I'm Back

OK, hopefully this post is a sign of good things to come. I have finally reached freedom and can rest easy for the remainder of 2005.
I did start running again. The first day out on Saturday, April 16th was absolute torture to my body. It is my heart and lungs that get tired quickly. By the end of the summer, though, I won't be out of breath so much (and instead, I'll feel fatigue in my legs). I am already in the habit of running every other day and things are getting better. There is one thing that I have learned with running: You need discipline in order to do it (and you can't afford to miss an extra day). I am often reminded of the following verses when I am out running. I understand what the apostle Paul meant when he said:
"Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize." (1 Corinthians 9:24-27)
What else do I have planned? Not much. I have an NYI Council meeting tomorrow at the campgrounds in Butler. In the mean time, I'll probably be learning more chords on my guitar. Hopefully the weather stays nice (though I hear there is a possibility it could snow). Peace.

Concert at GCC

Well, GSN took a short road trip via bus to Grove City College to watch Hawk Nelson, Kutless, TobyMac, and Audio Adrenaline rock out. I was impressed to see a large crowd show up from our church since the youth group has been down for quite a while. We took over Pizza Hut for just over an hour and got out of there just when the teens started doing silly stuff like pouring salt, pepper, cheese, and hot peppers in one another's drinks. Anyways, about the concert. I have always been a fan of Audio Adrenaline and Kutless. I am not too big on the TobyMac thing. I have heard a few of his songs on the WOW CDs, but that is about it. The hard thing about going to a rock concert is that unless you know the songs, you probably have no idea what they are actually saying. That probably made TobyMac seem kinda scrubby to me. It was cool watching all of the flips and dancing that they did, but I couldn't make out what he was saying. I don't know. Maybe that is the ploy to get me to go buy one of his CDs (so that I can actually figure out what he was saying on Sunday night). I think Kutless was great. A little screaming really does make for an exciting performance. Audio A was right up there as well. During "Beautiful" they called kids from the audience to come up on the stage and sing/dance to the chorus. They had already let this girl sing the chorus and she did a good job. The best part was when this big dude with an afro went up on stage to dance, though. Finally they decide to go another round on the chorus and let this big dude try it (who could really throw down some dance steps for a big fella). Lead singer Mark Stuart had held the mic previously while the girl sang. When the big dude wanted to bust a rhyme, though, Mark straight up gave him the mic. The kid with the afro paraded the stage like he really was a rock star. He was smooth. It was great.
The other weird part of the night was when everyone left me in the bleachers to watch all of their stuff. The aisle I was sitting in was empty and all of a sudden this girl and guy sit down about five or six seats away. I turn and sure enough it is someone I thought I recognized. Turns out that Danielle King happened to pick the same row to watch the last couple songs by Audio A that I was sitting in. Waynesburg people are just everywhere. It's weird because you don't expect to see people from that far away in your daily activities. Plus I hadn't seen her in like three years anyways, so she looked kind of different. And no, Danielle, it wasn't the freshman 20 that you said you put on. LOL. Girls: they are crazy.

The Christian Ideals of Dating?

I took the following article from Boundless.org. I agree with what the writer is saying here. It's hard to convince a girl to think this way, though. Any comments? I'm open for discussion.

One large problem with much contemporary Christian teaching on sexuality is that the church has soaked up the culture’s over-sexualization of everything. (Perhaps if we would limit our movie and media intake we’d be better equipped to avoid this.)

This over-sexualizing has taken the form of over-romanticizing our expectations. I know I used to subconsciously believe that if I let God write my love story (by not participating in casual dating or kissing) then my romance would unfold like a novel. But just because you do all the "right things" according to the relationship experts doesn’t mean God is going to give you a trophy — that knockout Christian superstar who will make all your friends turn green with jealousy.

Our God delights in writing quirky stories using everyday materials — his own son was not a king but a carpenter, the son’s mother a poor Jewish girl. Don’t dismiss the young men and women that others seem to always overlook — they are often the ones who make the best husbands and wives. You might not be smitten with overwhelming tingles the first time your hand brushes the one you end up marrying, but don’t gauge your future by what happens in the movies. Quite a bit of love is quiet companionship and deep friendship.