Another milemarker!

Be the 2000th visitor and if I'm feeling generous I might get you whatever your favorite candy bar is or something like that. :-) Let me know if you think you were the 2000th.

Time for the update...

I promise this will not be short.....Don't say I didn't warn you! :-)

Ok, I'll start all the way back with Thursday, Dec. 9 - I got some extra hours at work because someone called in. Once I got off, our whole family went to the Indianapolis Sympnony Orchestra's Christmas program. It was really good and wow can those guys sing! I wish I could be in a group like that.

Friday, Dec. 10 - I worked from 10am-6:30pm and then I went over to the Pulliams house to watch a movie called "Finding Forrester." It was a really good movie and inspirational in many ways. The movie is about a kid who ends up being tutored by an author and in school, he enters a contest but is disqualified because his writing is "too good." The author, Forrester, comes and backs up Jamaal (the kid) and he actually ends up winning. There were a lot of neat, helpful, hints for writing better and faster.

Saturday, Dec. 11 - Today I worked from 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. in customer service and it was about average, but then got a bit busier. When I finally got off, Kevin and I went to see the Northwest Warriors home game against the South East Panthers. The game was held at East 91st Street Christian Church which has been our home court for several years. For some reason they decided to play the games in reverse order starting with varsity, then junior varsity and lastly junior high. Kevin and I did not get there until the last half of the junior varsity game, but we won the varsity and junior varsity games. Most likely we lost the junior high game. We left when there was about three minutes left in the game because we had to get back home. On the way, we stopped to get some buns for dinner and we finally got home at about 5:30. We ate dinner very quickly and changed to be ready for Christmas Expressions which was tonight at church. We ended up leaving at about six and got to church about 15 minutes later. The members of the choir warmed up and then lined up to be ready to walk in at the start of the performance at 6:30. The performance went very well even though it lasted a good hour. I invited Jaci and her friend Amber and her fiancée Chad, and they all really enjoyed the performance. I think that was the best we have ever done it. After the performance was over, there was a time of fellowship and singing of Christmas carols. What a great night!

Sabbath Dec. 12 - I got up at 8:30 this morning, showered really fast, and woke up Kevin who also showered very fast. Somehow everyone managed to be ready and we left at about 9:10. I do not know how we did it, but we were able to make it to Sunday school on time for once in several weeks. The sermon was really good and Pastor James Faris explained Mark 5:1-20 titling it “What Great Things Jesus Has Done For us” The only response from the sermon is to marvel; when you have seen what God has done, the only thing you can do is be awestruck. What is the response God asks of me? I must go home and tell all my friends what God has done for me. I must tell, not merely what God has done in general, but for me specifically and personally. After church, when we got home, Johanna and I were picked up my Mr. Ames and Jaci to go to the Carmel High School’s Christmas Spectacular choral presentation. It was very well done and I am very thankful that the Ames thought of inviting us to go with them. The first half was a combination of dance performance and singing. The second half was entirely singing and was done by all the choirs put together. It was an incredible presentation and I may try to go next year too! On the way home, Mr. Ames was wonderful enough to even get us some dinner at KFC, a restraint that I can not ever remember eating at before. The food was actually pretty good. After we ate, Mr. Ames dropped Johanna and I off at home. We were home for about 30 minutes then we left for the evening service. The message tonight was also very good; Mr. Johnston preached from 2 Corinthians 3 and titled the sermon “Who is adequate for this ministry?” After the evening service, CYA had its biweekly prayer meeting. It was a very good time, as it always is! Then we drove home after getting some gas for Michael’s car which was about empty.

Monday Dec. 13 - I slept in until 11:30, showered, got ready to go to work and left. I have been trying to get to work on time, but I got to work today one minute late. I worked in the office from noon to four and it was very crazy. Jeff’s one hour lunch did not help any. I finally got my break at 3:15, and then I worked another 45 minutes and I was off. I decided to stay there and read my book that I need to finish for Thursday because I can concentrate better when I am not at home. I also wanted to wait until Jaci got her break so we could talk for a little bit, but that was a secondary reason. I stopped by Target on the way home and got a couple things for Christmas and I got home at about 5:45. After dinner we left for BSF and we had another great lecture this time on Hebrews 11-13 (Faith, and how to apply it to life. True faith is revealed by the way I live my life.). When we got home, I practiced my piano, and went to bed.

....More later.....

Merry Christmas all!

Just make sure you remember the real reason for Christmas - the celebration of Jesus' birth!
May you all have a absolutely wonderful time with your families in whatever you do! God Bless.

I really am alive....

I know most of you probably think I've been wiped off the face of the planet.....contrary to popular belief, I'm still here! :-)
I can't believe how it's been almost 2 weeks since my last post, but with a busy life and at least 40 hours for the last couple of weeks at work.....I end up with not too much spare time. Plus I suppose I kind of forgot about posting, I'll have to fill you in on what's gone on.
For now, I'm headed to bed because I worked from 1pm to ~11pm today and I have to be in tomorrow at 8 until 4:30! Two long days in a row......
Good night all!

Update...

Here's an email I sent out to some of my friends and I figured I'd go ahead and put it on here too!

"Hey everyone!

I know, it's really been quite a long time since I wrote last. Everything to me just seems normal, but to you, a lot has probably changed. They say when you are always around yourself, you don't notice the changes, but others do.

So, on to my update...

I really don't know where I left you the last time, but I'll begin with the most influential thing that has happened recently. November 21-23, Eric Filson and I went on a camping/hiking trip to a part of the Hoosier National Forest south of Indianapolis. We hiked in, found a spot to stay, set up camp and then spent the night. Monday we walked around a little and then spent "1.5 hours" (actually over 2 hours) in time alone with God. That was a truly awesome time and God showed me some really convicting and challenging things from His Word. Psalm 62:8 ("Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge. Selah") especially challenged me to stay close to God. Also during the time, we read a bunch of the book "The mark of a Man" by Elizabeth Elliot. If you want to know more about the awesome time, read this post from a couple weeks ago. As a result of that time with God, I have been able to be very consistent with my Quiet Time since then! Praise God!

Another wonderful thing is the Bible Study Fellowship (BSF) study from this week. The parts that hit me the most were from the lecture on Hebrews 7-10. The application lies in Hebrews 10:22-25, and I will hopefully live that out in my life. ("22let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. 23Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 24And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. 25Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another–and all the more as you see the Day approaching.")

Another great thing is that recently I have been getting almost 40 hours a week at work, but the downside of that is that I don't take advantage of the time I have at home to the best of my ability and end up wasting a lot of time. The big advantage is that I can be saving more $$ for either future schooling or going back to ALERT. Keep praying for my continued witness at work - both verbally and also simply by my actions.

One big prayer request right now is that I would be able to decide about going back to ALERT in January (or even at all)- I really want to but it seems to not be working out possibly. :-( There are a number of things to consider - (enough $$ to pay for it, being done with my orthodontics (braces come off on the 20th!), deciding if God really wants me to go back, etc...) I need to decide by the 20th and let them know.

Right now, it seems as if the future as I had seen it is changing...I'm still planning on starting at IUPUI and then transferring up to Purdue to get an international agronomy degree and then intern at ECHO, but the timing of what when seems to always be getting pushed further back. Thankfully I know God knows what He's doing!

Something else that's been on my mind a lot recently is: What is love? How do you express God's love to others and "love your neighbor as yourself" but without suggesting a different type of love? What kind of love is it that we are to express and how? How do you love a fellow believer as a brother or sister? How do you show Christ's love to an unbeliever? Maybe you have answers to some of these questions. This is certainly a topic I'm sure many struggle with, I sure do!

So in summary, praise items:

1. For the awesome trip with Eric and the Fellowship with God.
2. For the lasting results from the "fire" I've begun to kindle again in my heart to fellowship with God daily.
3. Consistent QTs since the trip.
4. Good BSF study.
5. Lots of hours at work.

Prayer items:

1. That I would keep up the zeal for QTs and prayer as result of the hike.
2. That I would take advantage of witnessing opportunities at work.
3. That I would continue to get many hours at work.
4. That God would give wisdom concerning going back to ALERT or not and the future in general.
5. That God would give understanding and guidance in the area of "brotherly love."
6. That I would continue to improve how effectively I'm using the time God has given me.

Well, I guess I'll stop there, I think that's long enough. :-)

In Him,

Brian"

This is funny!

I was looking at the list of places from which people have linked to my blog. One of those places was a google search for: "pounded chicken" and "south america"
My site comes up 8th of 26 results!

So when I saw that, I decided to see what happens if I searched for: "Brian Fulk"
I found that my site comes up 1st of 142 results!

That's a rather pointless pice of trivia, but I still find it humorous!
~Brian~

Hmm, what shall I post about?

I know, a quick overview of the last couple days will work...

Sunday: Morning Service - Dr. Blackwood preached on Mark 4:11, 21-41.
His main points were:

Too many Christians do not really plan on growing even after they have been a Christian for years…..they are still being spoon fed what the Scriptures mean. 5, 10, 15 years later do you pray any better? How have you improved in the last year, do you pray the same or have you matured? Every year, the more Scripture you know, your prayers will mature

There are 3 stages of growth in us:

1 Blade Stage

2 Green (corn in the) Ear

3 Mature Ear

Application:

Where are you?

3 applications

1. Basic principle – it’s what Jesus does in us. It’s God, and God alone. We can’t cause maturity by ourselves. We still must put forth effort – eagerness, but he alone is responsible for the results

2. Our Christian growth is a lifelong Constant Conscious growth. There is a conscious effort to grow. Rom 7. Let not sin reign in your body. Christian growth can’t be taken for granted. There are those struggles to Read, Pray, Do what God wants, Share the Gospel, Share what’s written on the dollar bill “In God We Trust”

3. Dependence on the nearness of God to ourselves. Especially when you are older, you really begin to understand how important it is to know that God is right there. Christ will not sanctify us in spite of us, but God will sanctify because of us.

So, that was annother wonderful sermon! After going home and getting lunch, those of us in the choir went back to church for the last rehearsal before the preformance on Saturday the 11th. It's going to be really good, and we didn't even go through the whole thing (but we have before). After the evening service and annother great sermon, there was a group of about 15 that got together and we sang some Psalms together for about 1/2 hour! It was so much fun!

Monday: The best thing of note was the BSF (Bible Study Fellowship) meeting tonight. We discussed Hebrews chapter 7-10 and then listened to a lecture on the same section. It was really good, and I even printed and posted the most important verses: Hebrews 10:22-25. Those verses tell us what we are to do: Hebrews 10 ^"22let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. ²³Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. ²⁴And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. ²⁵Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another--and all the more as you see the Day approaching." After we all got back from BSF, I started working on some different stuff and then I had an absolutely wonderful time talking to Jaci. Too bad time can't just pause while you talk, instead it seems to speed up. :-)

Today: I worked from 8am to 1:30 pm. I actually got up early enough today to be on time! It's actually a bit of an accomplishment considering anytime I'm scheduled in at 8, I'm usually about 10 minutes late. Part of that is because I got a written warning about it last weekend....the first of that sort since I've worked there. How come I can't be there on time? I'm just lazy because I only live like 2 minutes away! So work was pretty normal except for the lights blinking a bunch of times and then the intercom wouldn't work (that made things interesting). I got home and unfortunately, I really didnt' accomplish much but waste time. I seem to be an expert at that! I did do my piano, which is good considering i was supposed to have a lesson tomorrow, but that got canceled. Life wouldn't be fun without last minute changes would it?
TTYL
~Brian~

I finally gave in...

Ok, I'm not going to use it very often except for commenting, but I finally decided to get a xanga site. It's here: www.xanga.com/bearer_of_Christ
So, if you have been waiting for me to get one, I have at last gotten one!
This is still my primary blog, I'm not going anywhere; I like Blogger better!

~Brian~

Why do I do these things anyway?

-- name: Brian

-- Birth date: 11/05/84

-- Birthplace: Indianapolis, IN

-- Hair: Blonde!

-- Eyez: Blue

-- Righty or Lefty: Righty

-- Location: Indy

LAYER TWO:
-- Your heritage: I don't actualy know for sure, some German and Scottish though.

-- The shoes you wore today: White 'n blue Asics (running shoes)

-- Your fears: Not many, the future to some extent.

-- Your Favorite Color(s): Blue and Yellow.

LAYER THREE:
-- Your most overused phrase on AIM: Would I ever overuse a phrase? It's got to be "LOL"

-- Your best physical feature: Hm, guess my eyes and or face in general? I really don't know.

-- Your bedtime: Whenever I get there, usually pretty late, about 2 a.m. or so.

-- Your most missed memory: Memories are a funny thing, sometimes you remember them and sometimes you don't. Right now I cant think what could possibly be my most missed, other than before I started school when I could "legaly" play all day. :-)

LAYER FOUR:
-- Pepsi or Coke: Recently, neither. Generally I like Coke better.

-- McDonald's or Burger King: McDonalds, but again, neither recently.

-- Single or Taken: Single for now, till God brings the right person along, at the right time. :-)

-- Adidas or Nike: Nike, only because they usually fit my feet better, but it's been years since I've had either. Now I prefer New Balance - where else are you going to get a 14B?

-- Lipton Ice Tea or Nestea: Neither.

-- Chocolate or vanilla: Depends.

-- Cappuccino or coffee: Don't drink either.


LAYER FIVE:
-- Smoke: No!

-- Sing: Of course! God gave me a good voice, why not use it?

-- Take a shower everyday: Yes, Why not? 5 minute showers....I could take a couple a day. LOL

-- Have a crush: Um, maybe.

-- Do you think you've been in love: Yes, at least once, and one of those is with God, hopefully that one will last a good long time!

-- Want to go to college: Yes, planning on IUPUI, then PURUDUE!

-- Like(d) high school: Not particularly.

-- Want to get married: Yes, but only if it's God's plan for me.

-- Believe in yourself: On a good day, yes.

-- Get motion sickness: Nope.

-- Think you're attractive: Not really.

-- Think you're a health freak: NO!

-- Get along with your parent(s): For the most part, yes.

-- Like thunderstorms: Yes! Lightening is soo cool!

-- Play an instrument: Piano and can't forget the voice box. LOL

LAYER SIX:
In the past month...
-- Drank alcohol: No.

-- Smoked: No.

-- Done a drug: No.

-- Gone on a date: Don't do dates.

-- Gone to the mall?: Nope.

-- Eaten an entire box of Oreos: Even for me, that's a lot of Oreos.....no!

-- Eaten sushi: Yuck

-- Been dumped: No.

-- Gone skating: No.

-- Made homemade cookies: No, but I did help Kevin with them the other day.

-- Dyed your hair: No, nor do I plan to anytime soon.

-- Stolen anything: No, stealing is bad.

LAYER SEVEN:
Ever...
-- Been trashed or extremely intoxicated: Nope, not in my plans.

-- Been caught "doing something": No.

-- Gotten beaten up: No. The closest would be a friendly brother to brother disagreement.

-- Shoplifted: Once or twice, but that was when I was about 5 and "I didn't know any better," but I had to take it back and make it right.

-- Changed who you were to fit in: No, but I'm almost allways the odd one though.

-- Numbers and Names of Children: Um, 3-5 or so. No idea on names right now, though over my life, I've thought of some good ones.

-- Describe your Dream Wedding: Hm, anything that God is honored in, probably at church, with my family and friends.

-- How do you want to die: However God decides. Idealy in my sleep or something.

-- Where you want to go to college: Purdue.

-- What do you want to be when you grow up: Depends on your definition of "grown up" lol. When all is said and done, a missionary in South or Central America, using the agriculture knowledge that I will hopefully learn from Purdue.

-- What country would you most like to visit: Nicaragua! To see all my friends from the (4) mission trips that I've done to there.

-- Blue or Green: Blue.

-- Best hair color? I like blonde or brown, but anything's fine with me.

-- Short or long hair: On me - short (the shorter the better to some extent).

-- Height: Me? I am roughly 6 feet.

-- Best weight: What kinda question is this? Preferably something in general relation to the size of the person (basicaly average / normal)

-- Best articles of clothing: Well, I really don't care, anything that fits well and keeps me warm. :-)

-- Best first date location: A date? And what is that anyway? LOL

-- Best first kiss location: Um, at the front of the church on my wedding day.

-- # of drugs taken illegally: Zero!

-- # of people I could trust with my life: Not very many, maybe 1-2; Ultimately God.

-- # of CDs that I own: Music CDs? About 35, plus about 5 or so computer CDs.

-- # of piercings: Zero.

-- # of scars on my body: A whole bunch! Some more obvious than others.

-- # of things in my past that I regret: I have to honestly say that I really don't regret anything, except the way I applied (or didn't) myself to my years in high school (homeschooled). But as Romans 8:28 says: "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."

*The End* Yay I finished it! :-)
~Brian~

Time Flys!

Wow, it's already been since Monday and I haven't posted.
This week has been rather hectic and considering I have nearly 40 hours at work, a lot of my time has been spent there.
I'd really like to tell you all the multitude of things I've been doing this week, but I had to pull an all-nighter last night to get my stuff done for Mr. Pulliam's class. The result = I'm tired, and i'm going to bed! Especially because I have to be at work tomorrow morning at 8a.m!

TTYL

Well start answering them... :-)

1. When did you first "friend" me?

2. Why did you first "friend" me?

3. What posts of mine do you like to read the best?

4. What would you like me to write about that I don't?

5. Do you think we would be friends in real life?

6. How often do you read my journal?

7. What do we have in common?

8. Will you post this in your journal so I can answer?

Found this on someone's blog and well, I decided it's interesting enough....and no, you don't really have to put it on yours unless you want to. :-)

It's past my bed time :-D .... gotta go.
~Brian~

Hiking trip...

Ok this is going to be long.... just to warn you :-)

So...way back on Sunday...

Right after the morning service was over, Eric and I got our stuff into his car, changed clothes and then left for a ~2 hour drive to Hoosier National Forest that is SE of Indianapolis. We decided to try out Hickory Ridge Trail. Eric has not been there before, and neither had I, so it was going to be new for both of us! We got to the trailhead at about 3pm and got all ready to hike. Eric, for the fun of it brought along a scales so we could weigh our packs before we started out. His weighed 68 lbs. and mine "only" weighed about 60 lbs. So we strapped up and hit the trail. We hiked for two hours and finally found a place that seemed to be a good spot to stop. Looking around, we found a spot to set up camp. After we had everything set up (tent, sleeping arrangements etc) we had dinner - noodles and garlic bread. Once we had cleaned everything up, we got in the tent and read several chapters of "The Mark of a Man" by Elizabeth Elliott - (a very challenging and yet encouraging book for young men especially). I fell asleep at about 9 p.m.

Monday:
I woke up at noon (15 hours of sleep!!) and then Eric and I decided to get breakfast ready - breakfast burritos with egg, cheese, veggies, salsa etc... Those were some of the best I have ever had, and that on a camping trip!! After breakfast (or lunch, whatever you call it), we decided to take a bit of a walk along the trail to fellowship with each other and to see some more of the wonderful creation that God has made us! Along the trail, we saw some pretty funny sights - an old Chevy with a tree growing through it, and a horse saddle screwed to a weirdly shaped tree! We got back to camp at about 3 p.m. and then decided to spend 1.5 hours alone with God in prayer and reading of the Scripture. It ended up being over 2 hours! It was such a refreshing time, I need to do that more often! I think it's a good start to getting the fire in my heart going again! I read some great passages - Psalm 69, John 1, Galatians 3. They showed me some things that....well....are lacking in my life, and that saddens me quite a lot to realize that. Also I tried something that Eric suggested - writing a letter to God, it was a great experience of searching my life. So after that AWESOME (I don't use that lightly) time, we went into the tent and decided to write Joel (a guy my age that is at the Navy boot camp right now) a letter and then we read a bunch more chapters from the book "The Mark of a Man" before we had dinner. For dinner, we had a wonderfully filling selection of "mashed" potatoes, cream of mushroom soup, and stuffing. Wow that was a wonderful meal! After cleaning all that up, we went to the tent and read some more from the book until about midnight when we went to sleep.


Tuesday:
We got up about 8 a.m. and each did our Quiet Times before we had breakfast. This time it was pancakes! To think I never expected to have pancakes on a hiking trip! We could only cook one at a time so it took a while! :-) But we had plenty of time to spare! After we got everything cleaned up, we started packing up. We got the packs all ready, and hit the trail. We went out a different way than we came in, and ended up running into some private property which we went around, but that meant traveling over some hills that weren't actually part of the trail. Finally we made it to the road and after a mile more we were back at the car!! After celebrating with some cream soda (one of Eric's traditions), we weighed the packs again - his was 43 lbs, mine was 46 lbs. That's a lot of food and water that we went through!! After loading up in the car, we drove back, hit some traffic, and I ended up getting to work just on time at 6 p.m. What a trip! I hope we can do something like that again sometime!

Praise the Lord for:
Great weather - even if it did rain at night a couple times!
Safety in hiking and driving.
Wonderful growth in God and with each other.

*EDIT*
I forgot to say that on a couple occasions, Eric and I as we were hiking along the trail, stopped and listened to nothing / silence for maybe 5 or 10 minutes. It was really cool. No birds, no cars, no wind, no rustling, no people, no animals, no nothing. That's something you don't get to experience every day (its a shame though) and you are just awestruck. I'm amazed at how much noise we are always hearing! Good thing God made our ears to stand up to all that!
*End EDIT*

Cool Quote!

"I think we dream so we don't have to be apart so long. If we're in each other's dreams, we can play together all night."

~Bill Watterson, Calvin & Hobbes~

Found this on a friend's IM away message, isn't it great?

An update is an order but...

Well I have this thing called work....and well I have to get some sleep so I can be at work (on Thanksgiving day) at 9 in the morning.
I figure I'll at least give you all a link to the pictures of the trip, and I promise I'm going to tell you all more about it, but it may be a day or two. Sorry!

So here's the link to the pictures.
There are three albums: the "good ones," (ones I think turned out pretty good) the "blurry ones," (they should have turned out good, but they didn't) and all the others (these don't really fit into either category!). All told there are 129 pictures - would have been more but I only brought one memory card with me so we ran out of room!

~Brian~

Prayer:
For me that I'd continue to apply the many things that God showed me while I was on my little trip... - again, I'll tell you later. :-) Stay tuned!

Hooray! We survived!

So, I just got home and we had a great time, But I have to go to work...
More later!

Quick review and update...

Alright, so after going to bed at about 7 yesterday morning, got to sleep until 11:30. I got up at that point to get ready to go to JK and Chrisitna's wedding at church. The service started at 1 and we got there in plenty of time. The ceremony itself was somewhat shorter than normal for a wedding there; it only went an hour. It was very nicely decorated with a fall theme, and it seemed that everything went quite smoothly. After the service, the reception was held in the basement and it was very fitting in decorations with that which was upstairs too. (Obviously there was a lot of planning ahead of time!) Now they are happily married and you could pray that God will work through them now as a couple to further his kingdom around the world.
When I got home from the reception at about 6 p.m., I began to pull some things together for the hiking trip that Eric and I are leaving for this afternoon. I finally got everything packed (my backpack is significantly heavier than when I was at ALERT, why, I don't know) and then went to bed.
So, this hiking trip..... We will leave this afternoon and drive to our destination - a trail or park in Southern Indiana (Eric was the one choosing the location so I don't know where we'll be yet :-). After hiking a little while to wherever we will have our campsite, we will set up camp and spend the night. In the morning, we will eat (of course!) and then leave our camp and hike around on Monday, spending time with each other, alone with God and in prayer etc... I hope God can use this time to help grow me to be more consistent with reading the Scriptures daily. Monday night we will hike back to our tent and spend the night there. Tuesday morning, we will eat, break camp and hike back to the car. We will then drive home and that will be the end of our wonderful hiking trip. :-)

Please pray for:
Good weather - no rain and good temperature as well.
Safety - in driving and as we hike.
Wonderful growth both between us and God.

Signing of....

One of those "I'm tired" moments...

Ok, so I did work all night, starting at 10 p.m. last night until 6 a.m. this morning. It was certainly a totally different experience and when I'm a bit more coherent, I'll try to write up a brief discription of the night. In general (I was the night cashier) it was very slow after midnight and so I helped the night stock a whole bunch. All told, I probably had less than 50 customers the whole night!
Well, I'm going to go to bed and get some sleep before I get up to got to JK and Christina's wedding later today! (tomorrow) :)
Good night all!

Some notes from Michael Lefebvre's lecture

This is just a summary of my notes, please read them! I don't know how much sense these notes will make, but I hope they make some sense! It was an absolutely wonderful talk and I would highly reccommend trying to get a copy of the tape if you are interested
~Brian~


"Eden Zion, and the World" – “Real Estate and Redemption” or “The Geography of Missions in the Bible”

Blessing, Seed, Land were the 3 main themes of covenants God gave.
In the creation account, Genesis 1:26-28; 2:5-15, God reveals himself to us
Things that God reveals to us:
His Creativity
His Productivity
His Orderly
His Goodness

Eden

Genesis 2:5-15 - Man’s purpose in Relation to THE GARDEN.

A need – verse 5a
Agriculture is not as yet ongoing. Needs ongoing management
A Reason – Verse 5b
1 No Rain, (God’s ongoing involvement)
2 No Man Verse 5b
A provision – Verse 6
“A mist”, Rain/mist the evaporation cycle
Man – life
A place – Verse 8-9
God himself planted an example – the garden of Eden.

Place of Garden - It’s arrangement

The garden is in Eden, but is not the whole of Eden.

Genesis 2:9 – In the East (eastern part of the OT World, OR Eastward is better translation – Garden planted in the East part of Eden)

The water flows into the garden and then out into the rest of the world. The very arrangement of the land pictures and facilitates man’s ability to go out into the world.

Biblically, Eden seems to be equated to Canaan, Garden of Eden is equated with the Jordan River Valley.

THIS place as the divinely appointed platform for man to “Go in” and to “Go out”

The whole world is supposed to be an ongoing reflection of God

The purpose of Adam continues

The appointed place continues

Eden = Zion

The Evidence of the Psalms

Psalm 36, Psalm 65,Psalm 133

The Evidence of the Prophets

Ezekiel 47, Isaiah 51:3, Lamentations 2:6, Ezekiel 36:35, Joel 2:3, 3:18, Micah 4:18, ETC...

The Evidence of Genesis

Gen 3:24 – Adam was sent out of Eden on its EAST side

Gen 4:16 – Cain was sent further East away from Eden

Gen 11:2 – Tower of Babel built in Shinar (Babylon)

Genesis has a general movement of people falling away from God, and a physical movement east, east, east….

Gen 11:31 – Abram’s family moves WEST, into Canaan. This is the first indication of moving west.

Eastern movement away from God, and then Westward movement back to God.

Summary

Zion = the place appointed for confirming man’s standing with God.

Implications

Continuity of God’s plan

Purpose in Eden ----> Temple of Zion ----> Cross in Zion

The nature of Missions

A need, even before sin God had given a need (Eph 2:10) “…we are his workmanship…prepared beforehand…” Keeping things in order; Calvin’s Institutes 3.10.6

Using Land – Texts in scripture

How to handle “land texts” – there is a drive all through the Bible, that there is a purpose of the land. Scripture is focused on this land and is a prototype for the rest of the world. Psalm 48 – Zion the greatest of all mountains Do we handle this text honestly and right? Specific location has importance

Eden = Zion = The Church

What we have looked at is a Theology of LAND in the Scriptures.

As we go out, we continue in that same heritage as Adam, Abraham – to glorify God in every detail. Week by week, reflect God’s glory in an ongoing way, standing in a right relationship with God forever.

Two good days in a row!

I got up today just in time to be at work at 8 a.m. I worked in the office until 2 p.m., and it was just a little bit busier than normal. Most of the reason it is getting busier is because Thanksgiving is coming up. When I got home I worked on cleaning up some stuff in my room and on my desk. One thing I worked on especially was one of my "file piles." Once that stuff was mostly cleaned up, I started doing some school. After dinner, I took Kevin to ASL (sign language) class. I also took Johanna and Sterling to Steak and Shake to be picked up by their carpool to go to choir. Next, I went to listen to Michael Lefebvre’s lecture on “Real Estate and Redemption.” The lecture was very detailed and demonstrated a very in depth understanding of the topic by Michael. I’m very glad I was able to go! Now I’ve got all sorts of school stuff to finish!

One full day!

Today, I got up at 9:30 a.m. and got ready to go to Dr. Hughes (my Orthodontist) to get an X-Ray taken to take with me to my appointment with Dr. Bussard (oral surgeon). I came home after getting the X-Ray and ate breakfast, then I went to Dr. Bussard’s office up in Fishers. I waited there for about 45 minutes, thinking they would call me up. I guess I was supposed to sign in and then they would know I was there. I finally got to see him at about noon, even though the appointment was scheduled at 11! He looked at my mouth and the X-Ray and told me that there’s plenty of space to do implants (on my front two teeth that are missing) and gave an initial estimate of about $5,000 - kind of expensive! Now I know that I can get my braces off in December! Now, all I have to do is decide how to pay for it and when to have the surgery, which doesn’t really sound like too much fun. After the appointment, I stopped by the Gander Mountain store to buy one of the new Nalgene bottles which are very cool. I then stopped by home to eat lunch really quickly and then I went to work at 1 p.m. I worked as a cashier for most of the day but I had to go into the office a couple times to turn around some tills. The 2 office people who were working didn’t know how to do the tills, so I got to! I got off work at 6 and then raced home, gulped down some dinner and ran out the door for BSF. Tonight we discussed Hebrews 1 and 2 about encouragement, facts about Jesus, culture, and angels. After BSF, my discussion group had a time of fellowship and we each told about how we have seen God work in our lives. It was a really neat time. Now that my wonderfully full day is done, I think I’ll go to bed.

~Brian~

P.S. If ya want to pray for something for me, pray that I would be wise with my use of time - less time surfing blogs, IMing etc. I have lots of stuff to do.

Yesterday Evening's Sermon Notes

Pastor Johnston
“Knowing and Doing the Will of God”
2 Corinthians 1:12-2:4

This is a very big topic, especially in college age young adults, but it doesn’t stop with college, it goes on through the rest of life.
Here in this passage Paul tells us about discerning of God
Everything is dependant on the character of God.
...
The Bible does not really present the way to discern the will of God. Instead, we are to walk in the will.
...
Knowing God’s will means that we walk in God’s will – our life is in the will of God.
Verse 18 – he who says he abides in God, will walk in God’s way. We don’t have to twist God’s arm, find verses in the Bible, go to conferences etc… those will probably help, but are not really the way that God reveals his will to us.
The best way to find the will of God is now, by doing the will of God step by step.
God calls us to walk in his way – Psalm 86B - a great application of the sermon.

Yesterday's morning sermon - Dr. Blackwood

Mark 3 - "Jesus Called 12 to be with him"

6 Characteristics that must be evident in the life of a disciple / requirements to be a disciple.
1. A kind of person who does what Simon, Andrew, James, etc. had already done – leaving their occupation to follow Jesus. Their skills were still necessary. Mt. 6:33 Seek the kingdom first
2. He continues to listen to the teachings of Christ, Personal study of Scripture, memorization, John 8:31 Don’t let anything distract from God’s word
3. He has a consistent relationship/fellowship with God – Prays daily for others
4. A disciple is a person who just loves to be around other believers. 2 Cor 5:17 – all men will know you are a disciple because of the love you demonstrate to others
5. One who openly identifies with Jesus Christ. Others will want to know that same Jesus that you know. “so shall you be my disciples”
6. One who lays down his life for Jesus Christ. “hate his mother, father, siblings, otherwise you can’t be a disciple.” Not one who just knows the will of God, but does the will of God.
Challenge: Will you be one of his Disciples? Will you participate in his “long range plan for evangelizing the world?”

If yesterday was wierd, today was even worse!

....one wacky day folows after another.....
So today I went into work at 8 this morning and was a cashier supposedly until 1p.m. They decided however, that they would rather me get off at 11 and come back in again and work 6-10 as a bagger (the late bagger called in for some reason and there would have been no one after 8:30). The result was that I worked 3 hours this morning, and another 4 hours tonight - a total of 7 hours and I was only scheduled for 5! Two extra hours, horay!
When I got home (the first time) I ate lunch and then went outside (it was such a beautiful day, even if it was a little bit cold). I started by cleaning up some stuff in the barn, and then cleaned all the dead stuff out of the garden. I then tilled most of the garden and re-planted a whole bunch of Iris plants that I have growing (if you want some I'll give them to you for FREE). By that time, it was time to get ready for work again! It's really weird going in to work 2 times in the same day!
So when I got to work, I started by cleaning the restrooms [Fun!], and then collected the trash from a whole bunch of trash cans throughout the store. I then took a break and when I got back, I was the only one for the rest of the night.
Probably the most fun I have ever had at work in my whole time there, is something that Mr. Kiser had me do. He had me take down the sales advertisments in the front windows, and then put new ones up! What made it so fun was that the top of the windows is about 8-9 feet high, and to get to it, you have to climb over the lines of carts and balance on a 4" ledge! It was a blast! Once I had finished, it was already 10 and I got to go home, for the second time in a day!
Before I left Jaci, who was also working tonight, called Marsh to have them ask me to drop her coat by her house on my way home. I was more than willing to do that. :) I won't say anything about her being good at forgetting things.... This is only the second time (and counting) that I've brought something to her that she left behind at work! It's cool living so close to work, and so close to someone who also works there. :-)
That's about the extent of my wacky day!!

Now I'm off to bed.
~Brian~

P.S. Did anyone notice that I spelled my name wrong on the last post? (yes I did it on purpose, just to see if anyone would notice it) :-)

What a weird day

So after I find out I'm not working, I spend the rest of my day working on all sorts of different things. About 4:30, I get a call from MARSH - "Do you want to work 5-9?" I said "Sure!"
So on a day when I was lamenting loosing hours, they give them right back to me!
What coincidence! Hey it's things like that that make life interesting, and you can look at it and kinda laugh a little bit! :-)
Well I should get to bed so I can get to work on time tomorrow, assuming that they don't cut me tomorrow :-)

~Brain~

P.S. How come no one's commenting? I must have gotten really boring all of a sudden!

I'm So excited!

I'm finally getting my money from EBAY that I lost in an auction in August!!
I won a camera for $250 and sent the money, but the seller never sent the camera. I filed a complaint and all that stuff, and tonight when I got home from work, I read my email and one of them was from EBAY!!!

I won't get the full amount, but anything (in this case $175) is better than nothing!

Praise the Lord that this was finally resolved!!

I like my employer but...

For two days in a row, they have called and told me to not come in.

Yesterday they just told me that they didn't need me to cover an extra part of someone's shift, but I still got to work my originally scheduled shift.

Today's a different story - I was supposed to work from 1pm-5pm and they called me at 8:30 this morning, telling me that they don't want me to come in at all today!

Ok, I know I'm selfish, I like my hours. Why did they have to cut me? Sure I have other things I can do, but that's irrelevant. There are people who are working that haven't been there even a month and I have been with the company for 3.5 years! Surely I have a little bit of seniority?

They said they had to cut hours because they were over budget on hours or something. Forget the budget! Oh well, life goes on. Besides it’s only 4 hours! You think I can deal with that? I hope so.

Please don’t start a pity party, but do pray that they will give me more hours. (Next week I’m scheduled for 31 hours! Yay!)

End of Rant.

May the rest of my day go better……

~Brian~

I was just doing my Bible Study...

Today I skimmed the book of Hebrews and one question asks me to give phrases of how the writer encourages those to whom he was writing who were in hard times.
So next, the study asks:
"When you are discouraged because of difficult cirmcumstances, what could others do to encourage you most?"

So I ask the same to you. What encourages you the most? Why?

~Brian

P.S. After you all answer, I'll post my answer. :-)

For the fun of it....

PERSONAL
1) Single or Taken: Single, and I will be untill / if God changes that.
2) Sex: Male
3) Birthday: November 5th 1984
4) Sign: I don't care.
5) Siblings: 2 older brothers, 2 younger sisters, 3 younger brothers. (total = 2 sis, 5 bro)
6) Hair colour: Blonde
7) Eye color: Blue
8) Shoe size : 14 B (narrow = very hard to find, but thanks to New Balance, I can get shoes in my size!)
9) Height: ~6'

FASHION STUFF
1) Where is your favorite place to shop: Like I really shop anywhere?
2) Favorite outfit: Anything that fits and looks good. (definitely not my work uniform) :-)

THE EXTRA STUFF
1) Do you do drugs: NO way!
2) What are you most scared of: I try not to be scared of anything, but that's only because I know God is in charge.
3) What car do you wish to have: Well, I'm happy with any car that runs without having to be in the shop all the time, but a Honda Accord would be really cool.
4) Where do you want to get married: Probably a church...
5) How many messenger buddies do you have on right now: ~80
6) If you could change anything about yourself, what would it be: Actually I'm pretty thankful for the way God made me!

FAVORITE.
1) Subject in school?: I'm supposed to have a favorite? Science, Piano and PT are good :-)
2) Animals?: Dogs I guess.
3) Color? Blue and yellow

HAVE YOU EVER
1) Given anyone a bath? Yup, my sibs a bunch of times.
2) Smoked? Never!
3) Bungee jumped? I wish.
4) Fought the law? Nope
5) Made yourself throw-up? Yuck!
6) Gone skinny-dipping? Again... no.

FIRST THING THAT COMES TO MIND
1) Red: The blood that Jesus paid for my sins with.
2) Cow: Lunch?
3) Socks: Shoes?
4) Greenland: Cold

HAVE YOU EVER
1) Been so drunk you blacked out: Never drank, and don't plan to anytime soon, reguardless of when I turn 21!
2) Put a body part on fire for amusement? That would be stupid.
3) Been in a car accident? Yes, once. Make that twice. I was driving only in one of those, and it was not my fault.
4) Been hurt emotionally? Who hasn't?
5) Kept a secret from everyone: Of course!
6) Had an imaginary friend: Not that I remember
7) Wanted to hook up with a friend: Actually....Yes
8) Cried during a movie? Yes
9) Had a crush on a teacher? No, that would be gross! (my teacher has always been my mom - homeschool)
10) Ever thought an animae character was hot? No.

MORE FAVORITES
1) Shampoo: Head and Shoulders
2) Hair Colour: Blonde / Brown
3) Day/Night: Night, but it depends.
4) Summer/Winter: Summer!! Bring on the sun!
5) Fave Films: Lord of the Rings!
6) Fave Ice Cream: Chocolate chip cookie dough.

RIGHT NOW, WHAT ARE YOU
1) Wearing: Do, I have to say?....my work uniform - tan pants and a white MARSH polo with a blue MARSH sweatshirt on top.
2) Thinking about: Just that I should be going to bed soon, I have a short night before I have to be at work.
3) Listening to: Lord of the Rings soundtrack, but iTunes is on random...

IN THE LAST 24 HRS, HAVE YOU
1) cried: No
2) ate: Absolutely!
3) slept: Yes, thankfully!
3) Cleaned your room: No, but as a whole, my room doesn't need cleaning up.
4) Done laundry: Nope.
5) Driven a car: Yes.

DO YOU BELIEVE IN
1) Yourself: Uh, I guess so.
2) Friends: Sure.
3) Santa Claus: No, never did either.
4) Destiny/Fate: No, I believe on the providence of God.
5) Angels: Yes!
6) Ghosts: No!

Ok, so that was a little longer than I thought it would be, and no, you don't have to do this on your site too. :-)
Off to bed...
~Brian~

Leaves, class and cake!

This morning I got up at about 10. Johanna, Sterling and I went over to the Chabs (elderly neighbor) for 2 hours raking up leaves and bagging them up. We raked almost the whole back yard and part of the front, ending up with about 22 garbage bags full of leaves! When I got home, I took a quick shower then Kevin and I were off to History class. At class, Dr. Blackwood gave a lecture about the 7 cities in Revelation and then gave an overview of the Gospel(s). While we were there, a really nice lady who is also taking the class, gave us some of the best chili or soup (it was even better because I didn't get a chance to eat breakfast or lunch)!
When we got home, I cut Sterling and Adriel’s hair (only the 2^nd time in my life to cut someone’s hair!) and then Mom cut mine. I'm sooo glad my hair is finally short again - the way i like it. It's so much easier! :-)
After a quick shower (to get the hair off - no I don't make a habit of taking 2 showers in a day), we finally got to eat dinner at 8 pm! We were doing my birthday for dinner (yay! that means I get to pick what we have!). We had "pounded chicken", brussel sprouts, and spinach salad, oh, can’t forget the cake and Ice cream! I got a couple books and some money from my Grandparents (thank you so much!), and Michael gave me a pitch key!
Afterwards, I was finally was able to check my email - it's been 2 days since the Internet stopped working - and read blogs and update mine!
So I'm off to bed now!

~Brian~

P.S. I really don’t feel any older, but I guess I am!

Yay! I'm 20! Now what?

I have this weird feeling, you really don't feel any older, but yet, you are. I'm no longer a teenager and well, It's kinda cool to look back over my "long" life and see how God has brought me from where I was, all the way to where I am now! Be that through Church, Friends, Sabbath School, Teachers, 8 mission trips, and well there's so many more things in my life that make me who I am now, but it's ALL because of GOD! Praise the Lord!
For my birthday, we really didn't do anything because I worked from 8 am - 4:30 (at least I was supposed to be there at 8! I accidently slept in and didn't get there till 10!) I don't know why I worked on my birthday, but oh well, I need as many hours as I can get. After work, I came home for a little while before going to the Bright's house for a CYA (Covenanter Young Adult - College age) activity. We watched a movie called "Amadaeus" about Mozart. The main point of the movie is that this other composer who lived at the same time, didn't like Mozart because God had given Mozart more tallent than he received. Basically what it comes down to is the other guy is fighting against God, who is represented in Mozart, and in the end he looses (duh). I had invited Jaci from work, and I'm really glad she was able to make it, and she enjoyed it and said she's interested in coming to future CYA events too. :-) I finally got home about midnight and went to bed!

Pray for: Jaci and her family -- going to CA for a wedding this weekend, please pray for safety and a good time. Me -- that I would live this next year to God's glory in all I do. Josh -- Continued healing for his ankle.

I get the feeling i'm tired....

Ok, so procrastination does not pay off!
I got up at about 10am on Wednessday, and did some school stuff and worked at MARSH from 2-10pm. Once i got home I set out to finish all the assignments due for Mr. Pulliam's writing class Thurday morning at 11am. I had 3 fairly large papers to write (2 500 word papers, and 7 journals that equaled about 2000 words) on top of that i had to read the book i was supposed to write one of the reports on. The result was that i got to sleep for about 45 minutes before class! after class, I cleaned Mr. Chab's (elderly couple that is a neighbor of mine) gutters and then i went in to work at 330. I worked untill about 10pm and i'm finally home and I think I'm going to go to bed and get some sleep! Being up for 40 hours straight is not exactly good for your wellbeing!!

~Brian~

PS Being tired doesn't help my type or spell any better either! Sorry for the typos!

Lunch, elections....

Ok, so after all your wonderful suggestions, I decided to go to Carabbas (Italian restraunt) but it didn't open till 4 p.m. So instead we went to Maccaroni Grill (also Italian) that was right across the street. The food was really good! Since it was my "birthday" they gave me this really good huge piece of chocolate cake with chocolate iceing, it was delicious! On the way home from lunch, we stopped at the place for me to vote. I did my duty and came home. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!
For the rest of the day, I watched the results of the election as they started to come in. Finally at about 1:30 am, I found out that Bush was almost guaranteed to win, so then I could go to bed in peace!! Not only did BUSH win, but Daniels won the governor's race too! Now the US House, Senate and President are Republican, as are the Indiana House, Senate and Governor!! It's wonderful news!
I have so much stuff to finish for writing class on Thursday, so I better stop there! :)

~Brian~

PS Happy 18th Birthday Anjali - since you couldn't vote, probably the one biggest present you could get is that BUSH and DANIELS won the election, even though you couldn't vote! :-)

Where to?

Ok, my birthday is on Friday and my grandparents are going to take me out to lunch. (this is something they have done with my family for a really long time for our birthdays) I can go anywhere I want within reason. I have no idea where to go though!

So, does anyone have any suggestions?
Some place with good food would be ideal. :)

That's scary weird

I was just checking my blog here really quick to see if there were any new comments, and I checked the counter and it was at 911.
Isn't it weird how as a result of "something", just seeing those numbers sends shivers up your spine?

Recital, hayride...

All right, I don't have too much time, but I'm going to post anyway. :)

The piano recital that I had yesterday went great, even though I stumbled a little bit in the middle part, I was amazingly able to keep going! Even with that mess up, that was probably one of the best times I've played that piece - Chopin Waltz in D flat, Op. 64 #1.

After the recital, we (my family, Jaclyn Ames - friend from work and neighbor, and I) came home and got ready for our church hayride. When we got to the farm that was holding the hayride, we were just in time for dinner. After a nice meal, we sat by the fire and talked for a while until there was space on a hay wagon. After going on two wonderful rides, we decided that was enough. Since it was somewhat cold out, we figured one good way to warm up was to play some games. We played link tag, sharks and minnows, and cat and mouse. Well that was about the end of that and poeple started going home. There was a homeschool family that we know that was there and after talking to them for about a half an hour, we came home.
I had a lot of fun and I'm especially thankful that the Koss family was willing to host it!

Driving

OK, since you all started the debate, what are your opinions about driving and avoiding getting cought by the cops?
Do you drive the speed limit?
Do you go as fast as you want and slow down when you see a cop?
Do you get caught and just manage to make it out with only a warning?
What about radar dectors?

So, what are the differing opinions?


Also, though it's hard to believe, I only need 150 more hits to my blog and I'll have a thousand since September 10! Amazing!

Annother interesting fact, I'll be 20 a week from tomorrow!!

A cool thing that my brother found

Well it's a website/plugin for iTunes so that what you play gets posted to the web, it's kind cool. The home page of the site is here.
My page that shows what I've played is here.

Let me know what you think, I think its really cool!
I'd tell you more about it, but I have to go to work.
~later

I don't have much to say....

Hm, I guess I'll start with what I did yesterday.
I somehow managed to sleep in until about noon, when I got up, and madly got ready to go. I showered, ate breakfast/lunch, packed a dinner, and got all my stuff ready for class this afternoon and work tonight.
At class (Ancient Church History) Mr. Pulliam gave a really neat presentation about the kings of Judah in the Old Testament times. They are great examples and can be redily compared to the people in politics today. Their lives have a lot of ideas and examples that we would be ashamed to admit we don't do. That was a great challenge to me and I'm very glad he shared. For the next hour or so, Mr. Calkins gave an overview of how to do research on the internet for information needed for biographies, reports etc. Since I'm by no means computer iliterate, I followed him all the way through. After class, I got in the car and drove to work. Somehow I managed to drive a standard transmission and eat at the same time. It wasn't easly done. :-)
I worked from 6-10 p.m. and as always on a Saturday night, it was slow. I hate it when it's slow, especially when I'm working as a cashier. There's nothing to do and you can't go home, so you kind of just stand around and wait for customers. Oh, and the time drags on and on and on.... If it's busy, the time flys by, and in no time, it's time to go home! Oh well!

Today, we had an interesting run-in with the authorities on the way to church.... Dad was driving, there's this big hill we drive down, and there was a "friendly" trooper sitting right at the bottom. He clocked us at 62 in a 45 mph zone. Yes, we were speeding, but comon! We were going downhill, in a 12 passenger van, and no sooner do you go down, then you have to go back up the other side, so you would slow down then... Oh well, at least I wasn't driving! (But if I was, I wouldn't have been going 62 either.)
The sermon by James Faris was great. He began a new series on Mark, starting with chapter 1 (duh) and he explained the basics of the book, for example: Mark focuses on 2 main questions throughout the whole book: Who is Jesus? What did he come to do? He also talked about how John the Baptist was sent to proclaim the comming of Jesus Christ.
Well I gotta go to choir practice...so I guess I'll stop there.

For all you with high speed internet

I just finished uploading a whole bunch of pictures to my picture gallery. There are pictures from all sorts of events over the last year or so. Everything from ECHO, Covfamikoi, and Nicaragua to ALERT pictures. Too bad everyone can't see them. :-(
(I guess everyone can see them, if they have the patience!)

So have fun looking at them, and let me know what you think!

Cramming is so much fun....

Ok, so I'm like the expert in procrastination. I have this writing class that meets every other Thursday. Class was this morning, and I really didnt start working on the assignments until Monday...
So with a lot of stuff to do, how do you get it done? You stay up till it's done - so much fun. The result of all this is that I went to bed this morning at about 6 a.m. and had to be up in time to be at class at 11!
Oh, well I'll get over it...

Oh well.

Sorry guys. I just got a little post happy. :-)

But since you are all faithful readers, I know you will read every single word (right?). Some of the posts are even hidden down a ways (hint the first one is on October 7th). Have fun finding and reading all of them!

Just in case you were wondering, I didn't just type all this up for the fun of it, most of it's for a writing class that I'm in. Posting it here simply makes a second use out of the same words!

A challenge to us all

Proverbs 10:9

“The man of integrity walks securely, but he who takes crooked paths will be found out.”

This verse walks hand in hand with Proverbs 3:5-6 “5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make your paths straight.”

If a man expects to be secure on his path of life, he must put all his trust on the Lord. By living a life of dependence on the Lord, that man will become one of integrity, bringing glory to God in all that he does. Matthew 5:16 says: “In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” The man who walks uprightly brings honor to God by his godly actions. By reading and knowing the Scripture, God will direct the steps to take in life, and even illuminate the path as Psalm 119:105 tells us, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.”

The man of malice and evil will surely be punished for his sin against men. A theme in Deuteronomy is to “purge the evil from among you.” As a man’s sins are found out, there will be people looking for his life. Proverbs 12:13 “An evil man is trapped by his sinful talk, but a righteous man escapes trouble.” The more lies and sins the man weaves, the easier and sooner the righteous will catch him for what he has said or done. God punishes those who take crooked paths, for he is a just God and they have walked on the path of the sinner.

This is a very convicting passage that really makes me think about what I do. Is it pleasing to God? Am I walking as one of integrity on the straight path? God alone knows. I am constantly working to make sure that my actions display Godly character so that others may be impacted by my example to them. I pray that God will use me in teaching people to walk in integrity, both in my family and at work.

10-19-04 Tuesday

In the mail yesterday, I received some information that I had intended to give to Belcezar at the meeting last night. Unfortunately the mail had not yet arrived when I had to leave. Since Belcezar left to go back home today, I was left with the only option of getting up early. I took the information to him at 7:30 a.m., gave a brief description of what it was, and said one final goodbye. I was immediately off to work, since I had to be there at 8. I did get there right on time, which is amazing considering the drive that I had to take to get back to work. I was working an 8 to 2 shift in Customer service. Like most mornings, it was very slow. I was able to get everything done in the first hour or so that I was there. After that, I was limited to standing around waiting for customers to come, needing assistance. I did a lot of returns today, in addition to selling many lottery tickets. When I got off at 2, I came home and started to work on the multitude of assignments that I have not as yet finished for Thursday writing class. The biggest project was to find a fellow classmate to write a profile about. After calling almost everyone in the class, I was finally able to get a hold of Savanna Edwards. No one was previously going to write on her, but now I am. I just have to get together with her and get all the information that I need.

10-18-04 Monday

Oh how much work I have to do! If only we could sleep while we were doing something else! I got up sometime late in the morning, I’m not sure exactly when, and worked on a few assignments. Then it was time to pick Kevin up from school because the weather was bad. I brought him home where he changed his clothes and got ready to leave. We then drove to his 1:30 p.m. class at BRANCH, the home school group in which most of our family is involved. I came home, took my shower, and ate my lunch. For the rest of the afternoon I worked on some of the many assignments for class on Thursday. At about 6 p.m., I left for the monthly NRN (Nicaragua Resource Network) Belcezar Committee meeting. NRN is the organization that I have gone to Nicaragua with four times in the past. They have a commitment to supporting four different pastors and their various ministries in Nicaragua. The Belcezar Committee oversees the needs of Pastor Belcezar who has eighteen daughter churches mostly in the western end of Nicaragua. Tonight was a very special time because Belcezar was here in Indiana for the week and came to the meeting! He started by going over needs of most of his churches. Some need as much as the land purchased and the building built, others need as little as windows or doors on the existing building. Next he gave an overview of the needs of the pastors at the churches. Some of the pastors are so poverty stricken that their children are not even able to go to school. There are so many needs, but we must look to God for guidance. The meeting ended with a wonderful time of prayer for Belcezar, his family, and the ministry in Nicaragua.

40th Anniversary!

Today is a unique day in the life of the church. It is the 40th anniversary of the beginning of this congregation. To start off the day, during the Bible School hour, there was a slideshow featuring the ministry of the church in its young days. Next we held a time to honor the 5 elder Elders serving the church. These five men were Dr. Blackwood, Bob Heimberger, Ken Thompson (no longer living), Carl Stoicheff, and Don Fulk. They have been serving the church from anywhere near 30 years all the way up to 40 years!

In the morning worship service, Ken Smith, a guest preacher, spoke on “The Next 40 Years in Christ at 2nd RPC … Together.” His main focus was how as a church, we must work together as a body to remain strong for the next 40 years to be successful.

The evening service contained Ken Smith preaching again. This time his topic was “The Next 40 years in Christ at 2nd RPC … Alone.” The subject of this sermon was that each of us makes choices individually that affect the church. Choices that I make today and tonight will affect the path my life takes in the future. I must take control of my life, under Jesus Christ. What will be the testimony of my life in 40 years?

Following the evening service there was a wonderful reception downstairs including a “museum” of old pictures and memories. These pictures cover the whole of the 40 years of the ministry of Second Reformed Presbyterian Church – 1964 to today.

The memorial services....

I really should try to have something a little bit more interesting and uplifting on here, but I'm going to say one more thing about Elder Thompson.
The Memorial service was held at the church where I go, the same as the one Elder Ken Thompson served. It began about 11 a.m. on Thursday the 14th of October. To start it off, we sang a few Psalms - 90, 91, and 23. Then Pastor Johnston gave a breif biography - Born 1924, served in the navy during WW2, married and had 3 children, had sucess in buisness, became an active member of the church - elder and later moderator of the presbytery, died 2004 october 11. He was an avid fisherman and Master Gardener and used these talents to God's glory and to build lasting relationships with many around him. He frequently worked on the church grounds helping it become beautiful, eye-pleasing and most importantly glorifying to God. "Ken's Crew" to this day still maintains the church grounds. Next the grandchildren came up and shared a bunch of their best memories of Grandpa. After singing Psalm 127, my Grandfather, who was Mr. Thompson's personal best friend read a poem and shared memories of their wonderful times togeter. Pastor Johnston and Blackwood respectively then shared the testimony from the church and Scripture of Ken's Life, Death, and Eternal Life. Lastly we sang from Psalm 84 and 72 as a doxology.
The graveside service was even more touching, and led to realization that it's over. After a few comments from the pastors, a couple Navy guys played the bugle song that they play to honor those who have died, then they folded and presented to Mrs. Thompson the flag that had been on the casket. That was the most dificult part, realizing he really was gone. Then it was over, we all left.
He will be missed by a great many people, and I'm no exception. God greatly used him in my life to develop a love for gardening, fishing, and the LORD. He was a great example to all of us of what a Godly man can accomplish. It's hard to see him go, but that was God's providence, and now I have one more great reason to look forward to going to Heaven.

Will I have people that say the same things about me when I die? I sure hope so!

Give it some thought, what will people say about you when you die? Will it be good things? How will you have impacted other people's lives for good?

More info regarding Elder Ken Thompson

Details about the arrangements:

Elder Ken Thompson went home to be with his Lord, Monday morning October 11, 2004. We praise God for Ken's life, witness and service in the church. He will be deeply missed. Please pray for Christ's comfort for the family. The viewing will be Wednesday, October 13. The funeral will be Thursday, October 14.


Feel free to contact me for any more information...

Sabbath Morning Service

Dr. Blackwood - "For Whom Will You Vote?"

There are 6 essential qualities that we must look for in any candidate that is running for public office – Jesus Christ is the perfect example of all these.

1. Respectability / Dignity
We need men in office that we can be proud and not embarrassed by.

2. Near Relationship

3. Wisdom
Have a good grasp on current events, and on history.

4. Power
Daniel 2:20 “…Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever: for wisdom and might are his:” Operate on a minimum of organizations, but gets things done.

5. High moral excellence
He must be morally pure. Wise laws, good motives and just dealings can not make up for unmoral conduct. A nation with a corrupt leader will soon destroy itself.

6. A person who genuinely loves people.


Commit to evaluate the character of anyone that you vote for, comparing him to God’s standards in the Bible.
God’s standards are the absolutes.
How can you believe a book of physics / politics / any school book, but not believe every word of the Scriptures the same?



What do you think? Let me know.

Sabbath Evening Sermon

“Now concerning the Collection for the Saints” – 1 Corinthians 16 – Pastor Johnston

Be concerned for the wellbeing of Christians. Not only RP Christians, but all Christians around the world. This should deeply concern me and be a part of my prayer time. Have a heightened concern for the rest of the Christian community. There are things we can do, even though there is a limit.
1 Corinthians 16:1 “Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye. 2 Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him …”


Be ready to go to help, and at least sending help, and at the very least, pray for them.
1 Corinthians 16:12 “As touching our brother Apollos, I greatly desired him to come unto you with the brethren: but his will was not at all to come at this time; but he will come when he shall have convenient time.”


Verse 13 is a very good description of elders and masculinity – what it is to be a man.
“Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong.”


Verses 22-24 are probably one of the most passionate, loving ends to any one of Paul’s Epistles.
22 If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha.
23 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
24 My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen.


In your daily and weekly walk, consider how to help those in the church – financially, by encouragement, through prayer...

10-11-04 Monday

It came as a shock to me, but I should have been expecting it any day. Elder Kenneth Thompson died this morning at about 9:15 a.m. He went home to be with his Lord in Heaven. He has been in the hospital for the last month or two fighting infection and stomach cancer. It seemed to those who were present that Mr. Thompson was waiting for his family to gather around him and say goodbye. Pastor Johnston prayed and quoted from Psalm 23 as Mr. Thompson breathed his last. Dr. Blackwood was also present and he reminded the family to “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you” – John 14:1-2. We praise God greatly for all that Ken accomplished throughout his life. The long list of his ministries include his witness and service to the Church, to young people, and to his own family. Ken Thompson will be dearly missed by all who knew him. Continue to pray for strength for the family.

To the memory of Ken Thompson...

This is an email I just received this morning concerning one of the elders in the church. He has been in the hospital for at least a month and I / we will dearly miss him. :(

~Brian~
------------------------------
Dear Friends,

The Psalms tell us, “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.”

At about 9:15 a.m. the Lord took our friend, Elder Ken Thompson, home to be with Himself. It was as if Ken waited for his dear wife, Ann, and the children to gather at his bedside to say good-bye. Pastor Johnston prayed and quoted Psalm 23, as Ken breathed his last and quietly went home to be with His Lord. Later, Dr. Blackwood reminded the family of Jesus' promise, “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.” John 14:1-2. Pastor Johnston read II Peter 1, which Ken often quoted and was recently on his mind. His son, Joe prayed a closing prayer.

We all praise God for Ken’s life, witness and service in the church. He will be deeply missed. Please pray for Christ’s comfort for the family and that the Lord would be exalted in Ken’s funeral. Arrangements are pending. We will let you know when details become available.

Thank you for praying.

Sincerely,

Pastor Rich Johnston

One Month

So, its been one month since I put a counter on my page......and I have over 500 visits! That just goes to prove that people really do read my blog! That's cool!

10-9-04 Saturday

Even though I have a lot of homework to do, I decided it was worth my time to go to workday at the church. Michael (my older brother) and I arrived about 1 p.m. Michael went right to work trying to repair and adjust several problems on the sanctuary sound system. I decided to go outside and help Carrie, the main person who has taken over caring for the church property. I helped with several odd jobs that included pruning several trees, bushes and flowers. After about 3 hours, Michael and I left to go to Josh Bright’s house for a time of fellowship, dinner and to watch a few movies. Initially we had planned on going to his house in Lafayette, but earlier this week he broke his ankle in an accident. He was riding his bicycle and ran into a car. God protected him and all that was injured was his ankle. After surgery, his parents decided he should come home for the rest of the week. Josh was very glad to have some of his friends over to visit. Dinner was great and then we watched two wonderful movies – Behind Enemy Lines and The Italian Job. Josh appreciated us taking our time to visit with him, especially because of his injured ankle, which is rapidly getting better.

10-7-04 Thursday

Originally I was somehow scheduled to work this morning, but I had other things I had to do. First of all I had an appointment with Dr. Jay Hughes, my orthodontist. He examined the progress on the movement of my teeth and changed a few things on the wire. There was not much he had to do today and he said to make the next three appointments. At the third appointment, December 22, I will get my braces off! I’ve had them for more than two years now and I will be very glad to have them removed! The other big thing I had this morning was writing class with Mr. Pulliam. It was one of the better classes I have had because I did amazingly well on the tests today. I got 105% on the Dante: The Inferno test! Also I got 100% on the spelling test! When class was over, he gave an assignment that will take a lot of time. We have the usual journals, reading, report on the book, and memory verse. In addition, we have a profile on a fellow student and a profile of a political race in Indiana! All those assignments will take quite a bit of time over the next two weeks! After class, I came home and began working on some of the new assignments in addition to some of the other homework I have.

Annother lovely assignment

Dante – The Divine Comedy: Hell

“Midway this way of life we’re bound upon, / I woke to find myself in a dark wood, / Where the right road was wholly lost and gone.”
This expertly written book begins with the author, a character in the story, walking along a road. The time period is 1300 on the morning of Good Friday. A leopard, lion and she-wolf each prevent him from traveling the road any further. Virgil, who has been brought out of limbo at the request of Beatrice, meets Dante along the road. Virgil becomes his guide, and they begin the path on a different road toward Hell. This allegory says in part, that human reason can guide him back to faith – up to a point.

When they arrive at the gates of Hell, they read the inscription on its lintel. “Through me the road to the city of desolation, / Through me the road to sorrows diuturnal, / Through me the road among the lost creation. … Lay down all hope, you that go in by me.” This is, in short, a description of the whole of Hell. After the two poets pass through the first circle, they are now at the feet of Minos who sits as judge, sentencing each spirit to a different circle for their different sins. Once they are in the second circle, they are in Hell proper. As they continue through each of the nine circles in hell, they come across many people that Dante recognizes from Florence, his home.

Through out the whole of this masterpiece, Dante fills it with the minutest of details. Canto 13 is one of the most detailed and is thus a great example of the many facets of Dante’s work. In the midst of circle VII are those who acted violently against themselves, primarily in committing suicide. The spirits who “are turned to trees were human once,” but due to their violence to themselves, they are forever confined to grow as a tree in this forest. Virgil goes as far as to have Dante break off a small branch to get the tree to talk. The tree, which is much personified, tells Dante the story of how he came to be growing here. Each spirit is like a seed that “Minos dispatches … down to the seventh ditch.” “It falls in the wood; … and where it falls, it sprouts like a corn of wheat…” All spirits who are confined to the forest are “Borne on the thorn of its own self-slaughtering shade” and remains there forever.

Though I started reading this book with the idea that it would be boring, I have amazingly come to enjoy and learn from it. Dante was such a great writer, even though his life was over 700 years ago. His brilliant description of Hell was so enlightening that I now have the desire to read the rest of his Divine Comedy. Dante clearly had a wonderful insight into the topic of Hell. It is a mind-enlightening tale that I never would have read under normal circumstances. Once Dante and Virgil in their travel through Hell get to the center, “He first, I following; till my straining sense / Glimpsed the bright burden of the heavenly cars / Through a round hole; by this we climbed, and thence / Came forth, to look once more upon the stars.” They had reached the end of Hell and now began their ascent up towards Heaven.

The most life changing experience over the summer

Sorry this is so long... but its an assignment I decided to post. Not that I'm any good at writing or anything. :)


To pick one single event that occurred over the course of the summer that was the most life changing is a difficult task. I could start with my time in Basic Training at ALERT (Air Land Emergency Resource Team) from February to April, my first car accident on June 24^th or the many hours I have worked over the summer. Or I could begin with the bike trip from Indianapolis to Calvin, the Reformed Presbyterian International conference and Ted Donnelly’s wonderful sermons or Matthew Toppers challenge to young men. I have grown so much during this year. God has certainly used this year to help to mature me into the man he desires me to be.

Making it a little simpler, I will keep it to the RP International Conference in July. It began for me with a 300 mile bicycle ride over the course of four days. God graciously allowed all 35 riders to make it to the end, but not without plenty of sore muscles. The conference began on Saturday night, July 24^th, and continued until the morning of Friday the 30^th. This week long conference was packed full of wonderful things to learn and do. The most influential activities were the daily sermons on the Callings of Christ given by Ted Donnelly of Ireland.

The topics ranged from Called by Grace to Living out our Calling and Called to Glory. Each of these great sermons went directly to the heart and demanded application into my life. Many of the applications include self examination and require continual recollection to entirely sink in. I need to understand that no matter what I do; God is always working to make me holy. How often do I look for chips in the armor of my brothers in Christ? The weaker I become, the more clearly I will see Christ holding my hand; leading me to the end and closer to Heaven. When I get to Heaven will I be able to honestly say that I fulfilled my calling?

Now as I go on in life since that wonderful conference, I realize that it is hard to apply these great principles to daily life. I must rely on Christ to do it in me. 1 Peter 5:10 says “after that you have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.” I am thankful that God does not expect me to do it on my own, but I must constantly remember these truths that I have learned. As a result, my life will be more full and better pleasing to God.

Proverbs 15:13

Proverbs 15:13 “A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance, but by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken.”

Luke 6:45 – a good parallel verse – “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.”

The meanings of these verses are very obvious. If you have peace in your heart, your life will give evidence to that. If your heart is in an uproar, you will have conflicts with others and God.

The attitude of one person is contagious. Many times, I have been around people with a gloomy outlook on the future. I am a Christian so I have the hope of going to Heaven when I die. People see that hope in my smile and character and they wonder what is different about me. If only it was that easy to explain to them!

As a side note to everything else....

Somehow it feels weird knowing that in one month from today, I will no longer be a teenager. It's not that anything will really change, it never does. But I'll be 20, what a weird thought. I wonder what this next year holds for me?
Also the president for the next 4 years will have been elected. Wow it's all coming up fast! Next is Thanksgiving and Christmas!

10-5-04 Tuesday

To continue a trend that I started last week, I got up at about 7 this morning. Not only did I get up because I had to be at work at 8, but also because I have seen that I get more accomplished in the morning. After a quick shower, I uncovered the zucchini plants that I had covered last night to protect them from the frost. They seemed to be doing just fine. I also uncovered the chrysanthemum that I had sheltered just in case. By that time I had to eat my breakfast really fast and run out the door to get to work. As scheduled, I worked from 8 until noon in Customer Service. Afterwards Mr. Kiser, the grocery manager, asked me to help him stock some things with him. Staying another 2 hours, I stocked a lot of 6 ounce yoghurt and filled the milk and eggs. I usually call when I am just about ready to leave to see if I need to get anything, but today the phone was busy. When I got home, I found out that I needed to go back and buy some carrots and potatoes for dinner. Finally when I got home again, I was able to start on my school assignments for the day, especially that which is due on Thursday.