I'm switching. Now everyone can comment.

http://fromwhativegathered.wordpress.com

Jobs...

Applebees is great. Applebees sucks. I don't know if I can handle this up and down dance I've been doing since I started working there. Sometimes I made $75, sometimes I make $23. Those sum up my last two days there. Although I am getting bigger table sections (so like a 3-4 table section as opposed to a 2-3 table section), if it's not busy, or the manager schedules too many people, I make crap. It seems that I'm being scheduled as a lunch server, which means cheaper meals and cheaper tips.

I applied at Bed Bath & Beyond. On my app I put that I already had 2 jobs, I was a college student and I wanted 9-9.50 an hour. A tough bill for summer help that has no retail experience. But, nevertheless, I got a call today and an interview scheduled for Friday at 2:30.

I'm not sure I would quit Applebees. Maybe work only a few days a week. I mean, it's not consistent. $9/hr is consistent. I've never had consistent pay in my life outside of my last semester internship. Plus you can wear jeans and nice shirt and work in the AC. It would be great.

I only hope the manager noticed that I was only summer help, because I am, lol. I just can't lie.

Broken

Today, as I was talking to a friend about her family situation, I saw a pattern between her family situation and other broken situations I've heard of recently. The pattern is that a person has a major problem in their life. This problem not only affects them negatively, but it also hurts their friends and family members directly and causes lasting effects. But, this person refuses help from their family and friends and even denies that they have a problem. So, the problem and hurt persists with that person and their loved ones.

After hearing something like this, many people would pose the question- Where is God in this? I guess my answer is, right where he always is : there - ready to heal. As difficult as those situations may be, and trust me when I say I cannot relate to the pain of these situations, I do know that God's heart goes out to the people in these situations. God loves people, he created us, and he wants the best for us. It's easy to blame God, but the harder thing to do is to ask God for help in these situations. It's one thing to blame a distant God for our problems, and its another to actively pursue him and ask for his help in our situations. I believe God loves us so much he sent his son to die for us, so we may live lives without brokenness and sin ruling our lives. Because of Jesus, we are redeemed and sent to help redeem the world. In God's kingdom, no one will shed a tear because there will be no pain and hurt and no sin.

God, come into our world, into our lives. Bring us healing as you are able and willing.

Car Insurance..

Ok, I think this is ridiculous. I bought "new" car recently, and my car insurance co. is officially raping me. I pay 1260 a year for full coverage. My parents pay 600 for the same coverage on their vehicles..in fact, they have lower deductibles than me. Why am I paying this much?

I'm 21 - didn't they teach you in drivers ed that this was the age they would drastically lower car insurance? Apparently All State's age is 25. That's freakin horse manure.

I've NEVER gotten into an accident, never got points, never even got pulled over.

I have a 4-door NON-red vehicle..

And - I've made dean's list every semester of my college career.

ALL-STATE, YOU HAVE NO EXCUSE FOR RAPING ME!!!!!!!! I AM DOCUMENTABLY A PERFECT DRIVER!!!! YOU *@&^$#&#$&#*$@@)*#@q@!!!!!

Yes, I am blessed

Thanks be to God - because today I had a great day at work..and I had been praying all yesterday about how much I hated it and how much I thought this one boss didn't like me. Today, work was awesome and I got along really well with my boss, so pheew...

Thanks to Erin - my old boss who I pretty much disliked more than any other human being on the face of the Earth. But...I learned so much from my horrible relationship with her. I feel like I could handle anything now!

Thanks Ashley - I really enjoy all our late night conversations about life, God, guys and saying stupid crap like "should I IM him?" and "I concur" hahaha. And most importantly, I really appreciate our friendship.

Thanks Mom and Dad - You pretty much rock. You pay half my car insurance, that's amazing. Oh yeah, and your birthed me, haha.

Thanks Charlie - I mean, you freakin suck because you left PA..but let's face it, you went to a better place. Who wouldn't rather pick up hot Mormons in Idaho? lol. But seriously, you should come back now, because I miss you.

Thanks Donald Miller - your stuff is good. I re-read like 170 pages of Blue Like Jazz like 2 days ago, and I remembered how amazing that book was. Penguin Sex especially was pretty memorable.

Thanks Zack Braff, Mike Judge, Cameron Crowe who created Garden State, Office Space and Jerry MaGuire respectively. These movies are amazing and they are the only 3 movies that I could watch over and over again and never get sick of them.

Thanks Mr. Schaeffer, who was my favorite teacher of all time. You made trig the best subject ever. That's all.

Also, thanks to the makers of Dutch Blitz...as long as I'm winning, it's a fantastic game.

Lastly, thanks to everyone who reads my blog! You must know blogging is my favorite thing to do ever! But to give you credit, you should leave a comment so I can fully give you credit;)

Have a nice day!

"I don't believe in God"

Many Christians argue that when a proclaimed atheist uses this phrase, they are acknowleding the presence of God and therefore are contradicting themselves - I disagree.

I use phrases like "I do not believe in aliens" and I'm sure many people have used phrases like this also. It is acknowledging the IDEA of that thing, in this case, aliens or God. The idea has a name because someone else thought it existed. I mean, what's the alternative? Saying "I dont' believe in.....?". That's silly!

Tonight I had a really long night at work. At 12:30AM, I'm finally out and driving home when I stuck behind a huge Sunoco truck going up Pricetown Hill. Pricetown Hill is right by my house and is about 1/2 straight up. This truck was going 20mph.

Can you imagine the gas mileage I was getting going 20mph straight up a hill (it took us 3 minutes or the length of "Sunday Morning" by No Doubt)? I swear my gas tank was a notch fuller before we started the climb. And it's all because of a Sunoco truck. How ironic is that? Those bastages.

"That's every guy's dream, to have two girls at the same time, but it never works out that way"

My friend said that tonight, and although I don't hold it personally against him, I think it's probably pretty true. It makes think about the garden, when Eve's punishment for eating the apple was that she would have a desire for her husband. A woman longs for a husband. I mean little girls dream about their wedding day starting at age 5. Not all women, but there is a good chunk that do...you can't say any men do that.

In fact, sin seems to have a different affect on both sexes in that aspect. Men want more than one woman. Women hold men up as their idols.

That's why this country holds women up as objects: men encourage it because that way women don't have real feelings and it somehow gives men permission to want just more than one woman. On the other hand, women don't deny it because they like the attention from men...because often times that's who they look to for meaning.

You know yesterday at my job, an old man at the bar told me to come over to him, so I did. He put a single dollar bill between his chin and his shoulder and said "do you know what to do?". I don't think anyone in the bar knew what he meant when he tried to explain by mumbling this or that about Christopher Reeve but I thought that he was going to ask me to lean down and take it from him with my shoulder and chin.

I mean, one dollar? Are you kidding me? You want me to forget my morality and self-respect so you can feel my body close to your sweaty, old grimy body and so you offer me a dollar? Honestly, when he did it, he acted like it was a fifty dollar bill. A dollar doesn't even buy 1/2 gallon of gas. Bottom line: I was pretty horrified. And honestly, it's quite telling. A guy who views a woman like that...well $1, that shows how just high in esteem he really holds her.

I'm continually amazed at God's providence:)

http://www.xanga.com/prayerjournal01
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Q How do you know when you've been single for too long?

A: when you tell your roommate you may bring your love interest to her house for a party and she assumes your talking about your new car

On Tuesday my parents and I were walking through Manhattan. We had just finished visiting my Poppop in the hospital and as we were walking though the courtyard of these apartment buildings, there was a man in the middle with a big peice of cardboard, faced toward Mecca ready to pray..

It made me think about a conversation I had when I was a freshman in college. My friend knew another student who was Hindu. She said that the Hindu's roommate wouldn't let her pray in the room, so my friend offered her room to her. At the time, I thought this was a horrible idea. If I was the Hindu's roommate, I would have never let her pray in the room. It would be like, encouraging her to worship another god, in fact, it would be providing that space for her to do so. A couple years later, I realize how obnoxious my mindset really was.

I spent the summer in Egypt surrounded by people praying to Allah, 5x's a day. I was never tempted to go up to any of them and say, "hey - don't do that!" But for some reason, it seemed different to me because the girl was praying in America. If I was her roommate, being a Christian, I have 2 options really.
1. I can let her pray in the room
2. I can say, no you can't pray in here

Either way, the woman will be a Hindu believer. Allowing her to pray in the room or not would make not difference in that respect. Just because I do not agree with her beliefs doesn't mean that I have a right to control what she does in the room. And honestly, what kind of view will she have of Christians if I think I am allowed to pray in the room and she isn't? It's kind of like saying, "Everything I am is good, and everything you are is evil". It's like when Christians picket Plan Parenthood on the day they do abortions for women. By picketing, no woman is going to run back out screaming, "You guys are right!". No, she's going to hate the Christians for being so mean and ugly to her, and ultimately not loving her.

It's amazing to me how option 1 seems so obvious now when only a couple years ago I would have sworn my life on option 2. It really says something about the state of new/young believers: we are not perfect and we have so much to learn. We are not automatically like Jesus. In fact, most times, we have a ton of growing to do, and we are never finished growing.

My So-Called Life Goes On..

There was this amazing series on MTV called My So-Called Lifewith Claire Danes and Jared Leto that aired in 1991 for one season. I have the VHS series, and the two books. I just bought a car so I'm kinda broke. So, I was looking around my room to see what I could sell on Amazon for some cash. I realized that this book that I have called My So-Called Life Goes On is going on amazon $59.99, and that's the cheapest one! The highest one is going for $278.00. I mean...the guy is NOT gonna be able to sell it for that much, but seriously.

I remember reading the book and hating it. I thought it sucked. But now I'm not sure if I want to get rid of it. It's like a collector's item or something. Jeez maybe I'll read it tonight. I didn't realize it was so valuable. Honestly if I sell it for $58.00 on Amazon I'll feel like I'm ripping someeone off cuz I only paid $4.99 for it. But if I sell it for $30 I'll feel like I'm ripping myself off.

What should I do with it?

I just had epiphany.

I'm an advocate for anything IV or Christian fellowship related...Bible study, large-group meetings and all the picnics, and all the "community fun-time" that goes with it. But, on the other hand, I'm a firm believer that good works don't give you salvation - if you read the book of James, you'll see that's pretty evident. I always always tell people that's it not about good works - like tithing or going to church or anything of those things.

What I realized just now is that I still really encourage Christians to do these things. If they don't go to IV for a while, it's not like I think they are lesser of a person, but I do think less of their spirituality, like I get worried. I know how easy it is to fall away and get swept up in all the crap you do. It's really really easy to forget God, and I just don't want that to happen.

I'm afraid people think I'm being legalistic, but I don't mean to...I'm just worried for you. I want you to be surrounded by Christian community and bring you into the presence of God so you can deal with what you need to. I never meant to sound legalistic...I just care about your heart.

The other day, as I walking though all the snow, trying to watch my step and not fall on my darry-air, I realized a startling truth about my present situation. The snow was very slippery as it was covered in a thickish layer of ice. So I was walking on snow and ice, aka water. So if I wanted to..I could start my post... "The other day, as I was walking on water..."

Words are so silly sometimes. Description is too. That's especially evident when you want to explain a feeling or an experience that isn't possible to spell out. I wish I could just spill my aura on this page, for everyone to just sniff or feel and be able to comprehend it...because it's not something you can read, or even see. Because if I tell you it makes me want to stay up all night, or cry, or clean my room or give up or cry out or expain, then you have an idea...that it's something I can't write. And as I try to explain and let you understand how I feel, you read my "thoughts", you think I'm overdramatizing the situation...but it's an explanation for goodness sake. Bear with me - this is my life.