Daily on my drive home, I pass by a house. There is a huge St. Bernard in the backyard. She is a her. I think her name is Molly. I met her one day with my roommate Chris. We asked if we could stop and pet her. A very sweet dog. I had a St. Bernard as a lil boy and his name was "Beethoven", but I called him "babe." They are "leaners." Which means that as you stand near them, they want to lean up against you constantly. If you don't know, St. Bernards are one of the largest breeds. That animal leaning against you is not much like a poodle or a....well some of those other weird small dog names.
Back to Molly. Molly needs a bath. She is about the color of Clemson. Totally orange. Well looks orange to me, remember I'm color blind, coffee black, eggs white (Counting Crows.) I'm actually red-green deficient. Anyway, this dog is ORANGE! I drive by daily and just want to wash her. She leans up against the house because I don't think the owners spend much time with her. Molly likes to lay in the clay, thus the orange color. I'm not big into washing neighbors dogs, don't get me wrong. I used to not like washing our own St. Bernard because he didn't like water. One time, we tied him to the steel trampoline to hold him, well he drug it around a lil ways.
I really enjoy just writing. Especially when you have big decisions in life, it's good to just sit down and talk about a dog that you would really like to wash. So I'm open for ways I could approach this neighbor. "Hey, I'm Justin, I'd really like to wash your dog." I'm not sure that would go over well. Enough about orange dogs.
So I have this old dirtbike. It actually was a project I bought a few years ago. It's been fun to fix up. When I bought it, it looked terrible. I had fun fixing it up and working on it. I have definitely worked on it WAY more than I have ridden it. Well it sat in the garage for about a year now. I decided to get it back on the road. I haven't put all the parts back on it, some are on, some are not. I cranked it up, drove it around the country on Sunday. It runs so well. If you were to look at it, you wouldn't think so. It doesn't look "good." But it runs like a champ. I hit the gas, and it just goes so fast. I started thinking about how my life looks sometimes. Exactly opposite of the dirtbike. All things might look good on the outside, but usually, there are inner struggles and lots of rust. There is nothing easy about this life, and if it is easy, u are not living. Maybe I'm wrong. I understand that in all things, God is faithful, despite our circumstances. That's a tough pill to swallow. Drink a little water, it helps.
Wednesday, September 15, 2004
Friday, September 10, 2004
Playin it by ear, hear
So, you want to learn some patience. Well there are lots of ways to learn patience. I have learned a lot by learning guitar. Guitar is a unique instrument. At first glance, you look at all the strings and think, now my fingers go where!?!?!?! Eventually you just pick it up and learn as you go. Now I'm the least talented musically minded person you will ever find, but I'm trying. I really want to stress trying. I watch, Ryan, the guy that teaches me, and it is so easy. It comes natural to him. I surely can't play by ear, but I sure can practice a lot, I do know that.
It seems that in Christianity, we have lost our ability to hear from God and rest in Him for all things. The smallest pothole comes into our life and most christians freak out and make a huge deal out of nothing. Reading the Word and following the life of Christ and the disciples/apostles, one thing is clear. They usually didn't know what the next day was going to hold. I find peace in that. These men had no clue where the next meal would come from, where the next shelter would be, or who the next beating might come from. I like the part in Acts where Paul gets bit by a poisonous snake. Chillin out by the fire, the snake snaps at him. Does he pray about the bite? Nope. Does he complain about the bite, nope. He just shakes it into the fire, how symbolic. Most of our life seems to take place in a blackroom, waiting to be developed.
One time I heard someone say, "Wake up everyday and have on your heart do what the Word says, and you have no choice but to be in His will." I really like that simple statement. The Word has revealed a huge part of God to us. We have it really good. Personally, I have some big decisions in my own life with my future and ministry, work, and etc. I'm glad that it's not about me. Sometimes I fight and struggle on that one. There always seem to be a lot on our plate. I like what a preacher I luv says...."Swallow the meat, spit out the bones." Who needs bones anyway. I don't like when u are eating chicken and get the small bone in your mouth, how inconvenient. Especially when you don't know what to do with it. I've come up with some really interesting ways. I think i just told about 4 stories that made no correlation, but it's my blog and I can do what I want. Somewhere in the definition of "blog" has to be, random. I also like the gas pumps that have card readers where you can put your card in any direction and it will still read it. Yes, I have struggled with them. I also like going to the ATM and getting all the directions in spanish. It's fun and makes you really excited when money actually comes out. I didn't know it was going to be mexican money though.
It seems that in Christianity, we have lost our ability to hear from God and rest in Him for all things. The smallest pothole comes into our life and most christians freak out and make a huge deal out of nothing. Reading the Word and following the life of Christ and the disciples/apostles, one thing is clear. They usually didn't know what the next day was going to hold. I find peace in that. These men had no clue where the next meal would come from, where the next shelter would be, or who the next beating might come from. I like the part in Acts where Paul gets bit by a poisonous snake. Chillin out by the fire, the snake snaps at him. Does he pray about the bite? Nope. Does he complain about the bite, nope. He just shakes it into the fire, how symbolic. Most of our life seems to take place in a blackroom, waiting to be developed.
One time I heard someone say, "Wake up everyday and have on your heart do what the Word says, and you have no choice but to be in His will." I really like that simple statement. The Word has revealed a huge part of God to us. We have it really good. Personally, I have some big decisions in my own life with my future and ministry, work, and etc. I'm glad that it's not about me. Sometimes I fight and struggle on that one. There always seem to be a lot on our plate. I like what a preacher I luv says...."Swallow the meat, spit out the bones." Who needs bones anyway. I don't like when u are eating chicken and get the small bone in your mouth, how inconvenient. Especially when you don't know what to do with it. I've come up with some really interesting ways. I think i just told about 4 stories that made no correlation, but it's my blog and I can do what I want. Somewhere in the definition of "blog" has to be, random. I also like the gas pumps that have card readers where you can put your card in any direction and it will still read it. Yes, I have struggled with them. I also like going to the ATM and getting all the directions in spanish. It's fun and makes you really excited when money actually comes out. I didn't know it was going to be mexican money though.
Monday, September 06, 2004
More than Zaxby's
Well it's definitely 4AM in the morning and I'm wide awake. I think it must have been caused by the nap that occured between the hours of 5-10, but that's only a guess. It's been such a long time since I blogged and this crazy thing has been having a few issues, crazy thing - the blog, well and me, occasionally.
To get back to Zaxbys. What a great place and great invention. I'm their biggest fan and if I keep eating there, I will be literally. I took a break from zaxby's for about a month now, only eating there maybe once every two weeks. How I miss it!!!! After a Clemson victory, there is no greater choice than Zaxbys, well under $10 that is. So we went, a closet cusser and I, haha. I'll save that for another blog. You know there is more to Zaxby's than food. There are people there. We got to meet the manager of Zaxby's in Easley the other night, what a nice man. We probably talked for at least 15 minutes about all sorts of different things, mainly food and chick fil a :) To be honest, I really wanted to witness to this man, but wasn't sure if my motivation was pure or not. We did get to talk to him for a short time about his church and where it is located. DACUSVILLE! What a place. I came home and was reminded of a verse in Phillipians that Paul said, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. But that's another blog. So back to Zaxby's. There are so many things in this life that God has given us, good things! Like class in college. Class is more than learning. The most important thing in the class is probably the person sitting beside you and whether or not they know Christ. I don't hold the card on any of this and had my struggles, but it is. Class is important, learning is important, but forming relationships with people and making Christ known is supreme.
There is so much more to this life than 2 chapters a day out of my Bible. Why have I come to settle for that, if that. I think we sell out a lot in Christianity and settle. My definition of "settle"= to know something big and settle for something small. We know Christ, we know His life and we settle for only a part of it. We don't really believe that the same power that rose Christ from the dead is in us. Do we really believe that? We have settled for something far less than that. Our churches have no power anymore, most believers feel like they have to be a secret agent and only whisper about Christianity. We do not need secret agents in this faith. I'm tired of settling for mediocre things. I wish I could get up early in the morning and focus on God. I want that.
Sometimes we have to make decisions that are not what we want. Did God ever 2nd guess sending Christ, I think not. He was delighted to crush Him for the greater good of humanity. Now I have to be honest here, I cannot wrap my mind around that, but I will die trying.
How random is this and sorry for the seriousness, very different from the usual, so I'll end with this. I realized something. Who is Laura Lynn? I mean this woman is all over my house. I realized the other day that the toilet paper I use has her name on it. I mean, this woman, who is she and how did Ingles adopt her? I think I should research, maybe she is the sister of "walter" at Bilo. Walter was really good in the produce section, so the commercial says. I like commercials, some of them, depends on what's on and what's coming up next.
To get back to Zaxbys. What a great place and great invention. I'm their biggest fan and if I keep eating there, I will be literally. I took a break from zaxby's for about a month now, only eating there maybe once every two weeks. How I miss it!!!! After a Clemson victory, there is no greater choice than Zaxbys, well under $10 that is. So we went, a closet cusser and I, haha. I'll save that for another blog. You know there is more to Zaxby's than food. There are people there. We got to meet the manager of Zaxby's in Easley the other night, what a nice man. We probably talked for at least 15 minutes about all sorts of different things, mainly food and chick fil a :) To be honest, I really wanted to witness to this man, but wasn't sure if my motivation was pure or not. We did get to talk to him for a short time about his church and where it is located. DACUSVILLE! What a place. I came home and was reminded of a verse in Phillipians that Paul said, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. But that's another blog. So back to Zaxby's. There are so many things in this life that God has given us, good things! Like class in college. Class is more than learning. The most important thing in the class is probably the person sitting beside you and whether or not they know Christ. I don't hold the card on any of this and had my struggles, but it is. Class is important, learning is important, but forming relationships with people and making Christ known is supreme.
There is so much more to this life than 2 chapters a day out of my Bible. Why have I come to settle for that, if that. I think we sell out a lot in Christianity and settle. My definition of "settle"= to know something big and settle for something small. We know Christ, we know His life and we settle for only a part of it. We don't really believe that the same power that rose Christ from the dead is in us. Do we really believe that? We have settled for something far less than that. Our churches have no power anymore, most believers feel like they have to be a secret agent and only whisper about Christianity. We do not need secret agents in this faith. I'm tired of settling for mediocre things. I wish I could get up early in the morning and focus on God. I want that.
Sometimes we have to make decisions that are not what we want. Did God ever 2nd guess sending Christ, I think not. He was delighted to crush Him for the greater good of humanity. Now I have to be honest here, I cannot wrap my mind around that, but I will die trying.
How random is this and sorry for the seriousness, very different from the usual, so I'll end with this. I realized something. Who is Laura Lynn? I mean this woman is all over my house. I realized the other day that the toilet paper I use has her name on it. I mean, this woman, who is she and how did Ingles adopt her? I think I should research, maybe she is the sister of "walter" at Bilo. Walter was really good in the produce section, so the commercial says. I like commercials, some of them, depends on what's on and what's coming up next.
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