Clelebration!!!

This is blog number 100!!
This Holiday season seems to be going by very slowly for me…I like it. This Holiday season has not been a total happy occasion for everyone. I just got word this morning that my Grandfather (on my Dad’s side) has passed away. We were told the day before that he was in the final stages of his life and he wouldn’t be around much longer. He had been suffering form Alzheimer’s disease for the past five years and it took his life at six o’clock Thursday morning. My grandmother said he this must have not wanted to wake up at six in the morning anymore since he had been doing that for most his life as a teacher. My family has been taking it well and are all gathering together after the New Year for his Memorial Service. It’s interesting how a family that lives so far apart can come together so easily when we need each other. That’s a true family. I never knew him in his younger years. I only knew him as a retired teacher and a grandfather who loved me. I’m finding out more about the man he was know. I asked my Grandmother if she thought he was up in heaven doing what he loved, teaching. She said although he loved teaching more than any other job he was a natural dancer. And’ he probably swing dancing with Sinatra by now. He’s no longer suffering but he’s as young as ever and probably enjoying himself more than he ever had in this life on Earth and that’s a thought that can bring comfort to anybody. But with his death we also found out that one of my uncles gave his life to Christ this past week. After years of denying he called us up and told us that he had become a Christian and had his life headed in the right direction. The count is one uncle saved and two to go. So there are two reason’s for praising God this Holy Season. Halleluyhwh. Have a Holy and Happy New Year.

Happy Holy Day!!!

Lately in the news I’ve been hearing a lot of stuff about people wanting to be “politically correct” this Christmas season by saying Happy Holiday rather than Maeery Christmas. They don’t want to offend someone that celebrates Hanukkah or Kwanzaa or doesn’t believe in Christ by saying Merry Christmas. Political correctness (if that’s even a word) is trying to please everyone at once by taking out every thing that even slightly assumes that someone belongs to a specific group. It’s becoming ridiculous. I was thinking about the term Happy Holidays and I have decided that I don’t mind anyone using that term. In Webster’s Dictionary the very first definition of Holiday is Holy Day. So essentially when you say Happy Holiday you’re saying happy Holy Day; a.k.a. Merry Christmas. It’s has the same meaning just in a different form. No matter how it’s said the true meaning of Christmas is going to be revealed. I think that's revelatory.

We bow down and worship him now...

Philippians 2:10-11 “at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven, and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. This was or focal point of our Christmas Sunday service. Though there’s still some confusion as to whether that Christmas Sunday was Christmas Sunday or if this Christmas Sunday is the real Christmas Sunday…no one really knows. That doesn’t really matter though. What does matter is that we had an really amazing time to just meet with God an bow down acknowledge him as God the Father. It was a chance to focus on him and put our hearts above our heads, which is something that we may not let happen enough during this time of year. Bowing is something that shows more reverence and adoration that just taking a few seconds to say a quick praise the Lord and going about your life. Bowing involves exalting Christ and humbling yourself. It puts your entire body into worship; your whole body says what your lips have been saying all along. Why wait. You’ll have to do it eventually “every knee will bow”. When someone says every knee it doesn’t sound like anyone will get out of it, whether you believe it or not. If you have nothing below your knees then you’re already there 24-7 so you’re a step ahead of the game. Whether you believe it now or not everyone will come to that realization Jesus Christ is Lord of all. Why Wait? When is that last time you bowed humbly before our God?

I'll be home for Christmas...

Well, I'll be at a home for Christmas. I get to see my parents in Naples, Florida where the weather is always nice. Besides that I get to attend a camp staff reunion at Camp Keystone for News Years Eve. Our old DYS Major Willis and Major Barbara Howell will be our special guests. It’s very exciting. So on my vacation I get to get warm see my family see most of my friends and see part of Detroit, Michigan (the airport part). This is going to be one of the greatest vacations ever conceived.

Release the grease...ewwww

I put on my greasy shirt with my greasy name tag then my greasy pants and my greasy shoes and tied my greasy shoe laces. I put on two coats and stuffed my greasy hat in my pocket and headed out the door. I arrived at McDonald’s. Tired and still worn out from yesterday. I took of my freezing coat and put on a greasy apron and my greasy hat. I flipped greasy hamburgers and chicken until I thought I might throw up. I thought about using them as Frisbees to lighten up the mood in the restaurant a bit but I don’t think the managers see things the same way I see them. I see fun they see money going down the drain…with grease. I looked through a grease newspaper and saw that the Tampa Bay Lightning aren’t doing as well as I thought they would do. They’ll improve. I feel like I have grease on me constantly until I take a shower it’s so gross. I don’t know how people stay and work there as a career. I couldn’t do it and I won’t. What I will do on the 19th of December is get on a plane form Portland, Maine and head down to Naples, Florida. I get to visit my family and friends for the Holidays and spend some time relaxing and getting reenergized for another round in my boxing match me vs. darkness. I’m winning. I am also extremely tired. I have been for a few days so this vacation should be wonderful. It will also get me out of this single digit weather. I have a new definition for stupid cold. Earlier in the month I said it was stupid cold. That’s when it was only 22 degrees outside. I walked past the Penobscot River today and there was no water moving in it. A huge river is frozen. Ice and snow are the top of it.…That, my friend, is stupid, stupid cold. Maybe I should pray for God the Send The Fire in more ways than one. Ba ha ha ha. I know it wasn’t funny but I tried and thats all that counts.

500,250, 600 minutes...

You know trust is a funny thing ba ha ha ha. It comes and goes so quickly. Just ask Aurora how it can disappear seemingly over night.
Now, onto a different subject…I was working at McDonalds today. It gives new meaning to the term release the grease. I feel so greasy after my shifts. Almost like a greasy hen (That’s sounds like fun). I’ll just try to convince myself I’ve been deep frying in the Holy Spirit. I got to go to Powerhouse all greased up and ready to go. Anyway the real highlight of my night is that I got to go see RENT. It was an awesome movie. I love this movie. It was amazing. All I knew about it was that it is a musical (I like music) and I knew it was about these people trying to pay (been there done(ing) that) rent…hence the name. I have heard other people say that it’s a play all about AIDS and homosexuality. It most certainly is not. It has so much more that that. It’s about real people in real situations with real problems in a real world who need real help. It shows people living their lives and enjoying it even though there being run out of there homes. It shows people with HIV enjoying every moment of life and not letting this disease control them. It shows a group of people coming together and experiencing authentic community, and working together for one specific goal. They share their problems and try to help each other through them. They play off of each other talents and expect nothing in return they live life and love it. They try hard no to show their weakness and problems but they’re always there. Theses people are around us all day. They’re pretty good at hiding their problems (some better than others) but they do exist and sometimes they can’t escape alone. It’s about faith hope and love and love never fails.

What Brian Wilson is alive???

Aurora and I just got done watching the lighting of the Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center. They made an announcement before hand that would be performing, these include: The Brian Setzer Orchestra, Rod Stewart, Sheryl Crow and Brian Wilson…I thought Brian Wilson was dead. I distinctly remember someone telling me he dies from a heart attack a number of years ago at like age 48. Apparently he’s not dead, unless he was resurrected to play in New York for the lighting of the Christmas tree; it could happen, but I doubt it. He didn’t really look old either. So it may be a while before he kicks the bucket…I wonder how many more people may be alive that I think are dead…JFK…hmmm? Besides just being confused by a lively Brian Wilson I was very pleased with the songs that were sung. For those of you who haven’t been keeping up with the news there is a huge dispute about the words …one nation under God… in our pledge of Allegiance, copies of the Ten Commandments have been taken out of our court rooms and someone recently tried to get an engraving of “In God We Trust” taken off a Federal Building in Washington D.C. For the past few years people have been trying to keep God in Church and out of everyday life and it’s sickening. It makes me absolutely furious when I hear about someone trying to take God out of something else. Well, at The Lighting of the Christmas tree (remember that’s what this is all about) a few of the songs that were sung included Silent Night, O Little Town of Bethlehem, and Joy to the World. It wasn’t frosty the Snowman or Rudolph the Red nosed Reindeer for a good part of it Christ was kept in the performance. Praise YHWH that neither God nor Christ will ever be taken out of Christmas. Christ’s birth and life always has been, and always should be recognized and celebrated during Christmas.

Moving on up, to the east side...

Well, moving is true enough. I can never seem to stay in one spot. I don’t have a twitch, but I am moving again. All my life being a salvo’s son I had to move. All through Florida then up to Arkansas and Oklahoma and back to Florida again. Then I go to TWC. I get to room 705 then I need to move to room 406 then after Christmas I head to room 108 then to room 402 and then I head out to Bangor I have the opportunity to stay in one room for more than three months I go back to Vancouver and I’m in room 402 then I need to move down the hall to room 406. Then I move back to Bangor. It never ends. I’m in a house right now and enjoying getting stuff moved in but I need to move to the front apartment because me living there by myself isn’t cost effective. Then in April I will be moving to Charlotte. Maybe I can find some consistency in living arrangements in North Carolina. I now know how the Nomads felt; I wonder how they got used to it. One thing I know for sure is I’m very good at moving know. I can pack up any truck and move furniture through any door. I wonder if that’s a spiritual gift?? Maybe I am destined to live a life of constant changing locations. Hmmm…

Happy Turkey Day

It’s still snowing!!!!
Okay, I get to blog today. Happy Thanksgiving unless you're Canadian and already had your turkey and stuffing and mashed potatoes and the stuff thats there, but you don't know what it is, but you eat it anyway because it's thanksgiving, and corn and rolls cranberry sauce and pie and more turkey and more pie and...I'm hungry. I’m done.

ITS SNOWING!!!!!!!!!!!!!

IT’S SNOWING!!!!
Those were the two words I yelled when I opened and quickly slammed shut my front door this morning. It was (and still is snowing). I wanted to stay in my house, but I had to venture out in the snow to get to the Family Store to make a little money. Yesterday it was raining; the temperature dropped about eighty degrees, and the rain changed to snow, lots and lots of snow. So I put in my time at The Family Store and went to my next job. Yes I have another job. I work at McDonalds. It’s not the greatest job in the world, but with this job I can make enough money to pay rent, buy food, tithe, use for ministry purposes, and have a few bucks left over for cheez it’s and ice breakers. My first day is Friday a few prayers would be appreciated. Apparently I wasn’t the only person there who took McDonalds as a last resort job. Two of the other guys said they couldn’t find work anywhere else either. I’m hoping to eventually find another job in the next month or two. I have two prospects that look very promising. Hey does anyone remember my presentation on “on the job ministry”? 614 McDonalds!! Sounds like cool beans. Anyway, I got trained up and a uniform at my orientation, and I go in for my first day on the 25th of November, also known as black Friday, the biggest shopping day of the year. So everyone will be doing there shopping and eating fast food and I’m going to be thrown into training that day. Sounds like fun. I will be trudging through the snow to continue the decimation of hundreds of livers and kidney’s and getting paid for it. That’s exactly what happened to the guy in “Super Size Me”. So the snow is covering the ground now and still falling and I got to get home. I’ll blog again when I’m thawed out, and if I don’t get to you tomorrow, Happy Thanksgiving.

Prayer Power needed

I just got finished with a very interesting cell. It was a time with all of us getting to know each other. I don’t understand how that one aspect can be so easily overlooked. We’ve been having a cell meet every week for the past three months and we are just now getting to know about each other. I hate that. For the past three months we’ve been together and haven’t been digging into each other lives (in a good way). Aurora and I know each other really well but I realized I know only a few things about Alberta and slightly more about Nicole. Please pray we experience authentic Christian community. I also would like for everyone to pray for a job for me and Aurora. I have been looking and applying but I don’t have any bites. This past Sunday the Corps prayed for the two of us and I figured if I could also get everyone else who reads my blog to pray for favor and a job then the managers would have no choice but to hire me. The power of prayer would compel them to say YOU’RE HIRED!!!!! I’ve also realized that one of my main tasks while I ‘m here is to plow the ground. The soil is very rough here and I believe one of my tasks is to break up that hard ground to be soil that can be worked with. So that the seeds that are planted here will not be snatched away or choked out by this world but that it will grow and be firmly planted with deep roots with just the right conditions. It is very tiring. I have noticed that at the end of the day I always feel very tired especially if there has been a lot of warfare and having worries of a job isn’t helping the situation at all. Please pray that I have more energy (who would think that I would need that) and perseverance. Getting into a rut here is very easy and I can’t always recognize it when I do so also pray that I have eyes to see. I just want to end by saying “It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas…”

Saturday's with friends are always better

My Saturday was originally going to consist of me spending some time at the Corps watching football and eating Cheez It’s. I know it doesn’t sound exciting but I can watch football all day and not get bored with it and the Cheez It’s can make awesome situations even better. While I was on the last leg of my thirty minute journey I was met by Aurora and Alberta. They we’re on there way to visit me. They asked me if I wanted to go to Starbucks and I couldn’t resist a Satrbucks offer, besides the game I was waiting for didn’t start until 7:30. We spent most of the Afternoon at Starbucks. We had originally gone in to get some coffee and go but we saw a Now Hiring Sign and we couldn’t pass up the opportunity, so all three of us filled out an application (which took an unusually long time). The three of us then headed to the mall. It’s a very bad place to go when you’re low on cash and have debit card, but I practiced self-control (fruit). We took a walk around the mall looking at random neat stuff that we didn’t need much less could afford to have. We then headed off. We decided to make a quick stop at Blockbuster to see if there were any good movies out that we wanted to see, and then went to the Burr’s house (they were gone for the weekend) for dinner. After dinner I was busy checking football scores and eating Cheez It’s while trying to guard them so Aurora and Alberta wouldn’t steal them. Yes they tried to. It says on the box in big letters GET YOU OWN BOX! After they were securely stashed away we watched the movie we rented. I was able to get “Sahara”. An awesome movie about these three people looking for a WWII relic and they stumble onto this plot to destroy the world and the three of them have to save the world before it’s too late. It had all the markings of a great movie and it was. Aurora and Alberta got "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants”. Yes I watched it. I was less than impressed basically these pants make these four girls have wonderful lives. These pants which amazingly fit all four of them and make all of them look good has some magic to make everyday they wear them an absolutely wonderful day. It was a cool beans day.

Job Hunting Fun Fun Fun

Shhhh…be vewy vewy quiet I’m hunting jobs hahahahhahaha (add the tremor). but seriously I don't like it at all. I don’t remember job searching being this hard…oh wait…I lied, yes, I remember it being this hard. I do know that in St. Augustine there were a lot more places where I could apply and have a good chance of being hired. Here it’s not so easy. Every store is taking applications but not all of them are hiring. Having a van to use today made it a little easier to get around to all the places. I put in three applications, and I have two that I will be filling out tonight and getting them to the stores tomorrow. Please pray for lots and lots of favor. I really need a job because my rent went up to $400 a month and my money in St. Augustine is dwindling fast. If I can’t pay the money then Chaz can’t pay his bills and has to give the apartment to his mother who would definitely kick me out of the house if I couldn’t pay and if I have no house and no money then I have no ministry. I also need help in one other thing. I have an assignment o find another instance in the Bible where someone was transported to another area (beside Acts). I almost positive it happened somewhere else but I can’t seem to find it. If anyone knows where it is can you please help me out, and if I just imagined it tell me as well. In other news PTB started again today. I had been planning on doing it but other things were getting in the way like apathy and sleep. Please pray that I overcome those obstacles and that they don’t hinder my ministry. Does anybody remember a guy named Jonathan Berkshire? Some people may remember him better by the name Jono. Is he still around? He doesn’t return my E-mails or update his blog whatever happened to that guy? I'm almost positive I miss hearing from him. Blessings to you all in Jesus name.

Deeper Life Weekend

The Deeper Life weekend with the Gillingham’s was beautiful. It wasn’t an extreme, in your face, cut to the heart, fall on your face, everyone is prophetic time. They spoke on mercy and Social Justice. Something the Salvation Army should be and was created to be well equipped to do. We spent some time with them Saturday morning listening to them teach on the mercy that Jesus portrayed and how he met the needs when he saw them. We took action with the Micah 6:8 commission to “do Justice and love mercy and walk humbly with our God”. We went into the Soup Kitchen that the corps is running and served lunch and ministered to the people that came in. Elaine brought up an interesting point about the soup kitchen, she said, “Everyone always talks about getting people here to the corps and doing something to bring people inside when in fact it’s happening every day in the kitchen. The people are always coming in to the corps and we need to be there to bring the Gospel to them.” It couldn’t be any easier than that. We then of course had a debrief those are always fun and we had some time to pray for each other and listen to what God wants to do in our hearts. What he wants to see change in order for us to have a heart that breaks for the lost and hurting people in our city. To have a heart that wants to see a change. We should want to feel what Christ feels when he sees his children so we can see the need and need and then take action to meet that need.

On Sunday Elaine took the preaching position. She spoke in the covenant that all the soldiers signed when we became Soldiers of The Salvation Army. She asked us to recite some of the standards we agreed to live by when we signed the Covenant. No one could, except the agreement to abstain form alcohol and drugs. There is so much more to our covenant, but it seems most people don't really think about it. We may think that other church members don't know that I'm not living up to my covenant. They shouldn't care; it's not a covenant between you and the other soldiers, or you and the church, it's a covenant between you and God. We've all grown accustomed to thinking that being a christian is easy because we've taken the easy route our whole lives. We think that because The Slavation Army as a whole is doing great things we personally are living up to our covenant. To me it seems if you're not striving and working to live like a covenanted soldier then you may not be living like one. Elaine alsom mentioned that as solider we are in a community it should be our job to fight alongside our commrades and keep each other accountable to living up to our covenant. We live in a community as soldiers, and that community should be living up to covenant that it agreed to rather than just part of it. We are a covenanted community lets live like it.

Back in the day God killed people for breaking a covenant with him.

The prayers are appreciated and needed

Thank you everyone who prayed for me on Thursday. The interview went very well and I will hopefully be getting a call in the next week for a second interview, as long as the first one went as well as I think it did. I had to take a really odd test after the interview. Part of it was math which makes sense but the other part was a test that was for my personality and common sense I think or maybe to make sure I don’t have any screws loose (ohh man I hope I passed). It asked me questions like “would you describe yourself as an enthusiastic person?” or “Would you say that you are almost never mad?” Then it got a little strange with question like “Would say that lying is the only way to get a head in a job or do you see every job advancement opportunity as a cut throat competition?” Then it just became ridiculous “Are there fifty hours in a day?” Can you read well enough to complete this exam?” There are only eight days in a month” It was really strange. It’s kind of disturbing to know that they need to put questions like that in the test. Anybody who doesn’t know that there are only fourteen days in a month should never be hired for a job.

Halloween is coming and that was our theme at Powerhouse. All of the volunteers and most of the teens dressed up in some sort of costume. All I had was a wig that made me look like I had long hair. I was going for the metal rock star look but everyone else said I looked like a pot head (I break that off in Jesus name). Everyone was really creative with the costumes (except me) there were hippies and gangsters, Cinderella’s and someone dressed as a pizza, another was a leprechaun, and we even had an ATM machine that handed out Monopoly twenty dollar bills. We had a cake and a band perform and at the end of it we got to beat the candy out of a piñata. The Gillinghams and Aurora and Jenn Burr are here right now…well not here with me but they are in Bangor. We get to spend an entire weekend with them and siphon some wisdom form them and get some insight into making a successful MMCCXX outpost. I even get to see Jeremiah (not the bullfrog). Please continue to pray for favor at my job and that I hear the Lord’s leading there.

Hey!! This rain hurts

I was hanging out at the Bangor corps yesterday (like I am everyday) talking and waiting for a couple other people to get here so we could start our cell (they never showed). It had been raining all day long so I had gotten accustomed to hearing the sound of it. Then the sound changed; it was much louder than before. So I says to myself, “self go to the window and see why this rain sounds like it’s going to break a window.” So I did, it wasn’t rain it was sleet. Ice pellets coming down form the sky. I’m just glad it wasn’t fire and brimstone. I couldn’t believe it we got the remnants of Hurricane Wilma in the form of wind and sleet. It lasted a few hours. Then I woke up in this morning to go to work at the Family Store again (I’m the truck driver) and I started my walk in the rain. It wasn’t so bad because I got used to walking in the rain in Vancouver, then I noticed some of the rain drops were hitting my sweater and sticking and some of them were bouncing off my coat. It was sleet again!!! And it was cold. Luckily it was also rain so the roads didn’t ice up. I still had to drive the truck around in the snow and rain and sleet for about an hour until our truck kicked the bucket. It died, checked out, breathed its last, expired, ceased working, it’s broken. It refused to start. I had some words with the truck but it refused to listen so I had to call the store to get someone to pick me up and cancel the rest of the pick-ups/deliveries for the day. I wasn’t too disappointed it was really cold in that truck anyways but then I had to work on the dock of the store which is even colder, but I didn’t have to deal with the rain/sleet. I think this is going to be a long stupid cold, wet, winter. Hey I might have my first white Christmas, Halloween, Thanksgiving, New Year Day, and Birthday. Apparently it stays cold and snows for quite a long time, so I could have snow on my Birthday in March. Yes I will be here in March. For those of you that I haven’t told yet I’ll be staying here until April and then I go to Charlotte North Carolina. If you want to know why just ask God, he’ll tell you. I also had a flashback to Vancouver today. I was walking down the wet street, because it had just rained, it was cold, and I walked by this tri-city pizza place and I could smekll the pizza outside and it brought me abck to XL pizza on Hastings. The best pizza you could get for a dollar. All I needed werew three people offering me pot or crack and I would have felt right at home.

On a quick side note I have a job interview tomorrow at one o'clock please pray for favor.

Two Sundays of bloggable stuff

Hello, everyone I’m still alive and kicking (holes in the darkness). I know I haven’t blogged in a long time, but I have a semi good reason for it. Actually it’s not really a good reason at all. I was going to post blog talking about the past two Sunday meetings. I heard an awesome sermon by Major Frank Kirk, and then this last Sunday we had an amazingly powerful service. Both were bloggable. Since Doug records all the services I was going to listen to the sermon from two weeks ago in order to refresh my memory but for some strange reason it wasn’t recorded, and neither was last weeks. So this blog will be stuff entirely from memory, and possibly stuff that never happened but I only think they did. Major Kirk’s speak was titled “What we can Learn form disasters”. Usually you hear a title like this and you might think it’s about Faith, or Relying on God, or praising him when everything seems to be falling apart. All of those are great things to do, but there was a different approach used. The Scripture focused on was Matthew 16:1-12 (this is where the Pharisees and Sadducees demand a miraculous sign from Jesus). The main point (I think) was made in verse three “…you are good at reading the weather signs in the sky, but you can’t read the obvious signs of the times!”(NLT) The Tsunami in South India, September 11, hurricanes, Katrina and Rita, earthquakes in Pakistan, the signs of the times are becoming more and more obvious every day; are we recognizing them?

Just this past Sunday was an extremely powerful service. The Holy Spirit hit this church like a fat kid on a box of Cheez-its. The last song we song during praise and worship was one that I have never heard before but the Holy Spirit used it to speak to a number of people this morning.
Break our hearts O God, break our hearts
For this sin in our lives, break our hearts
Break our hearts O God, break our hearts
For the sin in our land, break our hearts

And we cry out, we need your help
Come and heal our land
And we confess we’ve lived in sin
Please show your power once again

During that song Major Debbie Burr was moved to speak about the love that had grown cold in this corps and how it’s had a lack of sincerity in our lives. One of William Booths most famous phrases was put into action and it worked “Try tears”. A number of the people in this church were drawn to the altar in repentance, and more tears fell. God definitely answered our prayers in the song. He broke some hearts for the sin in our lives and in our land. Everything that was done seemed to be in perfect synchronization. We moved with the Spirit and he moved us. Maybe a little more than we expected but well deserved. After Major Doug Burr spoke about caring for the poor we were left with one of William Booth's quotes ringing in our ears "Do something".

Going once...Going twice...SOLD!!

This past week everybody around here (but me) has been going nuts trying to pick stuff up and get a van to do this that and the other thing to get the annual (two day long) Fall harvest Auction ready(everybody said this year was a lot easier than it has been it the past). The Bangor corps, every year, gets a bunch of donations from furniture stores and other random places around the city (gift certificates, merchandise, and produce, slightly damaged stuff) to put in the fall Harvest Auction. All the proceeds go to the Bangor Corps Youth program (I think). They sell food and auction off a ton of really awesome stuff to help raise money so the teen group can do…stuff (great scam genius). Couches are sold for $400, entertainment centers are sold for $150, mirrors are sold for $80, it was my very first auction and it was so much fun. I was assigned to help run the items to the auctioneer and then show it off too people while he took the bid and then run it to the people that forked over the most money. When I wasn’t doing that I was helping out in the kitchen. I was on grill duty, but I wasn’t really needed because it seemed like they always had someone to do the job instead of me. They don’t know what they were missing; they never tasted the burgers I grilled up at the 614 bar-b-que. So most of the night I was running items, lifting tables, and doing the stuff no one else could/wanted to do. I still had a blast though. I actually bid on a 48 piece dish set and got it for $23. I now have more than two bowls in my house for cereal and ice cream...if I could afford ice cream. Yes I’m still looking for a job but I recently applied at Radio Shack and I think I got a pretty good chance of getting hired there for the Christmas season. If not then it’s going to be a cold, cold Christmas…well, it will be whether I get a job or not; which is why I also bought a wool blanket for $7 at the auction. I was bidding on a three piece leather couch set but it went past $250 and that’s just to rich for my blood. I actually should have stopped long before that but it was so comfortable I had to make a run at it. So I saved $270 but I still don’t have a couch for my bachelor pad. I will get it stocked up and ready for winter though. So cells can be going on and out and people will be raised up to lead other cells and it will be great place to have a Super Bowl party WOO HOOO!!!

It getting colder quick

It’s getting colder and I’m still Floridian. I don’t know how I will be able to stand this winter. I was fine in Vancouver. But it never went twenty degrees below zero in Vancouver. It hasn’t gotten that cold yet but I’ve been told that there are weeks when the temperature is twenty below. To me that is stupid, stupid cold. I am again wondering why this place is called Vacation Land. I know there are tons of Lakes and it’s a wonderful place to be in the summer but the warm weather lasts for like four months then the rain and cold comes in. So in the next few months if I have a blog that is just burr, burr, burr, burr, burr, burr I’m not totally enamored with the Burr’s. It’s just ridiculously cold here. I remember swimming in Sebago Lake when I first got here but that was only 52 degrees and I got used to it after a few minutes. Then I remember going to Lynn valley Canyon and jumping off the rocks and that was ridiculously cold although I think I’m the only one who realized it. So I’ve been in really cold situations before. I think this may be more difficult than any spiritual; warfare I’ve ever encountered before in my life…or not. It may just make life here a little more difficult, but I praise God that I have a bed and a roof and a few walls to keep me warm.

Does anyone know if this constitutes as grumbling or complaining. I need to now if I need to repent for this or not. Ba ha ha ha ha.

It's getting there/ we're in his hands

I've been working at my house for the past few days trying to get things cleaned, sanded, and repainted. It's nasty work but it's coming along. The worst part has been a banister that I' ve been trying to clean for the past two days. It obviously hadn't been cleaned since...well never. It's taken a lot of scrubbing and a lot of chemicals. I've also managed to wear out two sponges on this banister. The layers of dirt and grease and grim on it was absolutley disgusting. I've had to scrape and scrub away at it in orderto get to the real wood. The stuff that I'm suppose to be working with, not all the gunk on top of it. I guess that's just another part of living in scripture. When Christ starts changing our hearts he has to clean away all the junk that's been building up over the years so he can can get to the meat and make a real change rather than just a quick surface change. It takes time and can be annoying but it's always a better result.

Yesterday (Sunday) we had a very interseting service. It started out with some praise and worshipand a normal scripture reading and all that, but rather than having an actual message we went quaker style. Rather than having something planned we all sat and listened for what God wanted us to do in that meeting. It was a stretch for some of the members in the congregation but no one was offended or seemed annoyed or nervous. Of course the nervousness may have been hidden by the ones that didn't speak, but then again the Holy Spirit doesn't always have to speak to every singel person, so we got through it wihtout any problems. I think it was definitley a step away from comfort and a little more towards revelatory sunday service's. Sound's like fun.

One of the words that was spoken to a lot of people was Phill Laeger's song "I'm in His Hands"
I'm(we're) in his hands
I'm (we're) in his hands
Whatever the future holds
I'm (we're) in His hands
The days I cannot see
Have all been planned for me
His way is best you see
I'm (we're) in His hands

It's always good to be reminded that God is in control plaaning out all ofoour steps for us and we will never slip through his fingers. Halleluyahweh.

GOOD NEWS

Check this out nineteen women were rescued from a brothel in the UK. I think this falls under the setting the captives free category. Halleluyahweh!!!!!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_midlands/4296412.stm

Acts5:41 Your Thoughts

“So they went on their way from the presence of the council rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for his name” Acts 5:41

Peter and John were flogged for preaching the gospel. They were whipped. I’ve never been whipped but it’s not something I want to experience anytime soon. After enduring that they went out rejoicing that they had the privilege of enduring the shame of being flogged. I don’t remember the last time I started to rejoice because I was enduring hardship or I had to do something difficult for Christ. I’ve tried to make experiences fun but I don’t recall ever rejoicing. I really don’t remember ever seeing anyone rejoice after experiencing shame or being embarrassed. These guys did. They were flogged and it was meant to be embarrassing for them but they were happy, they were excited about it. How often do we shrink form an opportunity form fear of embarrassment? We don’t even attempt something because we’re afraid of what other people will think of us when we fail. Peter and John preached the gospel, suffered the consequences, that were supposed to be embarrassing and demeaning, and they rejoiced over it. They didn’t walk away hiding their faces or try to hide the pain. They probably showed their scars not caring what other people thought. Whatever it was that Peter and John had, I want. I want the ability to rejoice when I’m facing adversity or enduring pain. I want to thank God for the hard times in my life. I don’t want to fear what other people think if I screw something up. I want to be able to speak boldly about Christ to someone and not fear whatever questions they might have. Whether it was faith or unending joy or just ridiculousness, I want it. Shouldn’t we all want it though? Lets give the spirit of fear and embarrassment a good kick in the @$$. Suffering shame and enjoying it woo hoo!!!! Sounds like a party.

Hey Steve is this considered a revo devo ???

My apologies...it's all good

I must apologize if I brought anyone down with in my blog from Monday. I was just experiencing some serious depression that night (which is odd for me). I think it was bit of culture shock from being surrounded by community 24-7 and then all alone in a house. It just got to me a bit, and I needed to vent some feelings and it came out in my blog. I praise God for the prayers though; they’re always welcomed. Since then I have been blessed immensely by everyone here. Doug and Debbie and I have gotten things from the Family Store to furnish the house a bit (well at least my room). I have gotten tons of food to cook and stuff to make my house a home. It’s still being fixed but it’s looking better. That is one thing I love about the Bangor corps: They are blessed with an immense amount of stuff in order to bless others with it. I am one recipient of only some of those blessings. I’m back to my normal consistently happy ridiculous self. I love this place and praise God that I am here.

I sort of reverted back to normal Wednesday adventure of driving the truck for The Family Store. It was fun to be doing that again. I would venture to say that I missed it somewhat. It was really quite easy. Couches, recliners, mattress, and chairs; that is all I had to pick up. That stuff is easy. It’s only difficult and annoying when you have twenty other boxes (sometimes the boxes aren’t even there) of stuff that people want to give to you that they could easily take to the store themselves (or throw it away) and you see that a lot of it is junk that will be thrown away. I still think I should get a John Deere hat and forget to shave that day so I have a five o’clock shadow; then I really look the part. I guess my Piping Hot hat (thanks Xander) will have to do for now.

In other news my bachelor pad is looking very nice. I have my dirty clothes strewn about the room and it looks very good. Actually my clothes (not the dirty ones) are still in my suit case. There is still a good bit of work to be done on the house. We will be ripping out more carpet, painting floors and the walls (I thought I was done painting for a time), destroying a hornets nest (yikes). All that needs to be finished before I can start having guests and cells and all that jazz. It will turn out nicely though. I have one roommate in line to be with me in this house and a couple other possibilities. I have found out from the owner (Charlie) that I'm living in Scripture(those are my words not his). The foundation of this house is a dirt foundation so the floors and doorways are crooked and slanted and angled. It’s actually really funny. We’re trying to fix that now by cementing the basement, but if the rains and floods come I’m out of that house; I know how the story ends. So things, here in Bangor, are truckin along with God wearing the John Deere hat, taking the wheel, never hitting the brakes and shifting gears (yeehaw).

Someone send me an update of how things are going in Vancouver.

Plans are broken again!!!!!

Has anyone ever felt like a puzzle piece that is trying to be put into the wrong place? That is pretty good at describing how I feel right about now. I was in Vancouver doing great, most things were going great. I was comfortable, happy(which could be why situations changed). Stuff was happening, I was seeing results then Bangor hit me. I took a trip to Seattle with Regan, got on a plane, landed in Portland, got on a bus, and came into Bangor. Everything was planned and ready to go until the circumstances concerning my living arrangements changed and I was homeless. Not really homeless we just had to change plans. The apartment I was going to be staying in didn’t work out, so I am staying in a different apartment that really needs a lot of work. I was planning on helping Charlie (Teen center director) fix up this apartment I wasn’t planning on living in it. The shower is almost as bad as The Empress. Nobody planned on this happening so now I have to buy all this stuff (hopefully I can just scam it all from the Family Store) to furnish this house. I don’t have food provided and everything seems to be going bonkers. I am not having fun, and I don’t like it. I'm really irritable right now because I’m hungry, and it’s raining. So I’m getting out all my frustration on my blog. I’m trying to get things straightened out here and hoping that everything with the living situation works out. If everyone who reads this can pray for me a lot that would be wonderful. Everything seems to be held together by one thread and if it breaks it’s all going to come crashing down on me and I can’t deal with that. I’m having community withdraws and I’m trying to see why God is saying all this is a good thing. God is God and I’m not. He is God I’m the man. His plans work mine fall apart. Pray that I have faith to let god be in control and that I have eyes to see a glimmer of hope…soon. Also pray that I would be working towards God's plans and not my own, and for peace lots and lots of peace. I feel so lost right now.

Leaving on a jet plane...

I don’t know if I’ll be back again…

I never thought it would be so hard leaving. I knew I would be leaving eventually, but I didn’t think I would be so much a part of a community in two weeks time that I would hate leaving and seriously almost cry over it. I almost never cry. I had to have a long discussion/almost argument with God over this. Seeing Craig cry while he’s giving me a word of encouragement form the Lord didn’t help at all. I see am impact and a memory that I made on these guys and they’ve done the same for me. I know you can never get used to leaving people you love but, someone else may need to do the driving to Seattle and to the airport, ‘cause I don’t think if I’ll want to do it. I was okay with leaving two weeks ago but I have loved this new Holy____ session of TWC that I don’t want to now. I know there is a community in elsewhere waiting for my return, but it doesn’t make leaving any easier. I also know that God has amazing plans for me in Bangor, more wonderful that I could ever have hoped or imagine and I can’t wait to get started on those things and see what the Holy Spirit has in store. See ya later Vancouver (in 2010 if not sooner). Keep fighting the good fight in Jesus name.

No Fear

Before I start I would like to say this is a milestone blog. Number 75!!!!!! (cheering, clapping, shouts, whistles and few halleluyahweh's)

I just got back from "drill". The time we have set aside for all of the War College students to get together and do something physical. It's usually either Ultimate Frisbee or Soccer. I believe they're thinking about dodge ball when winter really sets in. Running on frozen astro turf probably isn't the safest thing in the world. Ba ha ha ha. I'm usually no to crazy about Soccer, but tonight I really enjoyed it. We played against the ESL (English as a second Language) students. I think they may have just started classes (or were terrible students) because they didn't understand a word I said to them. At the beginning some of us thought we would be run into the ground, because we saw these guys play Saturday morning and they looked really good. We have like three guys, in our session, with us who have (seriously) played Soccer before. We mixed up the teams a bit but it was pretty much 614 vs. ESL. We held our ground every well. We did a three game series. We lost two out of three but the game that one game we won it was a shut out. 614-2 ESL-0. It was beautiful. i never thought I was as good at Soccer as I did. It must have been the Holy Spirit playing for me because I have never done as well as think I did tonight. I knew I could run and keep up with these other guys, but I actually made some awesome picks, passes, and sets. I impressed myself. i think if we had Steohen and Danielle Aaron and all of 614 out there we could take them down. if God id for us who can be against us? Lets do it!! Anyway, I think the jerseys may have been part of the intimidation factor they had, but they were just jerseys bought by the school for them and us to use. They weren't really a team or anything. They were still good but they were no David Beckham's.

It's interesting how un intimidating something can be when you see what's really in the core of a threat. Once all the uniformity and outward surface bulk is stripped away and you see what's really behind it all (just a short Asian guy who can't speak your language) there's nothing to fear. How much more intimidating would we be to the Enemy if we had uniforms and wore them into battle...oh wait we already do. We got the intimidation factor in the fights against the Spiritual forces in this world. Lets use it. Tunic Tuesday!!!!

We are Dead to self

The last two Holy Terror students arrived Thursday night. So they’re all here and absolutely awesome. I don’t know if the Martyrs session started out like these guys are but this should be so awesome. I’m almost disappointed that I’m not going to be here to see it all. But I know that the plans that are set for me elsewhere will be just as amazing as what’s happening here.

This past Friday we had one our first debriefing sessions which is a new idea that the leaders have started in order to beat the information overload and burnout. This first session was a time for all of us to die to ourselves. Some students this year and last year had to lay down some old identities and old labels we were holding on too. We had a funeral for everyone. Everyone came into a small room and we lay down on a black sheet we were then covered by another black sheet. Then we laid down our old identities of the things that we needed to die to in our lives and declared that we were dead to ourselves. Then it was that declared we were alive in Christ. We rose up and came into our new lives. Jeni gave everyone a new name from Christ. It’s funny when Christ shows you some things you need to lay down; it’s sometimes things that you think are essential to your lifestyle and essential to who you are, but Christ shows you how it can interfere with what he has to put in place of that. From his identity you can gain an even fuller experience with him and cause you to be a more effective tool used for his will and his plans. “but God being rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our transgression, made us alive together with Christ, and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus, in order that in ages to come he might show us the surpassing riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” Ephesians 2:4-7. Who are you in Christ Jesus?

Week in review...could have been better

This past week is definitely a week that I will remember for a long time after it's gone, though I may not want to at times. I did a lot of painting, and it wasn't prophetic art either. It started at The Command Center. I primed and then painted the doors, frames and window frames all white...not the most exciting color in the world. That was easy. Then we moved on to the Balmoral Hotel blahhhh. I don't think I could stay a year in a hotel that stinks as bad as that place does. The Empress only stank when our neighbors were getting high (which is why our hotel is also known as the Hempress). The occurrences of that has decreased quite a bit since we have been there. There were three rooms in the Balmoral we needed to paint and when we did that we also changed the smell form rotten cheese and old socks too, paint and old socks...It was an improvement. We also ended up painting the carpet as well but I think it looked better when we finally finished. The hotel managers were planning on changing the carpet for us anyway. Well, I don't know if they were planning on it, but after we asked them, they agreed to change it for us.

After that we had to start cleaning the rooms at The Shaldon Hotel. This hotel is actually a nice slum hotel. Every room has it's own bathroom and shower and there are community kitchens. I don't think TWC students will be doing much cooking, but the kitchens are there. It's more than what the Empress has. The rooms we got were really nice except for one room. This must have been a storage room for the hotel over the years. It was filled with junk. No mattress, a few chairs, clothes everywhere. I don't think anyone was ever planning on cleaning it up they were just waiting to rent the room out to some one and have them clean it out. We had that privilege of doing this Jesus job. All we could really do was bag the clothes and take them and the other stuff worth saving to the basement and throw everything else in the dumpster. Among the clothes I found a crack pipe and a box of used needles. Needless to say the manger was not impressed but oddly enough very surprised. Anyway, that took a few days and I tried to have as much fun as possible but between sneezing and being disgusted by almost everything in the room fun was very scarce. On top of all that we had problems with credit cards, War Van insurance, getting a van towed( shhhh don't tell anyone), and some of the few Martyrs left were sick, but we persevered and made it through the week without having any stressing our selves out to the point of burnout.

After every improvements we've made in these rooms I can't help but wonder if we're making it a little too much to help out the next session. It's not supposed to be easy for anyone. This is the War college not the Tea Party College. That's just a random thought I had.

614 vs the couch

I never knew a couch could be such a beast. I have moved plenty of furniture in my lifetime but this couch was the first piece of furniture that I spent over an hour moving. It's not that it was ridiculously heavy; it was just a really fat couch. I don't mean just large I mean this couch needs to lay off the twinkies for a few...years. The large love seat was difficult but we were better and smarter, but this couch out up a fight. Aaron, Rachel, and I were able to maneuver it down the hall (that was a challenge by it self). Then came the doorway. If we had two more inches in width it could have been a walk in the park (then again if the couch was one more inch wider it would still be stuck halfway out the door). We twisted, turned, pulled pushed, lifted, and bent this couch every way possible. It wasn't moving. When we originally got it in The command Center we had to put an enormous hole in the wall to make some extra room. The hole was patched up three days earlier, we didn't want it to be a waste of time and a blessing. Finally we sent Robin on a mission to get some tools. The butter knife wasn't working for us. So armed with a hammer and a flat head screw driver we were able to knock the door off it's hinges, get our extra three inches, and slide the couch right on through. It was like we gave the door some ex-lax and it passed a couch...ewwwww. Anyway, it was a walk in the park...on Hastings Street after that. As we carried the couch to it's new home I mentioned to Aaron that in another city seeing this would be really strange, but the people here have seen stranger things, so we fit in...almost. We actually had a guy walk along side of us and give us tips to make it easier to carry. No furniture will ever defeat me!!!! 614 wins!!!!

Then there was seven...

I just back from a two day unintentional vacation in Seattle. I would love to say it was all part of a genius plan that Jeni, Sue Ann, Linsay, and I invented, but it was all part of a mistake that turned into a blessing...which makes it all the more impressive, I would suppose.

We headed out to Seattle to send off Jeni and Sue Ann the next morning. We were staying at Agnus and Ross Hailes home for the night. We had planned to wake up at 4:00am and so they could catch there planes which left at 6:15 and 6:05. We woke up at 6:00. So we did an emergency evac. from the Hailes residence and headed to the airport in an attempt to...I don't really know if we thought they would then make the flight but we were definetly in a rush to get there. So we arrived in record time of twenty-five minutes (it usuallay takes more than thirty minutes), parked the car, and started walking to the check-in desks, praying for favor the whole way. Jeni was able to get a stand by ticket for the next flight which left in forty-five minutes. Halleluyahweh!!! Sue Ann was not as fortunate though. The next few flights were already over booked by twelve and twenty people (why an airline would do that I still haven't figured out). So rather than waiting at the airport for possibly an entire day she got a ticket to be booked on the flight that left at the same time the next day. We called Agnus to let her know of our perdicament and she said she was more than happy to let us stay another night. So we said good-bye to Jeni and hugged and cried (not me...I don't cry) and watched Jeni run off into the sunset..uh...security check. The rest of us stayed another day in Seattle doing a bunch of nothing. We helped out with the dishes and a puzzle and some laundry but other than that we did a lot of lounging. We broke a mental sweat (well I did) by playing a game of Scrabble but that was as active as we got. We weren't really lazy we just didn't know what we could do for free or really cheap. So we woke up the next morning at 4:00 (I voted for sleeping late agian, but Sue Ann was not a fan of the idea), took Sue Ann to the airport, said good-bye, and drove back to Vancouver. I realzed during that trip that the War Van gets really good MPG. The number here is slowly dwindling (we have the perfect seven left) as the Martyrs are heading off to our appointed assignments and taking some time off before The Holy Terror arrives. I am very excited to see what the Holy Spirit will be doing with this session, I almsot can't wait, though I won't see much since I will be heading to my own appointed place. I know I will probably be having just as much break through there as they are here. It's excititng. Fun Fun Fun!!! I think I'll end this blog with a Quote from Richard Collier's "William Booth The General Next To God" "Make your will, pack your box, kiss your girl, be ready in a week." Sounds good to me.

MY HAIR!!!!!!!

This is very important. If anyone has seen my hair can you please call me and tell me where it is. I miss it very much, and I want it back...it's about five inches long, a beard should be with it, it's brown, ans looks like it belongs to Keith Green. Ha ha ha ha. I cut my hair, no I didn't...but seriously I did. I actually shaved my beard and mustache off about ten minutes befor I went to the graduation ceremony, and two days later I cut my hair...all of it. It's all gone and I miss it a bit. Now instead of worrying about eating my hair with my food I have to worry about my head getting a sunburn. I didn't just get it cut to make it look presentable; I went the whole nine yards; it's all gone. Aurora did the initial cut so it was real short then I took the clippers and a razor and took it all off. I wish I knew how to put pictures on my blog so you guys could see me. I like it. A good number of other Martyrs, who haven't left yet, like it as well. I actually realized I missed a few patches in the back so I need to fix those soon. I do actually feel cooler, but that could be because I'm sitting in front of a fan. I miss being able to shake my head when it's wet and have water fly everywhere, that was fun. But apparently I was the only person who enjoyed that. No one enjoyed it when Jono and I did that after Street Combat when it was raining. We thought it was hilarious,and we were all alone int that thought process. I think everyone was jusr jealous of our curly locks...bot they were most likely just really annoyed. Now everybody in the Martyr session has cut his or her hair at least once through out the year. It's almost like it's the end of an era; it's very sad in a way...oh man, I think i'm having withdrawls, that's not good. Anyway, I will keep everyone posted on how the grow back process is playing out. As a fore warning if anyone calls me baldy or baldhead I will open up a can of Elisha on you. If you didn't understand that at all pull out your Bible and read 2 Kings 2:23-24. I got to go shave again.

Graduation...as we go on we remember...

Celebrate good times come on!!! Ba da da da da da da dah woo hoo!!! Yes I know that song is older than I am and it’s weird that I’m typing in the horn parts on my blog but I have reason to celebrate. For those of you who don’t know yet The Martyrs graduated yesterday. The ceremony was held at a restaurant called One. There was an open bar and everyone could get as many free drinks as we wanted. I got to have a Tequila Sunrise and a Pina Colada and some other special drink that the bartender concocted right in front of me. Of course none of these drinks had alcohol since I am a Salvationist, and if they did have alcohol I would have been breaking my covenant and that would be a sin. I didn’t realize that all a Tequila Sunrise contained was orange juice, Tequila and some red stuff. I had a glass of Orange juice with red stuff swirled in it. That was pretty boring. The drinks were not important though. What is important is that we all graduated. Colonel Don Coppell presented us with our certificates and then we had to give a seventy-five second testimony. I think Beracah was the only one who filled up all Seventy-five seconds. We got our certificates and Colonel Coppell had a word from the Lord for each of us which was really cool. There was a presentation of some Scholarships earned by the students. We then sat around talking and mingling then they brought on the food. We had our choice of pizza, a sirloin burger, chicken and prawn fettuccini, and some veggie filo thing. The chicken and prawns were exquisite. It was good times.

After our ceremony we all changed out of our uniforms for the celebration part of our graduation. We headed to the Command Center wearing our brand new Martyr shirts. We danced and sang and praised God for a good three hours and then Jonathan Evans did the preach and pitch. Then Stephen and Danielle anointed our feet with oil and gave each of us anther word from the Lord and we walked out of the Command Center as a prophetic act of being sent out into the world; then we came back in…that part wasn’t prophetic. We stayed and worshiped some more and when it was over the cleaning began, but that didn’t take long at all. Everything was done by Eleven o’clock and we all hung out in the Command Center for a while eating pizza and talking and some people were crying because they were leaving. It was one of those Michael W. Smith moments. Friends a friend forever if the Lord is Lord of them, and a friend will not say never...you get the idea. Most of us were to tired to do anything else it was weird. I figured since it was our last to be together he time wouldn’t have mattered and we would want to spend as much time with each other as we could…well, that’s what I felt, but I guess for everyone else 1:30am was too late to hang out. So now I’m sitting here watching people leave; knowing that soon there will be only a few people left with me, and then I get to leave woo hoo!! I can’t wait. I graduated!!!!! How cool is that??!!

I'm Baaaaaaaaack in Van again

I have a lot of catching up to do so here it goes.

I’m still happy, saved, and free, back in Vancouver. It was an awkward plane trip back. Some how Alaska air changed an eight hour trip into a five and a half hour trip. I stayed at the Vancouver airport longer than I wanted to because Darren misread my e-mail so I had to make some phone calls to get his number and get a ride to the Empress. I could have spent the night at the airport but that would have been weird…for more people than just my self. I’m happy to announce this was the first time I have flown into Vancouver and it hasn’t been raining. Every other time it’s been raining when I have come in but this was my first dry flight into Van. We started classes yesterday and I’ve been hearing the tales of triumph from the other Martyrs. I don’t get to entertain the martyrs with my legend until next Monday. Almost everyone is here. Jono is the only one who hasn’t returned (slacker). It’s okay though no hard feelings. No pressure. It’s okay that we don’t have our full community yet because we’re waiting for you. There’s grace, but seriously hurry up and get here.

I am very excited because Ultimate Frisbee has been put into our schedule. It’s a genius idea I don’t know why we didn’t do it earlier. I love Ultimate Frisbee (I think I said that like a million time already). I played Ultimate Frisbee yesterday and I had a blast. It was the longest game I have ever played in my life but it was fun. I learned that usually height beats numbers. I was the second tallest person on our team and we lost. Stephen Bell was the tallest. Our team had to guard Stephen Court, Aaron White Jeni Parsons, and Regan Lipsett. We are not taller than nay of them (Josh Ivany, Phil Marriot, Danielle Strickland, Stephen Bell, and myself, there were more people but not as many people would read this blog because it would look way too long ). It was like David versus Goliath but David didn’t do so hot this time. We tried so hard, and put up a good fight; we started out strong and had the lead most of the game, but in the end height prevailed. 28-26 we were so close. I wish this had been done earlier in the year it was awesome. I can’t wait till next week. Most of us are really sore right now but that’s a good thing. Some of our muscles needed to be worked. We get to play Soccer tomorrow night. That’s exciting. I’m not real good at Soccer because I’m American, but I can hold my own ground.

I just want to let all of my adoring fans know that I my blogs may not be as frequent as they have been because I won’t always have the time or computer availability here. So don’t think I died or stopped blogging. It just may take longer than usual. It’s cell time so I’ll see you guys later.

See you later Bangor

So this is my last day in Bangor. I really don’t want to go. I have had a blast here in Bangor and I really could stay here longer and not have a problem with it at all. If I did that Steve would be furious and so would everyone else in TWC. I must say that I’m excited about going back and taking shower in a nasty mildew filled tub. It’s fun. I’m also looking forward walking down Hastings Street and having people offer me rock every fifteen feet. I had fun here in Bangor but all good things must end…does anyone know whose quote that is? It really hit me that I was leaving soon when I was saying good-bye to Al, Matt, and Jessica after our Powerhouse trip. So now it’s really happening. In just a few hours I will be heading to Boston with Doug and Tara. Then a few hours after that I will be on a plane heading to Seattle and it may be a long time before I see anyone here again. I will comeback eventually. So this is just a warning to all M&M manufacturers to be prepared for my return. I just don’t know when or for how long. I do have a plan in my head but God has been really good at giving me a better plan and then I have to listen and throw my plan out the window. Everything always turns out great though. I should just stop making plans all together. It would save me a lot of time and frustration. I think I mat start doing that. I’m going to go through life winging it until I get the plan form God. Sounds fun anyone want to join in with me. Anyway I just wan to leave the Bangor Corps with this one prayer…I don’t know why I’m posting it on my blog but I am doing it. I pray for you “to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner man; so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth of the love of Christ”. See ya Bangor I love you all.

Monday-Wednesday

I know I haven’t blogged in a few days so I guess that means I’m a terrible blogger, or my life is really boring. No…that can’t be it. I have the most exciting life in the world, and I always have a bloggable topic going on in my beard as well. So here a quick update from the last few days.
Monday: I saw Bad News Bears it was a very funny movie. I enjoyed the movie. Anything with Billy Bob Thornton is good though. That was the most exciting part of my day.

Tuesday: It was my last day to work at the Family Store. I'm going to miss that truck. We had an awesome cell on Tuesday. I made vegan spaghetti. I just used fake meat with the sauce. It turned out really good but I cook ed way too much. We still had half a pot of spaghetti left over when we we’re done. I got out of cleaning the dishes afterwards it was cool. I just stalled until it was time for me to take Charlie home and then I was like, “oh darn I forgot to clean the pots and pans and dishes” So Aurora said it was okay and she cleaned it. Two points for me. But that wasn’t the best part. The best part was our cell talk. Charlie was in charge and this was his first time leading a cell discussion. We talked about sex. The first question was what is sex. Maybe not the best way to start off a conversation but it was okay. There wasn’t really any specific direction on where to go form him so we really just got around to every aspect from setting personal boundaries to talking about if the Bible states anywhere that sex outside of marriage is wrong. We got all the bases covered. Ha ha ha bases covered that’s funny. The only definite answer we reached was that we set our boundaries according to our conviction. That was really the only question that we were able to answer. So since we ended with more questions than when we started I guess it was a really good cell.

Wednesday/today: I was at a birthday party earlier today. It was like any other party games, food, cake (food and cake are not the same thing) and presents. One of the more exciting games played at the party was “pin the goatee on Travis”. There was a picture of my face drawn and taped to the wall and everybody was blindfolded and had to try to tape a goatee n my face. Fun!! Unfortunately, I didn’t win. I also didn’t win the Air Hockey tournament. I thought that I would be sure sot to win that, unfortunately Charlie Liu is a much better Air Hockey player than I thought he would be. I lost 5-2 for the championship. I beat everyone but him. I am ashamed. The party was fun and after the party we had a water balloon fight and tossed a couple of Frisbees around. I accidentally landed a Frisbee an the roof. But it’s okay I found out how to go up to the roof to et the Frisbee. I could see all the way across the street form up there. I like the view from the Empress roof better. Then it was off to the bus station for Aurora. A twenty four-ish hour bus ride form Bangor to Toronto. Tara Doug and I then went to the Burrs house for dinner. After a while I decide to start packing at 9:30 at night. I got a vacuum sealed bag from Deb and began to fill it with my clothes. I packed it as full as it would go then I tried to seal it with the zipper/zip-loc thing attached to the bag…IT BROKE!!! A classic Travis moment. After all the work of getting the clothes in the bag and overcoming the static cling the zipper broke. It was fixable. I sealed it up and sucked the air out through a straw…actually I used a vacuum cleaner. But vacuum sealing a bag through a straw would be hilarious to see someone try. So now by bag is packed and I’m tired and going to bed. I have just succesfully wasted ten minutes of your lives with a really boring blog. I win.

Old Orchard Beach

OOB woot, woot!!! I got a chance to go to Old Orchard Beach yesterday (Phil should be happy for me). We didn’t have a normal morning meeting because everyone was on vacation and the burr’s had to go to OOB so we went there with them. The New York Staff Band was on schedule to perform and they were absolutely awesome. I think they were my favorite part of the meeting. It made me miss marching band. There was a lady who was led by the holy Spirit to pray, Major Janet Munn performed a Scripture monologue(Revelation 4:2-8), The New York Staff band performed I’m In His Hands by Phil Laeger (USA south woot, woot), and Commissioner Bill Francis was the Key speaker for the meeting. It was a really awesome time. The Holy Spirit was definitely present (as he always is) and able to use the speakers to his advantage. The commissioner spoke on Psalm1 (Tara already has laid claims to that blog though). It was a very exciting time. I don’t know why but I have been getting excited when I see someone here that I haven’t seen in just a few days. I was excited to see Doug and Deb and it had only been Thursday since I saw them. I was also excited to see Danny (Bangor lead intercessor) and I hadn’t seen him since Wednesday. That’s really weird to me. I don’t know exactly what God is doing to me but I like it. After the meeting we went to Sam’s grandmother house and had our own little pick-nick and then off to the beach. Clarice suggested burying someone in the sand…I volunteered my self. Word of advice always take money wallet and everything else you have in your pockets out before you get buried in the sand. I lost $1.65 in change to the sand. We dug around for it and all I could recover was one quarter. My pockets were full of sand and as well as my wallet. Luckily I got all of it out before I got on the van…I think. Aurora took over the driving duties on the way back (we had to turn around four times because she missed our turn off to get back). I played around in the back with my digital camera taking pictures of Charlie’s tongue and Sam’s nostrils…don’t ask it was an odd ride. I took over in the last hour and half because Aurora was too tired but I started to get tired as well which was weird because ten minutes earlier I was wide awake, but I stuck U2 into the Cd player put the AC vent right in my face and kept on truckin…while everyone else slept. It was cool beans and I’d do it again if I had the chance. But I wont because I’m leaving…and that stinks…a lot.

My apologies, Peaks Kenny, I don't want to leave

After my in depth blog yesterday I was shot down by Tara and called a blog thief. So I nned to recant a statement made yesterday. I said in my blog that she had the same idea as me, which was to blog our responses the question posed to her about Hebrews 4:6. She had the idea first so all the credit goes to her. She had her blog posted first and started typing first, but more importantly she had the idea to go to The handbook of Doctrine for an answer. She also has a shorter blog so you probably want to read that one rather than mine. So I am not a blog thief. My apologies...

I also need to do something that I don’t do yesterday. I remembered after Powerhouse that it was Chris’s Birthday. When I count to three every one should sing Happy Birthday to Chris. 1…2…3 Happy Birthday to you!! Happy Birthday to you!!! Happy Birthday…you get the idea. Chris turned 16 yesterday and soon can legally drive alone. Two points for Chris!!!

Okay, today some guys from powerhouse and some volunteers took a second trip to Peaks Kenny National Park (all organized by Charlie Liu WOOT WOOT!!). It was again a barrel of laughs and excitement. We ate more hot dogs, hamburgers, Cheez-It’s and chips than you could shake a stick at. No we weren’t gluttonous pigs we just had large appetites. The lake was really different form the last time I went there. Rather than there being cold and warm spots throughout the lake it was really warm today everywhere. We played with the Frisbee and we all dunked Nick eighty times. We also got a game of Ultimate Frisbee going. It didn’t work too well because the wind at the lake was pretty brutal but we still had fun. I said it before and I’ll say it again; Ultimate Frisbee has got to be absolutely best game in the world nothing can compare. It should be an Olympic sport. It was a mad crazy party and everybody had a blast. When all was said and done we came back to the corps and I realized that this was the last time I would see a couple of the volunteers from Powerhouse. I think I might cry. The back that I only have six days left has just really hit me. I really don’t want to leave but I know I must. I need to follow through with God’s path and not my own and if I don’t go back the Bangor Corps will have just wasted a couple hundred dollars on a plane ticket that I didn’t use….Doug would kill me. I really am going to miss everybody here. I feel like I’m leaving camp for the summer all over again (blahhhh). You would think I’d be used to it by, having been moved around every few years with my parents, but I think leaving friends is something you never really get comfortable with…I like that. It’s a good thing. Wow if I hate leaving Bangor so much I’m going to be a wreck when graduation comes around. Bummer.

Salvation maintained and Backsliding

Do not attempt to read this unless your in for the long haul. To the many blog fans that I have who are reading this blog expecting to read a joke at any minute and expecting to be almost wetting your pants at the end of this blog like you always are because my blogs are so funny I am sad to say that is not the case today. This is a zero funny blog.
Backsliding is more of a serious matter than I could ever have imagined. A question was posed to Tara in an E-mail about Hebrews 6:4-6: “For if the case of those who have been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and to powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves and put him to open shame.” He said this seems to say that once someone has backslidden they can’t be brought to repentance again they’re hopeless. He said he knows this isn’t rue but he was struggling with it. I have decided to answer this question on my blog. Tara has the same idea apparently. First of all it is true. Every word written in the book is true. Secondly we need to look at the definition of backsliding from the Hand book of Doctrine. Seriously I have the book in front of me. Italics are words from the book.

Chapter 8 section III—Backsliding and rejection.
I. Backsliding is a scriptural word which describes the falling away of the soul from God after having been saved.
That makes sense right. It then gives two parts of backsliding the process and the state of being a backslidden Christian.
(b) The word backsliding is a twofold sense to describe
(i) An ultimate experience, when a soul has entirely departed from God and lost all Spiritual life
(ii) The process by which this state is reached.
Backsliding is often secret at first being known only to the soul itself; later it becomes open being seen in the outward life.
I think most of us get that. We probably know someone who is or has backslidden.
(c) Backsliding is an expression of unresponsiveness or opposition to the will of God.
(d) This arises in the backslider’s own heart and will. He begins to decline where as a seeker he began to advance in his personal response to the call of God. At some point in his experience where formerly he said yes he now says no to the divine will. A wrong act itself is not backsliding; the all important attitude of the heart which accompanies and follows the sinful actions. If there is penitence, then forgiveness can be sought and obtained, but if backsliding continues then an increasing measure of separation from God inevitably follows.
2. The cause of failure can be either in the backslider’s faith or in his obedience.
(a) There can be a decline in faith—a ceasing to trust in Christ as saviour
(i) By relying on some other ground of faith
(ii) By abandoning all trust in the gospel message, and making a shipwreck of faith
3. At what point can backsliding be said to be entire? There are two main answers to this question, for the cause can be either a crisis decision or a process of spiritual neglect
Isn’t it interesting how the crisis and process format can lead to holiness, but it can also be used in backsliding.
(a) Backsliding is entire when a man consciously reverses his committal to Christ.
(i) He rejects the demands of Christian discipleship--disobedience
(ii) He consciously rejects Christ as saviour—unbelief
(b) Backsliding is entire when all conscious spiritual dealings with God have ceased.
This state can be reached with out any apostasy, and with out any open separation from Christian profession. So we can start to backslide and not even mean to or realize it?
The Bible speaks of backsliders in heart who still profess allegiance to Christ and his church. Of them it was said, “Though you have name for being alive, you are dead” (Revelation 3:1). This is the backsliding that results from continued neglect to maintain the spiritual life.
In contrast to open apostasy such backsliders may be unaware of their true condition, especially when their decline has not been accompanied by any particular expression of wrongdoing.
Now I want someone to correct me if I’m wrong (not really) but that seems to be saying that a person sitting at church who says they are a Christian but is spiritually dead because of lack of food has backslidden and therefore is subject to “the fury if fire which will consume the adversaries” (Hebrews10:27). So our churches could be full of people who have backslidden with out even knowing it and they are going to hell. When given the choice of Jesus or Hell they say Jesus but that door is shut. Wow!! How much does that suck?
4. The back slider who persists in opposition to the will of God will forfeit both present and final salvation.

So a person who is backsliding can come to repentance and receive the grace of Christ by repentance and faith. So once a person has hit rock bottom and denies the knowledge of Christ and will not acknowledge him in any way can not and most likely won’t renew their repentance and enter into the kingdom of heaven. We need to catch the people who are on that downward spiral. The ones who know they are and don’t. We need to get to them before it is too late. There are thousands of people sitting in our congregations on Sunday’s who have backslidden and don’t even know it. Rather than looking outside our walls we should be looking on the inside; a change needs to happen there before anything can be done to change the outside.

Catchin up on the days events. Woot Woot!!!

I’m catching up…
Tuesday:
I saw Garfield today. I had wanted to see this movie for forever. It was the one movie I wanted to see last summer but I didn’t. I saw Napoleon Dynamite, I Robot, and Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle. I wasn’t really impressed. It was a good movie but it wasn’t as funny as I thought it would be. I also ate a t a place called the Whig and Currier. They make really good Philly Steak and Cheese sandwiches but they must take a drive down to Philadelphia to get them. It took them forever to get our food out. I thought it would be time for me to go back to Vancouver by the time they got it out. We also had our second consecutive planned and normal cell meeting. Complete with an authentic vegan meal (Pad Thai). Tara is an expert chef. Brandon on the other hand is a BUM. He didn’t show up it was at his own house ands he wasn’t there. I wanted to tie him up, put him on a cow, and make him start running. I want to do it anyway cause I think it be hilarious. If you knew Brandon you would think it’s funny too. Doug and I also watched The Tampa bay Devil Rays kill the Boston Red Sox. I was very excited. It took extra innings but it’s still another point in the win section.

Wednesday:
I watched A Few Good Men. A very good movie. A wonderful line in the movie “…our job is to protect those who are weaker then everyone else”. That’s sort of our job as Christian soldiers. To protect those who don’t know the truth and can’t protect themselves because they don’t know the real danger that they are in or they don’t know how to get out of it. Our job is to get them into a place where they can protect themselves. “I want the truth” is always a popular line too. We should always speak the truth. It’s called integrity. Let our yes be yes and our no be no. That’s my deep thought for the day.

I want everyone to give Phillip Adams money to pay his TWC tuition. He has a good bit of it but he still needs some more. I think I got a good number of people to read this blog so if we all give him ten bucks he’ll be like one hundred dollars closer to that goal. Every Holy Terror student will have a blast next year. He is one of the funniest guys in the world. Him and Craig together at TWC will make for an interesting year. So everyone should send him money…lots of money. This is Keith Green speaking you should listen to me.

Hardcore Extreme prophets

Elijah and Elisha are the most hardcore prophets in the Bible. It seems both were sent to confront rather than comfort. I would go as far to say that they( seperatley) preformed more miracles than any old Testamnet prophet. Elijah represents God in a showdown between Baal and God. (hardcore) He taunted them and told them to shout louder. He called on God and fire came down and consumed the offering and the water around it. He then had all the prophets of Ball killed. He didn’t wait for them to come to repentance and turn there hearts to God he just had them executed (hardcore). He saw a storm coming before it was there, and he ran off ahead of the storm. He ran over 200 miles and he beat the storm. That’s really fast (hardcore)!! He got to eat cake prepared by God which isn’t hard core but it is very cool. He called fire down form heaven to consume two captains and one hundred men from Moab. He cursed a king with a disease that would cause his bowels to fall out. It worked. He parted the Jordan river with his cloak. He was taken up top heaven by God in a Chariot of fire. He talked to Jesus with Moses after e had been dead for several hundred years. Elijah is hardcore.

Elisha is also very hardcore. Elisha also parted the Jordan river his (Elijah’s) cloak. He called two bears to come and kill forty two kids because they called him Mr. Clean (baldhead) that’s hardcore. He purified a spring in Jericho. He changed the poison herb in stew so that no one died form it. He multiplied food but Jesus did that too. Naaman was healed of Leprosy and it give to Gehazi because he accepted payment from Naaman (he also lied to get the money and clothes) (hardcore). He also caused an ax head to float. He blinded the Arameans that were sent to capture him and he led them to Samaria (hardcore) and hilarious. His dry bones were still filled with holy Spirit power and they brought a man back to life when only touched the bones. They weren’t even trying to heal him. That’s hardcore. Thats almost as funny as Smith Wigglesworth telling a guy with no legs to put his nubs in some shoe and having legs grow on him. These guys are true extreme prophets. I just thought I would share that with you guys. I know it’s kind of pointless but I had fun. Does anyone else but me think the whole bear thing was really harsh? I will never make fun of Mr. Clean or Patrick Stewart (Capt. Pickard in Star Trek next generation) again. Either i'll stop or just look out for bears.

Tim Horton's has been found

I went to music camp at camp Sebago with one purpose to talk to Alberta, Ryan, and Olivia. Okay maybe that's three. Alberta was the only person I saw. I couldn’t find Olivia or Ryan. I figured Olivia was probably cleaning here cabin but I thought for sure I would see Ryan somewhere at the camp. I didn’t. I couldn’t find him at all. So I watched about 200 kids do a presentation on Noah’s Ark. It was a play filled with terrible jokes and funky costumes. On the way home Aurora and I decided it was a good idea to feed the kids rather than let them starve for the two hour ride home. We stopped at Wendy’s and to our astonishment (Aurora was more amazed than I was) there was a Tim Horton’s right across the street. How weird is that? We need to go to a little podunk town to find a Tim Horton’s? I bet they don’t have a Starbuck’s though. Anyway we (by we I mean Aurora) couldn’t pass up the opportunity to get a Tim Horton’s Iced coffee and I fell asleep. I have fallen onto the trap again. Doug has got me hooked onto another TV show. I am now engrossed with Battle Star Galactica. That’s three shows he has gotten me hooked onto since I’ve been here. That’s three shows I won’t be able to catch up on when I go back to Vancouver/Charlotte. How does he do it? Hmmm I’m hungry.

Dodge ball, Powerhouse, a canadian??

I have never been so hot and sweaty in my life. Actually I’m lying I have been this hot and sweaty before. Sometimes it’s worse, but this is the fist time in Maine. I just got done with powerhouse and I played dodge ball till I thought my arms would fall off and legs would give up. I think the basket ball games are getting shorter and the dodge ball games are getting a lot longer. Usually dodge ball starts at eight o’clock. Tonight it started at 7:15ish. I never knew that nearly two hours of throwing balls at people could be so exhausting. Man is stink really bad right now. I don’t even think Lysol wipes would help me out now.
I think I may have Canadian blood in my family. Since I have been hear I have beaten almost everyone at air hockey. Even the one person who said he was better than everyone else (Ryan) because he won the Air hockey tournament here that was held a while ago. I wonder if that could be the sign of some Canadian blood coming through me. When I get back to Canada I will gladly challenge anyone to a game of air hockey. I am very confident that I can beat anyone. Lets do the Stephen Court stakes. If I win by more than five points (a shut out is very, very difficult) the looser buys milkshakes. I could so be Canadian. It’s a possibility. How cool would that be? I don’t know if cool would be the best term to use, maybe weird or funny but it could also be cool. There is the strong argument that’s a load of crap because Canada is way too cold for me. I was in possibly one of the warmest parts of Canada, for the winter, and it was stupid cold!!! I almost couldn’t stand it. I did love the snow though. Which is odd considering I’m form Florida. Ba ha ha ha who am I kidding I’m not Canadian. I’m too American to be Canadian. I think I’m 100% pure Southern American…or just an American.

Fort Knox isn't really locked up that much

Fort Knox, an old fort filled with history legends stories and not much else. The Kids of Summer took a trip to Fort Knox yesterday. I felt a bit un prepared because I couldn’t find my sunglasses in the morning I thought maybe they were eaten by my hair, but they were actually in my room, under my pants I wore yesterday. Maybe that means I should wash my clothes. Anyway, wh y do people say something s locked up like Fort Knox? It isn't really locked up anymore. I enjoyed the time walking through the long dark corridors of Fort Knox. If you can’t guess what I got to do in the long dark hallways you don’t know me well. Both Tara and I scared the crap out of people as they went by. Tara had the idea first so I got to give the credit to her. I got to see all the old dungeons and the officers quarters (a.k.a. CO’s house, ha ha ha, whether you think I’m referring to the dungeons or the officers quarters is for you to decide). I stuck my head in every hole it would fit in...maybe not the best idea looking back, and I went in every door that would open and one that probably shouldn’t have. I got a chance to stand on top of an enormous cannon. There were supposed to be like eighty more cannons but they were all taken away for World War II stuff. There were only two left, but I was disappointed because I couldn’t stick my head in those. Just being in the Fort and imagining what it was like way back in the day. Having a post at this fort that seemed impenetrable. Fighting off everyone that tried to take it down. Firing cannons and guns. Throwing out every piece of ammunition you have and when the smoke clears the you and the Fort are still standing and the enemies are lying dead on the ground there ship is burning as it slowly sinks into the ocean (sounds like fun). Oh wait that’s already happening. Victory!! Hallelujah!! I wish they had a tour guide there who could give us some insight and stories about the Fort. I thought maybe it would be like the Tower of London having a story for almost every building and room. No crown jewels no suits of armor, no stories of historical significance that we heard. Just the Fort. There were some plaques around the area that gave a bit of information but you can only wrote so much on those things. They weren’t very exciting either. It was still fun. Just walking around in an old place like that can be made into something exciting. I still want to know what originally went in those holes that I stuck my head in…maybe not, but still they were there for a good reason other than just for people like me. Lunch was good too. We had a picnic with bologna and cheese sandwiches and chips. Not the most exotic lunch in the world but it was good. I watched Brandon eat his Subway Sub (he was smart he set out early)as I tried to be happy as I ate my bologna sandwich. I then saw a movie called Hangman’s Curse. It was an okay movie, the acting was terrible and I think they totally missed a huge opportunity to show how real and dangerous the power of the devil is and they messed it up. This movie was set up so that everyone thought that this group of kids were cursing people by calling on the spirit of this other kid who hung himself in the school. It turned out to be one of the nerds using spiders to attack all the kids that were being targeted by the witches. I was very disappointed. Why is it that Christian made movies have such bad actors?? I couldn’t believe how terrible the acting was. A gimp armadillo could do better than what some of these people did. That’s not what is important though. So if you want to see a bad example of a Christian movie trying to get a point across see that one.

Right as in r-i-g-h-t

Today I had some more fun on the truck but that’s peanuts compared to later tonight…about ten minutes ago. I have just seen one of the best movies ever made. The Fantastic Four was absolutely awesome and funny. I loved every minute of it. I think it might be worth seeing again in the theatre. It was great. I know Marvel has found a way to go from comic to movie without making them Crash and Burn. I think it could be one of my new favorite movies. Ghostbusters is still number one, but The Fantastic Four is hard to beat. I don’t really see any quotable sermon type lines but it was really good. If I watch it again, since the shock factor is over, maybe I’ll notice some. The movie was really funny but the funniest part of the night was a comment by Sam. Doug and I were taking Sam and Jerrica home and we are driving down a road we had never been down before. We got into a discussion about turning right and Sam said, “I meant right as in the r-i-g-h-t right.” There is no difference in the spelling the way we were talking about it. Turn right (direction) here and turn right (time) here. There is no difference. I don’t know if anyone is laughing as hysterically as I was, maybe you had to be there. It was hilarious she didn’t realize what she had said until I pointed it out. It was funny stuff. Trust me. Seriously it was funny you should be on the floor laughing right now. That was like icing on the cake for the night. But we didn’t end there. Doug and I went to Gifford’s and I hate to say it (Jaime and Gabe don’t hate me please) but I think I may have found a place that makes ice cream just as good if not better than Braums. I know it’s hard to believe but this ice cream was awesome. I maybe be saying this because I have forgotten how good it is. It’s easy to forget tastes after four years but I know this ice cream was amazing. Deer tracks and moose tracks ice cream. Absolutely wonderful. Maybe I just need to test it out. Do some taste tests and decide. Anyone willing to donate money to help in this cause that must be figured out send it to me.

Dougy's back We have a working cell...finally

Doug is back. Deb is gone. I start to wonder if they evr forget what each other looks like. I should ask oh wait they read my blogs. They know it lost the humor factor if I ask it now. Doug is back from BTI plus one extra week. The fact that he’s back is not what is important though; what is important is the fact that we had an absolutely awesome cell time. It wasn’t like anyone got saved we just finally had something that seemed like a cell rather than all of us flailing around trying to figure out what to do when the cell time came. I think the fact that we had dinner helped out a lot. Food is the new universal language. We had vegan tacos…we had veggie tacos (for Nicole). If we kept the cheese off they would have been vegan. I couldn’t tell the difference between those and real tacos though. They tasted the same. We didn’t tell anyone about the fake meat until they had already eaten a taco. No one cared though it was great. I pulled out one Aaron White’s cell talks and used that. It seemed like everyone had some input and we rally had an amazing conversation with them. I also asked them all “if you could have any one super power in the what would it be?” I got a lot of different responses (Scott changed his mind eight times) but they all were very interesting…if only I could remember them. Oh well. The point is everything was great. It stinks that it took us this long to get things sorted out and moving along but now that we overcame confusion and apathy (as far as the cell goes) there’s no stopping us now!!

Lakes lakes and more lakes

How many lakes does the sate of Maine have? Does anyone know? Seriously, I want to know. I’ve seen four lakes so far and I went for a swim in two of them. I had to drive out to Pushaw lake today on the Family Store truck to pick up a couch. It’s the fourth lake I’ve seen since I’ve been here. It would be number five if I had found Alswallowamoose or Alstickagoose lake. I’ve been to lake Sebago I wouldn’t have gone swimming if it hadn’t been for Danielle. It was 51 degrees Fahrenheit (32 Celsius). I talked about it more in depth in a previous blog. I went swimming in Sebec Lake at Peeks Kenny National park last Saturday. I caught a glimpse of Branch Lake when I drove Chris out there about a month ago, and I saw Pushaw Lake earlier today while driving a beast of a truck down a narrow dirt road. Whoever named Minnesota the Land of a Thousand Lakes has never been to Maine. I think Maine probably beat them. I’ve never been to Minnesota though so I could be very wrong. Maybe I’ll make a visit to both states and count them up. Summer assignment next year Minnesota. 614 St. Paul that would be awesome. There are a good number of lakes in Florida but I don’t think there near as big or as many as these. I did have a funny experience yesterday when I finally found the house I was looking for. Lugi (the helping me on the truck) forgot the keys to open the lock on the truck so we spent ten minutes with a hammer and a crow bar trying to break this lock. We finally succeed. Unfortunately we broke the hammer. It was tough little lock. Luckily it wasn’t a master lock or we may have never gotten it off without the key. I think those pictures are funny Master Lock has on there packages. A bullet hole in the lock yet it still is locking whatever door it’s on. That’s hilarious. It makes me want to try to shoot one to see if it really works It sort of reminds me of the movie Hulk, he’s constantly getting shot but he keeps going just like the Energizer bunny. Today was the first time I saw the movie. Does anyone think that at the end of the movie Bruce Banner (the Hulk) looks like me now? He did have a lot of hair on the end. Maybe I’m really the Hulk in disguise, and nobody knows it but me. That would be awesome. Maybe I should make myself really angry. I'll just watch The Miami Dolphins loose over and over and over again, that'll do it.

Not just another Sunday in Bangor,Maine

Sunday is always a good experience here in Bangor. The worship is always an exciting time and the speaker’s words are always anointed (even when he ends with a Forest Gump ending…like me). Today’s anointed speaker was Aurora Atell. We sang “His Love Endures Forever” during praise and Worship, we heard Michael W. Smith sing “His Love Endures Forever” for an offertory, and we read Psalm 136 (read it and you’ll see a trend happening…if you haven’t already). It was a very loving atmosphere. Her preach was about recognizing and obeying God’s call for our lives. We even had Sword Drills I hadn’t done those since Jamie Smith did them in class one day. Previous to that I hadn’t done them in like twelve years. That’s a long time. I then was invited to Mary MacKay’s house for Lunch since if I was at home it would be me and Winfield. It was good. Barbeque Pork and Potato Salad (what is taters precious?). I learned to play a game called Ziggity. I’m almost sure that’s what it’s called. Aurora taught me and I won three out of our five game tournament. I’ve noticed lately that I’ve been focused on results a lot lately…is that a bad thing?? I’m just curious. I seriously want some input on that. The real interesting part of the day was fifteen minutes ago in Bible Study. Gene is a well of information that is constantly pouring out when he gets a chance. There were things that I thought I had straightened out in my minds and he would bring something up and throw my ideas into another tailspin and they would crash and burn. It’s funny how the Holy Spirit seems to want you to wrestle with stuff rather than figure it out and sit on it that way. I also saw a very fiery and tenacious side of Tara tonight. I apparently wasn’t the only one arguing with stuff in my head. Some of her remarks seemed to have an edge to them. It wasn’t a bad thing but it made the atmosphere different. Rather than sitting at the table listening to Gene pour out his info and have these dead pan bland expressions on our face we actually had fun we made jokes and laughed at stuff when we started running ion circles over issues. It was very exciting. I almost can’t wait for next week. I’m not really sure how it came about but we did get into a discussion on holiness. The discussiopn lingered on and finally we prayed and petitioned for Holiness. It was good stuff. Holiness is what I want and what I need!!!