Ok, So I haven't been very good at this

Ok, sorry for all those who experienced edwards or manahan syndrome while checking my blog only to find a site in dire need of a new post.

School has started. It is going to be a semester of work. SI position will also offer some good times. I really want to put up a quality post, it will have to be in the near future.

Lots of things

Well, I wanted to post about a bunch of things I'll list them here so that I can remember them.

Smells
Dreams

Okay. Let's start with the smells. I was driving home to BG one night. I had just crossed the maumee river and the smell hit me. It was a smell that I had smelled before. It was a welcomed smell that brought back good memeories. The smell reminded me of going to play Zombie. In summers past, wen I was living in Toledo, I would get a call from Mike or Joel or someone and be invited down to play. I would hop in my truck and speed down I-75. The smell had happend almost every time. There was the smell of the outside, and the mind set that you would be outside, running around in the woods, acting like little kids. It was great. This summer will hold more of that. We will start Zombie back up. We will reclaim the night. I asked Mike if he ever get smells that reminded him of anything. He said yes. Somtimes he catches a whiff of Kenya. I guess that means I'm not crazy after all.

Dreams. Man I had one of the wierdest dreams i have ever had last night. Justin and Mike were in it. We were at my old church in Toledo. Our Lady of Lourdes. However it was not a catholic chuch in my dream. There was a huge conference going on there and I saw an old teacher of mine from St. John's. Br. Moriconi was holdng a session at this conference I walked up to him and it seemed like he did not remember me. I told him he probably did not recoginze me with my long hair. He said, "Actually, I've gone blind. The opperation went wrong and my eyes were not able to be salvaged". Wow. crazy. This session was held in the evening when the sun was going down. It was for adults only. Mike and I had other responsibilties. Since the conference was for adults only, there was going to be a lot of kids with nothing to do. Mike and I were to tell stories to the kids. The Gospel. I think we called it the sermon on the mount because there was a hill there. So, I didn't really expect a lot of kids, but as we walked outside, there were kids covering the whole hill. I looked at Mike and smiled, "This is awesome, I'll get the camera". So I went to a basement where Justin was sleeping. I asked him if I could borrow the camera. He said sure, if and only if you have a tape for it. No problem, I got that. So I got the camera, it was huge. As big as a guitar. I walked outside with the camera and then we started. It was so perfect. So many kids listening to the Gospel. So into it. I felt blessed at that moment. Mike and I shed tears as we walked to the hill and saw all the kids. Such an opportunity. Such a perfect night to learn about God. The sun setting, a campfire burning, each kid glued to the story of God. It was one of the weirdest and most emotional dreams that I had ever had.

Church, this past Sunday.

This past Sunday, April 24, 2005, was my preaching debut. It was over the passage Matthew 5:43-47. Of course Chapter 5 contains 48 verses, however, the last verse is a full encompassing of all that has been spoken on earlier in Matthew. Sunday was great. I felt really comfortable. Praise God for getting His message across to the congregation. It was really exciting and enjoyable to be up there. People paying attention to you rather than not. Not to say that the Youth Group doesn't pay attention, but sometimes I don't know if they really are listening. I used Justin Edwards song "Wrestling with Greatest Love" for part of the sermon, it was a great fit. I think people were into it. Thanks to all the support, prayers, and people who came out on Sunday. It was very exciting to see my parents in church. Mike, Joel, Stuart, Andrew, Ben, Jenny, and of course Nealey all came out, it was great to experience this with you guys there. I am going to talk about smells in a later post. We'll see how that goes.

Why I love my girlfriend

Why do I love her? That wonderful, beautiful girl Nealey Hearns. She is so special to me. She laughs at my jokes, unless they aren't funny. She gives me hugs, those are nice. She trys so hard at everything. 110% isn't trying enough in her book. She encourages me, not guilt trips me. She has good taste in music, most of the time. She's got a Mac. She's flippin' sweet! Did I mention she has a Mac? She answers my phone calls to her at any time. She's got really small feet. She can kick a ball really far. She respects my decisions. She loves the Bangkok Kitchen. She makes really tasty food for me to eat. She has a sweet green jacket. She uses words I don't understand sometimes. She lets me play my music in her car. She is afraid of car washes, the automatic kind. She reads her Bible. She lives a life worthy of being called a Christian. She's got a great style. She smells good. She wears her glasses at night. She can blow bubbles with gum. She's got an awesome digital camera. She collects thermos that come with bank accounts. Oh yeah, and SHE LOVES ME!

Math, Math, Math, Math

I think I've done it. When I look forward a couple of semesters this is what I see:
(Credit hours) Call Number, Class

Summer '05:
(3) IPC 102, Interpersonal Communications
Fall '05:
(3) MATH 341, Probability and Statistics
(3) MATH 402, Modern Geometry
(3) MATH 332, Linear Algebra
(3) MATH 313, Mathematical Logic
Spring '06:
(3) MATH 417, Advanced Math Topics for Early to Adult teaching
(3) EDFI 402, Assesment & Evaluation in Education
(3) EDTL 420, Development of Reading Content Area
(3) EDTL 367, Computer Utilization in the Classroom
(3) EDTL 474, Mathematics Secondary Section
Summer '06:
Breathe
Fall '06:
(15) EDTL 497, Student Teaching

Looks kinda crazy busy. It's all there. Everything, barring I don't re-take or fail anything, but we'll deal with that when it comes.

Camera

Camera
Originally uploaded by kcray.

Here she is:

Goodness

I was driving home from school on friday. I saw this girl walking on the sidewalk. She had a black sweatshirt on and it said something in white writting on it. My first impression was that it said "got Jesus?" ya know, like that got milk? commercial. I thought to myself, yeah, BG is certainly getting more Christian these days. As she walked closer, I noticed in actuality that it said "got beer?". Man, that seems to be right. What a contrast. Then I thought about the lost here in BG, what can we do to be more effective?

This was one of the most busy weekends I've had in a while. I did most of my homework on Saturday. Saturday was filled with homework. Abstract Algebra is really tough but very interesting. I was also able to be involved with a Friday Night Alive promotion seen on Justin's Website.

Sunday, I went up to Y-town to go to church with my wonderful girlfriend Nealey. I got there a little early and the weather was beautiful, so we decided to take a walk. During our walk we found some drug parifinalia on the ground. That was pretty weird. Church was great. After church Nealey and I went to Best Buy to purchase a digital camera for Nealey's up coming Mission trip to Chad, Africa. (See picture above.) It was a crazy busy weekend but also so nice to spend some time with Nealey. Nealey's sickness of the week is Typhoid, pray for her. Also, Mike Edwards scored at 1/3 last week. So far this week he is 1/1. We'll see if that lasts.

A night of Youth

Congratulations Sammy, you have won the NCAA bracket challege of winners and losers. What do you win? As promised, you win a dinner with your favorite youth leader (me, of course) and my assistant, Mike Rich. There will be three locations to choose from. The place that is pronounced WHO-NAN buffet, Skyline Chili, or Panera Bread. Choose wisely... In other Youth news, like I said, I'm not going to hound you about coming to BNYC, if God has put a desire in your heart, tell me and I will put you on THE list. Also, last night at Youth Group, we were playing soccer in the side yard, the good team was winning, and all of a sudden, a window was broken. The ball went flying toward my House and broke the top storm window as well as the top regular window. It was a fitting end to a hard fought game. We'll talk more later.

A great season

After out scoring their opponents 2414 to 1864 over the entire season. Then end up losing both their games by a total of 6 points. I'd say they are still one of the greatest teams in many years.
Nice job Orange Crush.

Now that's more like it!

Wow this weather has been great. I hope it continues. (it's starting to get more cloudy as I type) Everything has been really crazy lately. Lot's of homework. What's that all about? We're in college I shouldn't be expected to do anything outside the classroom. Easter was nice. It went really fast. Church was great. It was a pretty big service. I need to miss a week of church soon. It has been too long since my Sunday morning was given to something else. Of course I'm kidding. I love church. Sometimes it can seem a little irrelevant but it somehow always comes around. Sometimes it feels like we hear the same message week after week after week. I'd like to mix it up a little. Ah well, our own little Christian community. Youth Group went great last night. Galatians 3, Baby! It was good to teach again. That's about it. Pray for my yellow fevered girlfriend Nealey, the vaccine wasn't too nice to her.

Music

Hey, come on out to see Michael Edwards do his thing tonight. The Banjo will be rockin' and the clarinet will be laying down some smack as well. Don't forget the flute, the smooth rhythm's will fill the room. 7 o'clock shape, at the UCF on Thurstin. Eric Barton will also be creating some mighty fine sounds tonight as well.

And we're back!

Almost like we never left. Break was good. It was nice to just relax and not worry about school work or having to get up early. The break started nicely with a TMSE show on Sunday night. I think Ben broke a string on purpose so that my guitar would get some stage time. I got to visit with Nealey for a couple of days during the latter half of break. It was nice. Then this Sunday night came. 11:30 at night, time for some homework due monday. It went surprisingly fast though.

If you are a student from grades 6-12, and want to go to BNYC (Brethren National Youth Conference), July 23-30, let me know. Also, if you are following along with BNYC Bible study schedule I created, You should have read or will read sometime today Galatians 2. Tomorrow and the day after that are devoted to Galatians 3. I hope you are getting all jazzed up reading the Word of God. I know I am.

Life

I've been flirting with boredom already during these first couple of days of spring break. The very first day of "break", Saturday, I did absolutely nothing. Now, when people say "I didn't do anything", they usually mean I didn't do anything that amounted to something. Granted they did stuff, it just did not amount to anything. My Saturday, I DID NOTHING. The most stimulating events were receiving phone calls (2) and taking a shower. The rest of the day was compromised of sitting on the couch. In the words of Mike Edwards, "It would suck to live a long time like this".

My boredom has somewhat subsided. Music is awesome to me. I've really been getting into new (to me) bands. Eisely is good. Pedro the Lion is powerful. TMSE, You're never gonna get it, I don't think I could count how many times I've listened to it. Kent, Notwist. Music has seemed to be even more powerful to me lately. The lyrics and notes hit deeper. God has definitely blessed us with the gift of song. I once heard "God gave us music, that we may pray without words". I'm not going to say that every song is a prayer, nor would I limit what a prayer could be. God has really been awesome. He always is, it's just when I come around to acknowledging it that it blows me away.

Game

http://www.geocities.jp/lledoece/nanaca-crash.html

Possibly one of the most enjoyable games on the internet.

Eisley

So Mike was over and we were "narrowing down" our topics for our History of Math project. That didn't take long because we basically blurted out anything that we thought we could write about. Afterward, we listened to a bunch of music. Included in that time was a band called Eisley. (See their website www.eisley.com) Let me say that I really don't have any favorite women singers or women led bands. I have listened to and enjoyed Amiee Mann and some Sixpence but nothing to make me pursue further music. Eisley is really good, and really solid. The Vocals are strong yet soft and elagent. Their music spans multiple genres in the Album "Room Noises". I really enjoyed their style and continue to listen to them. Check em' out. On a side note, I think I will share the full story of the History of Math project/HW/Midtrem in a following post.

1st post

Hello web-surfers. This is my first post. I hope there are many to follow. I hope you will enjoy future posts and see them as insightful, interesting, offending, encouraging, and/or all or none of the above. Thanks