It Was a Dark And Stormy Night

By: Snoopy

Part I
It was a dark and stormy night. Suddenly, a shot rang out!
A door slammed. The maid screamed.
Suddenly, a pirate ship appeared on the horizon!
While millions of people were starving, the king lived
in luxury. Meanwhile, on a small farm in Kansas, a boy was
growing up.

Part II

A light snow was falling, and the little girl with the
tattered shawl had not sold a violet all day.
At that very moment, a young intern at City Hospital was
making an important discovery. The mysterious patient in
Room 213 had finally awakened. She moaned softly.
Could it be that she was the sister of the boy in Kansas
who loved the girl with the tattered shawl who was the
daughter of the maid who had escaped from the pirates?

The intern frowned.
"Stampede!" the foreman shouted, and forty thousand head
of cattle thundered down on the tiny camp. The two men
rolled on the ground grappling beneath the murderous hooves.
A left and a right. A left. Another left and right. An
uppercut to the jaw. The fight was over. And so the ranch
was saved.
The young intern sat by himself in one corner of the
coffee shop. he had learned about medicine, but more
importantly, he had learned something about life.

THE END

Lukewarm Christianity

I enjoy stimulating conversation.
These only scratch the surface of my thoughts.
First, I am not implying that I am not, nor have I ever been a lukewarm Christian. Most of my 25 years on earth could be categorized as just that.

I hesitate to write my thoughts sometimes, because I imagine they're riddled with theological flaws and errancies, but it's my thoughts. If only I had graduated from Bible college, huh? right..

Revelation 3:15-16 "I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth."

I have a difficult time explaining my frustration with lukewarm Christianity without either feeling and sounding very arrogant or feeling very much like a hypocrite.

This is what I've noticed in my own life, in regards to my often putrid temperature. First, this is how I define lukewarm in my life: I go to church. I sing. I occasionally read the Bible. I pray, if I'm desperate. But my heart is closed. I've decided that I know what I need more than God does, and he's taken a back seat in my life.

If I try to share the gospel with someone in my life when I'm lukewarm, I fall flat on my face. Because the words that come out of my mouth are empty. And they're only my words. I've been spit out, and I'm not allowing the Holy Spirit to be the power behind my words and actions.

When I'm living a lukewarm life and an unsaved person observes me, they don't see anything in my life that they need or even want. It's the most miserable way to live, so it can't be very appealing.

There was a card my youth pastor gave me when I was 17, I think. I still have it.
"The happiest people in this world are those who are children of God striving to be like Jesus.
The second happiest people are those who are pagans living for themselves.
The most miserable way to live is to be a child of God and be living like the world."

Lukewarm Christianity is probably one of Satan's most powerful weapons. I've often felt like I did more harm than good, because of how spineless my testimony was.

I'm done. Just some thoughts.

"Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel." Philippians 1:27

Thelma, my living organism.

My beloved scooter has a name. Thelma. That's implying that there will someday be a Louise to join Thelma on her many adventures. Brady.
I found out two weeks ago that Thelma is not just a scooter. She's alive. She had been really feeling under the weather in the mornings, and I was getting pretty concerned for her. I changed her oil, cleaned out her carburetor, replaced her air filter, and some other little things, but she couldn't kick her flu. Then, one day, her fever broke, and she was 'right as rain.' I haven't used that term in a coon's age. There's another one!
She just started taking off with the same youthful vibrance I had grown to love over the summer. It's great to have Thelma back to her old self, but as it grows colder, I fear her flu-like symptoms may return, and I'll need to let her sleep off the winter months. It will pain me to say goodbye for so many months, but love is letting go, and I know that decision will be best for both of us. The springtime reunion will be oh-so-sweet..

Desiring God

http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/conference-messages/think-hard-stay-humble-the-life-of-the-mind-and-the-peril-of-pride

The link above is video or audio of the Francis Chan session at the Desiring God conference. If for nothing else, watch it because he's engaging and has awesome humor.

The wealth of information will, Lord-willing, come through my thoughts and actions for quite some time, so I won't go into much detail on the messages. I will say that the Francis Chan message was powerful. It was convicting, challenging, and encouraging. I recommend it. I also recommend his books. I think I already have in a previous blog. I recommend them again.

It was a joy to be able to see Brady and spend some time with him and his family, as well as Matt coming over. It was fun to endure his visit.

God is up to something in my life. Prayer is more real to me than it's ever been, and I can feel God's leading in my life, which is something I've been resistant to for longer than I care to think about.

The Little Scooter That Could

I'm going to provide a little background to what led up to my last week. Earlier this summer I was in downtown Fargo. I was headed home when I saw a guy parking his bike, clearly loaded down for a cross-country trip. A bicycle trip has been a fleeting desire of mine, and I like people, so I stopped to ask him about his trip. Rochester, NY to Seattle, WA. I was impressed. Well my new friend Scott ended up crashing on my couch that night, and by the time he left the next morning, I knew I needed to experience this sort of travel. I have a bike, but it's not designed for cross-country travel. I have a car, but that's boring. At the beginning of the summer, though, I made a brilliant investment in a 49cc Honda Ruckus scooter. Scott actually knew someone who took trips on his Ruckus, and provided a few links for inspiration. At that point, I began planning. I had a wedding in MI to attend in August, and in my state of unemployment, I figured I could get the time off to make the trip on a scooter. The other details of planning, ordering gear and supplies, etc. aren't interesting, except that outdoorgb.com has the cheapest camping gear I've found online.
So, on Sunday, August 22, at 7am I left my Minneapolis apartment, headed east. I nearly decided to drive, and, if it had been raining that morning, I probably would have. My society-driven desire for speed and efficiency nearly prevented a beautiful experience. I'm not going to give an account of my entire trip, but instead document some observations I made along the way.

-I had maps, but my route was virtually unplanned. I took the road less traveled, and we know how that turns out.
-passed 2 vehicles on the trip, both of which were broken down. All other vehicles passed me.
-every time a convertible with kids passed me, the kids turned around to watch me. I would wave. They would turn around to tell the front seat I waved, and turn around again. This occurred three different times.
-dump trucks always smelled unpleasant
-skunks smell like number 2 pencil erasers
-the gps is another tool that is pulling us away from society. I enjoyed asking for directions, and people enjoyed helping. I also noticed that younger people aren't so hot at giving directions. Except for the one that suggested mapquest. If anyone is looking for a gps, I have a garmin I'm now selling cheap.
-I camped at an RV park. The campers had satellite feeds. Nobody talked to me. Nobody was even outside their RV. They managed to move the suburbs to a campground.
-I stayed at Northland Intl. My first night. Met some cool people who have a desire to serve God and are actually doing it. It's invigorating.
-I liked my time in Petoskey. A neat downtown with a cool coffee shop. The locals were a generally friendly bunch.
-Many people think what I'm doing is cool, and even express a desire to do it. Why don't they? Because it's not practical, efficient, fast, or normal. PTL I'm weird.
-The Mackinac Bridge doesn't allow scooters to cross. They do offer a shuttle for $2, though.
-It became chilly in the U.P. Bikers were donning cold-weather gear as I scooted on past, shivering.
-If you see a tiny sign in the U.P. That says 'old cook's cemetery', pull off. You will not regret it.
-I'm exposed. I'm not tucked into a car with a/c. I'm dependent on people to get across a bridge, to find food, to find fuel, to find a place to sleep. I love it, and they like to help.
-Listened to a sermon on idols the day before I left.. When your mind begins to wander, what does it wander to? There's a good chance that's your idol. Jesus is the only person that cannot be idolized too much. Hopeingod.org probably has the sermon.
-Michigan's terrible roads lived up to their reputation and provided me with a flat tire near Petoskey. I bought a spare tire in GR, but the plug is still keeping air.
-I like traveling through the quiet countryside, but I can't envision myself living there. My heart is in the city. I like people.
-at exactly 1000 miles into my trip, my scooter got sick at Brady's house. I'm guessing I over-filled the oil, and it made the carburetor dirty. Thanks to Brandon and Brady for their help.
-from Ludington to GR I didn't look at a map. I started going south and east, knowing I'd get there eventually. That was a lot of fun.
-I saw Josh after two years and met Popy for the first time. I smiled.
-I was in the wedding of Jasper and Sarah because I was friends with Sarah. It was a joy to prove my hypothesis that it is possible for a guy and a girl to coexist as friends without inflicting emotional pain on each other.
-Two ways to sabotage a friendship with a girl: tell them you're interested in them or tell them you're not interested in them. Somehow those both end badly, but if you never say anything about it, things are great. Relationships fascinate me.

Some facts about my Ruckus.
-I care about my Ruckus. Very much. At a restaurant in Ludington, I asked the hostess to seat me near the window so I could keep an eye on my girlfriend, who stays outside. She looked outside, looked at me, and didn't talk to me again.
-My scooter is 7 cc's stronger than your average chainsaw
-My scooter operated at full throttle for 6 days of travel with no trouble at all. No oil or coolant decrease. No tire pressure decrease. Nothing.
-This trip doubled the mileage I had on my scooter.
-It was 1617 miles of total scooting.
-The total cost of fuel was $39.29
-The total gallons of fuel used was 13.635
- yeah.
-that's right.
-here it comes..
-119 miles per gallon.
-I have never had a stronger attachment to a machine than to my scooter. She slowly struggled up hills, but never stopped. I pushed her as hard as she could go, and she never gave me so much as a sputter. I'm looking at her outside right now, waiting to take me anywhere. I'll admit that by the third day, I was talking to her. She doesn't have a name, so it's not too creepy. Yet.

Lord-willing, this will not be the last trip I take on this. I spent a good deal of my time thinking about a ministry-driven trip I could take. With Brady. It's very feasible. I'm going to pray about it, and see what doors God opens and closes for my future.

The best part of my trip. People. Over this summer, I learned to fly. When I fly, I'm alone. This scooter trip was so much cooler in that respect, because all along the way, I was meeting people, having great conversation, and hopefully planting seeds for God's kingdom. At the same time, though, I was provided with hours of reflection on the open road, provided that I wasn't terrified because my backroad turned into a highway all of a sudden.

I started this blog to document events that made me feel like I was experiencing all I could in life. I have a pulse.

The Day I Ran Away (For No Known Reason)

I just moved to Minneapolis a few days ago. I have a former Vice President teaching a class, I can scoot anywhere I need to go in under 5 min, and God is here. It's going to be a good experience. More on that later. In the process of unpacking, I unearthed some high school writing projects tucked away in a binder. I'm kinda fond of these, so I thought I'd post them on here. This is my first one, documenting the day I ran away from home.

Knowing it would not be easy for me to get up at 0430 hours, I set three alarms to go off five minutes apart, with the loudest one being last. Fortunately, the last one jolted me up at 0440 hours. Immediately after fumbling around to turn off the alarm, I checked the weather outside my window to see if I should even try to go. The forecast predicted rain all day Thursday and there had been a thunderstorm that night so I was a little concerned. It was still raining a little, so I decided not to ride my bike. I lived (barely) to regret that decision. I quickly jumped into the layers of clothes I had laid out the previous night and started to make my bed. I decided to manipulate my pillows so it looked like I was still sleeping and I laid a note I had written where my head would be.
At exactly 0500 hours, I shut the door to my house and headed out. Here's how well I had my day planned. When I reached the end of my driveway, I didn't know if I should go left or right. I went west out of my driveway and every turn I made during that trip was completely unplanned. At 0600 hours, I ate my breakfast of half a donut and a couple gulps of water under a building overhang in a park. Yummy. I kept walking down 40th Avenue until I turned east on Chicago Drive. I learned that the shoulder of Chicago Drive has a lot of gravel so when I reached downtown Hudsonville at 0700 hours, I dumped all the rocks our of my shoes. It was by Gemmens Hardware that I made my first human contact, a guy waiting for a sale to start. He said, "Hi". I said, "Hey". That was it. I walked back to Service Lane and continued my trek. There's a real nice Prowler at VerHage Motors, by the way. The brake discs are rusted, though.
At the intersection of Chicago Drive, 28th Avenue, and a few other streets, I decided to take VanBuren. My main motive for that was because I didn't know what was on that street. I wish I hadn't cared. VanBuren, as it turns out, is a road approximately two million miles long that is completely farm land. The only roads more boring are through New Mexico and Nevada. To top off the great scenery, it seemed like there was roadkill every 20 feet. After I had been on VanBuren for about two hours, I came to an intersection that I had not expected to see, VanBuren and 44th. Well, I got this ridiculous idea in my head to walk to Teenworks so I started out on 44th.
After about 10 seconds of walking through the grass my feet were soaked and that's where my day started to go downhill. I decided to take 8th Avenue to 56th. On 8th Avenue I picked up a walking stick so I'd look even more pathetic. 56th is probably as long as VanBuren but it has a lot more interesting things. Huge ponds, suspicious looking horses, and dogs that look like they're going to kill you until they run into their electric fence, thank goodness. By the time I reached Wilson, I had no motivation to walk as far as Teenworks. It was almost 1200 hours and that half a donut from breakfast was beginning to wear off a little. I decided to check out the happenings at the mall. First, I stopped behind the old day care center at 56th and Wilson to sit down and dump more rocks out of my shoes. It was the first time I had sat down in six hours.
In a little bit I had reached Rivertown Crossings and had my second human contact, a lady that gave me a weird look. No words were said. I had planned ahead, expecting my shoes to get wet, so at the mall I changed into another pair of shoes and socks I had bought. I sat down in the food court and noticed two things. First, every muscle in my body ached like I've never felt. Especially my shoulders and left knee. Secondly, I noticed that the Mexican food restaurant in the food court is operated by Orientals, and the Chinese food restaurant is operated by Hispanics. After I listened to a few of my Cosby cd's, allowing my muscles to relax, I decided to start up my trek again.
I picked up my staff where I had left it in the bushes outside the mall and decided where to go. I already knew my knee wouldn't last very long so I decided to take Wilson to the Grandville Library. This is here my story draws to a close. Just after I left the mall, it began raining for the first time since early in the morning. I thought walking with an umbrella and a staff looked really weird so I had to ditch the staff. If it would have only looked a little weird, I would have kept it. But I looked really strange. A little ways from the library, my other knee gave out so I decided that the library would be the final stop in my day. I called my house from the pay phone inside and asked someone to come pick my up. My knees have never hurt worse. When I got home, I iced them for three hours so I could fall asleep. Later, I drove the route that I walked and figured that I walked 17 miles.
Now, the moral of the story. Well... there isn't one. First of all, I would not call what I did "running away". Running away is a defiance of your parent's authority, without plans to return. I told my parents at the beginning of the year that someday in the year, I would "run away" for a day, but be back that night. I would not suggest doing what I did unless you tell your parents beforehand and have their consent. It was a fun experience that I won't soon forget, but my knees won't forget it either.


So there it is. high school writing. Back when I was young and naive and thought a long walk would be one of the tougher things I would experience. Devil's Gulch blew that out of the water. (yes, a gulge. a gorge and gulch combined) And I just finished reading 'Between a Rock and a Hard Place' by Aron Ralston, which is the best survival story I've ever read, and a tad more intriguing than my drivel I put on here. Well if you've read this far, I hope you enjoyed it.

Summer Reading List

I read a few books this summer. They were good. I suggest them. First, any Pearls Before Swine comic collection. Hilarious. Just a couple pages each night before bed helped me fall asleep with a smile on my face. Second, Redeeming Love, by Francine Rivers. This was gut wrenching. A modern take on the story of Hosea, based during the CA gold rush. It's more of a girl book, but we could use a whole lot more Hosea-type guys, so it's worth reading. Another book: Crazy Love by Francis Chan. I can't really describe this book in a sentence. It's good. How was that? It's a challenging book, written exegetically, not just some guy with some cute ideas. It confronts the lukewarm Christianity that is embedded in our country. The final book I'd suggest is Forgotten God, also by Chan. The Holy Spirit is the forgotten God the title refers to. Both saddening and encouraging to see how little we keep God, but how unbelievably capable and powerful he can be, if we just ask. Every chapter is awesome, and I'm sure I'll put a section that especially convicted me on here before too long. A fantastic book. Highly recommend A++++++++.

That is all. This weekend I move my belongings into my tiny apartment in Minneapolis, but remain in Fargo for a little bit to wrap up flight school. praise the Lord for working everything out to allow that opportunity. And I am eagerly gearing up for my next major pulse check in the end of August. God is good. All the time. Even when I don't think so.