Do Hard Things

As I was coming to the end of “Through Painted Deserts” by Don Miller, I remembered a book I got for Christmas that I thought would be a good read after I finished Painted Deserts. That was about a week ago, and I’m now on like chapter three of “Do Hard Things” by Alex and Brett Harris. That phrase “Do hard things” has been pounding on even before I began reading. “To Save a Life” (great film, go see it) was the movie I saw two Fridays ago that began this “do hard things” annoyance.

Yeah, I really do mean annoyance. That phrase has been popping up in my mind multiple times a day, and so far I haven’t given in. I haven’t done anything hard. But it’s starting to get harder to resist. In all actuality, some things that I thought were hard before aren’t really turning out to look so hard.

For instance, I’m really bothered when I see somebody eating lunch in the dining hall alone. Maybe it’s because I know what it’s like to be lonely, it feels terrible, and I don’t really want other people to have to experience it. Every single time I eat here, I find somebody who’s eating alone. Not because I’m looking for them, my eyes just wander and they pop up. “Do hard things” comes to mind. Crap. Now I either have to do something that scares me (yes, I’m scared to go up to a random stranger and strike up a conversation), or I have to live with the guilt of being a pansy.

Like I said, so far I’ve been able to resist doing the hard things. I need prayer and encouragement to do hard things, though. It’s tough doing hard things—heck, it’s tough doing easy things (when you’re as lazy as me). I’m ready to join the rebelution, though.

Heratio the Fox: Installment: Third of Three thus far

That which follows is the third-most addition to the instant classic "Heratio the Fox." For more information, please press 3. Para espanol, primera cuatro.

There once was a sly fox. This sly fox was cunning and dashingly good looking, eh? It has been one week since the bus incident, and Heratio got board. Like literally, he got a board. Of wood. From the forest that he burnt down, but some planks were left over that he rememberd he could use for certain things.

PAUSE! Please pardon the interruption, but some slight clarifications are needed to be made. Please note the fact that Heratio's name is not pronounced "her-aye-shyo" like you probably thought. His name is pronounced "her-ASH-yo" with the emphasis on the "ASH."

Resume film.

So Heratio was lumbering with his planks that he found. He thought the wood smelt good, so he thinked to himself that they might be-est pleasuring to eat, or rather, consume (but not consummate, just consume). So he took a small whale-sized bit of the plank that was near-most to himself, and he began to chew it. He got a sliver inbetween A tooth and his gums, and it hurt real bad, but he knew it would be worth it to chew through the pain, cuz it tasted so good. After that all was well, at least until be preceded to swollow, at which point he got this strange discomforted look upon his face, for he was choking and he threw it all up. It was mostly just wood, from the plank that he was eating, but there was a little bit of Buffalo Wild Wings mixed in, because he ate at there earlier today (for it was now about the 8th hour).

Speaking of Buffalo Wild Wings, now would be an optimal time to explain Heratio's (remember its pronounced her-ash-yo) terrible encounter with the ugly-betty waitress at Buffalo Wild Wings. So Heratio walked in to a Buffalo Wild Wings on the corner of 9th and 5th. You know where this is, yeah, bru, huh? And this was one of them Buffalo Wild Wings where foxes weren't allowed. At least, to say the least, Heratio was slightly engaged, or rather enraged. He was actually extremely enraged. He pulled out his Citizen's card proving once and for all that he was a citizen of the United States just as much as all the humans in there. So Betty, the waitress that was mentioned earlier (as the ugle-betty waitress, remember?), reluctantly gave him a table. Except he was a fox, and fox are tiny so he needed to be seated at a kiddy table. Turns out though, that it was a decoy fox, and the real Heratio the fox had walked in and demanded a regular-sized table. For Heratio was a camel-sized fox, if you can recall from "Heratio the Fox: Episode 2." Betty sighed and reluctantly gave him a table for three, for Heratio was having a guest in addition to his decoy fox. Heratio got 37 wings with no sauce. He ate every single one. All of them. Except he couldn't finish 2 of them, because he could tell they weren't Kosher.

So back to where Heratio had thrown up the wood. He decided that it may not be a good idea to eat wood again, probably. So he vowed to never eat wood that would certainly make him choke. But he might eat wood that wouldn't for sure make him choke.

That's it for now. So until next time, which will probably be soon, good bye.

Heratio the Fox: Episode 2

This is the second installment in a series of short stories. The first episode is only available on request. But Heratio's flashback in this story is a sufficient summary of episode one of "Heratio the Fox."

Once upon a time there was a sly fox. The sly fox was also cunning and dashingly good looking. His name was Heratio. While living in the woods, like he normally did, he saw a cloud in the sky. He wondered what the cloud was made of, and he couldn't figure it out, so he got mad. Heratio got so mad that he burned the forest down with a fireball shotgun. He burned down the forest like a mad-man. Except he was a fox, so he was more like a mad fox. A mad fox named Heratio.

Then Heratio had a flashback to a time in the past where there was a wicked witch and knights who say "Ni" that he chopped up and ate and a guy named David and Shelby and the witch subdued Heratio, but only half way, so the witch decided to grant the sly fox a wish and he wished for cunning (before this, the fox was not cunning, and this is why the fox is cunning now) and he blew up David and Shelby with thirteen nukes and then Heratio regurgitated the knights and they were all happy.

Then Heratio was done with his flashback, only to find that a cross between a Kangaroo and a Moose (nicknamed KaMoose (kinda like caboose)) that pooped on his right hind leg. So he ninja'ed KaMoose to near death. But the Kangaroo Moose didn't die, but he was severely injured. every finger was chopped off, all of his limbs were broken, his heart ripped out and pureed, his liver was tickeled almost to death, and his spleen became it's own rational being and ate the neighboring appendix. The local Doctor was nearby strawberry hunting and antelope hunting and heard a Kangaroo/moose-like groan and came and put KaMoose on some machinery that kepted him alive. so KaMoose didn't die, but he was severely injured.

Running in, stage right, crying, Shelby walks in. We all thought Shelby died in the 13-nuclear-bomb attack, but she didn't. She was just severely injured and deformed. Because of the nuclear radiation, she grew 17 extra ears, all growing on the left side of her face, and the force of the bomb in combination with the radiation flung her legs backwards and they ended up next to her shoulders, so she walks kidna funny now. But there she was, and Heratio was shocked. Shelby didn't know that Heratio was the attacker in the nuclear attack, and she didn't know the doctor or KaMoose. Heratio didn't want her to find out and get upset, because he kind of had a crush on her now. But it was weird because Heratio was a fox and Shelby was a human. But she was severely disfigured, so Heratio thought maybe his fox-friends maybe wouldn't be able to tell she was a human.

Then Heratio got suspicious because the next day, Shelby got mad and started monologue-ing to herself in dutch. And Heratio couldn't stand the dutch (just like austin powers and his dad). So Heratio went to Reno, purchased a stolen bus, but he didn't know it was stolen, and he drove the bus back to the forest where Shelby had made a shelter out of the carcass of KaMoose (cuz he didn't make it through the night) and Heratio ran over Shelby, because he doesn't like dutch stuff.

So Heratio was a little upset, but he made himself a latte and it made him feel better. By the time he was done drinking it, he had forgotten about Shelby. But the latte was 87 gallons, so it took a while for him to drink it all. But Heratio's like an over-sized fox, like the size of a camel. So he actually drank it pretty fast. And he fell asleep because he felt like his stomach was about to rip open and all his guts and stomach were to fly out. Ne'er again shalt he drink an 87 gallon latte. Maybe an 87 gallon hot chocolate, but not a latte.

Dorm

Got a new leather couch. Had to re-arrange the room to fit it in. Here's what our dorm looks like. I used the webcam on my lappy. I compiled like 8 pictures to make this one perfect panoramic picture of the room.

Wingin' it

Today I was reminded, yet again, at what a complete failure I am. In my Teaching the Bible class, we had to give a teeny tiny presentation today. It was only supposed to be like a minute or two long. We had to share two sermon topics, and a verse or passage to support it, and briefly give a summary of the message. I thought to myself "Eh, no problem. I got this covered. Simple stuff." And I actually pretty much had it all planned out in my head. Then I stand in front of my class (which has only like 5 or 6 other students) and my mind goes psycho. I start talking, and I cannot control the words coming out of my mouth. They are not the words I intended, and they don't even really have anything to do with what I originally wanted to say. The whole time I'm speaking (seems like I was up for like an hour just babbling), my teacher has this just completely confused look on his face.

I don't know what my problem is. I guess I'm still afraid of standing up and speaking in front of people, even if it's half a dozen people. I'm tellin you... what I was going to say would have just been solid... but instead I just got up and crapped my pants and mindlessly babbled. Winging it is not my thing yet I suppose...

Party Like a Rock Star

Last night I went to see "To Save a Life" with my youth group, and then we had a lock-in kinda thing after. First, I'd like to say that I loved the movie. It was great, especially being an Independent Christian film. I thought it was a movie that people could really relate to, it was extremely relevant, had plenty of challenges and truth. The sucky part is that most people will agree with what I've just said... but then in a week or two we'll all forget about it. I hope that I don't forget. I hope my youth group doesn't forget.

Second... we had that lock-in jazz goin on. Pretty fun night. I think there were around fifteen guys there at one point. We played some Wii, Xbox, Settlers of Catan, some train board game, ate pizza and chips and twizzlers and drank pop. Some of the guys stayed up only till like 1, while others claimed to stay up all night. I went to bed at 4. I'm tired. But it was a blast. I enjoyed hangin with the guys and getting to know them better. May the force be with you.

Mourning

There has been the death of somebody near and dear to my heart. He's been with me for around six months, and in that time I've grown very fond of him. We've been through good times, through bad, through thick and thin. He's always been there when I needed him, of course except when I forgot to bring him with me. He's been such a nourishment to my soul, hydrating me whenever I needed it most. He always brought relief to me and satiated my thirst. If you haven't discovered it yet, I'm talking about the Royal Mug. A gift to me from my old classmate and friend, Rachel Peterson. I've been blessed by this gift. It has served me well these past six months, and it saddens me to say good bye. What caused this terrible death? He looks fine in this photo, eh? Well, there's a crack in him. The doctors say it can't be fixed. We're just trying to spend as much time together before he's gone. We're expecting him to last through tomorrow, so the funeral will be held Sunday. If anybody would like to attend the funeral, let me know and I can give you more information. Sending cards would be appreciated as well. Sending money to help with funeral costs would be helpful as well. To the rest of the world out there, live long and prosper.

I will miss you, Regal Gobblet.

Ketchup

It's almost been a week since I've blogged. I've been so busy this past week, so it's time me and you catch up (Ketchup, get it?). For the sake of not making you read this blog for hours, and for the sake of me needing to get to my hw, I shall remain brief!

• Saturday I enjoyed watching Faith play (and win) two basketball games. Following the second game my body was blessed by Chubbies (perhaps the most delicious restaurant on the planet). I split a 12 inch deep dish pizza and a 1 lb bacon cheddar burger with Jesse. I gained at least 3 lbs from that meal.
• Sunday I went to OCB with the Gerlach's for breakfast, and then joined them at their church. Then Faith had another basketball game Sunday, which I believe she won. Sunday night I had yg. After yg the students decided they wanted to go to applebee's because they didnt' have school the next day. Man was it wicked having like 25 hyper high school students there. I'm sure the staff there hated us. We made sure to not tell them we were a church group, or which church we were from. I know they made a wicked tip, though. Probably around 60 or 80 bucks at least.
• Monday. In the morning Jeremy and I went to the Childers' house to pick up their leather sofa, for we planned to take it to school. It was a beast to carry. Then Jeremy and I joined just over a dozen people from BT to go skiing at Wilmot Mountain. We started skiing around 4:15 and went till about 10:30, with a break or two in there for food and stuff. Man was that a blast. I had such a great time. David hurt his shoulder, but other than that I don't think anybody in our group was injured. I did fall going off a jump, but I didn't get hurt. I want to go skiing again soon. I wish it wasn't so expensive. We got home around 1130 and Jeremy and I had to head down to school, because we had class the next morning. We got to school around 1am. We had the couch with us. We live on the third floor. Need I say more?
• Tuesday. I slept till I had class at 1050. Then after my two classes, I joined Craig, who was visiting Ben and Justin, who were on campus for a "summer camp fair" thing. Then I hung out with Justin and Ben for the rest of the day. They left around 8 or 9. It was great seeing them. Makes me wanna go up there to SBR really badly. Then after they were gone, Jeremy and I set out to bring the couch into our dorm, for it was still just sitting in our suite We figured out that the couch actually came apart. So we took it apart and brought it in our dorm. We couldn't just carry it in because there's hallways and doorways that just wouldn't allow us to bring the couch in as a whole. I know Jeremy and I did something else Tuesday, I just can't remember.
• Wednesday (yesterday, in case you didn't know that today is Thursday and so therefore wednesday would also be known as "yesterday"). Class, chapel (a stupid one... we had to fill out some survey that took like 30 minutes to do), lunch, work, shower, craigs, Jess's's soccer game (in a neighborhood ghetto enough that we had to get searched before they let us in), Alaina's for dinner, and back to school for some 24 on our new entertainment system (it's new to us). We got a 30"ish TV (old school), surround sound (thanks to craig), and a DVD player (thanks craig again).

Well, there you have it. There's stuff I left out, stuff I forgot, and I probably repeated some stuff in there. And yes, this is the short version. You are the weakest link. Good bye.

m'plan, bru

I have a plan to memorize the book of Galatians, and I have two friends who are joining me. We are just going straight through verse by verse. We're on verse 5 right now. We've been giving ourselves 3 days to memorize the verse, but it just seems too easy. We're gonna bump it up to two days per verse. There's 145 verses in the book, so looks like we'll be finishing around November, unless we bump it up to a verse a day, which we may do sometime soon. I really love the book of Galatians.

Thats my good news. My bad news is that I also have a read-through-the-bible-in-a-year plan. That's not going well. Today I'm supposed to have up through Leviticus 7 in the OT and Matthew 27 finished. I'm at Genesis 27 and Matthew 7. I'm about a week behind.

Also, this semester I've got 4 bible classes and 1 music class. I really have no desire to take Gen Eds at all. I just want Bible classes. That's it. I don't want to pay freakin 900 bucks to take a math class or a science class. I just want de Bible. You know?

A Nice Warm Slice of Peace

Today I got a chance to watch the sunset from my room. This pic is from my camera phone, so that's why it's so crappy. But it looked amazing tonight. At one point I got this picture in my mind, it seemed unusually real. As I looked at the sun, off to the right I could see God's face, and extending out towards the Sun and Earth were his arms extending, holding them both up. Then He looked down at me, smiled, and thought "All these people running around, too busy to notice. But this one here, he's enjoying this beautiful sunset I painted today." It felt so unusually good to just stop and stand there and watch the sunset with no agenda. There was nothing I needed to do that moment but enjoy the beauty of the sunset.

m'books, bru

Got my books all ordered for class. Full price for all the books brand new (not including shipping): 379.72. The amount I paid for all of them, including shipping: 125.40. Makes me feel good to know I've saved myself 254.32. The classes I'm taking are: OT Poetic Books, Pauling Epistles, Calvinism vs. Arminianism, Teaching the Bible, Survey of World Music, and Teaching OT creatively. Total credit hours: 16. Number of hours I'll probably spend doing hw: 60. It's gonna be a fun semester.

Slap-ah de bass, mahn!

I had the honor of slappin de bass this Sunday for church. I really enjoy playing bass, but I'd love to be able to play guitar and drums here and there. Last time I lead worship with a guitar was last summer. I miss it. But this past Sunday was great. I don't remember which song it was, but I was just in the zone. The congregation just faded out, and I was just jammin. I loved it. It's great worshipping God.

Special Saturday

Yesterday I had the honor of driving to Rachel's house, picking up Drew and Clair along the way. We had a big fire there, ate some delicious pizza (thanks, Rachel, you're a great cook), and hung out at Luke's for a while. It was quite enjoyable, being able to hang out with those guys. Always brings back memories of camp. The part that sucked: spending 50 bucks in gas (I had to drive our big van because Jeremy had my truck). I was not ready to spend that much money on gas, and it sure hit me hard. I've officially got $6 to get me through till this Friday. I'm low on gas right now (got around 50 miles left) and I have one trip to Grayslake and back here tonite, a trip to work at school tomorrow, and then a trip to move back in to school Tuesday. Convenient.

al basquetball

Got to go to Faith's first basketball game this morning. It was a great first game for them. I bet they'll have a good season. I think Faith had a fun time playing too.

Chapter Three

Just finished chapter three of Through Painted Deserts. I love this book and I hate it. Reading it just brings forth all these different emotions. This chapter tended to focus on what these two guys wanted in girls, in a wife. Bummed that I don't know of any girls interested in me. Excited to actually get married some day. I feel sorry... for the girl that ends up with me. You may not think so, (maybe you do...) but I'm one messed up guy. I feel grateful because I know God will find a girl who loves me regardless of my shortcomings. I feel jealous of Donald Miller and the guy he's on the road trip with, because I want to do what he's doing (in the book). And that's just the tip of the iceberg, the icing on the cake.

But drinking this Ruby Red Sierra Mist makes me feel all warm and tingly inside!

Fire

Sometimes I just get a small desire to watch stuff burn. So last night in the snow, Adam and I had a fire. It was quite pleasant. It was a bit windier than we expected, so that was a little bit unpleasant. But we had Twizlers and popcorn and Ruby Red grapefruit Sierra Mist. My new favorite drink is Ruby Red Sierra Mist. It is insanely delicious. I could drink one hundred cans a day for the rest of my life and it would still be my favorite drink.

I got a ton of sweet drifting in from all the snow we got. I wouldn't complain at all if it snowed like that every day all winter.

Bowling

That's right. I went bowling again today. Pretty cheap again too. I wasn't doing that great, but somehow I beat my record and made a new one of 136. I know. I'm practically professional... or not. But I had fun again! Got to go with Jeremy, Jesse, Faith, and mi padre. We played like 7 games, got curly fries, pizza, and pop.

Also, got some sweet drifting in with Jesse. Probably going to go again later tonite with Adam. Gonna have a fire in the back yard tonite too. This is pretty much the best snow day ever!

Slow to snow

I woke up this morning hoping for a foot of snow on the ground, but only finding like 3 or 4 inches. Major disappointment. I was going to head down to Trinity today to work, but both my parents think it would be foolish to do so, so even though I'd go, I'll take their advice and stay home. Anyways, I'd rather not crash my truck right now. I'm still happy we got more snow. Now there will definitely be enough to go sledding this weekend. Who's in?

Genesis

Reading through Genesis...

5 Then the Lord took Abram outside and said to him, “Look up into the sky and count the stars if you can. That’s how many descendants you will have!”6 And Abram believed the Lord, and the Lord counted him as righteous because of his faith.

Gen 15:5-6 (NLT)

Abram believed the Lord. Abram was righteous because of his faith. But later, Abram goes out of God's will when he gets impatient. Abram believes. But he does his own thing anyways. What the heck? That's just jacked up. Jacked up that God still blessed Abram regardless of his actions. Jacked up that we do the same thing Abram did, and God still blesses us. How can God not get tired of blessing people who disrespect?

Bowling

Last night I got a chance to go bowling with Adam, Jeremy, and some of Jeremy's friends. Including shoe rental and 4 games, it cost just over 4 bucks. What a deal. You can't really beat that. I had a great time too. I'm not the best at bowling. I got like 108 the first game, about 20 more the second game. Then after that I'm not sure. One game we put the bumpers up and the rule was you had to hit the bumper at least once, otherwise it counted as zero. It was pretty fun.

When we there, the aroma of the french fries from the grill were overwhelming. It was so hard to resist not buying them. They smelt (that's the new abbreviation for "smelled") so delicious. I resisted, while Jeremy's friends could not. I tried one, and they weren't good at all. I think Burger King fries are better than those (and Burger King ranks lowest on my french fry ratings). And is it just me, or is it like like an unwritten rule that you're supposed to be drinking something while you bowl (I don't mean alcohol, even though most people do). It just feels wrong bowling without something to drink. Like bowling is an energy sucking sport that dehydrates you after each time you throw the ball. They should just put drinking fountains right at the ball return so you can take a sip and bowl, and take another sip so you don't get dehydrated.

Anyways, after that Jeremy and I went over to Adam's house and watch a Christ Farley movie. Don't remember what it was called. It wasn't Tommy Boy, though. I've seen it before, and it was decently funny. But watching it last night made me realize how not funny David Spade is.

Let it snow

I hear we're supposed to get 6-10 inches of snow tomorrow. I don't think I could type a smilie face big enough to convey how happy I am about that. But I will try.


....O....O

..................
.\ ______/

Eh. I tried. Just know that I'm excited for the snow. I am going to drift for hours. Get it?

Idodge

Got my truck back yesterday. They replaced my engine temperature gauge, a wire that connects my engine to my ignition, my catalytic converter, and my muffler. Ended up being close to 600 bucks. Then I was finna go to Adams house and before I left my house, it over heated. So they didn't fix the problem we originally brought it in for. So I brought it back this morning and we got it back this afternoon some time. I haven't driven it yet, but I'm about to go bowling, so we'll see if it works.

Room of Living

I rearranged my living room (or as some strange person would say "my parents' living room) today. It's a pretty delicious set up. I'll post a pic of it later, gater. I also ran the wires for our surround sound under the floor so they're completely hidden. I'm awesome, I know. Hopefully I can finish the work I'm doing in my basement before I have to go back to school. Know what I'm sayin?

The Gathering

Tomorrow is the Gathering at BT. Ealier this weekend Jesse asked me to do sound for them. I agreed, didn't sound like it'd be too much work. I found out that they had practice today from right after church till 4. I was not happy about that. They ended up practicing till like 230 or 3 maybe. Then I found out tomorrow they want us at church at 3. And it doesn't start till 630. So I'm gonna be at church from 3 till like 830... maybe 9. I'm not really happy about that.

I was just thinking about that and realized I've got such a crappy attitude about it. I'm participating in a big worship night. I should feel privileged and honored to be able to help. I get to give 6 hours of tomorrow to God. I'm lucky.

Jack Frost took his toll

My ma was washing dishes and there was no water pressure. She discovered my dad was showering. But he said the water pressure in there was low too. Nothing else in the house was using water. My dad said a water pipe probably busted down the road or something. A few hours later I spotted a van with an orange flashing light. Jeremy and I scootered down there to check it out. Sure enough there was a lake out there. Water was just gushing out of somebody's lawn. I didn't wear gloves. My hands just about froze off. But it was cool seeing a man-made/natural ice rink being made in somebody's front lawn and on the street.

Wii

Spending some time playing the Wii with my siblings. I really enjoy playing Wii. We're doing some Wii golf right now. I'm a pro. Seriously. I've got skills. Just wish I could golf in real life this well. At least I'm a pro at Disc Golf in real life. Speaking of Disc Golf, I just went on Friday. In the snow. And -1,000 degree winter air. It was a blast. I did really well until the last few holes.

Poop poop butt butt

I hate the transition from when I end one book to starting the next one. I just finished Blue Like Jazz. It was weird because I thought it really wasn't that great of a book, but I'm really sad to be done reading it. I moved on to Donald Miller's other book Through Painted Deserts. This book has grabbed ahold of me from the first paragraph. I finished the first chapter and I just don't want to set it down. It makes me want to get up and go do something. He's just on the road for fun, pretty much aimless. I have always wanted to do that, this makes me so jealous of him! So today, to get started on my adventure... I sit at church doing sound for 4 hours for the Gathering practice.