The Day After

Yesterday was the celebration of the memory, of the day, of my entrance into this world. It was a fun one. Everybody and their next closest three friends came to my party. Let's just put it this way... My dad made 34 cheeseburgers, 20 chicken filets, and 12 pounds of pork tenderloin, all of which were extraordinarily amazing, and gone in under 45 minutes. There was a mass of people there. It was stinking fun. This could possibly be contributed to the fact that I sent a message to everyone in my phone (if you didn't get one, which some people didn't, I apologize for my retarded phone that didn't feel like sending you one.) 

So here's the outline of gifts:

- Nice Wad O' Cash

- Taco Bueno Gift Cards a.k.a. Fastest way to my heart

- Starbucks Gift Cards a.k.a. The only way I will ever, ever, ever go to Starbucks cause it's free

- Wal-mart Gift Cards a.k.a. What should be the New American currency

- $20 7-11 Gift Card a.k.a. 0.5 gallons of gasoline

- On The Border/Chili's/Macaroni Grill Gift Card (I got nothin' for that...)

The best part of the night was when we watched the first of the many genius stories of the combined minds of Sonny Priest and Adam Carter, otherwise known as "Charlie and Bill." This is a claymation adventure of epic proportions that we thought up on a trip in Colorado with our family during Christmas time. I will work on getting it posted as soon as I can so you all can bask in it's bountiful glory. 

Okay, maybe it's not THAT amazing, but it's pretty good for a couple of 10 year olds. I think by far the funniest part of the whole thing was the very end when we were reading the credits. My dad was our cinematographer/camera operator. Sonny and I proceeded in reading our credits off to the camera, both wearing our dad's XXL shirts that engulfed our bodies. The line's were as follows:

"The End. Story by Sonny, Adam, & Cast. Filming done by H.A. Carter the third... have a turd (throw brown wad of play-doh at the lens)."

And Cut. The funny part of it all was the wit of our amazing cinematographer. He told us to go, and we began to speak. While leaving the camera running he waved his hands to get us to start over, as if he hadn't pressed the button yet. So not only did the movie end with us throwing a brown play-doh turd at the camera, but also with us saying "The End" simultaneously four times, each time followed by an awkward pause of us reading my dad's lips confused at why we had to start over, and over again. It was good to see it again.

Thanks to everyone that came! You all, as well as the other people that didn't get to come, mean the world to me.

Since you've been gone...

So I'm sitting at IHOP with two of the coolest girls in the history of the world. They are both studying and I'm doing, of course, nothing important. I studied really hard last night for my Bib Lit midterm today. I over studied I think. It will hopefully come out good.

Call me a bad kid but today I had a 6:00p class. My friend Darrell and I walked over to the classroom and saw no one in there yet. This was completely normal considering it was 10 minutes before class. So we walked to the lounge to get a drink, and when I say that, I mean my cheap-self walked to the water fountain why he spent money on a Vault, which by the way, have the best commercials in soda pop history. We saw a chess board and we sat down to play. The next 30 minutes was a proceeding which involved me getting romped in chess. The first game I lost in like 0.5 seconds and the second game was a stalemate, which is basically a win in my book. I'm horrible at chess, but if anyone wants to go in checkers (except for Reagan Lowell, you suck...) then I will totally take you on.

But we played chess and purposely sat through about 15 minutes of class. After the stalemate we left the lounge and walked back to the classroom. We both looked in and paused, confused for we were staring at an entire room full of asian people. My first thought was, "what the crap," which was followed by, "eureka, no class!" We both decided that we would be good students and at least walk back to the film building and check for Walt's (professor) Tahoe. If it was there we would go up to class.

It wasn't, and we were happy. We walked to our cars and got in. I hear a keyless entry alarm bark next to me and the MIAP Director gets in his car. "Ah, crap," immediately comes to mind as he rolls down his window. "You in editing class tonight?" Danget... "Yea, but no one is in the class except asian people," score one for the student. "Oh, they are up in the editing room! Walt's not here tonight so Patrick is filling in." What the fuh... We can't get away with anything honestly! Darrell almost escaped the parking lot until he honked at him, and Darrell raised his head to look at the two of us with a look of, "what the fuh..." on his face as well.

So we parked our cars back in their prisons, walked back to the building together, looked out the window till we couldn't see the director's car anymore, bolted back out to our cars, and drove away...

Random Fact: 1 in 5 men will develop prostate cancer in their lifetime... thanks Tiffany... 

The Familiarity of Jonah

A call has come from the horizons

Clear as a shout in my ear

Though, still, I turn my face

Still I run in fear

This is a short poem that I wrote at a time in my life about a month ago. I was presented with a crossroads in the direction of my life as a minister. I was given the opportunity to either stay at the church I was at or take a job at the church I grew up in. I feel such a relationship to Jonah because our situations are so similar. The words of the short story are jumping off the page at me. I knew from the instant the pastor at my home church asked me to come back what I was supposed to do. I was supposed to go back, but I was comfortable where I was. I was finally getting my ministry off the ground, meeting some new friends, and getting my feet wet in different areas. Needless to say, I fled to Tarshish.

I spent the next three weeks in a wrestling match with God on what he wanted me to do. I pretty much read through Psalms and Proverbs in three weeks trying to find a cop out, or as we Christians call it a “verse out,” of the direction God had shown my heart. This is basically what Jonah did, except he literally got on a boat and fled the Lord, as if he didn’t know what was going on. A side note: I love it how people think they can pull a fast one on God, including myself. Anyway, I found myself in the situation that Jonah was. I was hiding out in a boat, trying to sleep off my decision.

Of course we all know what happens next in the story. Jonah gets thrown off the ship. I walked into the office, sat my bag down, and my pastor walked out of his office and said, “Hey, let’s go for a ride.” He knew that I had to run to Radio Shack to get some connectors for the sound equipment. We were riding in the car talking about my situation and he said to me, “You need to make a decision by the end of today.” Splash, I was thrown into the water. I proceeded to tell him what God had been showing me and what the direction God wanted me to go in. He told me that all I had told him sounded like going back to my home church was I was supposed to do. I was still skeptical though. I still hadn’t told him that I was leaving for sure. I still had not made my choice. God was going to make it for me.

I did not get swallowed by a huge fish, but I did have to go up on the roof and replace a massive amount of lights that had either blown up, out, or off of the roof. In the silence, with only the sound of cars and wind, and the sun on my back I found myself praying to God, asking why and what to do. This point of the story directly relates back to Jonah where he was inside the fish, and he prayed to God, “In my distress I called to the Lord, and he answered me. From the depths of the grave I called for help, and you listened to my cry” (Jonah 2:2). I completed all the lights on the roof, and stood up to head back down. On my walk back I caught my brand new shoes on the metal sheeting and they ripped. That was the catalyst that sent me into a breakdown. On that roof I felt like Jonah when he said, “I have been banished from your sight” (2:4). I was literally jumping around on the roof yelling with tears in my eyes, crying out to God for help. When I was climbing down from the roof, I knew what God wanted me to do, and I had known the entire time exactly what it was: go to Nineveh.

When I got down off the roof I knew what I was supposed to do. I went to my pastor and told him that God was leading me to leave. He just looked at me and said okay. I know he was happy for me because I was following God’s direction in my life. To this day, knowing that my pastor has the gift of discernment, I think he knew all along what I was supposed to do. He just wanted me to make the decision for myself. This part of the story seems kind of out of place and obviously important. I relate this to Jonah getting vomited up on the beach by the whale after he knew what he was supposed to do.

So I went to Nineveh, slightly anxious and uncertain what was going to happen.  But I just held God’s hand and walked behind him. And I still am uncertain, and do not know what’s really going on or why I’m here, but I am trusting God. You're probably wondering about the end of the book of Jonah where he is angry with God for not destroying Nineveh. I'm still working through that... It's hard to leave your comfort zone (ironic considering I'm going to my home church) when things aren't working the way you had thought. I wouldn't trade my experience at the church I left for anything. I learned more there in 6 months than I did in 3 years worth of internships other places. I'll miss it, but with God's help I am facing the future.