Cell phones have a very large part in our lives. I know this is not really any breaking news but going this past weekend without a phone has caused me to realize just how much of an effect they have on our lives. Its kind of interesting when you think about how quickly we have gone from radios and home phones to the portable devices we have today. What is really interesting is when I realize that I don't rely on my phone nearly as much as other people and at the same time how much I do rely on my phone. I mean, I only use mine for calls, text, (and I do use the camera and calculator, clock etc. but those are secondary) but there are many people who use them as a planner, address book, and pretty much anything else you can think of...their life is in the device. So when I think of that and think of how much not having a phone threw off my life...it's kind of scary. I mean, when my phone went out, I lost some meaningful texts and all my contacts. Yeah, it stinks but it also made me realize how important it is not to "put all your eggs in one basket" so to speak, and how devastating it could be if your whole life was on your phone.
Another thing I found interesting was the fact that until I was 18 I did not have a cell and I didn't care and it amazed me how much it actually bothered me not to have one for just a few days.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Monday, November 15, 2010
Adventures with the cell company.
I finally have a phone now...after much debate and hassle with the cell company. I went to one store and they told me I could either buy a new phone or take my phone to a technician...so i opted for the tech because I didn't want to lose my saved texts from my love. I drove across town and waited for what seemed like forever to talk to a "tech" who told me the same thing...that there is nothing they could do to fix it. So after two days-ish of pondering my various options, I broke down and got a new phone today. It's all but identical to my old one..(which i like) so that's good, but it really stinks that my contacts and, more importantly, saved texts from my lover are irretrievable. It makes me very sad.... but at least I can text now.
Saturday, November 13, 2010
feeling ick
So...i have a cough that has been going on for about a week. Its not in my lungs it seems like sinus drainage...just an aggravating tickle in my throat. Hopefully it will go away mostly on its own. Beyond that this week has been mostly good. I took all my tests and got back all of them except for algebra. I did fairly well on all of them except for Old Testament which isn't really a surprise. Now I just have to finish out the semester strong and enjoy Christmas.
Other than tests and feeling ick this week has been good.Thursday night AnnaMarie and I went to Applebee's and then went and walked at Furman. It was a really good time and we needed some us time and it was just a very good evening! Then, last night AnnaMarie and I went with Charlie and Kelsey to see A Christmas Carol at NGU for event credit.(which I dont mind because I enjoy the productions/concerts anyway.) It was the first time I have been in our new theater building so that was kinda cool. After that we all went to Sonic for milkshakes. All in all it was a nice experience.
Today, however, aside from the cough, I have a headache, and I have to go to talk to the cell company about my phone not working. Yesterday, it went from acting up, to making the screen look wierd, to staying black most of the time, to the screen not working at all, to not even turning on properly. I am not happy!
Other than tests and feeling ick this week has been good.Thursday night AnnaMarie and I went to Applebee's and then went and walked at Furman. It was a really good time and we needed some us time and it was just a very good evening! Then, last night AnnaMarie and I went with Charlie and Kelsey to see A Christmas Carol at NGU for event credit.(which I dont mind because I enjoy the productions/concerts anyway.) It was the first time I have been in our new theater building so that was kinda cool. After that we all went to Sonic for milkshakes. All in all it was a nice experience.
Today, however, aside from the cough, I have a headache, and I have to go to talk to the cell company about my phone not working. Yesterday, it went from acting up, to making the screen look wierd, to staying black most of the time, to the screen not working at all, to not even turning on properly. I am not happy!
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Realizations part one. . .
Disclaimer: I'm not hating on Christians, Baptists, or praise team people..those who know me know that. :) I very much enjoy my church and enjoy worship. However, here are some things to think about!
1) I dont know about other denominations, but Baptists put way too much emphasis on baptism and not nearly enough on proper Christian living. Im not talking about super legalism here, I am talking about simple, common sense Christian living. Living a regular, every day life in a manner which is pleasing to God. I'm not saying It's easy, and I'm not saying that churches don't teach that. What I am saying is that preachers should not get on stage and make jokes about their gut, and how they love fried chicken, and how being baptist = food and then turn around and preach against alcohol and how your body is a temple. Grease and gluttony will hurt you and is just as unseemly as drinking to get drunk. True, drinking has more severe and adverse consequences(especially in the near future) but they are both still sin.
Anyways, yes...while missions and people coming to Christ IS VERY important, guilting someone into a confession or scaring them into saying a prayer is not the same as a salvation. Saying a prayer and not meaning it will no more save you than telling someone your there friend and not ever talking to them again makes you there friend. If salvation is a relationship, than what makes us think that it should work any different than any other relationship? If you have 1000 people "get saved" thats good...but how many of them really change? How many of them are followed up on and discipled into a real relationship? How many of them came forward because of an emotional invitation and said a prayer because a preacher preached a "fire and brimstone" message? How many people have the testimony of "I thought I got saved at camp and then God revealed to me I wasn't a few years later."? How many people say a prayer and then go on to live their old lives and never set foot in church again and go their whole life thinking they are ok with God because some pastor guilted them into a prayer? Think about it!
(ill post my other points later)
1) I dont know about other denominations, but Baptists put way too much emphasis on baptism and not nearly enough on proper Christian living. Im not talking about super legalism here, I am talking about simple, common sense Christian living. Living a regular, every day life in a manner which is pleasing to God. I'm not saying It's easy, and I'm not saying that churches don't teach that. What I am saying is that preachers should not get on stage and make jokes about their gut, and how they love fried chicken, and how being baptist = food and then turn around and preach against alcohol and how your body is a temple. Grease and gluttony will hurt you and is just as unseemly as drinking to get drunk. True, drinking has more severe and adverse consequences(especially in the near future) but they are both still sin.
Anyways, yes...while missions and people coming to Christ IS VERY important, guilting someone into a confession or scaring them into saying a prayer is not the same as a salvation. Saying a prayer and not meaning it will no more save you than telling someone your there friend and not ever talking to them again makes you there friend. If salvation is a relationship, than what makes us think that it should work any different than any other relationship? If you have 1000 people "get saved" thats good...but how many of them really change? How many of them are followed up on and discipled into a real relationship? How many of them came forward because of an emotional invitation and said a prayer because a preacher preached a "fire and brimstone" message? How many people have the testimony of "I thought I got saved at camp and then God revealed to me I wasn't a few years later."? How many people say a prayer and then go on to live their old lives and never set foot in church again and go their whole life thinking they are ok with God because some pastor guilted them into a prayer? Think about it!
(ill post my other points later)
Monday, November 8, 2010
*cough*stressed*cough*
It’s Monday again and I have three very sizable tests this week. Western civ. which I need to do well on to make up for the not so well I did on the last one. Marriage and the Family, need to do well on that one too…because… I want to do well. And finally Algebra…I have to well on that one because not doing well potentially means a year and a half behind in school stuff…something I do not intend to do! (Silly pre-req. classes)
Other than that, I’m in a fairly good mood. This past weekend was good. It was actually mostly great other than the fact that I spent all day Saturday working on algebra. Oh well, hopefully it will stick and cause me to do well on the test. Also, I’ve been kinda sick over the weekend and still am a bit…so that does not really help things any. All these fall mold allergies are really no fun. However, I have started my allergy meds. and have been drinking a lot of orange juice…so hopefully that will help!
Other than that, I’m in a fairly good mood. This past weekend was good. It was actually mostly great other than the fact that I spent all day Saturday working on algebra. Oh well, hopefully it will stick and cause me to do well on the test. Also, I’ve been kinda sick over the weekend and still am a bit…so that does not really help things any. All these fall mold allergies are really no fun. However, I have started my allergy meds. and have been drinking a lot of orange juice…so hopefully that will help!
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Pizza and craziness
Yesterday started out not so well. To begin with, i woke up all stopped up, sick, and just all around icky feeling. I got up, went to western civ, and during my regular hang out/eat lunch time, I felt so ick that even coffee sounded like a bad idea. Anyway, I had a test in Psych class that I was sure was next Friday...oh well...I think I did well on it none the less. After school, I had planned to go with Andrew to try and get a radiator for my car, however, I decided that I needed to work on Algebra even more so I did...and I'm going to again today...and probably every day, more or less, till the end of the semester! The day did pick up with the evening though. AnnaMarie, myself, Yelhsa, and Charlie went to Mellow Mushroom. IT was pretty great except for the fact that they had ran out of gluten-free crusts which, ended up causing AnnaMarie to feel ick. From there we went to Brusters but they were closed so we ended up at Jack in the Box where Charlie discovered that drinking to different milkshakes at once was a great idea. Thanks to Charlie, AnnaMarie and I spent the ride home sharing a chocolate/pumpkin pie milkshake(s)!
Hopefully today will be a good day...I'm going to AnnaMarie's to work on algebra some more and I still feel ick. I guess we'll see how it goes.
Hopefully today will be a good day...I'm going to AnnaMarie's to work on algebra some more and I still feel ick. I guess we'll see how it goes.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Irritating to the 'nth degree!
Its really terrible when you KNOW you have to study for a test...possibly one of the hardest tests this semester...and you haven't the mental wherewithal to get it done. Yes, I can blog, I can listen to music, I can even run to Wal Mart to get myself some allergy meds. but for the life of me I can not focus on my notes. Hopefully I will be able to get something accomplished tonight...or at the very least remember enough of what I read to be able to make a decent grade in the morning (8AM). I have studied some already the past several days as well as once and a half-ish today... I just hope it's enough! ...and yeah...i got bored <_<
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Today.
Today was a fairly good day! First, Anna Marie brings me a present to our Old Testament class...several bags of candy corn and black candles. I know that may not seem like a big deal to some people, but to me that screams "I LOVE YOU! " After that, marriage and the family was about the same...algebra was ....algebra, save for the fact that I managed to reverse engineer a problem I had no idea how to solve. After that and some lunch, I got to see my Anna Marie and spend most of the afternoon with her! I really love my love, and I will tell anyone that I am very blessed to be hers!
On another note, my car has a radiator leak...and I think its getting worse. I put stopleak in it to try to prolong the use but I think I am going to have to just get a new radiator altogether. This adding a gallon every other trip is starting to get silly lol.
Monday, November 1, 2010
It's dreadful
I have a particular complaint today. Well, not JUST today..this is something that has bugged me for a while. Christians taking extra-biblical thoughts and teaching them as if they were the gospel truth. Don't get me wrong, there are some good ideas that are not directly from the Bible that I believe God has given people the wisdom to figure out. Where the trouble begins, is when Christians have a particular personal belief and start teaching it to others as if it were from the very mouth of God.
Having grown up in the Southeast where there is "a church on every corner" and having been in private schools the majority of my life, I have seen a lot in the way of theological conflict. I’m not talking about other religions, I’m talking about within the "Christian" community. There are whole sets of "thou shall" and "thou shall nots" that have little if any biblical basis. (and usually that is taking scripture out of context) The problem isn't that people have opinions, the problem is that people voice their opinions or convictions as if it should apply to everyone and then they warp some obscure bible verse out of context and use that as backing for there "just cause." The reason this is a problem should be obvious, but just in case, I'll explain.
First, it divides the church. It causes discord and division among the body of Christ and causes the church as a whole to be at odds with its members over silly things.
Second, it causes the church to look more like a social club. A place for like minded people to go to hang out...especially to people outside the church.
Third, it causes the church to seem like a selfish group of elitists where each member is "holier than thou" because they follow a certain set of rules that God must look at and say " funny, I don’t remember telling them that."
Fourth, it causes other Christians to stumble. It causes them to, at times, doubt there faith or various aspects thereof.
I don’t mean to sound as if I am bashing Christians...I’m not doing that at all. However, as Christians, we (myself included) should not be tripping each other, splitting up the body of Christ, and causing confusion and strife simply because of our opinions. We need to stop being legalistic Pharisees and start being loving Christians. Where things are right and wrong, yes, we should take a firm stand. But where things are "grey" ...be careful....use common sense...
1 Corinthians 8:4-9 NLT
4 So, what about eating meat that has been offered to idols? Well, we all know that an idol is not really a god and that there is only one God. 5 There may be so-called gods both in heaven and on earth, and some people actually worship many gods and many lords. 6 But we know that there is only one God, the Father, who created everything, and we live for him. And there is only one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom God made everything and through whom we have been given life.
7 However, not all believers know this. Some are accustomed to thinking of idols as being real, so when they eat food that has been offered to idols, they think of it as the worship of real gods, and their weak consciences are violated. 8 It’s true that we can’t win God’s approval by what we eat. We don’t lose anything if we don’t eat it, and we don’t gain anything if we do.
9 But you must be careful so that your freedom does not cause others with a weaker conscience to stumble.
Having grown up in the Southeast where there is "a church on every corner" and having been in private schools the majority of my life, I have seen a lot in the way of theological conflict. I’m not talking about other religions, I’m talking about within the "Christian" community. There are whole sets of "thou shall" and "thou shall nots" that have little if any biblical basis. (and usually that is taking scripture out of context) The problem isn't that people have opinions, the problem is that people voice their opinions or convictions as if it should apply to everyone and then they warp some obscure bible verse out of context and use that as backing for there "just cause." The reason this is a problem should be obvious, but just in case, I'll explain.
First, it divides the church. It causes discord and division among the body of Christ and causes the church as a whole to be at odds with its members over silly things.
Second, it causes the church to look more like a social club. A place for like minded people to go to hang out...especially to people outside the church.
Third, it causes the church to seem like a selfish group of elitists where each member is "holier than thou" because they follow a certain set of rules that God must look at and say " funny, I don’t remember telling them that."
Fourth, it causes other Christians to stumble. It causes them to, at times, doubt there faith or various aspects thereof.
I don’t mean to sound as if I am bashing Christians...I’m not doing that at all. However, as Christians, we (myself included) should not be tripping each other, splitting up the body of Christ, and causing confusion and strife simply because of our opinions. We need to stop being legalistic Pharisees and start being loving Christians. Where things are right and wrong, yes, we should take a firm stand. But where things are "grey" ...be careful....use common sense...
1 Corinthians 8:4-9 NLT
4 So, what about eating meat that has been offered to idols? Well, we all know that an idol is not really a god and that there is only one God. 5 There may be so-called gods both in heaven and on earth, and some people actually worship many gods and many lords. 6 But we know that there is only one God, the Father, who created everything, and we live for him. And there is only one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom God made everything and through whom we have been given life.
7 However, not all believers know this. Some are accustomed to thinking of idols as being real, so when they eat food that has been offered to idols, they think of it as the worship of real gods, and their weak consciences are violated. 8 It’s true that we can’t win God’s approval by what we eat. We don’t lose anything if we don’t eat it, and we don’t gain anything if we do.
9 But you must be careful so that your freedom does not cause others with a weaker conscience to stumble.
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