Sorry it's been a while - i've been very busy these past few days and i havent made time to post here. The ways i've been busy: i just launched Blog.lightshineart.com and so now i have two blogs to maintain! And i'm working on my Online Design shop (no link right now - it looks pretty ugly!!) and it's coming along nicely! I've been talking almost constantly on email (yes, i know - email is not the place to talk) but it's the only way i have to talk to a group. I've been experimenting with electric dulcimer (dont ask!! lol) and a whole bunch of other stuff in between. That's been my life since the past post!!

I think i'm going to copy Anna's idea about old pictures, so since everyone is posting and i have nothing better to do i'll post a few old ones of my family and friends:

See if you can tell what's wrong with this image!!

 

Wow, i was just surprised once again as i looked at my computer's clock and it said: 4:25 pm Jan 1, 07! I just cant believe its gone by so fast. Makes you remember Psalm 39 4-5: 4 “O Lord, make me know my end and what is the measure of my days; let me know how fleeting I am! 5 Behold, you have made my days a few handbreadths, and my lifetime is as nothing before you. Surely all mankind stands as a mere breath!" This verse reminds us that as we have just experinced how fast the year has gone by, and we look forward to maybe 60-70 more years on this earth, No! that in reality this life will speed by and at the end we will be faced with whetther we have believed in God or gone are own way.

On a lighter note, Happy New Year!! It's kinda sad to let go of 2006, but at the same time, we get to look forward to a whole new year of experiencing God's goodness, meeting friends, drawing closer to our old friends, and just experiencing God's blessings!

Well, today i'm excited that Caleb Humphrey is going to be staying @ my place till sunday afternoon (picture later), and so far we've had a blast! (Right, Caleb?) As i write this Caleb is standing over my shoulder proofreading and editing my post! Today we built a "Birdhouse Mansion". Caleb is a master at carpentry in general. He was pointing out new ideas as we built it, and i know if i had just built it, the measurements would have been all wrong, i would have sawed it wrong, and it would have been doomed from the start! But i'ts going along really well, and tomorrow were going to paint it! Well i dont know what is "theological" about this post, so maybe i'll post a message review later on!!

Well, today was church - as Chelsey (humbled4ever.bravejournal.com) said: "I love church...it's my favorite day of the week" I would totally agree - I'ts just so encouraging to me to have fellowship with my friends, worship God, and hear the Word!! Well, this is all the time i have now, so goodnight!

Hey everybody!! Ahhhh, it's good to be back. This is the first time i've posted in, what, 2-3 weeks?? Well, i wanted to post to let yall know i havent stopped, but since i dont have a message review, i guess i'll just talk about the Christmas Gift Wrap outreach today (saturday). It went very well, i had the opportunity to serve with great people and invite folks to the christmas eve service @ crossway. I was a greeter, that is to say i stood outside Toys 'R Us (c) handing out invitations. It was great fun because a whole bunch of my friends came and we all thought up these crazy ways to distribute the invitations, like putting them in shopping carts (Chad H's idea), walking through the store distributing the invitations (My idea) sticking them to the stores posters (Meagan H's idea) or handing them to little kids. (again Chad H) Mr. Homan was walkiing around taking pictures, (he got a couple of me with my mouth hanging open - how humbling!) and he says the M team are going to put them on a slideshow at crossway tomorrow! There was a choir, (i wanted to sing, but there was no time. "They needed me" i say as i look off into the sunset. HAHAHA just kidding where was i?) food, and there were a whole bunch of people wrapping gifts for people. And of course, what greeting/outreach thing would be complete without the Miracles as greeters! (i'm telling ya, Chelsey, you and you're dad have got to give me some of your greeting tips sometime!) All in all, it was really great!!

On thursday night Dave Harvey brought forth a wonderful message on luke 9:23-27 about how if we are to follow him we must pick up our cross. Now i am totally not a good writer or speaker and it is going to be a challenge just to write down some points, but i will try my best. 

Pastor Harvey incouraged us all to read and apply luke 9:23-27, and he told us this story:

"One Hundred and eighty years after the death of Charlemagne (king of Franks & emperor), around the year 1000, officials opened the great kings tomb, where in addition to incredible treasures they saw an amazing sight-the skeletal remains of King Charlemagne seated on a throne, his crown still on his skull, a copy of this gospel lying on his lap and a bony finger resting on this very section of scripture." - Kent Hughes

Charlemagne must have a thought that piece o' scripture was important, dont ya think! 
anyway i've included a link to hear the message and download the outlines:
http://www.crosswaync.org/summit2006/index.html this message is a must-hear for anyone that wants to die to themselves and serve god with a whole heart!

Many of you are probably wondering: Where am i back from?? I'm back from the Summit Men's conference at Crossway! It was held thursday thru saturday and it was totally awesome! The conference was a great time of worship, teaching, and games. That's right, Games! We had many competitions involving the participating churches but in particular we showed vids over the projector about the need to create "Man Laws". Eight absolutely hilarious vids were shown and many "Man Laws" introduced including: about diet food and drink: "If it's Diet, Dont try it", about coffee: "if its not black, take it back", and about cell phones in restrooms: "if youre on the throne, get off the phone!" My friends and i created a new man law ourselves addressing men that dont eat meat: "If you cant feed it, DONT EAT IT! Anyway the conference speakers were Brent Detwiler and Dave Harvey. They spoke five messages (one per session) about many important things over the course of 3 days. In my coming posts i will have reviews on the more appropriate messages.

Hey Everybody,

This is my first post on Bravenet, and i'm pretty excited. Are YOU excited? Good, cause i'd like to post more in the future, and i'd like all you's to post comments. I originally set this up to draw visitors to my site Lightshineart.com, but as i was setting it up i decided i may as well post. But not ordinary posts, mind you. I was inspired by Brent Detwiler's message on Sunday, october 29, '06, bout how teenager's blogs are usaully all about themselves. Like i said in the title, I'm gonna do somethin Different!! So instead of this blog being about ME! ME! ME! , i'm gonna try with God's help to use this blog to encourage you with scripture, talk about Crossway Community Church's pastors sunday messages, and get to know all my friends better (and hopefully boost lightshineart.com's visitor record)!!