Training

So, I'm at an airport right now, getting ready to fly off to glorious Minnesota! I'm going to a week long training session about ministry. I'm not sure if it's a youth ministry seminar, or just ministry in general. I'll be stay with a host family, which is always fun. Sometimes, host families are awesome and fun to hang out with, other times, they have big dog childs whom they fight over. (I'm referring to a band tour trip we took once. Dmoore, you should remember this.) As I sit here near the gate, I'm trying to figure out who here might be going to the same minstry training. I see some definites, but also questions. For example, there is an older guy with a goatee (a dead give away for youth minstry!) who is wearing chucks and sipping a starbucks, looking bored like a teenager. He's leaning his head on his hand, which is on the arm rest. I think he's a youth pastor, or at least in minstry of some kind.

Then there's a hippie guy who is covered in tatoos. I didn't see the tatoos, but he could be one of those hip youth pastors. Or, he could just be a rebelious dude who happens to be going to Minnesota. I'd probably rebel if I lived in Minnesota. Anyway, the pastors have recently changed my job, and I feel for the better. They're going to have me fill out some daily time logs and break down how I spend my time. There are 6 categories of minstry they want me to work in, and after I've done the logs for a few weeks, we'll see where I'm falling short and change accordingly. Also, we're establishing office hours, which I'm all for. That means I'll have time each day where I can dedicate to working on youth ministry stuff, rather than "just get it done before sunday".

Also, I've been trying to loose weight. I'm right at the point of becoming fat and need to do something. I tried p90x and it worked well, I just always had something that forced me to stop for a week (like this trip I'm going on). Once you stop a workout, it's tough to start back up. Then I tried the p90x diet. It was rediculously hard for me to cook and prepare. Currently, I'm trying nutrisystem. The food is pretty OK. It's not good, it's just ok. Also, there is apparently alot of protein in the diet and... well, just look up what happens to people when they have too much protein in their diet.

Also, there is stereo crying going on right now. A kid to the left and right just crying like someone killed their mom.

Also, I miss my ferrets already.

Bad blogger!

Hi everyone, sorry it's taken so long to update. I could have sworn that I did another post mid febuary, but it looks like it didn't take. So, what new in the world of Alex?

I now have 4 ferrets! Garrett, Gracie, Sir Gregory, and George. They are a lot of fun and not very hard to take care of. I bought sir Gregory in Indiana and drove him back here. It was an interesting trip, since he escaped in the car! I was driving down the interstate and he was scratching at the flimsy paper box the pet store game me. Pretty soon, I saw him pop out. we looked at each other, then he ran away onto the floor. (There's not a lot of space in my car to begin with). So, I pulled overand tried to repair the box. No luck. I ended up dumping all my clothes out of my laundry basket and putting him in it. Only problem was that he could climb out of it! It was a funny situation, but we made it back and he started getting along with the other two very quickly. The 4rth one, George, was little a funny little fuzball that I bought here.

I've also been playing lead guitar/singing in the praise band. I'm not that good of a singer, but I know I have potential. I think about singing the same way I do of learning a new instrument. What stinks though is that I am painfully aware of when I mess up and sound bad, since I know alot about music. But it's going well and I've got a some great band members with me. Particularly, the other singer really knows his stuff, so I don't have to help him at all, he just picks it up and can do harmony easily. We also bought a macbook and projector for the youth group. Right now we're using them for song lyrics, but we'll expand into other uses, like movie nights and youth messages.

the other big news is that I'm engaged! Her name is ...I'm just kidding! I'm still single and loving it. You'd be amazed at the number of people of who want to introduce me to some single lady they know. Grandmas especially! And actually, I kind of don't want a girlfriend right now. I've got some stuff I want to sort out in my life first before I dive into that stuff.

Oh, and I gave my first sermon last week! The logistics of the whole thing were harder to figure out than the actual content of the message. The topic was on overcoming fear and what greater spiritual fear is there in the church than witnessing? So, my sermon was very heavy on how to evangelize and especially, how to overcome the fear of evangelism. My 3 main points came down to

1.) Remain heavenly minded
2.) Seek out the promises of God in the Scriptures
3.) Remember the promises of God

I had a lot of people come up to me and say they enjoyed the sermon. I felt like I got into a zone, I guess you could say I was led by the Spirit. But the people heard the gospel, they heard a powerful argument for why we should evangelize, and they heard about the weapons that God has given us in the battle for the lost. I wish I could have recorded it, but there were too many other things to worry about.

Ok, that's a little bit for yall to think about. I've got more to say, but I gotta go.

Clever Title

Wow guys, it's almost been a month since my last entry. Sorry about that! I'm sitting here watching my favorite show: America's Funniest Home Videos. I've learned so much from this show. Multiple times, I've said to my dad, "Dad, we shouldn't do this! AFV!" And dad knows exactly what I mean. I'm so glad he and I have that common bond. Speaking of Dad, he should be going in for surgery in a few hours. He has prostate cancer. This is the third time he's had cancer. He's obviously beaten cancer twice before, but this is the third time. So, here's a little medical history.

My Grandpa died of cancer
My grandma died of cancer
My dad has had cancer thrice

You don't need to be a medical doctor to know that I have a very high chance of getting cancer in my lifetime. I also haven't told anyone that my dad has cancer again. I think it's a combination of several feelings.
1.) Asking for prayer insinuates he might not be ok in the end
2.) I don't want people's pity
3.) I don't want to think about it
4.) I trust God

My theological ideas are at war with this issue. I know that God doesn't owe anyone anything, but I also trust that God will take care of me (and everyone around me). But I also know that Jesus and God want us to pray, yet I also know that God knows everything we need before we even ask it. In short, I know all things work together for those that God and are called according to His will. Even if my dad dies, I don't think I would be too upset. That sounds harsh, but it's because I know my dad is a Christian. With all the other deaths in my family, as far as I've known, they haven't been christians. If my dad were to die, and it's weird to say that, he would be the first christian I've been close to. Of course, I'd miss him, but it would be a totally different experience.

But all this talk is depressing, since the last time I saw him, he looked fine. He also said he felt fine. furthermore, this type of cancer is the safest kind to get and it was caught way early. So, I got you all worried, then relived you.


Now totally changing the subject, I've been playing lead guitar and singing lead for a few weeks now. I am well aware that I am not that great of a singer, but I do consider myself a good musician. Well, I'm ok when I play guitar without singing, but I am discovering the difficulty of strumming and singing at the same time. I know I'll get better, but it's frustrating at the moment. I know what sounds good musically and on some of these song I'm singing, I struggle. Whether it's the range of the song or the rhythm, it's like I'm learning a new instrument all over again. But for those of you that know, I tend to pick up new instruments pretty quickly. I do have alot to talk about, but it's late. Sorry for the long delay. I'm gonna post some new videos.

Christmas time... a little late

Christmas was a pretty busy time, complete with more than 12 hours of driving, a few bruises, and a visit from a college friend. I went home to indiana for Christmas and that was great. I saw only my mom's side of the family, as most of my dad's was out of town for the holiday. The only thing I asked for for Christmas was skiing clothes. I got them, just in time for the ski trip right after christmas with the youth group. This was the first Christmas in the parents new house and it was all right. It felt different, but not bad. I also received quite a bit of money from my grandparents and dad. That money was used to buy a nice new guitar (which I keep having to use for youth group) and a new dishswasher and garbage disposal! I'm really excited about the garbabge disposal because there is great conflict when you don't have one. You know, if you have a bowl of cereal you're done with, you don't wanna pour it straight into the trash, cause it might leak. But you also can't put it down the drain cause it will clog it, then you have to fish out the cereal flakes with your hand and throw those away. Also, my dishwasher is pretty old and decrepit, so it will be nice to get a new one. It doesn't clean very well either.

So, after an 8 hour drive roundtrip, I returned to ohio and got ready for the ski trip. Sean West came over and went on the trip with us, which was fun. He's a good skiier and I'm just ok. I also got stuck teaching the first timers how to ski, but that was fine. I knew the basics enough to teach them and one of em made it all the way to a blue square difficulty in only two days! Not bad, but it was probably more his part than mine. I introduced the ski trip participants to two games I probably shouldn't have: the pushup game and the blow dart game. Both are played all the time and have publicly humiliating consequences. If you lose the pushup game, you have to immediatley do 10 push ups, no matter where you are. Then, if you lose the blow dart game, you have to collaspe wherever you are, like you've been hit with a poison blow dart, and wait for someone to touch you to revive you. We played it everywhere, including the slopes. I didn't do any pushups, but I got darted alot and the youth loved it darting me. Now I have to stay on my guard, since the gamse never end.

So right now, I'm waiting for the guy from lowes to come and inspect my house to see what he needs for installing my dishwash/disposal. After he gets here, I'm going back to bed.

Insert Clever phrase here

It's been a while since I updated my blog and I apologize. There is just so much to do around the house, let alone with my job, it was easy to get distracted. We now have a praise band and are planning to play for the first time this sunday night. The youth group is having a Christmas party this week, then we are going skiing the next. Should be a fun two weeks. I'll be going home for Christmas, since if I didn't, I probably wouldn't get any presents. lol. This will be the first Christmas in a few years since my mom's side of the family will be getting together for Christmas. I know we didn't do anything last year and maybe not the year before, but I think it's due to my cousin's death. Anyway, it will be good to go home and I'll be taking the ferrets with me! I'm sure that my mom will not want me to, but I want to introduce them to each other. Plus, I hate leaving them at home with a sitter.

I'm still overwhelmed by the amount of bad habits that I have. I let the dishes pile up in the sink until they stink, my room is covered with clothes, and my house is all around messy. The only room that is clean is the ferret room! Go figure. I keep hearing about all these people who have finals and I just smile when I hear it. I've put in my time and I'm done with finals. It feels great to have that behind me. But I keep having dreams where I'm back in high school because I missed some class and always try to explain to the teacher that I have my own house, I can't be in high school! I hate those dreams. Heck, I hate dreams in general. Half the time, I'm not in control of what is happening in the dreams. It's like I'm on autopilot. Oh, and speaking of autopilot, I found a box of cereal in the fridge! Id don't remember putting it in there, but I opened it up and blamo! I must have put it back in with the milk or something. I laughed at myself.

Another ferret vid

So, I've had garrett for a few weeks now and I've been doing a lot of research on ferrets. I learned that ferrets can make a whole bunch of noises, but Garrett wasn't making any noise. So, after a while, I decided to buy a second ferret! I just got her yesterday and her name is gracie. I haven't decided on a spelling. It could be Gracy, Gracie, Gracey, or Graysee. Anyway, I've been trying to introduce them but they keep fighting. Here's a video of them fighting. It's pretty funny to see them running around.