Life

This week has been influential in my life for many reasons.

1. One of my best friends is inching ever closer to Athens and I need to be happy for him, but I'm sad. I'm selfish.
   
2. I just got back from the BCM at UGA and it was so much cooler than ours. People were simpler and more open... and I mean that in the most awesomest way possible. Tech people are sometimes hard to relate to...
3. School isn't fun. I can do the work, but I don't like it at all. Engineering seems to be focused on clawing your way to the top. that's not me. I don't think I could make a living out of this. Would God call me to something I hate?
4. The BCM as a ministry is at a crossroads. The most influential person is leaving and there will be a power grab, and after the dust settles, things will be different. People will have to step up, Staff will have to step up... it makes me scared
5. One cool thing is that several people at the BCM have run with my idea of a cookout/chill-time with other freshmen christians (aka CCF) but we're a long ways from getting this off the ground.
   

Currently Listening... 02/22/09

My Top 5:

1. Newsboys - Something Beautiful
2. Kutless - We Fall Down
3. Creed - Higher
4. Rascal Flatts - Stand
5. Hillsong United - Lead Me to the Cross
   

Advance 2009

This weekend was the Georgia Tech BCM's annual retreat. The theme was leadership, the object: a slingshot. 9 freshmen (including me) led the small groups. It was a great experience being with great leaders in the BCM. Hopefully great things will happen because of this.

There were several things God revealed to me spiritually during my experiences at Advance:

1. Friday night I used my free time to lay down by the lake and stare at the stars. I started thinking about how intricate and unique every star was. This led me to wondering about God's infinite glory and how humans (and Satan) fit into the picture. The glory of God is something huge that we cannot fully comprehend, but we want it. We as humans desire our own glory, our own importance. When we grab glory, we yank it away from God and build ourselves up. Instead of reveling in His perfect glory, we fabricate an imperfect, broken substitute to empower us. This flawed, dim view of what glory is keeps us from growing closer to God because we are enticed by the idea that we can be self sufficient with our own glory... (I'm still working on this thought and its definitely got some holes...)
2. Waterfalls are amazing things to watch. The way the water pours out and swirls in endless circles at the bottom is mesmerizing. If I run out of little things that amuse/amaze me, it will truly be a sad day

What I learned about the BCM and where it needs to go:

1. We're on the verge of something: we can talk about it and let the opportunity pass, or we can buckle down and hit the trenches.
2. Christ is bigger than the BCM will ever be. It's merely one out of many ministries at Tech... we must see this bigger picture and how we fit
3. The BCM is divided, there are different people groups (even at Advance) where people are comfortable. One group has substantially more leaders than the others... This is bad, they should branch out and empower others. (i still don't know how to deal with the people who participate but show not interest in stepping out of their comfort zones and into leadership)
4. Leadership is a scary thought.
5. Listen to everyone. People bring new perspectives and much more wisdom.

Currently Listening... 02/15/09

My Top 5:

1. Switchfoot - Only Hope
   
2. Lifehouse - Blind
3. U2 - Where the Streets Have No Name
4. Chris Tomlin - Indescribable
5. Newsboys - He Reigns
   

Passion City Church

Today (Sunday) I had the incredible experience of going to Passion City Church at the Tabernacle. We walked there from Tech and got there at about 6, even though it didnt start until 7. We waited in line for about an hour in the cold, but it was worth it. We ended up getting great seats in the balcony and you could feel the excitement in the air. Chris Tomlin & Co. came out and led worship (it was all tomlin songs, of course). Then Louie Giglio spoke about the history of the tabernacle and why they were creating a new church. I loved the idea, but had several questions:

1. If its the "Church of the city," how are they going to reach unsaved college students?
2. Will they be located in the city (aka inside the perimeter)
3. Where will the community/fellowship come from?
4. Will people come for God or Tomlin?
5. Will it be a rich/trendy church? or will there be homeless people there?
   

Mark Driscoll is amazing...

Check out this video of Mark Driscoll talking about sex and valentines day (aka singles awareness day):

Mark Driscoll Interview

the awesomest guitar pedalboard ever

So, in my "free" time I designed my "ultimate" pedalboard for guitar that I will slowly start to build:

Compressor:

1. Barber Tone Press
   

Overdrives:

1. Hermida Zendrive Overdrive
2. Fulltone Fulldrive 2 MOSFET Overdrive
3. Voodoo Lab Sparkle Drive (Keeley Modified)
4. Ibanez Tubescreamer TS9 (Keeley Modified)
   

Delay:

1. Eventide TimeFactor
2. T.C. Electronics Nova Delay
3. Boss RE-20

Modulation/Reverb:

1. Eventide ModFactor
2. Line6 ToneCore Verbzilla
   
3. Boss RV-5
   

Misc Pedals:

1. Electro-Harmonix POG (Polyphonic Octave Generator)
2. Eventide PitchFactor
3. BBE Sonic Stomp
   

Expression Pedals (not sure about brand, but definitely 2, one for volume, one for exp control):

1. Boss FV-500H
2. Boss FV-500H
   

Tuner:

1. Boss TU-2

These are based on looking at Nigel Hendroff's pedalboard (Hillsong), Daniel Carson's pedalboard (Chris Tomlin) and Matt Adkin's pedalboard (Steve Fee).

Currently Listening... 02/08/09

I know its late, but here's my current top 5:

1. Kelly Clarkson - "My Life Would Suck Without You"
2. Angels and Airwaves - "Everything's Magic"
   
3. John Mayer - "Free Fallin"
4. Creed - "One Last Breath"
5. Gavin DeGraw - "In Love With A Girl"
   

tests

the first half of this week is/will be rough. i just took my first ECE2030 test which wasn't too bad. unfortunately i still have honors calculus 3 and cs1372 (basically a class where we make gameboy games in a language called "c"). honors calc 3 has been fun and ive enjoyed it since there's no mandatory homework (yes ive done really well on the little quizzes so far) and hes a really funny asian. however, his practice test was nothing like what we've seen, which scared me. thankfully it wasnt as hard as it looked, but we'll know after tomorrow...

Feeband and OhioCon

This is too funny:



Its most of steve fee's band walking around interviewing people at a huge anime convention

Currently listening...

Currently Listening:

Top 5 (in no order):

1. Kelly Clarkson - "My Life Would Suck Without You"
2. Phil Wickham - "Cannons"
3. The Fray - "You Found Me"
4. Newsboys - "I am Free" (love the intro)
5. Skillet - "Whispers in the Dark" (yea its kinda screamo, but theyre good + christian)
   

Faith and Perseverence

This monday was gonna be really cool for my freshman city group. we were supposed to get together and come up with discussion/conversation starters about faith and perseverance. unfortunately i didnt try... i put the entire email off until tonight, and now its too late to group up. so im gonna come up with stuff on my own (and hopefully bring something to the table) Ive decided to focus on people who are considered "great" christians, but have some sort of huge failure in your life. so now im gonna make a list:


People who are (preferable in the hall of faith Hebrews 11) great Christians:

1. Paul - persecuted Christians (acts 9)
2. Abraham - had Ishmael with Hagar (genesis 16) but had faith with Isaac (genesis 22)
   
3. Jacob - stole the birthright from Esau (genesis 25)
4. Moses - struck the rock without giving credit to God (numbers 20) but had faith to lead the Israelites out (Hebrews 11:24-29)
5. David - slept with Bathesheba and killed her husband (2 samuel 11) but was "a man after God's own heart" (acts 13:22)
6. Samson - let lust and pride destroy him (judges 16) but destroyed the philistines (judges 14-16)
7. Peter - denied Christ (luke 22) but is the rock of the church (matthew 16)

(sevens a good number...)

great in the fact that they made a difference but others remembered them for what they did for the kindom and not for their sins

Phil Wickham and today

Today I had the incredible experience of seeing Phil Wickham live, at Buckhead Church. I'm not normally a huge fan of acoustic only worship (yea everybody thinks its "better," but I enjoy a "wall" of sound where I can pick out sweet melodies). But today was awesome... i've been a fan since before his album "Cannons" (2007) but never thought of seeing him live. it was awesome... he played cannons, true love and desire (?). I sang as much as I could, but a long session of rockband 2 last night did not help any (and the fact that his vocals are naturally high). He sat everyone down which I thought was weird, but I guess it was to make people who didnt know his songs more comfortable. He started singing and I really felt like standing up except I'd block the view of people behind me (i honestly hate the guy who stands up when worshipping and he blocks my view, i guess i should just go ahead and stand up). fortunately we all stood up at the end when he started singing hymns. it was one of the best worship experiences ive had at buckhead, and thats saying alot (i still love steve fee, casey darnell, seth condrey, carlos whittaker, etc...)

this performance and listining to Jarrett play acoustic songs really makes me want to get an acoustic (i only have electric) The plan right now is to use a portion of my money i'll (hopefully) earn working C3 to get a nice taylor guitar (theyre soo pretty sounding). next year when i have a car on campus im gonna hopefully take guitar lessons again (i want and need them)