A not so short post (Portfolio Reviews, Dagon, and "A woman so heartless")

So this is my week.  It's officially Friday, I mean technically, now that it's after 12.  I've had quite the week.  In order to try and get into the Art Program here at Appalachian State I submitted my portfolio on Wednesday.  It feels so good to have that off my back.  I also had a Art History test the same day as that.  It's nice to be done with that too.  I'm really tired right now so this probably won't be the most interesting post you've read.  The picture that I've included in this post is one of the works that I included in my portfolio.  I did it on Monday of this week and I almost put a different work in there instead of this one.  To me it seems kind of elementary-looking but oh well.  I like the idea that I had.  It's called Nature Meets Nurture: The Stick Figure, which is sort of a play on words.  It's a stick of a pine tree that I found in the circle driving up to my dorm that transforms into the bust (more or less) of a man.  Then, to emphasize the idea further, I included more ideas of nature and nurture together.  The other examples included are: a flower growing out of a foot and an arm that is also a cloud.  I did it with acrylic paint on an 11x14 inch canvas, in case you were wondering.  Tonight was a really good night.  I went to Campus Crusade for Christ (CRU and it was great!  Mark Valentine, one of the guys on staff with CRU, spoke and there was also some great worship time!  CRU is usually the highlight of my week!  It's nice to have it on Thursday nights because then I have something to look forward to as the week progresses, especially since Friday is my busiest day this semester, with class and work.  Another great thing about tonight was getting to talk with some friends.  I may have not literally talked with them but just talked with them online.  It feels good to be a comfort to someone.  I am glad that God uses me in that way.  I really feel that God used me as a vessel to bring comfort to a friend of mine going through a difficult time tonight.  How privileged I am that God chooses to use me! :)  Oh!  I just remembered a great point from Mark's talk tonight!  He was talking about what will the narrative they write of our lives be about?  I want mine to be one of a simple man with a passion for service for the Lord.  I want to point to Him even when I'm just doing what may seem like menial chores.  Mark was talking about 1 Samuel and he mentioned a narrative from there in chapter 5 when the Philistines had captured the Ark of the Covenant.  An idol of the Philistines, Dagon, fell over in the presence of the Ark.  Yet, the Philistines just picked it up and put it back in it's place.  Again it fell over, but this time it's arms were broken off.  I don't want to be like the Philistines and just push my idols back up, and yes I do have idols.  I want to learn from what God is trying to teach me.  My idols, whether relationships, friends, school, music, even things that seem good spending time with people or even family should pale in comparison with my relationship with the Most High God.  They should be nothing compared to my desire to know him more and greater.  I serve a God who loves me so much that He sent His only Son to die so that I might experience life to the full.  He created the entire universe yet He loves me as a son.  He too loves you as a son, or a daughter.  It doesn't matter what we've done or what we do, He can never love us any less, or more for that matter.  We can try to make Him love us more but it won't work, He can't!  He already loves us more than we can even begin to comprehend!  What a great God!

Another quick thing.  On Wednesday evening I watched The Gods Aren't Angry, which is a DVD by a Pastor named Rob Bell.  It was really great!  I highly recommend it.  I had been waiting since around Halloween of last year to watch it with my friend Drew and it was well worth the wait.

I hope that this post finds you well.  (It ended up not being too dull a post after all...at least I think so!)

¡Cuidase!

P.S. Please copy the link below and paste it in your web browser.  It's The Fray covering "Heartless" by Kanye West..Very quality!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgnFKNvmV7o

You Can't Have a Bad Attitude if you've got a DR-itude

Okay, time for another Blog entry.  It's been a couple weeks since my last one.  Wow!  I almost said a week.  How could I forget last week??  Last week was such an incredible week!  I had the privilege of going to the Dominican Republic for with fourteen other people from Appalachian.  It was soooo Amazing!!!  I'm planning on putting my journal entries on here so that you can get a better idea of how the trip went.  I wrote all but I think one of the days so there should be some good coverage there.

Before going to the Dominican Republic we had a few different class meetings.  These were nice because they prepared us well for the trip as well as allowed for us to get to know each other a little bit before.  But before these meetings I only knew one of the fourteen other people in our group.  Things like this are exciting because you go from knowing little to no one to becoming really close with them.  Also, having a group of only fifteen people gave us an opportunity to meet each person even more.  Did I mention that I was one of only two guys who went on the trip?  But hey, it was nice!  I mean I've got a lot of girls as friends so I was cool with it.  Plus, it's not like I didn't have a lot of man time.  I got to hang out with the the Dominican guys in the park that all the kids came to play at.  The whole trip really was a great experience.

Right now I don't really have a whole lot else to say and I've got to wake up at 6 in the morning for work so I think I'm going to get some sleep.  But before I do I think I'll leave you with a list.  For some reason I've had the idea of coming up asking people 8 things about...and then fill in the blank.  So here's one for now:

8 Things I miss about the Dominican Republic:

1. Hanging out with the kids at the parque
2. Delicious free food for every meal
3. Speaking in Spanish nonstop and people actually understanding me
4. Helping one of the guards (named Juan Luis) learn English
5. Meeting more and more new people and just talking with them at the parque
6. Walking on flat ground
7. Finding out where we were going on our excursion
8. Hanging out with my fellow Mountaineers

And here's another one:

8 Great Things about being back in Boone:

1. Being able to take a complete (non Navy) shower
2. Dancing whenever I want to ;)
3. Choosing a shirt to wear, instead of just a color
4. Shaving
5. Talking to my friends and family
6. I can flush the toilet paper down the toilet
7. I can get a university education, and I think I may appreciate it more now that I'm back
8. My room is soo much quieter when I'm trying to go to sleep (ie. there are no motorbikes, roosters, dogs, or the occasional car blasting reggaeton music) and if there are any of those distractions I can just close my window. :)

Hope this post finds you well!  Have a great day and don't forget to feel free to give me ideas about what I should post on in the future! :)

¡Cuidase!

The Second First Blog: Lent, Mandy Moore, Michael Scott, and Something Corporate

So...I had one of these a while ago but I can't remember exactly what the name of it was or something.  I tried searching for it but to no avail.  It might still be out there somewhere...who really knows?  But really it wasn't that interesting.  There were only like two posts.  I think this one has the potential to be a lot better.  I've had ideas about writing things in the past few months or so but haven't really followed through with them.  Some of them have become notes on Facebook, others are spilled into the pages of my journal, and still others are lost in that chasm between my ears (perhaps forever.)  But hey..that's not a big deal.  That's why I'm doing this...so I can put those ideas somewhere.  Sometimes I feel like I want to write something that other people can read, not just writing in my journal.  Like there's this thing that I got an idea about not too long ago and today another element to it was added.  So I'm going to toss that idea your way.

But before I do so I just want you to know know that I feel that God is calling me right now to not pursue a relationship.  He really showed me that last Monday which was conveniently the Monday before Ash Wednesday.  So I decided to give up always trying to be in a relationship for Lent.  Relationships are very important but it's important to develop personal relationships with people.  We were made for relationships.  So I am just going to learn whatever God has for me.  When I try to pursue a relationship myself I tend to try too hard to make someone like me.  I feel that that is a reason why I haven't found someone for me yet.  I try too hard to make someone like me when all I need to do is trust that God has this all planned out and everything under control.  So I'm just trying to be friends right now and we'll see how that works.  I don't want to live to please people.  I want to please God and honor Him with my life.  So this idea may not make a whole lot of sense right now but I'm going to write it down now so that I don't forget about it and feel free to tell me how you feel about it.

So here's the idea... I have come to the realization that my expectations (is that the right word?) for a relationship with a significant other come predominantly from two sources.  Random Alert! So I was watching The Office last weekend this quote gave me an interesting/funny idea; I could use the quote as something to let people know what type of girl I am interested in.

So here's the Quote (thanks to www.theofficequotes.com): Michael Scott: I am ready to start dating again.  Getting back on the market.  So, FYI, for those of you who are thinking about fixing me up, with any of your friends, use the woman on page 85 as a template!  That will be all.

So I'm not really ready to start dating again as you may have guessed from earlier in this post but just think about this for later.  The two sources of my expectations (really...is that right? whatev') are A Walk to Remember (the movie, not the book although I bet that is really good too) and I Want to Save You (a song by Something Corporate).  These two sources are very different, hence my type (maybe that's better...) is varied.

So I just really wanted to share that with you.  I know it doesn't really say much but if you ask me about it I can explain it some more.  Or if you want me to explain it in a later post I could do that too.  Just let me know!  It seems like there was a lot of rising action up to this point of the Blog and then I didn't really explain it a whole lot (kinda anticlimactic) but oh well...

Hope you're having a great day!  Tomorrow I'm leaving for the Dominican Republic for Alternative Spring Break.  It should be a blast!  I can Blog about that later.  Also, let me know if you've got some ideas for later posts!  ¡Cuidase!