today I'm better

As the title so profoundly explained, I am doing much better today. I guess it was just a 24 hour bug. A nasty one at that though. I was really under the weather. It was crazy how horribly painful my body aches were. I mean, it was as if I had injured my lower back. But, as soon as the fever and ickyness were gone, so was the body pain. No matter though. I had to get back to school fairly quickly today. As soon as I got around, maybe 1:15 I was at school right back to the same classroom/computer lab where I have my Thursday evening photography class. You might ask yourself, Why, why did you need to get back there so quickly? I WILL TELL YOU. I forgot my little scandisk flash memory card. When I went back to check it and all the available lost & found's. It was still no where to be found. :o( This means someone in a Friday class swiped it. Now, is it important enough for me to dig in a little bit and go to those Friday classes and see who sit's in that seat.......Well, if I couldn't recover that information, then MAYBE, but since I can recover that information, I probably will not. I just hate that people steal stuff like that. It just really eerks me like no other. Anyways, here are 3 portraits that I really liked from the last assignment.

Yea, I like the way those pictures turned out. The first one was of a little girl that we watch in Daycare, and her pregnant mommy. The second was of a the girl Annie ( I think that's her name) from my law class who let me take some pictures. And the third was of my friend Brandon, who blows glass at my other friends house. I thought they would all make nice portraits, and I was right.

Back to MY DAY... I did a very SMALL amount of studying, before I went to the MALL..... Ahhhh, yes the MALL sucked me in. I need a new pair of shoes, and I went to the place I hate like no other. I went to the MALL, and I hated every second of it. So much so, that I could not stand being there for very long. It's almost like people put on their big fake faces to fake it up for the world to see. And sadly, they aren't exactly putting on what I would call their "good face." Usually it is just a very worldly face that is extremely materialistic and prideful. This is just my way of saying, I HATE THE MALL, and it was a stupid decision for me to go there. NUFF SAID.The mall was yuck, but hanging out with Jesse & Nick was not yuck. It started off at Nick's house. I took them to get pizza, and gave Nick his first lesson on how to drive a stick shift. Then we went back and played a little bit more video games. After that, I talked them into going to several big SUPERMARKET's to try to spend as much drive time in their electric cart's as possible. From the 4 stores we visited late at night, we only got a total of about 17 seconds of drive time. No matter though. The night kind of ended with a little King of the ice mound. Ya know how when big parking lots are plowed, and it has warmed up several times, but not enough to rid the lot of the big nasty sharp and jagged massive mounds of ice/dirt yet. Well, we played king of the hill on one of those. It was a bad idea, because it was really sharp, and it was hard to get down from. But we can say we did it now. And that is all that matters.....

For she said, if I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole. --Mark 5:26
>>>>>>

Now that is faith. Unmoving, solid, extreme faith you can sink your teeth into. She didn't know exactly what He was about, but she knew he healed, and did amazing things, and for her that was enough. wow to that.

Do you believe in what you see?

I had a conversation with one of my friends a while back. We talked of God, and many subjects that were "God concerned." When it came down to the, "well, do you believe in God?" He was kind of beating around the bush, I got an answer that was kind of like, "well, I know everything didn't come from a dust particle." He further explained that it just was not enough. I asked him, "well, would you surrender your life if Christ came back right in front of you, if he let you touch him, or did miracles?" He kind of shrugged and said, "well yea." I have a strong inkling that he would not. I mean, I am studying the Israelites in my Bible Study Fellowship (BSF) and they had God do all the most amazing things EVER, but still choose to turn their backs and go against him, and do their own thing instead. That is where blind faith plays such a HUGE part in the walk with Christ/personal relationship. Trusting no matter what the situation is, allows you to create a relationship with God, that brings you to new and inspirational levels in your life. It is truly amazing. For me, personally. My belief in God can be explained like my belief in the wind. I can not physically see wind. I can not physically touch wind. Sometimes when it is really cold, it will blow past me and give me chills do the innermost part of my bones. When I see a great tree flow back and fourth on a windy day, I can see the impact wind has on it. The wind becomes real and tangible, but not physically present. With GOD, I can not physically see Him. I can not touch Him or have Him physically touch me. BUT, without the slightest doubt in my mind I KNOW he exists. I know He exists when lives change, for better or worse. When I am chilled to the bone after experiencing the Holy Spirit move in such a powerful way, it is just undeniable. Today, the Young Life conference in Louisville continued. We heard the speaker speak, but the WORSHIP music was what really got me. Don't get me wrong, I took some really awesome stuff from the speaker (Jack), but the worship music, and singing to God with 400 other like minded individuals can do something to a person. This was Jesse, he was the worship music leader for the weekend, and boy was I glad he was. Filled with the Holy Spirit that man was. Great music, very fun, very Holy. I am so glad I was able to go to Louisville with my team this weekend, it was GREAT!!

I got home and took George to Dave Church. Again, an amazing message, and George was glad I kind of persuaded him to go. He didn't want to at first, but after I got him there, he was very thankful he did. This is a great picture of Dave. In his message tonight, we talked about the church, and what the Church's stance needs to be on the topic of the cause. His cause, to paraphrase the whole thing would look like this. [The cause is more important than the people]. SLAM BAM, thank you ma'am! These were some of my notes, I am just going to throw them down because I am tired, and I am taking a kid from Snider to breakfast tomorrow morning, so I wanna go to bed. I love you for taking an interest in my life. I really do.
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CAUSE: We need 2 do what is in Gods best interest: proclaiming Him & loving Him.
-drawing others to Him.
-doing unto others what we want done to us.
-sacrifice ourselves: live in a way that works for others best interest....no matter what. This must continually be made the central focus.
-thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Do we really strive for that? Making those two one in the same is the goal.
-must be sold out for the cause, willing to die 4 the cause.
-a Clear cause creates community. ++COMMITMENT TO THE CAUSE=COMMUNITY++
-Programs, structure, success, aren't gonna be found in this Ministry, BUT A CAUSE, we will have, and it will be bright and powerful.
-implant and execute the principles that allow real people to do for others what they want done to themselves.
We want the big picture (or big opportunities in life), but God points out the little things & we can't even do that correctly or aren't willing.
-He heals your diseases. we all got problems, not a physical healing, but a healing from any kind of condemning promise there is not.

When it is too hard to move forward in Christ, or maybe it is just too hard at the moment, or frustrating or whatever. At the very least, just stand in Christ. Just stand and accept the Truth of salvation overflow into your heart, slowly everything will do exactly what it needs to do.

this and that

The day started off as usual. Work, then English class. Then I had some time to blow, got my hair cut ya know. I had a nice little surprise when I was walking into Great Clips, my best friend Jared was working at Higher Grounds next door. Well, he saw me walk into G/C and came over to say hello. I told him I would be over to chat as soon as the lady was done clipping.
It was really nice. And, this picture of Higher Grounds Coffee shop is the actual store Jared works at. I knew he was picking hours, but I didn't have any idea it was at this specific location. Ya see, there is a HG coffee on campus of my school, and I just assumed that was the only one he was working at. But all to my big surprise, he saw me!! It was cool to chat it up with him. We chatted it up about an "event" he has planned. I can't say any more because I am not sure if a particular someone reads this BLOG or not. So, until later when plans are more confirmed, I must keep my mouth shut. I didn't really have anything to work on, so after I got done with hair cut and talking, I went home, but watching T.V. was not an option, so I went to the YMCA to work out for a bit.It felt god to pump some IRON!! Some of the guys around me thought I was kind of strange because I took a picture of myself, BUT that's alright, I got nothing to prove.

I started BSF tonight. It was so cool because I got to sit with my dad, who has been involved for about 14 years. I am excited for this years study. It is over the life of Moses. That would be Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. We aren't going to be doing Genesis, because that is a study within itself. It is so cool and keeps you accountable in by being in the word every day. Questions, and it is just super sweet! I get to do it with my dad too. That is awesome!!! He has been praying for me for such a long time, and now he gets to enjoy BSF with his son. That is a beautiful picture. A picture of hope and endurance in Christ. BEAUTIFUL!