Randomness

For lack of decent posting material and since for the life of me I can't come up with anything more interesting to talk about, I'm going to go out on a limb...and try this.


The Playlist Shuffle Tag:


Rules: Put your iTunes (or whatever media player you use... I know other people don't use iTunes ;) ), Playlist on shuffle. Put the name of each song as it comes up as an answer to the following questions:

If someone says "This is okay." you say: "The Joy of Victory" Fire Emblem Soundtrack. HAHAHAHAHA! Totally.


What would best describe your personality? "Bring Me To Life" Thousand Foot Krutch. Another score for the media player! I guess that works. In a...Christian sense.

What do you like in a guy/girl? "Dark Forces" Warcraft III soundtrack.
...
...
...The media player fails.


What is your life's purpose? "Gollum's Song" LOTR - Two Towers Soundtrack. HAHAHAHA! Yep, that's me...the saddest song I've got in my library.

What is your motto? "The Rose General" Final Fantasy IX Soundtrack. ...?!? Random?

What do your friends think of you? "Final Partings" Battle For Middle-Earth II soundtrack. Pffff, sure. Maybe.

What do you think about very often? "Welcome Home" Medieval Folk Songs. ...Not really. Very little, in fact.

What is 2 + 2? "The Grey Havens" Return of the King Soundtrack. Yep, totally.

What do you think of your best friend? "A Powerful Foe" Fire Emblem soundtrack. HA! Well I suppose, depends really. Sort of. Media Player fails.

What do you think of a person you like? "Cirith Ungol" Return of the King soundtrack.
...
...
...Media Player fails again. Psssh, LAME.

What is your life story? "Akkadian Empire" by Audiomachine. Absolutely!

What do you want to be when you grow up? "Nayru's Song" ZREO Soundtracks. Ok, that's just downright disturbing...

What do you think when you see a person you like? "The Part That Hurts the Most" by Thousand Foot Krutch. EPIC FAIL! That's the biggest lie this thing has told yet...

What do your parents think of you? "Beyond the Wasteland" Advent Children Soundtrack. I have NO IDEA what that's supposed to imply...

What will they play at your funeral? "Defeated" Fire Emblem Soundtrack. HAHAHA! Perfect.

What is your hobby/interests? "Like a Dog Chasing Cars" The Dark Knight Soundtrack. ....(shakes head) That went over my head. This media player is....(grumbles)

What is your biggest secret? "Wonderland" by Maksim. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! Yes, totally, my biggest secret. More than you know!


What do you think of your friends? "Arena Battle" Mount and Blade Soundtrack. .....Sure....Not.

What's the worst thing that could happen? "F-Stop" by Sullivan. Well I don't even know what this song or title means, so that doesn't help anything...

How will you die? "Israel Hands" by Sullivan. What the....!?

What's the one thing you regret? "Amazonic" by Maksim. Pfff....whatever. I think this game is screwed up now.

What makes you laugh? "Death of Thadrid" The Two Towers soundtrack. WOOOW. Now that is a failure. That's like the saddest part of the movie. Major media player fail.

Will you ever get married? "Divinity II" Advent Children Soundtrack. ....I'm not even going to ask...

What scares you the most? "Only the Beginning of Adventure" Narnia Soundtrack. (sighs) That's lame. I think not!

If you could go back in time, what would you change? "Swadian Town" Mount and Blade Soundtrack. I guess. (shrug) The towns did kind of need some improvement.

What hurts right now? "Ganondorf Horseback Battle" Twilight Princess Soundtrack. ...Not really...

What do you most often exclaim? "Victory 1" Mount and Blade soundtrack. HAHA! Yes, absolutely.

Where is paradise? "Beast Ganon" Twilight Princess Soundtrack. Nope. Fail.

What did you first say as a baby? "He Comes Riding" Twilight Princess Soundtrack. HA! Yes, that's me when I'm two years old. Prophesying.

If you had a pet, what would you name it? "Nazgul Theme" The Battle For Middle-Earth II Soundtrack. HA! Yes, sure, right, a pet nazgul. That's what I really need.

What is your favorite sight to see? "Sorrow" by Flyleaf. ...No comment.

What makes you gag? "Hyrule Castle" from The Wind Waker Soundtrack. Hmmm...perhaps. It was a very sad part of the story. Not really gaging, though.

What are you best at? "Serenata" by Audiomachine. Uhhhh.....not what I had in mind, but sure...

If you wrote a book, what would you call it? "Halo Chorus" by Microsoft. Yeah, sure, whatever.

What did you wish for last? "Friends and Allies" Fire Emblem Soundtrack. HA! Finally! A good one! Yep, that totally works, I'll take it!

What would your superhero name be? "Dwarf vs. Goblin Battle" Battle for Middle-Earth Soundtrack. Random failure, again, media player.

How soon will this be over? "Ezio's Family" Assassin's Creed II Soundtrack. Well, I was hoping NOW, but I guess not.

Where are you sitting? "Hope and Memory" Return of the Kindg Soundtrack. Nope. Fail.

What do you most hate? "Underwater March" Pirates of the Carribean Soundtrack. This is a lame game, another failure.

What do you most love? "The Love of Beauty" Fire Emblem Soundtrack. ...No comment.

What do you not care about? "The Blitz, 1940" Narnia Soundtrack. HA!

What is your secret name? "Forward Motion" by Thousand Foot Krutch. Hey, well that's kinda cool!


...Wow. So far I learned nothing, feel disgusted, and pretty much am going to get a new media player. That was largely lame. That's what I get for using WMP.

Colossians 1:1-5

Hope you guys had an awesome Easter Weekend! A great Holy Week period for that matter.

Well I expect its about time I started some serious Scripture Study here, at least as a sideline even. Don't think this will be a major part of my page though, which will still focus more on the ideas I've stated above than anything, but still...before we can tell what's a lie, its a good idea to know what the truth is. SO...stay tuned for Colossians! I'll be posting one of these once in a while, every two or three posts. Thought I would do a rather less-famous book too.

First, a little backstory on the whole book of Colossians. It was written by Paul, obviously, primarily not just to Colossae but to the region around it too, including Laodicea, and Hierapolis. The people of these areas, at least the Christians there, were starting to fall into some legalism and disbelief that Christ really was the Son of God.

You see, in Ancient Greece at the time, as soon as Christianity started taking root, a major disagreement the Greeks and Jews had with our 'religion' was that "How could a man be God?" If flesh and the body was inherently sinful, they found it impossible to believe that Jesus could be divine. So instead, like happens often with Christianity...they just mixed the two ideas together until they were happy with the mix. Jesus really wasn't THE Son of god, they said! He was just an incredible teacher, a prophet, perhaps even some kind of spiritual representation of the real Son of God...all kinds of such trash.

So Paul naturally decided to shoot them a letter. Let's take a look at it:

"Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father.

"We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love which you have for all the saints; because of the hope laid up for you in heaven, of which you previously heard in word of truth, the gospel, which has come to you, just as in all the world also it is constantly bearing fruit and increasing, even as in you also since the day you heard and understood the grace of God in truth."

Part 1 Colossians 1:1-2

...I have never seen anything like the way Paul's sentences never end. Seriously...one sentence is like 4-5 verses!

Anyways, more seriously. First of all Paul opens his letter as he does many of his, stating up front that he IS an apostle, not of his own choosing, but of God's choosing. What is an apostle, we ask? Simply put, its a man who is "sent" by God, as the Greek word behind it implies...but is that all? No. Even more seriously, it means that Paul is not only sent by God, but he literally SPEAKS for God...a after-Christ prophet, no less. As a result, he's infallible. At least in his writings and on Theological foundations, Paul cannot be wrong...look to Galatians 1 and 2 if you want to go into this in more detail.

Secondly, more as a sideline, its interesting to note that Timothy, Paul's student and 'apprentice' of sorts, also signs his name to the letter. Apparently Timothy was with Paul at this time. I'm not sure, I'll look it up in the future if you wish, but Timothy was a younger man brought along by Paul on his journeys and was eventually left to look after the church in Ephesus. Paul's letters to Timothy himself, 1st and 2nd Timothy exactly, are a sample of what Paul was teaching him in how to take care of the church.

Anyways, back on topic. Paul goes on to say that he's talking to the 'faithful' brethren (brothers for us new agers) in Christ, that currently live in Colossae. I suppose Paul still had faith and was confident the Christians in this city would remain faithful in spite of the difficulties, by seeing how he calls them still faithful and in Christ.

"Grace to you and peace from God our Father." Paul opens his letter to them with a blessing of peace and grace from God. First off, its good to note that in fact, grace and peace only CAN come from God our Father, and from no other source. Only God Himself can bestow on us such things as grace and peace. Grace we should know about well. Grace is God's gift to us or pure love and mercy, meaning simply, "He gave us what we didn't deserve."

Peace is what the Holy Spirit is in our hearts as saved believers. Anyone who is saved should know what peace feels like, and more seriously, its an expression of God's constancy in us. A man who has God's peace can take and deal with anything, if he's got enough faith to trust Him for it!

Part 2 - Colossians 1:3-5

"We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love which you have for all the saints; because of the hope laid up for you in heaven, of which you previously heard in the word of truth, the gospel,"

Paul starts out bring grateful for his brothers in Colossae. He gives thanks to God (who interestingly, he stops to point out is the Father of Christ, something we already know...but in context of the whole letter it may be that Paul is gently reminding those who are wandering from this truth in the present state of Colossae...well, what the real truth is.) for them all. He goes on to say he prays from them always.

Now stop here and see what this means. I'm ashamed to admit I don't pray for my brothers half as often as I should. I still find it amazing what a man of God Paul was, after all he had suffered, to still be giving thanks and praying, ALWAYS praying, for his brothers in the growing churches! I hope one day I may personally reach that level of godliness. It still blows my mind.

Anyway, Paul goes on saying he's heard of the faith of his Colossian brothers in Christ Jesus. And not only that, but he's heard of the love they have for each other and all the saints. Despite some of the heresies some of the Colossians may be buying into, they still have some form of godliness left and can't all be buying into it. Otherwise such a display of good godly behavior wouldn't be there.

Then, he goes on to the really interesting part. He then says that the reason they are like this is BECAUSE...they heard of the hope laid up in heaven for them. Interesting! May we always strive to have faith in Jesus Christ and also to love all our Christian brothers and sisters, FOR the hope laid up in heaven! It does us good to remember that God is a wonderful, overflowing, generous God...He doesn't even stop at saving us so graciously with His own Son's blood! Even STILL, God has stored up treasure and reward in heaven for us! That's like bailing an evil criminal out of a billion dollar, lifetime prison sentence for no reason at all, and as if that wasn't enough...when he becomes a good man again, you start showering him with unbelievable wealth! Its almost too much!

At any rate, he gets them back on focus. We should have these qualities, and continue to strive for them, because we're keeping in mind the reward God let's us gain for ourselves in the coming Kingdom.

Finally, Paul goes on saying that all of this they heard before, previously...from the evangelists. The Gospel taught them all this, it being the 'word of truth' indeed. That is funny, almost...think how much the Gospel that these men preached back then, the correct one, would differ so much from what we consider to be the Gospel our evangelists preach today. Perhaps a sad thought, too.

And on that note, ladies and gentlemen...PLEASE, COMMENT! I never, ever want to hear anyone ever say, "Alex said this and that," unless its something wrong I said. I'd much rather hear that Alex just told you what the Bible says, not what Alex says. If you find any problems, no matter how minor, with this, please by all means, hit me! Comments are awesome!

Well everyone, have a good, remembering "Good Friday." Its a day we should remember. God bless!

A First For Everything...

I know I haven't updated this blog in a good long while, and I apologize. This passing week has been one of the most insane weeks I've had in years, for several reasons...which you don't want to know about, believe me. But anyways, there was one or two good stories to be made out of it!

I had gone skiing once or twice, but as my first time snowboarding I was really not as worried as I should have been, going up the mountain in the van with several friends from church. It had been a long time since I saw the Western Mountains, so it was quite nice to drive up and take a few pictures as we went of the scenery, the vast landscapes and rugged peaks...which we would soon be sliding down. There was always several small mountain towns dotted here and there that we always traveled through, pretty little places set in among the massive reaches of rock and sky. Going up the mountain was easy.

It was getting down that was the hardest.

We made it to the ski park in good time, and quickly unloaded all of our bags and boxes of 'equipment' from the back of the van, and bringing them inside the large, comfortable ski resort and inn where we would spend the day. Again, nice looking place.

We got to the locker rooms, unpacked. Put on heavier boots and rented our boards. That wasn't too bad, when the young lady working the desk told me quickly but kindly how most of it worked and what to do, so I was in good shape. Even on the lift going up it was easy.

...And there it ended.

I CAN be a fast learner when I want to be. It's not hard at all for me to pick up something, understand it and get a feel for it once I try but a few times. And I DID manage to preform a stunt or two before we left, so I have that on my side. But the first time I went down the slope...it was brutal. Yes, yes, laugh it up.

I'm sure probably already excited enough to hurry on up the mountain and take on some more hardcore slopes, a few of my friends showed me hurriedly how to get ON, and how to move...and then left me to figure it out for myself. Which is fine, I did fairly well I believe...for somebody who had nothing to even work with.

...Very well. I made it maybe.....a quarter of the way down?

Yes, that's it. A quarter perhaps before I got swiped from the side , lost balance and went tumbling into the snow, rolling over onto my back and growling when I heard someone snicker as they flew past. I spat. At least I brought some laughs into somebody's day.

After several more crashes and wipeouts, I DID make it to the bottom...and didn't dare go up again for almost a half hour. But I did go back up again, and tried again. The second time down, I crashed perhaps 5 times. Which was a step up from the first 8 or 9.

....Don't get me wrong, it is fun. By the end of the day I'm sorry we left. It's really not something you can teach and learn by word of mouth anyways, more of a reflex thing...but whatever the case, there was a good deal of fun in testing out my reflexes and balance, not to mention just to see how fast I could go. At some point later on (though it cost me another major crash at the bottom) I managed to streak down at about 55 MPH...which is a LOT when all you're on is a snowboard. (There is a clock and timer they have on the slope sometimes for clocking speed if you ask for it, that's how I knew.)

That was probably the best I did though, manage to go as fast as a far on the highway and totally go for a double backflip at the bottom. On the whole though, it was a great deal of fun, and we left that day pretty happy. Now I have to wait until Nov. to go back! And relearn everything all over again! Ah well...there is some fun in wiping out too, getting absolutely splashed in snow while going 30 MPH! (Found out yet that I'm crazy?)

The only downside is, I still can't move by left shoulder easily. I could barely even get up a few days afterward, though sore, I'm sure it was good for me to use those muscles I've never used before. It will probably be healed by the time we next go back, I've no doubt. North Carolina is one of the few places on Earth where it can be -10 degrees one week and 80 the next, so perhaps sooner than November!

Other than that interesting little adventure, little else except a cold has happened these days. Spring approaches, and quickly...already some things are blooming outside, and goodness, it is good indeed to see some green again! I'll be glad to see the warmth return, snowboarding or not...I'm definitely not one who likes the cold.

I would ask that you continue to pray for my Dad. Some work has come in once more, and so far we're still alive, ("With food and clothing be content," eh?) but all the same some temporary jobs won't hold up forever, and the economy isn't going to get better anytime immediately soon. Thank you.

And other than that....nothing new!

Why Wear Shoes?

Why wear shoes? Why? That is the question. The age old question that has puzzled many a philosopher, thinker, speaker, and shoemaker for ages. Since the very dawn of time people have asked, "Why wear shoes? Why? And wherefore?" And it only stands to reason! Think what a world it is with shoes, and what a world it could be by the lack thereof? The woes shoes bring upon us in our shoed state, and the shoelessness that would evolve from a shoeless and unshoeingness world.

Let us examine this massive problem. What do shoes accomplish? What does shoedom do for us in our shoed world? Well simply, they keep our socks (relatively) clean and somewhat intact, and provide some sense of security for shoe-wearing persons. They also provide the shoed an excuse to laugh and have a psychological edge on the shoeless. So many a person throughout history has looked down on his shoeless brother and said, "Ha! Behold my shoes! Fear me!" and trembled.

Let us also examine the problems shoes pose, as opposed to posing unshoeless problems posed already. High heels, for example. As a great thinker and incredible philosopher on life once said, recently, "Lady, if they're killing you...don't WEAR them! Please!" Behold the many foot and leg problems caused by this odd and unusual shoe problem called fashionable high heels, in which women wear...for reasons still unknown to man. The only real reasons man (as in, man) can come up with to this point is 1) As a height improvement and 2) as an impedement to running and 3) any reasons not yet mentioned. Thus, the problem. Why? Why wear shoes? To what end do this state of shoeness and its shoed qualities bring us? Why do we remained shoed, when our shoes merely shoe us from the shoelessness of shoedom in all its shoeling shores? Logically, its impossible, and more important, its improbable.

And behold, the issue of flip-flops. To this day, the major fashionable and somewhat popular fad of shoes which are not shoes exists, in the form of flip-flops. Why? Why flip-flops? Why do we flip flop around with flips and flops when our flopping and flipping is flippingly floppant? What does this flopping and flipping accomplish except for further flip-flopingness? They provide no protection. You toes will still be nailed if someone steps on your flip-flopped shoed/unshoed toes with or without sock. Do we wear them just for the psychological enjoyment of flip-flopping in our flip-flops? We flip and we flop without flipping out or flopping in our flipping flop flippers that do nothing but flip and flop. Futhermore, why flip? Why flop? The very economical problem posed by these little pieces of foamy flipping floppers is a concern. We pay good money to flip and flop in these flip-flops, and even flip to pay more flop for the flipping stickers and floppingness included. In short, the flops that these flipping flip-flop flip is a real flopping failure.

Thus, my point. Why flip? Why flop? Why high heels? Why sandals? Boots? Look at Puss In Boots. He was the first, and the greatest, to ever wear boots, and look what happened to him. Not only is he still a puss, but he's a booted puss. On several levels. Not only does his bootingness provide him nothing but a psychological edge for his pussness, it still remains to be seen whether the puss wears the boots, or the boots wear HIM!

Thus, the problem. Why? Why wear shoes? Why do we wear shoes? Why do we hide from hot concrete and painful gravel when our shoes do so much damage, to our economies, to our psychological minds, and our very history? Look at carbon footprinting! Why continue to wear shoes if our carbon shoes carbonate the uncarboned carbunkling carbines of shoelessness that could, would, and could have been? It makes no sense whatsoever.

So, my friends, my comrades, my brother, sisters, shoed minds, and boggles...I ask YOU! Why? Why wear shoes?

The Rather Interesting Series of Events And What Came Thereof.

Feeling rather tired and perhaps a little disgusted with life in general, I dragged myself out of bed Sunday morning for the day's events. When both my alarm clock and my mother went off to get me up, I ran out of options for hoping to avoid the world and sleep my life away.

But that was just a given. Usually on any morning that was how it had been for the longest time...and the cost I paid for staying up till 1 or 2 in the morning. Fair enough, I suppose.

At any rate, today was an important day because at church, a few things were happening that could effect all our lives very soon. First and most importantly, the top candidate who might take over our small Bible church in place of our usual pastor was coming that morning to attempt a 'trial service,' if you will. Which basically means he would come over and stay till Tuesday, to meet the congregation, give a sermon for us, have lunch following with us, and in general spend some time here so we could learn about him and he about us.

Naturally you can imagine the serious way this had to be considered. More important than any governmental position, even the White House itself, is who is allowed to teach in the pulpit. When the teacher of the church is left in care of the spiritual state of our church...MY church, of course myself, our family, and every other family in the congregation was going to take this very carefully.

Doing a quick read over 1st Timothy in Scripture on the way there (yes, yes, of course to refresh myself on the rules of the church and keep the requirements of a good Bible teacher in mind), mother and my sister sat in the back mostly holding on to the various plates and pots of food, edibles, our lunch. In such a small church as ours, a covered dish dinner was like a major, weeks-in-advance planned issue, and I watched half-amused.

We arrived at the church, and since I'm usually to be found with the rest of my youthful crew near the doors of our rented room-church building, all of us serving as unofficial 'greeters,' if you will, I didn't see the pastor until the service actually began. Of course the singing, announcements, and call to worship were all as usual, and when the man in question stood up to take his guest place at our makeshift-pulpit, I watched carefully.

He was fairly normal, if not small man, looking about forty or fifty, perhaps, with a kind but intelligent face that had a dark complexion. Wearing a nice suit for the occasion, he reminded me of the kind of scholars you see in seminaries as professors.

With a clear, fast-paced voice he spoke for an hour on Titus 2, which was very good in my opinion. I enjoyed it immensely as he taught us about the Scripture there, and found it very good. He spoke well, and more importantly, he spoke accurately and truthfully, and apparently meant what he said from what I could tell. Though of course just one hour of a man's teaching is just a little bit to go on, I have to say that of all the men that have been considered, this man seemed to be the most godly and Bible-centered teacher I had heard.

...It's not exactly the most fun thing to do, have to sit and evaluate a man for your church, or having the man you've learned almost everything you know in the way of Scripture teaching from retire and move far south. This wasn't going to be easy...but something had to be done. So far our church had taken it fairly easy, even if a few issues had come up, but even I could feel the rather nervous tension in everyone as we went through this difficult business. I felt even more for the man who knew he was being evaluated in the pulpit. We would all have to pray and beg God to reveal His will...for things in our church were going to change, which wasn't going to be easy for any of us. Especially as a new man would have to earn our trust and confidence...and worse, he decide if he could trust us too.

The small dinner afterwards that our entire church attended lightened up the atmosphere a good deal. The tension almost visibly lessened and the man who had taught well and clearly in the pulpit came down and socialized, apparently a very friendly, nice, and helpful man in person. Though I talked with him later, somehow Sam and John Herson and myself managed to get into line, get our food, and find a table. The sound of friendly conversation from the two dozen or so people here and there filled the room, and of course the scent of warm and excellent food was at the tables.

Sam Herson, the friend I mentioned in earlier posts, ate like he was going to die tomorrow, or perhaps the chicken wasn't really dead and might just get up and run away if he didn't wolf it down in seconds. I watched, amused, and casting a few curious glances over at the table where the pastor candidate sat, when we were joined by an un-expected guest.

"Ah, helloe!" I turned around quickly as I heard a woman's voice behind me and a chair scratching. My other two friends turned as well from their conversation, and we saw the pastor candidate's wife sitting down at the round table with us, smiling kindly and appearing friendly.

As she chose to sit with three random, perhaps slightly insane teenage boys of all the people in the room, it took us all a moment to choke down what we were eating and get out a muffled 'hello' on all sides.

"This is the young people's table, I see, hmm?" She laughed slightly, saying with a small Mexican accent. I forget what we said if anything at all. She was right though.

When she cast another kind glance around the table, she looked to the boy sitting on her left, who just happened to be Sam. She smiled. "And what is your name?"

He told her. When she turned next to John, after speaking briefly with my younger friend, unfortunately John had his mouth still full of his lunch. I chuckled when he tried to hurriedly swallow, eat, take a drink to clear it, and say his name in a muffled reply all at once.

This got a laugh from us other three. "Well, then, we'll come back to heem!" She said laughingly, and turned to me. I gave her my name.

It wasn't until afterwards, when I spoke with my mother in the car, that I discovered why we had been taken off-guard. The fact was, that this couple also had two teenage children, a son our age and a girl just slightly younger, and in short...we were being examined. I'm sure the couple, in their attempt to learn more about us on their end, were anxious to see what kind of teenage kids this church raised in their families. And naturally the 'young people's table' made a great spot for evaluating.

We talked for a short but good while, as she asked various things. Where did we live, how far out from Lincolnton? What grades were we in? How old were we? How many siblings did we have? We also pointed out our parents and families as we went, who were scattered here and there across the friendly room. I had to go into a hurried explanation of CollegePlus! (Strange that CP! is always either too-good-to-be-true dream or impossible sounding discovery to those new to it) when I explained I was graduating from both college and high school that year, very soon. I didn't realize until just now why she asked about the colleges in our area...her own children would be up for college soon, so if they did move here to take this church, she wanted to know her options.

As we cleaned up, rolling away tables and stacking chairs against the walls, I also got to speak personally with the new pastor himself, one on one, and was very impressed.

I think I was rolling a table away into the closet when my father pointed me out as his son to the man, just behind me.

"Ah, this is your son?" I heard it mentioned and turned. He smiled behind me. I offered him my hand and my name.

"So are you learning the art of 'smoking' from your dad?" He asked me half-jokingly. I replied I would like to, but I wasn't as good as he was, by far.

(NOTE: For the record, when I say 'smoking,' I don't mean cigarettes or the unhealthy habit that some people have to tobacco. Remember this is the Southeast, where 'smoking' and BBQ-ing meat is almost a revered art and sport among the southern people around here. I'm not much of a southern boy, in customs or politics or culture, but my Dad is. And naturally, some of this 'smoked' meat had appeared on the menu that noonday meal, from my dad. I learned afterwards the pastor had hugely enjoyed it, which was about the highest compliment my dad could get.)

We talked on several subjects, from the sermon, to the colleges and schools in that area (imagine why), and when I mentioned I was graduating that year, he asked me that feared question that every teenager gets asked at least fifty times per year.

"So what are you going to do with your life, Alex?" He asked politely.

And as every other time, I fumbled for the answer. "Oh, I'm not quite sure yet..." I responded, "I just have ideas so far, maybe a Bible teacher, or a fiction writer...or both." I laughed slightly. "For the moment I'm just waiting for something to come up. Or for His will, I suppose." I hurriedly corrected my next to last statement.

The other nodded. "I'm glad to see young men who are interested in more than video games and want to follow God!" He seemed pleased. I nodded sadly. I mentioned I would like to see more of that myself in people my age. The standard I went by wasn't anything impressive or unusual...it SHOULD be the typical standard that all followed.

I went on, saying I fervently hoped I was so, and tried to be...though for the moment I could use some particular direction. I am very glad on what we talked on. For a fifteen minute conversation with the possible new pastor I would be taking my Bible studies and sermons from, I was very glad and impressed. He even mentioned a few organizations I might try if teaching or missionary work showed themselves as God's will. It was the best part of my day to make a new friend, and meet another man of God and discuss important things with him...whether or not he would be my new pastor.

I returned home that day to study my Greek lessons and later that evening, yet another event, also long-planned, took place. But this blog post is long enough. I'll finish this story out next post.