spring break blog 1!

hey kids! long time no blog. please accept my sincere apologies, i'm trying to make a comeback here, and you being mad at me will NOT help. so, let me do a quick recap of the past month!

rain, snow, cookies, skiing, beach, the book of Matthew, bagel baseball, ping pong, life is good, halo with the boys, girl songs, my pillow is defluffing, all my socks have disappeared, crazy love by francis chan, essays, essays, essays, actually being there when they put out the fire at cracker barrell, family reunions in boone, peanut's new/old toy, yo-yo's, CD almost done, out of tune rock band guitar in chapel, airplane game, new clothes, wonderful friends, awesome family, and that barely even scrapes the surface.

i'm strongly considering joining the disney movie club. just to get some classics, ya know? on a completely different note, right now i'm in the middle of a 5 day / 6 night tropical vacation in charleston, staying at glupker's house! the first night there were 5 of us, the past two nights there was 12 sleeping in the house (17 in the total spring break crew) and now we're down 11, and still having the time of our lives. we played alright in the frisbee tournament, we won some games, we lost some games, we won the games we should have lost and lost a game or two we should have won! but now, we're just chilling and going to the beach and eating and sleeping and more chilling and movies and telling the stories where everyone tells a sentence. poor rosie made herself a princess, and then left the story into the hands of 5 other guys before it got back around to her. let's just say the princess already had a marshmellow-making unicorn and Wolvervine for a husband who had already died once by the time it got back around.

so God's showing me a lot in these last few months before i graduate...stuff like "hey chris, be a better, deeper listener." and "hey chris, would you please talk to me, I'm right here, all the time." and "hey chris, you need a haircut." and "hey chris, make ME famous, not you." and "hey chris...i've got it under control. stop living / worrying / thinking like i don't!" i would rather my life be an introduction to Jesus than a dissertation on all the cool things i did. but i find myself serving myself instead of others, and having to constantly keep my MIND humble, because i'm NOT all that and an english muffin, and i can shine the light of Jesus much better when i'm not standing there waving my own flashlight saying "hey look at me!" you catchin what i'm throwin down out there?!

so i'll try to get back into this. really. because i know all you guys want to stalk me REAL bad. :) i have the bestest friends ever. i'm talking about YOU.

kbye!

i need to write something in here.....a whole month of no blogging! AAAHHHH i hope by writing this i will remind myself to do that. kbye

trying to find my charger.

This weekend was slam packed!  The frisbee tournament happened, ping pong happened, middle school hangout happened, church sunday morning happened, sleep happened, bagels happened, halo 3 happened, cracker barrel happened, traditional sunday afternoon nap happened, monday happened, and so far, tuesday has happened too.  

yesterday, i took some rest time.  i read all over the Word about why God set the example of resting on the 7th day.  it wasn't because God NEEDED rest, but taking that 7th day to rest was a way for the people of God to worship Him and remember that He created everything in 6 days.  that amazed them....and they didn't even have planet earth to watch on the discovery channel!  i usually take rest because i DESPERATELY need it.  yesterday i took some time to rest so i could stop and thank God for the enormous amount of blessing He is pouring down on us.  

My car's trunk doesn't stay open, you have to hold it up. Unless you're on some kind of decline and get it to stay just right.  Well i found that perfect spot, and it was staying up on it's own, and i was searching for my cell phone charger in my trunk.  Robbie decides to step out on the porch and throw an uncooked hot dog at me.  He said "catch!"    well...i didn't catch it.  instead it hit my trunk and it came crashing down on my forehead.  nobody makes me bleed my own blood!  i kicked him in the shin. not really.  because he gave me the bag of chicken rice that i cooked later.  note to readers:  anytime you harm me in any way, give me food and i will quickly forgive you.

i am now in Dr. Pater's World Religions class..and Dr. Pater is an avid mountain dew drinker.  today he told us that it is the most efficient drink for his body...because his body doesn't have to change the color during it's digestive cycle.  what a guy!

If i want to stand out in a crowd i just need to stop taking showers.  too often i find myself striving to be holy NOT because God is holy, but because i want to appear holy, i want to stand out in the crowd.  that's Dee You Em Bee with a capital DEE.   the hard part is...people don't usually look at motives, God does. approval by people is usually right in front of us.  God's approval is sometimes harder to see and find.  So usually we are more inclined to make things look good on the outside and forget about the inside because ONLY God really looks there.  thank goodness He isn't giving up on me. 

wall.E

....is one of my fav movies ever.  

so if you haven't heard already, last night i was in one of those recording moods and recorded a version of peace like a river.  it's on my facebook page here.  you can also see my new possible album artwork there!  

so ricky, one of the guys that lives in my house, discovered that i have the snowboarding game Amped3 so he is flipping out right now and spending 30 minutes designing his character.  quite awesome.  i went on a used game buying streak...except i bought the game burnout paradise, which has completely changed my life.  i mean, over thanksgiving and christmas break me and my dad probably put in like 40 hours.  that's a lot of gaming.  so Amped3 got pushed to the side...until now!  ricky JUST said "this is AWEEESOME!"  in the same tone that i had when i first got to play on the new mcdonalds playground in 3rd grade.  

so i'm doing my internship at stone bridge, doing media stuff, so basically i get to edit videos and lead worship and hang out with youth and i get CREDIT HOURS for it.  by the way...SUPER pumped about worship this week, we're doing an extremely bluegrass version of peace like a river, kinda like the one i recorded!  it just makes me want to jump around and dance.  but i've been really pumped about every week.  by the way..i think the final version of "centripetal love" is also up on that facebook page i linked to earlier.  i'm working on a rocking version of "lead me to the cross" for the EP as well. exciting stuff.  me and robbie went to waffle house tonight, i was quite thrilled to know that i could get two eggs, biscuits and jelly, and hashbrowns for under 3 bucks.  that makes my heart happy.  unfortunately waffle house makes everything else in my body upset.  very upset.  dad gum.

duuuuude

it has been a full two months since i last wrote on this thing.  i was going to say "i'm not going to try to catch you up" but i'm not going to say that.  nope!  i'm gonna catch you up.  here we go!

-thanksgiving

-christmas

-new years

-all of them:  on a scale of 1 to 10...total awesome.

now school has started back, and i have 3 jam-packed months until graduation!   it's supposed to SNOW tonight!  oh my goodness.  and i am freaking out.  i just showed all the kids in the office my snow dance, which consists of me singing "snow!...snow! snow! snow!..." to the tune of eye of the tiger.   i am getting ready to go home to get my skim board, just in case it snows. i've been wanting to try it on the snow for months now, and so if my next blog is written from a hospital bed with 2 broken legs...you'll know why.  and you can say "chris...skimboards weren't made for snow" and i'll cry and say "you're right" and i'll pull out a snowball that i stuck in the freezer and nail you as you're walking away.  i have been reading a LOT of calvin and hobbes lately...i don't know if you've ever read calvin and hobbes comics, but it's helping me to remember and get in touch with my inner 6-year-old. that's where hitting you with the snowball came from.  my inner 6-year-old.

stone bridge church is going pretty incredible.  leading worship is something i have become extremely passionate about, and i get to play with so many talented musicians and we get to play some AWESOME stuff.  and i have an office with christmas lights.  that generally makes me smile.  and the YOUTH at stone bridge are the bomb.com.  i am also getting ready to order 3 books of amazon.com.  this is a first for me...i never order books, and rarely ever buy them at all.  but they are three books that look promising, and i'm sure once i get them that i will mention them several times in this blog..thing.  i am currently sitting in computer services at school, where i work, (or pretend to...i mean, i'm writing this blog.)  and i'm surrounded by these computer screens so when people walk by i put on this serious look on my face and talk loudly about how i'm hacking into the CIA's headquarters or something.  not really.  but i have been giving violent suggestions to students without really knowing it...such as "well if it happens again, just throw it out the window."  the problem is...i don't think some people know i'm joking.  if you see computers flying out of any windows...let me know.  thanks.

i said if gas goes to 1.00 a gallon or less, i was gonna make a road trip to Niagara falls or florida or something.  but it hasn't.  i still want to make the road trips though.  i don't know where i was going with that.  i'll start a new paragraph now.

3 more months.  and then i believe life will become much different.  i think God is working out a youth ministry job for me as you read this.  and i might walk off the stage of graduation into full-time teaching kids about Jesus, and investing and pouring my life into that.  now THAT is exciting.  even more exciting than SNOW.  and yeah i just said that.   i'll try and keep this thing updated...AKA update it less than once every two months.  k bye.

colorado control center clock.

what an incredible two weeks.  maybe i need to write shorter blogs like every other day to keep all you kids updated!  maybe.  probably won't happen.  that's ok though!  you can stalk me on facebook.

but the real reason i wanted to write was because of psalm 90:12.  it says "teach us to number our days so can we can gain a heart of wisdom."  other translations say different things...they pretty much all start with teach us to number our days, but they end with things like "that we may present to You a heart of wisdom,"  "so that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom," etc.    one translation even says "teach us how short our lives really are, so that we may be wise."    this one verse screams SEVERAL things at me.

1)  teach us to number our days.  we have a limit!  we have a specific number of days we are going to live, and today is one of them.  how incredibly precious is the time that we have RIGHT now, today!  it's the only shot we will get at today.  it's the only shot you will get at the next minute.  it's almost gone.  i don't want to miss out.  and if you jump into a realization of here and now and get into what God is presently doing, you won't miss out.

2) time totally controls us sometimes.  we have classes, meetings, times to eat, a specific time to write that paper, to do that report, to be at a game, to be at a practice, to be at church, gotta be at work at 8, got to watch that show at 9, have to set aside time for being on the road to get there, etc etc etc and who decides what time it is?  some Verizon Wireless control center in colorado telling my phone what time it is.  i look down, it tells me it's 12:21, and oh snap there's always a lunch rush at 1230, do i try to make it before or after?  do you see what i'm saying?  

3) we get caught up in that, and it's a burden.  stress comes for a visit, and before we know it we're saying "i can't wait for this day to be over."  i've been there, i was there a week ago, i know how it feels.  but that is NOT how the full, abundant life that God has called us to live works!  and man has God slammed that point home. teach us to number our days, so that we can gain a heart of wisdom.  teach us to realize how precious every second of every day is so that we can gain a heart of wisdom.

4) a heart of wisdom COMES from the realization that every day is precious and it's never going to come again.  one shot, one chance.  this is wisdom.  with this kind of perspective, everything changes.  and your heart affects perspective.  sure, we've still got to make all these appointments and we have to live by the colorado control center clock, but it doesn't have to control us and our attitudes.  what about the people you get to smile at on the way to class, your office, in the mall?  how many people know that you care about them based on something you DID or SAID today?  your days are limited.  you only have TODAY to let God impact and influence the world around you, through you.  when you are living through tomorrow, it will be "today," and you'll still only have "today."

5)matthew 6:31-34: (this is Jesus talking.) "What i'm trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can be respond to God's giving.  People who don't know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works.  Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions.  Don't worry about missing out.  You'll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.  Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don't get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow.  God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the times come."  (the message.)

next time you catch yourself saying "i can't wait for this day to be over," think about it!  i don't ever want to hear those words come out of my mouth again.

what in the world is going on in my head

what a week!!!!  

i can't begin to tell of all that's happened over the past week.  i can say that i went to charleston, played frisbee in the rain, skimboarded, got a cold, made an indiana jones video, and missed every single class today because i feel like a blindfolded sloth stuck in slow motion.

also, i finished the book "What Came From Within!"  by andy stanley.  it talks about four monsters that are always attacking your heart....anger, guilt, jealousy, and greed.  i didn't realize how much junk i had swimming around in my heart until this book...he holds nothing back with pin-pointed questions.  it was a painful book to read at times!  i thought i was doing so good in my Christiany life, then God goes and shows me that there is so much MORE out there, there's freedom for your mind / heart and it's a beautiful thing when you find it.  i thought i had it.  sure didn't.  i had to let go of some things.  a lot of things.  seriously, pick up this book.  it's 6 bucks in the haywood mall.  it's on amazon.  just grab it. 

katy found my twin.  you can see him act in a budlight commercial by clicking here.   lauren and jordan and kimbo are absolutely amazing...they took me to walmart tonight so i could get some V8 fusion (woot woot) and oatmeal (along with plastic spoons and bowls to eat it in).  my first ride in the mustang in a long time!   also....kicking and screaming is now in the 5 dollar bin.  this is huge.  i remember going out and spending like 20 bucks on it and bringing it home and me and lauren actually watched it in pickens.  now, 3 years later, we were in walmart and saw it in the 5 dollar bin.  if you don't own this movie....make a run for the 5 dollar bin RIGHT NOW.

lauren germann and blair britt now have car puppies.  blair got crouton's cousin for her bday.  lauren got wiggles. ryan is now playing starfighter.  that's gonna change his life.  ashley is currently reading the book i previously mentioned...i think jenny's got it next, but it's up for grabs after that.  also, the SKEETER JONES video on facebook is a must watch!  so that's like...two videos in one blog.  can you handle that?  i cannot wait to go home and see and hang out with my family.  but as for now....i have to go to bed.  it has not been a very productive week as far as school goes, but i've felt pretty awful.  that's bout all i've got for now, friends.  k bye.