’nuff said 

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ok, suppose this fire resembled an authentic, genuine, rock-on walk with the Lord — and this little fire is the ever-popular Sunday flame.

you know it quite well: it’s the flame that only ignites on Sunday morning when the pastor throws a few logs on it and come Sunday evening, Monday morning tops, a small pile of ash remains.

now take another look — there’s no other fuel but sand and water.  yeah, it’s a bummer.  all excited because of a good sermon, but not willing to apply anything.  i feel like this sometimes.

it’s like dating someone you kinda like and going through the motions… no real flame, just a little bonfire… but seriously… when you really love this person… how far are you willing to go…

no, not just smoke, i mean, seriously, really loved this person that it overwhelmed you… what would it look like? 

and you couldn’t contain it…



while bonfires are plenty, these fires are no-joke… they make headlines.  there’s no formula to get there… go figure — God actually might have made this entire thing un-complicated — dare i even say, simple.  just like that hot fiery romance, sub the passion for a True passion.

a small flame is already within you and while Christians have tried throwing other random fuels upon it (drama, acceptance, lust, money, etc…), it’s still only a short-lived flame.  but then you remember when you pursued Him just the same way you pursued that long lost bride (no formulas, but just because you wanted to) — and somehow you remember watching that flame really ignite.  how could you have forgotten?  it’s a real fuel that creates a real flame, and like paul even said: you have to take up that cross daily.  good call, paul… sounds just like a beautiful love story.

point and case: you are what you spend your time doing.  what you spend your time doing is what you worship.  what you worship, outside from the Lord, is your idol.

sure — some people could probably get by with just their bonfire and idols, doing their thing, and still probably get right through to heaven, but as for me… i want more… because He’s worthy.
man — i had to skip oatmeal for this post.

garage sailing

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take a look at my new toy.

alright, so not a toy, but a beautiful model boat i picked up at a garage sale this morning.  score.  i originally spotted it yesterday while doing some errands and came back this morning with my mom (like a little boy) to see if I could arrange a payment method to get it.  the guy was really kind and tried dropping the price a little for me, but mom instead blessed me by just buying it for me.  that’ll do.  that’ll do indeed.  😉

man — i really enjoy having a weekend off (first in a while)

All System Alert

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not that it’s ever happened…

Alright crew, we need to come in for a chat…

All: Hey Erik, what’s up?
Well, I just need to get some things discussed right now, out in the open… you know, a little one-on-one time.
Brain: No problem, buddy, that’s what we’re here for… how can we help?

Fear: Hmm —  do we have to do this now?  can’t we just save this for later

Brian: Nah, we can take it now.  Although you’re in a grocery store, we can do this here.

Ego: That’s right, you can take anything!  YOU ‘DA MAN!

Brain: Hey everyone — quiet… let the kid speak.

Well, it’s really about my walk with the Lord — all i really want to do is focus on Him and get some more HIM time in.

Ego: Oh yes — that’s totally rock solid, man

Flesh: Hypocrite, no you don’t… all you think about is yourself

Heart: hey listen, why are we even having this discussion… live a little

Hey now, this is important, I just want to —

Brain: ALL SYSTEM ALERT… we have a bogey in checkout lane #3, checkout lane #3 — beautiful young woman bagging groceries, i repeat.. beautiful young woman bagging groceries — alternate checkout lanes are numbers 4, 7 or express — avoid lane #3, i repeat — avoid lane #3!

Eyes: Affirmative Brain, we have identified the bogey in sector 3, proceeding to divert focus to alternate location and make for lane #7, I repeat, we’re diverting attention and going for lane #7.

Attention Span: Affirmative Brain, attention has been diverted.

Heart: This is heart to brain, heart to brain, do you copy? over.

Brain: Go ahead, heart.

Heart: Permission to Speak, over.

Brain: Permission granted, at ease soldier.

Heart: Just felt it necessary to remind you that you’re still single, over.

Brain: Yes, heart, thank you for the reminder, however project diversion still in effect.

Don Juan: ALL SYSTEM ALERT — We have an unidentified bogey spotted at checkout lane #3, requesting permission to go in for a closer look…

Brain: Negative, checkout lane #3 is the enemy, i repeat, do not proceed to checkout lane #3 — reroute to Charlie, David 7, over.
Don Juan: Hey, uh, sorry, Brain, you’re breaking up… rerouting all engines to checkout lane 3 and accessing the command system override — seems to be a little bog, over.Flesh: woooooot!!
Brain: WHO IS THIS?

Don Juan: This is Don Juan, the Hormones, Sir, but you can call me El Guapo, over.

Heart: Oh boy, sorry Brain, but the Hormones have accessed the command system override and steering right for the bogey!

Brain: Lack of discipline is all this is… Discipline, are you online?

Discipline:  :: yawn ::

Don Juan: We have identified the Bogey as a young beautiful lady, possibly in her 20s — she’s in visual, requesting permission for charm.

Charm: Hello, you’ve reached Charm.  Sorry, no one is available to take your call right now, but if you leave your name and a number…

Discipline: Brain, hey — what’s up?

Brain: we need a little intervention here — captain america is going for the blonde bogey in checkout lane 3 and is attempting to exhaust all engines to get to her — again, requesting intervention to take him down.

Discipline: Standby…

Don Juan: Mayday, mayday, bogey is carrying groceries out of the store with another customer, i repeat, carrying groceries out of the store — checkout lane #3 is empty and unoccupied, over and out.

Discipline: oh, ok… didn’t do nothing, but that was easy.

Brain: Hey Romeo, listen… you need to follow orders buddy.

Don Juan: Hey Sesame Street — can it, will ya?

Fear: phew, i don’t know if we could have taken that kind of rejection, if she didn’t take the charm.

Brain: hey, what were we really talking about to begin with?

Umm… We were talking about my walk with the Lord
Brain: Oh yeah — where were we?

Don Juan: sound the alarms, our bogey is coming back in, i repeat, back in… re-accessing all drives for —

Discipline: Can it, Don Juan
Heart: yeah, not again… even i’m tired of this

 

Flesh: But I’m not!

Brain: oh please, simmer down guysEgo: hey, uhh… we don’t have to mention that this little interuption ever happened, do we?  That wouldn’t really help our image

Flesh: Uhh, yeah, he’s got a point

Damage Control: yeah, don’t put me through that again 

Heart: Err… he didn’t just post this on his blog did he?

Attention Span: sorry, what?
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curious george and a birthday…
              
                                        
Viviana’s Song
          



Viviana and I enjoyed watching the new Curious George movie last night (Sunday).  We tagged the little monkey as Vivi and myself as the clumsy man in the yellow hat. Call me a sucker, but i downloaded the theme song from iTunes so i could enjoy the moment — ha, i even figured out how to tag the music video to this post (geeks, eat your heart out).   I’ve tagged it as Vivi’s Song.

So.. today, one of my baby sisters, Idania, turns 21.  Twenty-one.  Well, technically, mom and I just looked at the birth certificate this morning showing she was born at 9:38pm in California, making it 12:38am (tomorrow) here in Florida — Valentines Day.  Hmm. So was it wrong to sing her happy birthday this morning at 6:50am?  Oh well.  She’s off to Orlando with “the boyfriend” to enjoy her day at Disney World.  She was doing her makeup and just left — silly girls.

Ok, so what is it with my sisters and boys.  Vivi (5) has the boys (including me) wrapped around her finger… the latest: andrew.  Hilliary (12) just got asked out about a week ago for the first time by a kid named Matt (they’ve liked each other for a while and the whole family is in on it). “hey, so… you wanna go out with me?” — “yeah” — “uhh, ok” (ha — that’s the extent of it, but still, he’s got a lot more courage at his age than i did).  I’ll be posting some pics of Hilliary soon as I’ll be taking her on a date this week.

Viviana and I spent an hour after the movie last night learning how to count to 100 by 5’s.  She’s a little rusty, but I think we got it.    Well, that’s all for now… off to work..

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meet luke..



luke is 20 lbs of cat (and he loves water)

now meet darth vader (puppet)…

darth vader is luke’s physical trainer —



(they’re play fighting)



and as of today (combined with a new healthier cat food), luke is now down to 17 pounds… we’re making progress and I’m making a boy out of him (since now, he’s been living with a house full of women).  thanks to darth (a.k.a. our play fighting) — he honestly likes it… always comes back for more… sometimes.

—

outside of cat aerobics, life on this end has been great, despite the new work-sleep-life schedule (details later).  i did hear an acquire the fire commercial come on the radio the other day, but somehow, between the Pillar music, ads and promo lingo, this little Harmon came to mind — teen mania’s recent poster child (ha).

in other news… the girls are doing great — i’m going to be taking my little sister, hilliary (12), out on a date soon. she recently decided that she wants to go into the marines, which would be pretty cool, but big brother needs to ask some questions. i’ll be posting pictures of her soon — she really is absolutely beautiful.  mom took me out to lunch yesterday at Chic-fil-a… man, such a great place to eat… had some great discussions about a variety of topics and then i was back to work (woot).  we had just come from the post office from shipping my old laptop, which I sold on eBay for ~$720 (not bad at all, huh).  idania is doing great — although she did get into a little fender bender the other day.  i drove out to make sure things went smooth (and they did).  vivi — well, you already know how she’s doing.  😉

Saturday rant…

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2am —
this is going to sound incoherent in the morning, but tell me if this doesn’t just sound crazy.  Say I sit down with a guy I’ll call Samuel and he tells me how he’s married to his wife Jennifer for the past 8 years… he says they have a great marriage but… well… he’s boldly been having a not-so-secret affair… nine of them, actually — with Julie, Sally, Hannah… the list goes on… but he really loves Jennifer (despite the continuous affairs)

sounds sick if it were true, doesn’t it.  yet, we as Christians do the same thing with our relationship with the Lord every day — we get so caught up with the world and simply allow it to water down our faith, that we become someone on the side of the cross indirecly jabbing Jesus with our spear — just sick, ya know — just a thought.  another thing that’s sick is this oatmeal i decided to make about 10 minutes ago — i added choc chips before i poured the hot water — it’s my recipe for adventure at 2am (despite the disastrous results — ha).

11am —

Thought I’d have fun with this ramble thing (for today only though) Watching Spiderman this morning and couldn’t help but notice some similar aspects in my own life that are similar to Mr. Peter Parker: (a) strange gifts I’m learning to accept/learn, (b) having my own special Mary Jane that I just don’t know what to do with (please don’t read into that) and (c) some serious adventure issues.
Went garage sailing this morning — took luke (the cat) with me — too bad the rain from last night watered down the hopes to find any garage sales (oh well).  The cat, however, was very glad to get back home
7pm —

 

Spent the afternoon with Mom, Vivi and Idania at the mall today.  Oh yes.. the mall — and i did the typical guy thing too — followed.

 

We stopped at several shops and then had the opportunity to stop at the slushi / smoothie place.  Mom and I sat for a few minutes and did the ‘people watching’ thing again… I arranged the secret spy cam to capture the moment (so you could see

 

 

Although someone knew all about the secret spy cam…

 

At one point we were able to stop and see some shirts…

 idania couldn’t help but show it off

Then mom had to get her nails done so I bought Vivi and I some pretzels and just chilled on a bench (i got the grunge look going). 

 

All and all, the day was pretty neat.  I also bought Vivi a shirt I couldn’t help but pass up.

Because she is my little pal  🙂

 Now, we’re cooking dinner — I just made a great Strawberry Daiquiri (virgin, of course), while mom is currently making a great seafood dish (score — it’s almost done).

11pm —


not too shabby

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this spongebob, some video games, a vacuum cleaner and my old laptop — some of the things i’ve recently been putting on (or) have sold on eBay. update: if you happen to check it out, be sure to check out my eBay username — ha. 😉
good news — i got a great job (praise the Lord) working with an old mentor of mine. it’s in the kitchen remodeling business and a trade that i’ve really been wanting to learn and the pay is better than the server position i’ve been considering — i feel like Peter being rescued from the water in Matthew 14, and being told by Jesus “oh son, why did you lack faith?” i also wanted to let you know that it really blessed me to have come home the first night and seen the few of you who had left encouraging comments — thank you; you have no idea.

i start the job tomorrow morning and am pretty excited. i’m going to spend the rest of the morning catching up on some emails and then back to setting up my bedroom while finishing up the garage and finalizing some eBay stuff — wooot (not really — ha). And then later tonight — 24 (tv – the girls call it “erik’s soap”).

oh, and a little random fact at the house: oreo cookies are an endangered species — my hidden stash disappeared.

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combined between ohio and florida: i’ve been looking for a job for three weeks now.  three weeks.


sigh — it’s a little discouraging


is it wrong to say that i just want to get into an old vw bus, find a surf board and chill/write along the california coast while watching every sunset along the way


i’d have to learn how to surf though  😉