My Friends Now

My friends are so good! I hope that I'll always be able to have days like today. Just sitting around at the park, occasionally flying kites, trying to make kites out of Target bags, comments about the bicyclist soul-searching in the pond, people riding the wave that is my tum-tum, etc. And the humor is so good and basic. Ah.

Thanks for the input on the prophecy. I think it might be referring to how some teachers (not just Mr. Harber, but also very trusted teachers, like Mrs. Horan) were advising me to approach something other than the medical profession, since my grades in math and science have never been exceptional.

By the way, I have $1,300 for Kenya so far, with more hopefully in the mail. I found out today (apparently not for the first time) that I'm supposed to have prepared a twenty-minute teaching for the youth on saturday, then another one to help Angela with the sunday school the next day, also for the youth.

Church of Zion

Last night, when I planned to go to the live recording of Regeneration at CFNI, I fell asleep. Luckily, I eventually woke up. After showering and watching The Office, I set off for Daniel Lewis's house, and spent the night at his pad. This morning, my mom and I left from his house to go to a prophetic conference thing in Denton. It was just kinda weird. It was like a Jewish Christian charismatic church. They taught on the power of the shofar, a horn in the Bible, and were selling cds of the shofar being blown in different ways and different feasts and stuff. And they only had verses quoted from the Old Testament, which is alright, but I like to have some balance. I tried to enjoy it, honest. But every five minutes they would talk about some shofar word in Hebrew and everyone would get up and sing in Tongues as they blew the horn, while a lady went through the isles doing a prophetic dance and waving her skirt at people to overcome them with the Spirit. All the while, the main speaker was interpreting her prophetic dance.

When it was my turn to be ministered to personally, the guy said something akin to, "All this guilt and shame from curses spoken over you will now be broken off. They don't have a hold on you. (I don't remember if he said something else here). God wants to give you a heart for your generation." -Guy with really light green eyes.

I dunno what that was referring to, but I figured that it was legit, 'cause he was right on the money when prophesying to my mom. Maybe the curses are referring to time management, or me being bad at math and science, or something else? I dunno.

What They See

I've come to realize how unappreciated my work at school is. Whether in classes or with student council, it seems that people don't see what I do. Not only that, but they see me doing little even when I'm doing a lot. I don't get it. There's probably something on that in the Bible, something to do with long-suffering and such, but still, it's a really disappointing thing. When you put most of your effort into something, and people are literally blind to it and only see your mistakes, it tends to take a toll on your opinion of the place. One example is the work I did in student council. No one remembered me being at any of the meetings, and yet it was my ideas that ended up being the highlights of the night.

God isn't like that though, and neither is Paradigm, Lakeshore, or my small group. All I get from those is encouragement. Lesson: Hang around godly people at godly places, and people will see the worth in you when others don't.

Finally Got It!

I FINALLY got my Word time in today. Unfortunately, it was a little late. Without ample Word time (more than just the daily Proverb) for more than a few days, I turn into who I used to be. I was SOOOOO very loud and obnoxious and stupid in classes today. I ended up realizing it, but the damage was done, and all I could do was shut up and bide my time till I could read my Word before Paradigm.

During the worship tonight, God brought to mind how I've been thinking almost consciously that I am going be dropping some standards when I go to college. Being at the college campus for just a weekend got my humor a lil' dirtier. I felt like I would have to lower standards to get along over there. But then Pastor Nick preached, and it totally hit home. My standards aren't defined by the people around me. I can live the righteous life He has called me to without having to "adapt" to fit in with the people around me. It seems elementary, but I was actually planning on letting things slide. I also had a good follow-up talk with Pastor Nick.

Dance Pictures

There you go.

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/album.php?aid=67861&id=631798935

Chore Credit System

Because you asked.

Poetry Dance + Weekend

The school dance was great. Then again, I don't know if I've ever been to a dance that I didn't like. Elinor was my date, and we were both pretty stylin' (photobucket.com/roysbucket is supposed to have a lot of pictures of the dance soon, but I already put some on my Facebook http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/album.php?aid=67861&id=631798935). Jake, who had fractured his skull a few days ago while longboarding, came to the dance, and despite having a bloody eye, he still held his own on the dance floor. After the dance, a group of us went to see Knowing at Firewheel. I liked it besides the ending, but everyone else hated it. From there, Taylor Curren, Priscilla, Elinor, and I all went to IHOP. When asked why we were dressed so formally, I said, "We like to make every visit to IHOP into a special occasion." I was too tired to laugh at my jokes, so I looked dead serious. And one of the guys gave Elinor a card with his number (after saying that Shia Lebouf was an alien).

I had some good quality time today with D. Andrew, Bri, Brett, Abrik, Trish, Zach Shey, Alan Jensen, and Juddson (aka "Bolt"). We flew kites and lay around in the park. Then our small group watched Undercover Kids. Some were surprised to find that I'm a legit actor.

Last, but not least, my dad introduced a credit system for the chores in our house. He gave us a full page of explanation, which my sisters laughed at, which only served to make my dad that much more intense about it. He's getting creative in trying to get Alexandra to do work for her designer jeans. If anyone requests it, I'll put up a picture of the credit system.

Praying With Faith Does Junk

So, thanks to D. Andrew's comment, I know some part of the reason why I wrote the second part of that last blog. Easter is coming. It was weird, 'cause I kinda felt like that story of Jesus was getting lame, and I could see someone preaching about it with real intensity, really bringing that picture into a perspective that people could grasp. The prophetic junk that God puts on me confuses me sometimes. Maybe this Holy Spirit book I'm reading will give me a hint on how to use it?

I was texting with a friend from school (Haley Jones) the other day, and we talked about Chad Rush a little bit. I was getting kinda negative, 'cause of what I've seen in him in the past schoolyear and longer. He has a buttload of anointing on him, but I just hadn't seen him use it at all. You can tell when someone has private time with God, 'cause they pour out whether they try or not. So yeah, I was very negative about him. But then I realized something. I pray for that guy every friggin' day. Then I came to realize about him what I realized about my One. There can't not be a change. The prayer of the righteous man avails much. God listens to my prayers. Things happen in response to them. So this morning, I prayed in faith for him like I've been doing for my One, and something incredible happened. He blew everyone away during devotions. We were talking about the verse that says that if you see something good to do, and you don't do the good deed, that's a sin. My example was if you see an old lady who needs help carrying her groceries, and you don't go to help her, you are sinning. At this point, Jordan and I would normally say something about it, Alex would give a one-sentence remark, and Chad would say something akin to, "Good verse". Alex responded by basically saying that that was too extreme of an example, that it didn't apply. Then Rush whips out with, "Why not?", and elaborates on how if you live with that high standard that you would see the good thing to do, you have the responsibility to do it. After that, Caleob said something about all of it being karma, and Chad was like, "Why would you substitute a secular copy of a Christian belief? Karma isn't Biblical." You can tell that Chad has had his private time with God.

I love to see Chad Rush showing off God.

I Got Distracted From My Homework...

I love not having to worry about finances. I love that I literally have to make up stuff for my budgeting in my Money Management class, ‘cause I cannot tell you where all my income comes in from. I love that when I pray, things happen as a direct result of it. I love that my spirit is edified when I speak in a language I don’t understand, but am able to speak at any given time. I love that I can get just as hungry for the Word as for food. I love that we aren’t limited to this existence. I love that exciting shows and cartoons with superpowers in them aren’t THAT far-fetched in the kingdom of God. I love that a person can tell me their problems, and God can tell me how to solve them. I love that I can never have the need to stop showing love in order to meet a need. I love that God talks to me. I love that I can have a dependency on a force that I can’t comprehend. I love water. I love my hands, and how I didn’t have to TRY to give good massages. My hands do the work for me. I love that I don’t need to drink or get high in order to have those experiences. Anointing has a much better high.

What was it like? Jesus died. Imagine if this God that we pray to, this almighty all-knowing glorious thing, what if all of it DIED. For three days, the Word which was made flesh was silent. For three days, the Word returned void. What if the thing that kept our earth in motion, the keeper, maker, and developer of our world was simply gone? The trust you and I have that somehow, SOME way, life would achieve stability again, it would all be gone. This HAPPENED! The disciples experienced this. The world experienced it, for three dreadful days! It was undeniable too. There were earthquakes, rocks splitting, and even people raised from the dead nearby. Life was powerfully fragmented away from Jesus. Shrapnel of it MADE THINGS HAPPEN! And this was just His death. The thousands of followers of Jesus could not possibly have understood the spiritual implications. Even the apostles, who had been told almost EXACTLY what would happen, surely could not grasp it. First the hopelessness in trying to stop their Teacher from being crucified, tortured and killed before their eyes. Then, after the powerful death of the greatest being ever to walk upon this earth, stillness. Everything was still. Life grudgingly went on, but like those allergy medicine commercials, with a strip of gray covering everything…all was quiet…until His tomb was found unoccupied. Three days after His death, much hope had disappeared. But this was unexpected. Joy flickered, but hesitantly. All of a sudden, there was that speck of hope. Then they met Him. Everyone was overjoyed! The Teacher, and, as they soon came to learn, their Savior, had returned! Thomas was skeptical, and rightly so, but once he felt the scars, he knew the truth for himself. He had risen, and now that He had defied death, He would set up His kingdom! But wait, He had a different plan. He claimed that there was one greater than He. Greater than the Teacher? In a few months, which passed by ever so quickly, Jesus flew into Heaven, just as the Spirit had flown down to Him upon His baptism.

My Weekend

If you ever wonder why I like hanging out with CFNI people, it's 'cause something as simple as an iPhone App can cause great excitement, and not for just the person using it.

I went to a white trashy birthday party last night (in Terrell). I feel so sorry for Alyssa Poteet. Everyone in her family likes to get drunk. Her uncle kept coming up to me, asking me questions and talking to me. He asked me to pull his finger, to which I declined, and then he said it was a test of trust, and I had failed. I replied that I had already lost too much trust on that trick, and he was satisfied with my wit. Then Caleob spent the night dancing, mostly by himself or with Alex. I've never seen a smaller, more pathetic dance party. All in all, it was a fun night.

"RESET BUTTON"

I was pretty dern overwhelmed and upset the last few days. This feeling usually peaks when I'm without Word time or sleep for awhile, but this seemed a lil' more serious. I made C's on my midterms. Those C's were in my classes with Mr. Harber (one of which I've already dropped). After talking to God in exasperated tones Friday morning, then sleeping for 18 hours that afternoon, I was still upset with Him. Fortunately, Alyssa K. Sortino, my Virginian friend, was on Facebook. We only get to talk once in awhile, and today I brought my troubles to the table. Lots of my grade-crapping, we discovered, is due to words said to me at the end of last semester.

"I really did do my best. I worked hours longer for your class than for any other. I even went as far as to forgo work on my senior thesis for your class, even though I should be working on that." -Me.

"Looking at your work and at the opportunities you had, you did not do your best." -Take a wild guess at which teacher.

To me, this said, "Your best was not good enough." God and I have always been a tag-team with grades. I'd do my part, and He'd make sure that the grades would always reflect my efforts. This time, my grades simply didn't. So I stopped working so hard at managing my time right. I concentrated more on church and Prototype, 'cause my efforts always show when I'm there. On friday, I got that report card and the book for my online class (which I have to finish tests and final exam for by April 15th).

Solving the root problems is a two-step process: hit the RESET button on my life by reorganizing time and priorities and such, and ignore douchy teachers.

Tryin' To Stay Positive

"KID, YOU'LL MOVE MOUNTAINS!" Let's hope so.

Up all night? Yes. Bibliographies for senior thesi take longer than I thought. It's printing now; I hope I'm not late for school. I finally found my favorite Dr. Seuss picture online.

And grades were the worst they have ever been in my life. I'm not sure what more I can do besides what I already am.

Random Acts of Motion

Random Acts of Motion is a new segment at Paradigm? Could this be next week's clip? I think so.

I now have a tophat, tuxedo with shirt, and I may get shiny shoes for the school dance. I have pioneered the making of an olde-looking theatre screen playing silent movies throughout the dance, along with a speakeasy with Josh Newman mixing non-alcoholic beverages. I don't get credit for it, 'cause Mrs. McSwain hates all my ideas. But I get the pleasure of having made our senior year that much better.

And ANOTHER THING! Tyler dropped out of the senior trip, so it has turned into a rampage to get ahold of that ticket. It's in the hands of my mom and I. What's funny is that Sydney Sapp called me up last night asking if Corbin Phillips (HER BOYFRIEND) could have the ticket. I gave her a maybe ('cause I'm awfully kind), then told my mom the idea and the response was, "Oh Lord!". Chad Rush confirmed that he'll most likely be going with us in Tyler's place. This, to me, is a much better alternative.

Don't Worry, I'm Not Mad Or Frustrated

One trick God taught me with certain types of people is to avoid taking in what they dish out. For instance, a phrase as simple as, "You're stupid" can have huge repercussions if the person receiving the insult chooses to accept and adopt those words as something to define them. With most people, you can tell them what they have said or done to you to make you angry or frustrated with them, and they will come to an understanding with you. With certain others, you simply have to wait it out, let them talk, and work on not feeling condemnation for what they are saying.

God caught me before I turned into that.

Junior High Is WAY Mature Where It Counts

Regarding the TAPPS Competition:
My pipe-smoking duck unfortunately got 7th out of seven contestants in graphite drawing. My broken-mirror one didn't place at all. But my Kenya one did, and I also got 2nd in Current Events. I can't go to state in Current Events, but my art can. But my Kenya one probably won't make it very far over there. My water one didn't make it at all.

Small groups was so good tonight. Shayna wasn't there, but we still managed alright. We talked about the gift of faith, which took up all of our time, so we didn't move on to any other gifts tonight. Afterwards, though, the Villageezy girls (Jackie, Bree, and Bianca) convinced me to talk to them about demons and such. Through this, I came to learn that they had trouble with demons after small groups moved into their house. Good thing I talked to them, eh? Anyway, I told them what I could within an hour, and then had to return a RedBox dvd (The Rocker is a great movie). They are so incredibly spiritually mature and open than most high schoolers. They told me that I had patience, but I think I would lose self-control if I was in a high school small group. At least these guys talk about their life, and aren't afraid to speak up about things that are important to them, rather than a group of teenagers who "don't like to share" about their lives, or what's going on with them. The only time I experienced ANY frustration with my small group is when I messed up and didn't prep for it with Word time.

Upcoming Competition

Ever seen a duck smoke a pipe? The nice Christian judges at the TAPPS art and academic competition will.

Breakthrough

Go to ProjectNemeth.com if you wanna hear me say a swear on accident.

Yesterday, Bianca, one of the girls in my small group, texted to me that she thinks her gifts of the Spirit are wisdom and knowledge. I got so excited, 'cause that means that not only has she been paying attention in there (junior highers have about the same attention span as me- slim to nil), but she has also been applying it. If she has been, I bet that God is doing stuff with the others too! Shayna and I are gonna try to get them to actually use what we get to teach.

Tonight, God convicted me of like five separate occasions in the last 24 hours where He had told me something to say to someone, usually a stranger, and I simply didn't. So I apologized to Him and told Him I'd try harder, and then He gave me a prophetic word for the service during pre-service prayer. Breakthrough. There was gonna be a big breakthrough in worship. So I shared it with everyone in there, like He wanted me to. Then lo and behold, there was a breakthrough in worship. It really felt like we went to a level we hadn't been to in a long while.

He really is working on me with prophecy, and it really is in me. I suppose that tonight was also a breakthrough with me in the gift of prophecy. I can't wait to use it, and to impart it to others.

Scavenger Hunts Kick Rear

At our Kenya meeting today, Jason was explaining what he felt our team would be doing in Kenya spiritually. As soon as he finished talking, he said aloud that something was brewing in me, and he would wait till I shared it. I reached for what God wanted me to share and found it. I had been thinking about prophecy and how, when God gave me words in Paradigm during worship, I always told them to Pastor Nick, and they were always off from what was going on that night. But prophecy doesn't always fit right in with everything in the usual way. It's like an orchestra, with different instruments playing different notes and whatnot, coming together to make the right melody. The fact that this came to mind means I've been doing something right since our last meeting.

Also, we had our small group scavenger hunt tonight. Ours kicked some rear. We had the largest group, with twenty junior highers. We had to take two packed vans, and it was loads of fun. Some were disappointed that we placed 3rd of six. The experience exceeded my expectations, 'cause the pizza provided afterwards was so very good.