3G

First post from my new toy. Maybe now this blog will be more up to date now. Just maybe though.

New Ride: ‘04 VW Passat

The Lord has blessed me with a sweet new ride. Made the drive down to Alabama on Saturday to pick it up – drive down in the rental was rough, but the trip back made it all well worth it.

23:

The atomic number of vanadium.

The minimum number of randomly chosen people needed for the probability to be more than 50% that some pair of them will have the same birthday.

The number of letters in the latin alphabet.

The number of official languages of the European Union.

The number of seconds it takes for blood to course through the human body.

The number of neurons, in billions, in the average human brain.

The fifth of the mysterious numbers in LOST

And my age, in years.

Life Update

So I thought about waiting a couple days to make it a full two months in between posts; oh well.An update on life: I am currently stationed at the Haywood Rd Starbucks, where I am a full-time barista. Lots of fun. And that is about all that is happening right now. Glad you asked, huh?

Haircut:

yeah i got one.

Two Thousand and Eight

I spent the preceding and opening days of it in Charlotte with some of my closest friends – not many better ways to begin a new year!

As far as resolutions go . . . I never have made them. This year I sorta took a challenge rather than make a resolution. This way I don’t feel like I lied to myself if I fail (solely conscience-salving). As I mentioned in my last post (dated over 3 months ago . . . oops), I’ve started the 50 books/yr challenge with some friends. However, we decided this year to up the ante to a whopping 51 books. Join the Facebook group and participate.  

My first book, started on January 1, 2008 is The Alexandria Link by Steve Berry. Its spy- drama genre mirrors closely with one of my favorite books series, The Bourne Trilogy by Robert Ludlum. 

In other news, I’ll be spending the extended weekend on the slopes in Snowshoe, West Virginia.

0.9615 books/week

I am thinking about attempting the fabled “50 book challenge” this next year. It’s fairly simple: read 50 books in one year. No other rules really – none that I have decided to abide by, that is.

This normally wouldn’t be that difficult for me, especially coming off this past summer, which, for me, was extremely non-action-packed-and-as-a-direct-result-book-packed. I probably read close to 25 books this summer alone. But starting this challenge seems daunting in the face of my upcoming schedule, which now includes an actual job. It needs to be done, though, to keep myself reading.

I already have 4 or 5 unread books on my bookshelf, so I’m good for the first month, and I am slowly building a wishlist on Shelfari, so that’ll set me for another month or so after. . .

Happy Boomsday!

Boomsday noun
1. The day that the first Baby Boomer begins collecting his Social Security.

That day is today. 80,000,000 Baby Boomers and it starts today.

Boomsday

Pretty Birds

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

e-tag

Um, so I guess I have been tagged, via blog.

The Rules

1. Let others know who tagged you.
2. Post 8 random facts about yourself.
3. Post these rules.
4. Tag 8 others to continue the meme

1. David Ruse
2. Post 8 random facts about yourself. (listed below)
3. Post these rules. (listed above)
4. CLAWS, cateraff, joneckert.com, remember the name, Seeking to Find, Stuck in the Gloaming, Sports in Detroit, Everything’s Not Lost

8 Random Facts:

- Best culinary combo ever: Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream (clearly, Mayfield or sometimes, Edy’s) & a large mug of coffee, black (usually Starbucks Arabian Mocha Sanani)
- Avid reader
- Native Greenvillian (Greenvillite, Greenvilleon, etc)
- Despise socks.
- Have sat on that bench featured in Forrest Gump.
- Hopelessly addicted to LOST
- Always prefer the book to the movie (yes, I’m one of those)
- I never ever take a shower while the toilet seat up. It must be closed. No clue why, it just has to be.

I’m out.

Book Review

Been focusing my attention on two books lately:

The Last Town on Earth

The World Without Us
____________________

The Last Town on Earth, which was named Best Debut Novel of 2006 and Chicago Tribune Best Book of the Year, is set in Commonwealth, Washington, in 1918. The flu epidemic has been ravaging the US, while WWI has been ravaging the rest of the world. In a controversial townmeeting, the small logging town votes to quarantine itself, in an attempt to safeguard its families and its livelihood from certain death. One day, a starving, cold—and seemingly ill—soldier comes out of the woods begging for sanctuary, and the two guards, set to keep all visitors out, are confronted with an agonizing moral dilemma.

The World Without Us is set tomorrow, or next week, or a month from now – whenever the entirety of humanity is erased from the face of the earth. In this seemingly-unnecessarily-detailed account of Earth’s future, sans humans, Alan Weisman simply lays out his extremly factual and interesting research.

2 days after humans disappear: New York’s subways impassably flood.
7 days: Emergency fuel supply to run nuclear reactors runs out.
1 year: One billion birds would have lived during this past year, due to cold high-tension wires. Also, human head- and body-lice grows extinct.
3 years: With no heat, pipes would begin bursting and cockroaches would die.
20 years: The Panama Canal will have closed, reuniting the Americas.
300 years: NYC’s bridges have fallen, dams have silted, overflowed, and fallen. Cities such as Houston, built in river deltas, have washed away.
7.2 million years: Mt. Rushmore is still recognizable.
10.2 million years: Bronze sculptures would still be recognizable.
Infinity: Radio and television broadcasts would still be travelling outward from Earth.

Our God is in heaven; He does all that he pleases.

News Article

Blog

Act out the Gospel.

Donate & Pray!!

Toxicodendron Radicans

or Urushiol-Induced Contact Dermatitis.

Either way, I have it. Bad.

Portland Studios Online Store

If you haven’t yet heard, the NEW store is up and running.

Take a look here.

Bliss |blis| perfect happiness; great joy

My sin – O the bliss of this glorious thought -
My sin, not in part, but in whole,
Is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more.
Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!

Körperwelten

Body Worlds is a traveling exhibition of preserved human bodies and body parts that are prepared using a technique called plastination to reveal inner anatomical structures. The exhibition’s developer and promoter is a German anatomist named Gunther von Hagens, who invented the plastination technique in the late 1970s. The exhibition, first presented in Tokyo in 1995, has been shown in many cities in Europe and Asia.

I visited this exhibit in Charlotte (only showing in the Carolinas) with some friends this past weekend.

AMAZING. Simply amazing.

I reccomend it to anyone and everyone, even you are a bit queasy.

Go and praise God for His creative genius that we, humans, are just now being able to see, much less even begin to understand.

Faithfulness Despite Faithlessness

What is it about the ease of prayer that makes it so difficult?
– Speaking is a natural thing. Speaking to a friend even more so.

So why is it so difficult to communicate on a regular basis with someone who is supposed to be our best friend? Is it because it is seen as so second nature and simple that we write it off as unimportant?

God has given us a beautifully awesome thing: prayer. Communication with Him, our Creator, directly. The Being who made us from dirt has allowed us to speak with him directly. And even more unbelievably . . . He listens. And graciously answers those prayers.

How often do we not hear or simply decide not to listen to authorities or even best friends? But God chooses to listen to His creations’ requests.

Like others, I find it difficult to be in a constant state of prayer. A couple months ago, a friend sent me a link to a prayer website. It’s called Echo: Prayer Manager. It’s been wonderful. – Once your requests are inputted, you can choose what time of day to be email-reminded of them. And if your life depends on text messaging for survival, like mine, then you can also choose text-reminders.

I’ve chosen a mixture of the two, recieving emails during times when I’ll most likely be on my laptop, and texts midday and late at night. I’ve also chosen the “random” feature, so it sends a random request during those times.

This past week, I recieved notifications to pray for the same person 4-5 times. So much for random. However, I found out last night that he had recieved Christ as His personal Savior on Thursday. Awesome!! Not often does God choose to show us the reasoning behind His providence, but praise Him when He does!!

Praise God that He delights in showing His faithfulness against the backdrop of human faithlessness.

Pray.

Hiatus

My blogging hiatus has ended. Stay tuned.

Some Thoughts. . .

I keep trying to find a life
On my own, apart from you
I am the king of excuses
Ive got one for every selfish thing I do

Whats going on inside of me?
I despise my own behavior
This only serves to confirm my suspicions
That I’m still a man in need of a savior

The disease of self runs through my blood
Its a cancer fatal to my soul
Every attempt on my behalf has failed
To bring this sickness under control

Tell me, whats going on inside of me?
I despise my own behavior
This only serves to confirm my suspicions
That I’m still a man in need of a savior

- DC Talk

“God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing.” – C. S. Lewis

“All that we call human history–money, poverty, ambition, war, prostitution, classes, empires, slavery–[is] the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy.” –C. S. Lewis

“God is not proud. He will have us even though we have shown that we prefer everything else to Him.” – C. S. Lewis

Wedding Dress

by Derek Webb

If you could love me as a wife
And for my wedding gift, your life
Should that be all I’ll ever need,
Or is there more I’m looking for?

And should I read between the lines,
And look for blessings in disguise
To make me handsome, rich, and wise
Is that really what you want?

I am a whore I do confess,
But I put you on just like a wedding dress,
And I run down the aisle.
I’m a prodigal with no way home,
But I put you on just like a ring of gold,
And I run down the aisle to you.

So could you love this bastard child
Though I don’t trust you to provide?
With one hand in a pot of gold
And with the other in your side
I am so easily satisfied
By the call of lovers less wild
That I would take a little cash
Over your very flesh and blood.

I am a whore I do confess,
But I put you on just like a wedding dress,
And I run down the aisle.
I’m a prodigal with no way home,
But I put you on just like a ring of gold,
And I run down the aisle to you.

Because money cannot buy
A husband’s jealous eye
When you have knowingly deceived his wife.
_____________________________

Derek Webb just released a new album on Jamuary 30, 2007.

One Zero [acoustic] is available only in stores.
One Zero [remix] is available only on iTunes.