Jammies and A Shimmer of Hope

Oh if you only knew! Wow, last night (before I went to sleep) and this morning (when I woke up) I realized the most amazing thing. Want to know what it is? Okay (I'm so excited about this...you really have no idea), I discovered I was wearing THE most comfy jammies I'd ever wore in my lifetime. I could use all sorts of adjectives to describe them to you, but honestly...it wouldn't suffice.

Tonight on the Indiantown route I started out feeling so discouraged. I'm confident now it was merely a trick of the enemy, but it almost worked. I was coming off a caffeine high, and kinda crashed, but God helped me. By the end of the night I felt better about how things were going, and didn't want to give into the immediate desires that came to mind when Mario did something he shouldn't.

Mario...he's a bundle of energy, to say the least. Always has a smart remark, has courage to say what he thinks he should say to anyone (not a good thing right now), he loves being the center of attention, loves to laugh, and has a lot of fight in him. I truly believe that those are things that God gave him (I hope they are, because I know I have some of those qualities). However, I think we can all see how those qualities can be distracting for the other kids, when Mario isn't channeling them into being a good boy. Honestly, its the kids like Mario that I grow to love the most. Yes, you have to be stern and devote a lot of time and attention into them, but I see so much potential for good. Pray that Mario, and the other kids, are not lost to the enemy. They will be mighty warriors if the Lord can get hold of their hearts :)

Many people have asked, so I thought I'd share on my blog. My first day of youth ministry at New Beginnings Community was greatly blessed by God. He helped me so much :) thank you ALL for your prayers! I felt each one. I thought I knew what I was going to talk about the night before, but as I turned out the light and climbed into bed God laid a message on my heart I couldn't stop thinking about. So I got out of bed, grabbed my Bible (when I say "Bible" I always want to pronounce it "bib-lee". I don't know why) and started writing down notes. Andrew Halstead went with me, and I'm happy he did, because he talked to the kids some and kept the conversation flowing (thanks Andrew). I'm trusting God for what to do next. I want to stay and do whatever He would have me to do, for as long as He would have me do it.

Once again, thank you all for your prayers :)

A Famous Doctor's Birthday

Sigh, today and yesterday I've learned the true feelings of my neighbors. Evidently I have no motorcycle enthusiast living in my neck of the woods (except my brother of course). Several sources indicate that I am coming or going far to loud. I wish they could hear my bike when I want it to be loud. Its truly obnoxious, but when I leave my humble abode, I honestly keep it to a very "quiet" level.

Today was Dr. Seuss' birthday today. He was a special guy. If you want to get some really good quotes, just Google him and you'll be amazed.

Andrew worked very late tonight. Something about the happen-chance that someone from his store was almost guaranteed to get fired by the "big bad boss" prompted him to stay at work from 9 am to 2:30 am. Good luck bud, hope ya don't get the hatchet after dropping that many hours into your job.

I'm very curious how today (today being Tuesday) will turn out. Normally I don't worry about the next day, unless there is something looming in the distance which I am unsure of, and can go very good or bad all depending on me (of course, God is in control, but if I think that, then I can't worry anymore and that's just silly...wait).

Walking Noah to the beach every few days, and passing the same people has led me to believe that they think he is my son. They smile and some parents give me this "look" that I'm confident is some kind of parental code that says "I've been there". Only problem is, I've never been there, and that look is making me uncomfortable. I've never even changed a diaper (stop gawking, many ppl haven't, sheesh).

Tonight I used the word "retard", but I said it so fast it came out like "rataard". The grief I got from the torment my friends gave me the rest of the night cured me from using the word all together. I have great friends...

Consternation

So I sat down today to the prospect of a wonderful evening. Yes, I had worked throughout the day, and it felt good to have done a man's job. Something about having to come home and take a shower before thinking of anything else makes me think good about myself...that or I may just need a better deodorant (pause for all the female readers to say "eeew" and resume). Tonight was going to be fun. Ah, don't you love how, when you DON'T make plans, you end up having a wonderful evening? Well, tonight I MADE plans to have a wonderful evening, and they were...disoriented. Now, I already know what you are going to tell me when I say this (no, I'm not a mind reader, I've just heard it from my friends tonight already) but my phone died. Yes, please, don't say it. I know it's terrible for me to be so attached to it, and in my mind I can hear several intellectual people giving their intense thoughts on the matter. Anyway, I've realized how addicted I am to my phone. Not quite as bad as a drug, but its up there with some people's need for coffee throughout the day (yes, I do know that caffeine is a drug). Upon the realization that my phone wasn't going to make it through the night I also realized several other things that bummed me out. A) I shouldn't have gotten the Cajun Shrimp Alfredo. B) Some of my friends are jerks (but that's okay, I am too sometimes) and C) My mom is a racist (well, that was last night, but I thought I'd reiterate it into today's horrific thoughts). These thoughts, mixed together with an overdue meltdown of annoyance settled me into a somber mood for the evening. Ah, now, aren't you all happy you read this?

Common Sense and Faith

Recently a friend and I were talking about faith. I love the guy with all my heart, but he said something that really got me thinking. What he said went something like this: I'm trying so hard to find the balance between faith and common sense. You know, doing the smart thing. I told him that there wasn't really a balance to faith and common sense, because you can't have to much faith. He disagreed, saying that God wouldn't reward stupidity. Now, I may have taken him wrong, but here are a few examples of seemingly stupid things that people did in the Bible because they had faith.

Daniel: prayed in the window
Smart thing to do: stay out of the window for a few days
Result: thrown in the Lion's den
Result of that: a king saw the power of THE true God

Joshua: marched around the strongest city in Canaan to destroy it
Smart thing to do: use strategy and force to destroy it, or just march around it and let someone else destroy it
Result: Walls came crumbling down and an entire nation saw God's raw and awesome power!

Ruth: widowed and penniless left her home to be with her mother-in-law (who in their right mind?)
Smart thing: stay with daddy and mommy (her cool one) where she would have better chances to find a hubby
Result: God provided for her needs, gave her another (better) hubby, gave her her own book in the Bible, and included her in the linage of Jesus

Noah: built a boat for a hundred and twenty years
Smart thing: stop seemingly wasting his time and enter a life of ease
First result of obeying God: was laughed at and scorned, but stayed dry (and alive) for forty days and nights while the rest of the world was destroyed.

I could go on and on and ON but the point is that in ALL of our lives God asks us to do things that look ridiculous and cause us to scratch our heads, but the point is we can't have to much faith in what He says. I'm sure that Noah lost some direction and questioned what he was doing in those 120 yrs of building (honestly, do you REALLY thing that every one of those days was spent building an Ark and zero of them were spent in prayer seeking God's direction? So to my friend I just say, keep faith. Even today when you go about your life keep in mind that its never bad to have to much faith (even when it makes more sense to do something smarter)

From One Anti-Five O'clock Person To Another

I basically spent the entire day with Noah. That was, amazing. He is decidedly a morning person...or maybe a mid-day person. But he is definitely not a five o'clock person.

Adam gave me a sandwich for lunch...thank you Adam. It was...delish.

After that I came over to my brother and sister-in-law's house(I'm still getting used to that term Beth, cause I've always just thought of you as a sister) . Noah was up and at-em. We had a lot of fun together today. Went to the beach and watched the birds...on the way to the beach we listened to the Beach Boys...merely a coincidence that we did though, there was no preconceived ideas in my head when I played it, haha.

We (Noah and I) were almost drenched, and just barely made it to the cafeteria before a downpour.

When we got home (my brother and sister-in-law's) it was 5 o'clock. He was a grouch. Develops a sever case of A.D.D. and the only thing that will hold his attention for more than 5 seconds is (can you guess?) my cell phone. His infatuation with cell phones concerns me, because he is almost to the same level of addiction that I am. Poor guy. He'll grow up never knowing what its like to stay out later than he was supposed to, because his parents couldn't get a hold of him to tell him his curfew changed. Noah, the things you'll be cursed to put up with by this technology. I just wish you could understand me as you each for my phone again...you don't want this haha.

Um, so I grew in God today. A little bit of faith was the result, and a lot of fumbling around and feeling silly the means by which I procured my ounce of faith, and I don't regret it (the fumbling and feeling silly part). God is so good...I want to tell the world. I want to share it with everyone. It makes me sick to see the amount of decay in our churches. Wake up :) Know God is alive! He's real! He LOVES us! Sigh, I'll leave that sermon for another day...

There Is Something Amiss Devil Horn Man

Took a big step (for me) this weekend. My (other) dad, the one here in FL, asked me to consider helping out with a youth pastor position. Honestly, I fought it. I'm not a strong mighty Christian that just accepts things like that on a whim, nor have I heard a booming voice from God telling me to do this. No, I have struggled with saying yes for quite sometime. But this week I felt God settle on my shoulder and say very quietly (the way He has to do to get my attention) that everything will be okay. I'm not accepting the task at hand because I think that "Jared is able". No, I'm doing because I can do all things through Christ, Who strengthens me. Keep me in your prayers constantly, for I feel like I am so weak, and so tiny. God will be the only reason anything good comes out of this. And I give Him all the glory and honor for anything that will happen.

I also discovered that a Renaissance festival has about two or three good, clean acts in it. Saw a lot of examples of how NOT to let my daughter dress...EVER. And I discovered that Sherry can give the most evil dirty little looks. Quite disturbing actually. Although I do believe I got the last laugh when the flute man hit on her hardcore (Sherry, remember, you know where to find him). Elf ears are not really that becoming on me, and whoever the man was that put the devil horns on me should know I felt very very awkward, yet was strangely curious as to what the heck was going on. Hence, due to the happen-chance that there was a camera present, a picture is floating around with me in horns. Thank you devil horn man. Oh, and finally, I realized today that I am a geek when it comes to ancient weaponry lingo (So I enjoyed reading the Encyclopedia and played a lot of knight games on the computer growing up...what about it?). I felt odd trying to explain the difference between some, and most likely bored my friends to death with little facts they knew already.

Highlight: watching an acrobat do comedy...yes, it was 10x funnier than it sounds

Well all you nosey family members, I hope this satisfies your taste for news awhile longer.

A Look Through My Brown Eyes

The back door is opened again...Seth turns around and yells in the most serious voice I've ever heard Seth ever use. I think it was the same for the kids, because they stopped. But, like normal, when a door is shut (no pun intended) another opens, cause pretty soon they started yelling and fighting amongst each other. Poor Josh, he got the blunt of it. He gets the blunt of it a lot. Week one I was in Indiantown I knew that. He sat alone on the slide, so defensive. So ready for the attack. His heart still has a tender side. A side that we adults have learned to make hard and let things roll off our backs. It hurts him still when the kids call him fat, he hasn't learned to laugh it off, or make a joke about it. They let him have it with both barrels tonight, and by the time the van stops his face is in his hands and doesn't want to get off the bus. I did what I could, but it took "Super-Joy" to the rescue to convince him it was either home or the service, no staying on the bus.

Wow, a missing hat, malfunctioning equipment, and two prayers later its starting to get quiet. Flo and Becka play and lead the kids in a song...if you call the yelling of lyrics singing (I have to admit, I love hearing them sing, anyway for those words to get stuck in their heads). Some how I strategically placed myself behind the four rowdiest kids (or were they just four kids in front of me...they all seemed pretty rowdy). Peewee...oh Peewee...how innocent he can look. Super-Joy gave him a moment on the floor tonight...he decided he didn't like to be the center of attention, and since we don't allow sideshows he opted for at least whispering. I look over at Becka and catch her eye, big smile. She loves the kids here, all the workers do. Tonight Johnny spoke to the kids about temptation, and did an amazing job. I'm glad he takes it seriously. Joel, oh Joel, I can see that you have thousands of thoughts in your head when you hear those kids saying or doing something they shouldn't. He has a lot of patience, a lot of love. Seth, you too have patience in abundance, and a love for those kids, I can see on your face. Flo, wow, I've never seen someone so gifted with being in front of a crowd and handling hecklers like you do. Becka, I'm not really sure what you do (just kidding) but those kids sure do love you an awful lot. Then, the backbone of the whole operation: Super-Joy. No, that's not her nickname (unless I can officially give those out). She is truly used by God in an amazing and powerful way. A true servant. She'd get embarrassed and quickly give all the praise to God if she saw or heard me say this.

That's Indiantown. Sure, when they come to church you may see a loud crazy bunch of Mexican kids that don't have manners or know the "church ethics" so many of us grew up with. They didn't have your parents. But we don't care out in Indiantown. We're there (like Super-Joy said tonight) to give those kids a chance at something better. If that means letting them have their rowdy moments and cake fights, so be it. Those kids have had an impact made in their lives by the ministry there. Mario, he got saved two weeks ago, he tries so hard. Even told Josh he was sorry for saying mean things tonight. Mario saying sorry, for anything, is a miracle in my book. Whoever said God is dead, is a liar. Mario is proof enough for me.