You are currently browsing the monthly archive for December, 2007.
here are some pics from whole foods market today. david ramirez played today. it was great to see him, home again from nashville.
when i go see david i am always encouraged to write songs. songs with lyrical content. then i sit down and try to write something and i realize why i never write songs, but nonetheless i will start trying more to write songs. please go check david out with the link up above. give him a listen. i promise you will not be disappointed.
“5 a.m. on tuesday. why am i up so early? drive out to santa ana cause i’ve got jury duty.”
i got home from hanging out with the fiance tonight and found a jury sumons on my bed that was addressed to me.
why me!!!! whhhhhhhhy meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee?!?!?!?!?!
i went shopping today. i needed some nice shirts (and by nice i mean wearing to the office during the week. not to wear with a tie.) so i hit up the new kohls in rosenberg. got some for dang cheap. like 60% off. thats how i roll. then i went to the mall to look for a pair of jeans b/c i had a gift card that would take off some of the price. and what did i find while shopping for jeans at the mall…
…ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! my body is apparently a wierd proportion for jean producers. i found some at the levi store, that were slim straight leg. but when i put them on they were very weird looking in certain areas. didn’t really want to walk around drawing attention to those areas. then we went to buckle. again i found some, but they were $76! screw that. sorry buckle. too much. then i went to hot topic. and i think i found some but i am going to go back tomorrow probably cause i gotta drive past the mall anyway.
alot of times i like being dang skinny. but dangit, why cant it be simple for me to find a good stylin pair of jeans that isn’t going to break the bank?
gotta love a texas christmas.
christmas day about 1:30 = 60 degrees.
i hope you have a great christmas.
outside the louisville slugger factory in louisville, ky
nolan of eldridge
myspace.com/eldridge
the town of government camp in oregon
here are a few pics from the fbc rosenberg hayride.
high school trailer.
this next one is a home that has a crazy electricity bill during the month of december. here is their latest attraction.
close ups.
the only thing that would have made it better would have been spider pig.
through this entire process dealing/healing with and/or from my cousins death i have seen something that has made me sick. that is the lasting signs of divorce. here we are in a time when we need to love and be completely unselfish but all we can be (because of the divorce) is selfish. asking questions like “what of his do i get?”, and making statements like “i am entitled to it!”. im sick of it. we are all mourning. how ’bout we just mourn and let the healing begin before we start dealing with all that crap.
through this i have seen the lasting effects of divorce. because of this divorce many years ago, there has been a wedge shoved between former husband and wife that will never be removed; between dad and daughter that will never be removed and that wedge is causing more problems than ever at this moment.
i have been watching this closely simply because i will be getting married in a couple months and it is my plan to never cause my family to experience the lasting effects of divorce. it is my aim to love my wife with every ounce of my being. to love her. to serve her. to care for her and to play guitar hero with her until our fingers are numb. and i am confident that she will do the same towards me.
this just hurts. death is never fun. ever. but this situation just adds another log to the fire. please pray that God will guide our family in all upcoming decisions. we are truly going to need His guidance
so i will still argue that my job is one of the best in the world. it is so much fun. but there is one thing that i don’t enjoy about youth ministry. planning summer events. here it is, december 19th, 2007 and i am planning youth camp for june 2008. now this may not sound that bad b/c it is only 6 months away, but i started planning youth camp and working with the camp directors in july of this past summer. 11 months ahead of time. when i reserved my spots, there were already some other youth pastors who had reserved theirs. this is crazy. sometimes i think it gets a little ridiculous. but hey, you gotta do what you gotta do to get your students to camp. why in the world is youth ministry so tedious (did i spell that right?) sometimes? all for the purpose of growth.
on a slightly different note, i have been talking alot about my my cousins death. here is an update on what God is doing. my aunt (cousins mom), is wanting to come to church. she brought this up on her own. she never wants to come to church, ever. this is progress. to God be the glory!
yesterday was a hard day. sunday night was the viewing for my cousin. it was hard, but at the same time it was encouraging. it started at 6 and went till 9. from about 6:30 to 7:30 there was a line out the back of the chapel. a line full of people whose lives brian touched. yesterday at 2 we had his funeral. it was a beautiful day outside. we as a family were grateful for that. the chapel was again packed. standing room only. if only he knew that this many people were thankful for his life and friendship and in turn were destroyed by his death. after he was carried out of the chapel and into the hearse we all followed. walking behind the hearse to brians final place of rest. there were so many people, showing their love for him and their support of our family. i couldn’t help but cry.
i came to a realization yesterday at the funeral that it is pretty silly that it takes tragedy to bring people together. if i were to add up all the hugs and “if you need anything please don’t hesitate to call”’s that i received this weekend it would surpass the total from the other 24 years of my life. i felt community like never before this weekend. i felt a different kind of love this weekend. it was amazing, but i wish it wouldn’t come because of my cousins death.
i don’t really know what else to say but thank you for your comments and your prayers. please specifically pray for my aunt donna and my cousin stephanie. they are both being as strong as they can in this time but they are still having a really hard time. please pray for a peace to come over my family. we are all stressed with other stuff and then to have this tragedy on top of it just makes things really hard.
thank you.
yesterday (thursday) morning at 6:10 i received a phone call. my cousin, who is just a month younger than, me took his own life early thursday morning.
its so weird to write that. i don’t exactly know what my heart/head/body is feeling. there is a total mix of emotions.
brian was a respectable man. his father left when he was still young so he was forced to grow up quickly. he did so and quickly became the man of the house and a father figure to his younger sister. he worked two jobs so he could attempt to pay his way through college. he lived simple. he loved his family. he was always laughing. he loved to play dominoes. he loved to eat chocolate pie. he loved to laugh. he loved to play pool. he loved to live life. he loved.
its so hard right now b/c my heart feels like it needs someone to blame. im angry at him b/c this was so selfish. i am angry at his ex-girlfriend b/c i believe that was the source. i am angry at myself b/c i didn’t make more of an effort to tell him about the love of Christ. i just don’t know what i feel. i almost wish that they find out that someone shot him so i would have someone to blame. but then i am stuck with the fact that as a believer i would have to forgive the person that did it.
i just wish i could wake up and this all be over.
there is something though that is going to happen through all of this. somehow, in some way God is going to bring glory to himself. so in the meantime i am mourning the loss of my cousin but i am waiting and watching in expectation for the time when God receives his glory from all of this. i don’t know what is going to happen or when it is going to happen but i sure hope it is in my lifetime.
i covet your prayers.
so i went and saw paramore in concert a couple weeks ago at verizon wireless theater in houston. i was lucky enough to get drawn to meet them. this was my second time to get to meet the awesome individuals that make up paramore. while talking with haley i mentioned to her that they should put RIOT! out on vinyl. in responce she said “yea! that would be totally rad”. so tonight i get on myspace and they had posted a bulletin that caught my eye.
so lookie what i ordered tonight for $12.
yup. thats right. a blue marble vinyl. now it needs to just hurry and get here.
i received an email today from my pastor about a youth minister who had a student commit suicide due to the fact that a relationship that the student had built on myspace was cut off. the article was very interesting. it spoke about what the youth minister did to use the situation to point the students to God and his grace.
then when i was reading news sites and came across this
what in the world has this come to. i believe that matchbox20 song is sometimes truthful.
“i believe the world is burning to the ground”
i read this on a friends blog. too good.
“May God bless you with discomfort
At easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships
So that you may live deep within your heart
May God bless you with anger
At injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people,
So that you may work for justice, freedom and peace.
May God bless you with tears
To shed for those who suffer pain, rejection, hunger and war,
So that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and
To turn their pain into joy.
And may God bless you with enough foolishness
To believe that you can make a difference in the world,
So that you can do what others claim cannot be done
To bring justice and kindness to all our children and the poor.
Amen”
