Josh and I went and took photos in Abbotsford..... and it's almost Christmas..... just in case anyone forgot.....

Verse 1

In the desert place,
You have proven lord,
You are faithful,
You are faithful,
You shower grace on grace,
I find my strength within Your Word,
You are faithful,
You are faithful,

Chorus

You have been faithful again and again
And Your promises have never failed
You have been faithful again and again
And you steadfast love will never change,
You’ll never change,

Verse 2

And for all my years,
On this journey’s road,
You’ll be faithful,
You’ll be faithful,
All my storms and tears,
Will teach my heart that surely, God
You are Faithful,
You are Faithful,

This guy is a lot of fun./

I know, I know, I haven't posted in quite a while. The problem is that after you stare at a computer screen all day, that's not really what you want to do when you get home. I wish I had a good picture to put on or something. As for a lighthearted or funny post, that would be hard to work up because I'm not funny, I'm just odd, and oddness can't be worked up on demand any easier than funniness from a really lame not funny person. It's almost 2:00 in the morning. I'm burning this DVD that has been a major struggle to finish. It really should have been done a month ago, but with busyness, technical difficulties, and my own dumb mistakes, it has taken so long. finally tonight it will be finished. I was thinking about going to sleep and just getting up a bit early to finish it, but anyone who knows me well knows that I probably couldn't tell you what country I'm in first thing in the morning. My brain just doesn't function. So right now I'm writing a post to pass time and appease all you post-a-holics who have time for good posts....with pictures......and some level of reasoning that I can't possibly posess at this time of night......... Oh well. i have a sore throat. i feel sick....... I found this gross looking stacked soft taco thing on the counter in the kitchen, and being hungry, I heated it up and ate (half of) it. It was one of the most disgusting things i've tasted. I would probably rather eat vegetables of any sort. Hmmmm.... now that raises a valuable question. If it was worse than most vegetables that I don't like, and I still ate half of it.... that kind of just shows my willingness to eat anything that is dripping with grease and preservatives, and shows my stubborness when it comes to the more natural food groups.

I just watched a bruce lee movie. It must have been from the 70's. It was amazing. It was a biographical film about himself. He stared in it. So it wasn't like a documentary... it was like a real movie of Bruce Lee's life. Amazing. The overdubs on the audio were all at least 2 seconds off. The plot never changed: Bruce would travel to some new place and beat up anybody who challenged him. I think it must have been filmed on 16mm, but the quality was almost as bad as a good 8mm. It was hilarious. The dialogue. The overdubs. I watched the whole thing, start to finish. The funny thing is that they could have got through the whole plot in 10 minutes, but the film was about 2 hours long. So basically they were just replaying the plot in different locations. Seattle, San Fransisco, LA, Hong Kong, Thailand, and then back to LA.... it was truly inspiring....(not). But probably the funniest thing about the movie is that he predicted an early death for himself, so he put that in the movie too. I think in the movie it said that he died at the age of 35, and in reality he died when he was 33, although he also added to the movie that some people think that he faked his death and just left the public life....... hmmm..... sounds fishy to me. So basically Bruce Lee probably isn't dead, he's probably just a 67 year old man who's beating up any young punk that gets in his way in the backwoods of China.

yeah. and with that-I'm done

The Grinch who (wishes he could) steal "commercial christmas".

My heart must need to grow a few sizes if you're using the remedy set down by that classic film about another grinch. I don't like christmas lights, christmas trees, or christmas cards. I abhor christmas films, (secular) christmas music, Santa Claus and seasons greetings. It has nothing to do with what christmas is actually about. It's just another sick case of North American commercialism. Traditions are made into advertisements, and the mystery of God becoming a man is eclipsed by chubbiness of an old man in a red suit. For these reasons, the "Christmas Season" that most people really get into doesn't really thrill me all that much anymore-in fact, it's pretty sad.

now we're soarin', flyin' (....i'll spare you all by not inserting the rest....)

I'm no longer sick.

it's friday and so far i've eaten less than my regular portion of junk, so I plan to consume some artificially generated food tonight.

Sick. the word says it all.

This is amazing. Watch the video. You'll be encouraged.

http://www.worshipmatters.com/

Alpine Adventure.

Today steven and I courageously faced hordes of angry drivers and drove to cyprus mountain. we went snow shoeing....without snowshoes. We were exploring in the name of exploration. It was cold. We were unprepared. We had touques and big coats, but no gloves or or snow pants or boots. Personally I was sporting some converse and jeans. After doing some spin-outs in the parking lot we headed for the woods. We struggled to the top of a hill, up to our waists in fresh powder. It was so cold. SO COLD. After we reached the top of the very steep hill, we trudged around the woods for a bit and then went back to the hill and i tried to start a small avalanche by jumping and rolling down it.... it didn't work. then we drove home.
It is snowing. RIGHT NOW!

Yesterday I was thinking of an away message for my gchat. I had the songs from the wizard of oz stuck in my head all morning, so I decided to (in a minute and a half or less) write an aussie punk song about the wizard of oz.

I think there might be wicked witches,
Somewhere over the rainbow,
oooooh yeaaaaaaaaaaaah,
And metal men, and talking lions,
that chill with scarecrows,
yeaaaaaaaaaaah,

Oh somewhere over the rainbow,
somewhere over the rainbow,
someday, oh somedaaaaay,
I wanna go,

Oi!!Oi!!Oi!!

You gotta fight the flying monkeys,
Somewhere over the rainbow,
ooooooooh yeeeeeeaaaaaahhhm,
And the little guys who say they're wizards,
Really they're just trying to get rid of you,
Oh yeeeeeeeeeeeeahhhhhh,

Oh somewhere over the rainbow,
somewhere over the rainbow,
someday, oh somedaaaaay,
I wanna go,

Oi!!Oi!!Oi!!

hahahahaha. that's the non-serious section of my post. here's the more serious side. i'm trying to re-train myself to be writing deeper lyrics again. For quite a while I was really into getting good melodies for my songs and I barely cared about the lyrics. I'm trying to correct that, and write more thoughtfully. this isn't really a song, I never put a melody to it, it's more like a prayer. I sort of like it.

take my heart lord jesus,
take it and reign supreme,
strengthen my weak affections,
and point them, lord, to thee,
oh guide my faltering footsteps,
till faith has gained it's sight,
and in the morning's glory,
I will see you, jesus, my delight,

planning a big post on creativity.
i need to organize my thoughts better, so right now isn't the time to do it.
for now, anyone who thinks that they are creative watch this video and be humbled....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7Ny5BYc-Fs&mode=related&search=

eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey.
rocketman.
tonight.

"if I were the king, of the foresssssssst! I'd ough, and I'd raough, and I'd rouhahahahahaha!!!!!"

preparing myself for much laughter.
out.

P.S> I'll come to texas ricky. one day../

First picture: me (please don't bug me about the self portraits.... josh does far more of them.)
Second picture: my desk at work. the ugly computer soon to be replaced by a gleaming 20inch iMac.

Life is really interesting for those who pay attention. Most people don't. I don't most of the time. Thus I will write on this short, lame post (except for the pictures) that nothing interesting has happened to me recently, which is a lie because interesting things have happened to me, but I haven't noticed them. Unfortunately. I'll be working on that. out.

Hey.......!
I just got the cable for the camera. Finally I can actually put some pictures on.

My favorite time of year....

But just so I don't confuse anyone, I didn't take that picture today. Or even this past year or the one before it....wait....maybe the one before. haha. it's raining constantly here. flooded streets.... some guy out in the country caught a salmon that was swimming up his street.

out.\
oh. wait. blow up the picture by clicking on it. it looks better and you can see the snow better.

I just went and bought a sweater from the gap.






it's green.




that is the most interesting thing that happened all day.

Ah.
no time to post.
I'm such a dumb blogger
a dumb, dumb blogger
I don't use time when i have it
and i try to post when i don't have any.

fdasjkfjkdskjlfdjklfsdkdfssdkfjlfkjlsajkldfsaklsdfjasdfkljdfjslsdflkjasdfkljafds;lkj!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I didn't sleep last night. There were such long periods of exporting and rendering and such that I watched Saving Private Ryan (for creative inspiration, and because it's a long movie...), cleaned my room, posted on my blog, checked and replied to emails, did some reading some praying, some writing, and some quiet guitar playing until 4:00 am. After four, all the exporting was done and I started working hard on the DVDs. They're still not done, but almost. It was a long night. A long day. Now I'm going to work in a little bit. AH. I need to sleep tonight. Definitely.

BUT....I discovered something really helpful yesterday. Those little starbucks drinks that they sell in jars are good. and they're cheap. they taste like melted ice capps. So I'm going to stock up on a bunch of those and just chug 'em throughout the day.

I'm sitting here at 11:02 pm with another all-nighter looming in front of me and I want to think that this is a very bad thing. I want to say that it really stinks that there is some unknown error in my file that I've tried to export several times without success. I want to believe that it's bad luck that when I went to clear some disk space I happened to delete several files from the movie, and because of that I have to re-capture much of it and do a little extra editing. I really want to. I really, REALLY, want to say "bad luck, this stinks, I'm mad". But somehow I can't, and that's a really good thing. First of all, when compared with what I deserve, I'm really doing well.... no little man dressed in red poking at me through the flames with a pitch fork.... and acceptance and fellowship and a relationship with the eternal God, and not eternal separation from Him. That's one reason to be glad in spite of my predicament. And secondly, i know that He is working all things for my good and His Glory. He knows what the issue is, and the fact is that what might seem like an extremely fruitless waste of time to me, is actually a test, and an opportunity for me to grow in Godliness for His glory. I'm really grateful that He showed me that.

Last night I went to guitar lessons. At my teacher's house you wait in this room off to the side until the person who is getting lessons before you is done. There was something new about the room today. There was rabbit in a cage on the floor. I stuck my finger in to pet it and it bit me. No wonder it was in a cage.

an explanation of "rad"

Rad,
An abbreviation of 'radical'--a term made popular by the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Still primarily used by people on the West Coast who find words like 'cool', 'awesome', and 'tight' to be tired and overused; 'rad' is generally considered to be a much higher praise than the aforementioned superlatives. Also used as a general expression of awe.

"Those are some rad shoes."
"Oh, RAD."

Yes. It's true the days of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are over (....well at least I thought they were over until I just recently saw that somebody decided to make a movie......) but the popularity of words cycles like the popularity of certain fashion trends. What was cool in the 80's (for some reason unknown to me) is cool again (minus the bright pink short-shorts guys, and we should be thankful for that....). Even though Rad most likely dates back to the early 90's I think it's about time it resurrected from it's temporary grave and again overtook those other sorely over-used superlatives. Josh and Steve are helping to make this a reality. Join the Rad Revolution. Rad is going to be a rad word once again.

By the way, I put that picture in because it is rad.

this blog has lacked color of late....

So I'm posting pictures.
These were from a while back.

this picture just popped into my head. don't ask why. but I'm in the mood for writing humorous nonsense.

Turtles are crawling from holes in the ground,
Where insects and wriggling creatures abound,
As they turn their questioning faces about,
They ask if indeed they are on the right route,
And I say, "keep going, I'm sure you'll find out."

First of all, turtles don't live underground. moles do, but turtles don't. So I don't know why I thought of them coming out of the ground. If you're wondering where they were going, don't worry, they said they were headed for tennessee, and I told them to keep going south until it gets hot and then turn right. I'm sure they'll get there fine.

it didn't work. I don't know why. I posted this morning and it's not there.

I need to echo what josh said on his blog. time is an issue. a real one. but I've been convicted that God gives enough time in a day to do what needs to be done, and it's my fault that I don't get things done. I take away the time that I could have by spending too much time on things that don't need to be done.

so... speaking of which I need to go edit a bit.
out.

identity-part 1

what do you find your identity in?
how do you try to define your identity?

honestly. I wouldn't mind hearing.

Due to a lack of battery power, I'm going to have to type fast. Therefore if this makes less sense than it should, please forgive my rushing, and just try to understand it.

Now, the battery's about to die and I won't actually get to write it. maybe later. hahaha.


whatever.

Notice the new things saying that you can sign into blogger with your google account? that's because google owns blogger. They are taking over the world. They already have maps, searches, movies, pictures, a religion (seriously. the church of google), and tons of other seriously useful junk. Except for the church of google part. it's not useful, but then, google doesn't actually own it...they're not affiliated.

I got G-mail today. I figure: "why fight'?. You can't beat it so you might as well join it. And my hotmail is bugging me with dumb ads and junk. So for those of you that have my hotmail, I'll soon be sending you my G-mail address. i'm not going to put it here because then I'd get tons of spam.


peace out.

(as I write this google will most likely purchase a small country, but rich in natural resources. Googleland. hahah .joke.)

does anyone else know what pickleball is?

if you don't you should learn about it.

it's a great game.;

but it's been quite a while since I've played.

i want to play again but I don't know where to find a court.

if you know where one is, tell me. I'll teach you how to play.

it's a really rad game.

out.

As much as I really like florida, I want to go home. And that reminds me of a M. Bubly song, but I'm not going to post it (a sigh of relief goes out from the guy readers and unhappy wail from the gals.,.;... haha.)........ yeah. florida has been great, the people are great, the theme parks are pretty good ((if you're older than ten Sea World is better than disney)), there are ghetto hotels, and there are nice ones.

we went to metro life church this morning and dad led worship. it went really well. got to see some friends from a ways back.

but at the same time I miss the north. I don't know why I love the north, but I do. even though vancouver is pretty far south for canada, when you come this far south you begin to realize that you love the north.

so I put that picture on because kayla is cute as always, and because it was taken in the winter. out.

no pictures. bad posts.

MAN!

I'm a bad vacation blogger.

the truth about the pictures is I don't have a USB cable.

not much other interesting news.

\........
sorry.

out.s
]

Oh man..... it's hot. and it's like 11:00 at night.

So this is fall in the sunshine state. I'm all for the sun, but I sure wouldn't mind them turning down the humidity.


More posts will come (at least i'm thinking so unless the place we head next has no wireless.)) and they will have pictures. I don't have one on this post because I hardly took any today. soooooooo.......


yeah., anyways....we're in daytona. I think that's just for tonight and part of tomorrow. After that we head back to Orlando.


out.

well......tomorrow vacation starts.
it will be fun I'm sure.

here's an interesting thing that I was thinking about today: People are really good at talking. We're really good at making conversation (well, some of us at least//..... meaning not always me but sometimes.......maybe....yeah.....whatever), talking about whatever we like, or bashing what we don't..... but this is what occurred to me the other day: people these days (including me) are terrible at saying anything of importance. I don't really know why either, but if you listen to yourself and really try to gauge the worth of what you're saying I'd bet you'll find that you don't say much that really means anything. again, I don't know why..... it's weird though, now that I've noticed.

Since that last short post was so popular and because I don't have any time anyways I'll do another short one.

yes, got the iPod.
steven!
joseph!
maxwell!

those are the nicknames. no one should add to them or take away any one.

umm....

I'm really busy. I haven't yet eaten dinner.
my guitar needs fixing or else replacement.
I'm thinking replacement.

tele?
les?

I don't know.

ok.
I need to go back to editing if I'm going to finish by tomorrow.

high school musical.............Oh my goodness.

So Steve and I are alive. We made it back. We ate Nandos. It was a good trip. Very long. But good. This week is going to be brutal. I'll try to post on stuff every once in a while but won't have much time. Just so you all know.

Steve and I are biking to white rock. It's many miles. no sidewalks. big hills. it'll be a workout. i probably won't make it back.


if I don't, keep my blog going. if I do, I'll post about it later.

out.,

such a good song someone should bring it back again.

I will sing of my Redeemer,
And His wondrous love to me;
On the cruel cross He suffered,
From the curse to set me free.

Sing, oh, sing of my Redeemer,
With His blood He purchased me,
On the cross He sealed my pardon,
Paid the debt, and made me free.

I will tell the wondrous story,
How my lost estate to save,
In His boundless love and mercy,
He the ransom freely gave.

I will praise my dear Redeemer,
His triumphant pow'r I'll tell,
How the victory He giveth
Over sin, and death, and hell.

I will sing of my Redeemer,
And His heav'nly love to me;
He from death to life hath brought me,
Son of God with Him to be.

so good.

There's a scheduled outage at 4:00 today for anyone who didn't know. haha.
I had something I wanted to say. I think it was important. I can't remember what though.
So I'm going to go to work, have my starbucks, have my buck-a-slice pizza, then come home and if the outage is over I'll try to remember what I wanted to say....

I just ordered a 30GB video iPod. 3-6 days.......can't wait.

this came about because my green jurrasic park edition iPod mini breathed it's last a couple of weeks ago, I've been missing it, and because the new video iPods got bigger batteries, apple is selling the old ones for less than an iPod nano. cheap. so I ordered one. I'm definitely looking forward to getting it.

I got to play E-guitar in church today. In fact, we had 2 e-guitars. that was a cool experience. Patrick said something about having 2 ADD electric guitar players, I laughed. I couldn't help myself. I was ready to rock.

and just to make this a somewhat serious post here's a song I wrote this week. i don't know for sure what I think just yet, but I like the melody so.......


Verse 1

Looking through the past,
Time and time again,
You’ve been faithful,
You’ve been faithful,
When hope is fading fast,
You give strength to run again,
You are Faithful,
You are Faithful,

Verse 2

When my love grows cold,
I will wait for you,
For You are Faithful,
You are Faithful,
You make me overflow,
With joy and wonder at Your truth,
For You are Faithful,
You are Faithful,

Chorus

From everlasting,
To everlasting,
You are Faithful and true,
Though my grip fails,
Your hold prevails,
You’ll never let me go,

Verse 3

Throughout all the years,
On this long, long road,
You’ve been faithful,
You’ve been faithful,
All my storms and tears,
Have taught, and proven surely, God
That You are Faithful,
You are Faithful,

cheers.

I was so busy yesterday. Work was busy. Calls never seemed to stop, people never stopped giving me things to do.....it was good. then I came home grabbed a quick lunch and then ran to the church office and spent the rest of the night recording two songs that I wrote. it was funny. I sang, played acoustic guitar, played electric guitar, played bass....(I don't have a clue how to play bass but if you have rhythm it's not too difficult), and got the computer to play drums although I recently discovered that I can (sort of) play them too.

Now I'm going to have another mocha, answer a bunch more calls and start it all over again. except that tonight I'm (possibly)going bowling. should be fun.... it could get a little crazy as I'm a terrible bowler.....oh well.out.

The great dilemma.

I like coffee, sort of.....I don't absolutely adore the the taste, but I love the mental stimulation it gives....to be able to think clearly in the morning is well worth the price of a white chocolate mocha. But here's the dilemma: Now I want that kind of alertness all day, so I want to drink multiple coffees. But there's no way I can afford multiple mochas so I'll either have to settle for the unthinkable (cheap coffee), or find some other option. Any ideas?

oh yeah almost forgot. I got my glasses today. maybe I'll get pictures....

busyness.
I think that's what you would call it.

Here's a song I wrote this morning during my quiet time in a park across from where I work while sipping a hot (but unfortunately quite strong) coffee, which thankfully provided a small amount of mental stimulation. It's from Psalm 139.

You've searched me,
And You know me,
You have planned out all my days,
You're behind me,
And before me,
You are with me all my days,

Where could I go from you?
If I rise with the dawn still You are there,
Where could I hide from you?
Even in this raging sea You're here,

So search me and know me,
Expose my anxious thoughts,
Then lead me and guide me,
To a perfect trust in You my king.

In the silence,
In my darkness,
You are the light that guides me,
In the moment,
Of my weakness,
You are the strength that holds me,

Where could I go from you?
If I rise with the dawn still You are there,
Where could I hide from you?
Even in this raging sea You're here,

So search me and know me,
Expose my anxious thoughts,
Then lead me and guide me,
To a perfect trust in You my king.

I didn't necessarily try to fancy it up as far as words go. I was more just trying to catch the gist of the Psalm.


new iPod Nanos.
iTunes 7.


....yes......!!!!

Good Hymn.

1. Let us love and sing and wonder
Let us praise the Savior’s name
He has hushed the law’s loud thunder
He has quenched Mount Sinai’s flame
He has washed us with His blood
He has washed us with His blood
He has washed us with His blood
He has brought us nigh to God

2. Let us love the Lord Who bought us
Pitied us when enemies
Called us by His grace and taught us
Gave us ears and gave us eyes
He has washed us with His blood
He has washed us with His blood
He has washed us with His blood
He presents our souls to God

3. Let us sing though fierce temptation
Threatens hard to bear us down
For the Lord, our strong salvation,
Holds in view the conqu’ror’s crown
He, Who washed us with His blood,
He, Who washed us with His blood,
He, Who washed us with His blood,
Soon will bring us home to God

4. Let us wonder grace and justice
Join and point to mercy’s store
When through grace in Christ our trust is
Justice smiles and asks no more
He Who washed us with His blood
He Who washed us with His blood
He Who washed us with His blood
Has secured our way to God

5. Let us praise and join the chorus
Of the saints enthroned on high
Here they trusted Him before us
Now their praises fill the sky
You have washed us with Your blood
You have washed us with Your blood
You have washed us with Your blood
You are the Worthy Lamb of God.

Sorry that my recent posts are weak.
Really the problem is that I'v had no time at night, so I post in the morning before work.
I have ten minutes left now, so I'll just do a quick update of life...

The new job is going well.... I'm reading a lot, learning the systems of the company, and learning html and css code. (if you go to your view menu up at the top and click view source, you can see all the coding that goes into webpages....)(well, I guess that's on a mac, on a PC just find something about viewing the source or source code)).

I don't have to start till 8:30 am, but i'm usually there about an hour early so I walk to starbucks (and by the way I'm just starting to get hooked on coffee...) get a coffee (or I will until I'm so broke that I can't afford it anymore.), then walk across the street and have a quiet time in the park.

and for lunch I usually have buck-a-slice pizza.

other than a new job nothing too interesting is going on other than Youth meeting tonight, Florida in a month, and dad and I are co-writing another song. I like it quite a bit.

there. boring. not cool, I know. but that was ten minutes unfortunately. now you can see how slowly I think before 7:00 am. it's scary. out.

six days......

until new macs? new iPods? the long awaited Apple cell phone...?

for whoever doesn't know, I like macs. On September 12 apple is having a media event, which means they'll be releasing new stuff. Touch-screen iPods I hear, and very possibly cell phones and a 23inch iMac.

sweet stuff.
out.

what would life be like if I,
loosened my failing grip to rest,
in faith on One who's grip can never fail,
who's love could surely keep me through the test?
this life, where on my strength I can't prevail,
i long to cast myself on Him and yet,
my will is not so easily subdued,
restless it cries, "I can yet succeed",
and won't rely on grace so free.
yet where is rest if not in Him?
or hope, if not within His wounds?
no true life can be but for His cross,
nor any joy that runs not from that fount,
Oh teach me Lord to bow,
my heart, my hope, and will,
Oh teach now me to lean on grace,
Oh teach me to be still.
this road would be a easy climb,
if I would only trust,
that Your own hand will guide me safe,
that You know what is best.

---------------------------------------
sorry that there haven't been any pictures. josh has our camera. I need to get it back soon.

out.

Off to work. Sore neck. Sore back. I was thrown from an inflatable blob of rubber into the water while traveling approximately 35 mph. It was fun. we were tubing at a lake. it was especially sweet to just roll of onto your back because you would slide along the top until you slowed down enough to sink in. But the one time I actually unwillingly got tossed we were going too fast and hit a fairly large wave (for a lake at least) which caused the tube to flip over in the air sending me in head first. I was actually grateful to be wearing a life jacket because I just floated there limp for a few minutes while the boat turned around.

And that's all I have to say for now. Not very interesting, but it's 6:30 in the morning so cut me some slack.

We did the wave in church today.....

I can't even understand it myself.

Ok. So I read Dell's blog the other day about not wasting your life, and it got me thinking about it again. I have thought about that particular subject on many occasions and (unfortunately) forgotten about that subject for long stretches of time. this time I would rather not forget.

I've been asking myself lots of questions since yesterday, and this is what I thought: When determining if you're wasting your life or not it would be wise to first identify exactly what would cause your life to be a waste, and secondly determine what would make it worth it's while. When I asked myself what wasting life is I realized that it is any failure to spend our short amount of alloted time on this earth in any other practice than glorifying God and enjoying Him forever, which would be the very thing that would make our lives NOT a waste. According to that standard we've all wasted our lives. We've all sinned. We've all sought to put the gift before the Giver. We've all spent our time in self-enjoyment, self-worship, and self-glorification. Yet what are we that we should be glorified? Where is the value of man that he should merit anything? This isn't why we're here. Dumb as it is that I heard this on a comedy show on tv (there's some of my wasted time), one character said, "there are millions of stars, and millions of planets in the the universe and they revolve around a single point...... and that point is not you.". It's true. The sun doesn't rise in the morning because I tell it to. The stars don't shine because of my power. Yet I live my life as if time had no claim on me, as if death were no issue, and as if, and though we don't say it, if we searched the darkest corners of our own hearts we'd see, we think that WE are the gods. When we spend our lives on anything less than God's glory or our enjoyment of Him, we're saying that we are sufficient on our own. That our glory matters more than His. That we can find enjoyment and satisfaction in ourselves. It's a scary picture, and one that I paint for myself far too infrequently. It's not that I want this to be the state of my life...but I forget. I SO quickly forget. I'm SO quickly blinded by what I want. But what I want won't satisfy. What I want will leave me wondering if there might have been more that I could have gained from this life before I die. So now we've got to move to what will be a satisfying, unwasted life......

There is only one way to not waste our lives. He must be the treasure, He must be the aim, and His must be the glory. We need to lift our eyes up from muddy paths of life to see the One who is infinitely worthy of our Lives, infinitely worthy of our praise, and who infinitely loves to shower Himself on us. For He is the only thing that satisfies, He is the only thing that turns unworthy, wasted lives into beautiful songs sung for His glory. And that's what our lives can be. That's what I long for my life to be. I'd like to look back on my life one day and know that the time that I had was spent on the one thing worth spending time on: Him.

Now here's where talking meets action. what am I going to do about it? what are you going to do about it? We live in a world that loves to waste life, even our own nature would urge us to waste our lives. But here's the question. will I go away and forget again? I don't want to, but it has to be more than just not wanting to. People have done terrible things though they "didn't want to". Often that terrible thing is the easy way out though the hard way will have less consequences. We need to be committed to it. We have to be willing to forsake what we want to do what He wants. And we need His help most of all. We need to pray daily and ask that we would be aware of what we are doing, how we're spending our time, and why we're spending it the way we are. We need to soak ourselves in His word. We need to help each other. It's not a one step solution, it's a lifetime of war against what our flesh most wants, with what our souls most need as the goal. Wasting or not wasting our lives is a lot less complicated than a lot of more complicated things, but it's by far the hardest to achieve and I think there are only a handful who have done it. The more fierce the struggle, the sweeter the crown, and as for me, I want to forsake the world in this life and make Christ the treasure I seek.

Today I started to work again.
But this time at a desk.
I came home and I had a headache, but I wasn't tired.
Then I came home and got a nice backpack for driving on my scooter.
Tomorrow I'm going to have a nice quite time at starbucks before work so I'll post a good/serious post tomorrow.

html code is intense. too much to remember well.

I had an energetic burst last night.
First I wrote 2 songs (well sort of two songs, I never finished either of the melodies, and the lyrics could use some work), then I practiced scales on my guitar even though I hate doing scales, then I went upstairs and watched whatever it was that my sister was watching for a bit, came back down to the dungeon at around eleven started playing guitar again, then at about 12 I decided to do something useful and I edited the ceremony of the wedding I'm working on. 3 hours later I slept.

And I start a new job tomorrow. I never like starting jobs. It's all great after a few days, but the first day always seems gloomy.

here's one of the songs I wrote.

You are faithful,
God of Almighty the first and last,
The Unchanging,
Everlasting, Your Word will stand,
You light the sky,
On each new day,
As Time flies by,
You are the same,

You are faithful God,
You are faithful God,
From everlasting to everlasting
You remain, my faithful God,

You are faithful,
Much more faithful than I can see,
In my weakness,
You will give me the strength I need,
And though I fall,
You're always near,
And when I call,
You always hear,


out.

GOODBYE SAN DIEGO>
CHURCH//
THEN NORTHWARD>

San Diego.
It should have a song.
When I say San Diego I want to sing it--but there's no song that I know of.
So we're here and we have been since last night and I will be until sunday afternoon and from then on I won't be here until I come back.

Out.

We made it to San Francisco.

We arrived at 1:30pm yesterday after driving 15 hours straight. ( except for a breakfast stop a lunch stop and a couple of leg stretching stops.)

We left our house in Vancouver at 9:00pm last night. I only slept for 30 minutes at 5:00am then we had breakfast.

When we finally got to the hotel we went for a quick swim then had a look at the sights. Basically there's a couple of big bridges, a lot of steep streets, one crooked street, some wharfs, and overall the place just has a lot of character. One thing it doesn't have much of is restuaraunts. We first walked for an hour to try and find something better than McDonalds or Burger King, then gave up and tried the car but even after driving for another half hour we could only find a couple of places to eat.

Now I think we're leaving in a few minutes so..

out.

Well, tomorrow we leave for the USA. Not till evening though because we plan to drive all night and stay in San Francisco the next day. One note here-I don't plan to take the classic picture of the steep hills with the street car. No way. I've seen that one too many times. Yeah.

I really wish we could film a bit with our old Super 8s, but we don't have a projector so it's kind of useless.

I wrote a christmas song today. Kind of random. Music really isn't finished at all, and nobody has seen the words so I don't really know if I like it or not, but I'll show the lyrics.

The Love of God came down,
To make His home with men,
Upon a starry night,
He left his glorious throne,
And with His coming here,
The Hope of all these years,
Was born to us this night.

O awake my soul and sing,
What amazing love,
What amazing love,
Arise and shout His praise,
What amazing love,
What amazing love this is.

Look in this manger He,
Humbles Himself to lie,
The One who cast the stars,
Into the black of night,
And angels sweetly sing,
To Him, the ageless King,
As heaven stands in awe.

The only crown He’ll wear,
Is still to come ahead,
Upon the bloodstained cross,
He’ll suffer for my sins,
But now in peace He lies,
Living to one day die,
To ransom souls to God.






there.

out.

So betty is gone.
Or going I suppose seeing as she most likely hasn't taken off yet.
I drank an Ice Cap.
It's the most coffee I've ever consumed at one time and I have terrible breath.
The caffeine isn't doing much except that when I talk, i talk louder and faster.
And I don't really feel like sleeping-yet.

My dad preached on the Holiness of God today out of Isaiah 6 and it gave me some thoughts so I wrote a song when I came home. I don't really feel like grabbing the file of the other computer so I'm going to try to remember it.

Glorious,
You wove the starry skies,
Your beauty's overwhelming,
Wonderful,
All-powerful and wise,
Transcendently above me,

Holy, Holy, Holy,
God Almighty,
Angels hide their faces,
But by Your grace You've brought me near,
Holy, Holy, Holy,
You are worthy,
Of my praise forever,
Glory, I give glory to you God,

Judge of all,
I deserve Your wrath,
But You've shown me mercy,
Through the blood,
You shed on my behalf,
You've ransomed me completely,

...yeah. So I think that's how it was. I'm pretty sure at least. And if it isn't, this version works ok.
Ok, now i'm tired. Good night and good luck.

cool.

did a small amount of writing:

I’m weak and frail,
Like the grass the grows,
Then blows away,
Yet I’m deceived,
To think I can know,
All that need,

Oh crush my pride,
Open my eyes,
And I will sing,

I need You, how I need You,
Every day,
I need You, how I need You,
In every way,
I need You,
Be near me I pray,

Before I knew,
The place where I stood,
Before Your throne,
You left all glory,
Out of Your great love,
To die at Calvary,

And in Your blood,
And in Your tears,
I have seen that,

----------------
In other news:


today I (supposedly) "stole" my mothers visa card (or at least that's what the camera place thought), blew out a tire, changed one, got a headache, and went to ikea to eat cheap hot dogs and buy pillows with holes for your feet. Now being rather worn out I decided to skip the movies for tonight and stay home and write, and I'm pretty happy that I did.

Oh, and I fell out of a tree while camping. It was a perfectly safe tree too. I was pretty confused when I hit the ground. It didn't make any sense.....

what can I say? life is crazed.
read psalm 1.

out.

Busy day. Camping tomorrow.
I'm trying to rent a second camera for the wedding i'm filming on saturday. that's basically the scoop.
out.

Mt. Cheam

This was a super good hike. If you go straight up the face of the mountain it's an 11 hour round trip, but if you're slightly out of shape for that kind of thing (or just lazy) there's an old logging road that goes half way up, and around back where it only takes about 3 hours to reach the summit. we took the lazy road.

Once you get on the logging road it's a ghetto 30 minute drive full of potholes and trees and other obstructions. My friend and I road in the back of the pickup while his dad drove.....it was pretty crazy. But after a while you start to rise above the level of the trees, and when you reach the parking lot and take a fairly short walk you end up in a beautiful alpine meadow. It looks like something straight out of pictures of the Alps. Wildflowers and bees and a little clear blue lake in the middle. Gorgeous. That's not the kind of wilderness we're used to seeing in Vancouver because you have to go pretty high up to get out of the rainforest, so it was a new experience for me, and I was completely digging it.

Skip ahead about an hour, and we've climbed high above the meadow, and you can see the little lake down a few hundred feet below. I'm huffing and puffing and about to die, but I have hope because from the angle we were at it looked like the peak wasn't that far off-I was wrong. It wasn't the peak at all, but rather it was beautiful alpine meadow #2. Not quite as nice as #1 because as one goes higher there are less flowers, and there was no lake, but there was a little bit of snow which was a nice treat. When we got up there, instead of heading straight across and back onto the upward trail we walked to the edge of a cliff that went down the side of the mountain and looked across to this other mountain that was right next to the one we were on, and just as we looked a big cloud blew across the spot we were standing and it was the eeriest thing i've seen in a while. It basically just blocked out the light and heat, and it was like we were in a totally different place.

Later we got going again and finally reached the summit. The view wasn't as good as it could have been because we were above the clouds, and they rolled down below blocking the sights. But it was still amazing, standing up there thousands of feet above the valley floor.

And josh has the camera in DC. so no pictures. it was painful to be seeing it all, and not having a camera. I would stop every few minutes and be thinking "right there in front of me is the greatest picture I've ever seen" but I had no camera.

but anyways......
it was good fun;.
out.

Hiking in 30 minutes➜
OUT➜

I'm sure I've put that one up before, but I like it a lot.

This is the second to last day that I'm working at my current job.
It's like 5:20 am right now.
I wish I could post a picture, but josh took our camera with him to MD for the week so I have no new ones.
I'll post something good after work.

Sorry that there haven't been any good posts lately. I've been really busy, and this week promises to be no different. So basically I'm going to post now then go plan out a way that I can get everything done.

Hmm....Nothing too interesting has happened of late. Josh and my dad went to the worship conference this morning.......and......it's raining. Those are really the two extremely interesting things that people that read this blog probably don't know.

It rains all winter in Vancouver but in the summer we usually have droughts, so I'm surprised that it's raining. And there's the nice smell of hot pavement getting wet.

I'm working my last day at my current job on friday, then have 2 weeks before my new one starts.

On saturday I'm hiking some mountain with some friends. I don't really have a clue what mountain it is, but I here it's reasonably big which is concerning me because I am of the general opinion that no one should ever have to walk uphill for more than an hour.

Also on saturday Damaris is coming. I'm guessing that I won't be picking her up because I'll probably be being air lifted off the mountain with a severe case of asthma.

Then then on tuesday our youth group is going camping.

Then on that saturday I'm filming a wedding.

Then the next tuesday ( I think ) I'm driving with Josh and my dad to San Diego.

Then I come home start the new job and hopefully normal life will resume.

outs.

No comments?????

What???????

Is this the end of life as we (or I rather) know it????????

I'm tired. I worked from 6:00am-4:00pm. I don't really know why. I just told them I would for some insane reason.
I'm not really a cowboy.
I do like to eat grilled cheese-in fact, I had two for lunch.
Youth tonight.
Need to go pick songs.
Hopefully I won't fall asleep in the middle of discussion.
Maybe some chocolate covered coffee beans would help me out....../..
out.

Socks 2

Maybe we should wear socks on our hands in the winter instead of gloves.....

Socks.

Socks are a gift.

Crossway FC-2 ⇆ Vitessa FC-2 (in other words we tied)

There was a battle in Langley tonight. We won. Not really because we tied, but in our heads we won. When I arrived to the field the situation was looked bleak-three of our best players randomly left for Kamloops for vacation without telling anyone, and about four other people couldn't show. Luckily josh showed up with just seconds before the opening whistle to give us one full line. No subs. It promised to be a long night.

The other team had lots of subs, and overall they were a fast team, but we played good disciplined defense (despite the fact that they scored a nice goal in the first half), and took advantage of any offensive opportunities. Thankfully another player came late giving us one sub, but it was still a long night. I think I played 70 minutes of the full 90, and I think lots of our players did play the full 90. At the beginning of the second half Vitessa scored a second goal after kicking the ball out of our fallen goaltender's hands. It shouldn't have counted, but we didn't make much fuss about it and went right back to work. less than five minutes later Josh scored his first of the season. Now it was 2-1 for Vitessa. Then about fifteen minutes after that goal we were awarded a free kick from just outside the 18-yard box. our kicker made no mistake and buried it in the back of the net. 2-2.

After all that we just controlled the ball for the last ten minutes or so, trying hard for a winning goal, but it wouldn't happen.

It was a fun night of soccer.

I rolled my bad ankle really bad in the first 20 minutes of the game, but I couldn't sub off because we had no subs, so I just kept playing and eventually the pain wore off. Tomorrow it's going to be really painful. And when I bend my legs they cramp up. If there are any Physio-Therapists reading this I'd appreciate a remedy.

Sweet.
out.ᕺᕰᕙᖀᖓᖳᖣᖘᗈᗓᗓᗠᘠᘫᘺᙴᙯ᙭ᙇᙨ

A Real Post.

Here's a better song then the last one. It's an old hymn I found. Can't figure out who wrote it.

Your love’s a refuge ever nigh,
Your watchfulness a mountain high,
Your Name a rock, which winds above,
And waves below can never move.

Your faithfulness forever sure,
Through endless ages will endure,
Your perfect work will ever prove,
The depths of Your unfailing love,

While all things change Thou changest not,
Forgetting never, though oft forgot,
Your love immutably the same,
Displays the glories of Your name,

I'm thinking of putting music to it since, for all I know, it has none.
Hmm....

I don't really have a lot to write. . . . .

At all. . . . .

but. . . . . .

I love that line in the third verse : While all things change thou changest not.

Isn't that crazy? He NEVER changes. Think of how many things we change. Clothes, jobs, oil, filters, minds, directions, and so on. Just think about how many things it's possible to change. It's crazy. According to some people overflowing with self-esteem it's even possible to change the world. But God doesn't. God could, but He doesn't. Ever. And He won't. Ever. His plan and His will are so perfect that with His will holding all things together, His plan never has any need to change. Before He created anything He planned the entire course of history in such a way as to bring Himself the most glory. He knew man would fall, He promised a Savior, He directed traffic in just the right way that when He sent His own Son to be our substitute, He fulfilled every prophecy that had been prophesied by prophets who spoke His words, and He crushed His son, that is Himself, to redeem fallen sinners deserving of wrath, that they might be made right with Him, and see Him face to face and forever find their joy in Him to the praise of His name.
➔.out.

wait!
three photographs.
One because I like the beach.
One because I like the clouds.
One because I like the greenness of the grass.

out.

August promises to be crazy.

This isn't a real post. It's just a temp.

Frog Prince-Keane (not a recommendation, just a weird song.)

An old fairytale told me
The simple heart will be prized again
A toad will be our king
And ugly ogres are heroes

Then you'll shake
Your fist at the sky
"Oh why did I rely
On fashions and small fry?"

All promises broken
Feed your people or lose your throne
And forfeit your whole kingdom
I'd sooner lose it than still live in it alone

You were our golden child
But the gentle and the mild
Inherit the earth, while

Your prince's crown
Cracks and falls down
Your castle hollow and cold
You've wandered so far
From the person you are
Let go brother, let go
Cos now we all know

Soon, someone will put a spell on you
Perfume, treasure, sorcery, every trick they know
You will lie in a deep sleep
That's when

Your prince's crown
Cracks and falls down
Your castle hollow and cold
You've wandered so far
From the person you are
Let go brother, let go
Cos now we all know

AAAH!
Makes me think of a disney movie somehow........

::::celebration is over..
::::lots to ponder. out..

triumph².

in other words: the second post on triumph.
Josh did the last one on his blog in case you didn't see it.

I felt very triumphant last night and here's why:

Do you know how annoying it is to have a sliver stuck in you. Well I realized last night that I didn't have a sliver stuck in me.
My toe was hurting. I wondered why. I looked. I couldn't see anything. Then I figured it out: the bottom corner of my toe nail had burrowed itself down into the end of my toe. gross. i didn't like it at all. It bothered me all afternoon. I knew it was pretty deep. I very much disliked the idea of going to the doc to get it removed because it's a hassle, and I heard they don't freeze it anyway. So if the thing needed to be removed and the doctor wasn't going to do it the next best person in the world for the job would be me-for no particular reason other than that was the only other one willing. So I got some tweezers, a steak knife, and some nail clippers, soaked my foot to make it a bit soggy, and went to work. It was painful, gross, and disgusting all at the same time, but I had decided beforehand that there was no other option so I took my time and went on with the tediously boring work of cutting apart my toe. Finally, after about an hour, the rebellious piece of nail was removed. I arose, stuck a band aid on the toe and walked away triumphantly, steak knife in hand.

It was a VERY triumphant moment.

I don't think words do it justice.

out.

You are a bunch of impatient, distrustful hosers. hahahah.
well,. here it is.


Vs. 1 You found me,
Dead in all my sin,
Dead to all Your ways,
An object of Your wrath,
But You came down,
Paid my ransom cost,
Died to save the lost,
And give us peace with God,


Ch. Thank You for the cross,
For the blood,
For the pain You suffered,
You were crushed,
For my sin,
All that I might enter in,
To knowing You my king,
And now I live to sing,
Thank you for the cross.

Vs.2 So humbly,
You laid aside Your throne,
Lived a perfect life,
To be a sacrifice,
In amazement,
I wonder at Your love,
That bore the wrath of God,
For those who broke Your law.

I'm going to run. And play soccer.

i wrote a song last night.

Defeat.

I return home with shame.
This randomly planned saturday adventure had a mission, and we failed.

Basically this is what happened.

There's a rabbit epidemic in Richmond (about 30 minutes away). Not regular wild rabbits, but fat black rabbits that escaped from somebody's house and started a very, very large family, that now are semi-wild. I say semi-wild because even though they live wild, they aren't afraid of people and just sit on front lawns eating grass. Not to mention because they're fat they aren't very fast, so we went to Richmond today to catch a few and bring them back to our side of the river and start an epidemic over here.

we failed. we only found two. one black one and one white and tan one. then an old guy told us to leave them alone.

so we went to the airport and parked by the runway and filmed the planes landing. that was also a bit of a disappointment.

so we came home. now I'm not sure what I'm going to do. I'll think of something.

Soccer.
Messed my ribs.
Re-rolled my (bad) ankle.
Played (by God's grace) a very sportsmanlike game.
Lost.
But it was fun.
I got to play midfield.
Ran my guts out.
Almost scored twice (or maybe three times).

Twas fun.
Not going to be able to move tomorrow.

funny how the dark can't withstand light. Darkness can't blot out light, but light can cut through darkness without any trouble at all. remind you of anything? When Christ shined His light in our hearts, even though they were dark and dead in sin, the darkness couldn't withstand Him. crazy.

I like that picture because it kind of reminds me of that.


Long my imprisoned spirit lay,
Fast bound in sin and nature’s night;
Thine eye diffused a quickening ray—
I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;
My chains fell off, my heart was free,
I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.

charles wesley.

two random pictures. Nothing to do with the post.
both were taken by josh.
the tulip one is lavishly edited.
oh well.
it looks good.

So nothing much has been going on of any real interest.
I won't be going to the worship conference, because I'm going to drive to San Diego with josh and pops right after it, and I couldn't get that much time off work.
That should be cool.

I had a soccer game last night and it was absolutely brutal. 4-0. for the other guys. and since I was on defense it really felt bad.
It wasn't that I played particularly bad, but all the bad bounces seemed to come straight to me. It was a game to forget.

Hmmm...... I want to spend some time working on my invention tomorrow. I also am thinking of starting to write a screenplay for a new movie. And I'm playing electric on sunday while josh leads.

that is all I have to say for now.////}]}}

Good post to come either tonight or tomorrow.

went to a lake today and now I'm home.
it's a national holiday.
i like national holidays.
i'm going to make myself a smoothie.
.................................................................

something was going to go there, but I left it blank just to bug somebody else (sorry), who would have badly wanted me to add a lot of other junk to do with blending and smoothies, and a particular co-owned blender, but I decided not to. This way is far more fun. and I have to type less. and I might go out and look for some magnets. I really need some.


hahahaha.

atop an active volcano.

well, for once an incredibly random title actually has something to do with the rest of the post, because, in fact, I was on top (well I guess sort of on the side) of an active volcano today. Pretty psychedelic dude. If it decided to blow while we were up there I would be writing this post.....and I'd probably be looking like an over-fried chip.


A little background first.....
My buddy joshua wants to drive to mount baker in washington and go for a hike. Josh and I decide to come. We leave. we, very nervously, cross the border. we begin the drive.

One of the first comments of the trip was that even though it only takes a few minutes to cross the border, once you're in the USA things are totally different..... like ghetto gas stations..... and flags on EVERY house....(it's Canada day today and I've only seen a couple of flags)....... and those were most of the observations i think...


Well we quickly reached the wilderness, and because it was nearing noon we decided that we'd get food at the next place that sold it, and that place happened to be "Starvin' Sam's Mini Mart". I don't think I've ever seen so many rednecks congregated in one small location before. We were all awkward until we left Sam's.

Once we got to the furthest point that had a road that wasn't covered in snow we got out and spent a few hours exploring, rolling already bad ankles, getting sun burnt, almost falling of cliffs, almost falling through snow drifts into the streams that ran beneath......yeah. they were good times.

Walking on the snow drifts was cool. You would be walking and think that there was ground right beneath you then you'd see a little hole, cautiously approach, then jump back when you realized that there was a stream flowing beneath you that had created a cavity under the snow creating a nice little cave that you could pretty easily fall through into .\/

and then I tried to climb this cliff by a water fall, and everything was fine until I got to the top, but then I realized that at the top was a ledge sloping toward the waterfall that was wet and had no hand or footholds, and three feet past that was a snow wall that was too big to get on top of without standing up which would have been plain stupid on the sloping/slippery ledge.......but I can be really stupid sometimes, and the idea of getting to the top the quickest way was a lot stronger than the thought of going the longer/smarter way. So I cautiously got my knees up on the ledge and crawled up....then I pretty much had cardiac arrest when I started to slip back toward the edge. I flipped over so that I was sitting down, and then the slipping stopped. I sat there for a few minutes breathing really hard and tried to think of what to do. even though I was sitting with my back up against the snow wall, I knew the idea of getting onto it was plain suicide, so I slipped my legs back over the side, climbed half way back down, then found an easier way up. When I reached the top I felt pretty good. Then I saw a few guys with snow shoes and backpacks and ropes linking them all together, and I wondered I was just a little dumb.

Ok.

So I'm sitting here on the front porch, waiting for some cop to come question me about the fire across the street last week.
Seems a little random that he'd call me at 10:30 at night and ask if he could come over in a half hour. But by saying that he asked, I'm being nice because he did ask, but didn't really give me much option of saying no. This combined with getting dumped downtown and having to take the train home because a some cop was in a bad mood and decided to nail us with a bunch of random driving stuff have given me a slightly bitter point of view on the cops.

This is my thought: Aren't the cops supposed to be the good guys? So why when you're driving down the street and you see a cop car why do you instinctively reach for your seat belt? even when it's on? Why do you always slow down? Even when you're going the speed limit?

Why do people think that the cops are out to get them?


ok.

he's gone.


\\he seemed to be a nice enough fellow.

I just wish he came a little earlier.

Maybe I'll get to go to court.

T'would be much fun.

Crossway FC won a soccer game.

It's amazing. It's the first win we've had since I've played on the team......which is like a year and a half. We really stink. But we won a game. The first goal came off a free kick just outside of the 18 yard box. It was beautiful. AJ (our star forward), put it just over the heads of the guys forming a wall in front of the net, and curled it just into the top corner. I was the one who set up the free kick because I almost had a great shot but a guy took me down from behind. That's my only claim to fame.

then AJ got another beauty later on.

Lynden Americans 0/ Crossway FC 2.

yessssssssss.

I'm sorry. I seem to have no time to do good posts. I haven't even checked my email in a few days.
It seems like I'm either working, sleeping, golf, driving people around, having soccer games, or watching movies all the time. Not to mention guitar practice, quite times, song writing, and more important things like that.

Then when I stop doing things, all I really want to do is sleep.

That's the dilemma. Like right now: I have free time, but I'm so tired that when I try to think about something to post about it never works.

yeah.

I'm sorry.
It;s lame, I know.
and dumb.
so I'm lame and dumb.
and incapable of writing good posts.

aaaaaaaaaaaaa.

So...... we went to the Loops.

It's roughly a three hour drive, and we wanted to get back to vancouver in time to watch the Edmonton Oilers crush the Carolina Hurricanes on TV, so we left early.... 6:00. It was real early.

Our first stop was in Hope. Hope has nothing interesting in it except for food, so we filled up on breakfast, and headed onward, though not before getting lost because there are loads of highways running out of there.

Then a while later we stopped just before the toll booth (you have to pay to use that particular highway), and we saw .......


I'll tell you all later.....

Wow.
Nacho Libre.

We saw it last night. I laughed a lot.



Going to my place of birth today.

Kamloops.


or otherwise known as just "the loops" /




nachooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!


.........

who?

hahahaha.

What does it all meeeeeannnn???????

Oh my. If I didn't know it before I know it now.

A story to start things off here.

So last night I went to guitar lessons. I learned a few songs, chatted with my teach, and rebooked for next year. Then I left.
--
That's the boring part of the story. here's the good part.
--
So I walked outside and I'm walking to the Festiva and I do the customary (for me at least) smack on the leg to see what pocket the keys are in. not in the left. . . . . . not in the right......not in the back!!!!!!!! Hmmmmm..... I'm not one to quickly panic so I assured myself that I stuck them in the pocket of my guitar case. I continued to walk and try to retrace what I did when I got out of the car...... I remembered grabbing my guitar......and locking the door..... funny, I didn't remember sticking the keys in my case....... dang. they were still in the car. I cautiously approached hoping by some chance that they were sitting on the roof. No luck. they were in the car all right, and still in the ignition. And all the doors were locked. and the trunk was locked. and it was starting to lightly rain and get dark. no worries I thought, and again performed the customary leg smack to see which pocket my cell phone was in......smack......not in the left pocket......smack......not in the right.......smack...smack......not in the back. Dang. then it came back. Josh needed a phone number off it just as I left home. Things seemed pretty bad, but I decided that only snow or a thunder storm could make them worse, and snow is not likely in vancouver in february let alone june, so that wasn't very likely, and vancouver rain is typically just a light steady drizzle, so I didn't really have to worry about that....BANG!!!!!!!!!!!!! Or maybe I did. Thunder doesn't bother me. Neither does lightning. But the kind of rain that can get you soaked within minutes does. Especially when there really isn't an easy way to get out of it. At this point some people would get mad, and that's exactly I did. My more sanctified side was saying "God is sovereign Joe, it's all right." and the other side was thinking " I know God is sovereign, but why do I have to be such an idiot to fall for such an easy one." Somehow in my fallen brain ( this is really bad, but I'm just telling the truth) I pictured God chuckling up there saying "hee hee hee, I got you good."

I decided that there was nothing to be done but find a phone and call home. To avoid getting my guitar case wet I shoved it under the car and walked a few hundred feet down the street to where i saw a parked car with someone in it. I asked them if I could borrow a cell phone, and they graciously allowed me, and thankfully josh answered the phone, and told me someone would come.

So I walked back to the car with a bit of a different point of view, and laid down on the wet grass and waited for someone to come. It was weird that as I sat there it all suddenly became very funny, and I laughed at the whole thing.


yeah.
so...
that was long-winded.

and because I've been liking to post songs of late, here's another good one.

telecast) (building a sorrowful loveliness

When the morning breaks
When the evening fails
I will write Your word upon my heart, oh Lord
When the fires burn
When the rain comes down
I can feel Your grace flow through me
Without a sound

Nothing is certain, but I'm certain of You
Pull back this curtain, let Your light in this room
And all that's true, I find in You
The more I drink of Your word
The more I thirst for You

When the world dissolves
And the sun just flickers out
I will write Your word upon my heart, oh Lord
When the stars crash down
At the end of the age
I can feel Your touch
As You wipe my tears away

Building a sorrowful loveliness
Out of the darkness
Out of this furnace
I find You

----
I have no idea what they mean by that last part, but the rest is pretty good.

listening to:

telecast) ((Everything:

No matter what this day will bring
I will lift my hands and sing
Oh be my everything

I'll make my life an offering
In you alone, I believe
Oh be my everything,
My everything

When the world comes crashing down around my feet
And I can't see ten feet in front of me
Jesus, I know that you are strong when I am weak
So please help me, allow you to be
My everything

No matter what this day will bring
I will lift my hands and sing
Oh be my everything
I'll make my life an offering
In you alone, I believe
Oh be my everything,
My everything

And there are times when it seems as though you're far away
But I will hope in you, for this is the day that you have made
And thank you Jesus for this blessed gift of your grace
For helping me to see,
My need for you to be
My everything

No matter what this day will bring
I will lift my hands and sing
Oh be my everything
I'll make my life an offering
In you alone, I believe
Oh be my everything

No matter what this day will bring
I will lift my hands and sing
Oh be my everything
I'll make my life an offering
In you alone, I believe
Oh be my everything,
Oh be my everything,
Oh be my everything,
My everything


It's a good song. Real good.
Such a nice piano part.

So........I'm sick.......but I'm still doing better than I deserve.......and today was church.......and it was good...........and then later is band practice..........then worship team practice.........yeah.......so that's what's going on.

here's a few other thoughts:

darn. I can't remember them. I don't know why I can never seem to remember stuff.
I'm watching the Netherlands take on Serbia Montenegro on the World Cup. ooooooo... serbia just had a good chance.
I like the world cup. I'm going for England even though I don't think they'll win.

They beat Paraguay pretty easily yesterday, and Canada didn't qualify so England is my team.
]

just got all the NA sermons.

The dutch just scored. a breakaway goal. it was sweet.
We have a few dutch people in our church.
And loads of dutch people in our soccer league.
it's crazy. and they're all related too.

I plan to write a long and interesting post tonight.

Sorry that the last post was lame, and this one will be too.

I am tired.

We just played a soccer game--and lost.
I played for the first time in 2 months.
I am brutally sore. I twisted my ankle when a guy took me down as I came in on a rush, but I have a sweet brace, so it didn't really hurt bad, but now it's swollen.
And my hamstring feels incredibly tight.

So I'm going to sleep.

good night.

listened to this one the way home, still a fave:

David Crowder) (Stars.

you should see the stars tonight
how they shimmer shine so bright
against the black they look so white
comin down from such a height
to reach me now, reach me now

you should see the moon in the flight
cuttin cross the misty night
softly dancin in sunshine
reflections of this light
reach me now, you reach me now

and how could such a thing
shine its light on me
and make everything beautiful again

and you should feel the sun in the spring
comin out after a rain
suddenly all is green
sunshine on everything
i can feel it now, i feel you now

and how could such a thing
shine its light on me
and make everything beautiful

and you should hear the angels sing
all gathered round their king
more beautiful than you could dream
i've been quietly listening
you can hear 'em now, i hear em now

and how could such a king
shine His light on me
and make everything beautiful
and i wanna shine
i wanna be light
i wanna tell you it'll be alright
and i wanna shine and i wanna fly
just to tell you now
it'll be alright, it'll be alright
it'll be alright.

cus i got nothing of my own to give to you
but this light that shines on me shines on you
and makes everything beautiful, again.
it'll be alright, it'll be alright.

out.

Back to work.......finally. I forgot how early 5:00 a.m. is.

It's good though.

Kill Fuzzyness.

There is one dissapointing thing about having a really good time, and it is that after a while it gets harder and harder to remember how good the time was. Faces eventually blur, voices stop talking, and suddenly it's gone except for the occasional long lasting joke and the fact that the event did actually occur. That's kind of how I feel about NA. This is my official NA post in case anyone was wondering, and I'm writing it now because if I wait too much longer I'llhave forgotten everything interesting that happened. Already I can't really remember what happened on what day because it really felt like one long day with a few short naps, so for everyone who was there, forgive the fact that very little of this will be in any sort of chronological order.

Several notable things happened. Here are a few of them:

1. The preaching was incredible.
2. The worship was incredible.
3. I'm not sure what everyone else thought, but I thought the community groups and family groups were a nice touch.
4. We tried to hang out in the "Neighborhood" and play cards, but josh and I have no idea how to play, so it really didn't work.
5. We ran up several down escalators, and down a few up ones.
6. Josh and I waited an hour in a line for subway because we were starving.
7. We ordered pizza at 2:30 am and it didn't come till 3:30, but by the time it came no one was really all that hungry, and we all just wanted to sleep.
8. "him"/
9. Go Fish. The only card game I could figure out. I can also play solitare, but only on the computer because it's such a lot of work with cards.
10. Danny Billups.
11. Missing our plane.
12. The charlie and the chocolate factory tunnel runs under the runway at the Detroit airport.
14. I don't like the detroit airport.
15. The PBJ store. Literally that's all they sold.
16. Hungry Harry's pizza.
17. The Telecast concert.
18. Dams doesn't trust my aim with a steel bar.
19. Got to hang out with little Andrew.
20. Hotels really don't have a thriteenth floor. Just like this list.
21. The old spaghetti factory..... well we tried at least.
22. The place across the street from the OSF. I think I have a permanent aversion to burgers.
23. The drunk Beattles imitators.
24. It was so hard to find the people that you were going to sit with before the sessions. It was dark and there were 2900 people in a big room with a concrete floor. Thank goodness for cell phones.
25. The 25th floor....
26. And the 26th...........
27. And the lighthouse on top................
28. I think we all looked very awkward at the "Voice" concert. At least I did.
29. Then 'he' came again.
30. Witnessing to a cabbie.
31. Now I'me badly wanting food because I haven't eaten today.

If anyone else has anything to add go ahead, because I'm sure I missed heaps of things.

✈out.

Basically all I can say is I have no idea what is going on right now.

We're doing "jesus paid it all" at church tomorrow morning. Yesssssssssssssss!!!!!!!!!!

I thought I'd post a few other, less edited pictures of NA. Maybe some of them are on the other site, maybe all of them are, and maybe none of them are. whatever the case, here they be.

ok. they didn't work.
I'll try again later/

One more question before I go:

did anyone manage to snap a picture of "him"?


I would've except that the second time I didn't even know.

NA pictures at:

http://web.mac.com/joshsczebel/iWeb/innovate%27/home%20.html

just bookmark it because the URL is stupidly long.

There is way too much to write.

I don't think I'm the one to write all about NA. I think I would do a bad job of it. Either dams or josh should because they write far better long posts, and they probably remember more.

What I will do is post pictures as soon as I get them on the computer.

feeling very tired.

out.

Less than two hours to till I leave.

Well, well/

Hmmmm.... as I sit here sipping orange juice, I'm a little shocked to realize that later on today I will be flying to louisville, and tomorrow morning sometime I'll be at NA. I ate a lot of candy tonight. My teeth are probably rotting as I type. I don't like going to the dentist.

And did you know that somewhere over the rainbow bluebirds fly?

I wish I could.

ahaha.

I wonder if coffee is really a master plan devised by the Communists to take over the democratic world. At least I don't drink it so when everyone else is being corrupted, I can escape and live for two years under the park behind my house, and dig elaborate tunnels leading to New York city (because that's where dramatic things always happen), and burst out and turn the world back to democracy and throw the communists out of power.

hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.
]

I deduce from the length of that laugh that it's time for sleep.
To all you going to NA, see you tomorrow, and to all you who aren't, Goodnight.

So those are some random pictures.
Very random.

yeah.

And dams, why doesn't your blog work?
Did you pull a josh and change the URL?

Job interview tomorrow morning at a web design company that a few guys from the church work at. I don't know anything about web design.....but if it's what is right for right now, it'll happen.

out.

P.S.

Sometime tomorrow when I have a few moments to think I'll try to write a good post.

Sam, Josh, and I are going to a mining museum today.

I'm not sure why..... I don't really love small dark spaces anyway.

sara groves-

this is my story, this is my song,
the theme of the story, I've heard for so long,
God has been faithful, he will be again,
His loving compassion, it knows no end,
all I have need of, his hand will provide,
He's always been faithful to me.

Gooooooooooood song.
very good.

Good night.
go look at the stars.

It's been a while since I got lost.

But I got lost today.

And now I need to sleep.

I drove pam to work last night at 11:00.
Then I came home and stayed up too late reading.
Then I visited dreamland.
Then I woke up at six thirty.
Then I picked pam up from work at seven.
Then I went to the skatepark with sam.
Then I dropped him off at grandmother's house.
Then I dropped als off at the mall.
Then I came home and edited for an hour.
Then I drove back to the mall and picked als up.
Then I ate lunch.
Then I drove pam to the ferry.
And I just got back.












]
I somehow feel like a cabbie.
And I'm tired.

the Red Army plays tonight.

GO REDS!

yeah, well, it's not like that will likely help them but hey, why not try.




Josh. On a bridge.
On a windy day.

random.
out.s

Sunday was a warm and sunny day.
Here's a few pictures.







.

Interesting things that have happened of late:

I played acoustic guitar on sunday.
I watched the oilers crush the sharks later that evening.
I can now walk without crutches. It hurts like crazy and I have a bit of a limp, but I'm so sick of crutches that the pain is really not too concerning.
I got a crazy punk-army-blazer-coat thing. it's sweet.
I'm going out now.

agnowlenomedria.

(that means out.)
((in the language I just now made up)

Beauty in the Broken-Starfield.

Good tunes.

Feeling very tired right about now.

Off to church.

And now it's time for a new post.

So.....

I have a pretty busy weekend.

Josh and I got a new/old acoustic guitar. it has a great semi-ghetto look, but it sounds really nice.

I'm teaching guitar now, as well as learning it (mostly at the request of my teacher), so I was teaching yesterday.

I got a sweet cane yesterday. I'll probably have it at NA because although I can walk without a cane or crutch or anything now, it's generally pretty painful, and I'm really unstable because the muscles haven't strengthened up enough yet, and because if I have to walk far, it begins to hurt even more.

Tonight is bowling.

Tomorrow has lots of things.

So.......

out.

OK. I'm trying again.

hahah; after all that I should have just dumped the whole photo library on here.



It's a very random selection.