Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Whooo!

Maybe I do have something to post afterall! I had forgotten about this. I would have posted sooner, but I know some of my readers rather well, and I know they would have followed these suggestions faithfully, causing mayhem and destruction. Here are some ideas for next year perhaps....

Copied from http://stufffchristianslike.blogspot.com/2008/12/ninja-stars-and-candles-remix-176.html.

Imagine if one night a year, your church held a special service and when you walked in, they gave you a Ninja Throwing Star. That would be a nightmare right? Just throwing stars stuck in hymnals and Bibles and legs as far as the eye could see. It would be a bloody mess. But it's not that different from what a lot of churches do on Christmas Eve when they give everyone hand flames.

Singing a few songs by candlelight is honestly a really beautiful experience, but it's also funny. The other 364 days of the year, parents work diligently to keep their children away from torches. We put covers on our electrical outlets, hide matches and lighters in hard to reach places and yell if they get anywhere near a hot oven. But on Christmas Eve, it's fire time.

Here are a few ways to multiply the fun of having a lit Christmas candle in a church setting:

1. Pretend it's the Olympic Torch.
I've always admired the guy that demands to be the last person clapping in church. While the rest of the congregation has gone quiet, he throws in one more clap, as if to say, "There, I put the punctuation on that clapping session. Done and done." But that guy has nothing on "last man standing" during Christmas Eve service. See how long you can keep that candle lit. Pretend it's the Olympic Torch. Be the last one standing in the aisle with a proud flame of "refuse to blow this candle out" while everyone else is gathering their coats. If someone asks you to blow it out, say, "We're out of fire at home, I need to save this."

2. Get the "Christmas Eve Service Candle" App for your iPhone and hold that up instead.
I don't know if they have this yet for the iPhone but if they don't, you're welcome, I just made someone a billion dollars. Think about it, they already have DVDs that make it look like there's a beautiful fire blazing in a fireplace on your television. Why not an application that flickers and shimmers like a church Christmas Eve service candle? Then, instead of a fire hazard, you could hold up your iPhone and sing by the light of your app. That's even better than Festivus.

3. Blow out other people's candles.
I don't think I have to explain this one, but I promise, it is delightful. My brothers and I turned this into an art, because you can't just come on out and blow it. You have to do this weird, breathe out of the side of your face, move in which you send a gust of wind with the accuracy of a sniper at someone else's candle.

4. Play with the wax.
In addition to melting your candle on the shoes of family members, it's also fun to see how long you can get the wax without it breaking off. You have to hold it at the right angle though. It has to be tilted enough to make it all pool like one of those stilagtitesdifficulttospellcor
rectly things in caves but not so tilted that the weight of the wax breaks it off.

5. Try to keep the candle.
As soon as that last song is finished, it's like the spell that convinced your parents it was OK for you to have fire in church is broken. And it's nearly impossible to keep the candle. Trick #1 was about keeping the fire, which sounds like a song Patrick Swayze sang in the 80s. I'm talking about keeping the actual candle. I never actually executed this move, it's like the holy grail of candle tricks. There are three people you need to watch out for: Your parents, the ushers and that guy with the box that collects them all at the end. I don't like that guy. I think all that power went to his head. He didn't just consider himself the "guy with a candle box," instead he was always kind of smug and seemed to think he was the "gatekeeper of flame."

Ho hum...

Well, I am home, and that is not what I am ho humming about. Its just that I have not had a chance to post for a while. A household of 10 with one landline internet connection is not conducive to profound thoughts. I will probably have some post holiday thoughts posted sometime after the 12th which is when I will be back at school.

I really do feel rather lame for not posting anything.

Monday, December 15, 2008

For the First Time I have a Dream...

I've never really had one before. I've never been completely selfish with my future, and looked at what I want to do. I know God has called me to a career where He wants me, and I know that I would enjoy it, whether it be politics or Graphic Design. Talking with someone the other night about her career goals, I realized that she had a plan, one that would make her happy, one that she could serve God in, but one that God might not lead her along the path to.

I want the same thing. I never really thought about what I want. I always thought about what God wants for me. Now don't get me wrong, I know that what God wants for me will be way better than anything I can ever dream of myself, but I think that realizing what I want will help me to let go of that desire and to accept the better thing that God has for me.

I don't really want to share what my life of choice would be right now. Maybe someday. I just thought I'd share some thoughts.

On second thought, here are some pictures that give a pretty good hint...



Sunday, December 14, 2008

Its been 12 days since my last post. Wow, a lot has happened. Can't share some stuff, because its still at the level of gossip, but I'm somewhat excited.

Finals are tomorrow. Yeah, 1:30 in the morning and I am sitting on my blog with study sheets next to me. Not looking at them. Darn public schoolers are just way too contagious.

Well, just thought I'd let 'yall know what's up. And give some sort of explanation for the lack of posts.

I go home for the first time this semester on thursday or friday.

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Prayer Request

I could really use prayer right now. There is a bunch of stuff going on here that involved people that I am close to, who might be leaving soon, which is bad enough, but the circumstances under which they are leaving make it 10 times worse. There are three of these people, and I go hit with it all within 12 hours, so its kind of a shock, and its especially difficult since this stuff is not common knowledge yet and I have to pretend that nothing is different and that everything is ok.

I have two papers due in the next couple days, which I tried to start this afternoon, but my head is in such a whorl that I just sat staring and the screen for 3 hours until dinner time. I need to be able to focus so I don't end up joining these people when/if they leave.

Thanks guys...

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