So it's been awhile bloggy, but here I am! To fill you in, I've been doing VBS all week, which has been crazy...in fact Krazy because as we both know, children are not my strong suite. Anyhoo, in the course of doing VBS I got to be the story teller and help with football - that was good. Yep. The music - well it was little kid music with that slight feel of "are we teaching these kids the aryan heresy?" For example, one of the lines in a particular song went something like "The Bible says that Jesus was a joyful human man!" Okay, there's a lot of debate to be had here, you throw in the Isaiah 53 passage (which any good Jew will tell you is about the sufferings of the nation of Israel, but we'll stick with the Catholic/Orthodox reading that it's about Jesus.) where it talks about Messiah being a "Man of Constant Sorrows" (and that can be taken a couple of ways), the discussion of if Jesus were Divine (which I strongly hold that He was...hence the capitilization of He)...so you see that at times my head was going to explode over 'minor' details like that. Oh, and some song that sounded just like "All Star" by that band...oh...I don't know...they did the Shrek soundtrack...anyway - yeah, it was the EXACT same song except there were a few changes like - well, let's just say that it was so minor that I'm glad I wasn't the one that had to worry about artistic originality!



Moving right along, last night was the Relay for Life and I 'volunteered' to walk from 2:00 am - 4:00 am. It wasn't so bad - and I really did volunteer. A bunch of middle schoolers who are in the orbit of the church were there and they pretty much moved as a herd - if one walked, they all walked. Man, what would've happened if one of them had taken the "Black Pill?" Scary! Anyway, I've decided that if I have one daughter, it's time to stop. Not that I have the ability to have children at this point, but when that comes up, yeah, stopping at one. The reason I say this is all I see is how sisters fight and I refuse- did you hear? - REFUSE to deal with that in my own home. If, by some cruel twist of fate (or divine Judgement) I do have two daughters...I'm putting one up for adoption. Probably the most annoying one. I'm just kidding...but seriously?

In other news, Samantha is pretty sick. I've tried some over the counter fuel system cleaner, but Idon't think that's going to do the trick this time around. She needs a doctor, so I'm taking her to the dealership on Monday and they're going to charge me $65 to tell me what's wrong and then offer to fix it for like $1000 more...did I mention that I, as a twenty something youth pastor who just started his job, don't have that kind of money? Oh well, I hear the devil is always buying souls, at least according to twentieth century musicians.

Let's see, I guess I'll avoid angry ranting about being single (or does this count as that?), but I will say that I miss a lot of my friends. Oh. :( Well, off to planning world dominiation (or a bonfire tonight, whatever....it's all the same, right?)

Bloggy-

'Fore I go to bed, let me just say that my mind is pretty much killing me! So I got that "honesty box" for facebook and threw it up this afternoon and some girl either a) as a super mean prank or b) to...I don't even know why! put that she likes me! Why are women so weird! Anyway, now I'm looking at every girl I know that has facebook like "Are you the one walking around with a wee bit of a crush on me? Is that how you roll?" Oh, and I read Ruth today, that was an excellent book. A couple of things I took away today:

1. The oppening paragraph makes it a point that they (Naomi and her sons and husband) left Israel for Moab...hmmmm...
2. Boaz was full of integrity
3. Family affiliation was huge.

Okay...tommorw, Esther maybe?

I'm tired. Yep. G'night Bloggy.

Drinks with the Ex

Hey bloggy. I'm back in the office after spending a crazy couple of hours in Columbus. Let's just say it was one of the weirdest times I've had in a bit. Where to start? Okay, so I helped my father (not the one in heaven) with some work in the backyard, showered and then went to go pick up F. to play some mad Euchre action. Before I left, I had already called in my regular partner extrodinaire E., and she was going to meet us at the Roadhouse so that we could play. As I pick up F., the X, simply known as X is there. Not a biggy - we get along fine, we're generally kind and even developing a sort of back and forth again. I mean, it's only been six years, so it's about time that happens. The deal is, though, that I haven't spent any extended time with her without her husband, M. So when she says that she'll be F.'s partner, I ofcourse agree (what else can you do?), and she meets us at the Roadhouse. Let me tell what was so weird about it - one, I'm not, as they say in New Mexico, 'attracted to her' anylonger. Our relationship pretty much ended that possibility. It was weird because - well for a couple of reasons I'm not comfortable sharing with you bloggy, because we just met. But anyway, what made the whole of the evening super uncomfortable was that I feel like a successful failure in comparison to her. I've got a job, I'm almost done with college (she's got the first and done with the second); I've got some limited success socially in making a difference in communities or something like that; I've lectured on college and high school campuses; I speak a whole lot all over the place. But I haven't been able to make a relationship happen. That's the wrong way to put it. I haven't been able to put together my life in such a way that a relationship can happen. On top of that whole line of thought, her husband wasn't there, and I really, REALLY did not like that because I wouldn't want my wife to be hanging out with her ex- even if there were two other parties who were with them all the time (did I mention he's going to be a state trooper real soon like?). And then - I tried to explain this to my friend - looks of familiarity that I don't want to share with her, because, well, we're not familiar anymore and I don't want her to think we are. I've moved on (sounds like it, doesn't it bloggy?), but I don't want her to think that I haven't. I'm totally living under the weight of a whole other failed relationship. But bloggy, that's another story for another time. Anyhow, as I was going to couch that night, I ofcourse went to that place where I began to think that she was trying to make all of these thoughts happen - but I don't honestly think she's that malicous (or is she?). Anyway, welcome to my wonderful world of awkward. I've got to get some stuff done, but I'll be back with more stories later bloggy.

J

Even Murderers Are Getting Married! What's wrong with Me!

Okay bloggy, I'm going to write here now because I've got somethings on my mind. One is I wonder how I'm going to make it some days. I'm 23, not ancient, but not incredibly young and hopeful anymore - I wonder why I feel so old and I'm really not. I just feel like I'm trying to catch my life, but it's not happening. I don't know, maybe I'm not really all that ready to talk with you, bloggy. You seem nice enough, but I don't know. Let me try it this way...

I'm on one of those dumb dating sites. I say dumb, because you basically get a collection of people together who are trying to find someone, but because of whatever reason we make up, we're on this site with other similarly situated human beings. We've failed in the traditional western system in which friendships, one night stands, coffee house run-ins eventually become a relationship that eventually becomes a marriage. This raises a lot of interesting questions - let's say, just for a moment, that I find 'the one' on this site (is there really only one?), what great story am I going to tell the kids about how dad met mom, and how can I tell my son or daughter about dating and building healthy relationships because I obviously can't do it. Another question - what's so wrong with me (and everyone always says there's nothing wrong with you - insert condescending, but sympathetic look here - but they either a) have rejected you at some point or b) have some great wonderful super amazing person in their life) that this is what I'm doing with my life. I'm gambling on mathematical algorithms or something to find the right one. Yikes. I trust random chance a bit more, but she hasn't been gracious of late. Or am I just blind and dumb. That's quite possibly the answer there too.

Anyway, today I got to cancel an event - always a sadness, but it'll be rescheduled. I'm going to go home, try to figure out how to get some work done and then...well...I don't know, bloggy, you might be hearing from me again!

J

Here I Am Thanks To Becca

Well bloggy. I'm here. I'm supposed to reveal all of my deepest secrets to you and then feel better about it later...I don't know if I quite trust you yet, but we'll see, yes...indeed (evil laugh). Anyway, I never blogged myspace 'cause...it was not wise. We'll leave it there for a moment. I'm at work now. This is random. Okay. I think I'll leave now only because I need some time or some event to cause me reason to blog. Rock on.