SNOW WEEK!

Thats right ladies and gentlemen - we have the whole week off of school! Fantastic.
Hopefully I will actually get some work done at some point... tomorrow night I'm supposed to be working a dinner shift at Ruby's and this weekend since school is cancelled I get to play for the wedding of two of my closest friends! I'm stoked!

But, thats still 4 days away. For now, enjoy the videos that share the fun we had today on our 2nd snow (or ICE STORM) day.



SNOW DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!





And this, is what we make for breakfast (or lunch?) on a snow day. :)

Now that the snow has ICED over...we're hoping classes are cancelled tomorrow too!

Tomorrow...We fight!

Greetings friends and family...

Last Wednesday began some of the chaos I have been eagerly anticipating. Aletheia practices started and basically went all day everyday until Friday night where we played for Boyce orientation to welcome in the new students. On Saturday we left for Dayton, Ohio on our first weekend trip of the semester! We played for a Sunday morning service there before heading down to Cincinnati for a FULL (yes, I said full) evening concert. We were basically all terrified but God worked through our weakness to glorify Himself in the music we offered.

As you can see from the picture, we had a good time too. ;)

Today (monday) is my last day of freedom. Tomorrow begins my 17 credit schedule for the spring semester. I can't wait! First up, Hebrew 2 @8am. :)

The rest of life has been great. Mom and David came out on Saturday (I missed them though...) before heading up to Indy for a few days. They will be back down for some hang time Thursday and Friday I believe which will be nice.

The snow we got over the weekend was amazing. Played some snow football today w/ some new guys from school and had a blast. Except for Tony taking me out via my knees on a rather sweet almost touchdown run.

Enjoy the pics from the weekend...! :)











Happy New Year!




















Happy new year friends! As you can probably tell, my feat of tackling Piper's book was short-lived. Although, I can honestly say I did read 5 chapters into the book.

Weeks have passed, and so have the time zones. I ended my time at home in L.A. well and have been back in Louisville since Dec. 30th. The Lord graciously provided good work hours for me literally the day after I got back here and got situated back into the new place.

It's been nice to be back and start to get the gears cranking that will be rolling into the spring semester here in about 2 weeks. Aletheia practice will begin actually in barely over a week so I am starting to brush up on the music and Hebrew I have so easily forgotten.

I got to bring in the new year with my church family here at a game night. It was one of the funniest things to be playing catchphrase w/ 30+ ppl including the pastor. Needless to say I had a great time and was greatly encouraged through prayer and the kindness of so many people I don't even know very well towards Katie and I.

More to come! Hopefully I will include pictures. ;) I need to get back into that...

Thoughts from Piper's book... Demand #1

Demand 1: YOU MUST BE BORN AGAIN

Jesus answered . . . “Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’” – John 3:5, 7

Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” – John 3:3

Jesus tells Nicodemus (a prominent Pharisee) that one must be born of water and spirit. Yet he does not understand. One clue is found in Ezekiel 36:25-27:
“I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.”
Piper says, “Jesus sees all of humanity divided into two parts: those who are merely born once – ‘born of the flesh,’ ‘the (spiritually) dead’ – and those who are ‘born again’ by the Spirit of God – those who are alive to God and see his kingdom as true and supremely desirable.” (p. 39)

Piper tells us that we do not need a moral improvement from the old. New life is what the WHOLE world needs. The dead cannot help themselves. WE cannot help ourselves. And until we remove the log of pride from our unbelieving eyes this truth will never penetrate our hearts. The gospel will never penetrate our hearts. And it is when we let this truth overcome us that our hearts will turn from ourselves to God and to others.

We are living in a cemetery. And there is new life in Christ. We are His tools. God uses us to raise the dead!

"What Jesus Demands from the World," by John Piper

Los Angeles Townhouse?!

No, I don't have a townhose in L.A. :-D

But I did move into my townhouse in Louisville last weekend! I finally have a place I can call my own (along w/ 3 other guys) about 10 minutes from school. Over the weekend we got all four (yes, four) of our couches moved in, and I found a bed for myself from the school thrift store. Although not much is very organized or unpacked, we've been quick to watch lots of movies and play crazy games with the friends still around the area for winter. It's been such a blessing!

In other news - Katie and I arrived safely home in Los Angeles yesterday around 11am local time. Though California is a little bit colder than I would like, it is so good to be home! Mom was in the ER for a few days due to 2 liters (yes, 2) surrounding her lungs that they were finally able to drain right as we were flying in. She's home now and actually out shopping w/ dad at the moment. After cleaning the house, us kiddos are taking it easy by watching heroes and cleaning the entire house haha.

Last Christmas I was given a book by my worship pastor... "What Jesus
Demands from the World," by John Piper. The chapters are reltively short and I hope to summarize my thoughts chapter by chapter in a journal, and on here for encouragement. After reading the introduction of this book it is hard to explain my excitement for the pages to come. I pray to be challenged far more than I have been in a long time. And I pray for a ready heart, to hear what I have needed to hear for even longer.

I pray for you all as school is winding down and family is coming soon, you'll enjoy the blessings God has given us in one another, and from Himself. I pray you will not so easily lose focus of the spiritual blessings and eternal joys as we are bombarded with secularism, physical gifts, great meals to prepare, people to make happy, and the stress of waiting for the world to kick back to normal come January. As Jesus blessed us by giving himself, likewise bless others by giving them yourself.

Christmas - U2

Take this video for what it is... a music video. I hope you simply enjoy it. I did. (make sure you click it...it's a link)

U2
U2

Falling in Prayer

"We should pray when we are in a praying mood, for it would be sinful to neglect so fair an opportunity. We should pray when we are not in the proper mood, for it would be dangerous to remain in so unhealthy a condition."
- Charles H. Spurgeon

Once again, I have a few fairly important things to figure out fairly quickly. One being the apartment situation. Unfortunately two of my (hopefully) future roomies make too much money for the complex we were aiming for right next to school so that is now out of the question (after about 2 weeks of inquiry). So... we look for a new complex asap! The first will be tomorrow afternoon.

The apartment and other issues can only be resolved by God so I am seeking Him in earnest prayer. It seems I may have been caught off guard and welcomed back to the real world this time. Perhaps it was foolish of me to think things were going alright. Yet here I am, living proof of the steps I've taken to get here by God's grace. And still He will lead, through sun or storm.

One specific blessing in my life is the opportunity to sing w/ some of the music students here at Boyce for some pastors of the KBC next week. We will be doing some Christmas carols as well as some worship pieces!

Christ has held everything together...nothing is lost

Finals have ended, and the grace of Christ has never been more evident in my life! It is amazing to say, and even more amazing to truly believe it. All of my finals were last Thursday and I am pleased to say most of them were smashing. The only one I am worried about, of course, is Hebrew. At this point all I am worried about is passing so I can move on to Hebrew 2. Although I think I've forgotten a lot of it in this short week already... Since school has been out I've started a new job at Ruby Tuesday as a server. I've had about 5 days of computer training and some shadowing and Saturday I will have my first tables. Hopefully I don't spill too much... If this job works out well I will be staying in Louisville through most of break (except for Christmas) and getting an apartment with some friends here. We are hoping to have the paperwork for the apartment finalized next week because we have been running around trying to tie up odds and ends this week of different things they forgot to tell us that we needed for the application to go through and now they are closed for Thanksgiving...so we wait.

Please pray for strength and wisdom on my behalf. I dearly need it. I feel inadequate in so many ways and feel I should be so much farther in life spiritually and mentally. Maybe I dropped the ball at some point...

I am also praying through how I would serve next summer. Be it at a summer camp in the states, as a ministry intern, or even overseas once again - which would be such a blessing!

I'll end with a quote I found on Justin Taylor's blog...

No unwelcome tasks become any the less unwelcome by putting them off till tomorrow.
It is only when they are behind us and done,
that we begin to find that there is a sweetness to be tasted afterwards,
and that the remembrance of unwelcome duties unhesitatingly done is welcome and pleasant.

Accomplished, they are full of blessing,
and there is a smile on their faces as they leave us.
Undone, they stand threatening and disturbing our tranquility,
and hindering our communion with God.

If there be lying before you any bit of work from which you shrink,
go straight up to it, and do it at once.
The only way to get rid of it is to do it.

-Alexander MacLaren (1826–1910), Scottish preacher


Finals are here...and I rock. ;)

It is 3:20am Eastern Standard Time and I am cranking away! While most students finished their last finals today, all of mine are due Thursday. Besides a few tests and a TON of Hebrew I need to study, I also had 5 papers to do. Two of which I finished yesterday, and one I JUST now finished. Praise the Lord!

Next on the list is God & Government. Chuck Colson is brilliant. And the great thing this book is so easy to read. I've loved the stories he's shared from the politics of the world. His points are simple and he doesn't waste time. Definitely my kind of writer.



Finally is the Closing of the American Mind. At first I loved this book...about halfway however I began to lose interest. Much of the writing becomes cluttered and difficult to understand if you do not follow the author very closely. I thought overall it was good though in pointing out cultural fallacies we have let slip by as a nation and now we are reaping the consequences.



Thursday night, sometimes around 4:30 pm I should be free at last! :)

I start my new job at Ruby Tuesday's Friday and will be serving on my own by Tuesday night. The Lord has been so gracious in providing all of my needs as of late. Even as the semester winds down. It looks I will be getting an apartment w/ some good friends here in the next month and trying to get as many hours as possible in at work. Hopefully I will head home for a little over a week at Christmas.

For now its back to my 2 remaining book reviews!
God bless you all...

Concert and finals!

Aletheia played w/ Chorale and the instrumental ensamble Thursday night and it was fantastic! God really blessed the night. Not to mention Bw3's after. :)

Now...finals! Oh man. Can't believe they're here! One week of the semester and I'm done for 2 WHOLE months!

McCain on SNL

I was pretty impressed to see Senator McCain on SNL the other night. I thought the skit was brilliant.

Chicago!

Greetings. :)

Last weekend Aletheia traveled to Chicago and my hometown (kinda), Naperville, IL. We had a blast! We were blessed to lead through worship just north of downtown Chicago Friday afternoon then we got to do some touristy things on Saturday.

Sunday morning we played for a church in Orland Park and that evening we returned to my home church for a full blown concert. It was great! Everything went so well and it was a blast to finally travel together as a group.

In other news I have recently been job searching and it appears I will be serving at Ruby Tuesday's pretty soon here. Which will mean I'll be living in Louisville for most of the winter break. Not quite sure how I feel about that yet, but God has worked things out more than once before so I'm not too worried...

School work is crazy. Pray that I would be diligent in Hebrew because it is only getting more difficult!

Enjoy the pics!







Impressive

A couple weeks ago some friends and I played at a local coffee shop here in Louisville. It was a great night and I was able to get almost all of it recorded. Unfortunately it wasn't the best quality, but we tried nonetheless. I was finally able to seperate all of the tracks over the weekend which was a blessing. And now its back to school...

Check out this video. One of my profs shared it with my class last week and I was impressed. Humorously, one student responded by saying this video made him want to be Catholic. I'm not sure about that, but it is defintely worth watching!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61wj4tJICcc

Curly hair

Years later... I am still here.

School has been going so well. I've been surviving (barely) Hebrew and the rest of my classes are fine.

This last Tuesday I got to go to Nashville with some friends from school for a country music talent show. It doesn't sound like our group won, but we got to tour downtown and go to the Grand Old Opry! And even though I am far from a country music fan, it was still flippin' awesome.

Last week was fall break...I spent some time in Shepherdsville, Elizabethtown, and I got to play drums for a middle school DNow which was great.

Now I'm looking ahead to my last few weeks of classes before the end of the semester and trying to figure out what I will be doing over my extremely long winter break (a month and a half, about).

Aletheia will be playing at my home church in Chicago in 2 weeks and I cannot wait! We finally get some travel time, and its enough for us to just hang out which is great because one of my good friends who is in it will be leaving the group after getting married in December.

I know thats a lot of scrambled info, but its better than nothing. So enjoy the pictures and hopefully I'll get some more on here pretty soon. Next week should be pretty exciting!





Time has left

1 Corinthians 16:13
Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like MEN, be strong.

When I think of this verse I have a picture of Mark Driscoll trashing sissy ministers. But that's another post in itself. This has just been a verse of reflection for me this week. How often are we watchful? Notice how the verse flows. If we are watchful, we will stand firm because we know the Devil is always scheming. If we act like men, we will be strong. We can't take these challenges out of order.

Unfortunately I find myself too busy to ever watch, so I am always looking BACK ON the times I should have been strong, instead of ahead to the times where I would be.

School is 3 weeks in and I went from 19 credit hours to 13 - praise the Lord! I have 3 official classes (including Hebrew) with a bunch of music stuff. I'm also working about 30 hours a week(ish) at Pools Plus.

Things are going well though. I will be leading worship with Aletheia tomorrow night at a local church.

For now, the rest of life is flowing well. Pray for continued diligence in homework (its harder than ever) and that I might live 1 Corinthians 16:13.

Hosea

Last weekend a good friend of mine (Eric) came down to Louisville to do some recording. We had a great weekend hanging out and putting some of our different musical backgrounds together in a big mixing pot and seeing what came out!

One song he wrote reflected on Hosea's marriage to a harlot and how Christ has likewise done the same to us. A people of sin, running dead away from the cross and brought us to Himself. EVEN THOUGH we are still blemished in our physical state here on earth and still stumble by turning from Him time and time again. Way to go Eric on putting that to lovely music.

My car is finally fixed! All the lights work which is fantastic. Hopefully I will be able to get some new speakers and a head unit installed so everything will be back to normal again. But only God knows right now.

I'll be moving back into the dorms on August 3rd! Oh man! I can't believe how busy I'll be...

Car

The car situation was kind of fixed, but has only gotten worse. I thought it was fixed again, now lights aren't working, etc.

Please pray for patience, wisdom, and temperance. I've been doing pretty good until lately so now I am just a little frustrated.

I've been reflecting on Job recently...it's incredible how God allowed Satan to test him by removing EVERYTHING from him almost leaving him utterly alone and yet still Job never sins against God in his attitude. It's amazing how the smallest things can waver our faith and cause us to stumble. How pitiful our faith can be... oh for a stronger faith like that of Job!

Stress!

Pray for me...

The other day I was driving out to Elizabethtown w/ my buddy Matt and my car broke down on the highway. Thankfully we were able to get it towed out to Shepherdsville where I could borrow my Pastors car. So, I took his car. When we got up the next morning to come back, my pastors car wouldn't start! So we got this car towed also back to Shepherdsville and Jac let me borrow her car.

You'd think having 2 cars towed in less than 24 hours would be bad enough. But no...it got worse.

Upon arriving back in Shepherdsville I discovered someone had broken into my car and stole the sound system and torn the whole console unit out. Not so cool.

Needless to say. My car is still broken and I am unsure what the road looks like to repair and am a bit under the weather. I know God will provide, but I still worry.

In the meantime... happy independence day! time to go celebrate with good friends and watch some things blow up!

The car!

The rumors are true...

I got a car! ...even though I got it about a month ago it's still pretty cool. :) A '93 Toyota Tercel. And I NEVER thought I would EVER own a Toyota. Nothing against them...I just have a rivalry going with a friend and it seems she has finally gotten the best of me in my purchasing this car.

But on the good side it has been running very well. I got it at an amazing price from a family in my church. Plus its a stick shift which up until a few months ago I could not drive for the life of me. I think now I can say I'm getting the hang of it. :)

Work has been good. I'm enjoying the time to read and arrange the little things in my life when the store isn't busy.

Last weekend I went up to the Michigan dunes w/ my buds Luke and Andrew who I haven't seen in almost a year! We had a great time just hanging out and catching up on our future college plans and old memories from Chicago. And, speaking of Chicago...I was able to stop back to the Chicago area Sunday night for a while and hang out with some old friends which was great! It was definitely one of the best weekends of my summer and very needed. It was so awesome to be home!


Anyway...now its back to life here in the Ville. It's almost July and I can't believe it! I'm hoping to have my class schedule figured out soon - I'm just waiting on my re-admittance into the school since I took a semester off.

Last night I had the amazing blessing of not only being able to lead worship for my youth group, but I was also asked to teach through Acts 4. Praise God it went much smoother than I had expected! Please be in prayer for our youth group here as many of the kids are unsaved and come from very lost and broken homes.

Pray also for continual humility in my life as I try to lead by an example mirroring Christ's image.

God bless...