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April 1, 2005 - 7:30 AM In Florida, an atheist became incensed over the preparation for Easter and Passover holidays and decided to contact his lawyer about the discrimination inflicted on atheists by the constant celebrations afforded to Christians and Jews with all their holidays while the Atheists had no holiday to celebrate. The case was brought before a wise judge who after listening to the long, passionate presentation of his lawyer, promptly banged his gavel and declared, "Case dismissed!" The lawyer immediately stood and objected to the ruling and said, "Your Honor, how can you possibly dismiss this case? Surely the Christians have Christmas, Easter and many other observances. And the Jews--why in addition to Passover they have Yom Kippur and Hanukkah...and yet my client and all other atheists have no such holiday!" The judge leaned forward in his chair and simply said "Obviously your client is too confused to know about or to celebrate the atheists' holiday!" The lawyer pompously said "We are aware of no such holiday for atheists, just when might that be, your honor?" The judge said "Well it comes every year on exactly the same date - April 1st!" "The fool says in his heart, 'There is no God.'" - Psalm 14:1, Psalm 53:1 Happy April Fools Day Speaking of jokes, yesterday I filled up my van... Cost $56.51! What a joke! April 1, 2005 - 11:49 PM Shut up, hush your mouth - can't you hear you talk too loud? No I can't hear nothing cuz I got my head up in the cloud! What a great Friday! Not only was it just a good day all around, each day has been getting warmer - meaning that spring is well on it's way... Today also happened to be April Fool's day, and I was able to pull a few pranks off at work... I paged myself to the front office (from the front office)... That was mildly amusing however our cake-taking prank was a memo Rick and I came up with which appeared to be from the Production Manager. We posted it on all the bulletin boards around the plant, and it basically stated that beginning next week there would be drug tests administered to all the employees, who would be required to provide a urine sample to Brian. So all day, Brian was getting staff members asking him about the drug testing and if they would really have to provide a urine sample. It was quite funny, although there were a few people who seemed quite concerned at this (which really makes you wonder why...) I also made some more significant progress on my PANDA system this afternoon which was tremendously satisfying... The last thing I did before leaving the plant was solve a very annoying and hard-to-track bug that was manifesting itself in the form of a string of blank lines in the middle of the screen, for no apparant reason. Apparantly there was in fact a reason, which I found at about 5:03 PM this afternoon. What a great way to end off the week - work wise, but here if today didn't also pack in a benefit of a more personal nature! I have a date tomorrow! And here if I didn't nearly embarass myself horribly too... I was walking away (this was before I asked her out) but looking over my shoulder and smiling at her, who was also smiling. It was a lovely little moment of smiling bliss - until I walked right into a cart! Hahahaha I had to smile sheepishly and quickly escape to avoid lingering embarassment and I *don't think* she actually saw the cart collision. There were some people who saw me walk into it though, but I don't think any of them knew the full extent of what had just taken place. AND THEN, if that weren't already enough of a good day... (I guess this really counts for tomorrow, but I'm super excited about it today which is why I'm writing about it now...) Tomorrow I am getting my bike out! I know this is a really late start to the season for me, but lately I've been really spoiled driving the van around... It's so nice and warm, you can listen to music while you travel, it's nice and warm, and really there is still quite a bit of gravel on the roads which I'm none too excited about... But with gas hitting 89.9 cents per litre I think I can put up with those chilly morning rides at $12 / tank... And of course, it's SO much more fun... hahaha Bo and I were comparing finances and it looks like we're in very good standing on this downpayment. We'll be flat broke when we actually move in, but we'll have paid our entire downpayment by ourselves which is nothing short of AWESOME! Basically that will mean we came up with $11,000 between the two of us in less than three months! As I sat in the basement here by myself this evening eating tuna from the can with a fork I thought to myself just how much money I've been saving up to buy this house. It will be awesome! I am so excited. In case you haven't notice, the theme of this entry is excitement. This is a very exciting time for me. Which is also a little scarry because being at this high point in my life means that it could go downhill in any one of a number of directions without warning. April 3, 2005 - 6:37 AM Did you know that they have yet to come up with a SINGLE compelling reason to switch to Daylight Savings Time? *sigh* Oh well. I'm up now and it is dark outside, which can only mean that we will have more hours of sunlight in the evening when they are actually usable... Yesterday I finally pulled my bike out! It's funny too, because every winter I always forget three things about riding: #1: How fast that bike goes, #2: How much fun it is to ride, and #3: How COLD it is riding at this time of year!!!! If I weren't so broke right now I might actually go and buy one of those heated vests. Jason has one and he says it makes a world of difference! The sad thing is that I think someone gave me the money to go buy one last fall, probably as a birthday gift, but when I got there they weren't on sale anymore and they didn't have the kind I wanted. I guess I'll just have to wear a few more sweaters... It's not like I've never ridden cold before! hahaha So I was driving around my 'new' neighbourhood yesterday, starting to familiarize myself with the streets and roads. I was told that such a person lived on a particular street and that it was really close to my house, so I was trying to find out where this street was. I'm driving around, driving around, looking at street sign after street sign until finally I gave up and was going to continue on my way down 52nd Street to go to Barb's house. Well I got back onto 52nd street and continued down that way until I came to the next turn. The name sounded a lot closer to the street that I was trying to find so I turned in there and began to search again. Low and behold, I found the street on which this family lived. So then, after driving along it I made two quick rights at the next intersection when suddenly I realized that I was now back on the street MY new house is on! Turns out we share a back alley! What a small world. Later on yesterday evening, I stopped in at the restaurant Becky works at to see how my little sister was doing at her new job. She asked me to come by and see her at work and to tip big. hehehe So I sat down by myself at a table and ate myself a plate of nachos... The food was allright but the service was excellent!  hehehe It was kind of wierd being served by
her though, usually we're the ones being served. But none the less, she did a very good job and I was very proud of her.
Today sometime this afternoon she asked if I would come over and help her with some homework. Not only have I not seen her
in a couple of weeks but the last time I helped her with her homework she got 100% on the assignment. I just hope she doesn't
expect the same results every time I help with her homework...Well, gotta go! I have a head to shave and a bike to ride... Although I'm looking at the thermometer on my computer which currently reads "-2C" and I'm strongly debating taking the Red Dragon... I've become so spoiled with the van, especially with it's two heaters now that I have nearly no tolerance for travelling cold anymore... But being broke also factors into the equation as well now, and that bike does save me a LOT of money on gas... Everything has it's price I guess. April 3, 2005 - 11:07 PM I love that girl... Well, I got stood up this weekend... But it turned out quite well none the less. Strange thing happened this morning actually... It starts last night when I went to bed about 9:00. Yes, nine o'clock. I know. I never go to bed that early, but with the daylight savings changeover and having to be at church at 9:00 (which was really 8:00) and feeling absolutely exhausted - I figured an early night was in order. I woke up about 6:00 (new time), had a leisurely breakfast, enjoyed a nice long hot shower, shaved my head and my face, talked with Pam for a bit, all before going outside with three sweaters on, ready for a -2 degree ride to church. Well here if when I went outside - the bike wouldn't start. First time in nearly 4 years. To this day, it has never not started until this morning! So after draining the battery turning it over and over and over, I gave up and took the van instead. I guess God must have not wanted me to ride this morning, because when I came home from church, I went outside, put the key in and pressed Start... Would you know it? Fired RIGHT up! I couldn't believe it. Ran fine the rest of the day. So after I had determined that it was nothing serious, I came back inside and decided to take a brief nap. Becky was supposed to call me later on in the evening and we were supposed to do something, so I figured I had a few hours in which some rest would do much good. Well maybe an hour after laying now my head to sleep, my phone rings and it's my Aunt, who's having problems with their new printer at Quizzno's. Offering a free lunch as a bribe, how was I to refuse free Quizzno's? (Actually I think it was a secret ploy to get me over there since Alida was working...) But in any event, I hopped on the Yellow Dragon and zipped on up to the Hampton's. Long story short, I got the printer working again after much tinkering... The computer they use is primarily used to supply the seating area with ambient music and advertising and as such - it's locked down tighter than a Motley Crew Concert. Without knowing the Administrator password and requiring access to the printer subsystem, I was forced to learn much about Windows security this afternoon and found my way into their scheme, allowing myself access to do everything I needed to do to remove both their old printer and get their new printer working. Somewhere during this process, my phone rings and who's name shows up on the little display but "Kaylee." Talk about unexpected... Well here it was Ib who had himself another computer 'situation.' Since Becky still hadn't called by this time, I headed over to Ib's house after Quizzno's and proceeded to repair his Packard Bell. It was there that Becky finally did call, and so after spending an hour or so at Ib's place I went over to Becky's and spent the rest of the evening with her. We went for a drive to the LRT station to pick up her friend from school and gave her a ride home, during which time I showed her my new house. Small world that it is, a friend of hers used to live a few doors down from mine... And I've already discovered I know one of the neighbours on the street behind me... It's crazy! So then Becka and I went for slurpees and watched Simpsons at her house. Like I said, it was a good night. So now tomorrow begins a new week... (Wierd thing, I just had a craving for Skittles! NO idea where that came from... But my mouth actually watered at the thought! Bizarre!) On Tuesday Bo and I are going to pick up his new washer/dryer set. He bought a stackable washer and dryer so that when we move in we'll actually have separate laundry facilities. Our living spaces will be completely separate from each other's. Oh and I guess the people who live in that house are still living there... While Becky and I were sitting in her car in front of it, the lady and her daughter came home and went inside. Bo and I had been wondering if they were out yet or not, but that pretty much answers our question... Oh and the cutest cat sauntered over to the car, put it's paws up on my window and looked at us inside. It was SOOOOOO cute! But as soon as I rolled down my window it went scampering faster than greased lighting away... Friday night Bo and I took David Gavin out to see a movie. We watched "Boogyman" and I have to say that was a TERRIBLE movie! FULL of plot holes, underdeveloped storyline, shallow characters, lack of real 'resolve' at the end... Don't waste your money on it. Bad movie. I think Gavin had a good time still. He played Solitare on Bo's T3 throughout most of it though... hehehe Anyway, I think I shall go make some hot chocolate and then put myself to bed. Have a good week, dear reader!  April 5, 2005 - 12:50 AM The Rubber Pencil The other day I was at Robyn Lee's place and Brooklyn and I were coloring on the coffee table in the living room. (We weren't actually coloring ON the coffee table...) Even the oldest trick in the book can still amaze someone who has never seen it before... I held up one of the pencil crayons and told her I was going to make it turn to rubber. I began to wave it and the look on her face was absolutely priceless. Her jaw dropped open and she looked over at her mom excitedly, as if to say, "Did you see that?!?!?!" It was very cute. Too bad I didn't have my camera though, that would have been a great picture. April 5, 2005 - 11:44 PM It's been quite a while since I've had a date... This will be interesting. Also tonight my watch broke... The plastic housing around one of the strap pins just suddenly broke free of the rest of the plastic watch housing... It must have been fractured before and just happened to fall loose tonight because I was sitting where I am now, at my computer, reading emails at the time when I noticed the watch felt loose in my sleeve. I looked at it and sure enough, it was not tight but I just figured the strap had come undone. When I pulled it out to look at it, I quickly discovered that the strap was fine, it was the actual watch itself that had sustained damage and was probably not repairable. Given the tight financial constrains I have pressing in on my every side at the moment, I began to consider the merit in NOT replacing the watch this time. This is about the 5th or 6th Casio DataBank watch I've owned in my lifetime, going back many years to the days of elementary school! It is nice to have the calculator always on-hand (huh huh) but the phone number feature has been a bit out-dated since I store all my numbers in my phone, where they're much more practical anyways. The scheduler hasn't been used on my watch in years since I have had a Palm organizer, and the other significant features (countdown timer, stopwatch, alarm) are not essential to me nowadays. Interestingly enough however, I do use my watch to check the time while I'm riding since pulling out my phone is not practical, and early in the wee hours of the morning if I wake up, it's nice to be able to hit the light button on my wrist and see how much more sleep I can squeeze in (or how late for work I am!) That part about wearing a watch I will definitely miss. But for all intents and purposes, my cell phone isn't much farther away than my arm is, so I think I will try to manage without a watch for the time being at least. We'll see how well I fare without it and perhaps some day when the money isn't quite so tight - another watch may be in order. Watch and see... April 6, 2005 - 11:53 PM Waiting for the light to go on... Many motorcycles do not have a fuel gauge to tell the rider how much gas remains in the tank. None of the motorcycles I've owned to date have had a fuel gauge, and although this might sound inconcevable to those of you familiar with four wheels, it's actually not as bad as it seems. On my first two motorcycles, you knew your tank was low when your engine began to cough and sputter. At this point, you'd reach down and turn a valve that would switch your fuel intake from your 'main tank' over to your 'reserve tank' and in most cases, continue riding (probably to the nearest gas station.) You could often tell roughly when you were going to run out of gas by using your trip meter, resetting it at every fillup. Since the speedometer and odometers never worked on my Kawasaki dirt bike, I don't know what it got to the tank, but my Yamaha FZR-1000 would typically run out of main tank gas around 260 km and my Honda Firestorm runs out at about 200. (It's tank is 4 litres smaller than the tank on the FZR) On my Firstorm however, instead of a valve that you switch over when the main tank's supply of petrolium has been depleted there is a red LED that comes on in the instrumentation to indicate that you are down to your last 4 litres of fuel. You don't have to switch any valve over, just know that you are running low and should fill up at the earliest convenience. When I put my bike away for the winter, there was just under 80 kilometers reading on the trip meter. After pulling it out, I decided to burn off as much of last year's gas as I could so that when I fill up with fresh gasoline, it can help purge the tank of any older gas that may still reside there. Consequently, my goal is to run it as close to being completely empty as possible, without having to walk anywhere to get a jerrycan. Oddly enough though, my trip meter reads over 230 kilometers tonight and that light still hasn't even blinked. This situation has got me to thinking that one of two things has happened: 1. - The light is broken and I am about 30 kilometers away from walking, or 2. - I filled the tank up before putting it away and forgot to reset the trip meter. The more I think about it, the more I think it's number two, but I guess I will find out in the next day or so! Only seven years until I get married! Or, perhaps a better way to state that would be that I will be married in seven years or less. Tonight Becky and I were discussing our futures, our goals in life and the things that really get us excited. We also agreed that if both of us are still un-wed in seven years, we will marry each other, have some kids, get a Lab, and spend the rest of our lives together. That's the plan for now at least... But as you should know by now, plans change! April 7, 2005 - 10:17 PM The light went on... I was riding over to Bo's this evening and at about 252 km on the trip meter, the little red you-are-almost-out-of-gas light came on! What a relief, so I continued on my way and rode till about 290 before filling up. I put 15 litres of gas in at a cost of $14.50! FOURTEEN DOLLARS AND FIFTY CENTS! (Actually, I just like to belly-ache about that in front of everyone who fills up their cars, trucks, and vans and pays 4 times as much or more... Not to worry though, come winter I will be back in that category as well...) What a beautiful day out today, wasn't it?!?! I think we hit 22 degrees this afternoon and it was hands down the nicest day we've had yet in 2005. Bo and I went for a (pedal) bike ride, and he's got a kid seat on his bike so we brought Madisson with us. From Varsity, we rode down to Edworthy Park and in and about that area there. We even got to chase some geese that were sauntering about in the fields. Bo and I were cornering this one goose and as it went to take off in flight, it lightened it's load about 3 times on takeoff. I guess you could say we scared the crap out of it! Literally. We hiked up the into the bush a little ways and found a Geo-Cache site that Bo remembered from last year (we would have brought the GPS with us except that Bo has it packed already.) After we had spent some time in the good outdoors, we rode back up the Home Road hill and returned to Bo's place. It was a perfect evening for a leisurely bike ride. And, I got to experience something I have never done or seen before... Over-inflating a bike tire. It was actually pretty loud, and it was smoking as well. All in all, an excellent night. Several times we caught wind of a wood fire, and it brought back countless camping memories. I hope we do a lot of camping this summer. I have a feeling we will. April 9, 2005 8:33 AM Well... Could it be possible that I'm dating again? I think it just might be... It's been an interesting couple of weeks leading up to our date last night. Needless to say, we both had quite a few stories to tell about everything that's been happening recently. I told her about walking into a cart one day while I was looking over my shoulder locked in a smilnig gaze with her... I still can't get over that. One of the girls in her department had made the comment that she never used to see me in the plant until (my date) started working there - but that now I'm out on the floor several times a day! So much for being subtle I guess... We might do something again tonight but in the mean time I think I am going to start packing up my room, getting ready for the big move. I've really only moved once in my life, and I didn't have nearly as much 'stuff' back then as I had now, plus I was in a big hurry to move at that time whereas this time it's a little less pressured. Still I think it wouldn't hurt to start sorting stuff in my room at least because there's a lot of things I don't even use right now. Of course, having said that - a week after I get them packed and have forgotten into which boxes they have gone I will undoubtably find a need for at least SOMETHING I've packed... (Everybody wave at Murphy...) Oh well. On another note (pun intended) I finished a quick-and-dirty remix of Caesar's Palace - Jerk It Out which is in the Music section if anyone's interested... I think it will be a good houseboat song this summer. The Gav Man has made a request that I mix Brainbug with something from Jay-Z... That might be a bit of a challenge but anything's possible... Speaking of odd mixes, I should probably dig out that remix of my cell phone ringer and finish that one off sometime. My music computer has so many unfinished mixes on it... It's horrible. Anyhow, stuff to do! Later. April 10, 2005 - 9:38 PM I thought I'd feel more complete, but now I'm emptier than ever... There's a line in a song I know that says, "What was meant to fufill - only hunger'd me still". And tomorrow I'm going into work completely blind - I have no idea what's going on. I think for me the simple fact of not knowing is what's the most unsettling. One way or another, if I knew what was going on I would at least have some resolution. Really, put into perspective, this matter is not a huge deal... Tomorrow I might go into work and find out there was a perfectly good explanation. I kick myself for even making this a big deal, but maybe that's an indicator my motives in this situation are a little bit more selfish than I'd like to admit? I suppose it will be interesting to see what I write tomorrow night at this time. One good thing in all this - these, my mellow moods, make much marvelous music... I just wish I had a keyboard. In other news, I began sorting my stuff on Saturday to begin the whole moving process. I figured a good place to begin would be with all my paperwork. That is, receipts, invoices, bills, cards, letters, etc. I went through my stash of cards and found many nice Christmas cards from various family members, and actually - one card still had a $20 bill inside! So that was an added bonus. Being the sentimental sod that I am, I have a tendency to keep just about everything that someone has given me, especially if it's something they made or wrote. Consequently, there were a few items in that pile that I had long forgotten about but was glad I kept. Many articles signifying a much happier time. There was even a two page letter written entirely in Openglopish that, put into light of all the events of the past two or so years, was quite amusing to read... It really is true what they say, you can't believe everything you read. I'm searching for positives in this situation right now but they are few and hard to find. I want to get out but there is nowhere to go. I want to do something but nothing seems to interest me. I want to listen to music but no sound is soothing my ears. I'd love to tell someone but there's no one who'd listen. I'd love to go for a walk but walking alone is so empty. Unless there's a slurpee at the other end... Hmm Perhaps I'll go to 'Sev and get a slurpee. Kind of sad that's the first time I've smiled the whole while I've been writing... None the less, I will take it! hehehe Take me down, six underground. The ground beneath your feet... Laid out low, nothing to go No where or way to meet. I've got a head full of drout .. down here So far from losing out .. round here Overground, watching this space I'm open to falling from grace. There. Everything feels better with a slurpee in-hand... Let's re-write the news page now. I'll toss this one into the
journal for those readers who actually venture past the front page. I think there's a bit of an assumption that the only
things that wind up in the journal are entries from the front page news on the site. Actually, (if you're reading this you
probably already know) I do a lot more writing in the journal than I do on the main page. There's a lot of stuff in here
that I would never put on the front page. Anyway, now you know. April 10, 2005 - 10:45 PM Everything feels much better with a Slurpee in-hand... What a relaxing day this turned out to be. I spent the afternoon at my parent's place, playing with my puppy and trying to nap amidst attempts by said person at licking my face... Today is Lorina's birthday, and here if Rick wasn't outside his house this afternoon as I rode by so I stopped to say hi and to ask him to wish her a happy birthday for me. Here if they aren't moving to Bearspaw on Wednesday! "It's a nice ride on the bike," he said. I think that was to imply I should come and visit them at their new place. The rest of the light daytime hours were spent washing my bike up. As I was walking back from 7-Eleven I could see it sparkle on the street as light from streetlights and car headlights reflected off the sparklie parts... It reminded me of that song Shimmer by Fuel. Here and now, will we ever be again? I have found all that shimmers in this world is sure to fade... Away... Again.... One day that bike, for all the excitement, fun and freedom it brings to me now will be nothing more than an escaping memory. Same with the van, my Seadoo, and everything else I've bought for myself. Although potentially quite a morbid thought, it does tend to suggest a change of investment strategy. Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where theives do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. April 14, 2005 - 9:38 PM You know what I love? Riding my bike through SNOW! Certainly there is no pleasure in life that can compare with the warm sensation of watching snowflakes fall through the beam of your motorcycle headlight... But snowy ride home aside, I did have a pretty good day... Deen from head office and I drove to Edmonton today, to visit our Edmonton depot and meet with the staff up there. Along the way we had a very good time discussing an entire plethora of topics, and I learned a lot this afternoon from G&K's Director of Human Resources. Not the least of what was discussed is my roll as Safety Coordinator for the plant, what that entails, what changes need to be made and what the process is supposed to look like. Again, a very interesting journey. On a more personal note, my own dear MOTHER called me this afternoon, with curiosity ranking akin to that of Diana, wondering who it was that I am dating. Well first of all, there was one date, nothing more than a meal and some chatter although it is amusing me how much attention this one event has attracted... News of it had even reached the wash floor yesterday evening which I learned about when Kayla text messaged' me, asking about my new girlfriend. To set the record straight, I AM NOT SEEING, DATING, WITH, GOING WITH, GOING OUT WITH, or in any other terms having a girlfriend at this time. We went out once. And truth be known, she has never called me since then nor returned any of my calls. Being the sentimental sap that I am, against the common sense that says, "If she liked you, she'd have called you back," I still hang onto some hope that a second date may yet happen, but at this point - I'm not holding my breath. After years of relationship drought, however - I have mused many times lately at how true the saying, "When it rains, it pours" is. Almost simultaneously, a second interest has appeared on the horizon. Perhaps another date as well, who knows? But whatever the case, do I need to remind you? Curiosity killed the cat! (AHEM - Diana... Mom...) April 15, 2005 - 8:34 PM Riding the Rollercoaster... What a week of up's and down's! So much has happened this week, at work, in my personal life, and all the times those two collide... It's been one unexpected twist after another! The week has gone by fast though, but I'm sitting here reflecting on the past 5 days and I just have to shake my head! And on another note, I put $15.00, yes FIFTEEN DOLLARS of gas in my bike today!!! What is this world coming to?!? 11:06 PM ... This is getting ridiculous. Why can't I just find a good, honest girl to share my life with??? April 16, 2005 - 2:31 PM Wow. That really hurts! Last night my left knee popped, and although it seemed to be fine the rest of the evening, when I woke up this morning at about 7:30 (I was supposed to go to BC today to look at potential family vacation sites) I nearly died of agony trying to get out of my cupboard. Getting up the stairs to go to the bathroom was also excruciating, so I decided that 8 hours of driving today might not be the wisest choice under these unexpected circumstances. So instead, to help the healing process, I clocked a few more hours of sleep. On a bit of a side note, my body seems to have this way of telling me it's full of sleep. Whenever it doesn't want to sleep anymore, it gets really hot. So when I woke up this afternoon sweating, I knew I had no choice but to get off the couch. (I slept on the couch since it would be a lot easier to get up than if I went back to bed in my cupboard.) Did anyone else notice that I've had my Christmas logo up on the site until now?? I just changed it but nobody seemed to notice I still had all my Christmas decorations up. One thing I'm really looking forward to in my new house is having a proper computer workstation. As it is right now, it's so uncomfortable sitting here working on my computers that I do as little as I can to get by on them. That's a big part of the reason my web site really hasn't changed in over two years... (That and the fact that I haven't had a lot of free time...) But once I get into my house, I will have TONNES of space and a proper computer desk to work at. Oh it will be nice! I'll also have a proper bed too, my own kitchen table, my own pots and pans, oooohhh!!! I'm starting to get really excited! Which reminds me, I have to pack still... I started last weekend and got a lot of sorting done. Although that seemed to take quite a while I think the rest of the packing will go a lot faster. I've got a big bag of ice on my knee and I think it's helping. It doesn't look swollen, but the swelling might be all inside the knee where I can't see it. At the moment, I can neither straighten it right out nor bend it completely. So for now I have to try to walk with it half bent. I look pretty gibbled. It's kind of funny. April 18, 2005 - 1:06 AM Interesting sermon this morning... It was my Sunday to play drums for the morning worship at church today, and despite the sore knee I figured I should still be able to play without any trouble. I got up this morning as usual, got dressed and went to church. We had our morning practice as usual, went to the prayer room and prayed for the service as usual, and then began to lead worship in the service as usual. For all intents and purposes, it was just another normal Sunday. We did our songs and went to sit down while the pastor got up to preach the sermon. This morning Pastor Matt spoke on Matthew 25, the story of the three servents being entrusted with varying amounts of their master's money while he was preparing to go away on a long journey. To one servent the master gave 5 talents of money, (a talent was worth about a thousand dollars), to the second servent the master gave 2 talents, and to the third servent - one talent. Each servent was entrusted with money according to his abilities. The master then left for his journey and the servents went out with their master's money. As the story tells us, the servents who were given the two and five talents each went out and invested their master's money. Both of them we able to double the amount they had been entrusted with, so the one who had been given five earned another five and the one who had been given two earned another two. But the servent who had been given only one talent went and dug a pit, placed the talent in the hole and hid it in the ground. Some time later, the master returned and settled accounts with the servents. The servent who had been given the five talents went and brought the other five he had earned and presented them to the master. "Master, you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have earned you five more." The master responded to the servent, "Well done, good and faithful servent. You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share in your master's happiness!" The man with the two talents also came. "Master", he said. "You have entrusted me with two talents: See, I have gained two more." The master replied, "Well done, good and faithful servent. You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share in your master's happiness!" Then the third servent who had been given the one talent came. "Master", he said, "I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and reaping where you have not gathered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you." The master replied, "You wicked, lazy servent! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers so that when I returned I would have recieved it back with interest. Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents. For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. And throw that worthless servent outside, into the darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Of course, I'd heard the story before. Last week he assigned us the homework of reading Matthew 25 as well so the story was fresh in my mind going into church this morning. Matt analyzed the story, looked at the master's expectations, the servents' actions and related the story to our own lives today, explaining that God has entrusted us each with gifts and abilities, talents that really belong to him, and that he expects us to use them, few or many as each has been given, to glorify Him and to further the work of His kingdom. Ok, so pretty good sermon up to this point... I could see the relevance and was beginning to reflect on my own gifts and abilities, as well as the tangible resources available to me, specifically my time and my money which in all honesty really are His time and His money, and how much of my life I spend using those resources to satisfy my own pleasures. Felt a bit humbled. So then, Pastor Matt says that the church board and pastoral staff have been praying for months, that [right now] God would convict 15 people to come up on stage [right now] to volunteer. He wasn't going to say what they were volunteering for, but asked only that if you knew God was telling you to stand up and go up on stage, that you would be obedient to that calling and [go and do it.] Well. For some reason, I suddenly became overcome with the sensation that I had to go up there. I tried to reason it out in my mind, even tried to argue against it saying, "I can barely even walk right now! How am I going to get up those stairs? Someone else will go. Of all the people here, God can't really be calling me to do this... Who knows what you're getting yourself into? You are already on the worship team, that's enough." But no matter what excuses I tried to come up with in my mind, I became more and more uncomfortable sitting in the pue until it seemed like the very seat I was sitting on gave me a push to get up, and I quickly found myself hobbling up the stairs to the stage at the front of the church. Pretty soon there were 14 other people standing next to me on the stage. Men, women, some young, some old, some faces I knew, others I'd never even seen before in my life. Then Matt began to explain what it was the 15 of us had just volunteered for. We were going to be living out this parable. Someone in the church had donated the funds to supply fifteen crisp, one hundred dollar bills which the fifteen of us were to be entrusted for a time, to use as we see fit for the furtherance of the Kingdom of God. There was no formula on how this money was to be invested or spent, only that on June 5 we would have to return to the church and give an account of what we did with the hundred dollars that was entrusted to each of us. Needless to say, it's been a thoughtful afternoon for me. How can I best invest that hundred dollars? Already a number of ideas have come to mind, some simple solutions like giving it to a charity, buying Bibles with it and passing them out downtown, maybe buying meals for people and sharing the Gospel with them at the same time... But so far nothing has really come to mind that carries with it the same conviction I experienced this afternoon when I knew I had to get up on that stage. I believe that God has me on this adventure for a reason, and that if I earnestly seek His will in this, He will not hide it from me. This came at a very interesting time in my life too, because even this morning I was considering bowing out of ministry at Grace Baptist. But once again in this unique and unmistakable fashion, God has affirmed that he wants me to be there, and so as an obedient servent I will carry on. After all, it really isn't about me in the first place anyway. It's about Him. April 23, 2005 - 8:58 AM Well, so far I haven't "spent" God's money on anything, but I have used the story behind it to witness to one of my very good friends. Although not a believer, when I told her about the project she said, "That's actually really interesting. You'll have to let me know what happens with it." Perhaps it's not so much about spending the money as it is about using it. Although often closely related and perhaps even interchanged in this context, these two verbs have completely different meanings. April 23, 2005 - 11:49 PM I've realized today one of the unique pleasures of riding a motorcycle: Yes it can be fast, exhillerating and quite the rush, but on a nice day like today you get to enjoy a much more primitive pleasure as well: Smell. Because you are out in the open, breathing more of the air around you, you are exposed to many more aromas during your travel than would be possible in an enclosed, four-wheel'd vehicle. Today I observed a diverse pallet of fragrances ranging from fresh laundry to marijuana - from the smell of a camp fire to the damp, cool, evening air of still water. Man I love to ride! April 24, 2005 - 10:51 PM Can I kick it? Yes you can! |