Identity

Well for the past 3 months my life has absolutely been consumed by soccer. Actually for the past 4 years my life has been consumed with soccer.

For those of you who don't know, I play soccer for Moody Bible Institute. This past weekend was our regional tournament. Moody hasn't won the regional tournament since 2001, and this year was the best chance we had of winning it. We went 13-5 on the regular season, and we were very confident that we were going to go to the national tournament in Florida. That was our goal for the whole season.

The accomplishing of that goal came down to one game against Northland International University in the regional championship game. It was a hard fought game, but we ended up losing 1-0. When the game ended I could do nothing but cry. It was hard to believe that my college soccer career had come to an end, and we still hadn't gone to nationals.

Since then I have thought alot about my time on the team. The craziest thing to think about is that I am done. My soccer career is over as I know it. In previous years I had something to work toward after the season was over, because I always looked forward to the next season, but not this time. This time it is all over. There is no next season, and I can hardly wrap my mind around it.

This has led me to question myself. How much of my identity is really wrapped up in soccer, or being on a team? Evidently more than I thought. I didn't think it was going to be this hard.

This is just a great reminder that my identity should constantly be found in Christ, and nothing else. It seems that I have somewhat lost sight of that.

But what does it mean to find my identity in Christ?

It means that He is my motivation for everything I do. I thought this was completely true for soccer, but I don't think it was (Notice I said it was not completely true, because it was partially true).

I guess it is hard to really know where your identity lies until it is taken away.

Where is your identity found?

Its a good thing to really think about

Weekend Update 9/19

It's quite obvious, but I haven't written a post in a couple months. Part of that is just craziness of life, the other part is that whenever I think about writing a post I just question the value of what I have to say. Is it really necessary to write a blog post about whatever I am thinking? Sometimes I think not, but most of the time I think it is necessary, I just need to dedicate the time to doing it.

So here I sit.

So since the title of this whole blog is "Updates in the life of...Josh" I thought I would give you some updates in my life.

I had a great summer where I worked as the "Media Consultant" at my church back home in Covington, Kentucky, Calvary Baptist Church. I absolutely loved that, and learned a ton about many different ares in life. Media, Print Design, administration, decision making, among other things. So it proved to be a profitable summer.

Now I am back at school at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, IL. The bad part about that statement is the part about school. The good part of that statement is that means that I am back at college. I've said this several times but college would be awesome if it weren't for the school part. So as you can tell, I'm not a big fan of school. But it has been awesome to back with friends, and playing soccer again.

Speaking of soccer, we now have a 6-2 record, which is the best record that we've had in my 4 years here, so it poses to be an exciting season for our team.

Also, me and my roommate Nate and our neighbor Alan are back in action with producing "Wheel Seat" episodes. We have put out 3 more episodes since being back at school and they are all great, especially the most recent episode entitled "'I Am T-Pain' - Taylor Swift" where we address some recent happenings in the entertainment world, and we have some fun with autotune. So you all should check it out below.

And be assured that I will begin to post more frequently. Enjoy!

Weekend Update 5/1

A quick weekend update.

Didn't really do anything Friday, so I'll go ahead and skip to Saturday's excitement.
We had a scrimmage against Wheaton's Club Team on Saturday morning, and we played at Wheaton, so it was a really nice turf field. This was a big game for us because it was our first time playing together in the spring, and last time we played this team they beat us 4-1.

About 20 minutes into the first half I went up for a ball and came down on my left ankle in a very weird way. In fact as soon as I landed I knew that something was wrong. I felt immediate pain. I ended up being taken off the field and sitting out the rest of the game. We did win though! 2-1! This is a big win for us, for the reasons I explained earlier.

So I got driven back to school, and my roommate, Kyle, drove me to the hospital where I had it x-rayed only to find out that it was only sprained, thank God. So I've been hobbling around on crutches since then, and its been great fun. Ha.

Another update is that we released the 14th episode of the Wheel Seat. On this episode we announced our next live show on Thursday 5/7 @ 10:17pm CST, 11:17pm EST. This is going to be a great episode and I'm really excited about it.

We have set the challenge that if we reach 75 viewers during the show then we will give away the ultimate prize. To Be Announced. I think this goal is totally doable, and I'm excited to see what happens. So check it out.

O yeah, and I purchased http://www.thewheelseat.com which currently forwards to our facebook group, but on Thursday it will forward to our live show. So that's pretty exciting.

Public Transportation vs. Driving

Today I learned the hard way that traveling by car is not always the easiest nor the fastest. I needed to go to a soccer store here in Chicago and I naturally thought that since I had a car on campus that I should drive there. I know how to get there on the "L" train but I figured driving would be easier, but I was drastically wrong. 

What could've taken me 45 minutes by train instead took me 90 minutes by car. Part of that was because I got directions to the wrong store and when I got there it was closed. So I drove to the one I had been to before which took longer than expected because of traffic. 

When I arrived at my destination I looked at 2 different shoes. I wanted to try on both of them but they only had one of them in my size. So I tried those and didn't like them, but I'm almost sure that I would've liked the other type but they aren't getting another shipment in until next week. 

So I returned from my trip to the soccer store somewhat disappointed. Did I mention it probably cost me a couple bucks in gas and a quarter for a parking meter. But I did learn a valuable lesson. 

Sometimes taking public transportation is easier, faster, and cheaper than driving. 

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.

rollercoaster

I've been waiting all week to blog about my life this past weekend, but unfortunately school has been ridiculous with papers and tests and junk, but now I am free, at least for a couple days. So I'm gonna take this chance to blog as much as I can.

This past weekend, was a big one to say the least. Our soccer team went to the NCCAA Regional Tournament in Grand Rapids, MI. As you all know my life has been...(is consumed too strong of a word?) yes, consumed by soccer for the past 3 1/2 months and it all came to a climax this past weekend. So all of last week was spent just preparing mentally and physically for this tournament. Our first game was the Semi-Finals against Northland Baptist Bible College.

Let me just give you a little background info first. Northland is our big rival. Every year when we play them it is one of the biggest games of the season. But here's the thing, Moody has not beat Northland since 2001. You read that right, we have not beat them in 7 years. But every season it is a close game.

So needless to say, this was a huge game. We also lost to them in the regular season this year 5-0, so we were really lookin for some revenge. Anyways, the game started and it was 0-0 throughout all of the first half. I'm actually trying to remember the first half, but for some reason it was a blur, I can't remember much of it. But the second half was when all the action started. We scored first, and it was absolutely crazy after that first goal. It is always better if we score the first goal because it just gives alot of momentum and helps us play better. So it was 1-0 and then they scored to tie 1-1. Everyone played seriously to the best of their ability that game and we all pulled together and it ended being a tie 1-1 in regulation. So we went into sudden death overtime. No one scored so we went into the second overtime, and still no one scored. Then we went into a shootout. For those of you who aren't so educated on soccer, in a shootout each team is allowed to choose 5 players to shoot and the teams alternate. Whoever scores the most goals at the end of the shootout wins.

So Northland shot first and scored their first goal. We shot and scored, making it 1-1. Andrew Stoddard (our amazing goal keeper) then proceeded to block 3 PK's in a row, and scored the rest of ours meaning that WE WON THE GAME! It was absolutely amazing. When Stoddard blocked that last goal, we all just rushed him and were yelling and cheering. It was one of the best feelings ever. You had to be there to really get the full experience, but if you knew how big it was to beat Northland, you would be as excited as we were. We all just went crazy. All I could say was, "We just beat Northland!" To just think that no other Moody Soccer team has beat Northland for the past 7 years, and our team beat them. Its just amazing.

So as you can imagine that was an extreme emotional high. We celebrated so much that night. Coach took us out to a Bar B'Q steakhouse which was amazing, and we went back to the hotel. But we had another task in front of us now. We had advanced to the Regional Championship to play Maranatha Bible College, who we lost to in the regular season in double overtime 3-2. So it was a bit of a struggle to adjust to that, but I think that I personally adjusted ok, but I wish I could say the same for the rest of our team. To make a long story short, Maranatha played a different system from the first time we played them, and we did not adjust to it at all. They ended beating us 5-1. It was not a pretty sight. We were so pumped about beating Northland and looking ahead to Nationals in Florida, that we had made the mistake of overlooking Maranatha who had a strong team.

The moral of the story is, this weekend was a rollercoaster. When you go from the highest of emotional highs, to the lowest of emotional lows in less than 24 hours it is a pretty crazy feeling. So the season is over now. I can now have somewhat of a life outside of soccer now. I'm planning on just resting for 2 weeks, just relaxing, and then getting back into running and working out consistently in preparation for next season. I don't feel like there is anymore to say except...

Northland here we come!

a break...kinda

Well, this weekend was somewhat successful as far as this sport that is my life right now (soccer) goes. We tied Robert Morris 1-1 on Monday, and won 2-1 against Andrews University on Tuesday. So it was a good weekend overall, except for the fact that both of these games were away, and these two days were our "Fall Break" or "Study/Reading Days" so we didn't have any class, but we still were busy as ever. But o well. Thankfully Coach gave us off practice today and tomorrow, to give us a bit of a break. I guess it was a break. It has been more of a break mentally, than it has been physically. We still are required to run for at least 30 minutes on each of these days, but 30 minutes turns into about an hour and a half of being in the gym, which is ok I guess. Actually I was in the gym today for longer than that cause I had to TA (Teacher's Assistant) for one of my Sports Min. Profs. So anyways, I say all that to say, that coach gave us these days off to sleep, catch up on homework, or just rest, but none of those things got done today. LOL. O well, it was good to just run on a treadmill again. Never thought I'd see myself typing those words but it is true. I've actually been gaining weight through soccer season this year, so today I lost about 3 or 4 pounds, just by running 4 miles. It felt pretty good except for the fact that my calf muscle was killing me. So we'll go back at it again tomorrow. Another "day off" practice, but it'll be good cause I'm meeting with my former roommate, Tom Clark for our weekly catch up/get in The Word time. I would like to write a post about how crucial it is to set aside time like this with a close friend to just talk about each other's lives, spiritually, mentally, physically, and emotionally. But I'll save that for another day, maybe tomorrow in fact, since we are meeting tomorrow. Give you something to look forward to.

But in the meantime, I've got a 12 page Systematic Theology research paper on "The will of God" due on Monday, which I just started, so I better get to that.

I also wanna welcome back my best friend and roommate, Nate Nearpass. He returned back to campus last night, and he's almost going at full force. I wouldn't say completely full force yet, but he's almost there. He's gotta rest for like another 4 weeks, but I sure did miss him, and its good to have him back.

shout out to spleen boy, love you.

winning streak

Well, some good news for the weekend so far. We had 2 away games this weekend. Friday we played Robert Morris (Springfield, IL) and Today (Saturday) we played Lincoln Christian College. These were 2 big games for us considering we haven't had any wins on the road so far, and we were on a 2 game winning streak before this weekend. Against Robert Morris we played exceptionally well, I thought. Our defense had a couple breakdowns, but thankfully we've got a beast of a keeper who saved our butts on numerous occasions. Andrew Stoddard is our keeper and he had a heck of a game on Friday. We ended up winning 2-0 to give us a 3 game winning streak. Then today against Lincoln Christian we had a slow start, I think because some of us were tired from the Robert Morris game (I know at least I was). I did not play well at all, at least in the first half. I don't know what was going on but I couldn't make a pass to save my life, but I picked it up in the second half. It was 4-0 at halftime, and we ended up winning 8-0, a good clean win. And to top it all off Jollypop (a.k.a. Josh Jalandoon) scored the last goal with 16 seconds left in the game. We went crazy just because he doesn't get to play that much and so it was a big deal for him to score. So all in all it was a good weekend. I'm glad to be back home though. I love traveling with the team and my best friends but it just drains me, especially playing two back-to-back games, so naturally I'm wiped now. Maybe I'll write a post sometime about some experiences of being captain. I've learned a ton throughout the season so far, but sometimes its just stressing. But its ok. I'll talk about that another night. Tonight is a night to celebrate. 4 game winning streak. We have our last home game this coming Tuesday against Grace College (Winona Lake, IN), so that is a big game. If you are a student at Moody make sure you come out and support us as we go for our fifth win in a row.

ole' ole' ole'...ole' ole'

Surprise

Well this weekend has probably been one of the best weekends that i've had since I've been back to school. While at the same time, this previous week has probably been one of the worst weeks I've had since I've been back to school. So, this week pretty much sucked just because of some stupid stuff, and so needless to say I was really lookin forward to this weekend, especially because it was going to be my first game since I've been injured. So Friday turned out to be good because we beat Great Lakes College 10-0. Yeah, you heard me right, 10-0. So that turned out to be a good game. Today I was a little more worried just because Grace College has been known to be a very physical team. For example, last year we played them and they broke Mike Worley's nose. So we were all being very cautious, because the last thing we need right now is more injuries considering that we have like 3 guys who are out for the season already. But it all turned out good in the end, we won 7-1. But what made the game even better was that my family flew in and surprised me to come to my game. It made me so happy to see both of my parents and both of my sisters. After the game we went out and got Giordano's pizza (best in Chicago) and then walked around a bit. Then they are flying back tonight (thank you flight benefits), they just got a taxi and are on their way to the airport.

So that was pretty much the highlight of my week. I actually didn't want them to leave, and it made me kinda miss home a bit (i know surprise, right). I mean its been a rough week, so I kinda wish we had more time to spend together, but I was just thankful that they were able to come today. It was awesome.

Ok, well there are a couple other things that I just thought of that I could write a whole other post on, so I don't wanna prolong this one any longer. So I'll end it here and write a couple separate posts.

All is well that ends well

Bruised Hip

Today has been filled with its ups and downs, which isn't quite different from any other day that I've had lately, so I'm not quite sure why I'm so surprised. But a highlight of my day was that I got to practice with the team once again. I have been injured for almost a week with a bruised hip, so I had to miss the game in Iowa last weekend, which I was bummed about, and I haven't been able to practice with the team. So, naturally I was ready to get back on the field, and much to my surprise, the trainer, Sean, said that I could practice today, so that went well. We are just getting ready for the two big games this weekend against Great Lakes at 4pm on Friday, and Grace at 1:30pm on Saturday. These are both conference games so they weigh heavy on our season. So that was an "up" for the day.

Then there were some "downs" for the day, but we'll overlook those for now. Haha.

Anyways, I would appreciate your prayers in all aspects of my life right now, and I will be praying for you.

God is good,
Philippians 1:27 "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."

Mondays NEVER Slow Down

Mondays are always my busiest days of the week. I have class at 8am and I usually don't get to go back to my dorm room for more than 5 minutes until around 11:15pm that night. So as you might've figured out, I'm tired as I'm writing this. Today was a bit nicer though for one because I got done with my TA work early, and instead of conditioning practice for soccer, coach decided to have a movie day, and he also ordered us pizza :) I love it when that happens.

But one of the biggest struggles for me on Mondays is to stay energetic at my PCM (Practical Christian Ministry). I am a Jr. High leader in a youth group in schaumburg and I just really struggle to be energetic and interact with the kids. So if any of you from the youth group are reading this, please forgive me for not being as interactive as I should be. But that is one thing that I just need to pray over, and ask God for strength every week.

Also, for those of you who don't know, my new and improved site is officially up and running, http://www.joshburns.net
but you probably already know that if you are reading this post, but just in case. I redesigned it because I have so many areas online that I am active in, so I wanted one place where you can go to interact with all of these things, and now that place exists. Look around, email me any comments or suggestions you might have that could improve the site and that'd be great.

Ok, well here's to another update in the life of...

Insert Witty Title...

Tonight I went back to my RSS reader, or a blog reader for the laymen, and started reading the blogs of people that I had subscribed to. Some people I’m really close to, and some people I’m not as close to, and I realized how helpful it might be for me to start blogging about my own personal life. I mean, I have a blog for the podcast http://www.jsquaredpodcast.blogspot.com but that isn’t personal at all. I realized it might be helpful for those back home or around the world who every once and a while might like to read a short, or not so short update on my life.
So anyways, I’m gonna try to keep these things somewhat short usually, but every once and a while there might be a long one.

Soccer, has pretty much been consuming life for the first month of school, which is fine, but it is just a little more responsibility than I had expected, so that is pretty much what has been going on in my life generally. So depicted above are basically the guys that I have been spending all of my time with for the past 2 months, which is awesome. If you are closer to me then you know that some more stuff has happened outside of soccer and school, so if you are that close to me then good for you, if not, then if you wanna know, come and talk to me. Okay, now to figure out how I’m gonna host this thing we call a blog.

Peace