style
when asked for hours by the pharasies about the legitimacy of Jesus, the healed man replied…
i like the style of the freedom
found in Jesus: it cannot be explained.
esoal update…
I’m hearing word that the storm had to bring things for ESOAL inside due
to the rain and cold weather. I’m also hearing that they had to
do an “interactive movie” to accomodate for lost time from the
hurricane with the whole “if you fall asleep, you’re out”… except the
movie ran at early evening. Weak (unless people were getting sick
left and right). Correct me if I’m off here.
On a personal note… Last year I was in charge of all logistics and volunteers. I say that because it’s just a
little weird having ESOAL go on in the background while I’m just going
through normal life this weekend. What’s scarry is that when I heard
that the hurricane was influencing a delay of events, I felt
responsibility to talk to Dave to let him know a contingency plan…
sheesh… what was worse is that I actually thought of contingency
plans! Folks, IM TWENTY HOURS AWAY and it’s doing this to me!
(LEFT: shelley “the boat” johnson, RIGHT: brittany “the friend” paggot)
Two
beautiful ladies… I think the latest thing Shelley (pictured left)
accused me of was the being a “xanga avenger” and then the “comment
bandit”… yeah, I miss having her around. Last year, in case you
missed it, I had the beautiful opportunity of having Ms. Shelley Johnson
as my assistant. I mean, seriously, who gives a kid from
California, who still likes to play with legos, an assistant?
It
wasn’t but 30 seconds after I had found out that they picked Shelley to be my assistant that
I was already shaking her hand and getting to know her not as an
assistant, but as a friend. When she got here she was quiet, shy
and to herself…. then she made the grave mistake of meeting me.
Through the laughs, the cheesy jokes, as well as the tears and the
mountains I’ve watched her overcome, Shelley pushed through and became
someone I don’t think she expected to become: herself. It wasn’t
just me who helped her get there, but a sincere devotion to the Lord as
well as surrounding herself with a circle of friends, including a
mutual friend of ours, Brittany (pictured right). Brittany, I
remember meeting you on the sand volleyball court…
Shelley,
you’ve come a long way and the Lord only has more in store for
you. I’ve enjoyed your jokes and especially your laughs in
response to *my* cheesy jokes. Really, they weren’t that funny,
but somehow you laughed anyway. Thank you for also believing in
me, having a servant heart in everything you’ve done and for also
supporting me every step of the way. By you just having that
simple testimony, you’ve stretched me. You’ve helped me to become more of myself.
Continue to be yourself
and don’t let anything… anything… come in the way of your goals.
here’s to Him…
So,
I realized that I had made a xanga post earlier without really giving
credit where credit was due. This hit me earlier today, when I
just thought of how many blessings the Lord has hooked me up with while
I’ve been here (there have been too many to count). While this
may seem kind of weird and probably a bit redundant, I just wanted to
post this as a public thank you to the Lord.
monday 9/5: Father,
thank you for keeping me safe, Father, in the midst of the fender
bender… more importantly, thank you for having a hand of protection
on the lady that i hit. I just want to thank you for the peace
that surrounded me after the incident and for having your hand of love
on me during that day. thank you.
tuesday 9/6: Father,
thank you for taking care of the car and for providing the resources
and people in place to assist with this. thank you for continuing
to provide your peace, love and kindness through this time.
wednesday 9/7: Thank
you for giving me the wisdom to make a couple of great financial
decisions and for leading me down a better path in direction for
potential job opportunities. Thank you for the beautiful people
that i met at the youth group (especially harry, i like him a
lot). Thank you for also preventing me from making a big mistake
later that evening. I honestly didn’t see it at the time, but I just want
to thank you for your hand of intervention there on that one.
thursday 9/8: thank
you so much for blessing me with the new laptop that came in.
more importantly, thank you for all of the people, finances, services,
wisdom in the research, emails, etc… that helped make it even get to
arriving at the front door. Thank you also for giving me an
opportunity to meet a manager at a potential job that i had in mind.
Thank you also for the *other* youth group that I hung out with that
night and for the great food that was there too.
friday 9/9: your
peace was just astounding on friday despite the busy week it had
been. that’s all i really remember friday being. thank you
for allowing me to pick up my car early and for the car looking better
than it had been before the accident. something tells me that you
had that planned.
saturday 9/10: what
a day… thank you for the beautiful fellowship this day at cedar point
and for covering all expenses associated with this. thank you
also for letting me keep the camera despite the extremely close call
from losing it on a roller coaster. thank you for josh and his
family helping make my “first time” experience a good one.
sunday 9/11: thank
you for introducing me to a new church family. thank you for the
beautiful faces and for the day of relaxation associated with it.
thank you for also having a time of remembrance during service for the
9-11 incident 4 years ago, despite how cheesy it may have been (you
know what i mean).
monday 9/12 – wed 9/14: thank
you for giving josh a lead in a potential job opportunity and for
giving him some great results. thank you also for all the things
that you helped me get done the past few days (very productive). thank
you for a very simple and fun court hearing… all 45 seconds of
it. Thank you also for inspiring josh to come along to that just
making it a little humorous. thank you for letting us also find
some internet hotspots this week… got a lot of work done! thank
you also for the little bit of adventure that came along with it all.
All in all, Father… it’s been a beautiful week.
Amazing, embarrassing, sad, beautiful, and joyful. That sums up the past week. Is it Ohio or is it me?
This Saturday: Cedar Point
This past Saturday, I had my first experience at an intense roller coaster park called ‘Cedar Point’. I went with Josh’s family, but let me just say… Six Flags, Islands of Adventure, and all other roller coaster parks are weak in comparison… here’s just a few pictures:
Here’s a shot I got from the sky lift…
and a few shots from the rides
We have a video that’s even better from another ride. This ended my week on a great note… but let’s go back to Monday…
In any case, the insurance company really took care of me and I picked up my car this past Friday (it looks better than when I wrecked it). I have a court hearing in about seven hours from the typing of this post (Tuesday @ 8:30am EST).
Monday through Wednesday: The Blur
This period of time was just a big blur. Tuesday I got yet another rental car and then I turned it back in the next day when I did the math of how much it would cost me to keep it until Friday… so I just hitched a ride with Josh the rest of the week. Woohoo, saved some cash! Also went job hunting (I’m looking into working at Outback… we’ll see). Went to one of Josh’s youth groups last night and had a great time just hanging out with other people. Such a blessing.
Thursday: Lappy
So, ok… for the past eight years I’ve wanted one and now, oh yes, the Lord has provided a way for me to have an Apple Powerbook (laptop) completely paid off and in budget. It took a whopping two months of shopping to find the right deal, but on Thursday it arrived. Those closest to me know that I’ve always wanted one, and it couldn’t have come at a better time during this Ohio transition. Yep, it’s been named “lappy” and as of right now, I don’t know what I was thinking by putting up with Windows for so long.
Thursday: ShoutFest & Youth Group
The entire week I had been in discussion with Teen Mania about doing another marketing event this weekend. They had my tickets ready, hotel booked, Ron met with everyone and it seemed like he really liked my ideas and was telling them to put them in place… and then… on thursday, they had to pull out. Talk about a roller coaster, because we had been in discussion since my car accident. I know Ron really wanted to do it, even KJ-52 was involved in discussions, but logistics, red tape, numbers, costs, blah blah blah… yeah… we had to pull out. Not too bad of a deal though, because I got to go with Josh to Cedar Point!
Sunday: Church
Woohoo… it felt so nice just hanging out at a little church in some random spot in Delta, Ohio (Josh’s home church). What a blast… total attendance couldn’t have been more than 50-60. Such a blessing though.
Monday:
Yeah, so we just hung out on Monday… ’nuff said. And that’s been the week in a nutshell… I got to go to court later this morning (tue) to settle the accident details. I would have paid it off, but the court secretary told Josh and I it would be half the price and a little humorous to go… so we’re going! Wooot!
Hung out with Ron Luce and his daughter Hannah again over the weekend. This was probably the most that I’ve hung out with him in combination. His daughter further inspires me to be a great father and Ron further inspires me to just have a greater passion for the Lord. Anyway, we didn’t hang out just to hang out, I had to work and handle all marketing logistics on the ground at an event called “Shout Fest”. The event was held in Jackson, TN on Sat and Columbus, MS on Sun. Mississippi was a little close to home because I was able to see the gas outages, experience not being able to make a cell phone call (“all circuits were busy”) and see some refugees up-close. On the plane ride home, I got to talk with a German Television reporter who told me about New Orleans… way too horrific to even fathom.
It was a great weekend… i felt like a little boy because I had my first two rental cars ever all to myself. That was the best part. I bought the new Toby Mac remix CD and just jammed in both cars with the windows down. Good times, good times… all the way until I left my iPod in the car as I flew back home. I realized it when I was on the plane, having fun talking to a little girl (we played the travel version of ‘guess who’, i whooped her 8 times in a row… her dad laughed at her). Yeah, so… it was a great weekend… and yes, my iPod was found and being shipped back to me (i still can’t believe i left the thing in the car).
confession @ the airport…
Why do airports always remind me of how single I am? I have that feeling of anticipation when I get off the plane that someone I love, somehow will know exactly where to be, has checked all the times and will surprise me with a simple smile when I walk into baggage claim. That’s the little stuff that makes my day. It’s got to be because I’m latin (that’s my latest excuse now-a-days). I usually dismiss these thoughts only to have my mother and close friends remind me of this quest. I usually give them a bone and let them know who’s got my attention. My mom responds well to proof (pictures preferably); she thinks I make it up.
Why am I single? I have no idea. Perhaps I’m just too much of an old-fashioned romantic, looking for someone that will not just tolerate it, but embrace it. In my culture (latin), if a man really likes a woman and really wants to show it… i mean, he really wants to show it… he’ll hire a mariachi band and in the evening go to the woman’s home (who is still living with her father) and have the band start playing behind him. This wakes the whole family. If the father is ok with it, the daughter walks out. Simple as that. In the culture, this is just one illustration of how we love… latins are crazy-romantic like that.
At this point, I don’t even know why I’m typing this post… I guess I’m just being honest considering I’m in the mood. I know I’ll probably get some posts like “learn to trust in the Lord better”, “allow the Lord to fill this void”, etc… and I am (the Lord is amazing!)… I just thought I’d share considering that I’m at the airport and just want to release my thoughts on a computer.
ohio
My home for the semester. If I can just say one thing about this place: it’s beautiful. Of course, it took a whopping 18-hours, plus stops along with the new $3 gas prices… but we got there. Thank you Father for your safety. I’m staying with Josh Green’s family, but that’s not the only transition I’m going through… I’ve also sold my business (went public yesterday). For three years I’ve monitored and nurtured that business to what it is today, so it’s a little interesting not being the one responsible anymore. What’s even more interesting is that although I’ve just officially left Teen Mania, they’re flying me out again this weekend to help with marketing in TN and MS, for a festival called ShoutFest. Plane leaves Friday afternoon and surprisingly, I’m getting paid. The Lord is good. Well, I must get going… i’m writing on my laptop in the dark with my little light while connected to the internet through my cell phone while Josh is sleeping in the other room. I just though I’d update my xanga only because my mom told me today that she was tired of reading about the “future wives” post. I love my mom. Mom, pictures are coming soon.
august 31, 2005
i leave teen mania for ohio –
i hate miscommunication
i must be a magnet for this stuff
