Nic's Nac

Zambia!!!

2006-08-16T17:51:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone, check out my zambia web page
http://web.mac.com/nichowe

Walking into Seinfeldia

2006-05-31T05:00:00.000-07:00

Well fans, friends, readers and random international people hitting my website (yes i check who hits my blog, interesting sidepoint i keep getting hits from International Falls, MN and someplace in Virginia, both places i don't know who in the world is consistently checking my blog-o, oh well, enough A.D.D. onto the post)
So yesterday was quite an eventful day for me. I bought my first car. yup i'm a fully fledged car owner, a smoin 98 Ford Taurus. i don't know what to name him/her/it yet, but i'm open to suggestions. The night would end in a looooong wait at Chicago for my brother who was getting in. But the funniest part of the whole day was when my friend and co-laborer from Brookside was taking me to "lupper" (lunch and supper, duh) at Ye Old Cheesecake Factory. It was like something straight out of a Seinfeld episode. We had a "hovering" waiter, he hovered, it was weird. Like he would come up to the table at least once every 5 min even if he didn't have anything to bring or ask or say, and he had this weird bob to his walk, it was un-nerving and yet very comical. I suppose the script for Seinfeld woulda looked something like this.

(Kramer slids into Jerry's apartment)
K: Jerry! Jerry! You're not gonna believe this, i was eating at that fancy place the Cheesecake Factory?
S: Yeah...
K: Well I ordered my cheesecake...but i couldn't eat it!
S. Why not?
K: My waiter, He was a Hoverer Jerry, A HOVERER!!
S: A Hoverer?
K: Yeah you know just comes by the table with those eyes, It's un-nevering jerry! I couldn't even finish my dessert!
S: Couldn't even finish? Wow that sounds bad!
K: Horrific Jerry! HE RUINED THE AMBIANCE< THE AMBIANCE JERRY!!!!

This would follow in Jerry George and Elaine checking out the place for themselves and George getting ticked at something, Elaine flirting with someone and Cosmo Kramer ultimately proving his point in a funny seen at the restaurant.

Well that was my day, heading up to NORTHLAND TODAY!!!!!!! It's gonna be sweet! can't wait!!

Random Fro Sighting

2006-05-19T20:20:00.000-07:00

Bobby, Matt and I went out to Milwaukee tonight. and lo and behold we were priveledged with a rare sighting of the Whafro (a white afro), it was huge, but it was real and amazing, i took a picture and my phone made it's "camera" sound and he turned around and gave me a "what are u taking my picture for?" look. DUDE< YOU HAVE A INSANELY LARGE CROP OF HAIR!!! WHAT DO U THIN I"M TAKING YOUR PICTURE FOR!!?!? the other puzzling thing is that this guy had a girl with him, assumedly his girlfriend. If Mr. Whafro can get a girl, what's my prob? Ug, ok that's it i'm going and buying some Rogaine.

Sweet Ride

2006-05-18T19:53:00.000-07:00

This is my friend, and coworker Matt...in a car....that is too small for him. We were being stupid outside of S&K waiting for his bro to finish work. We worked tonight and we thoroughly enjoyed the goofing

To The Coolest Mom....

2006-05-14T11:49:00.000-07:00

I have the coolest mom. Period. End of Story. She is. She's one of the smartest people I know. One of the fastest learners. She's also hip. No mu-mu's for this Mama. She can design things on the computer like that, and she one of the hardest working people i know. Don't ask her for a party unless you want so much good food all over the place that the Denver Bronco's Offensive couldn't eat it all. My mom loves God and she loves my dad and she loves me and my brothers. And if u know me or my brothers u know that by itself is medal worthy. Here's to my mom, here undisputed coolness, and for her putting up with me for 22 years now.

Con-Graduations!

2006-05-10T15:31:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm a graduate, Friday May 5, I walked across the stage and got tassel-flipped. Well sort of, I am currently finishing up my last few credits in summer school, but for all intensive purposes I am an alumni of the prestigious MBBC. It's really weird, let me tell you. You work hard for 4 years and then wham bam, ur done in a hour and a half ceremony. I do first and foremost, thank God, it is only by His grace that I graduated. I also thank my parents so much for all their love, prayer, and moolah! ;) I leave MBBC with mixed feelings, I'm glad to be done, I'm looking forward to some extent of grad school in the future, but m-land holds a lot of memories for me that I'll be glad to close the chapter on, as well as friendships and memories that will be sorely missed. All in all I'm ready to start the next phase of my life, yet I'm sooo not ready to grow up and be responsible. Anyway, I'm promising to update the blog more often now that I have time to do so

Passport No. 4 - The Weakest Link

2006-04-01T21:07:00.000-08:00

Well it's been a long time since I've posted, and even longer since my last Passport. The last week or so has been a crazy journey mentally and spiritually, and it's one I'm not done with yet. Many thoughts flying around in the old noggin right now, involving homework, graduation, girls, camp, Brookside, Zambia, and Reese's Pieces (I happen to like them). Nevertheless I'll try and keep this Passport focused on to one topic. A chain. A spiritual one. It's in my heart and mind. The first link is obedience to God, something I continually struggle with on so many different fronts. I have been racked and crushed by my own depravity of late. HOW SELFISH I AM!!! All the time I see myself making the Nic worshipping decision. I want to obey God, but often I don't. This led me to the passages were Christ said, If you love me, keep my commandments. The second link. So my obedience to God is connected to my love for God. Ok I can see and understand that. But here rises another problem. My love for God is far from what it should be. Sorry to be honest, but all thrills my soul is not always Jesus. I want to love God, at times I do love God. But why is my love for God so up and down? Why is He my all in all one minute, and my keychain genie the next? Enter in 1 John, "We love Him b/c He first loved us". The third and final link. My love for God is directly related to my understanding of God's love for me. I think some people see this and accept it and move along. Some people can take God's unconditional love with it's big period. I've been struggling with it. I know in my mind that God loves me unconditionally, that he loves me as the wretch that I was and am, but it struggles to travel to my heart. How could God love me? I'm such a sinner! And I see then if that link is weak, then the other two will be weak as well. I think I'm trying to view my relationship with God like Romeo and Juliet, the I love you love me back kinda way. I know performance doesn't equal more or less love from God, but I operate on that premise so often. God's love is a lot more like The Taming of the Shrew were that groom loves the unlovely annoying bride to be enduringly. Don Williams in his book "Blue like Jazz" puts it like this, We don't' mind giving to charity, but no one wants to be a charity" and it's so true, isn't a lack of accepting God's love for me an acknowledgement that I think some how in my self righteousness I can conjure up something worth forgiving? And that my friends, is just stinky old selfish pride. Oh wait another way I'm selfish, WHOOPEE!! So I'm on a mission to discover how I can better know and understand God's love for me. I welcome thoughts on the subject

Oops, Wow God is Good!

2006-03-06T19:17:00.000-08:00

Well, whilst going about collecting information for a project today I rear ended a van. Everyone is ok, my head screwed right back on don't worry. But as you can see my poor Sleigh ( I call it the sleigh b/c it's red, it halls the goods, and a guy named St. Nic drives it) has now seen better days. Everything went by God's plan though, i got in the accident about 500 ft from my Church brook side, and God used that church today to teach me a deep lesson in giving and love. I called Pastor Andy and the first thing out of his mouth after checking that i was ok was, Hey you can borrow my car! I was blown away, but here i am sitting in his car as i blog. Amazing. I am so thankful for him and really the whole brookside family, they are like a family to me, Chuck Gagliano is going to look over the car and let me know what can be done, I ended up even getting a meal at P.F. Changs out of the deal. Once again though i could'nt but help think of Micheal Endyk and his accident last Aug that ended up in him going home. We are a pixel-width away from eternity, and we forget it so often. Life is short just a warm up, and an attitude like that is what enables guys like Andy Rodriguez to loan me his car and really just show me Christ through his actions. Sooooo, how was your monday???

The Mac Brought me Back

2006-03-04T18:18:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone, Wow sorry it's been so incredibly long since my last post. But I've repented of my non-blogging ways and I hope to be updating once or twice a week now. So much to say so much has gone on. First off, I'm writing this post from my brand new MacBook Pro which finally came in the mail this past week. That is where the wonderful picture came from, I think i look like Syndrome from The Incredibles, but it's more that just a toy it's going to be a great tool and asset. Well things are progressing semester wise. I'm actually kinda freaking out b/c i'm gettting all this info in my email and mail box talking about graduation and I know i should be pumped but I actually think about just how much work i hafta do between now and then and that is what is very scary. God has been good to me the last month, teaching me some very deep and good lessons, some of which i hope to put into a forthcoming Passport. Specifically He's been good to me in giving me some great friends recently. I'm so thankful for them, some are long running friends that have been there for a while, others are aquaintances that God has graciously allowed to deepen into meaningful relationships, and other still are brand spanking new peeps that i look forward to gettining to know. So rejoice my blogging followers, Nic is back, and his hair and chin are very big!!!

I Am ___________ Personified.

2006-01-29T06:03:00.000-08:00

This made me chuckle, click on it if u can't read the text. To quote a friend of mine, "Blogs are here so we can look back in 20 years and know EXACTLY how stupid we were"
Anyway, i've decided to take a poll of my blog followers out there. I'm wondering what you think I am. If you had to pic one word or phrase that would complete the phrase Nic Howe is _______ Personified, what would it be??? Whoever you are, whether u never post on my blog or have never seen my blog until this moment now as your eyes are reading this...I want you to post with the following.. (yes that means you, the one about the close the window right now and not do it)
Your Name
How I do or do not know you
and what you think i am personified. Ex.

Gregory Gregerson
Imaginary Friend
Nic is Hula Hooping Personified

So give it a try, it'll give an interesting look into who hits my blog and what they think of it all. Go ahead the post button is right down there, come on you can do it!

Thanks Matt and Tami!

2006-01-27T12:57:00.000-08:00

Well my cellphone finally bit the dust last night, it was through a bit of cellphone euthanasia, it was old, it was going to be upgraded in February, and it had been a looooong day! So i threw it against a wall, pretty good therapy. I took the remaining pieces (while saving th SIM chip, i'm not completely insane) and threw them off the 3rd story like Peter Pan (Panning) at the end of Hook, no wonder he did it, It's a HUGE stress reliever, anyway, i was confronted then with the knowledge of my lack of cellphone-ity. Well i wandered over to the Cingular store in town not really expecting to find much help and low and behold, the guy there just opens a drawer and hands me a phone, not a new one, but a "loaner phone" as he put it, "you guys do loaner phones?" i asked? "well not really, but this one has just been sitting in here ever since it was returned so you can use it until you upgrade your phone in Feb" Wow, how cool was that? So i got back to my room inserted the chip into the phone and it turned on and said MATT AND TAMI, who were these people? why did they share a cellphone? HOw did they know each other? Were they married? Had their minute usage come between them? The world may never know, but what i do know is that I am thankful that i have at least something to get me by until I can get the long awaited new cellphone, which the way things go will probably obsolete in about a month. I'm not sure if this is the Matt and Tami that owned my phone, but it IS the first picture on a google image search for Matt and Tami, if it is the legendary previous owners of my loaner phone, well then it's obvious why things didn't work out for them, MATT: NO ONE WANTS TO SEE UR UVULA!! he probably tried to eat the cellphone or something, Man that guy looks vicious!! Well have a good weekend everyone and call me on my Loaner so I'm not a "Loner"!!!

R & R with the Man of Steel

2006-01-19T22:01:00.000-08:00

Some of my most favorite childhood memories are of watching cartoons, ok some of my favorite recent memories are watching cartoons, one of my favorite is superman, not the cheesy, trashy Soap Opera dressed up as a sci fi show known as Smallville (yes i just trashed talked Smallville, GASP!, i welcome anyone to tell me what is so edifying about it, especially the most recent season) anyway, yes Superman the old school 1940 cartoon!! Shout out to Bobby and Clint - AGBC last year! So anyway i found this entire episode of the old show on the net. I figured with the beginning of the semestr "Holy Cow I can't believe how much stuff i have to do" Depression that sets in around this time some Rest and Relaxation would do you all some good. Take 10 min and enjoy the flick. So here it is watch and enjoy my friends!

No sorry i'm sorry your line is GURGLE GURGLE!

2006-01-16T20:39:00.000-08:00

This was so funny I had to blog about it..
Ok so i was in the airport on my way back to school and i was walking by the restrooms and i see this drinking fountain(by the way lets just get it over with right now, it's a DRINKING FOUNTAIN! not a bubbler, that's the craziest thing in the world anyway), nothing unusual about it, so i kept walking, the idea to get a drink struck my brain so i did a 180 and walked up to the drinking fountain. Upon reaching said fountain, i notice a placard with the following words written on it. "Talking Drinking Fountain" and some artists name. I was like cool a talking drinking fountain, so in earnest expectation i press the button to get a drink and experience this "talking drinking fountain" But did i hear a Hi, or a Hey, or any words at all? NO!!! no talking! All i heard was "GURGLE GURGLE< DRAIN DRAIN DRAIN< GURLGE SWISH SWISH GURGLE" like not those words being spoken but that sound, like the amplified sound of water going down the drain of a drinking fountain coming from a speaker under the water dispensing device. This fountain did not talk at all! I got two words for that PHALSE HADVERTIZING! What a let down..... well ok i went and pushed it again anyway... so if you're ever in the Seattle Airport, look for that not so talking drinking fountain

Easy Company, not easy semester

2006-01-14T12:42:00.000-08:00

Hey, well here i am, Yeah yeah yeah I know it's been like forever and a day since i blogged, so I'm here finally doing it. Well school has started, and i'm already up to my waist in coming work. 17 credits, play practice, and 60-70 pages of papers to write all in the next few months, WHOOPEE!!!!! God has been good though, already teaching me so much about discipline and using my time wisely while not being so school focused that I miss what's really important. It's hard to believe that i 'm only a few months away from being a college graduate. It almost isn't real yet. Like i'll probably be sitting at the Endyk's in my cap and gown for my graduation reception going "when did this happen?" Wow it's like i'm growing up. I mean, my best friend is getting married in July, we're all finishing college, going into ministry, grad school, etc. It reminds me of the scene from Band of Brothers right before the jump into Normandy, which i finally watched all ten episodes this break-good series. The light has turned green, we've all stood up and we're waiting to jump off into the mix of it. Hesitate and your toast, come to the jump door unprepared and your in trouble. Get ready!!

Christmas Traditions

2005-12-23T21:39:00.000-08:00

Bows of Holly? Who is Holly and why is she bowing? Aah, Christmas time is here, and I'm thinking about Christmas traditions. We've all got 'em. Both official and non official. They are great, stupid, and sometimes pointless. Others are meaningful and deep. Here are some of mine:

-We always read through Luke 2 as a family before we do anything else on Christmas day, it's a great way to remind ourselves of why we do what we do. It's about Christ coming: delivering us from ourselves.

-We always do stockings first, which always contain the same assortment of mints, gum, m&m's and whatever else Dad bought last minute at Walmart the night before. (sorry to shatter all you santa believer's out there). Then comes probably the most organized present passing out and opening you've ever seen. Everyone gets a present, holds it in their lap and waits till one by one every opens their gift for that round. I think the reason is so that "'everyone can appreciate everyone elses gift" or something like that. It does make it last longer which is cool.

-I always end up watching the following movies (in no particular order): Home Alone 1 & 2(the only true home alone movies and only ones worth watching, they make me laugh every time), The Grinch (aka Josh Roland, if you don't understand ask Josh to do the Grinch, pretty sure he can quote that whole movie), The Christmas Story, and It's a Wonderful Life, but never all at once. Seriously I think there's some weird phenomenon that everytime i catch that movie on the TV it's always in the last 10-15 min of the movie, never the beginning, if this has happened to anyone else, please let me know.
-We always have some sort of breakfast casserole for Christmas morning, it's really good

I'm sure i have more but that's all that's coming to mind for right now. Drop a comment and share some of your favorite or funny Christmas traditions...

Lil' Brudder!!!

2005-12-20T11:44:00.000-08:00

Well all my fans, i apologize for the lack of bloggage, I've had a serious case of bloggers block (blogck?). It's not that things havn't been going on, it's just I've had like zero desire to inform the web community about it. You know how that goes. But here I am back in 3-D Bloggin' Action*. So I am here in Washing ton at my parents house and today my lil bro Dan's girlfriend shows up to surprise him. It was kinda funny to watch him being all grumpy the last few days b/c he thought that he wasn't going to see her this week. It's kinda weird, i mean she's not, She seems very cool. She's the one that told me to blog about her, which gave me something to blog about. The weird thing is well my lil bro has a girlfriend, it's not that i never expected this day to come. it's just here and well i feel like I'm not ready for it. Like when you wake up on the day you have an oral report on War and Peace and all you've read is the back. So here I am, looking at my brother Dan, all grown up and yet not grown up (looks over as Dan has Lord of the Rings toys on his book shelf...SIGH....) Well it should be fun, we're gearing up to play some games eat some southwest chicken salad and watch some movies.

*not actually 3-D

The Society For the Advancement of Time Wasting and Falling Out of Your Chair Laughing: Google Videos!!

2005-12-10T20:24:00.000-08:00

HEY Go here and check this outHere's a collection of funny stuff i've found on the net recently that. ENJOY
Cup Stacking - This one is cool, and yet notice the homeschoolers cheering in the background
Stroke! Stroke! - Office Boredom at its finest!
K & K Mime- Their quick reflexes will amaze you!
Monster Mash - Proof that even college jocks can be funny, rarely.... (WARNING CONTAINS SHIRTLESS JOCKS MAKING IDIOTS OF THEMSELVES!!!)
Working Too Hard- This would totally be me!!! ....minus the girlfriend and being japanese.
Paintballs vs. Foreign Exchange Student - I swear this is what some of my campers would have done to me had they the chance.
Mr. T's Maternal Love - I pity the fool of an agent who signed Mr. T up for this. Shout out to my mom, This is for you!

Well i hope you laugh at some of these, all you collegians, finish well! All the rest of you, do whatever it is your doing!

Light at the end of the tunnel

2005-12-07T11:44:00.000-08:00

Well i'm turning in my last few final projects, today i sent in my huge 20-25 page greek project. Whew! Glad that's done. With all the business of the last few weeks I've come to some conclusions...
- I like sleep. Sleep is good, Sleep is waaay under rated. And i've pretty much become an expert at doing it when i'm not supposed to(class) and not doing it when i am supposed to ( middle of the night)
- Your brain does weird things at 3:30 in the morning, like trying to eat a penny that you thought was a teddy graham
- Clam Chowder tastes just as good at 2:30 at night as any other time of day. Thank you, Chunky Soup!!
- Freshman have no concept of what project due date weekend means. I didn't as a freshman. It irks me to see these guys playing Halo and goofing off. I couldn't have been that irresponsible and carefree, could I?
- I are not a gud writer. Seriously, i'm pretty bad when it comes to writing.
- I think I've set the record for slowest WPM on a paper. My brain serveral nights turned to moosh and i was like "Ok paper on Isaiah here we go (starts typing)............This..............paper................is (check word count).................about...................Isaiah(3 hours later)
- I want to personally shoot the people who invented all the dumb rules for footnotes and bibliography entries with an airsoft gun repeatedly.
- In a crunch, Courier is your friend...OH Blessed Courier!
- I think i've also learned on a more serious note. that dispite it all papers are good. They force you to think.
- God is just as good to sustain you through a all nighter as anything else we seek Him for. Praise the Lord! Dispite all my complaining, I am so thankful for the lessons God has been teaching me this past month. THings like, don't lose site of what's really important, like time with Him EVERYDAY, prayer time, Word time, time talking with friends about spiritual things, for what is important but not quite as important as it gets trumped up to be. Well my shift here in the WelcomeCenter is over, so i'll be done with this post, Leave some comments, they're the highlight of my day

Passport Vol. 3 - Killing the Flesh - 1656 Style!

2005-12-02T07:14:00.000-08:00

I've been study and thinking and reading a lot lately about my flesh and how to kill it, crush it, and drive it out of my life each and every day. One good book that I recommend is The Enemy Within by Kris Lundergaard. I've read that book probably 2.5-3 times and it's been beneficial every single time. The author based that book on the writings of an old Puritan named John Owen. Now, if you know me you know I'm not the brightest apple on the tree, and that reading deep and heavy theology doesn't come easy for me. But after seeing him footnoted several times in that book by Lundergaard and after hearing him mentioned in a great sermon on Romans 8:13 by John Piper, I decided however to get a copy of this work by John Owen. I found one such copy, It's called..Ahem.. "THE MORTIFICATION OF THE FLESH IN BELIEVERS - THE NECESSITY, NATURE, AND MEANS OF IT: WITH A RESOLUTION OF SUNDRY CASES OF CONSCIENCE THEREUNTO BELONGING."
Whoa...headache..... Alright, well I'm gonna do this even if it kills me! So I've read about four chapters of this and it has been slow going but it has been truly awesome (at least the parts I understand). The fact that a man who lived over 250 years ago can describe the flesh and how it works and how we can kill it and still have it ring true in my heart in 2005 is ...awesome. So today I though I'd let my new friend John preach. Here are some quotes from his book that have been especially impacting to me. Take a while and chew on some of these.

"Mortification from a self-strength, carried on by ways of self-invention, unto the end of a self-righteousness, is the soul and substance of all the false religion of the world"

"...Believers, who are assuredly freed from the condemning power of sin, ought yet to make it their business all their days to mortify the indwelling power of sin."

"Sin be subtle, watchful, strong and always at work in the business of killing our souls, and we be slothful, negligent, foolish, in proceeding to the ruin thereof, can we expect a comfortable event? There is not a day but sin foils or is foiled, prevails or is prevailed on; and it will be so whilst we live in this world."

"Not to be daily mortifying sin, is to sin against the goodness, kindness, wisdom, grace, and love of God, who hath furnished us with a principle of doing it."

"Men are galled with the guilt of a sin that hath prevailed over them; they instantly promise to themselves and God that they will do so no more; they watch over themselves, and pray for a season, until this heat waxes cold, and the sense of sin is worn off: and so mortification goes also, and sin returns to its former dominion."
Sound familiar anyone?

On the Spirit being our only way of killing the flesh:
"He(the Spirit) is the fire which burns up the very root of lust. He brings the cross of Christ into the heart of a sinner by faith, and gives us communion with Christ in his death, and fellowship in his sufferings"

I thought this did a good job of summing up our spiritual desires:
"Strength and comfort, and power and peace, in our walking with God, are the things of our desires. Were any of us asked seriously, what it is that troubles us, we must refer it to one of these heads: - either we want strength or power, vigor and life, in our obedience, in our walking with God; or we want peace, comfort, and consolation therein."

"Every unmortified sin will certainly do two things: 1. It will weaken the soul, and deprive it of its vigor. 2. It will darken the soul and deprive it of its comfort and peace. ... As sin weakens, so it darkens the soul. It is a cloud, a thick cloud that spreads itself over the face of the soul, and intercepts all the beams of God's love and favor. It takes away all sense of the privilege of our adoption; and if the soul begins to gather up thoughts of consolation, sin quickly scatters them."

On the importance of our thought patterns:
"Thoughts are the great purveyors of the soul to bring in provision to satisfy its affections; and if sin remain unmortified in the heart, they must ever and anon be making provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof. They must glaze, adorn, and dress the objects of the flesh, and bring them home to give satisfaction; and this they are able to do, in the service of a defiled imagination, beyond all expression"

So finally:
"Mortification prunes all the graces of God, and makes room for them in our hearts to grow. .... Mortification is the soul's vigorous opposition to self."

We are at war with our flesh everyday! I have been struck so much with this concept recently. I finish this Passport with a though from John Piper
"Until we believe that life is war
and that the stakes are our own soul,
we will probably play at Christianity.....Are you playing?"

Die to Self! Today!

Where in the World?

2005-11-29T19:32:00.000-08:00

Hey i Just added a counter to my blog. So hit my site so i can see where all my friends are coming from!

The Power of The Dash Side!

2005-11-28T19:34:00.000-08:00

BEHOLD MY NEW DASHBOARD GUARDIAN AND OFFICIAL CAR MASCOT!!! Isn't it cool? I mean who doesn't want a midget Darth Vader in their car? There's something powerfully cool and yet suprisingly cute abou this guy. Long may he rule my car!

I'm not dead.....yet!

2005-11-20T19:28:00.000-08:00

This is A Gun

This Is Me...

You will notice that I am under the gun.
And I have been for the last like 2 and a half weeks, That is my reason for not blogging. Take notice also, that while you are reading this, i am still under the gun(go ahead, scroll up if you have to, i' m there) Yeah things wont' get easier for me until Sometime on Wed. when i finally get all my crazy projects, papers, and stuff done and head off to Denver for the Grand Turkey Weekend, hmm i like that name. anyway, I had a little squeeze of free time and under hearty exhortation from my friend Slim, I decided to blog at least a little bit. So here it is, BLOG BLOG BLOG BLOG>>>>> ok anyway, that's all i have time for please stay tuned for updates on classes, graduation, africa, internship at Brookside (sound effects, fireworks) COOLEST CHURCH EVER!! etc. God has been teaching me a whole lot through it all though, i feel another Passport working its way around too. Until then It's back into the books, which is totally not in the cool way that Gumby goes into books. You know, the old claymation Gumby when he would just slide into a book and have a whole adventure inside. Comment if you remember what i'm talking about.

Water, What's Water?

2005-11-01T20:16:00.000-08:00

i found this posted on a pop machine at a place I work at. I know its hard to read so here's what it says if u can't make it out.
"Water has been moved to top level of cold food machine to make space for additional Mt. Dew."
OUT WITH THE WATER! WHO NEEDS THAT!?!?! lol, what a commentary on our culture

Passport - No. 2 Remember Who Your Father Is

2005-11-01T19:21:00.000-08:00

I think most of my worries and problems in life come from forgeting who my Father is. That he loves me, cares for me, and wants the very best for me. Sure sure, i can get all those answers about the character of God right on the bible test, but when it comes down to real life, real hurts, real desires, and really cruddy days we walk around like lost children. I remember I was a little kid...(ahem, i'm about to reveal something real embarrasing here) I used to love getting lost in the mall. Serioulsy it was like a game to me. i'd wait till my mom or dad turned to look at something else in department store and then i'd run into the middle of one of those clothes racks and then split off as soon as the cost was clear to go look at whatever it was that so attracted my attention, I had A.D.D. ok? (some of you are saying HAD A.D.D.?) It was really fun, as long as i thought i knew where i could find my parent. When i couldn't then i'd panic get scared and actually get more lost trying to find them. My parents responded to my propensity for running away by doing something that i only tell you for sake of illustration. They put me on a leash, yup that's right a kid leash, it went on my wrist and was supposed to keep me near my parent. However i broke i think at least two of them before my parents finally gave up. Stop laughing at me long enough to consider this, how often are we like this with God? We go get lost in our problem or our sin and we think we are fine just as long as we know how to get back. I feel in my life so often that i'm a whiny little kid at the fair with my dad. We've all seen them. I sit and i point at everything i want and don't have and "take me to this booth" or "i want that prize" and we get so focused on everything we don't have around that we forget that we are in the arms of our loving father, who is taking us the the best booth and the best prizes and he is carrying us there in his arms. I need to remember to live in the wonder and peace of who my God is. He knows every little hurt, every thought, every question of the heart, every tear, every laugh and He knows exactly what we need and when we need it. perhaps today, take some time and spend some family time with your Abba Father and curl up in the lap of His wonderful love for you and once more cast your burdens at his feet. Well that's it for this passport, don't forget where your from and Who's taking you there step by step everyday!

"Be A Missionary!...God's Own Emissary!..." What's A Emissary?

2005-10-25T21:33:00.000-07:00

I remember wondering that over and over in primary sunday school. Well it's Mission's Confernece this week both and Maranatha and at Brookside(my extremely awesome mega-uber-cool church). God really started prepare my heart for it all with a really rough weekend(with circumstances i don't care to get into) which made my heart very tender and fertile to hear what He had for me these past few days. Kevin Brownfield is the main speaker at Brookside, and man oh man has God used him to work in my heart! I'll be putting more specifics in an hopefully soon upcoming Passport. This week has already stirred my heart more to continue pursuing the possibility of going to Africa next fall for a two months missions internship. I'd most like work with Phil Hunt , after hearing some great things that God is doing through his ministry from my evangelist friends Steve Pettit and Will Galkin. I would have already contacted him to get the ball rolling as far as specifics, dates and support but God has that on hold right now until i find out if it'll all work out for me to walk in the spring, Who knows? maybe i'll go anyway, but i should know in the next couple of weeks what all is going to happen concerning History of England and credits and schedule for next semester. I'm commited to do everything i possibly can to walk and i'll leave the rest up to God. If you think about it please be in prayer about that.

The Society For the Advancement of Time Wasting and Falling Out of Your Chair Laughing Presents.....

2005-10-25T20:53:00.000-07:00

HEY Go here and check this out, if you don't laugh, i owe you a laugh.

Holy Eye Safety Batman!!!

2005-10-18T21:16:00.000-07:00

Oh how low the mighty have fallen. After looking into Batman Begins (which comes out this week on DVD) and see that there is no Robin. I had been wondering what the tight wearing sidekick was up to. Well here it is. Poor guy! He's been reduced to doing photo shoots for factory safety posters. Come on Batman! Sure the little guy was annoying from time to time but this is a tragedy. What next? Spiderman selling ski masks? The Human Torch working at New Yankee Candle??? Wolverine on a Ginsu Knife Infomercial?!?!? (actually that would be pretty cool, i'd buy knives endorsed by Wolverine) Oh well, i guess our lesser half the the Dynamic Duo is still fighting crime in a way. The crime of letting something sharp or hot or poisonous come into your eye. THERE WILL BE OCULAR JUSTICE!!
P.S. (it's nice to see the part coming back into superhero style)

Leland Dorm: Dodgeball Champions 6 years running!

2005-10-17T20:50:00.000-07:00

Yeah this is pretty much what it looked like tonight! Yeah, that spindly looking guy getting his head knocked off, that's a Judson/Armitage guy. We won 4 games to 1. They even changed the rules to make it harder on us and we still won. Another great thing of the day was the coming of Northland Camp to recruit here, i really do love those guys alot. I'm set on going back there next summer and i already can't wait. But for now it's celebration of the great Leland domination by eating a already half eaten piece of chicago style papa murphy's pizza.

Pods and Buds

2005-10-13T21:25:00.000-07:00

Pods
Hey!! I'm gonna be on TV! It's really a unique, cool and great opportunity for my church actually. My church, Brookside Baptist(way extremely cool awesome church, that is way cool and extremely awesome - note to self: blog about greatness and awesomeness of church sometime - ahem carrying on)
My church is one of the first churches that i know of to ever have their sermos available for a podcast. If you have no clue what a podcast is click here . so anyway being the high media item that iPods are. Fox 6 News in Milwaukee has decided to take this week and shoot some footage and do some interviews of Brookside and it's podcasting. My music pastor jonathan albright asked me and some teens from the youth group to come in and talk about our ipods and how we use them in conjunction with the podcasted sermons. It was really cool, lights, camera, a news reporter lady with entirely waaaay too much perfume and makeup, but i don't hold that against her. all in all please pray that her curiosity for the story might be turned towards spiritual matters in her own life. And who knows how big this could be in getting brookside's name out there into the community.
As to the interview itself it was a buncha questions about what i used my ipod for and how i though the younger generation would react to brookside podcasting, etc. etc. I'll let you all know if i find out when it is going to run, i know i won't be for at least a week b/c they're doing some more filming on wed. night of the youth group.
Buds
I got to hang tonight with my good ol' friend Ken Barbic. we went to P.F. Chang's China Bistro.
I'm pretty sure we saw P.F. himself there tonight, some guy in a sport's coat kept walking around looking at people, but he looked more like a P.I. than a Chang, what in the world does P.F. stand for anyway?
well here's the review:
hanging with friends....way cool
spiritual and fun convo......way cool
actual food eaten.......way cool
time it took to order our food........way NOT cool
time it took to get our food paid for...... extremeley way not cool

Well that's about it for now, leave me a comment and make sure u leave a name if you do! that means You CAMERON "I"M ALMOST DATING EMILY CARR" SHERBAN!!

TELL ME WHO YOU ARE??

2005-10-12T11:35:00.000-07:00

Hey, unless you really don't want me to know. would you mind not entering anonymous on your comments people? I'd love to know who said what? just check "Other" when u comment, OK? OK!

The Passport - First Edition

2005-10-12T06:34:00.000-07:00

A passport reminds you where you are really from...
A small document that allows you into a foreign country. I've decided to start this section and make posts under this heading fall under a spiritual catergory. Philippians 3 tells us that if we know Christ as our Savior that our real citizenship is not here but heaven. As my friends Will would say, "We're not from around here!" And that's the truth, we arn't! The longer we live here and the closer we get to Christ the more we should just have a level of homesickness and awkwardness in our hearts. We were not made for this world, but the next one. Ever had a day where even when you took time to indulge in extra relaxation (ie, games, naps, friends, shopping, whatever!) that you just came back to thend of it all still just as empty as when you started? I've had more and more days like that it seems. More and more God is showing me that nothing on this earth, no sin, no lust, no hobby, no friendship, no girl, no status, NOTHING can satisfy me the way He can and the way He was meant to. But how often do we, myself included, find things to lure away our affections and time and desires away from Christ? How often is He the last place i turn for fufillment instead of the first? I think it's interesting that even good things we can engage ourselves in still leave us not totally satisfied. Ultimate bliss and satisfaction is waiting for us around the corner in heaven. Why not then spend more and more time experiencing as much of that satisfaction on this side as I can by getting to know my Christ more each day? As I write this, I look at my desk and see a small hand sized piece of a broken plastic Honda hub cap. It belonged to my best friend's brother's car. A little more than two months ago, Micheal was driving and for reasons we may never know this side, collided head on with a semi. I remember being in the middle of Illinois driving with best friend Bobby when he got the call. There is a spot of highway next to some cornfield in southern Illinois that is very special to both me and Bob. I found the piece of wreckage the next day when the brothers and I went to the crash site. I kept it and wrote James 4:14 across the front. "yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes." This was the fourth death of someone I knew in four months. Life is too short! We are made for this world! Our time here is too short to waste on things that don't satisfy. Yet, even though we know in our heads that we are pilgrims here, we "unpack" and get comfortable. This Passport will seek to periodically express some of my thoughts and meditations in an effort to remind myself as well as the readers of the truths that are really important, the truths that come from God's Word. To remind us of where we really are from and what really truly matters.

History of England Indeed.....

2005-10-10T11:46:00.000-07:00

Ok, i was up to waaay late last night studying for a history of england test. Bought the only thing that kept me sane and half way focused was the random Monty Python quote that would float through me head from time to time whilst studying. Enter this morning..... Ok so i got this thing from the registrar's office saying what all i need to finish before i graduate this spring and they had that the ol' history of england was a additional course and NOT, I repeat NOT going towards my general electives requirements! This means two things:
1. They still have me as needing 5 (count 'em, 1,2,3,4,5) credits in my Gen Ed stuff to take next semester
2. If i can't convince them to let this class count, i'm totally in a 300 level History class that i don't need to be in. .. how's that for motivation to do well??? I mean, History of England? I don't even like tea, or the beatles or, crumpets or blood pudding*

Sigh, so i don't know how well i did on my test, it's one of those things where the mulitple choices are worded in such a way that you could be like, "oh yeah that's totally the right answer!!!" and then get your test back and be totally wrong. SO in all seriousness i'm praying that i'll be able to somehow let this class count for credit, b/c next semster is going to be hectic enough as it is.

*I would like to take a moment and do say that i do thoroughly enjoy a british accent! anything, and i do mean anything is at leat 1.7x funnier if you say it in a british accent. unless your Bobby, Bobby i love you, but you have the worst british accent i've ever heard!

Afterthought.... After studying, i have come to firmly believe that if i had a time machine i would go back in time and yell at all the royalty of england for not being creative enough to think of more names for their sons than edward, henry, catherine and richard. Come on people!!!

History of England.....INdeed!

Sunsets....

2005-10-07T11:35:00.000-07:00

SUNRISE....Sunset...SUNRISE...Sunset......Riders!!! Yup about the coolest old shoot e'm up game around. Played it last night on my computer with my RA, Dan Bonner, till about midnight. There's nothing like a good 'ol round of shooting bandits and "injuns" at a amazing 64 bit graphic pase!! It rots the mind and prepares one for an even greater weekend of fun with friends. Yet as the title suggests, everything must have a sunset. And so did the game last night as tragically our hero Bob the Cowboy was gunned down by the pesky Chief Wigwam on top of the mountain. Moment of silence for Bob.............................
Another sunset this week has come for my old tennis shoes. Sadly, they have gone beyond usefulness, well except for maybe a modern art piece and a eternal producer of the "The Funk". I mean it's bad, we're talking multiple rips in the stiching in several places. I hate having to get new shoes. I mean it's hard for me to find ones that fit as it is (14 or 15's) and then if they do usually there an old pair of Air pumps from 1990 that no one has bought b/c well, they're size 15 air pumps from the 90's. Good by my old friends, my sneakers, tennis, cross trainers.....

OUCH!!

2005-10-06T20:55:00.000-07:00

Holy Crap!! Check this out.... Ok, whatever problems i thought i had today. like i retract. That totally womps to have that happen to you. and yet the sick part of my is giggling like a 3rd grader.

Spam Rant

2005-10-05T21:48:00.000-07:00

Dude, ok, so i just got done posting another....post. and like there were already 2 comments on it, and i was like, YEAH!, and then like i read them, SPAM!!! SPAM I SAY! what the spindle handled bench monkey?!?! What kinda day do we live in that people spam on a bloggers postings? This is terrible, it should be stopped, like those dumb Wendy's that charge 1.39 for their "99 cent" value menu, it's a trav-gesty which is a travesty and a tragedy at the same time. Major stupidity on all who dare spam my mighty blog

The Funk ....

2005-10-05T21:14:00.000-07:00

Every guys dorm room has a thing lurking inside of it, it's called the funk.... it is a formidable smell that comes from old pizza, dirty laundry, smell pits, unwashed sheets, etc. etc. Every guys room has it to some level or not, and do what you will to try and tame it (Febreeze, glade plug-ins plug it in plug it in) it still will linger on unless you let the funk out. The best i can describe it is somewhere between something fruity, that old cornchip smell, and smog. yeah that's pretty close. The only remedy i have found is to let the funk out! Crack that window, prop that door, turn that fan on full blast, for the sake of your own olefactories!

A Whole New World......

2005-10-05T08:54:00.000-07:00

Hey, Well i finally caved and have started a blog. for the most part i think that they are cool, trendy, but mostly uninteresting and dumbish. But having seen a few of my friends blogs, i've decided to take the plunge and start my own, well see how many people out there really love me, lol.