The Life of the Nickness

Today was pretty uneventful. I slept through most of it, only stopping a few times to check email and respond to my friends' chat requests.

This evening was pretty cool though; my Mom took me out to see Click. Wow is it an awesome movie! I wasn't sure about it, but once it started playing I was hooked(oh, and just to brag, I figured out the plot of the movie within 10 minutes of Christopher Walkin being introduced)

And to make today even better, I just discovered(thanks to Nona the Ninja) that the Spiderman 3 trailers have been released online.

Now if only I could get links to the Tourgasm videos, I'd be a happy man.

I didn’t leave the store until 3am.

I am so tired.

The rain stopped.

My cell phone needs to be charged.

And now I sleep.

But I wanted to tell everyone that I 'discovered' letterboxing today.

I haven't even started yet and I'm already addicted.

Season 8 of Frasier… completed. And boy what a season it was.

I need to find myself a better hobby.

Next up: the 7pm Mosaic Prayer Meeting.

It's sad when your boss, after she realizes how *fat* you really are says that she'd be ok with you taking a couple weeks off work to have the gastric bypass.

Thank goodness for the new Foamy rant. He's cheered me up enough to get me to Mosaic and Post Mo' volleyball.

So today I spent the majority of the day with Ashley. She came over and officially met my dad(she shook his hand and I think he smiled and said hi) so that was pretty interesting. Then we went to lunch at Glory Days(I love thier nachos) and then we went shopping at Potomac Mills mall. Wow, it has been so long since I've been there! After that Ash and I headed back to Manassas to the bowling ally to surprise Matt for his surprise birthday party. So yes, you guessed it–Ashley met almost all of my friends! It was alot of fun. Hopefully I'll have pictures up soon, so you all can see us in all of our bowling action!

I should say–I'm sorry this entry sounds boring and rather non-detailed, but I am extremely tired right now, and I need to get up early for work tomorrow morning. I promise, a much better(and much more detailed) entry will follow. I just felt like I needed to post something now for all you readers who sit on the edge of your seat refreshing my LJ page for hours on end.
*sigh* Every time we are together, I fall harder and harder for her.

I will write more later. I promise.

Ps: This video is perfect for anyone who owns, or is thinking about owning a Mac.

I can't believe how long it's been since I've updated my LJ. I posted core group notes last week, and before that I posted about Ashley and I becoming official, but thats been about it. Over a week without a solid update on my life. You all must have been going through withdraws. There were several times I thought about updating through my phone, but I was always in the car and the background noise would have been horrible.

Anyways…currently apartment life is going pretty good. Eric officially moved in last weekend, and so far, we've had a good roommate relationship. We don't see each other all that often, but I'm sure in the future there will be major guy time for us. Especially if I can convince him to come to Mosaic.

Work has been…stressful. Shelly's gone til Thursday on vacation, so I'm the one in charge. Personally, I think this was a bad week to leave, seeing as how theres so much stuff to do, but it's a major chance for me to prove that I can handle being a manager. And so far I can. I've gotten some major projects done, and I still have 2 days to finish other major projects. I'm excited about it, but really stressed. So pray for me everyone! This is just step one for me getting my own store, and I'm pumped!

Things with Ashley are going great!(at least, I think they're going great. If shes got a different opinion, she hasn't told me) She met my friend Matt the other day, and hopefully this week she'll meet some more. Shes been under the weather recently though, so pray for her. This coming thursday we will have been dating a month. Thats not a long time, but it's still exciting. We're going through(or at least, we're going to go through) a bunch of question books that will help us really get to know each other better. *sigh* Shes so awesome. And by awesome I mean great. And by great I mean wonderful. And by wonderful I mean…oh ok. Fine. I'll stop there. Didn't mean to get too mushy on ya.
Thats about it for this entry. Oh, one more thing to note–my mom canceled the FL trip at the end of July. So currently I have the 22nd through the 31st off and no plans. Anyone want to make plans with me? I smell a road trip coming up!

Oh, one final thing before I leave. It's been a while since I posted a comic on here, so heres one I'm 'borrowing' from Daniel's myspace.

So core group has come and gone…I need to wake up early in the morning(again) and so the detailed post will have to wait til later. I will however, post my notes from this week's men's core meeting. I think it was a great discussion, and I'm thinking that if I do more research/study, I could expand my notes and turn it into a sermon of some sort. But thats a long way off. Right now it's more of a rough draft of a rough draft.

Authority in Family.

First, what is authority?
*The power to enforce laws, exact obedience, command, determine, or judge.
*Power assigned to another; authorization

Who has authority?

Matt. 28:18: Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

Romans 13:1-5 Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. 2Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. 3For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. 4For he is God’s servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God’s servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. 5Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience.

Parents 'count' as an authority figure…but if you want more 'proof'…

Eph 6:1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2“Honor your father and mother”—which is the first commandment with a promise—3“that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.”(the quote is from Duet 5:16 which states: Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God has commanded you, so that you may live long and that it may go well with you in the land the LORD your God is giving you)

Thought: this passage has two commands: obey and honor. I believe that as children we have to obey our parents. Once we reach adulthood, we then must 'Honor' them, which might not mean obeying them all the time, but still esteeming them with respect and high regard. What do you think?

Hebrews 13:17 Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you.

So parents will eventually give an account for how they raised us. We need to obey them, but the key phrase is …in the Lord. We can not obey them if they ask something of us that would cause us to disobey God

What about unsaved parents?

1 Tim 2:1-6 I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone—2for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. 3This is good, and pleases God our Savior, 4who wants all men to be saved and to come to knowledge of the truth. 5For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6who gave himself as a ransom for all men—the testimony given in its proper time.

Ok, so I'm about to leave for work, and I promise you all a much better update later, but I can't believe I forgot to mention this. As of Friday June 9th, I officially have a girlfriend.
*smile*

Mosaic last night was awesome! While the sermon was(how do I put this nicely?)…very much geared towards high schoolers(yes, thats it!) I can't really hold the guy who spoke at fault because he did just graduate college for Youth Ministry, so its all good. I actually got to meet a couple of new guys last night, which was really cool in and of itself. I'm not that great with going up and just talking to people I don't know, but lets be honest here–I want to be a pastor, and thats what pastors do. They talk to people. So I just did it. Walked up and said hi, and just started talking. It was a really cool experience, and now I've made some new friends. They're even going to come over to my apartment on Tuesday for Men's CORE. How awesome is that?!? God is great you guys. He really is.

Anyways, so after the talking and the free food, guess what time it was? Volleyball time! We played for like, two and a half hours. Sooooo much fun, and I think I'm getting better! Who knows? In a couple of weeks I could be so awesome I could go pro, win some beach tournament, pay off my loans, and finance my going back to college! Ok, ok, so it would make a great lifetime story, but it's probably not going to happen. But hey–at the very least, I'm just happy I'm getting better at the game.

Heres some news for you all! I might be moving from Cingular to Verizon soon. Nothing's set in stone yet, but I really like their unlimited texting to In-plan feature. For those of you whose cell phone numbers I don't have–I text people ALOT! and Most of my friends(including Ashley) have Verizon, so I'd be able to text and talk for free. MY official plan with Cingular has been over for a while, so I'm free to transfer or renew at my discrepancy. Hmmm. I'll keep you all updated though. I need to do some homework and actually check out plans and prices first.

I need to get going. I completely slept through Sunday School(my only hope is if Bethany recorded the class again) but I need to get going and get dressed to go to main service. Then it's out to lunch with the guys(I probably won't eat much; I don't have much money AND I'm on the WW diet) and after that if I'm lucky I'll grab a truck from someone and have my friends help me pick up the queen sized bed my mom keeps in the basement and haul it back to my apartment. Yay for beds!

So today at work I was telling my co-workers that when Ashley comes over to my apartment next week, I was thinking about making her dinner, and I brought up the idea of spaghetti. Nate and Jill instantly shoot it down, saying it's too simple and not a good idea. They said I should make something more complicated. I'm not so sure I agree, but they were very adamant about it. I suggested making the spaghetti, and calling it something cool and different like 'Cuban Spaghetti' to make it sound more complicated than it really was, but Nate said she'd probably see through that trick very quickly.

And so now I've come to you, my wonderful LJ audience. It's been a while since I've done a poll, but I found this a rather fitting excuse to bring it back.

Help me, Obi Wan Kenobi. You're my only help.

I'm about to leave for work. Yesterday was a very nice, relaxing day off, but alas, it has now ended, and the dreaded FCS monster has once again called me to it's lair.

The only thing that keeps me going back is the people. Not just the people I work with, but the customers. And not just any/all of the customers…but the ones that come in completely confused, needing something, but not knowing what. I love being able to talk with them, help them pick out a bible, suggest a book for their group bible study, even help the non-religious mother pick out a confirmation gift for her neighbor's kid down the street. *sigh* I love being able to serve these people like this. Sometimes, I get the feeling this is all just 'training' for me for later. The the skills I learn, the resources I'm learning about, it's all going to play a part in my future.

I can hardly wait.

This post is sort of a continuation of the last post, where I promised you all more details concerning my perfect date with Ashley.

We started out meeting for lunch in Sterling, at the ABC. Very good food, its very quickly becoming my favorite place to eat.

After lunch, the main event happened. We drove to Middleburg, VA, to visit a winery and go through a wine tasting. I've never been to a wine tasting before. It was ALOT of fun. 12 different wines, each with their own unique flavor. I've decided that dry red wines are not for me. I tend to go for a light, citrus flavored wines. After the tasting Ashley bought us a couple of bottles of wine to take home with us(2 for me, 2 for her, and one to keep at my place for both of us to enjoy) We then bought 2 glasses of their patio red wine, and went outside to enjoy the day. It was beautiful. Sitting outside, mountains in the distance, just sipping wine and getting to know one another better. She is so much fun to talk to, I tried to just sit there and be quiet and enjoy the view, but I think I only managed it for a couple of minutes here and there(and even then I was gazing into her sunglass covered eyes instead of the mountains in the distance)I learn so much about her every time we talk, it's so great. Trading stories about our families, our friends, God, the Bible…it's wonderful. Eventually we decided to get up and leave, and just as we got up I hugged her. I'm pretty sure the hug lasted roughly half an hour, the two of us just holding each other, swaying in the breeze, still just talking to each other.

I had planned for us to meet up with the Mosaic prayer team once we got back to Manassas, but it was far too late, so we ended up having dinner with my mom instead. I was quite worried, because the whole way to Olive Garden my mom was not talking at all, but once we got there she opened up and her and Ashley chatted back and forth all evening. Oh and Ashley, if you're reading this: my mom says you're very nice and sweet, and you seem to be a good match for me. She also said she wants to spend more time with you.

After dinner(and once Ashley and I had dropped off my mom back home) her and I headed back to my apartment. We originally were going to watch some design tv show on HGTV, but that looked boring so we cuddled up and watched some Will and Grace. About 10 minutes into it we turned off the tv, cuddled up closer, and started reading some question books together. And there we stayed, until about 12 or 1am, just relaxing on the couch, watching Simon, and going back and forth answering questions. It was amazing. She actually has 2 more 'relationship/question' books that we're going to read together. It's something I've always wanted to do with a significant other, and this is the only time it's worked out.

The only thing lacking in this entire experience is pictures, and I swear I'm going to remember a camera next time. And to all my Mosaic peeps, if you're reading this: yes, she does exist, and you all will meet her soon.

A much, much more detailed update will follow in the morning, but I wanted to let everyone know that today(ie, my day-long date with Ashley) was perfect.

*sigh*

I need a stronger word than twitterpated.

I just finished watching the Nooma video I received for my birthday. It happened to be number six, entitled Kickball. It started out a bit….rough. I wasn't too keen on his way of story telling in this one, but towards the middle/end he brought it all together and it was really awesome. It was all about us, and how many times we ask God for things, and when he says no, we don't understand why, not realizing that he has something better in store for us. I can totally relate to that. I find myself wondering how many times I've prayed for something, cried over something, begged God to let me have something, and not realized that right across the street God had something even better, even more satisfying, waiting for me. I like this quote from the movie: Your question is, “How long, how long do I have to wait for this? When is God going to deliver?” and maybe God's perspective is, “How long till you see that there's a bigger perspective here?” Thats what it's all about, isn't it? Comforming our view and our will for our lives to God's view and God's will for our lives? Ofcourse, once we comform our views, then we get the even more difficult task of living it out. Ah, but those thoughts are for another day, and another LJ entry…

I just asked my sister if she wanted to go to the Burger King down the street and get me a milkshake. She told me I needed to be like Jerod–walk to Burger King, get my shake, and walk back. Then I could live on milkshakes, and become their spokesperson on their new commercials–That was me then…this is me now! I lost 200 pounds drinking Burger King milkshakes….Who's the King baby? I am! LOL, I love my sister.

I'm really looking forward to going to Mosaic tonight. I'm not sure who our speaker is though. We finally have a new young adult pastor, but we have no idea when he's going to be starting. And unfortunately for all of us, our websites don't say who our speaker is. Oh well–yay for a little mystery! Also, if I'm really lucky Ashley will be able to come with me tonight as well, but chances are I think she'll end up cancelling. It should be fun though. I wonder if we're gonna be doing anything afterwards? It's been a long time since I played volleyball. Last week they went to Nathan's(some diner-type place) for some ice cream, but as you all remember, I fell asleep in the parking lot. Thats not gonna happen this time! I haven't done much of anything today except read my bible, study up on the synoptic gospels, and watch the Nooma video. It's a very nice, very relaxing day. *sigh* I think I need some green tea.

I'll keep this short, since I'm very tired.

Today for the first time in my life… I had sushi. And it was good.