Must I be a Leader?

I was just listening to a sermon about spiritual gifts, during which the preacher loudly proclaimed that people are not leaders without followers. I heard him say that and I thought to myself, "I must not have the spiritual gift of leadership."

So the sermon ended, I finished my video game and there was an electronic message waiting for me, directing me to this page.

Perhaps I am a leader after all. Why don't you go ahead and comment on that (just click on the radial button labled anonymous if you have no acceptable digital identity)?

Ammendment: Here is another new blog, one which may or may not have anything to do with me.

Yet Another Wedding

This is kind of funny; I am sitting here inside of the Silverdale Public Library, trying to download a sermon (which is coming very slowly) and until just a minute ago, I was watching a dressed and tagged member of the church of jesus christ of latter day saints read comic books. Isn't that interesting?

I attended yet another wedding on Saturday, August 26th in Bellingham WA. Bellingham is located nearly 17 miles south of the borderline between Washington and British Columbia. This wedding had been a long time in coming. I think that there were some who thought so five years ago, even so, I do not think that the groom had been negligent.

This wedding was much more expensive, but not much larger than the wedding which I attended on the preceding weekend. Unlike another large, expensive wedding I attended years ago, the expense of this wedding was appreciable. I think that the reason that this wedding was so appreciable was the engineering; the church building was more than large enough to accommodate the attendants and the reception area was landscaped very well with appropriately located trees and patios and grass and restrooms. The temperature was perfect also. There was dancing and music and food and some of us were halfway expecting Jesus Himself to walk along and join us all!

More Reflection on my trip to Brandon's Wedding

Well, I have finally decided to change my template because a very sharp and somewhat educated individual was unable to find the speech link in my last posting due to a lack of contrast. I do like the darker colored template better, but like I always (sometimes) say, "Functionality before style."

I remembered more stuff regarding Brandon's Wedding, so I have decided to type it here.

Sometime after I arrived in Spokanistan, Brandon let me help him out with his to-do list, which included some dinky little things like replacing pots and pans which he had earlier damaged with excessive heat.

He also had me drive him and this kid that he had been ministering to to the social security office. This kid had been named Allan. Allan needed to go to the social security office because he needed to get a social security card because he needed to be able to get a job. Brandon informed me that lots of kids could be working but are too lazy to get off of their rears and get jobs, but because of particular ministries, Alan was trying to do so, and I think that Brandon was right. Allan looked as though he had been born in the US and I was right. The problem was that his parents either could not or would not locate his social security card for him even though they had been keeping it for him since he was born. When I found out about that I decided to be thankful that my parents were able to keep track of things like that because if they hadn't, I would probably be just like Allan; hanging around some neighborhood in Spokanistan, and maybe, just maybe being ministered to by two young single guys. Instead, I get to do the ministering. Unfortunately, the social security office seemed to be giving Allan the royal runaround and he was not able to get his social security card even though it was his second trip there that day. So thank you Jesus that my parents were as organized as they were. If you want to read more good things about my parents, be sure to read my posting about my parents.

Oh, my digital camera has been found and I decided to just replace my cellular telephone battery charger because it was about shot anyways. I got one from radio shack that is supposed to work on other cellular telephones which may be economically helpful for to me after the cellular telephone that I have becomes worn out. As a result of my camera being found, I have begun dialogue with the people that found it, which is quite nice, so perhaps really am quite happy about the whole thing!

I got to be the Best Man

I spent Wednesday and Thursday and Friday and Saturday on the wedding of my friend Brandon in Spokanistan. He is the same Brandon from far away that you may have read about in my last entry. Soon he will be even further away because he is on his way to Boston. I won't go on and on about how I know him because you can read a bit about that in the notes that I wrote for the speech that I was privileged to deliver as Brandon's best man.

As I typed, I arrived on Wednesday, at about 11 in the morning. I got up early because I woke up early and had packed everything on the previous evening. After I arrived, Brandon and I went over to see Virgiliana who had been sleeping, but seemed to be happy to see us anyway and we argued about whether DVDs are really better than VHS videos (which I am sure that they are). We all went out shopping for a suit for me. I think that it was on Wednesday night that we watched the first two thirds of Fiddler on the Roof.

On Thursday morning, Brandon's bachelor party was held, which consisted of me and Randy and Brandon playing minigolf and frisbee and wandering around Spokane, although we did spend a few minutes talking about how Driscoll got kicked off of a particular radio show for failing to condemn oral sex as unchristian because he interprets Song of Solomon as encouraging it. We finished off that day with Virgiliana's family in the Mead area. I tasted my first wine there and then.

On Friday there was a little rehearsal and a big pizza dinner, none of which I should have eaten. Fortunately, the only thing that I did eat was one bread stick, so things could have been worse. After Brandon arrived at his house (which he had also opened to me), he felt somehow unhappy about all of the people who had arrived and decided that he needed to chill. Somehow or other he decided that we should have a devotional time instead of a beer drinking time, so that is what we had. It seemed to make him feel better, but that is probably because Jesus made him forget all about how miserable he was. Oh, Brandon would also want me to point out that his feet were quite warm the whole time.

On Saturday I felt sick, but I arose and used the internet to help me tie my own tie all by myself for the very first time. I haven't done it enough times to remember how to do it yet.

Brandon's other groomsman named Devin arrived and we all sort of headed off to church, which was half a block away. Two cute little girls from across the street kept coming over and asking if the wedding had started yet and I had to keep telling them that I hoped that it had not because I was not supposed to miss it.

I was somewhat distressed when I saw the color of the dress of the bride until the groom explained to me that it was a traditional Chinese wedding gown and that it had nothing to do with any lack of redemption, justification, sanctification, or expiation. On top of all that, it is very aesthetically pleasing and much more modest than the standard white American wedding gown.
I really liked the whole service, which Virgiliana planned, and the things that the minister said, and I had a good old time making everybody laugh during my toast which Brandon and Virgiliana seemed to be quite happy about. I downloaded all of the pictures from the father and sister of the groom so that I can share them with you. I left too quickly and now I don't know anything about the location of the digital camera that carried there with me. I left Spokanistan a bit after 7:30 pm and drove back to Sliverdale by 1:00 am or so on Sunday. Aside from losing my digital camera and my cellular telephone charger, I am very happy about the whole thing!

My first non-familial guests from far away

Brandon and Virgie visited me about two weeks ago. We had a nice time going to church and eating and wandering around the whaling days street festival and the beach and waiting for the ferry boat.

Actually, I didn't enjoy the eating part that much because there wasn't really any food that I could eat and Brandon paid good money for me to enter the Chinese Buffet. Oh well. We had a nice time talking about the differences between feasting and gluttony.

Notice my Bible Quizzing trophies in the picture there. I had been planning to throw them away in the dumpster (hard as that seems), but Brandon and Virgie decided to take them with them. I asked what they would do with them and was told, "we'll have them." I haven't the slightest idea what that means, but I don't really care because I got out of having to throw them away myself. If you are interested in this Bible Quizzing program, click here.

My Dear Sister's Wedding Picture

You may have noticed that my dear sister who got married commented on my previous blog posting regarding her wedding and informed me that I should go ahead and place a picture of her at her wedding up here. I visited her about a week ago and she mentioned that again, so here it is. I guess that she is a married woman and any relatives that don't like this picture here will just have to live with it.

My little brother took this snap shot with a digital camera from the front row with no tripod and a built-in flash. It is just amazing how photography has become easier for people who know nothing about science (that isn't supposed to say anything about my little brother). But yeah, there you go. You can see the blog of my dear sister and her husband here.

Speaking of weddings, I am to be a part of the wedding party for the wedding of my friend Brandon in Spokanistan on Saturday. That should be exciting. I'll have to make some mention of how it goes.

Today I had Pat from Seaside Church over for lunch because I had purchased food for other guests without a confirmation from them and they were not able to come and everybody else seemed to be busy. He is a Francis A. Schaeffer fan, so we had a good time. 

Alcohol

I was at my neighbor's house last night because of a community event called Sliverdale Whaling Days (Silverdale Whaling Days). It is kind of a street festival just like Duvall Days and Sultan Shindig and Seattle Seafair. I didn't know that people invited their friends over for parties in honor of said events (or the fireworks that precede them), but there I was. I had already met the host at the Seaside Church in Bummertown (Bremerton), and he offered me a beer that didn't say light all over it, so I accepted. While I was consuming this alcohol, my buddy from Pullman called me and I realized that the last time I had consumed alcohol was when I was with him at a party. Sometime around then I decided to try to come up with a list of occasions upon which I have consumed alcohol.

1. In Monroe with my friend Brian. Brian has acted as my friend for some eleven years. I think that I was 22 years old. He insisted upon taking me out for this blend of coffee and alcohol. I said to myself, "this is probably the cheapest way to determine that I don't like coffee and that I don't like alcohol." I didn't like that drink at all. It may have had something to do with the fact that the drink was supposed to be hot, but I let it get cold.
2. In July of 2004 I went on a little evangelism outing with a man whom I met at a college group in the home of the Claussen's in Carnation. We handed out the Ray Comfort type tracks and talked to people. We (I) had a great time. Afterward, Samuel (said man) bought me some sort of alchoholic fruit drink from the QFC there.
   
3. Then there was the time in 2005 that Dave at the Embassy said that I was invited to Applebees in Moscow ID and I had $10 in my pocket, so I surprised everyone by accepting. I ordered something called a Black Buette and surprised everyone by finishing it even though I ordered a small glass and a large glass was delivered.
4. One day in April of 2006 I went to a place on the hill in Pullman (I can't remember the name of the place) and had something called a Jeagermister. The music was loud and the place was quite crowded.
5. Last night at my neighbor's house while waiting for fireworks and cracking corny jokes.
   

So there you go (just in case you cared). O yes, as Driscoll once said, "WWJD? What Would Jesus Drink?) That reminds me that I should get around to trying some wine someday.

The Wedding of my dear sister to that one man that she likes a lot

My dear sister was married to a man whom she met at Bible college in Wisconsin. I am not including pictures of either of them because if I were to do so, a particularly sensitive relative of mine would become upset about it. Instead, I have included a picture of myself (having my picture taken) getting ready to take a picture of my dear sister and her new husband (no, he wasn't born yesterday and no, he hasn't been living under a rock since then). I can't figure out why I was the only one there who thought of standing on top of that really nice rock there.

Oh well, it was a nice wedding on a nice day and I can't think of any disadvantage to the whole thing for my dear sister.

We did get my grandmother to come out (the whole ten miles or so), but she had to be returned to her home almost immediately after the ceremony. Much of the other side of the family attended also. 

What I did last night.

This posting is for my boss's wife because I was told yesterday that she thought that I wouldn't even chop up vegetables. I imagine that she thought so because I eat a raw but baked potato for lunch and I just smile and nod when people suggest that I take the trouble to take care of myself.

I was lying around yesterday after work because I was tired. It is probable that I was tired because I hadn't eaten enough. I started thinking about Proverbs 14:17 which says that

Where no oxen are, the manger is clean, But much revenue comes by the strength of the ox (NASB).

And I also thought about how husbands are supposed to love their wives as their own bodies, and it occurred to me (as it has before) that no woman in her right mind is going to think that I will be diligent enough to love her and to take care of her while I am too lazy to take care of my own body. It reminds me of the assertion that Francis Schaeffer made in his dinky little book called The Mark of the Christian. It is about how Jesus gives the world the right to determine whether He was sent by His Father based on whether believers love each other.

So I got up and off of my bed and figured out what I wanted and wrote it down and walked down the road to the Red Apple store. I walked in and looked at the produce and held my list in front of me. This one guy there commented that he liked my list. I am pretty sure that he thought that I had been sent by my mother. I felt kind of bad about how many plastic bags I had to use to carry all the different vegetables seperately. When I got the front, the checkout lady called me hon. I think that she also thought that my mother had sent me to the store for her. It probably doesn't help that I appear to be about six years younger than I really am.

So I went home and built a stir fry and ate it and I have been living happily ever since. I guess it just goes to show that if you want something to get done, there are but three ways to make it happen (or so Tom Rief told me):

1. Do it yourself
2. Pay someone else to do it
3. Tell someone that it can't be done or that they can't do it

Since I was told that my boss's wife said that I wouldn't do something, I went out and did it. I should probably do it again soon.

Let me just tell you that you are unable or unwilling to leave comments and converse about my problems because you know that you have your own. Now maybe I'll get more feedback (uh-huh).

The least interesting post yet

I am standing outside of the apartment in which I reside because I want to be able to use the internet connection from the local union office which is north of the complex. Since moving here, I have decided that unions are good for something after all. I had been walking three blocks to the Silverdale Public Library, but I found out yesterday that I need only step outside and over to the left a few feet. This is kind of handy because the deck railing is wide and makes a decent platform for the cutting board that I place my computer on. I am quite happy about this cutting board because it allows me to place my computer on top of blankets and other things that would otherwise interfere with the ventalation system of my computer.

I went to see the cars movie last week and found myself grinning and laughing through most of it.

I am unhappy because I think that Jesus wants me to be talking to my neighbors, but I am not doing so.

One neighbor seems to like watching movies a lot. Another seems to like standing in front of the apartment in which he resides while smoking.

More about My Graduation

My little brother commented that I should post more about my college graduation, so here we go.

I guess I should begin by clarifying (just in case you haven't read my Parents posting) that the degree I received was Bachelor of Science of Civil Engineering from Washington State University. Oh, and the job that I have is a civil engineering job and the task at hand in my place of employment is the preparation of drainage reports for approval by Kitsap County.

People came to visit me on my graduation day. Pictured here with me are my good friend Brandon and his good friend Virgiliana who has agreed to marry him. Both of my parents and both of my brothers and both of my sisters also came along with my great grandmother and my great uncle Kerby who is a Civil Engineer in Lewiston Idaho.

My parents and my brothers and Brandon and Virgie and myself ate at Taco del Mar and Brandon and Vergie put up with my family and all of the moving and such that I had to do to move out of the Embassy where I lived for two years in Pullman. That was all quite gracious of them. My parents drove a great big van over to put my stuff in. My mother and my brothers and I left for Monroe on the day after graduation, but everyone else left on the day of graduation because of things that they needed to get done. Brandon and Virgie decided to stay with me until about nine that evening talking and listening to music and watching a TV show from the third season of Hogan's Heroes. 

My First Week of Work

I made it through working on Wednesday and Thursday and Friday. I have been staying with my grandparents twenty-six or so miles away from Poulsbo because it seems that there is no housing in Poulsbo. If anyone knows of any cheap housing in Poulsbo, please let me know.

Work on Wednesday morning was quite rough because of me not knowing what was going on because of my supervisors being absent and the disorganization of the computers. The computers seemed to be disorganized because of the incompetence of the engineer before me. Everyone seems to be pleased that he is gone. I have been doing some praying that I will not turn out like him.

My last night

This may very well be my last night at home. I am supposed to show up at work in Poulsbo on Wednesday which is the day after tomorrow. I don't have my own place to live yet. I called four apartment places today and have been unable to talk to anyone connected with them. I am allowed to sleep at my mother's parent's house. My mother's parents live only 26 miles away from the location of my work. I guess that I will type about how all of this goes after some of it has already happened.

I had to take my computer apart and resoldier the power jack because I busted it in my car on the ferry boat last Tuesday. I remembered to connect my on board mouse this time, so the computer is easier to use in unconventional locations.

I graduated today

My little brother took this picture for me. It is an image of me as well as an image of an image of me.

I should also mention that I got a job in Poulsbo Washington which I accepted on Friday after visiting the company on Monday.

I had only applied for the job a week before Monday through a portable document file in an electronic message. I received a call before 8 am on the following day. I was asked some questions and all but offered the job. I received a written job offer on the following friday.

This is unusual because I seem to have spent about the first month of each of the last two summers trying to find a summer job. This time I was all but handed a job. I remember that last summer I noted that I had given God every opportunity to give me an engineering job, but he had not. There were a number of jobs that I should have had, but I just didn't get them. Jesus must have given me this job just so that I will know that He can give me whatever He wants to whenever He wants to do so. We should all take note that God can do whatever He wants to do because He is the King! 

Children's Church

When I grew up I was very rarely allowed to attend children's church because my parents determined that my time would be better spent by practicing for adulthood in adult church. I now agree with them.

My church recently lost two pastors, one to church planting, another to a church in a neighboring city, so my church was left with leadership needs. Because of these needs, the children's ministry at my church has been opened to not only the skilled, but also to the plain old willing. I am a part of the plain old willing. That is to say that I am not skilled in dealing with children.

This picture is a picture of two people having their pictures taken. The person whose head is nearest the top of the picture is Josh who helps me. He comments on my blog sometimes and it was his idea for me to type about children's church in my weblog. That person in front of him is a student.

I am told that these kids behave worse than people do in public school. 

My birthday or the twenty-fourth anniversary thereof

My birthday was yesterday. Please note that I am telling you this after the fact and not before the fact so that you will not feel the need to go out and buy me something. I am just going to tell you about it because I need something to type in this blog about because I have been neglecting it. When I can't think of anything to write about, it makes me feel like I haven't been doing anything worth doing, which is probably almost true.

Yesterday was not really my birthday because my real birthday was twenty-four years ago. Each of us can have just one physical birthday and the annual celebrations of birthdays that people hold are really just anniversarys of birthdays. So the next time you hear someone talk about her fiftieth birthday party, she is probably talking about reincarnation.

I was quite tired on the morning of the twenty-fourth anniversary of my birthday because I had been awake a long time the day before taking the Engineer In Training test and visiting with my friend in Spokane, but I made it to church and taught children's church anyway. My Mother and my Father and my sisters called my cellular telephone and greeted me. Aside from the really nice vegetable stir fry that my friend bought me in Spokane on Saturday, that was about the best part of the whole thing.

I wonder if I'll be able to come up with anything interesting to type before graduation.

Attempting to glorify the worm

These are pictures of pastor Dale. He ministered to my grandparents someplace and then to my parents years ago at 15th Avenue Bible Church (which no longer exists) before I was born.
He ministered to me at Sky Valley Bible Church in Monroe from 2001-2004.

Come to think of it, I must have been born for some of that 15th Ave Bible Church stuff because I know that loves to tell a story about me praying for snow at a time when snow was unlikely and getting it and then going four-wheeling in his orange pickup truck.

I have taken several of the sermons that he preached during his time at Sky Valley Bible Church from audio cassette tapes and placed them on the Sky Valley Bible Church web site because I find myself referring back to my recollections of his teachings over and over again. These include preaching on:

• eternal security
• the exclusive priesthood of Jesus
• the meaning of propitiation (1 John 4:10)
• the meaning of repentance (probably not what you think)
  
• the fact that Jesus lives in each of His children
• the need for believers to restrain themselves to keep themselves from pontificating and making people feel guilty over things that don't matter
• the need for believers to deal with bad behavior in the church
• the fact that Jesus is the King
• the need for believers to walk with Jesus all the way through the end of their lives
  

Pastor Dale has his own ministry which he calls Reaching Men Ministries which takes men (not too many at a time) away from normal life (often to some sort of wilderness) and talks to them about regular old things and things of eternal significance because many to most of the deep conversations that Jesus had with his disciples took place during such excursions.

I learned something new about the Pollyanna movie

Today my mother requested that I drive my little brothers to the library and that I wait there with one of them for an hour. I pulled out my computer and decided to read a sermon called "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" which was written by Jonathon Edwards because Mark Driscoll stated explicitly in his blog that Jonathon Edwards is the "greatest theologian that America ever produced" because of the aforementioned sermon which Mark Driscoll described as "America's most famous sermon." I.e. I decided to read America's most famous sermon because I had never read it before.

I read the first twelve or so pages (of eighteen in the format that I found first) before I had to drive my brother to another location. When I returned I decided to find the first sermon scene in the pollyanna movie because I was reminded of it by my earlier reading. As I watched it, I decided that sermon therin had obviously been taken from "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God." I got on the internet and found it to be so.

So I just realized that the first sermon in the Pollyanna movie is really not as bad as the movie tries to make it out to be. It is just incomplete, i.e. just about all of the content of the Pollyanna sermon is contained in the first 12 pages of the "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" sermon and it ends with "Yes, death comes unexpectantly! Amen." and says absolutely nothing about Jesus or anything that he did or does. So it is a good 90% of a sermon, but makes people uselessly miserable. At the end of the movie, all of the sermons are preached exclusively from the happy texts and are even more useless than those previous. If you are at all interested in knowing why both of these components are required in these proportions, I recommend reading or listening to Hell's Best Kept Secret.

I guess I do find it interesting that Disney made money off of making fun of America's most famous sermon way back in the sixties when it was supposed to be so clean and moral.

Spring Break

I get to type about spring break! Of course I can't make you read about it, but that is just the downside. Again, the upside is that you can't stop me from typing about it.

My car was full during the trip from Pullman to Seattle. That means that I got paid so that the trip to Seattle didn't really cost me anything. I left on Friday the 10th. I found out that my car traveled 27.5+ miles every time it consumed a gallon. I didn't even get my car in a wreck! Wow.

I helped my grandmother move to assisted living on Saturday. I went to church and visited with friends on Sunday. I scheduled an interview on Monday and went shooting. Yesterday I had my hairs cut by my sister and ate dinner with her and watched the Cosby show. Today I had a different interview and went on a run with my brother. Me, me, me, I, I, I. When I left Pullman I was hoping for two interviews, neither of which were confirmed. Now I have finished one, confirmed another and am hoping for yet another. I should be praying to Jesus about these.

Re: So what do you do for sex?

You may have noticed that my little brother replied to my VIP posting. Being a young teenage male, he wanted to know how I responded when I was asked, "So what do you do for sex?"

If I remember correctly, this response went something like this: "Nothing." Of course this man couldn't believe that and proceeded to question me further regarding masturbating and a particular homosexual act, both of which he praised because of the pleasure he said that they brought him. The visit ended directly after he asked me to remove his pants from his body.

I told the activities director that I would only put up with so much of that kind of preaching before I began some preaching of my own and we agreed that I would cease visiting that individual. I think it is interesting that some of the men there are glad that I am in Jesus, some are just glad to talk to someone, but some want to have sex with me.

Perhaps some later posting will include my reasoning for believing that masturbating is wrong. I guess I will just say that the power that God continually provides for me so that I can avoid masturbating is a great assurance that I really am in Jesus and that He is taking care of me and that He will continue to do so even if I die. I think that since I am living a (nearly) superhuman lifestyle, Jesus must be living in me. I tried to stop without His help multiple times. Each was unsuccessful.

So yeah, if anyone cares to know more about my experiences with masturbating and Jesus changing me, I will share with him (or her as the case may be).