The Life of the Nickness

For those of you who don’t know already, I got the job at Five Below. Yay!
Weird thing though: Because of the end of the holiday season, and the start of their inventory weeks, I’m not starting til Jan 14.

So. Two more weeks of ‘vacation’ to get my life in order before I go back to working full time.  Which is perfect, since I’ll be using those two weeks to really pray and think through the past year of my life and where my opportunities for improvement are.

Happy new year everyone.

I really miss my friends.

You wouldn’t think that living a little over an hour away would change things that much, but it does.

I can no longer call them up on a whim and meet them anywhere. Driving to Manassas every Sunday for Mosaic is a major gas/money strain that I can’t afford.

I miss the good ol’ days of hanging out in my room watching movies or chillin’ at TGIF.

Sigh. I guess it’s true what they say…

“Change is inevitable - except from a vending machine”

But that doesn’t mean I have to like it.

I remember once when I was in Bible College we had to write a paper about the call of God on our lives. You know that calling that God puts on our lives that matters most. There was a different answer for each person in that classroom. Many callings sounded the same at first glance, yet each rang with a distinct difference–each person had a passion; a longing; a burden for someone or something. And God had placed that passion; that longing; that burden; in their hearts.

I remember our paper was supposed to be three pages in length, and that mine was only a little less than a page. I couldn’t get very far past my opening general calling:“to know Jesus and make him known.” The reason I didn’t receive an “A” was because my calling was too short. Looking back I kind of laugh at that, how can a person’s calling be too short? Any calling that God gives a person is a great thing. I still remember my specific calling. It has been a while since I have given it thought, but it has always been on the backburner of my mind: to become a CE Pastor of a church and teach people about God. Granted, You don’t have to be a pastor to teach people about God, but I know God wants to use me in that capacity.

I’ve always had thing passion to teach, when I was younger I wanted to become a teacher–I vaguely remember being taught by someone that ignorance is never an excuse. When I became old enough to understand the things of God and the Bible it seemed only natural to want to teach to others what I had learned.

I remember one night after a youth service I was praying about what to do after I graduated high school, and a friend of mine came up behind me and started praying for me silently. After we had finished praying, he looked at me and told me that he saw me teaching people in a church. I really liked the sound of that. I had been struggling with that to do with my life after high school, and my friend, without even knowing about my struggle, had provided a solution. It could have been just a coincidence, but I took it as providence. Since that time God has greatly increased my desire to teach, as well as to learn. I read constantly, wanting to learn as much as I can. I listen to sermons whenever I’m online (God bless whoever invented the internet) in order to gain some insight from a Bible passage I might not have thought of before.

I remember explaining to my youth pastor one day what I felt God had called me to do. I remember telling him something like “Its great we go into other countries and tell people about Jesus, but someone has to be there to disciple them once we leave” He kind of laughed and told me he’d never really heard of anyone being called to be a Christian Education Pastor before. That startled me. Evangelism is great, but if no teaching, no learning, no discipleship happens once the evangelist leaves, then what good is it? It’s like leaving a baby in the world forest with no provisions and telling them to fend for themselves.

I don’t want to do that. I want to teach people, disciple people. My mom describes everything that happens in life as a learning experience. What better learning experience is there than to spend time with and learn about the Creator and Savior of the Universe?

As I am typing this I feel anxious–I wish I was already back in Bible college learning from those who know more and have walked farther in their Christian life. This isn’t the first time I felt this way. In high school I wished I could have just graduated early–not to just be done with school, but to hurry up and get to the schooling that mattered to me–those classes that would teach me the things about the Bible and about God that I didn’t know.

Back to my calling: Looking back on that class, I guess I could have elaborated on what I felt God wanted me to do with my life. If I could do it all again I probably would. What matters to me most–knowing Jesus and making him known. That’s the most important learning experience a person can have. It’s an experience I want to share with as many people as I can.

(note: yes I realize this probably should have been my very first journal entry, but the following was written down in a notebook and I just found it a few days ago)

“Perhaps, if I am very lucky, the feeble efforts of my lifetime will someday be noticed, and maybe, in some small way, they will be acknowledged as the greatest works of genius ever created by Man.”

Introduction

Yes, this is my notebook. Mine to do with whatever I please: write in, draw in, spit in, and plan my hostile takeover of the world in. Ok, ok, maybe not the second one. I don’t draw that well, so I’ll just take lots of pictures. If you’re reading this, and it’s typed-yeah for me! That means I finally got around to typing it on my computer. If you’re reading this and it’s handwritten—you must be either me or my girlfriend (Sabrina Shevitz) these are the only people allowed to read this in its pre-final form. And if you’re reading this Sabrina, MWAH! I love you. You are the best girlfriend in the entire world.
But what exactly is “this”? I’m not sure. I really enjoy writing (although the police didn’t find my bomb threat that enjoyable) and one day (04/02/02) I just got really bored and decided to create this “thing” I’m not sure what it will turn out to be just yet, so I guess if you want to know you have to keep reading.
A little about me: My name is…I’m not sure! I go by many names: One Foot, 5-fingered Nicky, Chef Nicolae, or just plain Nick. You can call me any of those you want. I told the government that and you know what they picked? Nicholas Christopher Clark. How unoriginal. That wasn’t even one of the choices. But you know how the government is, they just don’t care about you; Unless, of course, you owe them money. But even then, you don’t talk with them, oh no! You chat with their good buddy Satan. (Otherwise known as the IRS)
But enough about that–I mean, I could go on about the government, but who wants to read about really exciting government conspiracies? Ah, who knows? Maybe later I’ll write about a few of them. On to the original subject: so now you know my name. Don’t forget it, for one day it will be famous. At the time of writing this I am 18 years old. In two weeks, I’ll be 19. Pretty darn cool, huh? I go to a great college in Minneapolis, MN– North Central University. It’s a great Bible school, and for me wanting to become a pastor, that makes this place close to Heaven.
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Wow. I actually remember writing the above. Strange. It was written over a year ago. Back then my life was happy. Now it is anything but. I guess that was my first attempt at some kind of way cool journal. Too bad I stopped it, or maybe I would have some sort of idea what happened. Remember Sabrina, “the best girlfriend in the entire world”? Well, she and I got married. Now (08/30/03) we’re separated, to be divorced in Jan of 2004. I no longer go to college in Minneapolis. I had a heart attack end of the school year, my grades dropped, and they kicked me out. I ended up going to another AG school in PA—Valley Forge Christian College. I hated it there. The only good thing was my job—nope, no longer Chef Nicolae, now it was asst. dollar tree manager Nick. Of course, I said that was the good part. And it was; while it lasted. Then I got married, decided to take a year off of school. Wife convinced me to move back to Manassas. Now I work as an asst. manager of a blockbuster video. It is still the only good thing about my life now. I feel like I have no purpose. I feel like I am living someone else’s life. Like my life is really back at North Central, and I am dreaming all of this. But I know this is real. Pathetic, but real.
What a life that I have, huh? Now for the question of the day—do I try to just sum up my life, or do I journal it every day? Hmm…well, since I have transferred this writing into the livejournal, I guess there is little else I can do save write down my life for future generations of people to laugh at and mock me.

one more update….jb is no longer getting married. I am no longer anyone best man… sad. But we all know I am still The best man!! lol!

ok, so its been a really long time since i updated, and once you all read this you will be shocked.
1. michelle(at my work) was fired for theft. I am now number 2 in command!!
2.breena hates being married and she divorcing me(we’re separated now, officially divorced come mid jan)–hey, that means i’m kinda single, right??
3.I am working about 50 hours a week–i love my job, i just hope all this overtime transfers into a good raise.
4.i like watching the fairly oddparents now
5. i so need a life. and a girl. and some fun. and maybe some jack daniels…..
6.for more info you’ll have to wait til i update again