Top Ten things I wish I Knew When I was a Freshman:

This was a top ten I did for youth group this week, talking about fitting into what God wants of you instead of what everyone else wants...

10. Senior Cheerleaders have boyfriends - and even if they don’t, they don’t want to date you…
9. Your hair isn’t as cool as you think it is…

8. Books are for reading, not drawing in…
7. You should never, and I repeat NEVER where underwear on your head, no matter what…
6. If an upper classman invites you to go with a bunch of his buddies out to a field to do something you’ve never heard of, you probably shouldn’t go…
5. Your glasses are not as cool as you think either…

4. While showering after gym is embarrassing, smelling like rotten trash could be worse…
3. Girls are not impressed with burps, farts or spitting…
2. You should always, always, always wear deodorant. Lots and lots of deodorant…
1. You will never be cool enough…

Life Expectancy

Do you think that life expectancy in our day and age should really be attributed to Medical advances or should the decline of the infant mortality rate be attributed to Medical advances. I am pretty sure that people who survived birth and childhood in past centuries lived into their 70-80's, but when you try to average it out and have to include deaths at birth it brings the average life span down a bunch. I was thinking about this because the bible mentions people who had long life spans outside of the first few chapters of Genesis. Anna is a great example. Anyway. I always thought as a kid that our medicine had made some spectacualar leap for mankind by creating the perfect anti-death agent. It turns out that we are just more proficient at delivering babies - no small feat in itself, but quite different from making someone live who would have lived 30 years live for 80. Just a thought...

Wow...

New Testament - Old doubts...

Last night I was thinking about the New Testament. I was thinking just how outlandish it all is. The idea that God would put on skin, that He would walk around, that He died and that through that our sins are forgiven and we are redeemed from an afterlife spent in hell. I thought about the idea that He was then raised back to life after being for 3 days, I mean, His heart had not beaten for three days, rigamortis had set in, he was , . It is all so unbelievable. What I started thinking about is how there are so many other documents that record events that are just as spectacular or at least similar in their miraculous nature, that we simply discount as frauds. The book of Mormon is one that comes to mind readily.
Here is what I realized. The New Testament is different from all other Manuscripts of this type. It is a set of documents that were all written in the same span of time that the events took place. Let me explain it this way. People live for 60-90 years. Jesus died in the early 30 AD's. The new Testament was all written before or up to about the 80's. This means that a maximum of 40 years had surfaced between the latest writings of the New Testament and the of Jesus. THIS MEANS: that the reports of the New Testament were testable. Individuals could have read the gospel of Matthew, Mark, Luke or John, and simply gone and talked with Nicodemus or Zacchaeus and asked if they had really witnessed Jesus in the manner the gospels record. No other document that I can think of has this same kind of "testability" to it. Joseph Smith wrote about things that had supposedly happened in the past. There is no way we can go and ask someone, did this happen. But early observers of Christianity had this luxury. It is no wonder the church grew by leaps and bounds in those early days. People in Jerusalem had seen all that had happened, they had heard reports and they were asking themselves, "what does this all mean?" Along comes Peter, he does a bit of preaching and explains the "Good News" and THOUSANDS accept Christ. It is no wonder. They accepted because it filled in the blanks for what they had witnessed.

Uzziah & Esau. to the cross.

I have been thinking about these two guys in Israels history. Esau gave up his birthright for a single meal. The present moment seemed so important and enticing that he gave up all the future held for him for a bowl of soup...
Uzziah had lived a righteous life. He was a good king for Israel, yet towards the end he became so proud of himself that he assumed the responsibility of the Priests and went himself to sacrifice before God. He was given a skin disease for his foolish pride.
It is so easy to look from the outside of this history and make judgemental calls. I imagine it is much harder to be in the situation. I wonder if Paul was able to identify more with the broken participants of Israels history as much as he was able to identify with the giants of the faith (2 Corinthians 12). I feel the need to constantly remind myself that there are meals out there that will tempt, but the birthright is worth too much, the battles that have been won in my life are not due to my own diligence and fortitude, but they are all the power of the Cross. I am worthless, Christ gives me worth...

If more was a crime then I would be guilty...

More photo of mine...

Notice how messy the bed behind me is:
This is what life without Jenni is like...

Kim Berlin Heights. Pictures from TN

This is the campus here at Johnson. It is beautiful. It's been cool to get back into the grove of things as far as school goes and to realize what a big deal it is to work on your Masters. The picture of the tree is a tree they have where people go to pray. I spent time studying the scripture there yesterday morning...

Livin in Tennessee

This morning I woke up to early so I got in my rental and took off for an adventure. I drove and just took any road that led me up into the moutains of TN. I ended up of a dirt road as you can see in the picture that was pretty steep. I was listening to U2 "Where the Streets Have No Name", it was all pretty awesome! I also included this picture of this beautiful Willow I took while driving on a tiny curvy road. TN is a beautiful place. I have added a youtube video of U2 so you can enjoy the music and think about driving on winedy backroads with me, going where ever the road takes us (this is the beauty of the GPS, I can go where ever I want and the GPS tells me exactly how to get back without me knowing anything).

This afternoon, we just did a bunch or Orientating... I have learned how to learn and what my Masters will consist of. Met a bunch of other guys that are just like me and drank a Mt. Dew. I'm off to dinner soon and then an evening of excitement. I will update again as soon as I feel I need to :).

For Some Strange Reason He Guided Me to Tennessee

I'm on my way to TN, gonna miss my wife, friends, dogs, the church kick off and probably a lot more. I leave you this video as a token of my adventure...

Well, perhaps I will update you on the trip and my progress, if I see fit... Have a good week...

"Headliner, I challenge you to a game of horse shoes, a GAME OF HORSE SHOES...."

Ezekiel Ramblings

I have been reading Zeek lately.  Some of it fly's right past me, but other parts are really sticking.  Last night, I was really struggling, I didn't really want to read the Bible.  I just wanted to read the books I've been getting into.  I was just about to give in and leave the Bible on the night stand, when I thought, "why would I read Bill Gates or Andy Stanley, when I could read the God of the Universe?"  So, I opened up Zeek and started reading.  I read about how God was fed up with the shepherding that the Israelites leaders had been doing and how He Himself was going to come and be their shepherd.  I began thinking about Jesus being the "Good Shepherd", about how Matthew said that Jesus had compassion on people because they were helpless and like sheep without a shepherd, and how Jesus asked Peter to feed His Sheep.  I could see Jesus being the direct fullfillment of this prophecy spoken in Ez. 34.  How God Himself showed us how to lead, how to love, how to have compassion.  It was just super interesting and a really cool study.  When it was all done with, I realized that if I had given in and not read, I would have missed it.  I would have missed seeing my savior fulfill a prophecy that was way before His time. 

Boy, I know I have missed so many other things because my mind has been distracted or my heart was just in other places.  I want to be sold out.  I want to be a world changer through Jesus.  As a teen I thought all of those things, I desired them all, but it was in immaturity, not really knowing what it takes, how hard it is, how life can subtly turn you.  Now I think them and think, "the only way is through the strength of Jesus".  I am not much by myself...  Not much at all...

Business @ The Speed of Thought...

I have started reading Bill Gates book, Business @ The Speed of Thought. I am very intrigued by how many of his predictions have come true. He wrote in 1999 and was predicting the ways that we would use digital resources in the future. It was really interesting to me. I suppose much of the reason his predictions were right was because they were not predictions at all, but his vision of where technology needs to go. This is an interesting look at how one man and a company with the right vision and resources can literally direct an entire nation and effectively the world.
Gates' point of the book is the in order to be effective in business, you must be able to respond immediately to the information that is being compiled about your company, customer base, and products. I think most businesses have incorporated most of his ideas into the way they do business. I now do all of my banking on-line, as do a lot of people my age. Not only am I personally connected with my bank and information immediately, my bank is also collecting data and able to get real time feedback from me on processes that work well or poorly.
What strikes me is about this book, is how much thought and time goes into business dealings. How much effort and emphasis. How much data and information. Businesses can now run at a fluid pace because they take the time and effort to collect data and put pressure on themselves to be at the top of their game. And for what? Money? Success? To put out a better widget? I am still trying to assimilate all of this, but I am asking myself, how do we do a better job as the whole-salers of grace to this world? How do we keep up? How do we not just keep up, but lead out? I'm not totally sure, but I know we must deal with these issues. The culture is becoming so fluid, we must find a way to flow with and ahead...

Itallian Fresh Prince Theme on You Tube