Big Words for Joshs

So, josh wanted more big words, so i figured i'd give 'em to you. here they are:

Phantasmagoric
Antinomian
Palimpsest
Physiognomies

Enjoy!

Government

A wise man, whose biography i am currently reading (and being delighted and intrigued by this incredibly interesting and brilliant man), it would be JRR Tolkien, author of The Lord of The Rings, recently made into a movie most successfully by Peter Jackson, took and interesting stance on government. He said "I am not a 'democrat', if only because 'humility' and equality are spiritual principles corrupted by the attempt to mechanize and formalize them, with the result that we get not universal smallness and humility, but universal greatness and pride, till some Orc gets hold of a ring of power - and then we get and are getting slavery" - JRR Tolkien. Now this is very interesting. Lately i have realized that government as a whole is incredibly flawed. To go even further, ALL forms of government are flawed. Basically, all forms of government fail completely with time, just some forms take longer to fail completely than others. For example, Communism failed within 100 years, ex: USSR. Democracy, on the other hand, has been working for more than 200 years, ex: USA. Monarchy has worked for many years, hundreds actually, ex:France, Britain, and Russia. Now monarchy is special in that it may have failed quickly, with the kingdom falling into disrepair, starving subjects, etc., but the monarchy stayed intact simply because of the power it wielded. In the end, though, monarchy usually fails, and very few monarchies still function today. Democracy works quite well, except that people are easily corrupted. Thus a government based on people would become corrupted easily. However, it takes into consideration all of the opinions and desires of the people, so usually most of the people are kept happy, but people are not always happy with what is right, and what is right does not always make people happy, and thus something that is not best for the country is easily done. It works well, until someone(s) in power, in democracy's case the people, gets corrupted (the "Orc" obtaining a "ring of power") and then it all falls to shambles and the people are forced to do something that is not good for them and/or something they do not like. All in all, the only form of government that works indefinitely is a benevolent dictatorship, with Jehovah as the benevolent dictator. He loves all men, and has their best intrests at heart. So, he will act to keep them happy, unless keeping them happy is not best for them, in which case he will do what is best for them, because he loves them, i'll bring more on the definition of lvoe used here, and thus the people are kept happy most of the time, and the best is always doen for the people. No Corrruption. Just think about this while watching CNN. Have a God-filled Day! Consider putting him in charge of YOUR life!

Last Weekend

It was great to see the few of you that i did yesterday. it seems like everyone was doing well! as for those that i didn't see, i'm sorry i missed you! i hope everyone had a great thanksgiving. i know i did.

Question: is it weird to mix the cranberry sauce with the cottage cheese?

oh, and fried mashed potatoes are really good for breakfast!

Grace like Rain

So i just got back from a youth retreat with a new youth group that i've been hanging out with, and it was incredible! We were praying every night, and intense prayers! i have never prayed like that before or heard anyone pray like that before! and i have never seen results like the ones we got before! i don't know how much i can share, just cause of confidentiality stuff, but God descended and made his presence felt, and has jump-started my life in an amazing way! the prayer was just so powerful, and the results were so quick! we were praying, and then this joy just hit the other guys in the room, and they were going crazy! we started singing and praying, man, it was 3 in the morning, and we even got someone to come and tell us to be quieter! it was amazing! and then the next day, God continued to be amidst everything, and that night, there was some more intense stuff, and we were worshipping in this one living room like thing, and it was starting to end, and you know, people were starting to talk and stuff, and i was sitting in a rocking chair, and this incredible feeling, something i could not understand, a feeling of peace, sorta, and anticipation that something amazing was about to happen, and i did not want to move, cause i didn't want to go out from this feeling. So i just stayed there and rocked for fifteen minutes, and then i finally got out. And ever since i have been covered with a deep love for these people, and a desire to pray and i'm realizing that i've become fed up with the world, and that i'm ready for heaven! i can't wait! my desire for the things of this world has become diminished, and i can't wait to get rid of it!
out of this weekend, i've made new, Christian friends at my school, and we've done some praying in school already today, and i'm being inspired, and i've been praying that somethign would happen in my school, and i think something great will happen! God has given me the courage to reach out to people, and i want to do somethign great!

Friends

Recently, i have had to begin the process of making new friends. this is never a fun one, and can take forever to complete. i've become reaquainted with myself, as i've been spending a lot more time with me, myself, and i.
now this has taught me a lot about people who seem to have no friends. how can someone be happy without friends?! people think it's not that bad, but it is that bad! it is awful! life really does suck if you have no friends! there is no one to talk to, no one to do things with, no one to even eat lunch with it! that kid who's eating by himself at school, sitting at the end of the table, with no one around him, he doesn't want to be there! chances are, he's holding back tears, cause he has to go through another lunch period by himself; no one sat with him! we tell ourselves, they're probably used to it, it probably doesn't feel bad to them. it's not true! they may even convince themselves that they're used to it, but that's not true either! they're lying to themselves! they aren't happy! humans aren't created to be alone! we were meant to have a perfect relationship with God! and we don't have that on earth, so no one can tell themselves that they're okay without even an imperfect relationship with humans! it's a lie!
speaking as one of the lonely kids, we dont' want to be alone! we want to friends! don't just walk past us and pretend that we aren't there! don't let us eat alone one more time! it hurts, every second by ourselves hurts! and don't say "oh, i'll sit with her tomorrow". you can't gurantee that you'll even make it home tonight! that lonely kid may not be there tomorrow! maybe they'll get hit by a bus that afternoon! sure it was an accident, but you missed a chance to be Jesus to someone! It must break God's heart to see kids lonely and by themselves, cause i know it breaks mine! take the hit to your popularity or whatever, and step out and be Jesus! it says in the bible "don't build up treasures for yourself on earth, where moths and rust destroy, and thieves break and steal". i'm not sure where that's from, but it's still the living word. now, we all know that we're going to all die and then go to heaven, so there's no reason for getting rich on earth or anything, and that's true enough, but Jesus says moths and rust destroy treasure on earth and theives steal it! that's more than just dying and it being gone. that's that even while you're alive and on earth, your treasure can still be taken from you! there's no reason to work at getting treasure on earth! it will disappear! it will not, and can not stay! start getting your values in order and cherish the things that matter! Cherish the lonely souls at your school! Jesus cherishes those souls! Cherish those souls! Care for them! befriend them! it just tears me apart to see such loneliness!

Moving

So, as many of you know, my family and i have moved again. it was a big one, and i don't want to dwell on all the muck you go through when you have to say goodbye to people. Instead, i want to tell you guys how God has once again done something really cool! so, today, just a few hours ago actually, we went to check out a church. I walked in, and couldn't take it. It just brought back too many memories. I felt awful for a few minutes, and then God decided to destroy a cliche. After you go to church for awhile, you begin to hear the same phrase over and over. "God will never leave you". It's a precious truth, but many people hear it so often, that unfortunately it starts to become repetitive and gain the qualities of a cliche. But when you're at a really low point, and you feel like dying and goingto heaven, just cause it's too much and you're sick and tired of feeling down, and your heart feels like it's breaking into a million pieces, and you don't think you can take it anymore, God can come into that situation and... i don't even know what he did today, but he lifted me. He eased the pain and gave me strength that wasn't there a second ago. The thing that was a cliche turned very real. And it happened at a moment when i really needed it to be more than a cliche. God doesn't give up, and he keeps coming back, and it's revolutionizing how he can change things. I will never see this as a phrase, worn out by years of use. It's a living truth! when God said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you" he meant it, and he sticks by his word. It's a beautiful thing, it really is... i can't do what happened justice with my words, but it was one of those moments that you remember, and prove that God is real, and you just know, that he is there, and that he loves you! i pray that anyone who reads this and hasn't experienced this, would be touched by God. have a good one!

Long Words

So, a friend recently said he liked big words, and i agreed to put a big word up on my blog, everyday. Well, it's been awhile since i put a big word up, so i have failed you. But, to make up for my shortcomings, i will put a bunch up right now. enjoy:

1. Gongorism - Spainish literary style
2. Zeugma - Figure of speech using a verb or adjective with two nouns, to one of which is strictly applicable while the wrod appropriate to the other is not used
3. Frontogenesis - the formation or development of fronts
4. Fissiparous - reproducing by fission
5. Cryptomeria - evergreen tree of the cypress type. Japanese Cedar

Special thanks to the Oxford Concise Dictionary

Since when was having a low population growth rate a good thing? since when was having a low birth rate a good thing? What's so wrong about having kids?! Why is it suddenly a good thing to have only one child, or maybe less?! Sure they cost a lot and may be a liability, but i really don't care about all that! I've been told by many trustworthy people that kids are great! I myself find kids to be great! Who cares what the freakin government says! lets screw-up their controlled growth rate thing! Even the staticians and politicians were once kids themselves! what if their parents had said "you know what, kids are too much hassle. lets not have any kids". do they ever think about that?!

Grotto

As for me, it's a wet pre-Victoria day. Victoria Day is tomorrow, so the fireworks sellers are out in droves. I love fireworks. There's something about lighting something on fire and then watching it fly into the air and explode that is cool. Victoria day is Queen Victoria's birthday, just to let all you people know.

Well...

Well life is good, but cool again. As our moving date draws nearer, I'm realizing that i really have to do this. I have to say goodbye to my friends and start another new school. sheesh. oh well. It's struck me lately that nothing will ever be perfect until heaven. There will always be something going wrong. I will never feel absolutely complete until heaven, either. That's just the way it is. We weren't created to bo separated from God. Our soul naturally cries out for him, and when we fill that void with other things, then we get in trouble. Anyways, i'm awaiting the northern release of "Expelled" eagerly.

Spring

Excuse me, I think I dropped my spring somewhere around here. Have you seen it? Cause I sure haven't! It's almsot straight from winter to summer up here. we had like a week of spring. It's nuts. I am glad that the snow is gone. I was getting really tired of it. How about them Penguins, eh?

Science

Today i was hearing about how the Earth is 13 billion years old, and about atoms and stuff and all of that stuff which is continually used to dissprove God, and i grated on me. But as I was biking home, somethign great happened. It was revealed to me that God created it all and rules all, even this stuff. It filled me with a great sense of confidence and peace. It was great. I just knew God was in control and that it would be alright. Funny how it is commonly taught that there is no God, yet the stuff they come up with the explain our existence outside of God only strengthens my faith. Thank you Jesus!

LAZY

I witnessed this just today. There's this plaza with a grocery store and other various shops and food places close to my house. This lady came out of presumably the grocery store, got into her Escalade, and drove about 15 yards (the Escalade is about 4 yards), parks again, and get out and walks into the laundromat. How lazy can you get!? It would've taken her what, 30 more seconds to walk to the laundromat?! Man, why does she even need that big of a car to drive that far? It's ludacris. I probably spelled that wrong, but it is! How stupid. Disgusting behaviour, attesting to our fallen nature.

The road goes ever on and on

Life goes ever on and on...

See Below

In referance to my earlier post, I feel like shootint a TV outside of MTV's head offices.

All this talk about stories...

Both ben's have been talking about stories, I think. Basically, I've been hearing a lot about stories and how crucial they are to society, and that made me think, what are today's stories? Very few stories are being created like they used to be. The dashing prince on a horse has been cordoned into Disney's realm, to never be freed on threat of bad reviews. Suddenly the public is starting to gravitate towards stupid movies that make fun of real stories. I mean, yes, you have to be able to laugh at yourself, but it's starting to seem that half of the movies are decent movies and that the other half make fun of them. The real stories are being mocked. I can't remember the last movie that was liked because it had a good, strong story to it. For an example of this I think of The Lord of The Rings. There needs to be a story that is just so good, that regardless of the fact that it's filled with princes and swords and dragons and goblins, it's just so good that the world loves it despite of what the media tells us. Since when does the media decide what we like!? The media was designed to serve us, but now it dictates our feelings! It's become a sentient being, and the power that we gave it so that it might serve us better is being used against us! The beast has broken out from the cage, AND IT'S HEADED THIS WAY!!!

Good Friday

It's Good Friday, which is the anniversary of Jesus' death on the cross, on of the most important things in the history of the Christian faith. That and the resurrection are the two building blocks upon which all of Christianity sits upon. If you don't believe that Jesus died for your sins and rose agian, then you are not a Christian. Today my pastor delved into how God is perfect, holy, absolutley loving, and absolutely just. What came out of the sermon is that only through the cross, could God be absolutely loving and absolutely just. Someone had to pay the price, and by giving himself, he satisfied his justness, and showed his great love, that he would give himself. His top priority is to magnify himself, and by staying just and loving at the same time, he proclaims his glory, once again, giving us another reason to praise him. I can't do the sermon justice here. It's very hard to explain, but if I can only give you but a taste of the basic thoughts, it will be enough, because it was an amazing message, and really reveals more of the glory of God. I hope I made some sense. I hope you can get the basic idea, because it is deep and incredible. I never thought about it like this, and it all proves, that God is truly holy and perfect and amazing. What a God we serve!

Inbreeding

Climbing Higher

As always it was a pleasure to retreat with you guys. I had an amazing time. The worship was some of the greatest I've had in quite some time. it was really powerful. The teaching was good too. The 3 steps he gave to freeing yourself from oppression was very relevant and is worth remembering for the rest of your life. It was great. It was so good to see you guys again. I think about you guys almost everyday, and it was good to see you in person rather than in thought. And if you haven't heard, I am moving to Maryland at the end of June! It's a big move for my family and I, and I'll have to change my blog title, but I'll be closer to you guys. That, for me, is one of the best parts about this move. I'm not just saying that, I mean it! Hope you're all getting sleep agian, and hope to see you guys again. Have a Great Easter!

Climbing Higher

It's so close! Can you taste the unwashed bodies and cheetos yet? The wet, grimy, crumpled socks that are lying revoltingly close to your head, and you don't know who's they are? Maybe that kid who hid there during the pillow fight last night left them there. You'll get 'em at breakfast. The Lone Retreater always gets his man.

God and Toccata in D Minor

Well, my dad lent me this book to read, called "Desiring God" by John Piper, and in the part that I'm at now, a big theme is God is in control of everything, and that includes natural disasters, personal disasters, the works. Now that sounds really cruel, but God allows these things because while in themselves they are horrible, in the big picture, they further his kingdom. He grieves for the event in itself, but it's part of a bigger picture. I always assumed he was in control, but the bad things were the devil's doing, and God combated that. That thinking would mean that God isn't in control of everything, but he is, which means he "allows" sin. I don't understand all of it, but God has his reasons, and if I understood the ways of God, well, that would be amazing! Anyways, this means that people who try to get away from God, and destroy him, are only furthering his purpose. How great is our God! Even those who try to turn from him and blot him only bring about his purposes and fufill his plans. In one of the psalms it talks about God being even in the darkenss, and there's a verse in Job about how God turns the hearts of kings like streams. He is mighty! It's as if we're just acting out a script. free will is not even worth thinking about, because we can't run from God! We can't stop "acting out" his plan! I've also been on a classical music binge. I was listening to "St. Matthew's Passion", the finale anyway, it is was really cool. Then over the weekend I heard a brass band play "Toccata in D Minor" by Bach too. It was absoulutely stunning. Popular music, while some of it being good, compared to this seems like a diluted, surface of real emotions. The power of these pieces is incredible, and the emotion just washes over you. It's amazing. They make me tingle all over. The feeling is just so real and so massive to me! It's not boring at all! It's some of the best, most invocative music I've ever heard! I'm starting to listen to it all the time, cause it's just so great! I guess other people get their kicks from other types of music, but classical really turns my crank.

Classical Music

This won't shock any of you, because most of you are well-rounded folk with a good head on their shoulders, but I love classical music! I recently heard someone say that their girlfriend had said it was harder to write a pop song than a piece of classical music. I think they should be smacked! Have they never seen classical sheet music in their lives!?!? That stuff is hard! And the classical composers were churning hundreds of pieces in their lifetimes; upwards of a thousand in Bach's case! That's pronounced B-A-(and the -ch is sounds as if you are about to hork a loogie. It's German). This brings me to another point, I was walking home one day, and on the other side of the street there was a teenage girl listening to her iPod. I could hear her music, it was so loud! It wasn't a loud song either, it was just turned up "... way beyond a sensible level" (Red Green). Incredible. I could hear her iPod across the street.

Apathy

Ben, I've been thinking about what you said about my generation being called the "apathetic" generation, and I think I've discovered a pattern. Back in the late 1700s to mid-1800s, the families with money had very easy lives, and their children didn't have to work very hard. Thus they became apathetic, and began to lose money. So their children had to learn how to work. They earned money, and life began to get easy for them again. But then came the depression and the world wars, which reinforced the habits of hard work. Immediately after WWII, life started getting easier even for people in the middle class. But there were all the immegrants from countries destroyed by WWII who had to work hard because they had nothing. Some of them passed these habits on to their children, who worked hard. All the while, life is getting easier and easier. Now many of the parents are not passing on a work ethic to their children, mainly because the popular style of parenting is to send them to daycare and let others do it. So, we have my generation where their are many kids with almost no ambition or work ethic, and as a result they will lose money and their kids or their grandkids will realize that we really screwed it up, or that they will have to work to get anywhere, and the work eithic will be integrated back into life. This isn't to say that laziness is good, it's just an interesting pattern I discovered. By the way, most of this is a generalization about today's culture, I'm not saying everyone is like this. There is a Jesus-factor to all this. Real Christians aren't lazy, or they shouldn't be.

Dog sledding

I went dog sledding yesterday. That is one of the most amazing things I've ever done! I love it! We went to this place "Winterdance" and they taught us everything we needed to know, and then led us on a 14km route through the snow. it was a blast! We were running two-man, five-dog, teams, and my lead dogs were kinda nuts. One was named Chinook, and she was quiet and when we stopped dug a pretty big hole. According to one of the guides, she found a mouse once or twice. That's her up top. My other lead dog was named Eagle, and he was just nuts. I don't think he liked me, but that's okay I guess. he would kinda glower up at you from under his brow, and then he would lay his head on the snow. Our point dog was named Red, and he was pretty cool. Our back two dogs, Robin and Mustang, were fun. Robin would bounce straight up when she wanted to go, and Mustang would nip at Robin once we got going. Mustang loved to lick you too. Anyways, it was really fun, and if you get a chance to do it, take it!

winter

well bob, I played ice hockey for the first time, and I have to say I know now why you love hockey. Well, now I do too. Last night there was a monster snowfall. If there weren't any street lights, you wouldn't have been able to see anything. It was incredible. In Romans it says that God is shown to be real through nature. It isn't worded that way, but something along those lines it there. Last night I realized that nature is probably the most powerful force on this Earth, except for God and angels. Nothing can stop nature. We think we can stay safe from it, but we can't build or do anything that couldn't be entirely erased by nature. We are at the mercy of Nature, and through that, at the mercy of God. Last night it was just so real for me. I looked at the swirling snow, and saw how traffic was slowed, how visibility was almost down the tubes, and how it just kept coming, in waves of whiteness, and you realize that as advanced as we think we are, nature still reigns supreme on this Earth. Sadly, because of the Fall, I assume, man's eyes have been blinded to the magnificence of nature and it's masterful craftsmanship. The Earth still belongs to God, but it's inhabitants are blind. Even the smallest mole knows that God is Lord, but we humans with our "SUVs and weather satellites and robots and computers" miss the blaring clues, again and again.

Life

Well I've been reading "The Normal Christian Life" by Watchman Nee, as you suggested Ben. It's a deep book. He does an excellent job of taking things that we consider basic things, like the cross, and presents them in a very different, but true, angle. It's really incredible how much there is to be found in Jesus's crucifixion and ressurection. It's amazing. Now, I have a dilemna. It says in the bible that if you ask God for something and believe that you have already recieved it, then you will recieve it. Now in "The Normal Christian Life", Nee says that you need divine revealation of how Christ's death payed for your sins. This allows you to reckon that you are dead to the world and only alive in Christ's ressurection. You need divine revealation of how you were "crucified" in a sense with Christ, yet he was the only one who died. That when he died he took your sinful self with him. He did. Anyways, Nee warns against reckoning as if you have something, when you don't. He gives the example of having 12 shillings in you pocket, but writing in your pocket book that you have 15 shillings. That's wrong. He also gives the example of telling himself that he is Miss Q. over and over. He may begin to believe himself, but if someone suddenly calls out to him "Mr. Nee!", then he will forget for a moment that he is trying to bew Miss Q, and will respond. So I want this divine revealation, but if I believe that I have already recieved it, then I'm reckoning that I have something I don't have. But Jesus said that I will recieve it if I believe that I'vew already recieved it, you I think I'll take God's word over Nee's. I'm going to believe that I've already recieved it. Any thoughts?

Psychological Stimulant 2 : Series 2

I think Kwanzaa was created in the 60's to celebrate African American heritage. Do most of the people with African American heritage actually celebrate it?