Long Time, No Post

Thursday, April 26th, 2007 @ 3:42pm

I guess it’s probably about time to make another post, considering my last one was in March. I guess it’s been a combination of not having enough time, and not really feeling like posting anything. But just to let you know I’m still alive, here you go!

This past month has been pretty crazy (and interesting). Just got back from my cousin’s wedding in Nashville last weekend, so that was exciting. Played golf the morning before, and I shot a 105. Not an excellent score, but I guess it’s okay considering it’s only the 4th or 5th time I’ve played.

This week is pretty crazy too. Wind ensemble concert tonight, senior showcase on Friday, and a couple of recitals on Saturday.

It’s also hard to believe how close graduation is now. It doesn’t seem like all too long ago I was a freshman at Samford University, and now graduation looms around the corner. With graduation, it seems the inevitable question always is, “So what are you doing?” which I don’t quite have the answer to yet. There’s a lot of things I’d like to be doing, I just don’t know how soon those things might happen… In some respect, I can’t wait to graduate… but in others it seems like I will lose contact with a lot of friends I’ve made… I’m not quite sure how to cope with that yet.

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Super Mario Bros. 2 Theme

Friday, March 30th, 2007 @ 1:25pm

This was just so awesome, I couldn’t resist. I know you’ve probably seen a few of these “Mario” videos before, but this one is pretty decent! A senior at SUNY Fredonia arranged the theme from Super Mario Bros 2 as the finale piece for her percussion recital. Check the video out for the coolness.

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Fun With Google Maps

Friday, March 30th, 2007 @ 12:35am

swimming...Found a little something on Google Maps today. If you ever need directions from Birmingham, Alabama to Birmingham, England, it’s easy! The instructions are pretty simple. Just drive north until you reach Boston. Ditch the car, and swim 3,462 miles across the Atlantic Ocean until you reach the English channel, then jump ashore and drive to Birmingham, England. According to Google, it should only take 30 days, and 3 hours to make the trip. It’s that simple!

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It’s That Time Of Year Again…

Thursday, March 29th, 2007 @ 12:15pm

That time of year

For those of you who live in the southeast, you’ll understand. It’s inevitable that nearly everything is covered in a layer of yellow dust, including cars, streets, buildings, everything. It also does wonders for allergies!

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A Late Night Story

Wednesday, March 28th, 2007 @ 12:54am

It’s late, but I just have to post this because I can’t really contain it. I really have started to cherish the quiet times I’ve had lately. It’s not because I’m depressed, or sad, or anything of those things. It’s actually quite the opposite! Even if that were the case it still doesn’t keep me from thinking how awesome our God is! It’s like my day doesn’t even really begin until it happens, I feel so energized and refreshed after doing so. Tonight even, I just took a walk out in the woods, in the dark and it was just amazing. The moonlight, the fireflies, the nice little crunching of leaves, all evidence of our Lord and Creator. I can’t even really put it into words…

I’ve been doing a lot of studying lately on different people in the Bible and the relationship between them and God. Mostly David, but he’s not actually the person I want to talk about. I actually want to focus on Gideon. I know we’ve all read and seen these stories before in Sunday school, but it seems like there’s something new to learn every time you look at them. Here are the Israelites, again being oppressed by some foreign nation (the Midianites). In comes Gideon, where God tells him he will use Gideon to free the Israelites from their oppression.

Now here’s the fun part of the story. After Gideon asks for some signs from God, Gideon gathered some people to go up against the Midianites. And of course, God intervenes and tells Gideon there are too many. I think at this point, I would’ve certainly have been questioning God at this point. “Too many people? You can never have too many people!” But of course, Gideon obeyed. 22,000 people left. 10,000 people remained. That’s a lot of people! Yet even after that, God still said there were too many and reduces it to 300. That just amazes me, an army of 300 against a whole nation? And of course, we know the rest of the story…

Just reading all of that made me really ponder, do I have the same amount of obedience that I would do something that would just seem… so insane? Gideon had some amount of courage to go into that battle… and faith too. While I might not be called to go into battle like Gideon, I do hope that I can demonstrate the same amount of courage and faith that Gideon did in all that I do, even when the world says that its wrong. I strive for that same boldness and courage… I hope in some way that this has inspired you in the way that it has inspired me…

It does kind of feel like an emotional roller coaster though… but even knowing that, I’m okay! Things have been really crazy (and busy) this semester. Projects, projects, projects… and a little bit of eating and sleeping between projects. But the other thing that amazes me is that Christ has experienced all that I have experienced… for my sake. Pain, sadness, happiness, joyfulness, tears, anger… many of these traits and Christ has experienced every one of them. I really do ponder why we don’t sometimes see, “…and Jesus laughed.” in the bible. We know that he wept (John 11:35) and got angry too (John 2:13-17) and faced temptations (Luke 4:1-13). I’m sure these other things happened. Yet he knows the pain we experience, and the sadness that happens in our lives. And rejoices with us when we are joyful, and grateful. And somehow, that just makes it all worthwhile.

Sorry for the long post, but if you made it through all of that congratulations! You deserve a cookie.

cookie

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At the Lake

Wednesday, March 21st, 2007 @ 2:21am

If you need to catch me for the next few days, I’ll be spending my spring break with some much needed relaxing with a trip to the lake, and possible trip to the beach as well. There might be some pictures involved, but I won’t make any promises at this point.

I really do have a few more things I need to accomplish in this week of my free time. I have a paper for my senior project that needs to be finished before next Monday, and I need to continue my search for a job…

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I Was Home Teached

Thursday, March 15th, 2007 @ 11:47am

Okay, so the title is a little tongue-in-cheek, but it does get the point across. I’ve been asked to share my opinion on what I think about homeschooling, so here is how I feel about homeschooling.

As a starting point, it’s hard to say what I have to say without a bias. I only have the experience of being home schooled aside from private school from K4-2nd grade, and my current experiences at a private college. I can not accurately compare my experience to that of one I might have received with a public/private school education.

As far as homeschooling is concerned, I did enjoy it. There are specific advantages to homeschooling that aren’t provided at your typical school. With homeschooling, you’re free to move at your on pace (be it slower, or faster) while not limited to the learning pace of other students in the class. Many times, I could be finished with the days work before noon, and have the rest of the afternoon to spend as I please. There were also some other local advantages that not every family may have, such as trips away from home. My dad for what he does, is required to travel a lot across the United States, and us being home schooled allowed us the distinct advantage to go with him where ever he went.

the downsides of homeschoolingThat’s not to say that there aren’t disadvantages of home schooling, I think there are actually quite a few. For starters, one does not gain the experience of being able to network with peers and friends, and out in the real world that’s exactly what you have to do. You need to learn how to get along with others, even those who you may not see eye-to-eye with, and if you’re home schooled for all of your schooling years, you may be in for quite a culture shock once you reach the college level. In short, there might be a lack of social interaction with others in your day-to-day activities. You also may miss out in some of the various activities that are provided at schools such as band, sports, clubs, and any other events that may normally happen at schools. I am aware that such opportunities do exist, where there are home school sports teams and home school bands, but the availability of such really depends on where you live and if there are enough people interested.

So what is my overall view of homeschooling? I am not a proponent of “pure” homeschooling. I believe that there should be a mixture of both schooling at a private/public school along with home schooling. At what points do you determine which they should attend? It really honestly depends on the child. The bible tells us,

Train up a child in the way he should go, Even when he is old he will not depart from it. — Proverbs 22:6

At a young age children are easily influenced, and will listen to correction and guidance. I think home schooling at a young age is important, you can instill in them Godly qualities for when the time does come that you feel they are ready for a public/private education. At that point if you have trained them up to seek God first above all you should have nothing to worry about.

In a nutshell, that is how I feel about homeschooling vs a public/private education. I do not think that either one is better than the other, it really depends on the situation that you are in, and the key is if God is leading you to home school in the first place. If so, I strongly believe that a mixture of both will help to further that child’s education.

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I Am Truely Blessed

Friday, March 9th, 2007 @ 4:42pm

This has been an absolutely amazing week. I have friends that are beyond what I deserve, but I am thankful for God allowing each and every one of them to be a blessing in my life. I feel like as I have grown closer to God this week, and those friends have certainly played a part in doing so. I would like to thank all of you for your prayers, and I pray as well that God will bless all of you as much as you have blessed me, and that I hope in some way I can be a blessing to you as well.

Needless to say, that doesn’t mean I’m still not busy. I have a lot of projects due next week, but thankfully spring break will be the following week, so I will look forward to the much needed break.

Please continue to pray for me as I continually try to seek God out, and do His will. I’m not perfect, I realize that that — but it is my goal to strive to be perfect, and follow the example that Jesus Christ set forward for us.

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Psalm 30

Monday, March 5th, 2007 @ 8:48pm

Psalm 30:1-12

I will extol You, O Lord, for You have lifted me up, And have not let my foes rejoice over me. O Lord my God, I cried out to You, And You healed me. O Lord, You brought my soul up from the grave; You have kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit. Sing praise to the Lord, you saints of His, And give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name. For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for life; Weeping may endure for a night, But joy comes in the morning. Now in my prosperity I said, “I shall never be moved.” Lord, by Your favor You have made my mountain stand strong; You hid Your face, and I was troubled. I cried out to You, O Lord; And to the Lord I made supplication: “What profit is there in my blood, When I go down to the pit? Will the dust praise You? Will it declare Your truth? Hear, O Lord, and have mercy on me; Lord, be my helper!” You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; You have put off my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness, To the end that my glory may sing praise to You and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to You forever.

This passage had spoke to me so much today, that I just could not stand to not share it with those who might read this. I have had an interesting time this weekend, but an experience that has brought me so much closer to God and understanding Him. I hope and prayer as the weeks come and go that this passion will not die down, and I will continue to seek him daily and that everyone will be able to see Him work through me in all of my actions, words, and deeds.

Knowing all of this, all other details of my life have become insignificant. It seems the closer I grow to God, and the more I seek Him out the more everything else falls into place. I can’t explain the peace that I have right now, I wish I could. It’s beyond explaining. I just know right now that I am thankful for each and every one of my friends and hope that I am, and can be a blessing to them for as much as they have been to me.

Even at this time, where I feel like I’m at a spiritual high, I still ask for prayer. Why? Because I’m human, and I’m not perfect. As long as that is the case life will have its ups and downs, and at sometime it will have its down again. I pray that I will continue to seek God not only in the mountain, but in the valley as well, that I will continue to seek him even in those times I feel as if I am far away from him.

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Nashville Bound

Friday, February 23rd, 2007 @ 11:03pm

Booyah, we’re going to Nashville!

1st Round – Ohio Valley Conference
Men’s Basketball: Samford 70 – Murray State 60
Women’s Basketball: Samford 63 – Tenn. Tech 60

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