Jacob this land. When Jacob awakes from sleeping he says surely the Lord was in this place and I was not aware of it and he calls it the house of God, the very gate of Heaven.
Before we go on I want to note something. You see how God communicates now? He isn't there on the earth, He doesn't even visit in physicality, He just comes in visions now. Again link to a great sermon on the topic http://bit.ly/69XoKU
So Jacob takes the stone and makes it an altar and worships and basically makes a deal that says God if you protect me on this journey then you will be my God and this place Bethel which means house of God will be your house and everything You give me I will give you a tenth.

Day 11 Genesis 25-26

2010-01-16T15:33:00.000-08:00

Sorry for not having blogged in a while anyone who reads. I've just been really busy and this past week was exam week and then I wasn't home for like two days in a row but now I'm back and I'm planning on putting out several of these tonight.

After the death of Sarah, Abraham decided to take a wife named Keturah who he had something like 6 sons with. Then before he died he gave everything he owned to Issac and sent all of his other sons away to make sure Issac got all the land. Abraham died at 175 and was buried with his wife Sarah.

Isaac was 40 when he married Rebekah and when he was 60 after he had prayed to the Lord she became pregnant. The babies wrestled in her womb and when she asked God He said that two nations were in her womb and they must be separated and one would be stronger than the other. So when the first one came out he was red and hairy so they named his Esau which means hairy and the second came out holding onto Esau's heel so he was called Jacob which means he deceives. Next the parents play favorites and Isaac likes Esau and Rebekah likes Jacob.

The next story is that one day Esau comes in from hunting and is so hungry he is about to die and Jacob, instead of giving him some of the soup he is making (so one hunts and one cooks, we see where the favoritism comes from) he says I will only give you some if you sell me your birthright. So about to die Esau agrees (although I'm thinking he could just punch him and take some) I think its pretty mean of Jacob and wrong that Jacob gets all the good stuff in these stories.

As a little bit of after note Isaac thinks about moving because of a famine in the land but God tells him not to go to Egypt but to stay where he is and He will provide. Then for about the 20th time in Genesis so far God repeats His promise to give lots and lots of kids to Abraham's line and that they will rule this land. Then they fight over some wells and for about the 5th time in Genesis so far a couple lies about being married and say they are brother and sister.

P.S. I gave up on finding a picture for this one, there are more to come I won't disappoint.

P.P.S. I think I spelled Isaac right through this one

Stories from Genesis 21-24

2010-01-11T14:20:00.000-08:00

So the reason my blog is titled like this is this post will cover reading from days 8-10 of our reading but I won't be talking about all of it since a lot of it I don't know anything about or its just boring weird stuff (is that blasphemous?) Well today was my first day of exams and I got home at 145 and I'm happy because it gives me a lot more time in the day to do stuff such as blogging and reading but sadly its only Monday-Thursday that I will have this time. A trick we try to pull during exams is that we should be allowed to chew gum because it makes us think better or whatever but there is a study that says its true so right now to blog all of this stuff I am chewing gum from my stocking (thanks Santa) I would also like to say that the free bookmarks from the church are great cause I can keep opening and closing my bible to look at stuff and not try to keep the first 40 ridiculously thin pages open.

The Birth of Issac
God was gracious to Sarah and at the time He promised He gave her a son. Well the time He promised was about a year from the time He visited Abraham and destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. In about 1 or 2 chapters and a days reading we have gone a year. Abraham gave him the name Issac which means "he laughs" and on the 8th day of his life he was circumcised (I mean I know it still hurts but it seems he got a better deal than the grown men in Abraham's household a few chapters back) Then it says Sarah laughs about this wonderful miracle, which I find funny because she laughed at the Lord when He said He would give her a son.

Issac Sacrificed
I think its a little funny that my last subtitle was Issac's birth and now we must talk about him being sacrificed. Since Issac's birth he has been a main point of endearment to Abraham, perhaps to the point of worship. Even though it was God that gave him his son, Issac is something tangible and Abraham needs a little reality check about who to really worship. When God tells Abraham to sacrifice Issac He does put emphasis on the gravity of it "your only son, whom you love" while it must be hard for Abraham you never see a complaint written in the Bible, the next verse tells about the next morning.
Abraham takes two servants and his son and sets out for the place God told him of. It takes three days to get to the mountain (or hill, it says he looked up, whatever) and Abraham tells his servants to wait and says that they will worship and then they will return to them which Abraham at this point believes is a lie. He then places the wood on Issac's back (kind of mean but hey Abraham is like 115 right now) and he himself carries the fire and knife (I guess fire is the tinderbox) and Issac being the bright boy that he is says wait we have fire and wood but what of the sacrifice and his dad tells him that God will provide it (we all trust our dads right) and the two of them went on together.
In verses 6-8 here "and the two of them went on together" is said twice. God wants us to realize that they are together.
When they get to the spot Abraham builds an alter and places bounds his son and places him on it. (Issac has to realize something right, is he not questioning? fighting back? the Bible doesn't say so) Abraham then takes the knife and goes to slay his son but the angel of the Lord stays his hand and tells him to sacrifice a lamb the Lord has provided instead because Abraham did not withhold his only son (his point of worship) from God. By the way, it says the place is the mountain where the Lord will provide so I was right it was a mountain. Anyway after that Abraham's promise/blessing from God is kind of renewed and strengthened and it says he went to his servants and they set off together. Anyone notice the difference? Abraham and Issac do not go on together, whether Issac leaves Abraham out of anger or the bible writer doesn't mention them together again to prove the point that Abraham doesn't have him as a point of worship anymore they are not mentioned together.

While I'm not going to make a subtitle about it, it should be noted that some time after this story Sarah the wife of Abraham dies and she is buried in land that is given to him by the Canaanites.

Issac is found a wife
Last subtitle guys, hope you are still interested, anyway I added that small little section cause it is kind of significant to why Abraham does this, he fears his son will not have a wife (I think they have to be found for you, or maybe you just don't get out much and no internet dating in those days) Either way Abraham realizes he won't be around much longer (remember God decided we shouldn't be 900 anymore) He also makes sure that his sons wife is from his tribe and his land and not from the Canaanites. He makes his servant go and find one. So the servant goes to whatever land Abraham wants him too and goes to the well to wait for girls to come from their houses and draw water (instead of the mall they all go to the well and get us water, good girls) And he does something I do a lot which sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. He says if the girl does this and this and this let her be the girl I am to find. So the first girl out is the one that does this and she is Rebekah who is like Issac's cousin I think but whatever. So Rebekah is blessed by her family and taken back to Issac and they have their wedding in his mothers tent.

P.S. If you were planning to tell me I just noticed I spelled Isaac wrong through the whole blog, spell check didn't fix it and I'm 14 so.

P.P.S It is hard to find pictures for some of these blogs, I work hard for you

P.P.P.S Don't ever use the italic setting like I did for my subtitles it stays on until you turn it on and off about 50 times

Day 7 Genesis 18-19

2010-01-08T19:33:00.000-08:00

So I know I haven't done the past couple of days and that is simply because I didn't have much to say and I found the quality of what I was trying to write very poor. So I have decided do to the time it takes to go through these and such that I will be reading every day but only posting on the days that I really have some discussion to contribute which isn't the worst idea. So here we are day 7 and Sodom and Gomorrah are in trouble.

One day as Abraham is chilling at the entrance to his tent The Lord comes to him and Abraham sees three men (God/Jesus, and two angels) and he rushes to them and says if I am truly your servant and you have found favor in me let me get you water and food and you can wash your feet and rest. They tell him go ahead and he runs and tells his wife (in the kitchen, good wife Sarah) to bake bread and he brings a good cow to the servant to be prepared and then he stands near them and watches them eat under the tree.
The Lord then ask him about his wife and tells him that when He returns in a year He will give Sarah a child and eavesdropping on the conversation Sarah laughs and when God asks Abraham did she just laugh she lies...to the Lord....got some guts there.
Then as They walk off toward Sodom God kind of ask Himself and I guess His angels, should I tell Abraham what I am about to do? And He decides to and He says Sodom and Gomorrah's sin is so great that I must go down to see if it is truly this bad (guess God is sending Jesus to scout out just in case the place is worth saving)
Then the angels leave (we figure out where they go in a minute) and Jesus is left standing with Abraham and Abraham says Lord, would you destroy the bad and the good? Will you not show mercy, what if 50 people are found who are good.

At this point I stopped for a minute and said wait...50, that's not many but this is an old town so I looked up the population and I couldn't find much finite stuff but what I did find said somewhere between 600-1200 people. So even with 600 people we are saying if %12 percent of the population is good we will spare the city and apparently this city is awful OK. So God agrees, hold on if its 1200 we realize that's %6 percent...OK basic math, anyway God agrees and Abraham basically says but wait I know you are God and all but what if just maybe we negotiated this down to 10 people which is eventually what we end up at and God agrees. So I am boggled by both here, I mean God has always been merciful and forgiving to everyone but Abraham is trying to save them, I wonder why? So I drew a blank and now I'm questioning if my math at the top is even right but now the percent is even less OK? And God agrees to not destroy the city if he can find 10 decent people.

The angels have made it to Sodom and Lot treats them as Abraham did, taking them inside and making them food and before the night is over all the men of Sodom are at Lots doors asking for the men. The reason? They want to have sex with them, I now see why God wants to destroy it and wonder even more why He wouldn't for the sake of 10. So Lot trying to protect the angels says no take my daughters instead and the angels are like seriously dude BOOM they are all blind now that that's over with. Then they lead Lot and any of his family out of the city and tell him to flee to the mountains and don't look back and Lot (who must be lazy) says wait can't we just go to this town that's close and they say sure we won't hit that town. So they flee and God destroys the cities with burning sulfur,OW! and then Lots wife looks back and she becomes salt...wait what. Its one simple verse at the end of the section and the bible has it there pretty insignificantly, its like O ya and by the way one of the morons did look back and she got turned into a pillar of salt. So they next morning Abraham wakes up and is like lets go look at this lovely view and all he sees is smoke on the plain. (my agent said I could always see the sunrise)

What surprises me looking back which this isn't mentioned again, but God didn't find 10 decent people and that makes me wonder if that is why He agreed with Abraham, maybe He knew there was no chance there would be 10 good people I mean some random guys come to town and they want to have sex with them so that's awful.

To top off this wonderful story Lot and his daughters settle in a cave and to perserve the family line they get him drunk and both sleep with him and have Moab and Ben-Ammi the fathers of the Moabites and Ammonites. Let me point out the Bible makes sure to let you know that Lot had no way of knowing what was going on so he is in the clear.

Day 4 Genesis 11 then 10 then 11 some more

2010-01-05T18:57:00.000-08:00

Couldn't help but put that as the title, gotta love the chronological Bible. Anyway had a snow day yesterday and was never inside and when I was I crashed so sorry for not posting but I caught up today and will get today's out as soon as I am done with this one.
So we start here with everyone on Earth speaking the same language and they all migrate east to a new land. They then decide to make bricks and use tar as mortar and make a city. They then decide to build a tower to the heavens to "make a name for themselves"
Then it says God came down...notice the difference, He came DOWN. He isn't here with us anymore, He was with Adam and Eve and I'm also convinced He was with Cain and Abel at that point but now the sin has made us separate we can no longer go to God, He comes down to us. (great sermon on the topic http://bit.ly/69XoKU )
So He comes down (I think this He is Jesus wait for why) and sees what the men are doing and says with one language anything they plan will be possible so He says come let US go down and confuse their language. I think the "us" is referring to Him and God going down. So He changes there languages and spreads them over the earth.
After that I'm not going to go into much detail but you get a lot of genealogy that tells you where each tribe and nation comes from and who they descend from.

Day 3 Genesis 6-9

2010-01-03T20:05:00.000-08:00

So far this is totally the hardest day for me, I got to reading kinda late with school starting back up tomorrow and this is the longest section so far, plus this is the first section I've had to stop and read a bunch to be able to make any sense of so here we go.
We start off basically with the good line of people from Seth (sons of God) marrying the bad people from Cain (sons of men) which was making all of mankind bad. God decides that these 900 year old people aren't a good idea so He limits our lives to 120 years. At this point I'm estimating 1,500-2,000 years out of these 10 generations (if anyone has better numbers please tell me) and we are starting to go bad. We then hear about how the wicked offspring of these marriages are considered heroic people. So here God decides that since all the inclination of everyone's thoughts was evil He will wipe out all of man and all the beast of the land and birds of the sky. But He does find favor with one man, Noah.
So then God tells Noah how the flood is going to go down and tells him how to build the ark and to bring your whole family (extended as well) because they are good in this evil generation. Also to bring seven of every kind of clean animal and its mate so 14 and 2 of every unclean animal and its mate so 4. Lots of creatures here people now how do they all fit on one ark. Two different things I'm thinking 1. There aren't as many species back then because they haven't evolved to different climates and stuff and 2. This is God we are talking about.
When Noah is 600 he starts this and as God said all the animals come to him and it takes a week for this to all go down and then on that very day they all get inside the floods start and it rains for forty days and forty nights (look for 40 in the Bible people its important)
These waters come up to 20 feet above the tops of mountains enough so that even the birds left die. So now there is NOTHING living on the earth except for this little colony in the ark.
After the flooding and waiting 150 days for the water to recede its been 5 months and the ark is finally set down on some mountains. After sending doves and ravens out at intervals of 7 days(another important number) the earth is finally dry on the 370th day 10 days over the year they first got in the ark and they can finally come out. Note the 3 and 7 in 370.
Noah makes offerings of some of the clean animals that were aboard the ark (come on there are only so many) and God makes a covenant to never wipe out the earth again even if every inclination of our hearts is evil from childhood. (makes you wonder if He has ever wanted to) and He gives almost the same promise to Noah that he gave to Adam saying you will rule over all the animals and now you may eat them too as long as their lifeblood isn't still in the meat. God also says if you shed the blood of a man than by man shall your blood be shed. (kind of different from the teachings of Jesus but hey this is the OLD testament) God then repeats His previous promise even specifically directing it towards the animals saying that He shall never again flood the earth and He marks the covenant with a rainbow and says when He sees it He will remember. (does He need a rainbow to remember?)
Then we hear a little story about how Noah gets drunk off some wine in his vineyard and his son Ham (father of Canaan) only laughs but his other sons cover his drunkenness and nakedness so Canaan shall now be slave to Japheth and Shem. So apparently ever since Adam and Eve figured it out they've been pretty uncomfortable with it.

Day 2 Genesis 4-5

2010-01-02T20:27:00.000-08:00

So we just got through creation and Adam and Eve so next is...
Adam and Eve lay together and Eve has a son (here is where the pain comes, shouldn't have eaten the fruit) named Cain. Then the bible takes time to let you know that she says she has done this with the help of God. Later she gave birth to Abel. Now Cain works the fields and Abel kept flocks (a well working family, no?) and when the time came to give offerings to the Lord Cain brought "some of the fruits of the soil" and Abel "fat portions from some of the first of his flock" So I guess right off the fat meat does sound better than fruit right (agreement from all small children) but you would still think that God would like Cain for offering something, but what I'm guessing is he brought some bad stuff and of course God can tell that Cain didn't have the best intentions in his heart that Abel did. One other thing continuing the theory that this is Jesus that they are with, would it not make sense since they are I guess the only 4 people on the planet for them to go to God/Jesus the same one that was walking with them in the garden to give the offerings instead of having an altar or something? Anyway God tells Cain that he should do what is right and that sin is crouching at his door. And sure enough Cain calls Abel into the fields and kills him. Then Jesus asks (because He doesn't technically know) where Abel is the same way He ask while walking in the garden where Adam and Eve are Cain tells Him basically well how should I know (I mean there are only 4 of them how hard can it be to keep in touch today's breaking news: ....wait there is none) So Jesus then says I can hear your brothers blood crying out to Me, you will be cursed and the soil you work will no longer produce crops and you will be a restless wanderer on this earth. Then Jesus puts a mark on Cain so that no one will kill him and if anyone does they will suffer vengeance seven times over. So these other people that might kill Cain I'm guessing God either put there in some other land or they are the many sons and daughters that Adam and Eve have in their 800 years together mentioned later on (breaking news: Cain killed Abel...hence they all want to kill Cain but now he has a mark) So Cain lays with his wife and they have a son whom Cain names the city he is building after. So 5 generations down the line Lamech has two wives and confesses to killing a young boy for injuring him (again guessing these are the thousands of children of people wandering around) and he says if Cain is avenged 7 times than Lamech 77 (so I guess he is protecting himself from being killed) note this is also the number of times Jesus in the New Testament tells Peter (I think) to forgive his brother, not 7 but 77 times.
Going back to Adam and Eve they have a son named Seth created in Adams image (the image of God, no?) to replace the son they lost. It says at this time men began calling on the name of the Lord (were they not before?)
Then we get the genealogy of the 5 generations I mentioned before Lamech and a few extra and it tells how they all live 800-900 years and have tons of kids and die and nothing interesting happens until the Bible mentions Enoch who lives 65 years, has his kid and then it says he walks with God for 300 years and then God takes him away....weird is this like how Elijah was taken up?
Now we finish up the genealogy and are done, pretty weird story of how the earth got populated huh.

Project 4:4 Day 1 Genesis 1-3

2010-01-01T15:57:00.000-08:00

OK so after reading my very first day I have just realized how much longer this will probably make my blogs so I hope you enjoy what I have to say. Also I missed yesterdays blog cause I wasn't home all day but now I'm back and we have started the new year and thus the Bible in a year. So basically I guess I'll talk about what stuck out to me and comments are more encouraged on these blogs so we can discuss this all.
So the first thing I really noticed, and I don't know how late I am on all this was how in verse 2 of Genesis 1 it says the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. So two things out of this, 1. Water is already there and 2. This isn't God this is His spirit so we have already heard of Him in two forms. The second thing to really point out is the first day He does not create the Sun, Moon and stars. He simply separates the light and darkness. Then there was evening and morning the first day. Notice that this is backwards from how we would say it.
So second day God creates an expanse to separate the water from the water and He calls this expanse sky. What I'm not sure I understand is separating the water from the water. He says there is water above and below the expanse (sky) so what is above? I have no clue, evening and morning, the second day.
So third day He takes the water (which was already there) and pulls it all to a certain space and calls that seas and then puts land where there isn't water. Then He puts plants and trees on the land that will produce seed according to their kind and there was evening and morning the third day.
Day four He creates the Sun, Moon and stars to help separate the day and night because the separation of light and darkness didn't do this even though we do know the difference between evening and morning at this point already. There was evening and morning the fourth day.
Cinco, God makes birds to fill the expanse of sky and fish and such to fill the waters and He commands them to reproduce and make more so that the sky and water are filled. Evening and morning the fifth day.
Day six, this is the last day of creating and God does a lot more this day, He makes the livestock and creatures of the land and then says OK we shall make man in OUR image. It was the our that jumped at me, I assume He is speaking of Himself, the Son, and the Spirit. Then He blesses us and tells us to rein over the earth and subdue it and multiply and gives us all the food and trees and plants and also gives it as food to the livestock. Now the earth and heavens are completed. Evening and morning the sixth day.
Weekend baby, so on the seventh day God rest and He sets this day apart as Holy and we no longer bother to say evening and morning for creation is done and earth is functioning.
OK so we are now done with creation and we are only at chapter 2 verse 4 so sorry this is going so long but I promise every day will not be like this and I hope you are getting some worthwhile insights.
Now God has planted a garden to the east in Eden, here we hear about the river that runs through it and splits into 4 different rivers, including the Tigris so we are now in Mesopotamia, my social studies could be bad but I'm pretty sure that is where archeologist have found the earliest roots of civilization. And He places the man there to work the ground and places in the middle the tree of life and the tree of knowledge of good and evil and He commands Adam not to eat of this tree for when he does he will surely die.
God decides that Adam needs a helper so He brings all the livestock (creatures of land) and birds (sky) to him and tells him to name them all. Notice we don't bother with fish. And after a suitable partner cannot be found for Adam God decides to make a woman and puts Adam into a deep sleep, removes one of his ribs and makes a woman out of it. This made me wonder if Adam just lost a rib or if man originally would've had one more rib than we do now until women came along...hmmm. So God says that there will be a time when a man will leave his father and mother to be with a woman and they will become one flesh and they were both naked and felt no shame for they knew not of good and evil.
Next women gets tempted by the snake (thanks woman) and really the snake is telling the truth here even if he is bad. He says that you will become like God knowing good and evil and you will not surely die which we can tell is true because she doesn't die and they now know that they are naked. After making some clothes (I hope the wife sowed them) they hear God walking in the garden (how cool is that, God is walking in the garden with them) although there has been some thought about that being Jesus since no one can actually see God and live. So God finds them and ask them how they know they are naked (kinda interesting that He should have to ask if this is God but if its Jesus it makes sense that He wouldn't know yet, no?) and they blame the serpent and God curses the serpent above all livestock which is why no one likes snakes. So women get pain in childbirth and there desire is now for her husband and he will rule over her. (guess that explains why girls are crazy for guys) And man now has to work and toil for his food instead of it being provided for him. Then God makes them clothes from skin (I'm guessing animal) and sends them out of the garden so that they cannot eat of the tree of life and become immortal. I find it interesting that He didn't tell them not to eat of it in the first place but maybe if Adam and Eve never eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil they would've been welcome to live forever and just never got around to it.

Alright that is day 1 people thanks for bearing with me, I promise the rest of them will be shorter but I think it was a good way to start off.

How Many?

2009-12-30T20:08:00.000-08:00

How many times have we sinned? Is it safe to say we're in the hundreds, thousands, ten-thousands, hundred-thousands,millions? When I thought about this question the other night I thought about how many times my Savior has forgiven me, now in Matthew 18:22 He says "I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven." For those of you who don't feel like doing that in your head (me) that's 490 times. Isn't it safe to say that He has forgiven us more than that and obviously even more. And while His forgiveness never ends there is a point where He says OK come on, I've forgiven you for this same sin thousands of times its time you gave it up and followed Me. And at some point we all need to do that. Not to say that we can be perfect and never sin but we can choose to do a lot better, if its not for Santa than for Him right? Like I said in my last blog I think we make the path too narrow. We can make this easier and He will be willing to forgive us of everything if we try. And that trying is really worth it when it gets us to Heaven.

Why is the path so Narrow?

2009-12-29T21:02:00.000-08:00

The passage Matthew 7:13-14 we are talking about can be found at http://bit.ly/14g32H and the blog post in question http://bit.ly/8K2ZCi So back when I did my Sermon on the Mount blog, the one about the narrow and the wide gates was one of the last I did. So when I was showing this blog to a teacher at Uplift a discussion question we got into was why was the gate so narrow? Why is it so hard to get to God, and I could be wrong but I think the answer is simply that it isn't. I mean God never says it'll be easy but it doesn't have to be that hard. I think we lower the expectations of what we can actually accomplish. A video done by Rob Bell talks about how when Jesus tells Peter to step out onto the water not only is the passage about Peter's faith in the Christ but his faith in himself that he can do as his Rabbi does. Video from Rob Bell here http://bit.ly/nSOGw So what I am thinking is we are making the gate and path narrower than we have to. I think we can accomplish more easier and than Christ does have a deep faith in us that we can albeit with His help on the cross. Because it can't be that hard when you think about it to think about all that He has done for us and simply follow the commands so that we can enjoy eternity with Him instead of eternal torture with Satan.

Who Knew

2009-12-28T21:01:00.000-08:00

Who knew the Bible wasn't already in chronological order? Cause I didn't, I mean I know the gospels are the same stories but that's about it. When I figured out we were doing Project 4:4 at my church next year, aka reading the Bible chronologically in a year I was like wait it isn't already. So I went and looked it up and apparently the book of Job is smack dab in the middle of Genesis and the Kings and Chronicles down there are all mixed up, you begin to get a Star Wars vibe. So I don't know why it wasn't already written chronologically but its cool that I'll get to read it that way now. I mean God helped man put it together so I guess it doesn't matter much but I'm sure this will offer new insights. So anyway sorry I didn't blog yesterday I wasn't at the house all day. Other than that I'm done I was kinda rushing today as well but at least I got something out and it does pertain to what I'll be blogging about all next year so cya later.

Music

2009-12-26T12:13:00.001-08:00

So like most of you I'm sure I am always listening to music. But this summer I realized just how small my repertoire of music listening really was and I set out to change that. So starting with what I knew I liked and with help from Pandora I pushed out and found tons of new artist and songs and prior to previous belief I learned I like SOMETHING in every kind of music. I also learned to enjoy some heavier and more mellow stuff at the same time. As well as going a little more mainstream and going more abstract. So it was a good summer of music for me and has continued into school. Some new favorites include Weezer, The Killers, Coldplay, Muse, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Kid Cudi. So that's just a little bit of what I have really grown to love lately. Its really cool all the different things people do with music and how much they influence each other and sounds alike and go together when at first you wouldn't think they do. But really most everyone can turn on their ipod or pandora or just their favorite radio station and listen to music for hours because I do it daily. So everyone enjoy. P.S. in case you couldn't tell by the pic Green Day has been my fav band since 6th grade

HEATH!

2009-12-25T17:49:00.000-08:00

While it has nothing to do with Christmas I have vowed to post and I do love me some Steelers. So today while I was watching the Steelers division playoff from 06 in which we beat the Colts on the road, please note we went from wildcard to superbowl on the road every game and won becoming the only team to do so and gaining our 5th superbowl in the process, we would get our 6th in superbowl 43 thereby getting the most superbowl's of any other NFL team...just saying. Anyway I realized something that I really love about Steelers fans and that's how loud they are and how many people they bring to every game, we are almost the home team everywhere we go. Our tight end Heath Miller is a hoss and its great to hear the crowd every time he makes a catch to rumble out HEATH!! It adds to the effect and I just had to think how that dude has to feel having that many people say his name, it really must push you to excel. Anyway I love the Steelers and they are the best team ever despite their rebuilding year this year. Also many thanks to Makennah my wonderful girlfriend for the Polamalu jersey for Christmas, who is also like the best defensive player ever.

'Twas the Dark Knight before Christmas

2009-12-24T15:39:00.000-08:00

Well it's Christmas eve guys but it doesn't really feel like it to me so I hope you are faring better. We are watching A Christmas Story at 7 so hopefully that will help out. And maybe just maybe this year I will be able to sleep on Christmas eve. Anyway, this great video http://bit.ly/eBkIf incorporates Christmas and Batman and since Batman is my favorite super hero, I was pleased. So just a little about Christmas and Batman. First Batman is totally the best super hero, he is amazing without super powers and in case you were wondering whenever Superman and Batman fight Batman always wins ( http://bit.ly/kQebo see the last paragraph of plot summary), so take that man of steel fans. Also this video so accurately portrays him but hey can you blame him, he spent most of his Christmas's alone with a butler. Secondly Christmas is awesome and I hope we all at least take a second to realize what its really about cause its amazing what our Savior did for us. Anyway Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.

It's begining to look a lot like April

2009-12-24T07:35:00.001-08:00

Well Little Rock friends our city has delivered again and its raining Christmas eve and I wouldn't be surprised if it rained through to tomorrow. But as I asked God last night why o why can't we have snow, He showed me a headline on the news about all the snow that other places such as Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, North and South Dakota. What He said was see the weather I'm creating to give other people their white Christmas is giving you rain, but don't be surprised you know how it is in Arkansas. So if you want snow you're just going to have to move people cause all we get is ice.

The U...Already Know

2009-12-23T16:39:00.000-08:00

I recently watched one of ESPN's 30 for 30 films "The U" and it just makes me love college football all the more. The Miami teams from 83-92 dominated in college football, winning 4 national championship with 3 different coaches. The whole thing was amazing, the recruiting premise they got all these players on was they went into the ghettos and slums and pulled out the kids that had been playing since they were 7 against each other and put them all into Miami. It took them out of tough situations and gave them an opportunity for education. It gave them something that they succeeded in that brought the crime ridden streets of Miami together. Despite there awful on and off the field antics they were having fun and they had the right to declare themselves as the best. They were discriminated against because of race a lot of the time and were scolded for running up the score but when Notre Dame, Nebraska, or Oklahoma did it, it was OK. The thing was they weren't the right team doing it. They received money from some famous people sure but it was for food and things they needed. The bottom line was they put the University on the map and gave them money and a huge increase in admissions. While the teams that played against them found it downright disrespectful, I loved watching these guys kill teams and at the same time they were saved from awful situations. Check out the video guys http://bit.ly/7fcnmL

TV

2009-12-22T08:32:00.000-08:00

OK well now that I am actually writing again and making the commitment to post every day in preparation for posting daily for bible reading next year, here we go again. I know that I'm very late on the whole having 50 TV shows trend but this past TV season I found tons of shows that ended up on my weekly record and watch list. However half way through the season I stripped it down to what I really watch, House, Lie to Me, and Glee. I have always loved House and his humor but I liked the older seasons better that focused more on the medicine and the patient. Lie to Me is simple and funny and keeps me entertained enough to come back weekly. And Glee was so amazing that it had me singing all the songs and left me with my mouth open at most commercials. But now that all those are on break I just realized that's about all I watch on TV, despite the occasional Phineas and Ferb episode I don't turn on my awesome '36 inch in my room often. However I have recorded at least 10 movies so far this holiday season so I haven't been let down yet. And lets not forget that sometime soon some bowls have to come on between some other team besides Small town high v. I don't care State right?

Extra, Extra! Read all about me!

2009-12-21T20:57:00.000-08:00

So my last blog post was August 16th and I don't think anyone noticed the absence of my ramblings anyways. See with me blogging comes in burst of inspiration that will last 2 or 3 months tops so what we are coming up on now is simply the want to write something and getting in the mood for my wait for it....year long blog on our churches Project 4:4 read the bible in a year thing. So here is to hoping that all goes well. Well anyways here is a little update on my life from August 16th to now.
August 19th I started school, 9th grade at the historic Central High School (http://bit.ly/xXYe)
August 26th I started going out with Makennah :)
I went to several CAC football games but none for my home school tigers as we are on our infamous 21 game losing streak
I saw many movies including the Blindside and Toy Story 1 and 2 in 3-D
I watched Arkansas football on a projector and made a record of 24 tweets during the Ark v. LSU game
I discovered I have several friends from Uplift I now text daily
I discovered the wonders of Pandora radio and itunes
I realized my school and its students are awful and our generation is sad
I found out I never go home Sundays but instead float from family to family
I decided if I don't become a youth minister I will be a college football coach
Jordan got me tickets to the Liberty Bowl to see the Hogs
Realized you have to wrap your girlfriends Christmas present even if it got shipped in a nice little box
Realized I still need to get and ship several Christmas presents (as of right now)
Started blogging again (right now)

So that's about it, wasn't that so interesting, I'm already 1/8th through highschool, isn't that insane, if my mom let it sink in she would cry. Well Christmas is 4 days away and Uplift 170 some odd number so bring it on 2010, I'm ready

Traffic

2009-08-16T12:10:00.000-07:00

I don't even have my learners permit and stuff like this gets on my nerves. We were sitting at a light the other day big line and it finally turns green. Five seconds afterward the driver decides to look up from his cell phone and go, one other car then makes it through the light and it starts to change again. Once it hits red three more cars from our line go. How is it that we manage to only get two through on a green light but three on a red? Applying this biblicly we can see examples of this as well, too often we are told to do something and only a few follow but when it comes time to stay-away-from-that situation more people go than when we are supposed to. Sometimes its as simple as being distracted as to why we don't take chances when we can, like the man looking at his iPhone 3Gs instead of driving. But whatever we need to do stuff we are supposed to and stay away from stuff we aren't its that simple.

Touching, the ark of God

2009-08-13T20:43:00.000-07:00

Without looking does anyone know the story that is found at 2 Samuel 6: 2-7? From looking at the title of the blog I probably gave it away. Found here (http://bit.ly/YkTNu) is the story of Uzzah. The man who reached out and touched the Ark of the Covenant. Part of verse six through 7 say this "Uzzah put out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled. And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Uzzah, and God struck him down there because of his error, and he died there beside the ark of God." So a few questions came to my mind here. Did Uzzah really need to touch the ark to save it from falling? If he hadn't would it have fallen and shattered? Would more people have died trying to repair it or move it once it had fallen? Could Uzzah simply have left it alone and everything woul've been fine? Was Uzzahs death a necessary sacrifice to save the ark? And should God have killed Uzzah for his good intentions? Now obviously God sets forward some pretty strict and obvious rules on the Isrealites but I can't help but wonder if this is like self defense, like how we don't pentalize people (sometimes) for killing someone else if they were trying to kill them. So I'm not sure exactly what would've happened if he hadn't touched it, or if he simply had to die to save the ark but what are your thoughts on the whole situation?

No Satan

2009-08-13T19:49:00.000-07:00

I started thinking about random things and one thing came to my mind as I was looking for a blogging topic. No Satan. What if there was no Satan? Would God automatically put us into heaven? If we died would we simply go nowhere like Atheist believe will happen to all of us? Would God even reward us with heaven? Or would He simply leave the people who didn't make it to heaven on Earth to live in a world of no morals? Would there be such a thing as right and wrong with Satan not there trying to get us to cave to sin? No matter what would happen it doesn't matter because Satan does exist but it's an interesting topic to think on so go ahead and comment, what you think would be the most likely scenario or just thoughts on my ideas.

Sweat

2009-07-23T21:03:00.001-07:00

I'm not sure about anyone else but I think sweat and accomplishment go hand in hand. Whenever I'm doing something physical and working hard I think I should be sweating. If your playing a sport and everyone else is tired and sweating and your doing alright, your not contributing much. Whenever I am doing something out in the sun such as, for recent examples, playing Ultimate or on the roof of a house working. Feeling that sweat drip onto my face and neck coming off my hair has in itself a sense of accomplishment. It kind of remind me what the Bible says about sowing and reaping, you get out of it what you put into it. And while you don't have to be physically sweating I think we should work at all things in our life to be working hard enough so that we"sweat". This is something that while I recently realized would be a good idea I don't necessarily do. A lot of things in my life I like to do half way or just enough to get by. It reminds me of another verse that says in everything you do, do it as if doing it for God and not man. (or something along those lines not a direct quote) Well that means we need to be doing stuff to a level at which is our best a level which makes us "sweat"

Batman and Comics

2009-07-23T20:39:00.001-07:00

I don't know how out of the loop I am with comics, they've been around forever and they are still popular today. But today I picked up my first "comic" of Batman. It's "Batman the Dark Knight Returns" by Frank Miller and honestly I can't believe I've missed out all these years. I called myself a Batman fan but there is a whole new level of depth to characters in comics. Although the Caped Crusader has had all the famous comic writers do his character (Frank Miller, Neil Gaiman, Alan Moore, etc.) I am particularly surprised at home he is portrayed by Miller. This Batman is so much darker and complex than even the new movies of "Batman Begins" and "The Dark Knight" begin to show. The story takes place with Bruce being retired from being Batman for 10 years. Batman is a whole new person inside of him that fights him and tortures him to bring him back to Batman. "...And you're not finished with me. Then... Something shuffles out of sight...something sucks the stale air...and hisses. Gliding with ancient grace... eyes gleaming untouched by love or joy or sorrow...breath hot with the taste of fallen foes...the stench of dead things, damned things.. surely the fiercest survivor...the purest warrior...glaring,hating...claiming me as your own." This is how the "demon" as Bruce refers to it of Batman is inside of him and Batman himself has a whole new persona never seen in movies in this comic. The Batmobile is much like the Tumbler of the newest movies and comes equipped with huge weapons and is more like a superweapon that anything. Batman himself says it cannot be penetrated by anything on this planet. Batman seems to smile a lot more in this but not a nice smile more of a "haha I'm a beast" smile and enjoys tormenting the villans and bringing terror to them. The whole way it is written gives you a new perspective almost as if Batman is writing on Twitter. "I check my utility belt one more time" the whole thing is written as if he is talking to himself or to Dick Grayson (the last Robin) or to Jason Todd (the dead Robin). The hand lettering and illistrations bring a whole new depth to the story as you see in the quote above many of the words are bolded to make a point. The whole thing is very dark and powerful and makes me wonder how we ever got the idea of Batman the way we see him in movies today.

My Day

2009-07-23T12:31:00.000-07:00

It's my day and that picture is a small illustration of the things I've acquired today. "Batman R.I.P." and "Batman and Son" I bought with my Barnes and Noble Gift Card, "Batman the Dark Knight Returns" I picked up at the library and my ESV Study Bible got here two days ahead of its anticipated arrival date. So I'm happy and because of all of these things you can expect some blogging to be going on. There is of course the blog you are reading right now and then I assume I'm going to be writing about Batman soon although I don't know how many of you will be interested. I also have a blog to write I've been thinking about for some time entitled "Sweat" so look out for that. I also think I'm going to start a new series much like the one I did on the Sermon on the Mount that focuses on the Minor Phrophets so keep on the lookout if your interested in any of these things. Thanks people
/Sam Bennett

Uplift 09: It's Not What We DO

2009-06-22T14:25:00.000-07:00

Despite doing a pre-Uplift blog and a blog of quick memories via Twitter I haven't done a followup so here we go. This years Uplift was great and each day took an eternity but the week itself went by really quick and left me with a feeling of I can't believe I was actually there a week ago just finishing up my second day of Rec time playing Ultimate. Uplift stayed true to its name in making me very Uplifted by the end of the week with its many wonderfully taught classes and wonderful speakers that although I didn't remember well after my first Uplift I will now after seeing them twice and adding them on facebook. They do a really great job in keeping our attention and delivering a strong spritual message while they give what is almost like a one hour sermon. One thing I thought was really cool was how much fellowship was going on and how many new people I met and friends I made that I will either see again next year or remember forever and if I can find them add on facebook. As I said in my pre-Uplift blog I had a really hard time waiting for this years Uplift to get here and now I just have to do it all again but with 49 and a half weeks left to go I think I can make it. Being in a room with Nick and a suite with the Ricketts was awesome and I couldn't have asked for better people. Despite being idiots a lot of the time and talking about stupid stuff I did think it was really cool when we were able to shut everything else down and have serious talks about life and spiritual things. I saw our youth ministers step up in a cool way this year as Steven led but with having to make a trip back home to finialize the adoption of his kids and doing some of his own things allowed Rambo to take a big leadership role that he handled really well. I think Sitler connected real well with the guys and I enjoyed having him around. Eric was there and remembering last Uplift it just felt like it always did and I always saw him with tons of guys around talking and laughing. I don't really know about Sarah and Kim and what they did but the girls love them and their potatoes and I know they do just as good a job as everyone else. I also got to see a lot of our older and younger kids step up as some of the leadership roles in the youth group were left empty and then filled very nicely. I learned a lot more about how to treat other people and met lots of new people who lived out that life stlye and who really helped me through the week. Even though we had a huge God time group our leader Brian was able to get us together to do some pretty cool stuff and our last God time ended up being a huge highlight of the week as we told each other positive things about each other that we had seen that week. Making friends with all 6 people from a youth group in Missouri was really cool and I was really able to appreciate that we have so many involved kids and ministers that go on these trips. I got to talk personally with Eric Petty of the Zoo Crew who was really cool and nice and remembered me from last Uplift and facebook and when I got home I saw that they had actually taken the trip to write on a lot of peoples walls about Uplift which I thought was really cool. Seeing so many people grow in faith and learning more about Uplifts history and seeing friendships that only had one basis in Uplif those 5 days a year that those best friends saw each other was really cool. Dinner was a great time with lots of laughs and lots of Ashton talking about tan marble and smart water which made my day. Making friends with Rachael, Mahkenna, Kylie, and Kaiti was really cool. Ultimate during Rec time was cool to see as 40+ idiots went out in a big field with no shade in the 100+ heat index weather to play a great game for 2 and half or 3 hours and I made a lot of friends there as well. Although the dorm moments can't live up to last years all in all it was an amazing week that I will remember forever and as we wait for the next one all I can do is watch the videos, look at the pictures, listen to the songs, and talk to the people that make what we call Uplift possible.

Uplift 09: The Memories (via Twitter)

2009-06-18T09:52:00.000-07:00

Saturday

THEUNSEENFLY Uplift today so exited
stevepvc It's uplift day, baby!
stevepvcUplift folks, be at PV at 1:00!
ejohnson813Headed to Uplift today!
themaninred@stevepvc I heard we could arrive at 1:30 because we'll leave late anyway...haha
cacbaseball@stevepvc Rule #1: Dont be stupid!
RamptonUplift 09 - 1:00 at PV!
stevepvcLast blog post before uplift: http://tinyurl.com/mq8or7 If you're going to Uplift, be there at 1:00!
imamazing541Has allready had 4 friends from uplift 08 askin if i was comin up 2day
SCBennett2Uplift 09! Finally here, less than two hours left! Everyone be there at 1 o clock! The Big Chill! #1 Rule Don't Be Stupid
imamazing541Goin to verizon to ask a q then goin home fishing packen the to uplift i go
RamptonUplift Bound!
AshtonEOn the way to uplift!! (:
imamazing541Were here
HUMMERRACERis at Uplift!!!
imamazing541Im at uplift
themaninredNot looking forward to getting up at 7...ugh...
imamazing541Is just chillin with da best church fam evur!!!:?lolzZzZz

Sunday

TheFabKimmyDYAY UPLIFT!!!! Sally Tucker is amazing!!! ;-)
SCBennett2Loves Uplift so much! Can't wait to wake up to the Zoo Crew! Ready to see Becca 2morrow
themaninred4 minutes til we all Zoo...
AshtonEMy love for Zac Efron has just been reestablished...
AshtonEMichael Sitler is AWFUL at napkin basketball!
imamazing541Are we aloud to have our phones in class? ive got the feeling we arnt so goodbye
TheFabKimmyD"Red shirt guy definitely intern material" - 11th grade girls
themaninred@AshtonE He totally just drained one
AshtonE@themaninred wow impressive. How many times did he have to try?
AshtonEEnjoys watching people (abby sims) trip over granola bars.
crazyforyou03at uplift!! :)
Rampton@crazyforyou03 o yea!
RamptonUplift is going great. Looking forward to seeing what they do with communion tonight.
AshtonEThank you sarah smith for the best gift in the world..., smart water!!
themaninredHad my first cherry Coke today...and my second...and my third. This is great
AshtonEIs experiencing a showdown btwn ronald mcdonald and the burger king king...? Ohh uplift (:
RamptonEpic battle at dinner. http://twitpic.com/7f2e8
imamazing541Is in dinner at uplift woo hoo
themaninredAbout to get my yearly dose of McLaughlin. Hecks yes
AshtonELoathes the front...but initiates initiative! (: haha Steven
zgill91@themaninred very very jealous... What night is Wiley supposed to talk?
themaninred@zgill91 He's Tuesday night
zgill91@themaninred crap.. Who's tomorrow night?
themaninred@zgill91 Andrew Baker
TheFabKimmyDThere is nothing more precious to me then the voices of tender hearts singing to God!
RamptonDanielle Baker is getting baptized.
imamazing541Batism time congragulations danielle!!!
AshtonEOnly thing more entertaining than the puppet man is Eric Johnsons reactions to the puppet man (: haha ohh myy!

Monday

themaninredI think @Rampton needs to keep practicing marrying people
THEUNSEENFLYUplift is awesome
Rampton@THEUNSEENFLY fo sho
AshtonEIm officially ending this match making session....NOW! Haha good try though y'all. (:
SCBennett2had a gr8 time 2day hangin w/ friends & meeting new people
TheFabKimmyD"you are slapping me in the face with your beauty kim!" -Julie Spears
stevepvcHeaded to court. We become family today.
themaninred3:30 til we all Zoo
AshtonEForget Zac Efron.....
stevepvcIt's all official!! We have two daughters. Micah Marie Hovater, and Israel Ann Hovater! Couldn't be happier!
AshtonEIm so excited Matt and Lana are coming tonight!!! (: (: (:
Rampton@AshtonE are they bringing a snuggie?
AshtonE@Rampton im not sure....im checking right now.
THEUNSEENFLYuplift is amazing
ShoesandhatsFinally at Uplift. Somebody jtst yelled Scissor. I think it might have been Sam
ShoesandhatsWishes he had stayed up on that mountain.
AshtonEIs sitting right next to the one and only Summitts!!! (:
AshtonEAnd is proud of John Phillip Baker.
THEUNSEENFLYJPs gettin b tized
ShoesandhatsCheers for JP
AshtonEIs celebrating Morgan and John Phillips baptisms!!!! (:
themaninredPriceless http://twitpic.com/7isgu
AshtonEYou know the world is ending when.....all the smart water bottles are empty!!!!!!!!!! :( :( :( :( :(
RamptonClub 2-1-9 was off the chain tonight!

Tuesday

themaninredUplift continues to get better and better
imamazing541YEAHHH!!!!!!! Lollipop Remix
SCBennett2loves club 219 and Sam Stringfellow! Congrats to Morgan Gill & JP on getting baptized
themaninredAs Eric just pointed out, The Fly's bedsheets' Dick Tracy looks like a young John McCain http://twitpic.com/7jdei
AshtonEStill no smart water....
TheFabKimmyD"For the Lord is a righteous God, perfect in all of His ways!"
AshtonEAnd yet...there is still no smart water...
_J_PThe fly and bluetooth... Awesome. The screen in this auditorium now has a request from 'some white kid'
themaninredAndrew Baker is a boss
SCBennett2having a gr8 time at Uplift! Heading for class now, ready for wrestling and the main event Wednesday night!
themaninredJust witnessed @cacbaseball slap a squirrel.Epic
AshtonEReally is craving smart water.....no exaggeration...
AshtonETalent show auditions....interesting...
themaninredJust remembered Wiley's tonight. Hecks yes
_J_PBest... Pictures... Ever...
themaninredSweeny Todd reference at Uplift. It's been too long since I've seen it
ShoesandhatsCheers for Bradley
themaninredFox trot to the Benson? Yes please. I love our group
TheFabKimmyDI absolutely hate that my teens have to grow up so fast!!

Wednesday

SCBennett2still loves Uplift and Stringfellow and all my new friends!
themaninredTalkin it up on the Barry Gibb Talkshow. Talkin bout issues, talkin bout real important issues
AshtonEAbout to head to breakfast, smart water hand still remains empty.
AshtonEGreen jail suits...interesting
AshtonEWiley totally just used a Pee Wee's great adventure reference...epic!
THEUNSEENFLYUplift rocks
SCBennett2"I will NOT go to bed, I will touch the wet paint and I will eat a cookie!"- Wiley
_J_PI really stink at speed.
imamazing541Is sitting on a desk sad that uplift classes are offically
cacbaseballSinging Backstreet Boys with the guys! Epic
stevepvcLast day of Uplift Rec!!!
themaninredAction shots. Fun stuff but now I'm tired. Hello icy student center
ShoesandhatsProps to Sydney for a sweet action shot.
themaninred3.0 took no time to download for me. Lovin it
themaninredGod loves you
TheFabKimmyDMy name is Kim DeRamus and God loves me!
imamazing541At a time like this... I need tha lord ta help me
AshtonEHmm....slightly sad abt the end of uplift.
_J_PI've got the joy, joy, joy, joy, down in my heart. Where?!
themaninred@_J_P Down in my heart. Where?!

Thursday

RamptonOn stage!! I wish I were a little bit taller I wish I were a baller...
imamazing541is amazed that my voice Isnt totally gone yet... Imamazing
TheFabKimmyDI am going home in the morning!!!
themaninredThe champ is here!
ShoesandhatsUplift Buttfights '09 Third Place!
cacbaseballButt fighting was a lot more difficult than usual
_J_PSuccess...
zgill91@themaninred glad to see the tradition lives on
SCBennett2@brock_ashford is no longer the standing buttfight champion. Nathan Monan is the buttfight champion 09
RamptonUplift is coming to a close. Great week.
imamazing541talkin with the ricketts and sam in our dorm Imamazing
stevepvcMornin' boys! Let's go home!

RamptonPacking it up!
imamazing541packin up
_J_PBackstreet boys? Heck yes.
themaninredSad that Uplift is over, but it might've been the best yet
THEUNSEENFLYBack at my crib great week
SCBennett2its good to be home but I already miss Uplift. Anyone up for going to session 2 or 3 as well?
SCBennett2@_J_P I've got the wonderfulloveofmyblessedredemerwaydowninthedepthsofmyheart where?

Ok to clear a few things up I don't follow all of you people so you may not be one here sorry. Despite what some people who didn't go may think, everything here pertains to Uplift. Hope you can see some memories in these tweets and enjoy a nice collection of Uplift 09.

The Long Awaited Trip from the Valley back to the Mountaintop

2009-06-11T20:40:00.000-07:00

Uplift is only a few hours away and its one of those things I've been waiting all year for. Seriously, I would see things and think about, hear songs and think about, some days I would miss it so much I would go through old videos on Youtube from people I didn't know that were from Uplift and love it. It was a great experience and despite the fact that I got baptized after Winterfest earlier that year I think I probably got a little more out of Uplift. Well we always coin the phrase when we leave and go back to real life as "Going from the mountaintop back to the valley" But it works the other way around too, getting back to that mountaintop can sometimes take a little work as I learned when this years Winterfest didn't get me there and I now I am thinking about Uplift. I know that some of our leaders in the youth group are gone and I know that some traditions may not last and I've learned from Winterfest that every year these events can't put me on the spiritual high that I need. So I did do a bible study previous to Uplift about The Sermon on the Mount which is what we will be studying this year and I hope that it helps, but one thing I realized is if I just help myself throughout the year I can come close to not coming off that mountaintop. After I got baptized I stayed on the mountaintop until Uplift and then that carried me for a while but I started to wonder if there was a way to easily stay up there even without these trips that motivate us so easily. I thought that maybe if we could just read our bibles and really keep the promises that we make at these things and keep accountability groups and maybe meet up with a bunch of people and do the same stuff you do at camp that you could keep the fire alive. I really hope that we are able to do something like this when we go to and get back from Uplift because I really believe that we can and that it can't be that hard. If we really strive for it we can be the exact Christian people that God wants us to be everyday, this isn't to say that we won't ever slip but I think we can do a lot better than what we do. Think of that wonderful feeling you get when you feel the presence of God around you and you are so ready to please God and do everything right, well that can happen in everyday life too because after you leave Uplift the presence of God is still there. He is always with us and always living inside us and I think if we can feel that forgiveness and love everywhere we go we can help each other stay on the mountaintop.

Ego: Confident or Arrogant

2009-06-08T21:19:00.000-07:00

I was in a van today on the way back from Topeka Kansas where three other kids and I got a tour of the Jostens plant where our yearbooks where made. A song came on by Beyonce called Ego and the lyrics kind of hit me. (http://bit.ly/Lvk43) Not to be against Beyonce but they said that she liked a big ego because she found it confident . I know that a lot of times egos can be just for fun and messing around with your friends saying "O I'm the best at everything" but really I started to wonder if having that big confident ego went with what the bible taught and this is what I found. If you look up humble on Biblegateway.com (not sure what it might be on other websites or sources) you get 71 different refernces that tell you to be humble and to me having a big ego doesn't seem to fit the definition. Dictionary.com says that ego is conceitful and is about self-esteem, self- importance and self-image. The bible also has something to say about arrogance, if you put in arrogant you get 41 refences that refer to it. Unlike with the 71 for humble these are not positive, in no way does the bible say that being arrogant is a good thing, in fact when mentioned it is usually accompanied by "arrogant and disobeyed your commands" The bible does have good things to say about confidence however. Confidence which gets a grand total of 37 references which in general are all good. So the big question here is where does ego fall under is it confident or arrogant. Dictionary.com defines arrogant as making claims or pretensions to superior importance or rights; overbearingly assuming; insolently proud: an arrogant public official.These things seem to go rather hand in hand with the definition of ego given earlier. So whether or not Beyonce finds it attractive in general it seems like having a huge ego isn't a good thing. So now its your turn, comment, is ego good or bad.

References
http://www.elyrics.net/read/b/beyonce-lyrics/ego-lyrics.html
http://www.biblegateway.com/keyword/?search=humble&version1=31&searchtype=all&limit=none&wholewordsonly=no
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/confidence
http://www.biblegateway.com/keyword/?search=arrogant&version1=31&searchtype=all&limit=none&wholewordsonly=no
http://www.biblegateway.com/keyword/?search=confidence&version1=31&searchtype=all&limit=none&wholewordsonly=no
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/arrogant

If I left any references out sorry, you can look them up on your own if you care enough.