So I just had an idea for a painting that I think would be pretty cool. If any of you feel like tackling it, be my guest. Imagine a gold medal, big and shiny and round, on an embroidered blue ribbon. Now imagine it lying discarded on a road paved with gold bricks. Up the road you see the silhouettes of two figures walking into a bright light. Green trees line each side of the road. It symbolizes how once we reach Heaven, our earthly trophies and honors will be discarded as worthless. They'll be as valuable as the road we'll walk upon. While we, on the other hand, will have achieved the greatest prize of enjoying Jesus forever.

Last night I fell out of bed for the first time in my life. I went to bed at 1:45 and got up at 6:45 but that didn't stop me from waking up in the middle of the night. I rolled over and suddenly found that I was (no longer) on the edge of the bed. My first thought was "Wow, I just fell out of the bed." My second thought was "It's five am, this doesn't bode well [for the rest of the day]."

So what did you do when you were nine years old? I built forts outside. This girl sells her paintings and poetry for $50,000 a piece. Sigh, I guess we can't all be binary prodigies ;-)

I listen to Focus on the Family almost every night, and they had a show that I thought was excellent. If you've never heard a preacher with cerebral palsy (or even if you have), I'd really recommend this! You have to do it within the next few days because they don't leave up their shows up long.

Anyone want to see a picture of my mom and brother? Check out number 72. That's them just before Micah left for the Air Force Academy. I've already looked through 1,500-2,000 pictures to find this one, but there's still another 1,000 left, so I might find another one of him.

In other family news, my older brother, Jeremy, has recently incorporated his new windtunnel business and looking for investors. So if you have an extra $10,000 that you'd like to invest, I'll put you in touch with him. His business is called Ground Rush Inc. and he wants to build a vertical windtunnel big enough that skydiving teams can practice without actually having to rent an airplane. I'll put up more info once I get it.

What do you do when you find out a friend you respect may not be seeking after the Lord as much as you thought? Why is it that some things that I find disrespectful towards God and therefore shouldn't be encouraged, are enjoyed by my Christian friends. Am I being legalistic? Are they being worldly? I feel God's pleasure when I refrain from things that dishonor Him, no matter how trivial. And my conscience pricks me when I hang out with my friends when they do their thing. But right now I'm feeling sad when I talked with a friend (none of you know her) and she didn't think it was a big deal. I'm not trying to be holier-than-thou, just pure. I just want to do what I was created to do: Follow God faithfully and wholeheartedly.

I thought I would post some pics from Dallas. Some are from the school, others are a hiking place nearby, and a few of the others are from a lake where we went for break between modules. You've all seen me at weird places before, so I decided to take some of my reptile, arachnid, and plaster friends. To save you all from long loading times, I just decided to post the link to the pictures rather than putting them on my blog itself. If you have any specific requests for other dangerous animals/globe-trotting gnomes/strange people, just tell me.

I really like the Olympics. I really like them. Unfortunetly I don't have a tv, so I can't watch them, but I can watch some of the highlights on NBC Olympics. They're not just about sports and proving you are the best. They're full of honor, heroism, determination, and sacrifice. We can learn so much from these people. Every time I watch them, I remember how proud I am to be an American and a Christian.

I was watching some of the interviews and oddly enough, the three most interesting athletes were all boxers. With all the 'I feel nervious', 'I'm excited', 'It's a dream come true' stuff these three talked about things that really struck a chord in me.

Devin Vargas spent almost the whole interview talking about his 20-month old son, who is as big as a three year old and already likes boxing. His dad is extremely proud of him (he carries a picture of him around his neck) and you can tell that his goal isn't just to be the best, but to do something that his son will be proud of.

Then Vanes Martirosyan talked about how excited he was to be there representing his country at the opening ceremonies. He was orignially born in Armenia and his family spent 10 years trying to get to the America. He says that being on the US team (and hopefully getting the gold medal) is his family's way of saying thank you.

Last, Andre Ward really impressed me. Out of the interviewees, he was the most focused on the gold medal. He wouldn't think about his future career so he could simply focus on his goal. "I can't think of anything else right now. A gold is everything right now. A bronze or silver, I won't accept that." When asked what he wanted viewers to know about his experience at the games, he turned the question to encourage kids in never giving up on their dreams. "Strive for your goals. Don't let nobody tell you that you can't do what you dream that you can do. Continue to keep dreaming. Continue to keep working hard. I know if I can do it and God can give me the strength to do it, He can give them the strength to do it as well." Later on he took the opportunity to again say that he was relying on God for his strenght. "I'm just trying to stay humble, trying to continue to keep put God first. And I believe that he will no only continue to give me the strength but the rest of my teammates the strength to take care of business. And when I say 'take care of business' I mean the gold medal." In another interview he said "I want to give all the glory to God,'' he said. "It's not my glory. It's his. I'm just a willing vessel.'' And now he is a vessel with some Holy Ghost hooks and Jesus filled jabs.

I pray that God will bless the Christians at the Olympics so they can reflect that glory back to Him.

PS. You can expect quite a few more blogs about the Olympics

I Have Been There
by Mark Schultz

In a room without a view
A new mother smiles and holds the tiny fingers
Of her brand new baby girl
Her husband takes her by the hand
So unsure about the future and no money
Can they make it in this world
And they pray, Lord all we have to give is love
Then they heard a gentle voice
Like an echo from above

Oh I have been there
I know what fear is all about
Yes, I have been there
And I am standing with you now
I have been there
And I came to build a bridge
Oh so this road could lead you home
Oh I have been there

He’d been a pastor twenty years
But tonight he sits alone and brokenhearted
In the corner of the church
He’s tried to change a fallen world
With his words and with his wisdom
But it seems like it is only getting worse
And he cries
Oh Lord I just don’t understand
And then he felt the hand of grace,
And he heard a voice that said

I have been there
I know what pain is all about
Yes, I have been there
And I am standing with you now
I have been there
And I came to build to a bridge
Oh so this road could lead you home
Oh I have been there

An older man up on a hill
Holding flowers but he can’t hold back the tears
He has come to say goodbye
He thinks about the life she lived
Thinks about how hard it’s been
To live without her
Sixty years right by his side
And he cries, Oh Lord I loved her
‘til the end
Then he heard a gentle voice
Say you’ll see her once again

I have been there
I know what sorrow is all about
Yes, I have been there
And I am standing with you now
I have been there
And I came to build a bridge
Oh so this road could lead her home
The road could lead her home
Oh I have been there

You know I overcame the cross
I have been there
So her life would not be lost
I have been there
And I came to build a bridge
Oh so this road could lead you home
The road could lead you home
Oh I have been there

Who is winning the election? It depends on who you ask... and when.

I was watching ABC news online last night and though it was funny in a sad way (or sad in a funny way) that they had two conflicting stories about who is winning the election. One was probably put up a week before the other, but the numbers are too disparate to be accurate. I don't have their titles now, but I might add them tonight, so for now I'll call them Report A and Report B.

REPORT A: Which candidate do you trust more to handle the war in Iraq?

Bush: 52%

Kerry: 40%

REPORT B: Which candidate is more qualified to be Commander in Chief?

Bush: 44%

Kerry: 52%

That's not so bad, but wait, there's more.

REPORT A: Which candidate do you trust more to handle the economy?

Bush: 47%

Kerry: 46%

REPORT B: Candidate preference if top issue is economy?

Bush: 33%

Kerry: 60%

Hmmm, that's odd, especially when Report B is saying that John Kerry has "big leads on healthcare education, and even the economy as a whole."

Although neither report gave any details about who they were surveying, Report A certainly seemed more scientific, giving a margin of error (plus or minus 3%) and making comparisons to the same study done a month ago, while Report B gave nothing.

For all their inconsistencies, there were some things they both agreed on. They both supported the idea that (for better or worse) Kerry is not known as well as Bush. Report B said that 54% of registered voters do not understand where John Kerry stands on the issues and 60% of respondents to Report A said that Bush is more consistent while only 31% said Kerry is more consistent.

Here are a few more poll surveys that Report A gave.

Which candidate do you trust more to handle the terrorism?

A month ago	Bush: 48%	Kerry: 47%
Now	Bush: 55%	Kerry: 37%

Voters who think John Kerry understands their problems

A month ago	Kerry: 55%
Now	Kerry: 46%

So, to break the monotony of monotonic monologues, here are some tongue twisters. However, tongue twisters themselves can be kinda boring once you've heard them all, so I decided to post some from other languages. Here are three from Spanish and then I'll put up a few Chinese ones later. I'd love to hear how Jaws handles these.

Supercalifragilisticoespiralidoso, aunque al oirlo hablar se te hace medio enredoso, si lo dices con humor sera mas fabuloso, supercalifragilisticoespiralidoso (From the Spanish version of Mary Poppins)

No me mires, que miranque nos miramos,y verán en tus ojosque nos amamos.No nos miremos, que cuando no nos mirennos miraremos.
Don't look at me, for if they see that we are looking at each other, and they will see in your eyes that we love each other. Let's not look at each other, so that when they don't look at us we will look at each other.

Si la sierva que te sirve, no te sirve como sierva, de que sirve que te sirvas de una sierva que no sirve.
If the servant that serves you, doesn't serve as a servant, of what use is the service of a servant that doesn't serve.

http://www.uebersetzung.at/twister/es.htm#T16

Happy 100th Blog!

I just found out that there is a town called Idiotville, Oregon. Of course, there's always Looneyville Texas, Okay OK, Left Hand W.Virgina, Why Arizona, and my personal favorite, Boring Oregon.

Here's an interesting question: To what one question would you most like to know the answer? No, mine is not the question I just asked. Right now, it is how does God want me to pray. I feel like I learn so much about God and life when I just sit and study my Bible. But that is not praying per se. Other times I will walk or bike and pour my heart out to God, but that is usually in times of strong emotions. So what should regular nightly prayer look like? I know the different plans and methods but they feel like systems more than a relationship. Then I always talk to God in short comments, questions, and praises at various times throughout the day, but those are never on a regular basis. Or how do you sit and listen to God. If I just try to sit down, rid my mind of distractions and listen, I wait for a little while, don't hear anything but my own thoughts, and then start to wonder if God speaks to me like that or if I'm just trying to listen to God that way because other people do. After a few minutes I get up and do something else, right back where I was. The times that I've known God was speaking to me were when I was studying the Bible, and when I prayed then began looking at my options for a decision. People in the Bible (and some today) would hear answers to specific questions on a regular basis. How can I get to that point? How do you hear God? What does prayer look like in your life?

I was reading the news and I found these. The first is the ad that Swift Boat Veterans for Truth produced stating that they do not support John Kerry. They are a group 200 of his former Vietnam comrades who are familiar with his service and oppose him on the grounds that his character is faulty and he is not fit to be Commander in Chief.

The other thing I found was a MSN media thingy where it lets you pretend to be an airport x-ray technician scanning for bombs, knives, and guns.

I've been messing around with my blog, customizing it and trying to learn a little html. What do you think? Any suggestions? Will, does Jaws have a problem reading the right hand column? Right now it has a quote from John Jay. Things here are going well. My grandfather's funeral is on Friday, but I won't be able to make it back. I still haven't been hit by any strong emotions. Hmmm.

My grandfather died this morning, and I don't know how I feel yet. Dwaine married my dad's mom about ten years ago and was a great guy. He has had major health problems recently and everyone knew it was just a matter of time before the Lord called him home. My mom called this afternoon and said that Dwaine had died and grandma was pretty upset (understandably). For me though, i've been so disconnected with the whole process that my brain and my emotions have not seemed to connect. I know that he has gone to Heaven, that he's not suffering anymore, and that I did care about him, but so far at least, I don't feel either sad or relieved. We'll see what tomorrow is like. That's the way it was when Nick died last year. I was in Mexico, and didn't hear about it until a day or two after his car wreck. I couldn't get back for any of the ceremonies, and now I can't fly back to Oregon until Thursday at the earliest (if I had the extra six hundred bucks to drop on a last minute trip). Last year, it didn't affect me at all when I first got the email, and it wasn't until the next day that I reacted, and even then it was only for a couple of hours. I'll try to write more tomorrow. I wonder how many times we'll have to go through this living in the field?