I just took a free IQ Test on-line, mainly because i was bored. i supposedly scored a 124, but i have no idea what it means, except that i am some sort idiot, because you have to buy your results. so does anyone out there in blog world have any idea what a 124 would mean? i don't even know anything about Intelligence Testing, so i need some help. i took it thinking you might be able to read the IQ's of like einstein, and mentally handicap but of course not why would it be informative. so those of you who are smarter than i, help me out. thanks.
i will blog more tomorrow. as for now, home and reading, preparing for class tomorrow. since i have to be at nscc at 7:30am tomorrow. i am not excited, but hopefully will change my attitude before i fall asleep or getting up will be miserable. i am working on it as i sit here.

i am busy thinking a lot lately, but not really coming to any conclusions. i am working on my sermon for sept. 7th, but i am starting to think i may need to reconsider: i need to do some more study on burdens and yokes. we will see.

amy comes back to work part-time starting tomorrow, that will be good. i miss talking to her all the time. :) i will be babysitting for madison tomorrow. that will be exciting. i hope she has an easy time with Gay and Troy being gone tomorrow. i am looking forward to a new schedule but i am not good with new stuff. we will see how it goes. i must say that i am proud of myself because i actually have gotten stuff done on-time, actually early for class. it helps to work on things ahead of time, it might have helped if i had been that way in college.

i will write more this week after i have calmed my mind a bit. sometimes writing is theraputic, but tonite i can't even have one continuous thought. so i will wait till after things get better/at least started. i had one of those crazy tornado dreams last nite. i think that it is just the beginning of new stuff and being overwhelmed by that, at least that is what my dream books tell me. so i am trying to calm down, and relax. i am not nervous about teaching just getting back into a routine. that is how i live. alright i am outtie.

I suppose it is time for some spiritual stuff...it seems like i have just been giving a run down of my days lately.
i have been thinking on a few passages throughout the old and new testaments, and this idea of burdens. Jesus says HIs yoke is easy, which is why i have been pondering burdens. What kind of things make me feel a burden? Obligation, that was the first thing that came to mind. Whenever i do things out of obligation. i always feel burdened, and mean it. i dread doing things and tend to not enjoy any one who might be involved. Even if i do something for my very closest friends, if it is out of obligation...it stresses me out. Not knowing all the details, that is even more of a burden for me. It doesn't matter if it is about the near future, far off in the future, or something that i may have planned. if i don't have it all together, a plan...i am heavy, struggle with sleep, and often times dream about that thing.
there are burdens that i bare that i don't even think about. Anything financial, or bills...i don't worry. i work and a pay them. i suppose that they could become burdensome, but i don't worry about it, so no burden. Friendships, for the most part, are freeing to me. i never worry whether or not amy and kevin want to hang out with me or if they are tired of me. there is no burden, the feeling is mutual. i know others that live burdened by things that are a blessing to different people. Children, spouses, work, money, friends, family...on and on the list goes. What is a burden for one person can bring joy to another. Why is that?
i think i finally am understanding that. There is no burden in Christ: only FREEDOM. Freedom to live life abundantly. Freedom to pay your bills, enjoy your children, your family, your friends. there is nothing that should feel heavy and consuming in Christ. He doesn't just take the burdens, he paid for them, and replaces them with peace, joy, patience, self-control. The Spirit of the Living God, can with one breath make a burden...a joy. The Holy Spirit, makes living easy and light. Let him do that for you. i am working on that this week.

>>>Lord thank you for revealing more truth to me. i am excited to live a life that pleases you. you remind me each day that my life is light and enjoyable. Lord reveal to me in the next few days the things that could be great but that i treat with dread and fear. you are so good to me. continue to show me that goodness. <<<

okay i am back today and with a better attitude. power outage took out our air conditioning in the trailer, so that sucked. it was hot, but bearable. so renee and i have slim shady come over and take a look at the air conditioner...and it ends up it was just a breaker. so that was cool now it's back to livin' trailer fabulous.

my good friends amy and kevin got renee and i tickets to see OAR which i am excited about. it is like an all evening event with the ROots, NERD, and some other band that opens for Dave Matthews. so that rocks. the funny thing is i will be preaching that sunday and i am usually wiped out after that so a concerty will do me well.

weekend plans; are fairly full. i am dog-sitting for my favorite dog Sam. he is a great dog but his owners pay well, so that always helps. Tonite Hudspeaths and then a movie with Janerz and some girls probably. tomorrow...work on syllabus for classes, and ROAD RALLY. whoopee. i think it will be a blast. Jill, Jerry, John and Jill Toth, Jordan Wagner, and Tyler Quillet. that should be fun. Sunday, RELAX, while working on stuff for class.

i have not been posting very much this week. the office is really busy. i had the back 2 school carnival this week so that was crazy. we gave away 38 back packs. i was pumped. i love coming up with ways to spend our outreach money to bless people. it is great. it is nearly time to get back to school and i am not looking forward to it now. i have to be at school by 7:45am three days a week, which means i will need to go to bed earlier. yikes.

tonite i go to detroit to see gay and troy and their baby. i am pumped about that. she is a beautiful little girl. i know that they will be good parents. we are also supposed to eat at pizza papalous which should be good as usual. amy and i are going with mayzie. i think that is all i have for now. i don't really feel like typing much...so this blog is out of obligation, which should be pretty useless. alright.

just thought i would let you know i put a different link to Jesco today. he is looking great and i am so jealous of this lady's web-site.

it is already thurs. i cannot believe it....crazy. the summer has gone by so fast and it is already the end of the day on Thursday. I am excited about all the things in the works at church, especially for the small group ministry. i think that i am going to do an intensive on Living Single, i have yet to come up with a creative title but I will definitely try my hardest. i thought about stealing some ideas from the Pink Nun, but then i thought that i would get busted. if you haven't checked out this chic's cite, it is a must. so as far as title's go...i thought maybe Single and Sexless might be a good one, but i might have to run that by a few people. i am not sure. i am open for suggestions.
we had a very good staff meeting this morning. it seemed as if everyone left feeling encouraged. i am grateful for the friends that i have. they are all so fun, encouraging, and love Jesus. Imagine all those things in one person, novel idea, sort of like the Gospel. I am still reading from Joyce's book, and digging it. I read til i was cross-eyed last nite, so i will probably have to read the last two pages over.
Renee is gone for the weekend. she had to go to some "White Trash Bacherlorette Party, " which is what she called it. i am sure she will come back with some live stories. She has been raking in the tips at Doc's, i think it is because she's nice and pretty. it might help anyways. she serves beer with a smile, so go see her and tip her well. call me if you wanna go. i will miss her being around this weekend, but i have plenty to do. tomorrow nite TONY COMPOLO, which i am stoked about. Saturday, Lansing for my brother's reception, and Sunday...Jill Grieser's sermon, come hear if you have time, and getting stuff ready for the back to school carnival.
alright that is enough for now...maybe i will write more tomorrow, then again maybe not til monday. check out my new link to my man Jesco if you get bored.

So i have been doing a lot of thinking today about the reason that i enjoy my job...let me give you just a few reasons.

1. i meet all sorts of people who i never would have met without the Lord

2. my best friends, all work with me and can still hang with me: NOW THAT IS FRIENDSHIP

3. i get to do all sorts of things throughout the day, including writing on my blog

4. i am reminded of my value and worth in Jesus because every time i try to BLESS HIM, HE BLESSES ME BACK.

5. it is flexible

I think that is all for now. they are not in order of importance just in some sort of order. i am grateful for this job, this summer, it has done more than payed the bills. i am anticipating going back to classes at NSCC, but that is what i have to do. this is what i love to do. i don't know if that makes sense but anyways.

one more thing: I think that i am in love, chill out mom, it is just with JOHN MAYER, his lyrics are incredible and his guitar playing is rockin'. it is sort of a dirty sound, but i dig it. anyways i am wondering if i should send him a letter or a picture. brian hall suggested a nude picture, but i'll pass. it has probably already been done. okay so i am not going to do either; i don't really think he is that cute. i have this theory, ANY ONE CAN BE HOT IF YOU PUT A GUITAR IN THEIR HANDS< SOME GOOD LYRICS IN THEIR MOUTH< AND A GRUNGY BAND BEHIND THEM, and voila! HOTT! if you don't believe me here are some examples....McJagger, come on....Rod Stewart....Steven Tyler, Prince, Michael Jackson...i could go on. if these guys came to my church, the single chics would not even turn their heads, but give 'em a guitar and the whole world of women stares. Which leads me to my second point, are Worship Leaders the new ROCK STARS of the church??? there is something charming about a man who loves Jesus and sings about it all day...you let me know what you think. and please don't tell Brian that i am after him, we don't want him to start dressing like Axl Rose, there's another one.

VBS decorating...that is what i would like to entitled this weekend because that is all that i did. i did manage to see a movie this weekend, but it was not the greatest. DADDY DAYCARE, it had some funny moments, but really didn't have much going on. It was predicatable, but i only paid $2.00/which is much better than having paid $9.50 for a movie that sucked. so anyways. we also ate at Big Boy...you can get 10% off with your movie stub, so that was great. It is open all nite which is good to know.

i went to my good friends, Jerry and Jill's, last nite. it was a blast. Renee and i took dinner over to eat with them. they are seriously two of my favorite people in the whole world. i always enjoy being with them. we had a good time just relaxing. it is nice to have friends that you can be serious with one moment and then the very next be joking around. i just can't say enough good about them. they seem to always be willing to spend time with me, which is cool, but sort of makes me like their stalker i guess. it isn't bad though, i just try not to take stuff from their house anymore that started pissing them off. (that is a joke so please don't write comments).

i would like to give a shout out to my mom who has informed me that the only way she hears about my life is on my blog. hi mom. she too has begun blogging. i will add her site to my links as soon as i get permission. i enjoy her thoughts so i assume most of you will too. things with my family seem to be going alright, lately we have hit some rough spots but the good thing about family is that it all seems to work out in the end. i guess that is why they say that blood is thicker than water. i feel that there are a lot of people in my life that is true of, but my family is very supportive.

i got a call from an old friend from Milligan College this weekend. that was cool. i love those friends that you can just catch up with . we hadn't spoken for a while but it was like we still lived down the hall from one another. she is doing as well as one can be in Johnson City, TN. it is beautiful their but she works 3rd shift and the shifts very, but she is a nurse and i am proud of her. she is doing well and it is crazy how grown up we all seem to be getting.
okay well that is all for now. work calls....literally...the phone is ringing.

Wow has it been a crazy week. Just intense. I heard from my friend, MOllie, the other day. she seems to be doing better. i hope to get up to St. Louis, MI to see her really soon. I have been doing a lot of thinking lately especially since that is all there is to do in the office some days. I am sure that someday i will have things all figured out, :) but i don't understand why people are in such a hurry to get married. i found out yesterday some more friends of mine are getting married in a couple months. they have been dating a short time and are ready to get married. i suppose not everyone is as slow as i am at making decisions, but i think that being at Bible College is like a breeding ground. Tell kids to wait for sex and they want it more.

God is doing good things in me right now. Stirring up passion that hasn't been there for a while. i am starting to have better eyesight about my life and that is good. i am not sure about the future, but i am actually living for now, which if you know me is a difficult thing. i am excited about the way my life will end up and glad that Blessing is all that i have.

okay well back to the silence in the office. i am going to turn on Michael Jackson and do some work. thrilling, but i do get paid well. be back soon.