blogger's block, back aches, and Bible memorization

So lately I haven't been posting as much as I would like to. I'd like to say I've been really busy, but that would be a lie. Usually when I don't post in my LJ, it's because I don't really have the motivation to post. I'll sit down at my computer, stare at the update journal screen, and nothing will come to me. I guess it's form of writer's block–but from now on I'll call it “blogger's block” Hehehehe. Blogger's Block. It even sounds cool. Yes, I’m witty.

I'm also in A LOT of pain! My lower back has decided to spaz out and has been killing me all day. So much so that I've worn a back brace(didn't help) and my mom gave me 2 very powerful drug pills that were not only supposed to ease the pain, but put me to sleep as well(neither of which happened). I suppose you could say all that extra weight I've been carrying around has started to take a toll on my back(yes, for those of you who thought I was the first pregnant male in the history of the world–I'm not–it's just fat) But I'd like to think it has to do with all the heavy lifting and moving that I've been doing lately. Lets see–yesterday I moved my brother's 200 pound TV up the stairs of our house(he was kinda helping, but was stopping for breaks WAY too long so I decided to be a man and do it myself) but I must say I didn't feel any strain on my back after that. However today was bad. At 10am I went over to CIA headquarters(otherwise known as the Nissley residence) and helped them unload speakers(yes, the very speakers I helped them load in my previous post, I now got to unload back into their garage. I also helped them reload the truck with lots of supplies for their latest trip–due to Hurricane Katrina, the CIA is going down to New Orleans and is going to be helping with disaster relief. You can read more about it by going to their website.
When I got home from helping them, it turns out my mom was moving all her office stuff and exercise equipment into Jonathan's old new–now her new office. So like a good son I helped her move both the treadmill and her filing cabinet. BAD idea. The treadmill was the straw(ok, slightly bigger then a straw, but you get the picture) that broke the camel's back(ok, I'm talking about me, not a camel) Ofcourse even with a hurting back I still felt I should help my mom so I tried moving her filing cabinet. Which was full. Of files. And very heavy. So yeah–my back is killing me and it hurts to do anything other than sit in my chair(which I'm sure my posture isn't helping the problem) or lie in bed.

It's been a couple of hours since I first started writing. Blogger's Block keeps interfering with this post. Dang it! LOL.

This week has been a week of revelations for me. First and foremost, I officially turned down the promotion at Micron. Looking at the competition, I knew I could have gotten the job very easily (in fact I had an interview scheduled for Sep. but after much thought and prayer I decided that it would be best to remain at Operator 2 status and continue making 14$ an hour. Yes, I could really use the jump in pay and in status, but I don't think that's what God wants. As much as I love working for Micron, I know that is not where I'm supposed to be for the rest of my life. And, if I had gone through with it and gotten the promotion, it would be really hard to take off work when I need to–and something inside tells me that I'm really going to need that ability. It's not like I feel that I'm going to get sick or anything, but for so long in my life work has–how do I put this–become my mistress. Even thought it may not seem like it, I am very dedicated and I throw myself into it–and that usually involves making God number two in my life. From now on I don't want that to happen. I want to be able to participate in church events/activities and go on missions trips and help people. God has called me to the Christian Education field. I'm still not sure whether that means director or Pastor, but right now it doesn't matter to me. I want to make sure that I don't get so wrapped up in my position and status at Micron that if some opportunity were to come up spiritually that I either wouldn't see it or not take it.

Let's see… what else? Oh! Another big thing in my life is that I've decided to memorize the Bible. Yes. The whole thing. I can't do it right away, ofcourse, but I really want to start doing it. Ever since NCU and meeting God's Grandson (David P) I've really been turned on to the whole “memorizing the Bible is good!” Ofcourse lately I've been hanging out with Bethany, who has like, 3 or 4 books of the Bible memorized. Do you know how awesome that is? And last week I'm sitting in my room, listening to music, and it occurred to me: How many songs do I actually have stored in my memory? I can go years without hearing a song and then all of a sudden listen to it on the radio and I can still sing along with it. Why can't I do that with the Bible? I've read it through a couple of times–but I think the value of memorizing it speaks for itself. So.. after much thought and prayer–I've decided to start with 1st Timothy. After that I'll go to 2nd Timothy and Jude. The “Pastoral Epistles” as most people call them. At first I had wanted to like, memorize all of 1st Timothy in 2 weeks, but after finding out that some people only really do 1 chapter a month, I've decided to try and go for 2-3 chapters month(depending on the length of the chapter, ofcourse. Really I am very excited about this. It's been a while since I did any major memorization (the last I can think of that was more than a verse or two was when I memorized Psalm 139) Hehehe who knows? Maybe one day I'll be bold enough to take on the entire book of Psalms!

I'm sure theres a lot more I can say. However Blogger's Block has fully kicked in and I feel this is a good point to end it. I'll update sometime tomorrow.

Muwhahahaha. Did you think I forgot? yeah, right. Yay for Sinfest!

happy happy hi ho hi ho!

Good Morning everyone! For some reason I got some really great sleep last night, and now I am awake and ready for the day! I've already done my morning devotionals, had breakfast(leftovers from last night's dinner) and now I'm sitting listening to old Matchbox Twenty songs from iTunes. This entry is going to be fairly long, so everyone say hello to my wonderful online buddies: the LJ-cuts!!

Where to begin, where to begin? I just realized that I haven't really updated this entire weekend! Wow! I guess I should fill everyone in where I left off, eh Steve? Sunday was awesome. Church was way cool–I woke up early because I had to go watch an Alpha training video at 9am. It was.. Interesting. I've never seen a video quite like it. hehehe. And if you have no idea what I'm talking about–go help Alpha! After the training was service like usual. Pk spoke about Satan's Sandpaper. He managed to add some of what our Wednesday night Bible study talked about 2 weeks ago, it was cool. After that not much happened until this evening. Then the usual group of us got together at Panera's. That was just our meeting spot though–I decided we should all go enjoy a meal at Ruby Tuesdays. Now that, was good times. Good food and great conversation. Afterwards Nilsa and Bethany split (it was a wee bit late and they had to get up early) and the rest of us came back to my house. We were supposed to watch a movie, but ended up just sitting and talking about God and other religions and stuff. I got to read Psalm 139 out loud to everyone. It was cool to see that even though our group has alot of fun together, what really ties us together is our love for God.

Monday was pretty boring in and of itself, save a few events that made it worth getting out of bed and braving the boredom. Those events sort of revolved around lunch and dinner. And that's all I'll say about that. Vague? Maybe. But only if you have no idea what I'm talking about.

Tuesday… now we get to yesterday. The most boring day (so far) out of my entire weekend. Well, ok, thats not really true. I did do a few cool things, but those were at the begining and end of the day–everything in between was killer boring. Reminds me why it sucks to have a schedule where I have off and all my friends work. But.. I digress. Yesterday started with me waking up fairly ealry and having my mom call me on the phone and invite me to breakfast at ihop. It was really cool–it's been a while since my mom and I went out and 'caught up' on each others' lives. I pretty much filled her in with my going-ons, and she did the same for me. Plus the food was great(then again, I've never been to ihop and had bad food) the rest of the day–not so good. Major boredom. MAJOR boredom. That is, ofcourse, until Tuesday night, where I've taken to going to the Bible study at the Nissley household. As I stated in previous entries, at the moment we're going through Revelations. Hardly anyone showed up, and we didn't have a worship leader–so we did something I've never done before–everyone went around the room and read a Psalm. How cool is that? Ofcourse, Bethany read my favorite Psalm (139) before I had a chance to, so i spent the rest of the readings searching for another one. Finally, everyone had gone except me. And Daniel felt like he had to mention it, making me feel WAy embarrassed, and messing up my concentration on finding a Psalm. But it was all in good fun, and eventually I decided to read Psalm 141. It's a pretty cool Psalm. After that we dove right in and started reading about Seals and riders and the 4 horsemen. It's been a long while since I've gone through Revelations, so I'm really looking forward to continuing this study.

After it was over I pretty much went home, did evening devotionals, and went to sleep. Ofcourse, since it was WAY early, I kept waking up every 2-3 hours. But even with the waking up, I still got ALOT of sleep and now I am.. fully awake and ready and reering to go. If only I had someplace to go, LOL!

So. Now we've come full circle. A question was recently posed to me, and I think this would be a perfect time to answer it. The question: Even though in your last post you were bored your overall attitude has dramatically changed from a month or so ago. How did you get over all the emotions you were having?

The answer: It wasn't easy. For those of you who don't know, last month (July 8th to be exact) some major sin in my life was revealed to alot of people, and I was forced to confront and deal with it. It was.. really difficult, and ended up costing me a highly valued relationship along with some friendships that never really got the chance to grow into something deep(but probably could have). I was devastated, and didn't really know what to do. Reading my Lj entries from back then…. yeah, It was bad. I didn't see it until now, but certain aspects of my life had become major idols in my life. It's hard admitting this stuff now, knowing that back then I was so hard headed that even when people told me the same things I was blind to see it. But thats how it is when you're in sin. It takes an outside force (usually God, but you don't know that until you're free) to hit you upside your head and get you back on the right path. And when that which was dear to me was suddenly removed from my life–after crying til I could cry no more(see 1 Samuel 30:4)I turned to God and found the strength to press on and continue my walk. I started going back to the church of my 'roots', and started to make a strong effort to get to know people and 'build up' my base of Christian friends. It hasn't been easy at all, but I believe that everything we go through is a learning experience. Ofcourse, I'd much rather learn from someone else's mistakes, but this time that wasn't the case. So whats next time my life? Well, I still desire to go into full time ministry (yay for Christian Education) and at the moment I am leaning more towards the Director aspect instead of the Pastoral aspect, but we'll have to see what happens. And I still need to find myself an accountability partner(it's been too long since I've had one, and I think every Christian needs at least one friend who can walk besides him and help keep him accountable on his journey). So yeah–When sin gets revealed in your life, it hurts. But it's only when it starts hurting that you're aware of it and can actually make steps to change and repent. As bad as the consequences were, they're nothing in comparison to the hurt that I caused not only myself and the people involved, but also God. Sometimes I forget, but it was my sin(as well as everyone else's) that put Jesus on the cross. My salvation came with a high price. One that I couldn't pay myself. And I need to constantly remind myself that if it weren't for God's love and mercy and grace, chances are I would be leading a very different life–one that would ultimately end with my destruction and complete separation from God. And thats something that I think every Christian needs to remember. Ok.. so I went off on a wee bit of a rabbit trail. But hopefully thats answers the question. Do YOU have a question for me? Feel free to ask it in the comments section or email it to me at nick@ztug.net.

So that takes care of this entry. I'll leave you, ofcourse, with a Sinfest comic to tickle your funny bone.

oh my

I am so bored.

I need…someone to brighten my day and give me something to do so that the boredom doesn't over run my body and kill me from the inside out by liquefying my organs and making me sneeze them out of my nose.

Probably going to use the LJ cuts for this one

So at the moment I'm on a break from work, and I thought to myself I should really update my livejournal! So here is my attempt to do so. I should probably start with yesterday. Work was crazy-boring, and I was so happy when I finally got home. I was supposed to go to the PWC fair, but I ditched so I could go home and get ready for my movie night. Now that—was awesome. Bethany showed up first(as promised) and dusted my room for me. She says she loved doing it and it was out of the goodness of her servant's heart–but there was alot of dust, and who knows? Maybe she was just tired of seeing my room so dusty. I'll tell you though–my mom did not like her doing that. Not that she has anything against Bethany(my mom loves her) but only because my mom feels I should have done it myself. Which is probably true.(I'll have to remember to talk to Bethany about it when she comes back in a week and a half to dust and vacuum.)So eventually by 10pm everyone got to my house (everyone being Bethany, Josue, Nilsa, Connie, and Laura) and we just chilled and discussed which movie we were going to watch. I wanted Moulin Rouge, but got voted out! How sad is that?!?!?! Well, after much discussion, we all decided that Laura and I should go to Blockbuster and rent “The Italian Job”.(which I JUST learned is a remake of a film starring Micheal Caine by the same name) Yeah, it was a good choice. I started out by having everyone watch the hidden easter egg of Seth Green ad-libbing. “Hey woman. What's your name?” Lol, cracks me up man, it just cracks me up. I love hanging out with those peoples. It's always so much fun.

*Pow! Bang! Ohh! Zap! Shi-zing!* Through the magic of laziness and time travel, it is now 1pm Sunday afternoon

Yesterday was.. really really awesome. Work went well, and after work I was able to go get Chipotle for dinner for myself, Bethany, and Dustin. Obviously, ofcourse, that means I spent yet another night at the PWC fair. For some reason, however, last night was different. I was more relaxed, and I actually helped before tearing things down(I made popcorn and filled mini cups of water)

I also got to go get cotton candy with Bethany, while asking her to paint me a picture of her 'perfect man'. LOL. I'm still waiting on her full answer. Ofcourse, I owe her a couple of answers myself, but what can I say? It's very hard to describe my 'perfect man'!

Also on the Bethany note–muwhahahaha I finally did what I predicted to her I would do–last night when the fair was over–I got a bunch of people to completely dose her with the remaining water from the water coolers. Yep, I'm good.(Note to Bethany: thats what happens when you tell me that you actually brought 2 spare changes of clothing!)
After the fair was over we pretty much tore down the whole stage/set, and at the moment I'm waiting for the call to go back to the fair and help the guys load everything into the truck/van.

Lets see… I've decided to no longer do any more polls in my LJ. The last one I did… only 2 responses! Come on people! I know you can do better than that! Ok, ok. Fine. Just one more. And we'll see how this one goes.

I heard this cool song online and I had to share it with you.

She's cold and she's cruel
But she knows what she's doin'
She pushed me in the pool
At our last school reunion
She laughs at my dreams
But I dream about her laughter
Strange as it seems
She's the one I'm after

[Chorus:]
Cause she's bittersweet
She knocks me off of my feet
And I can't help myself
I don't want anyone else
She's a mystery
She's too much for me
But I keep comin' back for more
She's just the girl I'm lookin' for

She can't keep a secret
For more than an hour
She runs on 100 proof attitude power
And the more she ignores me
The more I adore her
What can I do?
I'd do anything for her

Cause she's bittersweet
She knocks me off of my feet
And I can't help myself
I don't want anyone else
She's a mystery
She's too much for me
But I keep comin' back for more
She's just the girl I'm lookin' for

The way she sees it's me
On her caller ID
She won't pick up the phone
She'd rather be alone
But I can't give up just yet
Cause every word she's ever said
Is still ringin' in my head
Still ringin' in my head

She's cold and she's cruel
But she knows what she's doin'
Knows just what to say
So my whole day is ruined

Cause she's bittersweet
She knocks me off of my feet
And I can't help myself
I don't want anyone else
She's a mystery
She's too much for me
But I keep comin' back for more

Cause she's bittersweet
She knocks me off of my feet
And I can't help myself
I don't want anyone else
She's a mystery
She's too much for me
But I keep comin' back for more
Oh, I keep comin' back for more
She's just the girl I'm lookin' for
Just the girl I'm lookin' for

I'm lookin' for
I'm lookin' for
I'm lookin' for
Just the girl I'm lookin' for

Tonight is going to be awesome, I can already tell. Bethany, Laura, Connie(hopefully, she hasnt rsvped yet) Nilsa, and Josue and I are all meeting at Panera for dinner. And ofcourse, we all know I will try to convince them all to go do something afterwards. I mean.. hello! This is my weekend!

My mom just came into my room and gave me 2 video tapes that Melissa left in her room-one is “the music man” and the other is “An American in Paris”. And looking at the covers… they both have Laura's name on them. Guess that means I'll have to give them back to her tonight.

I think I'm gonna go. At the moment I can't think of anything else to say, and this entry has already been 2 days in the making.

Ofcourse, I can't leave you without first giving you the ever so wonderful Sinfest comic strip!

hungry hungry hippo!

It's my lunch break. I'm hungry.
I think I'm going to go to McDonalds.
the NCG have a movie event tonight at my house, I'll be updating after it's over.

Cool, huh?

Grr. the hunger…. it grows…

deep conversations are good for the soul

Yay! it's another exciting adventure of the Nickness! I'd like to first and foremost take this opportunity to thank all you fans for sending me money. And for all those who haven't (this means you Rob!) Don't worry-it's still not too late to donate to the “Nickness needs money” Foundation. I can't guarantee a tax break, but I can guarantee one happy nickness!

And with that, on to the post!

I just got back from the fair. It was.. really really way cool. Except… For most of it(ok, well all of it except the end) I didn't do anything. I just hang around like a useless blob drinking water and talking to people who are already saved. It's only at the end that I pump up and tear it all down(Cause I'm good at the whole, setup/tear down thing) I'm not really sure why that is. Oh well. Hopefully people see me there encouraging everyone else, and they let my lack 'o evangelism slide. other than that it was a great night. Popcorn popping, balloon animals walking, puppets–well, puppeting. I got there late because I had to work, but as I found out earlier–“it is better to be late with Chipotle's than on time without it” Oh yeah. It was almost enough to make me forget about work.

Bah! Work! Sooooo evil. And I am sooo getting tired of Micron! When will I be able to do full time ministry? I wish I could just pay everything off now (hence my plea for you all to donate to the 'Nickness needs Money' foundation) and just go to school and learn and become whatever it is I'm supposed to become.

Which leads me to another interesting question for you all to ponder: Do I become a CE Pastor, or a CE Director?
thats it. I've had enough of this… here goes a new LJ feature!

So yay for polls. We all know that was pretty cool. And yes, it's only because I have a paid livejournal that I can do that.

I'm not sure what else to say.

I'm…
gonna go…
yeah…

ps: Sinfest!!!!!

If E times ILE equals BANISH, and TE times T equals BOOK, what does TO times IN equal?

I just got back from Tuesday night Bible study. It went really really well. We went through chapter 3 of the book of Revelation. I didn’t stay for too long afterwards. I’m not really sure why. I just.. didn’t feel like being too social. As much as the NCG has helped me, I still have major issues when it comes to relating to people in groups. And the more I’m thinking of it, the more I’m starting to realize that fear of man is coming into it way less than I first thought. In the past, I’m sure fear of man held me back–but now, it’s not so much fear of than it is I just have no idea what to say or talk about. My mind goes blank and I just sit/stand there, not saying anything. If someone says something to me, I’ll respond, and perhaps a conversation will develop. But after I while of not thinking of things to say I just leave. Yeah. I need help. But then again you all already knew that, LOL. Oh how I envy you social butterflies, you happy-go-lucky talkative bubblebees.

On a different note, It rained today so the MAG booth at the PWC fair was canceled.(Hence why I was able to go to the Bible study) And because it rained, I was reminded of a song. And yes… I will you an LJ cut!

I sit alone
In the dark theatre watchin’ the people go by
Hand in hand
Everybody but me
Oh

I stay behind
Watchin’ the credits roll by
Roll roll roll right by me

I know, I won’t cry
Cause there is somebody somebody somebody waitin’ for me
Out in the rain

Oh cry
Not tonight
Because there is somebody waitin’ for me
Oh yeah

I take a walk
The streets are busy tonight
And I am searching for you
Waiting to brush your shoulder
But I’m alone
I watch the faces roll by
Roll roll roll right by me

But I know, I won’t cry
Cause’ there’s somebody somebody somebody waitin’ for me
Out in the rain

Oh cry
Not tonight
Because there is somebody waitin’ for me

How many words will go unspoken
‘Til I hear knockin’ upon my door
I’m not talkin’ the night I spent heart broken
But tonight I know
I won’t cry no more
Oh

I lie awake
I left the porch light on
I hope it helps you to find your way
Outside
I hear the thunder roll by
Roll roll roll right by me

But I know, I won’t cry
Cause’ there is somebody somebody somebody waitin’ for me
Out in the rain
Not gonna cry tonight
No cause there is somebody waitin’ for me
Not gonna cry tonight
No
No no no no
Oh
Not gonna cry
Not tonight cause there is somebody waitin’ for me

I stay behind
Watchin’ the credits roll by
Roll roll roll right by me

Yay! Wasn’t that a cool song? I thought so.

I have much, much more to say but for some reason my brain is blank.

I’ll leave you with a sinfest comic.

Definitions are cool.

ac·quain·tance (noun)

1. Knowledge of a person acquired by a relationship less intimate than friendship, with a relationship based on such knowledge: struck up an acquaintance with our new neighbor.
2. A person whom one knows.
3. Knowledge or information about something or someone: has a passing acquaintance with Chinese history.

friend (noun)

1. A person whom one knows, likes, and trusts.
2. A person whom one knows; an acquaintance.
3. A person with whom one is allied in a struggle or cause; a comrade.
4. One who supports, sympathizes with, or patronizes a group, cause, or movement: friends of the clean air movement.

So technically a friend is a type of acquaintance. How interesting. I'd still rather be known as a friend over an acquaintance any day.

My very first phone post!

Wow, this is my first phone post! And it's in MP3 format! How cool is that?!?!? I'm way excited. Ofcourse, I hate how my voice sounds on the phone(in my head my voice sounds so much more manly and less…. teenagerish)
And I could have talked for WAY more than the 5 minutes I'm allowed. (note to self: remember that the post starts 30 seconds after the phone call…use those 30 seconds next time, darn it!)
I wonder if anyone will transcribe the entry for me? Will anyone actually listen to it? What did everyone think? Should I do this again? I so NEED to know.

Oh, and because some people(not mentioning any names, Bethany!) missed Sinfest: here it is back by popular demand, copied right from the source's website!

This should be longer..

Ok, so this post should be longer, but it's not. I'm sorry. I know theres alot to say, and I promise you eventually I'll find the motivation to post. In general however, my life seems to be going great. Ok job, awesome friends, sister moving out of the house (just kidding Melissa I love you!) and to top it all off I haven't spoken to my dad in 3 days. What could be better?

So I still have to post about the Men's CORE Bible study. And I will. But chances are it'll be combined with tomorrow night's Mosaic service notes.

Oh, and I went to IHOP tonight with Bethany, Josue, and Nielsa (and I have no idea how to spell her name!) and we all decided that after Bethany gets done with the fair tomorrow night we're all going to go see 4 Brothers. It looks awesome. I can't wait. For more information on how awesome it was at IHOP, check out 's most recent post.(in case you can't figure it out it's the second paragraph)

Theres so much I wanna say.. so much I'm excited about. I just wish I had the motivation to tell you all.

Just wait til tomorrow…or rather, really really early Sunday morning.

I need to walk around without a shirt, sand off my nipples, and wear tight pants!

LOL! What a way to start off this entry, eh Steve? Before anyone goes too crazy, don't worry! I'm not planning on sanding down my nipples and walking around in tight pants. No, I don't think the world could handle it. Heck, I couldn't even handle it. I guess some things are better left to Strong Bad.

Technically as I write this sentence I'm done with my LJ post, but looking back over it–it's fairly long, and I'm really tempted to use LJ cuts…but I'm tired, so I've decided to ignore the fact that LJ cuts would make this entry better and more readable. If you really want me to add them–leave a comment and I'll see what I can do later. Anyways… back to the entry!

Today was filled with boredom, long online chats, an event which I have now named the 'Great Speaker Incident of 2005″, Mosaic Bible study, and some good times at Tony's Pizza place. “Wow! Thats quite I list” I hear you say. Yes, it is. And I suppose I should just explain each point starting top down. So. AWAAAAYYYY I go!

1. Bordom. Yes, for most of the day I did nothing. I stayed in my room. I petted Tiffany. I did nothing constructive until much later. But it's ok. It was my day off and I enjoyed it. I might have been lethargic, but to those of you who hate me for it–it's ok. I know you're only jealous.

2. Long online chats. Recently (as in, this week) when I'm not doing anything I'm spending hours online (think around the time frame of 5 hours or more) Im-ing certain people and chatting with them in an attempt to see how long it will be before they tire of me. I recently discovered that the Nickness can only be handled in small doses, so at the moment I'm counting this as a scientific experiment to determine the exact amount of time I need to spend with someone before they go crazy and need some space. So far… I'm not having such great luck. But I am having great chat sessions. Really great chat sessions. Which is good, because if they weren't so great, I might hold some offense to…

3. The Great Speaker Incident of 2005. Later this afternoon my online chat sessions lead me to the Nissley household where CIA needed some speakers moved from the house to their big giant trucks. Ofcourse, I was more than happy to help out, but I very quickly learned that while certain CIA members are good at directing, answering phones, and negotiating money out of unsuspecting clients, they have no idea how to place 8 speakers inside a giant truck. My foot is bruised, my leg got a small cut,(yes, I was bleeding! No one makes me bleed my own blood! No one!) and I sweat so much that someone asked if I had jumped in the pool. Ofcourse, I think he was joking, but we'll never really know. Seriously though–as much of a rant as this sounds like, it's really a rave. I had loads of fun, and it was cool hanging out with Bethany.

4. Mosaic Bible Study. After I got back home and took a shower, it was off to the Mosaic Bible study! It was really awesome tonight. PK(which is short for Pastor Kim) brought in cheese from WI. What was sad is that there were only 5 of us there, and 2 of us were completely new to the group! After making small talk with the new couple and inviting them to Mosaic we got down to business. We read from 1st Samuel 30:1-6 and talked about how at the same time that David was crying because of Ziglag, God was in the process of having King Saul killed. It was really great! We also read from Luke, the story about Jesus casting the demons into pigs. I know it might not sound like it goes together, but it does! The theme was basically that the Devil comes against you right before we're about to receive a blessing, and how sometimes God does things that we want, but he does them in ways we might not understand(for instance, the people wanted the man freed from demons, but didn't want all their pigs killed in the process) I really wish I could just sit down and explain it all to you guys, it is far too much for my random mind to type out right now, and I completely forgot to take notes(I was too busy eating cheese!)

5. Chillin' at Tony's. After the Bible study I met Laura and Connie at Tony's Pizza place for food! Unfortunately for us, the place closed at 11 so we got out food to go and chilled over at Laura's place for a while. We ate food, talked about the true meaning of the word courtship (for your information, I go with: dating with the intent of marriage, NOT friends with romantic interests sometime later down the road!) and we also watched the new Strong Bad email(The link is up top for anyone who hasn't seen it yet. Also, on a side note.. at the end, the computer disc labeled Genghis Khan can be clicked, as well as Strong Bad's sleeping head and the word 'and' on the computer screen–and incase no one got it, Homestar Runner is Fabrosi. And yes, I know I just ruined it all for you, but I don't care!) We also watched some Foamy cartoons. I don't suggest checking any of those out unless you have a strong tolerance for cuss words.

So thats pretty much my day! I have to work tomorrow–and in case anyone is wondering–I swear I am actually going to apply for the Lead Op position tomorrow! I have no idea when my interview will be, but everyone start praying now.

And now…as has become my usual posting tradition: I leave you with another Sinfest comic for you to enjoy(I find this one particularly amusing–the Dog/Cat comics are almost always on my fav list!)

Jesus loves me this I know…

Tonight has pretty much ended for me.
The only thing that anyone from NCG is doing that I can attend is karaoke at KC's, and I'm not much of a singer and work might still be there.(in case you didn't know, work had a party there–I only went because I'm up for promotion and I know that if I didn't go it would have looked really bad)

Anyways.. lets see if I can recap the day. Most of you know everything already, but for those of you who don't–I actually slept for 6 hours!!! That's like.. a major miracle. I forgot to turn my phone off of vibrate and so when anyone called/texted me I couldn't hear a thing! I feel so bad. I mean, I like sleeping for a long time(it means I can stay up even later tonight!) but I hate not being able to respond to calls/texts.

So after I woke up Connie came over and I finally got my massage. I paid for her yesterday when we signed up for the Berean class, so to make us 'even' she gave me a one hour massage. And now my body smells nice and lotion-y, and my muscles have never felt better. After that I really didn't do anything too stressful: talked to for a couple hours(sorry I keep bugging you at work but you know you like it!) and then I headed out to KC's to meet up with my co-workers for dinner.

After dinner I went to the Bible study at the Nissley's house(every tuesday night at 7:30pm) where we're going through the book of Revelation. Tonight it was Chapter 2, verses 18 through 29–“The Church in Thyatira”

I also learned that most of the letters to the churches in Revelation follow a specific outline. And I did write it down. Unfortunately for you, I left my Bible in the car, so you'll just have to wait until later to read what that outline is.

I was going to take notes on the rest of it, but I was stupid and brought a pen that had very little ink left. I used it all up with the outline. No worries. I'll be better prepared tomorrow and then you all can read my wonderful notes.

So after Bible study I pretty much came home and now I'm writing this thing out. I know–not very interesting today. Oh, but I did just learn a cool new fact: the word prose means “To speak or write in a dull, tiresome style”

So there. At least this entry is good for something.
…..
And I can't forget Sinfest

Thats All Folks, Goodnight!

ps: and because I said I would… I'm marking this in my LJ. Today Bethany said she was proud of me.

I just got done downloading some music…

How do you like my selections?

Could it be? Yes! I am actually updating!

Well, I just got back from Micron–lucky for me I decided to only work a six hour OT shift instead of a 12 hour one. Yay! So now I have off until Thursday–and yes, at this point in time I have no idea what I'm doing. But if you're reading this, then chances are my plans will include you. So don't beg out on me or I'll go and do something really really mean with the value roll of toilet paper that my mom bought at CostCo.

Ingrid is here cleaning the house. I forgot that this was the Monday she was supposed to come. Actually, come to think of it–all I know is that she comes on Monday, but I don't really know how often. I'll have to ask mom. 'Cause let me tell you, nothing is scarier than coming home to a clean house, having no idea who cleaned and wheaher or not you were kicked out so you're parents could rent your room out to small, helpful children.(I'm sure they'd rent out my room to big helpful children, but the small ones can go places and clean areas of the house that the big ones are too fat to get to)

Speaking of my mom–I think she bought a new car. Her green saturn isn't in the driveway anymore, and her plates are on some other way cool looking car. Ohhh! If I'm lucky maybe mom decided to live in a home and buy me a second car! Ohh! Now I'm excited!

The past week has been really fun! I don't have the time or the energy right now to go into details about everything, but rest assured the days have been going well.

Although, I have to admit. Lately It seems I've been living in a perpetual state of insomnia. I can't sleep at night, but during the day, if I'm not doing anything or going anywhere, I get really tired and lethargic, but I still don't fall asleep. Well, maybe the dark circles under my eyes help make me look mysterious.

Yesterday was the first time I attended a MAG service in over a year. Wow. I forgot what I was missing! Pastor Scott is in the middle of a series right now, so eventually I'll have to get online and listen to the messages I missed, but so far what I've heard has been awesome.

After church I attended a meeting(if you could call it that) for the hospitality part of the MAG outreach for the PWC fair. We stuffed kiddie tracks into Jesus ballons. And I got free pizza. Ahh, thats the life. But it's going to be cool. And I'm purposely doing hospitality because I'm not that great with people(fear of man issues) and I know if I step out in faith God is gonna rock and help me get over them.

Lets see… later yesterday a group of people were getting together at someone's house and eating a cajun style dinner. I got my first taste of fried okra(mmm good stuff!) and I tried gumbo for the first time in my life. Wow, it was awesome! I wish it had been a wee bit spicer, but seriously–it was good stuff.

After that the newly formed(or rather, newly named) NCG went to Cenerville and watched The Island. That's the second time I've seen that movie, but at least this time I didn't fall asleep. Yup… those scenes I missed last time I saw it were really great. (on a side note–why is it I always seem to be able to fall asleep in a movie theater?!?! Maybe if I try falling alseep with a movie on in my bedroom…)

Anyways, this week has been really cool. And once I get ahold of Constance, it'll be even better. Sometime today her and I are going to meet up and go to MAG and sign up for a borean class that MAG is doing. And I'm going to pay for her to be in the class, and shes going to pay me back by giving me a massage. Grr I need one. My neck and lower back are killing me! But yeah.. signing up for the class is the next step for me to actually get my degree–thats right, I still haven't given up the dream!

I've made this entry long enough for now. Anyone have any actual questions about how last week went that I didn't cover? feel free to ask them in the comment section….

Oh, and because I love them so much… heres another Sinfest comic…

ok. I am so sorry.

I know I owe you all an update. And I promise it will be interesting and I promise you'll laugh and you'll cry. It's coming–I swear. Be patient.
For the moment I'm on one of my ever famous work breaks–and then I'll be headed off to Mosaic and then only God knows what I'll be up to(or maybe Bethany knows, but shes not telling)
I keep getting random, boring pages on my work pager. Geez. Don't these people realize I'm on my lunch break? Grrr.

I swear I'll post when I come home tonight…whenever that may be.

The next time you feel like GOD can't use you, just remember…

Noah was a drunk
Abraham was too old
Isaac was a daydreamer
Jacob was a liar
Leah was ugly
Joseph was abused
Moses had a stuttering problem
Gideon was afraid
Samson had long hair and was a womanizer
Rahab was a prostitute
Jeremiah and Timothy were too young
David had an affair and was a murderer
Elijah was suicidal
Isaiah preached naked
Jonah ran from God
Naomi was a widow
Job went bankrupt
John the Baptist ate bugs
Peter denied Christ
The Disciples fell asleep while praying
Martha worried about everything
The Samaritan woman was divorced, more than once
Zaccheus was too small
Paul was too religious
Timothy had an ulcer… and
Lazarus was dead!

taken from AG.org

Another month; another LJ theme

Well, even though I know I haven't updated in about a week, I am holding true to my promise of changing my LJ theme every month. So–how do you guys like this new one? I was going to go with cuteness attack(yay for pink kittens) but the Sinfest comic strips that I post go WAY outside the margins.

Speaking of which…. heres another Sinfest comic I though you all would find humorous….

OK.. so maybe not laugh out loud funny. But still–reminds me of the movie Seven.

Anyways… I know it's been a long time since I've updated. I really don't have any excuses. Even though for the past week I haven't been getting home til past 2am, I still don't go to sleep and could have updated.

Recently I've been spending alot of time with Connie, Laura, Bethany, John, and a few others from the Mosaic clan. It's been such a blessing to be able to regularly hang out with other Christians my age. Thats something I never had at GCC, due to the fact that I lived so far away from everyone. I might not be really involved in the ministry aspect of it right now, but I really want that to change soon. At least I've made it a point to go to the Wednesday night mosaic Bible study as well as the Men's CORE group on Thursday night. Also, Bethany wants me to go to the Tuesday night Bible study at her house,(which I used to go to every once in a while a LONG time ago) but as of now I have yet to attend it.

One more thing to note–I was actually able to pick up my copy of The Cross Centered Life a couple of days ago, so I'm reading that as well as the Michael Pitts book that I wrote about 2 posts ago.

Ok. It's about 3:50 and I just got out of the shower. I have no idea what my plans for the rest of the day are(all I know is that I work tomorrow) but hopefully someone will call me and once again we can all go participate in some random late night craziness.