That Sunday night after the retreat, I was up till 4:30 AM doing homework and such, but God energized me. When I got to school, my One told the class (before the teacher got there) that she had quit smoking. Also, I had been praying for some guys (mainly Chad R.) to show off some Christian, and I was able to see it in him with the way he talked. That night, I began accountability with Alex, and he tends to rock out on guitar when he has his Word time.
The following day, I talked to my One when we both had a free period, and she and I talked about God-stuff. I told her about how I get upset at God occasionally, and it was a good talk. Then Caleb had to work late, so I stayed at home and dilly-dallied till it was time to go. Unfortunately, it was at this exact time that my dad decided that I needed to pick up some branches from the yard that he had trimmed. This was an hour's work, so I spent twenty minutes on it, and he allowed me to go to Prototype on the condition that I would do the work at 9:00 AM on Saturday morning. I reluctantly agreed. Prototype was great, as usual.
Wednesday, I had some good Word time at church, all about the way Jesus coped with the death of John the Baptist (Matthew 14, I think). I loved it. Then came the service, and a wonderful thing happened. Like five junior highers came up to the front for worship, and went all out. I was basically thanking and praising God for that for the entirety of worship, 'cause that's what I've been desiring forever. At the end of worship, Pastor Nick asked if anyone had a Word from God, and like eight people came up, more than half junior highers. One talked about cussing, and I was convinced that I should never let foul words out of my mouth. I talked to Pastor Nick and John Penry about ghosts later on that night, and I got my final answers on it. ZING!
Thursday, if I remember correctly, I slept. Good stuff.
Friday, we had a prayer team get-together, so we all met up at the McBride's house after school. It was here that Jordan revealed his plans and their confirmations. Mrs. Horan, after seeing the effect of the One Voice retreat, wanted/wants to have our own school retreat. We talked a lot about this, then I went to get a new hoodie from Old Navy (despite it being from Old Navy, it's still good). Following this, I was off to the Harbor to have some night of worship. They had some latino mixed in, which I was grudgingly fine with. Pastor Nick and Caleb invited me to go to a new restaurant in Royce City afterwards, where I had an expensive steak dinner (I had to search through my car for enough money to afford it).
Saturday, I woke up at 9:00 AM (maybe 9:30...) and finished picking up the branches. I spent the rest of the day up till around 6:00 PM working on college applications (which, by the way, take FOREVER for me). Then I was off to Cameron's Halloween costume party at CFNI, where I dressed as Nelson from "Undercover Kids". I danced the night away. Fun was had.
Sunday, I got to church, we had an SL meeting, then we went to the Meisters' home and had some Mexican (once again, grudgingly latino). I forced them to watch "Undercover Kids", and it became a classic once again. I went home immediately after, showered, had some Word time, met with Shayna, and then we had our small group at the park. Those junior highers are loads of fun. That night, I decided to buckle down and get some test corrections done. I was up for much of the night. I also became inspired in the middle of the night to write my essay for college applications on a completely different subject from what I had been planning to write on. Sound like God? Let's hope so.
Monday (yesterday), I showed the essay around, and it got widespread approval from the few I showed it to. Pastor Nick came and taught the Connect class, and he was great, but I have to discipline now by writing down the names of the talkers. How horrible! I went home after that, added to my essay, and worked at trying to understand Pre-Cal. False hope there. I also asked Alex if he wanted to go to Early Morning Prayer, and he said "yeah", which I wasn't expecting, so my courteous questioning recruited me to wake up early. It was good though.
If you start your mind out like that, it makes your head very clear afterward. This is good, 'cause I had to write an essay for Dual-Credit in first period. Unfortunately, I found out in Physics that Mr. Harber wouldn't accept the corrected test I had finished Sunday night (it took an hour or two), as it was late. That was funny *gritted teeth*. But really, grades are God's job. I'm just doing what I can to pitch in. The junior highers at school are loving me. Every time I see them, they all go in for a high-five and make some joke. It's good. Anyway, I have a test over Pre-Cal, and I still don't understand the concepts in the slightest. Joy!
Oh, and pray for my brother, Preston. He's what the Bible would call "shiftless". He doesn't have a passion or drive, so he's being lazy.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Sunday, October 19, 2008
How Many Voices? One Voice.
Rather than tell about my day-by-day, despite how good they were, I just wanna share about the retreat, and what led up to it, 'cause it's gonna be a long enough blog anyway. That is, except for one thing. Last week was homecoming week at school. On Wednesday, I dressed as Mr. Beaumont.
Alright, Friday is when it began. On second thought, that's not entirely true. That's when the physical manifestation began, 'cause, of course, the inward incubation was going on long beforehand. God had been telling me things during worship every Wednesday, and, fed up with sitting around while younger girl leaders stepped up to the plate, I started telling these things to Pastor Nick. Unfortunately, none of what God told me was applying to the services. I was still desiring the supernatural, the spiritual gifts and whatnot, not so much for myself (but definitely not excluding me), but for Paradigm.
God told me that spiritual gifts would be poured out on the retreat (that's a prophetic word, by the way, a gift of the spirit), so I've been praying faithfully every morning for that to happen. I've also been praying for my One every morning. These prayers were sounding worthless to me, though. God kept telling me things during the service that didn't apply, so why would He keep me right on track for the retreat? And my One? There's no encouragement there. The most positive response I've gotten out of her is "I still love you, but I don't want anything to do with God," (friend love, not another kind). I've also been praying for Chad R., for him to step up in leadership, for Alex, that purity would fill his speech, and for my small group, but all seemed worthless. I kept at it, listening to sermons by Pastor Benny Perez a lot, 'cause I needed some encouragement, particularly in the areas of spiritual gifts.
Back to Friday. Pastor Tim asked me to direct traffic (to keep people from going into the back parking lot). Unfortunately, it was hot outside, but I wasn't about to disobey my pastor, no sir-ee-bob (spell check?), so I did so with cunning and style, not to mention pizzaz. Rest assured, everyone that mattered went to the front. Following this, we had our bus ride. There was some confusion, 'cause we had Mrs. Newman and a driver who had to be paid by the hour, with buses that were rented by the mile. Naturally, as I later found out, the hired bus driver took the longest route possible, which turned out two-hour drive into a four-hour one. Plus, Mrs. Newman's bus broke down, forcing all of Paradigm to fit in one bus. Three to a seat, not to mention several of us who didn't get a seat (I managed to have a third of a cheek on one, but that doesn't count). We got to the camp and did some good worship. My expectations could have been quite low for Matt Duhon, but I didn't want to be distracted by that during worship, since he would be leading all weekend, so I gave it to God and tried to give him a chance. Worship was great, but Matt Duhon did talk in the middle of it about God killing someone 'cause it was their last chance to come back. I gave this to God too. 'Cause after all, what if that's actually what someone needed to hear? At least he had boldness. Still, I didn't approve of it.
Saturday, I woke up in plenty time for a shower. Many of us had weathered many a retreat, and expected everyone else to bring shower supplies (shampoo, soap, etc.). I kicked it up a notch, though, and didn't bring a towel. But they had plenty of paper towels, so I rinsed, used paper towels to dry off, then borrowed a normal towel for my hair. For the morning session and all the sessions onward, Pastor Adam McCain spoke. He spoke on resisting temptation, and how his best friend first in high school, then on into Bible school, was a better speaker and basically better at being a Christian than Pastor Adam, but he didn't know how to resist temptation, and it led to him being a piece of crap. Hiro couldn't understand what he was saying, but he definitely understood Pastor Adam's crazy body language. Worship was definitely good in there, too, and God definitely was a part of it. Then we had free time, but I spent most of it at a giant swing. I'm sorry about that typo, 'cause it was THE giant swing. This thing was a monster, double-seater, pulley-enhanced, rocket that shot you over a pit of death, then pulled you right back in before you lose your soul. I went on this crazy contraption with Shadow (Adam Williams). The weight difference, of course, was massive (I weighed roughly 100 pounds less), so when we went up, I got the thrill of shooting down at an accelerated speed without the harness's tugging being too unpleasant for my important lower areas. Good times there, good times.
(Courtesy of ProjectNemeth.com)
Then came the service. I felt out of it during pre-service prayer, and I asked God about it, but He said that He didn't want me to feel like I was flowing perfectly with all of it. So when it was time to worship, I kicked it up a notch and went nuts, giving all of that to God physically, mentally, and spiritually (which is how I try to worship, not to mention in spirit and in truth). Pastor Nick came up and gave words to a few people from on-stage, words that he was supposed to share earlier, but he had been uncomfortable about it. I was surprised. After more heart-gutting worship, Pastor Adam spoke on the power of the Holy Spirit. Doing things as Jesus did them. And doing greater than Jesus had done. He told all kinds of stories, and he later apologized for taking up ministry time with his talking, but I was glad to hear them, 'cause it was a good faith-booster. The main thing that I learned was when he talked about the first time a demon had ever come to him. His parents were on a plane to Europe for a missions trip, and he was all alone in the house, in his room. In the middle of the night, a demon appeared in the corner of the room, and said, "Your parents aren't here now. Can you defend yourself?" And he tried to pray it away, but nothing worked, until God told him to just worship with all he had, and as soon as he did so (in his underwear), the demon left. Now I know what to do if I ever encounter such a problem. Ministry time came after he spoke, and all the people who hadn't been baptized in the Holy Spirit were asked to come forward for prayer from the adult leaders and interns. Those leaders, in turn, were told to prophesy, speak words of knowledge, and all that jazz. I didn't feel left out at all, not being one of those. I did feel like I was to lead that night more than I was to follow. Then I saw Alex standing on the other side of the room in between those praying and the chairs, with his arms crossed, and his head tilted down. God told me to go hug him. Some doubt entered my mind, going back to all those services where I had had words that weren't quite pertinent to what God was doing at the time, but honestly, it just came down to me not feeling like it. Then Alex sat down, arms still crossed, on the carpet. I finally decided to go and hug him. Obeying that one command allowed me to do real altar ministry for the first time. I had done some in The Core and a lil' as a student leader, but I already had a relationship with Alex, so there was something more to it. Anyway, all I had done was hugged him, and sat hugging him until Pastor Tim took us both to the side and he began to talk to Alex, and ask him specific questions. Then he turned it over to me, 'cause Alex didn't wanna be confessing things to him, and we talked, and prayed, and hugged, and God was definitely in there. Following this, Chad R. found me and told me that my prayer time was not in vain. That things were happening because of my prayers. He also told me that all the things God had been telling me to tell people, I didn't need to be taking to someone over me. I was supposed to go directly to the people and tell them. Then God told me to tell Isaiah and Wesley, two junior high guys who were messing around in the back a lil' bit, that God wanted to talk to them, so they need to read their Bibles every night. As cheezy as that sounded, I thought of how I almost disobeyed God about hugging Alex, so I went and told the two of them what God had said. This was followed by more good worship ("Oh taste and see that the Lord is good"), then a bonfire, where I ate s'mores.
This morning (Sunday), we went to our last session. Awesome worship, once again, followed by Pastor Adam talking about hearing the One Voice, and how to keep things from getting in the way of hearing it. After he spoke, we broke up into groups and talked and prayed first about what different things keep us from hearing God. Then we prayed for God to show us something to help us with our Ones. He hasn't shown me yet, but it's a'comin'. Following all of this, we ate lunch, got back on the buses (notice that the word is plural this time), and got back in around three hours. I saw Katie and Michelle when I got off, and that took me off-guard, but it was the good kind of off-guard, so I worked with it. Also, I'm crazy-sore, thanks to that worship, so walking is a challenge in itself. On the bright side, I think that God brought a lot of healing to my mouth, 'cause Priscilla's mouth sounds worse off than mine, even though my surgery was supposed to be worse, in terms of pain and recovery. Also, my ear (not the ear canal, but the ridge above it that curves around) had gotten all swollen the past few weeks, and I would squeeze it ('cause every swollen thing pops like a pimple, right?), and clear junk would come out, but it would get right back to being tender and swollen afterwards. The other day, though, I reached up to feel it. I knew that it might be tender, so I was very careful to touch ever so lightly. Well, as soon as I had barely touched it, it spit out green mucousy stuff. That may sound gross, but here's what I think happened. I think that as soon as I did the laying on of hands, even though it wasn't for that purpose, God healed it, and made the infection spew right out. It's fully healed now. I'm writing this paper at 1:40 AM (I started writing it like an hour and a half ago), so I'd best get off to start homework. I didn't wanna skip out on this blog.
Alright, Friday is when it began. On second thought, that's not entirely true. That's when the physical manifestation began, 'cause, of course, the inward incubation was going on long beforehand. God had been telling me things during worship every Wednesday, and, fed up with sitting around while younger girl leaders stepped up to the plate, I started telling these things to Pastor Nick. Unfortunately, none of what God told me was applying to the services. I was still desiring the supernatural, the spiritual gifts and whatnot, not so much for myself (but definitely not excluding me), but for Paradigm.
God told me that spiritual gifts would be poured out on the retreat (that's a prophetic word, by the way, a gift of the spirit), so I've been praying faithfully every morning for that to happen. I've also been praying for my One every morning. These prayers were sounding worthless to me, though. God kept telling me things during the service that didn't apply, so why would He keep me right on track for the retreat? And my One? There's no encouragement there. The most positive response I've gotten out of her is "I still love you, but I don't want anything to do with God," (friend love, not another kind). I've also been praying for Chad R., for him to step up in leadership, for Alex, that purity would fill his speech, and for my small group, but all seemed worthless. I kept at it, listening to sermons by Pastor Benny Perez a lot, 'cause I needed some encouragement, particularly in the areas of spiritual gifts.
Back to Friday. Pastor Tim asked me to direct traffic (to keep people from going into the back parking lot). Unfortunately, it was hot outside, but I wasn't about to disobey my pastor, no sir-ee-bob (spell check?), so I did so with cunning and style, not to mention pizzaz. Rest assured, everyone that mattered went to the front. Following this, we had our bus ride. There was some confusion, 'cause we had Mrs. Newman and a driver who had to be paid by the hour, with buses that were rented by the mile. Naturally, as I later found out, the hired bus driver took the longest route possible, which turned out two-hour drive into a four-hour one. Plus, Mrs. Newman's bus broke down, forcing all of Paradigm to fit in one bus. Three to a seat, not to mention several of us who didn't get a seat (I managed to have a third of a cheek on one, but that doesn't count). We got to the camp and did some good worship. My expectations could have been quite low for Matt Duhon, but I didn't want to be distracted by that during worship, since he would be leading all weekend, so I gave it to God and tried to give him a chance. Worship was great, but Matt Duhon did talk in the middle of it about God killing someone 'cause it was their last chance to come back. I gave this to God too. 'Cause after all, what if that's actually what someone needed to hear? At least he had boldness. Still, I didn't approve of it.
Saturday, I woke up in plenty time for a shower. Many of us had weathered many a retreat, and expected everyone else to bring shower supplies (shampoo, soap, etc.). I kicked it up a notch, though, and didn't bring a towel. But they had plenty of paper towels, so I rinsed, used paper towels to dry off, then borrowed a normal towel for my hair. For the morning session and all the sessions onward, Pastor Adam McCain spoke. He spoke on resisting temptation, and how his best friend first in high school, then on into Bible school, was a better speaker and basically better at being a Christian than Pastor Adam, but he didn't know how to resist temptation, and it led to him being a piece of crap. Hiro couldn't understand what he was saying, but he definitely understood Pastor Adam's crazy body language. Worship was definitely good in there, too, and God definitely was a part of it. Then we had free time, but I spent most of it at a giant swing. I'm sorry about that typo, 'cause it was THE giant swing. This thing was a monster, double-seater, pulley-enhanced, rocket that shot you over a pit of death, then pulled you right back in before you lose your soul. I went on this crazy contraption with Shadow (Adam Williams). The weight difference, of course, was massive (I weighed roughly 100 pounds less), so when we went up, I got the thrill of shooting down at an accelerated speed without the harness's tugging being too unpleasant for my important lower areas. Good times there, good times.
(Courtesy of ProjectNemeth.com)
Then came the service. I felt out of it during pre-service prayer, and I asked God about it, but He said that He didn't want me to feel like I was flowing perfectly with all of it. So when it was time to worship, I kicked it up a notch and went nuts, giving all of that to God physically, mentally, and spiritually (which is how I try to worship, not to mention in spirit and in truth). Pastor Nick came up and gave words to a few people from on-stage, words that he was supposed to share earlier, but he had been uncomfortable about it. I was surprised. After more heart-gutting worship, Pastor Adam spoke on the power of the Holy Spirit. Doing things as Jesus did them. And doing greater than Jesus had done. He told all kinds of stories, and he later apologized for taking up ministry time with his talking, but I was glad to hear them, 'cause it was a good faith-booster. The main thing that I learned was when he talked about the first time a demon had ever come to him. His parents were on a plane to Europe for a missions trip, and he was all alone in the house, in his room. In the middle of the night, a demon appeared in the corner of the room, and said, "Your parents aren't here now. Can you defend yourself?" And he tried to pray it away, but nothing worked, until God told him to just worship with all he had, and as soon as he did so (in his underwear), the demon left. Now I know what to do if I ever encounter such a problem. Ministry time came after he spoke, and all the people who hadn't been baptized in the Holy Spirit were asked to come forward for prayer from the adult leaders and interns. Those leaders, in turn, were told to prophesy, speak words of knowledge, and all that jazz. I didn't feel left out at all, not being one of those. I did feel like I was to lead that night more than I was to follow. Then I saw Alex standing on the other side of the room in between those praying and the chairs, with his arms crossed, and his head tilted down. God told me to go hug him. Some doubt entered my mind, going back to all those services where I had had words that weren't quite pertinent to what God was doing at the time, but honestly, it just came down to me not feeling like it. Then Alex sat down, arms still crossed, on the carpet. I finally decided to go and hug him. Obeying that one command allowed me to do real altar ministry for the first time. I had done some in The Core and a lil' as a student leader, but I already had a relationship with Alex, so there was something more to it. Anyway, all I had done was hugged him, and sat hugging him until Pastor Tim took us both to the side and he began to talk to Alex, and ask him specific questions. Then he turned it over to me, 'cause Alex didn't wanna be confessing things to him, and we talked, and prayed, and hugged, and God was definitely in there. Following this, Chad R. found me and told me that my prayer time was not in vain. That things were happening because of my prayers. He also told me that all the things God had been telling me to tell people, I didn't need to be taking to someone over me. I was supposed to go directly to the people and tell them. Then God told me to tell Isaiah and Wesley, two junior high guys who were messing around in the back a lil' bit, that God wanted to talk to them, so they need to read their Bibles every night. As cheezy as that sounded, I thought of how I almost disobeyed God about hugging Alex, so I went and told the two of them what God had said. This was followed by more good worship ("Oh taste and see that the Lord is good"), then a bonfire, where I ate s'mores.
This morning (Sunday), we went to our last session. Awesome worship, once again, followed by Pastor Adam talking about hearing the One Voice, and how to keep things from getting in the way of hearing it. After he spoke, we broke up into groups and talked and prayed first about what different things keep us from hearing God. Then we prayed for God to show us something to help us with our Ones. He hasn't shown me yet, but it's a'comin'. Following all of this, we ate lunch, got back on the buses (notice that the word is plural this time), and got back in around three hours. I saw Katie and Michelle when I got off, and that took me off-guard, but it was the good kind of off-guard, so I worked with it. Also, I'm crazy-sore, thanks to that worship, so walking is a challenge in itself. On the bright side, I think that God brought a lot of healing to my mouth, 'cause Priscilla's mouth sounds worse off than mine, even though my surgery was supposed to be worse, in terms of pain and recovery. Also, my ear (not the ear canal, but the ridge above it that curves around) had gotten all swollen the past few weeks, and I would squeeze it ('cause every swollen thing pops like a pimple, right?), and clear junk would come out, but it would get right back to being tender and swollen afterwards. The other day, though, I reached up to feel it. I knew that it might be tender, so I was very careful to touch ever so lightly. Well, as soon as I had barely touched it, it spit out green mucousy stuff. That may sound gross, but here's what I think happened. I think that as soon as I did the laying on of hands, even though it wasn't for that purpose, God healed it, and made the infection spew right out. It's fully healed now. I'm writing this paper at 1:40 AM (I started writing it like an hour and a half ago), so I'd best get off to start homework. I didn't wanna skip out on this blog.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Wisdom Teeth
It looks like my blogs are turning into weekly ones. My apologies. Monday was a Monday, if I remember correctly, which means that I don't have much news from my morning classes. However, I was put in charge of the lesson for the Connect Class, so I talked about making plans, which I had been wanting to share in there for quite awhile. That went well, and with Alyssa P. there to be the mean one, I got to stay polite while she bossed the class around and got angry at them for acting their age. That night, I went to sleep at around eight, which was a pretty healthy choice.
I woke up at 5:00 AM to find a text from Bekah asking when early morning prayer is (she had sent it a few minutes after I had fallen asleep the previous evening). This reminded me to go, so go I did, and God showed me something cool about Mattew 10:9 (I think). Jesus is eating with the tax collectors and sinners, but he's also got all of his disciples there. This is how he reached out. He had his group of friends, and they mixed with another one over a meal and just hanging out. Anyway, I remembered on my way to school that I had devotions, and I whipped that lesson out, and it was a good save. That evening, I had Prototype. I asked Caleb all kinds of questions, all that have been asked to me and that I have been asking (one of which was ghosts). Prototype is always stinkin' awesome.
Wednesday, I had a bit of a late start. My main problem was that I fell asleep at 7:15 AM, with the intention of waking up ten minutes later. Unfortunately, I woke up three and a half hours later, which got me zeros for participation in my first three classes. That stank. But what was left of school was fine, and Paradigm was rockin'. One of the guys from the Connect Class, Tanner, came to Paradigm. He was one of the guys questioning a lot, so I was really happy to see him there.
Thursday, I looked good. Just sayin'. I went home after school, slept till around 6:30 PM, then took off for CFNI, where I met up with some bros from the ghetto ovah deya, and we carpooled to Trish's house in A-town, where we watched The Office. Watch was all we did, however, 'cause everyone was talking too much to hear anything from the episode. It did make me dream about ethics that night, though. We followed up that episode of The Office with some political SNL and Surf's Up. Both were adequate. No more, no less.
Friday was a day for the ages. Priscilla, mom, and I, up bright and early, drove over to the Baylor Oral Surgery place. It wasn't long before I was strapped down (he said that it wasn't to hold me down, but who knows), and he had stabbed me a few times trying to get his anesthesia in me. He was successful in his endeavors, or so I assume, for the next time I awoke, I was being helped out of my chair, and to the door. Something was apparently amiss, as the doctor told me awhile later, for my face had gone terribly green and pale, so they stabbed me with another iv and had me chug some fluids through my arm. It was delicious. We all headed home, me half-asleep and throwing up a lil' blood (not much, don't worry) into a lil' vomit-holder. We soon arrived home, and I went to sleep, waking up only to eat a lil' something, drink a milkshake, or make a video.
Saturday, having been off the drugs since the evening before, I aspired to go to Tynan Barlow's birthday party. Unfortunately, the only other people there were geeky homeschoolers, and, however drugged up I had been, I couldn't endure talk about which NES game was the best video game of all time. So I texted Jake, and he told me to come over (he lives next-door). I hung out with him and his cousin Eli until midafternoon, at which point I was invited to go to the Heath Homecoming Dance. I was glad to, partially for myself, partially for my sister, who would be at this dance, and be even more drugged up than I (she with hydrocodine, me with ibuprofen). It was a fun dance, and we broke up a few grind trains by shaking our fingers and singing, "Inappropriate, inappropriate". However, I went home and crashed, and was in a terrible fit of pain, for, as some of you may know, doing things the day after surgery makes your face hurt like crap.
When I got to church today, everyone laughed at how my face looked like a chipmunk. Trish, particularly, could not go one second without laughing at me, and she was around me for many a second. I talked to Shayna about small groups, and we both didn't feel like we should talk about the "Empty Seat", which was our planned discussion. We instead decided to talk about that verse that God had shared with me earlier in the week. I went home from there, ate Ramen (my primary sustenance at the moment), and napped. When I got to small groups, I told Shayna that I thought that God wanted us to keep on with the "Empty Seat" thing, and I explained how it could tie in with the discussion. This finished, our small group played some English game, which turned into freeze tag, then we ate some ice cream sandwiches, and, finally, had our discussion. Molly Howard is proving to be one of the more outgoing of the group, and the only guy tonight, Sam, proved to be exceptional at distracting himself. After small groups, I went home, did some work, took mo' ibuprofen, and am now getting ready for bed. This week is homecoming week. I'm dressing as a frog who needs a kiss to turn into a prince. I'll be asking for kisses all day tomorrow. Wish me luck!
I woke up at 5:00 AM to find a text from Bekah asking when early morning prayer is (she had sent it a few minutes after I had fallen asleep the previous evening). This reminded me to go, so go I did, and God showed me something cool about Mattew 10:9 (I think). Jesus is eating with the tax collectors and sinners, but he's also got all of his disciples there. This is how he reached out. He had his group of friends, and they mixed with another one over a meal and just hanging out. Anyway, I remembered on my way to school that I had devotions, and I whipped that lesson out, and it was a good save. That evening, I had Prototype. I asked Caleb all kinds of questions, all that have been asked to me and that I have been asking (one of which was ghosts). Prototype is always stinkin' awesome.
Wednesday, I had a bit of a late start. My main problem was that I fell asleep at 7:15 AM, with the intention of waking up ten minutes later. Unfortunately, I woke up three and a half hours later, which got me zeros for participation in my first three classes. That stank. But what was left of school was fine, and Paradigm was rockin'. One of the guys from the Connect Class, Tanner, came to Paradigm. He was one of the guys questioning a lot, so I was really happy to see him there.
Thursday, I looked good. Just sayin'. I went home after school, slept till around 6:30 PM, then took off for CFNI, where I met up with some bros from the ghetto ovah deya, and we carpooled to Trish's house in A-town, where we watched The Office. Watch was all we did, however, 'cause everyone was talking too much to hear anything from the episode. It did make me dream about ethics that night, though. We followed up that episode of The Office with some political SNL and Surf's Up. Both were adequate. No more, no less.
Friday was a day for the ages. Priscilla, mom, and I, up bright and early, drove over to the Baylor Oral Surgery place. It wasn't long before I was strapped down (he said that it wasn't to hold me down, but who knows), and he had stabbed me a few times trying to get his anesthesia in me. He was successful in his endeavors, or so I assume, for the next time I awoke, I was being helped out of my chair, and to the door. Something was apparently amiss, as the doctor told me awhile later, for my face had gone terribly green and pale, so they stabbed me with another iv and had me chug some fluids through my arm. It was delicious. We all headed home, me half-asleep and throwing up a lil' blood (not much, don't worry) into a lil' vomit-holder. We soon arrived home, and I went to sleep, waking up only to eat a lil' something, drink a milkshake, or make a video.
Saturday, having been off the drugs since the evening before, I aspired to go to Tynan Barlow's birthday party. Unfortunately, the only other people there were geeky homeschoolers, and, however drugged up I had been, I couldn't endure talk about which NES game was the best video game of all time. So I texted Jake, and he told me to come over (he lives next-door). I hung out with him and his cousin Eli until midafternoon, at which point I was invited to go to the Heath Homecoming Dance. I was glad to, partially for myself, partially for my sister, who would be at this dance, and be even more drugged up than I (she with hydrocodine, me with ibuprofen). It was a fun dance, and we broke up a few grind trains by shaking our fingers and singing, "Inappropriate, inappropriate". However, I went home and crashed, and was in a terrible fit of pain, for, as some of you may know, doing things the day after surgery makes your face hurt like crap.
When I got to church today, everyone laughed at how my face looked like a chipmunk. Trish, particularly, could not go one second without laughing at me, and she was around me for many a second. I talked to Shayna about small groups, and we both didn't feel like we should talk about the "Empty Seat", which was our planned discussion. We instead decided to talk about that verse that God had shared with me earlier in the week. I went home from there, ate Ramen (my primary sustenance at the moment), and napped. When I got to small groups, I told Shayna that I thought that God wanted us to keep on with the "Empty Seat" thing, and I explained how it could tie in with the discussion. This finished, our small group played some English game, which turned into freeze tag, then we ate some ice cream sandwiches, and, finally, had our discussion. Molly Howard is proving to be one of the more outgoing of the group, and the only guy tonight, Sam, proved to be exceptional at distracting himself. After small groups, I went home, did some work, took mo' ibuprofen, and am now getting ready for bed. This week is homecoming week. I'm dressing as a frog who needs a kiss to turn into a prince. I'll be asking for kisses all day tomorrow. Wish me luck!
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Small Groups
Once again, it took me a week to blog. Sunday, we had our last media meeting, where we previewed the promos for Small Groups. Here's the one that features me.
It convinced Priscilla to join the media small group. Anyway, that went well. The Williams' grandfather was barely hanging onto life all week, so Michelle wasn't as apt to become cheery when I talked to her. I'm saying that 'cause it took me so long to figure out why.
Monday was a day of discouragement, what with having done too much homework in one class, and forgetting to do a report in another. But Mondays they tend to be, 'cause the devil don't like it when someone works on humbling themselves and God sees fit to stick 'em with a small group, and all of a sudden, the devil sees a threat, and he starts hissing and growlin' up a storm, but a Christ-follower knows that if a snake hisses, God has given him a heel do crush his head with. I've asked around, and I'm pretty sure that God pulled a few strings for me in order for me to help lead a small group. All I remember about that day is that the night that followed was a late one.
Tuesday was similar. But I've noticed a change in my Bible reading. I use one line in my notebook every day, just jotting down what I read, and whatever sticks out to me. But ever since I finished the Old Testament, I've found that the New Testament is full of the goods. You don't have to dig around for some spiritual sustenance. Plus, I've got a small group to pastor, so God has been giving me revelations and teachings to work on for our small group. The only problem is, it takes up a large paragraph of my notebook and 30-45 minutes of my valuable time. Tough? Yeah. But so worth it.
Wednesday, I was late to school due to a stupid printer malfunction. I talked to Renee and some others about their expectations for their small groups. Renee's main concern was converting the old "Black Hole" crowd from being "not bad", to fruitful. It's a bigger step than I had thought. Anyway, that night, I talked to Shayna about our group, then it was time to show our stuff. My Dollar Tree light-up batons were a huge success, and so was my flute action. Also, our picture advertisement was the best. That night, I went home and collapsed while attempting to attempt to do homework, much to the disappointment of Mr. Harber.
Thursday, I came to the realization that Mr. Harber is on a slow downward spiral towards not allowing ANY movement or noise in the classroom. I'm dreading the day when I accidentally drop a pencil. That day, I sat in class, ignoring Mr. Harber for the most part (I like reading out of the book more than listening to him), when, suddenly, Mr. Harber said something that I thought was funny. So I let out a lil' giggle. Nothing much, nothing disrespectful. "London, there's only so much I can-- go to the office and sit at the table until you can calm down a little bit." That's the first time I've been sent out of a classroom. I'm thinking that it might not be the last. All's I know is, if I get a detention in there, I'm gonna go straight to Mrs. Horan and fight it, 'cause it'll probably be for my stomach growling or me thinking too loudly.
Friday, I went to the Texas State Fair with Jordan, Hiro, Pasha's family (Jessica, Joanna, Joseph, and his parents), Alyssa, and the rest of the Woods. It was loads of fun. I lost my voice cheering on the pig races (pig number 3 won 2/3 'cause of our cheering) and then I lost more of it by singing the Russian national anthem, very much impressing Pasha's parents. His parents were rockin'-awesome, talking about fasting on the way home, and how it's putting death into your flesh by not eating, so you're putting your love for God above your love for your flesh. Good stuff. That night, after the fair, I drove all the way to Canton.
I did little jobs for my mom at Canton, bought food for Emmy and kept her company, then went on my way home. But, having left my Bible at Jordan's house, I decided to make a pit stop over there. Unfortunately, I got lost, and then Jordan remembered, just as I was pulling up, that my Bible was in his mom's car, which was with her at work, and she wouldn't be back until midnight. So I decided to spend the night, which was plenty of fun. I learned a lil' more about Japanese culture.
Upgrade today was less great, 'cause some guy from our church talked, but he wasn't a very great public speaker, and I got incredibly bored really fast, but it's a leaders meeting, and you aren't allowed to try to distract your neighbor for fun. I went home after church, called my Small Group guys, and then headed back to the church for a Kenya meeting. A certain Sarah was there, but so was a certain Daniel Lewis. I am feeling more and more that God wants me to go, but I don't really wanna go. After this, I had small groups (spent like twenty minutes getting lost on the way there), which was fantastic. On the downside, there were only three guys. On the plus side, there were like 12 or 13 girls. So we have a big group. And, from what I heard, we had one of the more successful first meetings. Those guys are loads of fun. Anyway, it's almost 2:00 AM, which, of course, is when I find time to make a blog. Blogs away!
It convinced Priscilla to join the media small group. Anyway, that went well. The Williams' grandfather was barely hanging onto life all week, so Michelle wasn't as apt to become cheery when I talked to her. I'm saying that 'cause it took me so long to figure out why.
Monday was a day of discouragement, what with having done too much homework in one class, and forgetting to do a report in another. But Mondays they tend to be, 'cause the devil don't like it when someone works on humbling themselves and God sees fit to stick 'em with a small group, and all of a sudden, the devil sees a threat, and he starts hissing and growlin' up a storm, but a Christ-follower knows that if a snake hisses, God has given him a heel do crush his head with. I've asked around, and I'm pretty sure that God pulled a few strings for me in order for me to help lead a small group. All I remember about that day is that the night that followed was a late one.
Tuesday was similar. But I've noticed a change in my Bible reading. I use one line in my notebook every day, just jotting down what I read, and whatever sticks out to me. But ever since I finished the Old Testament, I've found that the New Testament is full of the goods. You don't have to dig around for some spiritual sustenance. Plus, I've got a small group to pastor, so God has been giving me revelations and teachings to work on for our small group. The only problem is, it takes up a large paragraph of my notebook and 30-45 minutes of my valuable time. Tough? Yeah. But so worth it.
Wednesday, I was late to school due to a stupid printer malfunction. I talked to Renee and some others about their expectations for their small groups. Renee's main concern was converting the old "Black Hole" crowd from being "not bad", to fruitful. It's a bigger step than I had thought. Anyway, that night, I talked to Shayna about our group, then it was time to show our stuff. My Dollar Tree light-up batons were a huge success, and so was my flute action. Also, our picture advertisement was the best. That night, I went home and collapsed while attempting to attempt to do homework, much to the disappointment of Mr. Harber.
Thursday, I came to the realization that Mr. Harber is on a slow downward spiral towards not allowing ANY movement or noise in the classroom. I'm dreading the day when I accidentally drop a pencil. That day, I sat in class, ignoring Mr. Harber for the most part (I like reading out of the book more than listening to him), when, suddenly, Mr. Harber said something that I thought was funny. So I let out a lil' giggle. Nothing much, nothing disrespectful. "London, there's only so much I can-- go to the office and sit at the table until you can calm down a little bit." That's the first time I've been sent out of a classroom. I'm thinking that it might not be the last. All's I know is, if I get a detention in there, I'm gonna go straight to Mrs. Horan and fight it, 'cause it'll probably be for my stomach growling or me thinking too loudly.
Friday, I went to the Texas State Fair with Jordan, Hiro, Pasha's family (Jessica, Joanna, Joseph, and his parents), Alyssa, and the rest of the Woods. It was loads of fun. I lost my voice cheering on the pig races (pig number 3 won 2/3 'cause of our cheering) and then I lost more of it by singing the Russian national anthem, very much impressing Pasha's parents. His parents were rockin'-awesome, talking about fasting on the way home, and how it's putting death into your flesh by not eating, so you're putting your love for God above your love for your flesh. Good stuff. That night, after the fair, I drove all the way to Canton.
I did little jobs for my mom at Canton, bought food for Emmy and kept her company, then went on my way home. But, having left my Bible at Jordan's house, I decided to make a pit stop over there. Unfortunately, I got lost, and then Jordan remembered, just as I was pulling up, that my Bible was in his mom's car, which was with her at work, and she wouldn't be back until midnight. So I decided to spend the night, which was plenty of fun. I learned a lil' more about Japanese culture.
Upgrade today was less great, 'cause some guy from our church talked, but he wasn't a very great public speaker, and I got incredibly bored really fast, but it's a leaders meeting, and you aren't allowed to try to distract your neighbor for fun. I went home after church, called my Small Group guys, and then headed back to the church for a Kenya meeting. A certain Sarah was there, but so was a certain Daniel Lewis. I am feeling more and more that God wants me to go, but I don't really wanna go. After this, I had small groups (spent like twenty minutes getting lost on the way there), which was fantastic. On the downside, there were only three guys. On the plus side, there were like 12 or 13 girls. So we have a big group. And, from what I heard, we had one of the more successful first meetings. Those guys are loads of fun. Anyway, it's almost 2:00 AM, which, of course, is when I find time to make a blog. Blogs away!
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