-I'm listening to the Robbie Seay Band, thank you Relevant

-So I'm starting to get into a routine here. Alarm goes off at 6am.....I fight it for a while, heave myself out of bed and get ready for the most boring day of my life. No kidding I'm incredibly bored. I think it may not stay this way but I know literally more than the instructor. Doesn't motivate me to do much more than surf the internet mindlessly, which by the way is getting very old. Luckily I brought several books with me that I've been reading in the evenings. Another post coming about unChristian soon. I also have a couple of "sex" books too. I am getting married in about 50 days.

-Speaking of getting married holy crap I'm getting married. It's been great planning and working through all of this stuff with Karyn, but I'm ready to move on and I know Karyn is too. It's taught us so much about how each other deal with finances, pressure, family, etc.

-So our accomodations aren't the best, but I've been in worse. I took a few pictures for you guys so you can get the full experience.

-The Mountaineers continue to kill me. Last night they lost to Pitt. Pitt people. Of all people beat Pitt. To top it off it was a last second 3 to give them a 1 point victory. Don't let them shoot the 3. I repeat don't let them shoot the 3. I was so upset I forgot to watch Lost, the only show on TV I don't miss. I think I'm gonna have read the summary to get caught up. That just makes me even more upset with them. I'm gonna have to stop watch when my health starts to fail or I'll die watching a mountaineer game. I'd much rather die in a pistol duel.

-I'm done for tonight folks. If you have anything to keep me entertained pass it along. I'm literally dieing of boredom.

A quickie

-I'm listening to the Avett Brothers, thank you Micah.

-I need to post from something other than my phone. This is getting old.

-I threw out an invitation to Amy of welcometoamyville.blogspot.com
for lunch or coffee (that's assuming the slave drivers give us a day
off). Who better to make a guest appearance right? Even if she
copletely snubs me you should check her out. Maybe buy a
painting......tell her I sent you.

-I'm missing being home. Especially Karyn who has to plan this
wedding without me. She's been great. I also miss all the kids (and
leaders/friends). Maybe I'll try to get a video out to you guys for
the weekend.

-I'm reading a great book, unChristian. I'll post some insights soon.

Maybe?

What do you think? Or maybe this.

Day 2

Well I'm two days into my stay at Deven's. It's pretty relaxed, which
I like. In class today I IMed Micah a little. Looked up the bar that
Cheers was based off of (I wanna go there bad), and looked at used
cars. Which leads me to my next subject.

So my Explorer is shot. I'm in the market for a new vehicle. Any suggestions?

-I saw a grown woman picking the crust off of her bread. Who does
that? What kind of person do you think she is just from that
observation?

-I'm off to bed folks. Catch you later.

PS I can't get this row thing off, doing this on my phone.

row

Wake Up

I woke up this morning to revelry (?) at 6am. Yep I'm on
an Army post.

My Crazy Day

I left Buckhannon at 6:30 this morning, to catch a ride with Jefferson. Jefferson and I work in the same office and we are both going to Fort Deven's, MA for a month long school that we both have to attend. I probably would have drove myself up, but about a week and a half ago I was abusing my Explorer and blew the transfer case. Many of the people who know my Explorer think "It's a good thing that he's not driving himself up in that thing." Too which I take great offense. But if you saw what we rode up in you may sing a different tune. When I met Jefferson this morning he was in his 1992 Dodge Shadow. No radio......I miss my Explorer.

In any case we start heading north east. I'm a passenger right? That should mean that navigating is not my responsibility. I'm napping, reading, picking my nose. You know completely zoning out. I ask where we are and Jefferson isn't quite sure. I see a bunch of cars with New Jersey plates, but he doesn't remember crossing the state line. I just assume that Jersey sucks so much that they all go to PA for the weekend. Well long story short somehow we get into New Jersey and we don't realize it. I start actually paying attention to where we are headed because Jefferson doesn't seem to know where we are. The plan was to take I-287 to skirt New York City, because who wants to drive right through the city right?

I'm still looking for I-287 when I look up and notice the skyline. It looks a little like NYC, but I've never been there, what do I know. Then I look in the bay, and notice the statue of liberty, and we can't turn around. I start looking at the map a little harder and I realize we are driving right thru the city. Holy crap!!! I get turned around in Elkins sometimes, NYC kinda has me worried. To sum my adventure we go thru the Holland Tunnel, under the Hudson River right into downtown Manhattan.

Now I should clue you in a little more on Jefferson. He's from Braxton county. He told me they had 5 stop lights in the entire county. On the way up Jefferson is talking about how he hates driving in the city. In fact while we're driving thru Manhattan he keeps saying, "This is worse than Iraq." and "Make sure your doors are locked."

I took over the navigation and drove us right thru China town, down back alley's, thru Queens (not the one just up the Tallmansville Rd), the Bronx and out of the city (no kidding). So my first experience with NYC was navigating thru the city with a guy from Braxton county in a 1992 Dodge Shadow, with no radio. Plenty of memories.

You can view all my pictures here. Enjoy....more to come later.

On the road

Well I look at my last post and it's been 2 1/2 years since I last posted. My only excuse is that I don't really care. However I have decided that while I'm in beautiful Fort Devens, MA that I'd tried to keep everyone in the loop of what's new with me, since I'm sure that everyone is on the edge of their seats. Tonight I'm in Sturbridge, MA and tomorrow I'll head to Deven's. What a fun way to watch the super bowl huh?

I had a pretty eventful trip up here today, but more about that later. Leave some comments folks, let me know you're out there.

Matthew 25 and the parable of the talents. It's one of many of Jesus's parables. When we read this parable (and any scripture for that matter) we have to be able to apply it. If we can't do that then it's worthless. Often the best way to apply a lesson learned from scripture is to ask a question. So when we read this we ask this simple question.......What am I burying?

Relevant

Brio (for the girls)

Breakaway (for the guys)

I can remember when I was a younger my brother and I used to wrestle all of the time. Sometimes it was for fun, but usually it was because he took my GI Joe, or he'd been playing Nintendo forever and it was my turn. What I remember about it was that it was an intense struggle (for him not me of course).

We ask ourselves what does it look like to struggle with God. Do we put Him in a "full nelson"? Is it a good thing or a bad thing? Does it even make sense? I mean He is God and all.

In Genesis 27 we come across this story of guy named Jacob. Now Jacob had a twin named Esau, which translates into hairy. People commonly say that Jacob translates into "Grasper of the heel" because he was holding onto Esau's foot when we was born. Another way that we can see Jacob's name is that of "deceiver."

A name is so important to these people at this time. A name is the essence of who you are, kinda like a brand that you carry with you your entire life. So Jacob carries around this tattoo of "deceiver" his entire life. To make a long story short Jacob tricks Esau out of his inheritance and then he runs away for 20 years or more. Read Genesis 27-32 for the story.

Jacob is traveling back to meet his brother after he has been gone, and he's nervous. He catches wind that Esau is coming and he's got 400 men with him. It's not looking good for Jacob. He sends his family across the river and he stays on the other side alone. While he's there a man comes and he wrestling with Him till day break. Jacob refuses to let go until he is blessed. So he gets asked this question? What is your name. I bet that stung, I bet that took the wind out of his sails. He's Jacob, the deceiver. So he gets blessed with what? With a new name.

I think that one we can wrestle with God in this story is to ask ourselves: What is our name? What kind of identity do we carry around with us.

Here's something else to struggle with. Read Matthew 25, and ask the tough questions. What is God trying to tell you through these stories? Don't just be a consumer of these stories, but put them into action. Test them, try them, let God work through you.

PS Don't forget to check this SN: TheGreatSackRace

Sack Race Video

Free video hosting, video codes at www.vidiLife.com

Misconceptions of Jesus

People view Jesus in alot of different ways don't they? I mean some people say that Jesus was tall and muscular and handsome. Some people say that he was short, fat, and ugly. Some people think that Jesus was some revolutionary politician, and others think he was just a really good teacher.

It's funny how we can get caught up in what other people have taught us to believe about Jesus. Whether it be in a Sunday School class (anybody remember the flannel boards?) or church, or movies, where ever. The fact is that we all have misconceptions of who Jesus really is.

We can find a few examples of our misconceptions here. Click on the Media link (the top of the picture) then go to videos and the second page of that.

Those videos are funny, but how many of us give false ideas to people around us about who Jesus is? The way that we view Jesus has a direct effect on how we live our lives. Let's not be the type of people that give people misconceptions about Him, but lets be the type of people who find out for ourselves who Jesus was (John 1 is a great place to start) and live it in our day to day lives.

PS you may want to check this AIM Screen Name....... TheGreatSackRace

The Great What???????

After Wednesday's lesson I came across this article. It's pretty good and worth reading.

The Great Sack Race II

So The Great Sack Race II is underway. I can't tell you guys how excited I am to be doing this. It's such a great opportunity for everyone to really get the most out of this. I really want you guys to take this and run with it.

You know tonight we talked about The Great Commission (Matthew 28) and how we're not about "getting people saved" but we're about changing lives, and pointing lives towards the ways of Jesus. It's so important. You guys have no idea how much that that idea has set me free. When you look at it this way you have so much more potential, more influence. It starts to become crystal clear that the way Jesus has called us to live is so much more than living on the surface.

In relation to The Great Commission and The Great Sack Race II, Jesus says that all authority has been given to Him and since he has that authority he in turn gives the authority to his disciples to go and make more disciples (kinda sounds like rabbits huh?). My point is this. In some sense I'm giving you guy’s authority to go and invite people into this life that we get to enjoy. I want to see Casual Christians turn in to Committed Christians, essentially to become disciples.

Good luck everyone and I'll see you next week.

God Blog

I'm thinking about going to the God Blog Convention

Update on the way

Hey guys I'm gonna get an update later on today with some of the stuff that Scott talked about last night. Check back to see what's on there.

The Theology of Popeye

Imagine Popeye, go ahead close your eyes imagine the skinny biceps and the abnormally large forearms. Now Popeye's arch enemy, his exact opposite is Bluto. Bluto draws his identity from the things that he's done, or the

things that he has. Popeye on the other hand has a higher calling. In fact one of his most famous sayings is "I yam what I yam." Now that's deep, I wonder if they got that idea from somewhere. "I yam what I yam" is especially interesting when we see how God reveals himself to Moses.

Exodus 3:1-15

Interesting observations:

• Moses went further into the wilderness than he had ever gone before
• God knows Moses' name first
• The ground was holy (When did it become holy? Give me your thoughts)
• Moses did not know God's name

God reveals his name as YHWH, which in most translations comes to I am that I am. Well that clears it up some. There is so much debate about what this name means, it's awesome. I love that no one can seem to quite put their finger on it. I mean who can truly knows God for who he really is, who knows his name? Mystery......that's the only word that I can find to describe it.

In Matthew 14:27 most translations read: "fear not it is I" when it really says, "fear not I AM." That's powerful. Jesus, in not so subtle terms was saying I am God, I am YHWH. If you read John 8:12-59 you can see how this got Jesus into some hot water. It's simply fascinating.

God's name is ancient and sacred. It's a mystery that we are all fully wrapped up in. That's why it kills me, absolutely kills me when I hear someone misuse his name. When someone swears and they throw in a "Jesus Christ" or "Oh my God" it makes me cringe. Swearing by His name is essentially claiming authority over YHWH. Not that they're is anything mystical about His name, but when you do that you show your ignorance of your roots, and what it means to know God's name.

Lets remember that we are dependent on His revelation to understand Him.

Some articles if your interested:

Popeye

Some deep reading

Something to check out

I thought that my blog was getting kinda boring. I don't live an exciting enough life to post something everyday, but I'll try to keep it semi interesting. Anyway I thought I'd link up to my bud Corey's blog at Xanga. Corey's an amazing guy who is going to school at DTS (Dallas Theological Seminary). You should check out some of his stuff sometime, it'll challenge you if you let it.

Anyway if you wanted to get a jump on me for Wednesday you could start by reading Exodus 3. That's the second book of the Bible, so just open it up and it'll be real close to the beginning. When you read it keep in mind what we talked about last week. I'm out for now.

I thought that I'd post a picture of The General for your viewing pleasure.

So What's a Name?

Your name implies who you are. More importantly a good name in biblical names meant more than just a good reputation, it expressed the essence or identity of that person.

There are 3 aspects to names and naming that we need to be aware of, especially when talking about biblical names.

1. Identity

A person's name identified something about that person's character or circumstances. For example Sarah (Genesis 17:17, 21:6) had her first son Isaac when she was in her 90's, do you know what the first thing she did was? She laughed. Do you know what Isaac means in Hebrew? Laughter. Another great example is Moses, when he was born his mother put him in a basket in the river, and Pharaoh's daughter drew him out of the the river (Exodus 2). What do you think Moses means? To draw out. If you dig a little deeper, peel back another layer you find that Moses drew the people out of Egypt. Amazing, simply amazing.

2. Knowledge

It was understood that the namer knew something about the named and his/her circumstances. For example Adam named (or classified) the animals (Genesis 2:18-25). This knowledge implies more than just knowing something about who they are individually and goes much deeper than that. It means that namer understands us completely, from begining to end, top to the bottom. In Exodus 33 God told Moses that he knows him by name, this was huge for him and it's huge for us still today.

3. Authority

In order to name someone you had to have authority over that person, or things (Adam and the animals). God changed Abram's name to Abraham (Gen 17:5) and Pharaoh changed Joseph's name (Gen 41:45).

I go through all of this to tell you that your name is who you are. When people hear your name they think of you. They picture the things that you've done, or haven't done. Our name can shape who we are.........

BUT

If you look in 1 Chronicles 4:9-10 you find this guy named Jabez whose name means pain, or sorrow, or suffering. What a horrible name to walk around with, almost as bad as a boy named Sue. Now Jabez did not allow his name that his mother gave him to dictate what his future would be like. He drew his Identity straight from God...... WOW. That's what we can do today. No matter the crap in our lives or the things people associate our names with we have the oppurtunity to draw our Identity from God. Which is what he intended for us to do in the first place.

Here's a good site to find out what your name means: Behind The Name

Show some love

Alright I see that there is only one comment on my blog and guess what it's from me. Because I was getting depressed. Anyway I thought maybe I needed to walk you through how to do it.

Click on the comment

Click post comment

now click other, fill in your name and leave me some love.....it's that easy.

Come on folks I'm dying here.