What are you teaching?

Have you ever thought that things that you don't stand for or speak of still teach a message? If you are apathetic towards something it still teaches an underlining message that you don't care.

I was challenged this week in my youth ministries class to think about how I teach, specifically with my students. I can teach that something is not important by specifically not talking about it. If I don't encourage my students to invite friends then I am saying inviting friends isn't important. Same with prayer, reading the bible, or anything else for that matter. Really made me think a little...especially in the case of our student leadership team.

So, I guess the question is...do you speak for what you stand for or does your silence convey the message?

The Sky is Falling...The Sky is Falling!!!

Yesterday morning at 4:36am I had a flash back to the 2nd grade. I felt as if I was Chicken Little running around yelling "The sky is falling, the sky is falling!". You see I was awoken by a very loud bang and my apartment shaking. I live on the top story and there is a garage below me, I am the end unit. Well...the first thing I thought was "Oh crap my apartment is caving in". Then once I realized that it was no longer moving, I jumped out of bed, grabbed my glasses, and turned on a light.

I looked out the window to see a garbage truck, yes my friends, a garbage truck. So, I told myself that I must have been dreaming and my apartment really wasn't shaking and all I heard was a dumb garbage truck. Well, I went back to bad.

Fast forward a few hours...I went out the gate on the side of my house to go to my truck and I couldn't open it...there was something blocking the way. I was able to push a little to allow me to stick my head through. The brick wall that separates the walkway along my house and where the garbage dumpsters was collapsed. In deed the garbage truck went through the brick wall throwing it onto my apartment causing it to shake! PTL! I am not crazy after all. I called my property manager and reported what happened but I guess they move slow cause the massive pile of bricks it still there tonight.

So, I guess the sky really wasn't falling after all.

The first day of the rest of your life...

Today marked a new chapter in my life. I officially began classes at Fresno Pacific University. It has been a long journey in transferring there to finish up my degree but I do believe it is going to be well worth it. I know its only the beginning and there will be good days and there will be bad, just as with anything. I really think I will enjoy my professors, my peers, the campus, the environment, the courses. I have already met some really nice people and I look forward to building more friendships. It should be a fun journey. I have saddled up my horse and I am going to hit the trail and hope to be done much sooner than later. And ladies, I am single, so the ring by spring is an option....JUST KIDDING!!!

And on a darker side...today didn't start out so bright when I woke up and thought it felt way too bright to be 6am and I felt way too well-rested. Then I looked at my clock and saw 8:03am. Yes, I had class at 8am and I was already late on the first day of school. I made a frantic dash to get ready and leave within 10 minutes. My alarm clock seriously didn't go off. And no I am not kidding, it didn't go off. Just call me Jen. =)

Yes, I am proud of my man bag...

So, I recently purchased a bag for school. Its kind of a messenger bag of types. Its solid black. I like it. If you want to call it my man bag you can...but I refuse to call it a murse. My dear friend Becky insisted that it is a murse...AKA man purse but I disagree. That's all...

Gotta laugh out loud sometimes...

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Yes, I am a fool!

So, I know I am not the best speller and I always spell check my blogs before I post them. Well...little did I know when I went back and looked after you spell check you have to click another button before you publish the post in order for it to save the spelling corrections! So, for months, possibly years I have been doing this and all my blogs are full of spelling errors! My bad! I am such a fool! I will make sure to click the extra button from now on! Gosh I am lame!

The Lake House

About every six months or so I head to the video store and take home about 4-6 used videos on DVD. I buy them when they have their sale for 4 for $20 or something like that. I typically get videos that I have yet to see and I have heard good things about. It then takes me about six months to end up watching all the DVDs I buy. I watch one movie a month if I am lucky.

So, last night I was looking for a DVD in my collection to watch and I came across The Lake House. I picked it up and thought: hmmm I haven't watched this yet, I'll give it a try. So, I popped it in and began watching. One word sums up the whole movie: bizarre! I heard good things about the movie from a few friends when it was in theaters. It wasn't a bad movie but it was very confusing. I mean a man living in 2004 communicating with a woman who is living in 2006 and they both are experiencing current times in their lives. At the end of course they were together, embracing one another, however I still don't understand how they got to that point. Did she go back in time? Did he get fast-forward to the future. Who knows. All in all a very weird movie. If you wanna borrow it let me know!

1 Egg or 2, That is thy question

So, I decided I wanted to make some muffins this morning. I went and pulled out a box of cinnamon strudel muffin mix from the cupboard. I looked at the back of the box and it called for milk...check, oil...check, 2 eggs...oh no...I only had 1 egg. I decided to take my chances and make the muffins with only 1 egg. I was really craving them! Well, low and behold they turned out just fine with 1 egg! They taste delicious! I can't tell a single difference with missing an egg! PTL for the muffin man!

The Pain Continues...

Today is day five of having my wisdom teeth out...all five of them that is. I have been experiencing a high level of pain on my right side which has went into my ear and head. It is causing me to have trouble sleeping as well as still not being able to really eat. The pain meds are not even working for long. So, I made the bold step to call the doctor to see if I have a dry socket. He is going to see me in just over an hour at his office. What a guy going back in on a Friday night to see a patient. So, I should know soon if that is the case and hopefully a little patch with some medicine will make it feel better. I want the pain to stop and the healing to be done already!

Confused

Do you ever just feel really confused? Like you don't know if you're comin or goin? I feel semi-confused about life and just everything going on right now. I really wish I could get sometime of clear picture as to what all I am supposed to do and not do. I guess only time shall tell.

Bungee Jumping!!!

I got to go bungee jumping from 152 feet yesterday at Great America! It was freakin awesome. We went 60 MPH! I have never been so scared to be so high up yet so excited at the same time. When we released it was such an awesome feeling, really it was indescribable. I want to do it again!

New Neighbors...

Meet my new neighbors...the popo's and the criminals of Fresno County! Yes, thats right ladies and gentlemen, I am proud to announce that the exchange of criminals from cop cars to the popo van that takes them underground into the county jail now takes place right outside my back window! In the last week I have seen more people in handcuffs than ever! It's kinda fun to watch out the back window to the big open parking lot and watch them transfer the criminals! I just hope its never me being transferred, haha!

Hectic Times

Do you ever wish that the world would slow down for a little while? Like maybe you could freeze time and just relax for a bit and have nothing happening around you? I sure do. I feel a tad bit overwhelmed these with school about to start and with work quickly picking up pace. I am not ready!!!

Well, at least for this weekend I can forget about it because I am leaving for Great America in a few short minutes. Then I come home Sunday and Monday morning have my wisdom teeth out...not looking forward to that. But hey at least I will get to sleep a lot! So, I won't be around much the next few days but I have lots of things to blog about eventually...readings, stories, events, pics,etc. So hopefully I will get to them soon!

Bye Bye Bertha - Part II

Dearly Beloved:

Bertha is forever resting in peace. Yesterday I wished her well as I put her down to sleep. Or should I say passed her onto someone else to inherit her problems. I figured that I put about 6000 miles on her in almost two years, mostly just for Campus Life, and spent nearly $4000 for the original purchase plus all the repairs. And even with that she was leaking oil, AC broke, and transmission was going on. I settled on taking $750 to just get her off my hands so I could move on. The song will forever remain in my head and heart..."Big beauitful Bertha, Big beauitful babe, whoa whoa whoa, Big Beauitful Bertha".

Good Times

"Stop making me laugh, you're hurting my intestans" -jen

I must say it is always a joy to hang out with my good friend. Never a dull moment!

No Go Sitch!

18 minutes naps are a no go sitch! You see we had two hours of an afternoon break from our conference. I came back to the room to take a lil nap since I didn't sleep well last night. My ideal nap is about 50 minutes. It is prefect for me to rest. I am rooming with two guys over age 50 and the both swear naps should be 15 minutes, no longer. So, they said they would set their alarms for 18 minutes to be gererous to me. Well, they were both out within 30 seconds. It took me 10 minutes to fall asleep which left about 8 minutes for my name before I was rudely awakened by the beeping of an alarm! I laid there for a few more minutes really despising the situation. I think a good nap is in order when I get home...50 minute minimum!

Nice Reminder

It's nice to be with people throughout the state and country who share in the family of YFC and are serving in ministry along side you. It is also a great reminder of how important our work is. Sometimes I feel like it isn't worth it but then I come to these conferences and I feel refreshed and I feel like it is worth it and I can go on. Anywho, I am tired and I am not sure if this makes sense so I am going to sleep now. Good night!

And I'm Off...

I am off to Sacramento today for a regional conference and won't be back until Saturday. I then go to speak at a church Sunday, head to a birthday part in Hanford, then Monday plan for a youth event which is Tuesday, spend a few days working, head to Great America for a mini-vacation next Friday-Sunday. Come home Sunday for The Commissioning and Back2School Night of Prayer. Wake up early Monday (the 20th) and have my freakish 5 wisdom teeth out. From there, bed and vicodine. Oh the joys of life! =) Hope you are enjoying the end of your summer!

The day has really come

I talked to my mom this morning and she informed me that they are moving! My parents have been talking of moving for many months and I didn't think it would happen. Well, after nine long years in the same apartment they are moving. It should be good for them. I am happy. It's just crazy to think they are really doing it. And that means I have to empty all my junk out of their garage...not looking forward to that!

Emotional Vomit...

...I hear its a good thing to do. To basiclly throw up all the junk you have inside you, specifically on paper. I was advised to try it...hmmm any advice? hehe

Genuine

So, I had lunch after church with a good friend...actually an amazing friend. She posed the question to me "What makes someone genuine?" The question really got me thinking about what it means to be genuine and who are the geniune people in my life? So, I decided to look up the definition on good ole dictionary.com...so in case you wanted to know what the definition fo genuine is here ya go...

Genuine: Possessing the claimed or attributed character, quality, or origin; not counterfeit; authentic; real; free from pretense, affectation, or hypocrisy; sincere.

The cause of hurt...

I picked up the book Sex God by Rob Bell on Friday. It was 50% off at the store and I had been wanting to read it so I was like, what the heck! Well, I am only into the third chapter and it is a pretty awesome book. I love how Bell gets to the center of issues and is pretty raw with calling things what they are and not sugar coating them.

I had had numerous conversation with people who have been hurt or have issues with the church...or issues with other groups for instance jobs, school, a group of people, etc. I found this very interesting what Bell says "I often meet people who aren't part of a church and don't want anything to do with God because of all those religious hypocrites. Often they have great pain that the blame on 'the church'. But it's not possible for an institution, whether it's a church or a school or a business or even the government, to hurt somebody. Institutions are made up of people. People hurt people." (Bell, p. 45)

This really got me thinking because it's so true. People hurt people. We can often say we have problems with an organization and really we have problems with a person or multiple people in that organization that have hurt us. This really is the cause of our pain, of our anger, or our hurt. But guess what, it's way easier to blame a church or an organization for our hurt because they can't fight back. It's when we realize the person that hurt us that things get complicated because we don't want to confront the person to try and resolve whatever the matter is. We begin to make excuses that they won't understand how I feel, or they will think I am attacking them, or it won't change anything if I tell them how I feel. Bottom line is they are excuses because we are too scared to confront the direct cause of the pain we are feeling. So, what does this all mean? I don't know. It just got me thinking, maybe it will challenge your thinking too.

Bye Bye Sarie...

Today was a somewhat sad day as I said good bye to an amazing friend, volunteer, and intern! Sarah...AKA Sarie or Sarietta was an amazing sidekick this summer. I don't know if I would have got through summer programming if it wasn't for her! Not only did she help by building amazing relationships with students and getting them plugged in...as well as helping to orgainze our summer events...she also had my back in so many ways! Without her I would not have been able to focus on some needed time out of the office to do summer school...which I must say is finally over as of today! PTL! Anywho, Sarah, if you're reading this you are an amazing woman and God truly used you to reach our youth this summer! Thank you for your support! And may you be blessed as you move onto Bakersfield to persue your crediential! I know the kids will be blessed to have you as a teacher! Bye bye my partner in crime!

Tragic

So, I admit, I am not very political. I vote and that is the extent of my political side but recently my dear friend j.Lo got me thinking about the war. It also didn't help that for the last eight or so weeks I have been taking a Modern Civ class which pretty much has a high level of content on war. I have come to realize that it is pretty selfish for leaders to risk the lives of hundreds, thousands, and sometimes millions of people for sake of a political agenda.

Where am I going with all of this? Well, for the last 24 hours I have been watching a fair deal of the news in regard to the bridge collapse in MN. At first I watched out of concern because I have a dear friend who is there currently and I couldn't initially get a hold of her to find out she was okay. But she did end up contacting me and informing me she was in fact heading for that bridge when she got a call from a friend and turned around. Praise God she hadn't left a little sooner for her travels to the store.

Anyways, another friend of mine posted a my space bullitin on the bridge. I found it very sad that there are 73,864 bridges in the US right now that are rated structually deficient just like this bridge. The US currently spends 2 billion dollars annually to repair these bridges, however 9 billion is needed yearly in order to keep up with the repairs of these bridges. So, other bridges could potentially give way any day while we are spending all of our additional resources fighting a war that should have ended ages ago. Can someone tell me how that makes sense? Now we are not only losing lives at war but also in bridge collapses because we are not allocating our resources properly.

Okay, I just wanted to vent. This political tyrant is done. Until next time...

Bye Bye Bertha

I am selling my faithful Explorer who has went by the name of Bertha. You can check out my posting at http://fresno.craigslist.org/car/387219745.html. If you or anyone you know are interested please let me know! Thanks!