At least I’m not the only one who’s been getting a little annoyed by the “helper” kids at VBS. Tonight I think every leader had to raise their voice at least once. And these are mild mannered church folk. But they don’t want to see their church disrespected. If these street kids would just get it through their heads that they need to behave in the sanctuary the adults would get off their case. But that just isn’t happening. They’re talking, not even whispering, in the sanctuary when the rest of the program is going on. At the end of the night when kids were asked if they wanted to pray up front in the mic one of them came up and prayed for some rappers. They have a total lack of respect for authority. What really pisses me off is the way they treat Pastor Wendy, who has absolutely poured herself into these kids and they have been treating her like crap.
It sucks when you realize that it’s these people that Jesus wants you to get through to, because you just want to give up on them. It would be so much easier. Selfishly you almost start thinking that they deserve eternal damnation. Hey, if they don’t want to listen it’s their own fault. But that’s not true. It’s our responsibility as members of the body to share this message with everyone, even people who have a total lack of respect.
I’m going to be meeting with Nicole on Friday to talk about what devotionals we are going to be doing for the youth program. Hopefully she’ll be able to attend the trip to Six Flags on July 6, but she’s got a crazy work schedule this summer. If the kids at VBS are any indication I’m going to need all the help I can get.
These last two days I’ve been helping out at my church with their Vacation Bible School program. It’s a little different than most that I’ve been apart of. First of all, it’s at night so that parents who work can volunteer. Second, each day is much shorter than the average VBS that I’ve been involved with - only 2 hours and 15 minutes. Both of these things have been easy enough to get used to.
Continue reading ‘Vacation Bible School’
Sometimes it’s all about keeping up with the Joneses. In this case, it’s all about keeping up with the Schwartzes. 
As of today my blog is now “fully integrated” (whatever that means) with the rest of my website. To many of you this is, I’m sure, the best news you’ve received all day. To others it is news that I actually have a “rest of my website” at all. In any case, I hope you enjoy the addition.
So here’s your daily housing update. Scott and I have decided to live on campus, and we’re going to be roommates. We’re attempting to switch out of McCollum Hall and into Rogers Hall. Supposedly there’s a waiting list even for Rogers, but that seems unlikely since I’ve never met anyone who really wanted to live there (it’s kind of a pit). But if you would pray that we’d get into there I would appreciate it.
Continue reading ‘Fully Integrated’
Another piece of the dream died today. Team Win is now a mere twosome. Sweet Joe left on Saturday. Today Will also bowed out. Now it is only Scott and I who remain, and I’m not sure if even we will be living together come the fall. You see, I don’t want to live in McCollum if I don’t know the other three guys I’m living with. It’s not like a freshman dorm where you might get roommates who aren’t ever there (therefore doing their craziness elsewhere). People move into McCollum to make it their home. They come home and they stay home. I will be Scottie’s roommate if we live in a double somewhere else. I have been told that Rogers might be a possibility (though it is a grad student dorm). I would even be willing to live in a single (though I don’t know what Scott would do then). I’m going to call tomorrow to see just what the story is. I am almost positive that I will be living on campus; now it’s just a question of where.
Continue reading ‘Team Win Is Losing’
Bad news all around today. First, FSU’s National Championship trophies have been stolen! You can read all about it by clicking here. This story broke on Thursday but I didn’t hear of it until today (haven’t been watching SportsCenter). What kills me is that there were no security cameras near the trophy case. Come on!
The second bit of bad news is a little more personal. I talked to Joe Chandler today, and he told me that he will not be living with me this year. I knew this was a possibility, but it just sucks for it to be a reality. His first choice was to live with Team Win in McCollum. However, his second choice was to live with his roommates from the previous year if housing didn’t cooperate. Housing didn’t cooperate, so he’ll be staying put. I’m sad. He is my idol after all. 
Continue reading ‘What Are You Going To Do With Two Crystal Footballs?’
Now, as much as I have enjoyed this whole slow day thing, it’s getting a little old. Yesterday was spent doing errands. Last night and today have been spent working on my Europe photo album (I’ve finished Paris, which leaves me with only 6 1/2 weeks of photos left).
It looks like my church will only be able to attend two days of Soul Fest rather than the entire weekend because of the cost. I’m not sure what that means for my Soul Fest experience, whether I’ll have to ride up with them or not. I might make the case that if I’m already there I can meet the crew at the gate at a certain time, give them their wristbands, and give them directions on what to do from there. I’m not sure if Pastor Tom will buy that, but it’s worth a try.
Tomorrow I have a doctor’s appointment with my neurologist (that’s my seizure doctor). I’ve been off my medicine since February, so this is my first appointment with her since then. She’s going to tell me if I can drive or not. Be praying for me, that she finds that nothing is wrong and that she says that I can drive. It’s going to be a long difficult summer if either of those don’t go through.
I am loving these slow summer days without any school work. I woke up late, made a few phone calls, did a little typing, made some progress in my Bible study. A good day overall.
I called FSU Housing today. They said that they only way people will get into McCollum at this point is if people drop out. The deadline to sign up is July 1, so time is running out. Joe Chandler is in Smith, Scott and I are in McCollum but with two weirdos, and Will is still off campus. At this point I’m not sure what to do. I called Scottie today talked to him a little bit, but I caught him at work so we’re going to talk more about it tonight.
Continue reading ‘Lazy Summer Day’
I didn’t have a Father’s Day post yesterday. This was not because I was swept up in my celebration of this Hallmark holiday, trust me. (Happy Father’s Day Dad!)
Saturday night I hung out with Ashley and Sarah over at [location]. I’d be more specific, but each time I try to write that sentence with where I was it sounds funny. It’s a house where some of Ashley’s relatives live, and she’s living there for the summer (or at least the time being, I realize now that I’m not sure how long she’s staying there). At any rate, that’s where I was. We cut strawberries (only after they made me feel bad for not cutting them), I made fun of the resident dog, we watched a movie called Beyond Borders that was okay but not what we thought it was, and caught up.
It was fun. Not like old times, which I’m happy about. I have this fear of not feeling like I’ve grown or changed when I see people that I haven’t seen for a long time. When things aren’t “just like old times” it means that things are changing, people are moving on, I’m growing. It was a good evening.
Continue reading ‘So, Where Are We Hanging Out?’
So just to put today into perspective: two weekends ago I went to Rome, last weekend I went to London, this weekend I went to… Glastonbury, CT. Hmm…
I got a haircut today. At the moment I don’t like it at all. It’s still long, but it’s all the same length of long now. But I think it looks a lot more feminine than my old long hair, so I’m a little pissed off. I’m not sure if I really don’t like it or if I’m just mad that it’s not as long as it used to be. I don’t know. I’m pretty angry about the whole thing though, that I’m sure of.
I don’t have anything to do today, but I can’t say that that bothers me. I’m having a hard time getting excited about the rest of this summer. I just want to be lazy and not do anything, but I don’t think that’s going to fly.
