Thursday, December 20, 2012

Eleventh Link Year Recap 12/18-12/20

I've noticed that in life solitude is very important. My favorite band, as some of you know, is Relient k. I have always appreciated Matt Thiessen's honest, clever, and thought provoking lyrics. In one song, called "Therapy", Matt penned this lyric, "Loneliness and solitude are two things not to get confused.". What a true statement that I think many people need to hear! I know this past week, what solitude I have gotten, has been very helpful for I have needed to think about a lot of things. Along with the thoughts of solitude I've noticed my need of wisdom. While wisdom is needed every day of every week of every month of every year, this week it especially stood out. It's amazing how often I forget to ask for it. How could I forget to ask for wisdom when it is so often pointed out in King Solomon's life, the books of Poetry and Wisdom (Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon), and just throughout the rest of the Bible. It's filled with wisdom! So how do I so easily forget to simply ask for it? Well anyway, this little intro doesn't have a huge amount of relevance with what the speakers talked about this week, but I've noticed that I seem to be learning more from the situations and people around me than the actual speakers (although the speakers are fantastic). So yeah...I'll actually talk about the speakers this week.

Tuesday and Wednesday was definitely a treat. We got the privilege of hearing from DA Horton, executive director of ReachLife Ministries which is an extension of Reach Records. On Tuesday he talked about Heart Transformation using Romans 12:1-2 and Psalms 51:1-12. The fact he talked about Psalms 51 was really cool because the song, "White As Snow" by Jon Foreman had been in my mind for a few days. On Wednesday he talked about Maximizing Moments. I've heard this talked about a lot since I've been at Link Year but something clicked this time. I don't know if it was so much DA, (even though he did a great job of communicating the point behind maximizing moments), but just the scenarios around me that helped drive home the point he was making.  Not just maximizing moments here at Link Year, but also back home. Thursday we got to hear from Darrel Shemwell. We have had him once before and I really enjoyed him, which proved to be the case this time as well. He spoke about the sovereignty of God. Quite a hard topic to explain in one day but I thought he did a good job with it, through videos and his own talking.

Five things!

1) What I said at the beginning of this post, the whole thing about loneliness and solitude. That was really just emphasized and reaffirmed throughout the whole week. I was really able to see the advantage of just getting away from the everyday bustle of Link Year and getting some time in solitude to pray and read. But more than that, just listen.

2) This ties into point one, but the whole thing about listening. So many times we get caught up with just talking to God but we never take the time to listen. It's so important to just be quiet sometimes. With this being a culture of always doing something getting time to be quiet and not say, pray, or move is just really helpful.

3) The advantage of using time management in and outside of Link Year. Whenever I heard about the time management I just confined it to only Link Year but I need to take those lessons back home.

4) I was really challenged by a fellow friend and student with the correlation of free will and God's sovereign will. As a full five point Calvinist I should really be able to answer the question better than I did, but it is something I'll be working on for sure.

5) If God resurrects us in our dead trespasses than what in the world is the purpose of evangelism? It seems simple to me, God uses people to accomplish His will. Does He needs us to accomplish His will? Heck nah, but God in His mercy and grace uses us. Also Jesus commanded us to evangelize so that's sorta a thing.

Well that's about it, thanks for reading, yada yada yada, adios.


Saturday, December 15, 2012

Myths and Introverts


So guys this is basically not anything I've written, but it's something from Adam Young's blog that he got from a book on introverts. It was really good and I thought a few of you guys out there would like to read it. So yeah...let me know if these sorta things are things you'd like to hear more about. Like info like this. By the way here is the link to Adam's actual post he put...

http://www.ayoungblog.com/post/28350402077/10-myths-about-introverts




So here are a few common misconceptions about Introverts (I put this list together myself, some of them are things I actually believed):

Myth #1 – Introverts don’t like to talk.
This is not true. Introverts just don’t talk unless they have something to say. They hate small talk. Get an introvert talking about something they are interested in, and they won’t shut up for days.

Myth #2 – Introverts are shy.
Shyness has nothing to do with being an Introvert. Introverts are not necessarily afraid of people. What they need is a reason to interact. They don’t interact for the sake of interacting. If you want to talk to an Introvert, just start talking. Don’t worry about being polite.

Myth #3 – Introverts are rude.
Introverts often don’t see a reason for beating around the bush with social pleasantries. They want everyone to just be real and honest. Unfortunately, this is not acceptable in most settings, so Introverts can feel a lot of pressure to fit in, which they find exhausting.

Myth #4 – Introverts don’t like people.
On the contrary, Introverts intensely value the few friends they have. They can count their close friends on one hand. If you are lucky enough for an introvert to consider you a friend, you probably have a loyal ally for life. Once you have earned their respect as being a person of substance, you’re in.

Myth #5 – Introverts don’t like to go out in public.
Nonsense. Introverts just don’t like to go out in public FOR AS LONG. They also like to avoid the complications that are involved in public activities. They take in data and experiences very quickly, and as a result, don’t need to be there for long to “get it.” They’re ready to go home, recharge, and process it all. In fact, recharging is absolutely crucial for Introverts.

Myth #6 – Introverts always want to be alone.
Introverts are perfectly comfortable with their own thoughts. They think a lot. They daydream. They like to have problems to work on, puzzles to solve. But they can also get incredibly lonely if they don’t have anyone to share their discoveries with. They crave an authentic and sincere connection with ONE PERSON at a time.

Myth #7 – Introverts are weird.
Introverts are often individualists. They don’t follow the crowd. They’d prefer to be valued for their novel ways of living. They think for themselves and because of that, they often challenge the norm. They don’t make most decisions based on what is popular or trendy.

Myth #8 – Introverts are aloof nerds.
Introverts are people who primarily look inward, paying close attention to their thoughts and emotions. It’s not that they are incapable of paying attention to what is going on around them, it’s just that their inner world is much more stimulating and rewarding to them.

Myth #9 – Introverts don’t know how to relax and have fun.
Introverts typically relax at home or in nature, not in busy public places. Introverts are not thrill seekers and adrenaline junkies. If there is too much talking and noise going on, they shut down. Their brains are too sensitive to the neurotransmitter called Dopamine. Introverts and Extroverts have different dominant neuro-pathways. Just look it up.

Myth #10 – Introverts can fix themselves and become Extroverts.
A world without Introverts would be a world with few scientists, musicians, artists, poets, filmmakers, doctors, mathematicians, writers, and philosophers. That being said, there are still plenty of techniques an Extrovert can learn in order to interact with Introverts. (Yes, I reversed these two terms on purpose to show you how biased our society is.) Introverts cannot “fix themselves” and deserve respect for their natural temperament and contributions to the human race. In fact, one study (Silverman, 1986) showed that the percentage of Introverts increases with IQ.

It can be terribly destructive for an Introvert to deny themselves in order to get along in an Extrovert-Dominant World. Like other minorities, Introverts can end up hating themselves and others because of the differences. If you think you are an Introvert, I recommend you research the topic and seek out other Introverts to compare notes. The burden is not entirely on Introverts to try and become “normal.” Extroverts need to recognize and respect us, and we also need to respect ourselves.



Thursday, December 13, 2012

Tenth Link Year Recap 12/11-12/13

This week we got the great privilege to hear from our very own Brian Wang on Tuesday and Thursday but on Wednesday we got to hear from Julie Coxie. Most of Brian's teaching was over Luke 9:23 which is a great reminder of what we must do if we choose to follow Christ. Julie is Kanakuk's Human Resource person so she taught about what employers look for in employees and how to conduct yourself in future job interviews.

Let's first start off with Brian's talks on Tuesday and Thursday. As I said before he mainly spoke about Luke 9:23 and broke that down really well. He basically broke it down into three different main points. Self denial, complete dedication, and finally, willing obedience. I'll talk more about those later.
On Wednesday Julie brought us all some great information about how to present yourself well to your potential employers during job interviews. This was a really helpful day because it's just simple and practical information that is easy to apply in real life.

Onward to five things that stood out to me or I learned this week.

1) I really like how Brian talked about the boiling point of water. At 211 degrees, water is hot. At 212 degrees, it boils and with boiling water, comes steam. And with steam, you can power a locomotive. One extra degree can make all the difference. It was really cool to see such an analogy. Basically that little bit of extra effort can result in great things. So put forth effort, you never know how close to success you are.

2) To get what you've never had, you must do what you've never done. This is just a really cool quote. I don't know who it's by but Brian brought it up in correlation with the 212 degrees comment. It was a really good reminder about how you can't just get stuck in a rut of doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. You gotta change things up sometimes.

3) Julie talked about three things she looks at for an ideal employee. They were dependability, consistent performance, and positive behavior. This was really cool to see mapped out by a very good Human Resource worker. I will have to keep striving to become better and better at these three things if I desire to be a worker that exemplifies Christ well.

4) Luke 9:23 says, "And he said to all, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me." Something that stuck out to me and that Brian proceeded to point out was how it says, "If anyone would come after me...". I think it's key to look at the fact it's a decision. You can't just accidentally stubble into following Jesus, you have to make a conscious decision.

5) During The Fort Wednesday night Adam Donyes taught over Proverbs 13 and gave a really good example about Righteousness and Wickedness. A brief overview of his story/example. A man was conducting dog fights between his two Huskies and making a lot of money off of them. There was a white dog and a black dog. Every time they fought he would bet on one of those dogs and he was always right. Basically he was rolling in the dough. Finally someone just asked him how he got it right every fight. He said, "It's simple. I know which dog is going to win because I feed only him that day.". So basically which are you feeding? Righteousness or wickedness? Because whichever one you're feeding is the one that's going to win that day. Stay in the Word and continue to look at Christ. It's a good question to ask yourself and I know I'll be asking myself that question a lot more now.

Alright everyone here is where I leave you all awkwardly stranded...

Thursday, December 6, 2012

Ninth Link Year Recap 12/4-12/6

Smooth intro!

Let's see, this week was pretty cool. We got the opportunity to have some pretty wise speakers. Three different speakers for all three of the days, so that was a little different. Tuesday we had Kyle Unruh who is the president of K-Life, Wednesday we had Antione Mack who is the director of Kids Across America 1 in Missouri, and finally on Thursday we sort of had two speakers, first was the mayor of Branson, Raeanne Presley, and second was Adam Donyes. I know that last sentence was long but this one isn't that bad.

Five things I learned or stood out to me this week is what I shall be writing about now.

1) I thought it was interesting how Kyle Unruh pointed out that the first sign of authority you have as a parent over your kid is naming them. I'd never really thought about it that way but it truly is the first act of authority over them. The doctor doesn't hand the baby to the nurse and ask her what its (Yes I said "its") name is, he hands the baby to the parents and asks what its name is going to be. Important decision.

2) Antoine Mack was really cool. He talked about psychology and as some know that is an area I am really interested in and may look into during college. His main point was how our time perspective affects our thoughts and actions. An example he gave from a really good looking book, "The Time Paradox" was this: The time perspective is different the closer you get to the equator in terms of things are a lot more relaxed and not much is rushed. But the farther away you get from the equator the more things become punctual and "on time". Take the Caribbean for example, time over there is much more laid back. One reason is because they don't need to rush and get work done because the weather is basically the same throughout the year. No need to hurry up and get things ready for the cold winter when there is no cold winter. But the farther away you go from the equator the more things are on time and punctual. They have to worry about the weather because it does change a lot more than right next to the equator. They need to get all the work done outside before the freezing cold pushes them inside. Interesting thoughts. One of my questions that I never got a chance to ask him was what about once you get to the extreme North or South? If it's always cold in those areas wouldn't the time perspective also be relaxed because they don't have to worry about the weather changing that much? I'm not really sure but it's just a thought. Whew, that was a long one.

3) Antoine also gave us a different perspective of temptation than I'd heard. Temptation is a matter of time. It is the persuasion of now. You want something now instead of later. This generation especially is very "now" oriented. Example would be sex. The temptation for sex is that people want it now, instead of waiting till the proper context of marriage. There is nothing wrong with sex in and of itself, it's a wonderful gift from God for one man and one women in marriage, but if the person is not willing to wait for marriage they succumb to that temptation and want it now. No patience. Another example would be stealing. Maybe you see some nice piece of electronic in the store, so obviously you want it. Are you tempted to steal it? That's because you want it now instead of waiting and earning money to buy it later. That whole concept kind of puts patience in a different perspective than I have thought of it before.

4) Something that was really interesting that goes along with the whole temptation thought process of it being the concept of wanting something now and not later is this; God can't be tempted. If temptation is a matter of time (I want this now) God is outside of time. Another reason is he has everything. We cannot give God something he does not have. So that was a pretty interesting thing because I'd never heard or thought about it that way. I'll be sure to think about it a little more.

5) Today I learned that I am a Golden Retriever.

That's it you guys, thanks for dropping by and reading. Hope you enjoyed it!










Ok just kidding, I'll expand on number five a little more because some may be confused. What I meant by that is after the mayor of Branson spoke Adam gave us all a personality test. It was that kind of test that puts you in the category of animals. Let me tell you the animals first because some of you may be unfamiliar with this kind of test. The first animal is a Lion. This kind of person is more of a leader in terms of the guy on front stage. They take charge and are more bold. Then you have the Otter which is the party animal (Which I find strange, have you ever seen otters partying? Maybe they're just pretty sneaky about it. Sneaky Otters.) These type of people are ones who just want a good time. They usually help others not take themselves so seriously so they are a good fit for Lions. Next you have a Beaver. No sneaky ones here, just analytical type personalities. Details, details, and more details. This is the animal I am farthest from. Bleh, details don't work well with me. Finally you have my group, the Golden Retriever. Adam said these people are the most loyal. Which in turn usually makes them the best spouses because of how loyal they are and the fact they will want to work through things. I can attest to this because I feel like I am pretty dang loyal to those I call my friends. Also apparently we let people walk over us too much because we don't like conflict. Oh well, as long as they are happy (That was a joke by the way). Something kinda funny was Adam kept guessing what everyones personality was and when I asked him to guess mine he said, "Well you are more of a quiet Lion, but very loyal, so I am going to guess Retriever, Lion, Beaver, and then Otter.", he was basically right except Beaver and Otter are switched. But what I really got out of what he said with that was this; I am either a fierce Golden Retriever, or a quiet and tame Lion. What? I've never heard of a quiet Lion or a fierce Golden Retriever, but I guess that's what you get when you mix a regular Lion and Retriever. Anyway it was pretty cool to see everyones personalities and stuff.

Well this is the official sign off. Yup.






Thursday, November 29, 2012

Eighth Link Year Recap 11/27-11/29

Before I start this post I just want to say something. One of my friends back home said that when he reads my blog posts he feels odd. I believe his actual sentence was, "Whenever I read your posts it makes me feel completely awkward." Apparently my writing style does this. Is it reflecting how I usually talk? I'd hope so. Anyway...we will begin.

This week was pretty good. We got the privilege of having Shay Robbins speak wisdom into our lives. Because Shay is the Men's Kamp director at K-2 he had a lot of experience speaking to our age group. This was a great asset for him because I believe everyone really enjoyed what he had to say and understood because he put it so simply but still kept the whole week entertaining. Shay's main theme throughout the whole week was Intimacy with God. He highlighted a few things that I thought were really good so without further adue here are the five things that stood out to me or I learned this week.

1) Something Shay kept coming back to was how back in ancient times (think around Christ's time) there was great intimacy with God. The people who lived then could just go up on their roofs and sleep while looking up at the beautiful night sky with God's handiwork very evident. All those stars and planets millions and bilions of miles away. But now-a-days we are so consumed with just looking at whatever is right in front of our faces. This is usually some sort of screen whether it be a computer, tv, or cell phone. Whatever it is, we have lost sight of God's handiwork and creation.

2) The youth in America lack depth. Why is this? Well if you look at what I just said you'd see that for most of our time we are right in front of a screen. You lose any kind of real relationship depth if all you do is communicate through a screen. Want to say something to someone that you'd never say in person? Just text them. The conversation gets awkward during texting? Just stop replying. Feeling lonely? Just go add a bunch of people on Facebook for a temporary cure. It's this lack of depth that is also really hurting our intimacy with God. I am by no means saying technology is bad, it's something that is neither good or bad. Our jobs as Christians is to redeem it.

3) One thing he said that I thought was really cool was, "The greatest miracle we can ever be a part of is the salvation of someone else". Notice how he did not say we are doing the saving, but we are blessed to witness the Holy Spirit work in this persons life and convict them. God saves them, not us. We are just witnesses of God's great work.

4) He also talked about different ways God talks to us. Mainly and primarily through the scriptures. But He also speaks to us in different ways. Creation (Genesis 1, Rom 1:20, Psalms 19:1), God's people (Proverbs), Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12-14), dreams and visions (1 Corinthians 12-14, Acts 10:9-16, Acts 16:6-10), and finally however he flipping wants to (Balaam's donkey).

5) Fasting is feasting. Something my pastor says whenever he talks about fasting. It's a really good thing to remember and tell others about. Fasting isn't just from food, but it's abstaining from anything and replacing it with a feast of God's Word. Devour His word daily, but when you're fasting it sort of takes a different mindset in the way that you are becoming even more reliant on His sustenance.

Boom you guys. Hope you learned from and enjoyed my blog post this week. Also hope it made you feel awkward. Well maybe not awkward, but just makes you feel as if I was there talking to you face to face. If that is awkward than I embrace that.

Monday, November 19, 2012

Of Role Models and Sermons

As a lot of the people who read this blog know I had a pretty big event happen last week. Thursday around 1:07pm is when this event happened. I got to shake the hand of one of my favorite pastors. Matt Chandler. This was a pretty dang big deal for me. I mean Matt Chandler shook my hand and I was pretty amazed to see him face to face. It was also weird to hear his voice in person and not over audio or video. But anyway, back to my point. I got to shake his hand.

Now I should probably say this before I go on. Matt Chandler has had a big impact on my life through his sermons and his continual serving by letting God use him in amazing ways. Matt is also head of Acts 29 so that's sorta a big deal. Basically what I am getting at is that he is a really cool guy who has contributed to my life in big ways through the example of his own life. Now when I saw Matt on campus in the dinning hall talking to some students Tuesday morning I got pretty dang excited. But also really bummed because I knew I wouldn't get to hear him teach since he was only teaching the Kanakuk Institue (Kanakuk's post college program). After this I began to think about some things. Like how I sometimes fall into the trap and sin of idolizing these types of people. Not just Matt Chandler, but any person who I look up to (Mark Driscoll, John Piper, Sam Storms...there are more.) I forget these people are humans and the only reason they are where they are is because God for some reason chose to use them. It wasn't because they are so great and amazing, but because God decided, in his eternal wisdom, to use them in His plan. The Holy Spirit working through them. When I see what they are doing through God's grace I shouldn't look at them and praise them but go back to the God who created and gifted them, praise that God. The God who gifts everyone in different ways. Not all were created and gifted for preaching and teaching in such a way that they are doing. That doesn't mean they are any lesser though.

But anyway...I should get back to my main purpose of writing this thingy up.

As I thought more about Matt Chandler being on campus and how much I enjoyed his sermons I thought about Acts 1:1-3 (Well I thought about what it said, I couldn't remember where it was in the NT till I looked it up). It says, "In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.

Now this is pretty cool to me. Here are two things that stick out to me.

1) I thought it was great how "through the Holy Spirit" He gave commands to His apostles that he had chosen. Throughout all of Christ's ministry on earth he was empowered by the Holy Spirit (example of this is when he was tested in the desert by Satan.) It goes to show you we need to Holy Spirit greatly. For many things; to lean and trust on through struggles, for conviction and repentance, to understand the scriptures...etc. So that was cool to see.

2) In verse 3 it talks about how he was, "speaking about the kingdom of God." which is something I would love to hear. I feel like this whole verse 3 would be a great sermon to see and hear. To see His many proofs throughout these 40 days and hearing Him speak about the kingdom of God. Once I die and go to Heaven I really hope you can look and see past events because I'd want to see this event along with others (like creation, the flood, Sodom and Gomorrah...etc). But is anyone else with me on this? Being able to hear this would be amazing.

But yes that is it for now. Just some thoughts that were running around my head. Sorta just splashed them on this post so I hope it wasn't too hard to follow. More thoughts like this probably in the future. For now though, goodbye.

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Seventh Link Year Recap 11/12-11/15

Here we are again, another week another recap. This was a little more of a normal week, but still, the fact it's the week right before break made it a little strange. Example would be no class Friday and we had the chance to leave Thursday or later. So that was nice. I chose to leave Thursday and get home a soon as I could. But anyway...you don't want to hear more about me. There are other blog post for that.
Alright, here we go.

A quick recap of this week so far. Monday was Mystery Monday and we got to have a lot of fun laser tagging and mini golfing. It was actually pretty great. The laser tag place let us run so that is a huge plus. Also the mini golf was inside with glow in the dark/black light things. Pretty legit. On Tuesday Adam Donyes gave us all a much needed talk on dating and stuff. More to come about that. Wednesday was bible study in the morning, small groups, and finally accountability groups. Good morning and ended with a good night of family dinners and The Fort where Don Ford spoke. Thursday we had Andrew Munneke and he talked about Spiritual Formation in Contemporary Culture. It was pretty good overall. Personally a little hit and miss at times. Some things he said I completely agreed with and some things not so much. But overall still good. Maybe I was just misunderstanding some of his points, very possible.

Well here are a few things that stood out to me this week or I learned.
1) Adam gave a very good morning message on Dating Tuesday. It was pretty great to hear things I've been taught and agree with reaffirmed, but also new things proposed by him. Something I'll definitely remember. He also gave us an article called, "How to Pursue a Godly Spouse" by Mark Driscoll. I am a fan of Driscoll so I was happy to see this. The article had a part where it talked about that our Independence and our Dependence can become idols in our lives.

2) Another important thing that the article talks about is being the right person. So often we can get caught up on looking for the right person and having them fit our own idea of the ideal future spouse. There isn't anything necessarily wrong with having some ideas about how you want your spouse to be, but if that becomes all you focus on then it's not good. Focus on becoming more like Christ first and foremost.

3) Leaving a good impression on the girl you date. This is something Adam stresses a lot and I completely agree with him. It is a very important thing to remember, but let me explain it a little. Usually when he talks about this he is saying it in context of dating the other girls in Link Year. So he basically says this: If you date a girl here at Link Year and treat her badly just think of the damage you will do. Here is a guy who is supposed to be following the Lord and he treats me this way? This will lower the expectations for the girls if supposedly the best guys who are Christians treat them badly then those who aren't Christians won't seem as bad. On the other hand if us guys treat them well and respectfully like we should it will end up much better. The girls will go onto college life and if a guy treats them badly at college they can hold up and realize there are people out there who will treat them better. This applies to just more than Link Year relationships, but any relationships I (I'll make this personal now) have with girls in general. I need to uphold them and respect them. When I date a girl I need to treat her so well and respectful that even if the relationship doesn't work out, she understands what a godly guy looks like and can look for that in other guys.

4) What are my non-negotiable's? This is an important question to ask myself. When I am looking for a potential spouse (basically someone to date because after all the point of dating is to see if the person is someone you could see yourself marrying. But that's sorta a different topic.) I need to have some things that do not change. An example would be they have to be a Christian. No question there. Things like that are what I mean by non-negotiable's.

5) Culture mediates 3 things to people. Meaning, value, and identity. An example would be for meaning, the quarter means 25 cents. The culture gave it that meaning. If I had that quarter 400 years ago it would mean nothing. The culture gave the quarter it's meaning.
In the end if you find your meaning, value, or identity in anything else except Christ, you fail in life.

So that was this week. Really good week to end with before break and I am grateful for it. Before I wrap up I must point out what was one of the top things that happened this week if not my highlight of the week. I got to shake Matt Chandler's hand. Yes...that is all.

Thursday, November 8, 2012

Sixth Link Year Recap 11/5-11/8

This week was quite a bit different from the other weeks. Basically we had no class...so that was cool, but also we had the great opportunity to go up to Kansas City, MO/KS and work in the inner city with little kids. It was pretty amazing but I'll get into more of that later. First I am gonna explain sorta what it looked like.

So if you asked me my thoughts on Urban Entry before I left I would have said that I hoped it was going to be like the Waco, Texas "Poverty Simulation" some of the older kids in the youth group did during June. After having returned I realized they are two different things, but also have many similarities. Firstly I will quickly explain what the Poverty Sim was, very briefly.

Basically Poverty Simulation was a two-three day period where we got the chance to live homeless. Yup, homeless. It was a really eye opening time and definitely one of my top mission type trips I've been on. If you want to know the more detailed parts of this trip than just ask me. But I don't really have the time or need to put it up. Maybe another post.

As I was saying, the Poverty Sim and Urban Entry had some similarities, but a lot of differences. In short the Poverty Sim was much more immersive. We lived like homeless people (even a little better) for those days. Urban Entry we had a house to stay in and such. Although food was scarce. But in UE it was much more focused on serving. We got to clean up an old church (much like the bean cans...) but more of furniture and such. It was definitely really cool to serve in this way. Enough of this though, let me get to five things that impacted me/I learned this week.

1) That Kansas City is one of the most crime ridden cities in the US. I believe #2 if I remember correctly. This was an interesting one for me to learn. It made me a little excited whenever I went outside, because being in danger is exciting. Sorta. That's hard to explain. But it is true for at least my experiences.

2) Something pretty amazing was to see how many abandoned houses there were throughout all these neighborhoods. Probably 1 out of every 5 houses actually were occupied. This was mainly just in the rougher neighborhoods, but still. It was pretty strange to see so many houses abandoned. 

3) Another thing that has to do with the houses. Some of these houses cost around 7,000-15,000 dollars. Ridiculous I know, but that's just how low in demand these houses are. No one wants to live in these neighborhoods. They are completely overlooked.

4) This was a reassured thought but still a good one. Missions are not just overseas but they are also over the street. Just walk across the street and be missional. Live a life like Jesus and be missional with everything you do. You don't need to get on a plane to be a missionary. 

5) Finally something that was really good for me to remember throughout this week. You don't need to feel guilty for what you have. That is not the feeling that these sort of trips are (should) evoke. What it should do is make you aware and give you a bigger heart. Continue you in the sanctification process. Becoming more like Jesus day by day. So what you do with this is not become guilt ridden, but have a heart change and give. Not out of the motivation of guilt, but give out of the motivation that God has blessed you with much so that you may bless others. Do it. Just like Nike. 

A really good quote that I want to end with is this...
"Just remember beautiful pictures come from negatives in a darkroom. So when you see the darkness in your life you know that a beautiful picture is being prepared."
This was on a paper lunch bag. It was written on there by a girl around 18 (can't remember exactly) who had gone through immense physical abuse, cutting herself still, drugs, sexual abuse..etc. She was and still is being wounded. That's why this quote struck me so much. I have no idea if she is following Christ or not. But the fact that she had this quote and is still going through that crap is incredible. So yes, that is how I am going to end this post. Think about it. 

More post to come, hopefully some that aren't just about the Link Year week recaps, but also random subjects. I got a few ideas. Keep up with this blog and you'll probably see them. Adios.






Thursday, November 1, 2012

Fifth Link Year Recap 10/30-11/1

Well hey there everyone, glad to see you showed up. Let us dig in.

First off this week was pretty good, inside and outside the classroom. We had the privileged of having Marvin Daniels speak to us Tuesday and Wednesday. He was also planned to speak on Thursday, but had something come up on his part and had to jet. So we got a surprise guest speaker for Thursday, but I'll get to that soon. Anyway, on Tuesday Marvin came in and talked about how we should not be isolated from the world but insulated. So basically we need to be in the world but not of it. The solution to living in a sin filled world is not to go off and live all alone, isolated. The solution is to be a light in the darkness and keep yourself insulated. Meaning, guard yourself with scripture and ask the Holy Spirit to work in your life. Another fun thing Marvin did was he made us all stand up...and walk to the back of the room. What followed was a great thing. He had, on opposite walls, signs that said "Don't Agree" and "Agree". Next he put up a slide with a question and we had to walk to whichever side of the room we agreed with. Example would be this: The first slide he put up was, "I can listen to music with profanity and lewd lyrics without it affecting me negatively." So if you agreed you would walk to the side of the room that had the "Agree" sign. If you disagreed, well, you get the point I'm sure. So after everyone had chosen a side he let a friendly debate take place. Each group would get to defend there side. This was really cool cause I got to see others opinions and views on these "gray" areas. I'll tell you guys the other 2 questions he asked and then move on to Wednesday. The second question was, "The Republican Party is more Christian than the Democratic Party." and the third question was, "I would lie if it would get me out of serious trouble.". Well I won't tell you which sides I picked, you can guess and/or ask me personally.

Wednesday Marvin came back to talk about "Living Above The Influence". Basically don't be influenced by what the world is doing, be influenced by what Christ did and is doing in your life. Just ask. Something he said that stood out to me was, "The best compliment a Christian can receive is, 'If Jesus is anything like you than I want to get to know Him.'" To which I would say, "Heck no dude, Jesus is a whole lot better!" Then this apocryphal person and I would continue this great conversation. This is what would happen in an ideal conversation. I just hope it can come to reality sometime. Something I will be praying for. [By the way, notice how I ended that sentence with a preposition? Some people don't like that...] Wednesday was good, but I really wish Marvin had made us do the whole, "Don't Agree and Agree" thing again. He had three more questions he could have asked! They were good ones also. First, "If humans could be cloned - a clone would have a soul.", second was, "Racism is still expressed in the Body of Christ in America.", and finally third was, "Abortion is always wrong unless a person is raped or the mother's life is threatened.". As I said before, I have my views on these but you should guess and/or ask me personally. A final note, a cool thing we did Wednesday is we all got in small groups and discussed a lot of other questions he posed to us, I just can't remember all of them and they were not written down sadly. 

Thursday was a really cool day, much more personal than some of the other days we have had at Link Year so far. By no means am I saying that the other days were not personal, it's just this day was more so. Anyway, as I said before Marvin had to leave for an unknown reason so Adam Donyes brought in a guest speaker. I was pretty happy to see he brought in Keith Chancey. He did a really good job of speaking and teaching on Genesis 1-3. Some cool things were brought up but the most interesting thing I'll mention in a lil bit. Just be patient. I know that's harder for some people but just bear with me.

Up next we have the five main things I learned this week. Stay tuned.

1) "We are never called to supervise sin, we are called to pray and confess." This was not really something I learned as much as it was just a really well worded quote. Concise and to the point. I like it. So many times we just tell our accountability partner that we are struggling and then kinda look at the sin for a little bit. Finally we just move on to the next thing. Nope, not the way to do it. Gotta fight that monster and punch it out. Pray and confess.
2) "The Principles you live by create the world you live in; if you change the principles you live by, you will change your world." - Blaine Lee. This was just a good quote that I enjoyed. I feel like it speaks for itself and doesn't really need to be expanded on. Plus this blog post is starting to become a little long so I am going to try and wrap this thing up.
3) This is probably the most interesting thing I learned at all of Link Year. Or at least one of the most interesting. Also one of the things I actually learned. Lot's of the things I have heard but just put in a different way. This was something I'd never heard before. Anyway, Keith talked about Genesis 1-3 and he talked about Genesis 1:6-8. I can't go into too much detail but basically when the text talks about separating the water into the expanses there is a theory called, "The Water Vapor Canopy Theory" that says the text is talking about the water on earth and the rest of the water was separated into a canopy of sorts around the earth. This was really interesting because I'd never heard this before. As with all things I hear that are new to me I looked this up more and studied it a little bit. Not completely sure which side I fall in but I tend to disagree with it. For different reasons. Now I have only been studying it for about an hour so I am by no means an expert, but I encourage you to look it up more yourself. Here is a link to a description of what it is, http://creationwiki.org/Canopy_theory. You can look into it more yourself and make a decision. It is an open hand issue so believe what you want with that one.
4) If you can disprove Genesis, even down to the very first verse, "In the beginning God..." you can disprove the validity of the whole Bible. That's why it's so important to study the whole Bible and not just the NT. So yeah...know yo Bible.
5) This is a little of a throwback but that's fine. On Monday we had a nutrion expert lady come in to talk to us. She was all about eating right and being healthy. I learned that there are 7 Pillars of Health and Wellness. Hydration, Eating Well, Sleep and Rest, Exercise and Movement, Detoxification, Coping With Stress, and Healthy Relationships - Building Community.

Alright everyone thanks for joining in. Next week looks to be exciting for we will be going to Kansas City for an Urban Entry thing. Hopefully it ressembles what I did in Waco, Texas with the Poverty Simulation because that was fantastic. Living homeless was a real eye opener and I hope and pray that this coming week is the same thing. Stretching periods hopefully are in my future! Ight everybody, I'll see you next week.

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Fourth Link Year Recap 10/23-10/25


Guys, I think I have finally figured out a way to intro into these recaps. It's really smooth and transitional. I feel like it's as smooth as-


This week was a little different because we didn't have any guest speakers. I know that's crazy but it's true. Instead we had Adam Donyes talk on Tuesday, Adam Martin talk on Wednesday, and finally Adam Donyes again on Thursday. Personally I was looking forward to this week because I've heard Donyes speak and I've always enjoyed it, also I had never heard Martin speak so I was ready to see what his presentations would be like.

On Tuesday Donyes talked about Time Management and how everything we do in life has eternal significance. This was a really good day because he had us outline what a week looks like for us and I realized how much free time I actually have. It's a whole lot more than I thought so that was really good for me to see. Also he pointed out how the Bible considers those who poorly manage their time to be fools. I don't wanna be a fool so it was good to have Donyes talk about this.

Wednesday was a pretty good day in my opinion. Martin talked about Managing Money and had a lot of insight because in college his degree had to do with finance management. Growing up I'd been taught the basics of money handling and common sense helped a lot. Basically in my mind if you don't have the money, don't spend it. I know this sounds really simple but it seems some people just can't grasp that concept. Sad how many people spend money they don't have. But besides that Martin's talk was educational on all things money. Stuff like checking accounts, savings accounts, loans, and investments. Also how to budget. He even showed us a really great site he has been using for 7 years called "Mint.com" which seems incredibly helpful with budgeting and money management so I'll be sure to take advantage of this!

Finally Donyes spoke again Thursday about Managing Self. This was a great day to learn about self-control, heart change, and other things. Discipline is the main ingredient to managing self. This is something Donyes told us and it rings true. He talked about 3 main disciplines. There are Inward, Outward, and Corporate Disciplines. These all were greatly expanded on by Donyes and it was really good.

Now I have come to the part where I tell you good folks 5 things I learned. Here they are.
1) Actually looking at a physical sheet of paper with my schedule on it really helps me find my free areas. It was really amazing to see how much time I was wasting, yes wasting, every day. I can fill it up with a lot more productive things. This is something I shall keep with me.
2) High interest rates on loans is a bad thing. But low interest rates on loans are great! Whoop, good stuff.
3) Mint.com is a really really useful looking website. I look forward to using it. Basically just go look up the website if you are wondering what it does. It may not sound secure, but it definitely is, been running for awhile with no reported thefts. Good stuff right there.
4) "I think the reason we sometimes have the false sense that God is so far away is because that is where we have put him. We have kept him at a distance, and then when we are in need and call on him in prayer, we wonder where he is. He is exactly where we left him." - Ravi Zacharias.
I don't think more needs to be said about this. The quote speaks for itself. Really good point made by the Ravi.
5) This is not something I really learned, but something that was a highlight of my week. Donyes showed a video from Matt Chandler, the pastor of The Village Church in Texas, talking about a rose...sorta. You'd have to see the video for it to really sink in, but trust me, it's incredible. Gives me chills every time I hear it. I was really glad Donyes showed it cause I saw it a few months ago, but had forgotten about it. Here is the link to the video, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuGYh6QDNYY. Seriously, if there is one thing you get out of this blog post, watch this video. Really great.

Well peeps, that's it for today. Hope you enjoyed the ride and that you'll join me next time. Peace out dudes and dudets, it's been a trip.

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Third Link Year Recap 10/8-10/11

I've been thinking about the best way to intro these "Link Year Recap" things. So far I have not found a good way, as I am sure you can tell. But I guess this explanation about my bad intros will be my intro. See how that works? It just does.

This week we had what has definitely been my favorite speaker so far. He was crazy good. His name was Jonathan Morrow and he has written many books on apologetics including one with Sean McDowell (Josh McDowell's son) called, "Is God Just a Human Invention?: And Seventeen Other Questions Raised by the New Atheists". So if you were counting, that is 18 questions answered in his book. That's a pretty good deal if you ask me. He also has a website called, "thinkchristianly.org". Pretty good stuff right there. Anyway, I should probably briefly go over what he taught us on Tuesday through Thursday. 

For Tuesday he talked about what truth and faith actually are and how they relate to culture and the debate on God. He also talked about how important knowledge is to the Christian faith. You need to know what you are talking about. That was pretty cool to hear because a lot of Christians will try and pray they can love God with all their heart, body, soul, and strength, but the only problem is they forget the "mind" part in that verse. On Wednesday Jonathan went into a much more apologetical defense of God through the Kalam Cosmological Argument and the Design Inference. These are both really good and effective deductive arguments for a creator. Finally on Thursday Jonathan talked about the Moral Argument for God and the Historical Argument for Jesus. This was really helpful because a lot of times atheists will say there are no actual facts for Christ living, yet there are more documents showing Jesus of Nazareth lived then there are for Tiberius Caesar. That is pretty crazy to think about.

So in conclusion I would say I definitely enjoyed this week's speaker more than any other. Jonathan is a great communicator and a great defender of the Bible. Really encouraging to see someone so down to earth like Jonathan. But quickly here are five things that stood out to me this week and that I learned.

1) This is actually something that happened Tuesday night when Jonathan did an optional Q&A in the Ala Moana. Only about 10 of us were there but it was well worth it. I forget what the question was, probably something along the lines of desire and feelings, but Jonathans answer is what stood out to me. He pointed out how in Jeremiah 17:9 it talks about how the heart is deceitful and wicked so we cannot trust the desires and feelings we have. But then he followed that up by pointing to Psalms 37:4 which talks about how if you delight in the Lord, he will give you the desires of your heart. He said that you reconcile these two verses because the more and more sanctified you become and the more you trust the Holy Spirit in your life, the more your feelings and desires will line up with God's purpose. Interesting stuff right there, haven't heard that put that way before. 

2) On Wednesday Jonathan briefly brought up Antony Flew and how he was once a hardcore atheist but has since changed his mind to believe there is a God. This was really cool to learn and encouraging because it showed me that no matter how far a friend of mine may be from God, he can be turned around. Not by my arguments, but by the Holy Spirit working through my words. Nothing of my doing, but it was still really cool to hear that and be reminded of it. 

3) Another thing I learned that was really cool was how intricately designed the universe is. If the initial mass of the universe varied by as much as plus or minus one grain of table salt there would be no universe. That is crazy. Just think about that for a little bit. Mind boggling. It's good to know because it gives me another "awe factor" to tell others about how amazing God is with his creation.

4) This one is really cool. Get ready. Ready? Alright here it is: The one place in all the universe where there is life is also the best place to discover everything else. The "place" being earth. You understand what that means? If life was on any other planet we would not be able to have discovered and know all that we do about the universe. For reason such as comets, dust and debris in space. But I think that's pretty amazing yet again and another thing I'll use in my life when I talk to others about the awesome creation of God.

5) This final thing is something that will require more research on my part, but it will be well worth it I know. So one of the objections that Jonathan said atheists will bring up against the existence of God is something called the 'God' Gene. This is a relatively new published idea (I believe it was first publicly talked about in 2005). Because of this I did not know much about it or how to defend against it. Basically the 'God' Gene says that all humans are born with a gene that predisposes us towards a spiritual experience. Like I said before, I must read up on this more and shall be doing that as soon as I can afford a book about this. 

Well that is all folks. Well done for sticking with me this far, you get a prize. Just don't ask me for it or you lose it. Anyway, if you couldn't tell I really enjoyed Jonathan Marrow this week and will be supporting him through buying of his books and such. This is honestly the only week where I could have written more then 5 things I learned so I am understandably excited to read more of his books. Great things to learn from them I am sure. I'm Timothy Wright. You stay classy, San Diego. 

Sunday, October 7, 2012

I Thought Long and Hard About This Title

I am mad about a movie ending. I know that's an odd way to start out this random post, but it's true. I just finished watching the movie, "The Mist". Being a fan of the original short story written by Stephen King I was hoping the movie would be a faithful adaption and for the most part it was. Except the end. The end made me legitimately (and yes I just looked up how to spell that word, it's a tricky one) mad. I don't mean, "throw couches around, yell like king kong while punching walls" mad. But just upset, yeah, that is a better word, upset. I will now go on and tell why I was mad at this ending and you have been warned...I am going to spoil the movie so if you don't want the movie to be spoiled for you, don't read the rest of this post. There, you have been warned.

Alright so first off I should say a little something about Stephen King. I have read a few of his books and have enjoyed them. I realize that the content in his books are not usually "appropriate", but I can't deny a good story when I read it. Is Stephen King for everyone? Heck no. Is he a talented writer who I have enjoyed reading? Heck yes. Have I read all his books? Nope I have not. So can I recommend all of his books? No I can not do that either. What I can do is give you my thoughts on this movie and while doing that give my thoughts on parts of Stephen King's writings. So that is about it...I am going to go ahead and talk about the premise of the book and then the movie. Once again, spoilers ahead (in case you couldn't tell by the whole premise of this post being about the ending of the movie).

Here is the basic plot line for the short story, "The Mist" (honestly I have not read this book for about 3 years so I may have forgotten parts, but the movie helped refresh my memory, so bear with me if you can). Anyway, it starts off in Bridgetown, Maine where a huge thunderstorm takes place and does a tremendous amount of damage to the town. We then zero in on the main character of this story, David Drayton (who is an artist if you were curious). Well David takes his son and his neighbor into town for materials to repair damage done to his house and such. Anyway he arrives at the Supermarket which is packed with people because of the recent storm and everybody is flippin out, because that's what people do when wind causes trees to fall through their houses. Or at least people who have to pay for the damage. I am guessing kids wouldn't freak out as much as they would enjoy climbing the tree that is now in their kitchen. But I am getting off topic and should get back on track. Back to David now. He is in the supermarket when a huge mist covers the whole town of Bridgetown, Maine. This mist contains creatures that they can't really see but know are there because whenever anyone tries to escape or go to their car they are promptly eaten, usually accompanied with a certain amount of cuss words. What a nice side dish for those creatures. Plus later on they see the creatures for a few break into the Supermarket. Basically that is the premise of the short story, or horror novella as some sophisticated people call it.

[Here I took a break and looked up what a novella was and found out that it's usually between 17,500 - 40,000 words, an example of this would be "The Old Man And The Sea" by Ernest Hemingway. Which is an interesting book by the way. So I guess a little longer then a short story, but for the purpose of not trying to sound to fancy or sophisticated I am going to keep calling it a short story. Besides I read it in Stephen Kings collection of short stories, "Skeleton Crew" picture here...



...yup, that is a monkey with cymbals. I distinctly remember liking that short story because it had a creepy monkey, but hoping what that monkey did in the story never happened to me. But that is not the point right now, different topic altogether. This is really long bracketed statement. I completely got off topic. Oh well, back to the point of this]

Yes well anyway, like I was trying to say before I so rudely interrupted myself, the premise of the story. Basically these people are trapped in the Supermarket and must survive. It is really interesting how Stephen goes into how people would actually act in this situation. The depravity of man is really shown with the factions that are formed. There is even a religious crazy women who rants and raves about how the creatures and the mist is a punishment from God and the fulfillment of Revelation. She got really annoying in the book and movie because of how far off she was from the actual truth that the Bible talks about. Needless to say, halfway through the book and movie I wanted to punch her. I know, not very nice, but she just grated on the nerves. I am sure there is some sorta statement Stephen was trying to make with this.

Now to talk about the movie a little bit. I actually was greatly impressed with how well the movie stayed in line with the book. Which is probably one of the reasons I was so disappointed with the ending. In the book it ends with David, his son, and a few other characters escaping to David's car and driving down the highway slowly, with barely any visibility in the mist. Eventually they find a place to stay for the night and David hears a garbled and static filled message on the radio with only the words, "Hartford" so they head to this city in hopes that it is a refuge. That is how the short story ends. I know, not much closure, but that's what makes it kinda cool. They head off into the mist toward an unknown fate. Survivors, going on to survive more. Good stuff in my opinion. But here is where I get upset, the ending of the movie. As I said before the movie was doing a great job of staying faithful to the book. I was impressed! See how impressed I was? I used an exclamation point. Which means something fo sho. In the movie it ends with David and Co. driving down the highway when they suddenly run out of gas. I should point out that there are five people in the car. David, his son, some chick, and an elderly couple (a pretty rough and tough couple if I do say so myself). Now, they have run out of gas and are just sitting there on the highway with the mist all around them. They can hear the creatures milling about but cannot see them, which is a scary thought. Now when these creatures kill, they do it slowly and painfully. Why would I tell you guys this? Well...in the car is a gun. Need I say more? The problem is the gun has only four bullets. So in a terrible turn of events everyone in the car chooses suicide over dying slowly to these creatures. So David shoots all four people in the car (including his own son who did not actually choose suicide but was asleep) but is now out of bullets. See what has happened here? David is a hero for shooting them and putting them out of their misery of a future slow death by creatures. So David gets out of the car and walks into the mist. But wait! Suddenly the army rolls up and saves the day. What. The. Heck. I didn't even know what to say when this happened. Seriously? Basically David killed everyone in the car, including his own son, for nothing. The army came in and saved the day. First of all that just seems like a huge cop-out for the story. Oh look, the army is suddenly here to save the day. How conveniently timed! Plus the whole thing of him having to shoot his own son. Just dark. Which don't get me wrong, I enjoy a good "dark" story (which seems like a contradiction) but it's true. I have enjoyed many dark stories and movies for what they are. Stories and movies. But this ending just seemed completely pointless to me when the ending of the book was much better. Much better!

Anyways that is my rant for the day. I am sorry to have put you through this. I could wrap this up by putting something about Jesus and how he is a much better ending or something like that. But I think I'll just leave it at this for now. If you peeps like this kind of thing maybe I'll talk about a book or a movie more often but it depends I suppose. Depends on what? No clue, just depends. Maybe I'll talk about something a little more uplifting next time. Like Ted Dekker or Frank Peretti. Who knows.


So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, adieu adieu, adieu, to yieu and yieu and yieu.




Shout out to first person who tells me what that goodbye is from.

Thursday, October 4, 2012

Second Link Year Recap 10/1-10/4

Here we are once again, time to write up another recap of this week. Let us dive right in. This week was different from last week because last week we had three speakers for the three days (Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday) but this week we got the privilege of having Mike Aleckson for all three of the days. Well...we shall now jump into this head first. Here we go.

Tuesday Mike had a huge whiteboard and wrote the whole outline of the bible on it. Yes you heard correctly, the whole bible. Crazy I know, but he did a pretty good job at it. Here is a picture of it for your viewing pleasure.


The picture quality may not be the best. Also I know that there are glares on the whiteboard, but it's okay. Trust me. It was a pretty cool whiteboard.

Now we move to Wednesday which is the day where I took the most notes. Having a laptop makes note taking a bit easier, but it was still a lot. Anyway(s) today Mike talked briefly about the outline he made but focused more on works, faith, and grace. He brought up a lot of passages that showed if you have faith and truly believe your works will show this. Also he talked about sanctification (although he didn't use that word) and how each day the Holy Spirit is in us regenrating us and walking with us. Pretty crazy stuff right there.

Finally we arrive at Mike's last day with us. I would say mostly everyone enjoyed Mike and his lessons so we were sad to see it end, but as "they" (who is "they" anyways?) say, all good things must come to an end (sorry for the cliche, I'll try to keep those at a minimum on this blog). Basically this might have been my favorite day this week. He talked a lot about the Messianic expectations that those in the Old Testament looked for and how Jesus fulfilled those expectations, but sometimes in different ways than the Jews were expecting. Also another thing that I thought was really cool was how Mike talked to us about the New Heaven and New Earth. How we don't need to be tree huggers, but we should still take care of the earth because we have been given stewardship over it and even Adam back in Genesis was taking care of the garden. So yeah...that was pretty cool to hear. To wrap up Mike left us with one major point that I really liked. He said, "Make what you work on last. Your vocation should glorify God from the Now to the Not Yet. Can the job you are looking at bring God glory? Can it connect with the kingdom to come?". This was really cool to hear and good for me because it made me look at what I plan on doing with my life and gave me more encouragement to make sure what I work at will glorify God in the present and future.

Here at last I will leave you with five things I learned this week.
1) That assigning shapes to Worldview's makes them easier to remember. I will be applying this when I talk to others about Worldview's.
2) Christ = "christos" "anointed one" with oil. [greek]. I am not sure how to apply this, but it is good to know!
3) The 12 Disciples names will be on the cornerstone of the new kingdom when it comes. That is pretty cool right there.
4) The context of verses is quite important, something I already knew, but was reinforced greatly through this week.
5) I need to make sure what I do with my life brings glory to God not just now, but when His kingdom comes.

Well that is it you guys. Sorry about the limited jokes and entertaining words. I am feeling sick so can't really think straight. Well I will leave you guys with these wise words a friend told me, "Make the little things count. Teach midgets math."



Thursday, September 27, 2012

First Link Year Recap 9/24-9/27

First off sorry about the uncreative title. Figured I should make the title easily recognizable for Link Year grading purposes. Anyways...onward and upward we shall go. So I will start off with a quick recap of each day and then progress from there because progressing is useful if you are trying to get something done. Usually at least.

The first day of the week was Monday (Surprise surprise) and we had a thing called Mystery Monday. Basically the point of this is to make Mondays more exciting since they are the most dreaded day of the week. They succeeded in this by taking us Roller skating/blading at some place that I have forgotten the name of. But naturally this place had a rink where we could...well I'll leave that up to you to guess what we did at this rink. So once we finished doing this thing at the rink that I am leaving you to guess about we went back to the campus to chill for the rest of the day. The first Mystery Monday was a success with fun skating and roller blading. That sorta rhymed, unintentionally of course.

The next day was Tuesday (See a pattern here yet? It's called, "the days of the week") and this day was our first official day of Link Year with a professor. Don Ford was the professor and he spoke about settings goals for your life, both short term and long term. He also said something that I thought was really interesting. It was that only 1/2% of people between age 18 to 23 have a biblical worldview. I did not research his statement yet, but I would believe it's at least close to that number. The definition of a biblical worldview that he told us was that you had to believe absolute truth exists, the bible is inerrant, satan is real, you can't earn your way to God, Jesus lived a sinless life, and God is the creator and still reigns today. After hearing this I felt truly blessed to have so many friends around me who believe all these things.

On Wednesday (See former paragraph about the pattern) we had Jay Holden come and talk to us about our strengths. Last week we took this really cool test that showed our top 5 strengths and we even got a book about it to study our strengths even more. The best part was we got this huge spreadsheet type thing with everyone in the classes top 5 strengths shown. It's great to see that because now we know how to compliment each other and how to interact even better with everyone here. Great stuff right there.

Finally I have come to today. Yes indeed. The last day of the week with a professor to speak wisdom to us. Thankfully this day ended with a bang. No doubt in my mind that Darrell Shemwell was my favorite speaker we have had so far! He was pretty great. It didn't hurt that he mentioned two of my favorite theologians (Jonathan Edwards and Charles Spurgeon) and gave us a bunch of sweet reference books to look at the original Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic text in the bible. This is fantastic news. Also we get Wayne Grudem's Systematic Theology book. The full version, not just the condensed version. This is pretty dang amazing. Sweetness.

So this is going to be my closing paragraph. Where I am supposed to wrap up everything in a nice little bow and send it to friends and family for Christmas. But...as some of you know, I have never been that great at wrapping presents. Bags with tissue paper are my best friends. Anyways I should probably get back to the topic at hand. Which is closing this post up. Here we go now. I learned a lot this week but I am just going to point out five main things that I learned.
1) Goal setting is pretty great, but I should never factor God out of my plans because He has His own plan for my life.
2) How crazy it is to think that only around 1/2% of people in that age range I mentioned earlier have a biblical worldview. Makes me want to go make sure people around me know the bible more.
3) Strengths are great things and we should focus on using our strengths more often than/then we do.
4) I need to take advantage of the time here at Link Year to polish off my rough spots.
5) Logos bible study software is awesome looking and I want to get it now!

Anyways I know that I said the previous paragraph was going to be my closing paragraph, but I decided to rebel against myself. Which is always an interesting fight. So here it is, my first Link Year recap. Hope you enjoyed the ride, exit to your left please and move along. Pick up any trash you left to be considerate for those who come after you. Thank you and goodbye.



Wednesday, September 19, 2012

A first for some things

So this is my first blog post ever. Which is weird because I never thought I'd blog. Just bear with me as I start this whole thing ah rolling. Let me just get this out of the way for starters...grammar shall not be a strong point for this blog. I hope that isn't a problem for you ("you" being no one because no one is reading this right now. Maybe in the future people will.) but if it is a problem for you, I have no apologies. None. Anyways...it is pretty weird to think that people will be reading my thoughts as I choose to put them up on here. I could make people think I am incredibly smart and bright by copying and pasting from smart peoples blogs. But I don't think I'll be doing that. For now. I guess I should say why I started this blog. Well it's for Link Year. If you don't know what Link Year is I don't know why you are reading my blog because I probably don't know you. So yeah...every friday there will be a new blog post up on here recapping my week, what I learned, what I thought, application to life, what I ate, my every single thought I had during the week, and my sarcastic things. Just get used to those. But I might actually talk about what I eat. Depending on how good or bad it tasted. For if it is incredibly bad tasting I will probably mention it. I also might sprinkle in little post throughout the week if I feel like typing that much. I am not a big word person or typer or wordsmith or stenographer or very magniloquent with words or facund with words. I am bombastic at times though. So this should be fun. Anyways I am going to go ahead and stop typing now. Because I have never written a blog post (something I am sure has been made obvious by this) I don't really know how to end this post. I kinda feel like when you are saying goodbye to a friend and then you both start walking in the same direction and then one of you stops to pull out their cellphone as if they actually needed to look at their cellphone but in reality they just wanted to stop so they wouldn't be walking with you any farther. Yeah...that doesn't really describe this situation at all. Not even close. But thought I'd throw it out their anyways. So yeah...I'm going to go ahead and pull out my cellphone now, just keep walking and move along...