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so i am stoked to say that tomorrow morning at 5:30 a.m. i will be meeting this guy…
(the one and only jared hall)
…in the woodlands to drive to arlington convention center to take part in the 2009 youth ministers conclave. im totally excited. i am going to try and post video blogs while we are on the trip.
here’s to early mornings!
so i got this fancy dvd in the mail today.
they had some “man on the street” type videos on there, so i watched them. the first one was at Texas A&M University and the second one was at Houston Baptist University. As i was watching the one at HBU i noticed something amazing…
…I am in a scene. the whole HBU part was filmed during last years spring fling, which my wife and i happened to be attending. so during one girls answer, the video guy captured my wife and i, along with a few of our friends hanging out at spring fling. i was pretty stoked! then a couple people later, my good friend Angelo was actually one of the people interviewed. i was pretty excited about the whole ordeal.
.:8:27 pm edit:.
i am talking to my brother online. here is an excerpt from our conversation.
my brother is nuts. and he wants some of these dadgum chips!
so, as some of you may know, i am an uncle. if you didn’t know that…well…i am an uncle. my little nephew lives with his mom and dad in australia.
today marks a great milestone. today, little david farley turns ONE YEAR OLD! yay!!!!
here are a couple pictures. i must say, he looks like a windsurfing stud in that wetsuit!
grace and peace.
sorry for not having a meaningful/thoughtful/thought provoking blog post in awhile. but here are a few happenings and/or thoughts from the last few days.
1. yesterday while working at mugz, i spilled 3 shots of espresso all over my left leg. all of this b/c i took my eyes off the cup to say hi/make eye contact with one of the owners. it was really hot. also while at work i slammed my finger in a door. it was an interesting day as a barista yesterday.
2. in the last month, we have had two young families with younger children join our church. this excites me. now if we can just teach them the way of Christ, not the way of being baptist.
3. i’ve been pondering what my role as a youth pastor is lately. do i need to take over parental roles in situations that the parent isn’t doing their job in teaching their child the way of Christ? should i just step back? i don’t ever want to take the place of a parent, or make the parent feel like i am stepping on their toes.
4. my brother just told me online that he is going to be running a motorcycle engine that he and a friend built today in school. he goes to MMI. im glad he found something he likes doing.
5. what exactly is an everyday congregational church member’s responsibility towards the church? why do so many church members base their faithfulness to a church on a single thing? if that one thing changes, adios church…
6. why do so many church members care more about their faithfulness to a church, or their faithfulness to a single thing at a church, more than they care about their faithfulness to Christ?
7. my boss at the coffee shop said she wanted to find a church that she could go to in her mugz uniform. i told her the coffee smell would be a great fragrant offering to God.
8. i will never understand how some churches think that God/church has a “dress code”.
9. he is legend is great. i am hollywood is such a great album.
10. do church members really understand the role of the ministerial staff of their church?
11. i know more about some of the regulars at mugz (where i have only worked a week) than i do some members of my church. why is it that coffee shops are more authentic/real/full of community, than alot of churches?
12. i think coffee has superpowers.
grace and peace be with you.
im going through withdrawls. instead of The Office tonight….i am forced to watch the vice-presidential debates. i am not a happy camper.
boooooooo VP debates…
…yay for a new paramore video
as mentioned in my previous post, i had the amazing privilege of shooting at a wedding with leslie of Goodlight Photography. here are 4 of my pictures from that awesome night. let me know what you think.
grace and peace.
saturday night marked a milestone in my photography “career”. i got to shoot my first wedding. i had the amazing opportunity of being a second shooting with leslie of goodlight photography. this wedding was at a small little restaurant off san felipe inside the 610 loop here in houston. overall, i would rate the night as awesome. it was a great opportunity and throughout the night, i learned alot about my photography skills, my routine, and how to make my photography better.
here are a few thoughts on the opportunity as a whole.
- shooting weddings make your feet hurt. wear comfortable shoes.
- make sure that you have enough sd cards.
- if you are borrowing equipment, make sure it works with your equipment before the event.
- make sure you have enough batteries for you flash (i did!).
- i quickly learned that my equipment is nowhere near where it needs to be.
- when you shoot weddings, there is a chance you will get a really good meal out of it.
- there is a nice awkward photography moment called meal time.
- don’t take pictures of people eating!
- laptops are good to have with you if you can.
- dancing is really fun to take pictures of.
- wine makes these dancing pictures better.
- an open bar makes you see dance moves that you didn’t know existed.
- posed dance floor pictures are silly.
this is the last BIG one that i learned from the night…
- this little checked box means EVERYTHING when importing pictures from my nikon d40 to my macbook. i took about 600 pictures saturday night in RAW format. when i uploaded them onto my macbook this little box was not checked, therefore, they are no longer in RAW format, only in jpg. when i noticed this, i immediately got that sick to my stomach feeling. needless to say i will always, from now on, make sure this box is checked when i upload RAW photos.
the night was awesome. thanks leslie for the opportunity. i actually am getting to do this again with leslie this coming saturday at another wedding. its gonna be better than this last opportunity due to the things i learned this last time. you should see some picture from the wedding posted here in a few days. the ones i have looked at…i liked.
grace and peace.
this is in the new baptist hymnal…
you are reading that correctly. it’s o’ canada!
i wonder if it is the five iron frenzy version…
i went by the county recycling center this morning to drop off some paper goods that we had collected over the last few weeks. on my way there i passed this street. it was so awesome. i decided to stop by on the way to the office and take a picture simply to show you all. part of me expected to see a guy with scales on his eyes, or a big flash of light and a deep rumbling voice when i pulled over on damascus road to take this picture.
just some exciting times this morning already. i think today is going to be a good day.
grace and peace.
im applying for a second job.
there is this fancy little coffee shop down the street from our house called Mugz. it is a small, locally owned and operated, shop that in my opinion serves one of the best mochas in rosenberg/richmond. i am currently getting up a little before 5 each morning with my wife and in most cases, like this morning, my body will not go back to sleep. so i stay up. i sit on the couch, watch the news, check out the sports headlines on the internet, until it is time to come in to work. i figure, hey…why not earn some money. and the only thing i could think of that might need someone to work a early morning shift would be a coffee shop. luckily Mugz could use some extra help on weekday mornings, from 5:00 to 8:30. so i am applying. i am dropping my application off today at lunch. hopefully i can start soon, because having the extra money come in would be a GREAT help, plus, im getting tired of feeling like i am not being productive during those early morning hours.
here are a couple shots of the inside of mugz.
here is my to-do list today…
mow and edge front yardmow and edge back yardline flower bed (backyard) with ant poisonline flower bed (front yard) with ant poisonmove tool hanger in garage to other wallput up new shelves in garagefertilize front yardfertilize backyard.
it is going to be a busy day. alot of work outside. at the end of the day today, i will feel very accomplished.
off to work!
.:edit:.
done! im tired.
i got to spend lunch with my beautiful wife today. we had chick-fil-a. it was amazing as always.
these are two videos that i took during the day yesterday. we got power back when we got home from church on sunday. it was a great feeling. when we got to watch tv, we realized how bad ike really was. galveston got torn up. its horrible. especially the seawall. i am fixing to go to bed. i am tired, and i have to work in the morning.
but please, all of my few faithful readers, please continue to be in prayer for the texas gulf coast. specifically those who have lost way more than power or water. many people are now homeless.
we covet your prayers.
grace and peace be with you.
we went outside during sunset tonight and with all the clouds from ike we had one heck of a sunset. it was beautiful.
its starting to get a little crazy. its pretty darn windy outside. please continue to pray.
grace and peace be with you.
the clouds and winds of ike are here.
we are slowly but surely having more clouds roll in as the early stages of ike get closer. the wind is slowly picking up as well. one thing that amazes me is that from what i have seen there are only 2 other houses (3 including ours) that have anything covering their windows. i know for many people in this neighborhood, this is their first hurricane, and for all of the people, this is their first hurricane in these homes. we are still keeping a close eye, please continue to pray.
grace and peace
a friend sent me this link. your thoughts?
down on the left hand column, at the bottom, i have added some videos from my vodpod. check it out! i die laughing each time i see dwight’s centathalon games.
murder checkers!
go here. now.
download the new phil wickham album entitled “singalong”.
it is simply amazing!
grace and peace.
grace and peace.
we are fixing to board the plane for Portland. My goal…to find some Chaco sandals for cheap. Oh yea, and to drink stumptown coffee…alot. See you from the west coast!
i have not given an update on mission trip since we have been back. mission trip was very, very good for our group. i had a couple students really since God’s leading, and for me…that is very encouraging. one of my girls who wants to be a pediatrician feels God is leading her to be a pediatrician in africa, helping people who don’t have or can’t get medical coverage/help, get what they need. another one of my girls feels a very strong call to serve the Roma people of europe. these are just two examples of the many great things that God is doing in our group.
on another note…a photography note…i got to do my first bridal portraits. they were fun. some turned out pretty good, and others turned out rough, so now i know angles to def. not shoot again. the mother of the bride told me that she got alot of comments on the pictures and how much people liked them…this made me feel very accomplished. ill include some pictures at the end of the post.
on a completely different note, my friend david ramirez is in the running to play at the Austin City Limits Festival. you can vote from his myspace page, or simply by clicking on this link. you can vote once per day. please do so. this would be simply amazing if he could be on the ACL Festival bill.
now, for some pictures
grace and peace.
tonight kimb and i are having a much needed night to ourselves. when i got home from work kimb had already started working on dinner and i helped her finish. so we had tacos. they were great. so tonight we are going to be productive around the house. im excited. hopefully i can upload a few pictures later!
grace and peace.
a few months ago my brother left for florida to go to motorcycle mechanics institute (mmi). he came home over the 4th of july weekend and luckily we made it back from mission trip in time to get to see him and to go with my parents to take him back to the airport.
speaking of mission trip…it was very, very good. i will do a specific post on mission trip later on this week.
i hope all is well.
grace and peace.
we left our church at 1:15 pm today. it is now 1:35 am and we just got to our rooms in lubbock. what should have been a 9 hour drive took just over 12 hours. this is the life of a youth minister. tomorrow morning i have to get up and drive one of the two vans for another 6 hours until we reach glorieta, new mexico. needless to say, im going to be tired, and really worn out before m-fuge even starts.
this will be my face for the next week.
i honestly cant wait for my vacation with my wife to portland. some good reading and stumptown
i need it sooo bad.
grace and peace.
where should churches stand in regards to the 4th of july?
should entire worship services be dedicated to this national holiday?
is it weird that i feel awkward singing “God Bless America” in a church service?
i am really torn. dont get me wrong, i am proud to be an american, but my allegiance lies somewhere a little more important.
“my first allegiance is not to a flag, a country, or a man
my first allegiance is not to democracy or blood
it’s to a king & a kingdom”
+ derek webb - a king and a kingdom
your thoughts?
grace and peace.
at the beginning of june my ibook bit the dust. so i got a macbook and at the time when i bought my new macbook they had a promotion going on where if you are a student and you buy a macbook you get a free ipod (via rebate). so kimb and i got a 160gb ipod classic. when we went to do the rebate it said that we were not eligible for the rebate. so i talked with the apple rebate people and they proceeded to tell me that the ipod classic was not included with the promo.
so i went back to the apple store, returned our 160gb ipod classic and got this instead…
grace and peace.
our week at camp was simply amazing. before the week began i had been praying for unity within our group. i have never seen a group of young people bond and treat each other like family like mine did this week. it was truly an answered prayer. i had one girl who accepted Christ…AMAZING!
one other thing that was awesome was that two children were saved from poverty. one of my senior girls sponsored a child through compassion and one of my junior girls family sponsored a child as well. i was extremely excited to see this.
this camp was probably the best camp i have ever been to. i was honestly put-off by the registration process, it was pretty weird, but once i got to the camp and got integrated to the process of the student life camp, it was one of the most well run camps i have ever been to.
now on another note…today was very interesting. this afternoon i started mowing our yard. as i was mowing the side of the house i caught the water line to our house with the front wheel of our mower. next thing i know…..water is spraying everywhere, and i can’t get the water turned off. sooo, my crazy handyman dad comes over and we spend like 4 hours taking apart and re-engineering the water line. we get it working after a few hours and then i get back to finishing the yard. last time i worked in the yard…this happened. so needless to say, when i got to the back fence…i was a little paranoid. but i made it through without getting stung by one of those dadgum yellow jackets.
i’ve been working on laundry from youth camp so we can have clean clothes tomorrow and i put together a little table for my wife this evening.
this has really been one of the most random days ever.
ever.
oh yea. go read my wife’s blog. show her some love.
grace and peace.
a few from hbu spring graduation ceremonies.
grace and peace.
it has been a busy couple of days. thursday night/friday morning at 12:01 my wife and i went to see prince caspian. it was great. i highly recommend it. yesterday in the afternoon we had a graduation party for my wife at her parents house and here i sit again. at her parents house.
at two my wife graduates from college. after four years at HBU she is done. she is taking the summer off and then in august she is starting grad school at texas womens university. it will be a good one.
needless to say, i am a little tired. a little worn out, but it has been a great past couple of days. alot of fun. alot of people. alot of good memories.
ill post pictures from graduation in the next couple of days. i hope everyone is well. later my friends!
grace and peace.
i am going to start going through the beatitudes on sunday nights with my youth. i sat down today to start taking notes and such. here is what i wrote in my journal concerning chapter 5, verse 1.
Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him.
“…and when he sat down…”
why did jesus sit? i learned as a communication major that you can project more when you are standing up. there were crowds, why would he sit? jesus would have to really project. did he sit to get down on their level? it had to be really really quiet. how could they hear? how big was the crowd? i wonder if jesus was a spitter? i wonder if the front row was soaked. i wonder if jesus yelled when he taught or was he just simple and soft spoken. the disciples could not just pull out the sound board, speakers and lapel mic. so he probably had to yell. i wonder if that was out of his character?
thats what i have been doing for the past hour. its good sometimes to get in the office and to shut the door, open your journal, open your bible, and start writing.
if you know me, then you know how much i like dr pepper. well, at my wedding kimb and i will be toasting with dublin dr pepper. if you have no clue what im talking about, dublin dr pepper is made with cane sugar. this means that it is really, really sweet.
a couple years ago some of my best friends and i went on the “texas is awesome” road trip and on this trip we stopped in austin, san antonio, dallas/ft.worth, lukenback, walberg, abiline and dublin. this was my first time in dublin.
but this friday, my mom and i are going back. when we come back we will come with appox. 400 bottles of dr pepper. im not joking. it will be glorious.
im really excited about this trip. its gonna be fun. i will take plenty of pictures and post them so you can experience great joy with me.
so the week is almost over. things have gone ok. i was able to get alot of stuff done in the youth ministry realm of my work. knocked out stuff for d-now, golf tournament, youth camp, super bowl party…it was a good week.
in the midst of all of this i have been working on stuff for the house. KIMB AND I CLOSE TOMORROW! we are so excited. we have to go to fidelity today to take care of wiring money and then we are going shopping at ikea and a couple other furniture places b/c we aren’t going to have time to shop at all this weekend and kimb is actually having one of her showers at the house in a couple weeks. so there needs to be something in there.
we are excited. please continue to pray for us. for our stress levels to be low and for everything to run smoothly . this is new ground for the both of us and we are excited to get to experience it together.
peace be with you.
In December my fiance’ and I went to Andrew Peterson’s, Behold the Lamb of God show. While there Bebo Norman gave a presentation on Compassion International and Kimb and I felt called to sponsor a child and through this sponsorship, offer them hope, life, and Jesus.
Yesterday in the mail I received a letter from Compassion and in this letter was a letter from our boy Clement. I promptly opened it and read with great eagerness. It was so exciting to read and through this letter sense his excitement that a couple in the United States would choose him. So last night when I saw Kimb, she and I quickly wrote back to him. So here in a few days we will find a picture of us to send with our letter and in a few weeks Clement will see what we look like. Kimb and I are so excited to be able to impact Clements life. We pray that through our monthly sponsorship Clement will come to know Jesus and that if we can never go to Burkina Faso to see him, to know that we will see him one day dancing in heaven.
The joy that this brings to Kimb and I is amazing, but the joy that it brings Clement…
…I cannot imagine.
Would you pray about sponsoring a child through compassion?
peace be with you,
why must steve jobs be so silly? this thing is crazy bad. now my ibookG4 is even more ancient. (but it is still awesome)
will anyone be able to catch up to apple? as soon as you buy their newest gadget, they come out with something better. its amazing!
feel free to read about it on your own.
right here
today marks the beginning of the most stressful week of my life.
kimb and i close on our house on friday.
or atleast thats the plan.
we are trying to work out a problem with the vinyl on our kitchen floor.
it is being a mean and not cooperating.
tomorrow morning i have to respond to a jury summons.
sometime this week kimb and i have to go to fidelity to make sure all our money stuff is ready to wire.
just alot of small things and a few bigger things.
all piling up.
within 7 days of each other.
if you could, pray for peace and patience. pray for guidance.
thanks.
post script
i forgot how much i love the o.c. supertones.
tonight we took my grandpa out for dinner for his birthday tomorrow. it was awesome. we had a great time. great laughs, great food, and even more amazing green sauce.
if you are ever in rosenberg, please swing by la casona. it will be well worth your time and money.
peace be with you.
well today marked a good day in the life of kimb and i. this evening we had our pre-close meeting on our house. our construction manager, tyler, basically gave us the rundown on how our house works. like if our thermostat says the heat is on but the house isn’t heating, we now know how to fix that problem. or if our garbage disposal stops working, we know how to reset it. it was fun. then he gave us a roll of blue tape to put a piece next to the things that we thought needed to be fixed…cosmetically speaking. it was cool to “inspect” our home. to look at the paint with care. to look at the tile back-splash in the kitchen and the bathroom and make sure the are lined up (for the most part).
kimb and i are almost homeowners.
this is crazy!
thats kimb and i outside our house a few days after we signed contract.
a priest, a rabbi and a minister were just on jay leno telling jokes. they were really long jokes. they go to a commercial and when they come back on from commercial jay introduces his first guest who just so happens to be jimmy kimmel.
he walks to his chair and says…
“jay can i tell a joke? a priest, a rabbi and a minister come on a talk show and tell the longest jokes i’ve ever heard.”
it was really funny.
and these guys are playing tonight on jay leno.
im excited
i was thinking about galatians 2:20 tonight.
“i have been crucified with Christ and it is no longer i who live but Christ who lives in me.”
so within this scripture is the thought that i, a Christ follower, should live with self abandon, because after all i am dead to self, and alive in Christ.
i was thinking for some reason earlier tonight that this means that every part of my being needs to be abandoned. my heart. my actions. my thoughts. and then i thought about my heartache and heartbreaks.
im not quite sure that last sentence made sense, but i guess what i’m asking is…
why doesn’t my heart break for the things that break God’s heart?
last night during communion my pastor shared a story written by bob benson. (this is a paraphrase. the best i could remember it. but the meaning is still there)
there was this man named james. james was a very active member in church. one sunday his pastor announced that the next saturday afternoon their community of faith would have a picnic at the local park where everyone would just bring their own food for their family.
so james went through his week like he always did. living for Christ in every way that he could. saturday morning comes and james goes to run some errands and stops by the store. there he runs into one of his fellow church members. this member asks if james is going to the picnic. james replies, “i actually forgot all about. i shouldn’t go. i don’t have anything to bring”. james’ church friend encourages him to go and then heads on his way to the picnic. so james goes home and opens his refrigerator and pulls open the drawer where he keeps lunch meat and finds there a dried up piece of bologna. he sighs and pulls it out. he gets his bread and it isn’t really that soft but he gets what’s left of it and the mustard and he makes himself a less than desirable bologna sandwich. then he gets in his car and heads to the picnic.
when he gets to the picnic the church family quickly gathered and prayed over their food and then began to eat. james goes to one end of the table and sits down. then a family of 4 comes over and sits near him and it looks like the mother had slaved over the stove all morning. a huge plate of fried chicken. baked beans. potato salad. pickles, tomatoes, carrots, celery sticks. a chocolate pie and a huge jug of sweet tea. james hesitates to pull out his undesirable bologna but realizes that it is all he has to eat. so he pulls out his sandwich and starts to eat.
when the mother of the family next to him sees that all he is eating is a small bologna sandwich she offers for james to share in their feast. james says “no its ok. i’ve got my sandwich”, but the mother insists. james agrees and enjoys the meal with his new friends. james realized that he was a simple pauper bringing very little to a feast, but then he was invited into this family to share in their feast.
now i understand that this story might be a little cheesy and sound completely made up, but the point is that we are invited to the table to take part in the feast that Christ has to offer us. the thing is that we really have nothing at all to offer him. just a lousy bologna sandwich all we can do is agree and take part in Christ’s feast. the feeling i get when i think that i have been invited to the table, i have accepted the invitation and even though i am seated where i don’t belong, i am never asked to get up and leave the table. ever. i am glad Christ accepts me for who i am.
i saw this phrase on my friends myspace.
“i’m a complete idiot, but i’m pretty sure that God still loves me.”
i am glad that God still loves me and never asks me to leave the table. even when i am a total idiot.
we had communion last night at church. every year, on the first sunday of the year, we gather in the fellowship hall around tables to share the bread and the wine (grape juice. we’re baptist remember). don’t get me wrong, i love taking communion and the memory that comes with it but this years was extra different. with the death of my cousin and everything else that was/is going on, it was good to sit with my family and to be served the elements by my father. after we have taken communion we all stood in a circle and sang the good ole baptist hymn, the bond of love. it felt good. it felt like community.
thank you Jesus. what a great sacrifice. help me to understand to the best of my ability. i know ill never completely understand, but still.
so i went tonight and saw this…
im not much for nicolas cage but he was good in both national treasures so far. very good. i don’t care what anyone says about these movies. i thought they were both very well done. movies that were very much worth the money spent on the tickets.
and then during quite possibly the worst opening previews in the history of the world, i finally see the theatrical trailer for this…
it made the wait through the other crappy trailers very much worth it.
im so ready.
but first i must finish the book.
its gonna be so good. i think it might be one that i have to go to the midnight showing for.
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”