this day

Today was a pretty good day, except for the fact that I had to get up at 7am for Syst. Theo. But other than that it was a good day. I actually spent alot of good time with friends today. I would say that was the theme of today, friends. I went to a cafe with Nate and Savannah, which was fun. I later went to Starbucks with Tom Clark. After that, me and Nate finally did another episode of "The Wheel Seat" which is our video blog that we started last year. Then we went to dinner, and came back. Our floor had a volleyball game which I went to and Savannah and I cheered for D3. After that we went to watch The Office. Then Benji finally got here, and me, Nate, Brooke, and Emily spent the rest of the night with him. We just caught up and had a great time, just laughing. It was awesome. We then ended the night with watching like 20 minutes of the movie "Hook" before we got tired and decided to go back to our room for the night. And that brings me to right now. I was trying to decide whether I should blog or not, and I decided to because me and Tom had some great talks today just about God, and His power. In fact that is what I originally wanted this post to be about, but it looks like it has taken a turn to another theme. Like I said, that theme is friends.

So I'm just gonna scrap the idea of writing about what I originally was going to write about, and instead just write about friends. Like I always say, "If you got a good thing goin, don't stop it." Actually I don't always say that, but it is appropriate for this situation. I will write about me and Tommy's talks tomorrow. But today I have been shown the importance of friends, and just stepping back and realizing that is good to do. Yes, this day has been busy, but not stressful busy, just busy with friends, which is usually good, especially when it has nothing to do with school whatsoever. And especially when one of my closest friends that I haven't seen in forever is visiting. This is a good thing.

Well everyone in my room is in bed, and I am struggling as I write this to keep my eyes open, so I apologize for the sloppy writing. That first paragraph was probably pretty rough to read, LOL. Anyways, cherish your friends, and don't take them for granted. So I'll end this post with a line from a popular Michael W. Smith song...

"and friends are friends forever if the Lords the Lord of them, and a friend will not say never, cause the welcome will not end..."

enjoyment

This week has been a bit crazy, even though soccer is over, its like the professors knew ahead of time, "Well soccer is over now, so we can kill them with assignments." That's not really what happened, but it felt like it. Tuesday I had a big Systematic Theology Test, Wednesday I have a paper due, and a big Greek Test. I know that doesn't seem like alot, but those two classes are the two that I'm not doing so hot in, so I had to make sure that I was ready for that stuff.

I've also been thinking more about my videography work. I actually got one project done this week which I was pleased with. Then I got another potential client for a wedding videography this coming summer, which then led me to think about my website, and since I've been in the redesign stage for the past month I haven't gotten my videography section back up yet, so I worked on that some last night, and just thinking about everything that goes along with that. After thinking about it, I've been seeing all my friends get engaged around me, and its just been crazy to watch, but I never looked at it as an opportunity to do alot more wedding videography this summer. But in this aspect unfortunately I have to do my internship this summer, so it would be kinda difficult to do all of these weddings while I'm traveling doing my internship. But we'll see. I'd like to be able to work around it, because I could bring in a pretty significant income if I got a good number of weddings. Speaking of which, if you or someone you know is getting married, let me know, I do wedding videography for a VERY affordable price and good quality. So just throwing that out there. But it has felt good to get back into some video stuff again. I've been putting off some projects as of late, and this week has been good to get back into those.

Well today is an exciting day as Ben Harrison (Benji) is coming to visit for the weekend, and should arrive sometime tonight. He has been one of my close friends for the past 2 years here at Moody, and last semester he decided to transfer to a school back in Iowa where he lives to study Business. It is better for him because that is what he is passionate about, but I've missed him alot. So it will be really good to get to spend some time with him this weekend. We just got a new couch in our room, thanks to myself (another great craigslist find). And it is a sleeper sofa so Benji will stay in our room for a night or two and then stay in his old roommate's room for a couple nights. So I'm just really looking forward to this weekend, and it feels really good to have those big tests out of the way this week.

O yeah, and tonight is "The Office" so we are gonna watch that, at our weekly office night get togethers and then hang out. Those are always fun. I absolutely love that show. If you've never watched it you should definitely check it out. It is alot funnier if you have been following it for a while, but if you're new to the show you will still find it hilarious.

So I just spent some really good time with a good friend named Tom Clark at Starbucks, and I have some thoughts from that time, but I'm gonna write a post about it soon. So look for that.

The Office 9 pm EST/8pm Cent.

useful

We have what we call here in the Moody realm a PCM. These letters stand for "Practical Christian Ministry." A PCM is something that every student here at Moody is required to do each and every week. This is some type of ministry here in Chicago outside of school. For example, tutoring, working in a church in some capacity, whether it be youth group or AWANA, or playing soccer in a park once a week. So last year me and Ben Harrison, a dear friend, were Jr. High leaders in a church in Schaumburg, IL. I was technically the tech and video guy, while Ben was the games and activities guy, and we both helped lead a small group. Well I decided to do the same thing this year just because I had built some good relationships with the kids already, and I didn't want to have to start over somewhere else, so I felt like it would be good to continue to grow those relationships. So I've been going to my PCM now for about 6 weeks. The first was really good, it felt so good to get back to a familiar place and do ministry with those kids and just catch up with them again. But the weeks following this were just, ya know, nothing too special. I think some things that contributed to that were just plain old tiredness because I have class all day and then soccer practice, and go straight to PCM, so I'm so tired by the time 7:00pm rolls around, so its a struggle to stay energetic and interact with the kids. Secondly, I haven't been involved in a small group yet because one of my responsibilities this year is to be in charge of the Jr. High website, so me and Nat (the youth pastor) have been setting that up during small group time.

So I say all that to say this, last night was the first night since the kickoff of PCM that I really felt useful. Why? Because I was a little more awake than usual and Nat asked me to do announcements which is a little unusual, but I'm happy that he asked me, and he also got me in a small group. But little did I know that he was giving me my own small group. So I had 4 Jr. Highers to discuss the lesson with for a half hour and it was great! It was just good talking with them and interacting with them on a different level than I am used to when we are just playing games or whatever. I could also say that this was the first time that I felt like I was doing ministry, but I know that that statement is not correct or true because I am doing ministry in so many other ways, but thats the way I felt at first. I don't have to be leading a small group, or be up in front of everyone doing announcements to be doing ministry. Ministry is done in the small ways as well, and I need to remember that. So I am definitely looking forward to the rest of the year, especially the retreat, because that is a blast as I found out last year. And I can truthfully and confidently say that I love my PCM, and not everyone can say that, and if you go to Moody you know what I mean.

shout out to all my guys and girls at Refinery!