August 20th, 2007 So its been a loooong time since I have updated my journal. Since then, I have made an amazing trip to Africa, and gone to a new school, UNC Pembroke. My time is veryr easily consumed with homework and endless hours of practice and I haven't had much time to update this journal, but I hope to have a new layout and new entires soon during the semester when things get going. But for now, check out the new pictures from Africa in the photography page of the design section of the site and let me know what you think! Thanks! August 30th, 2007 Well tonight around 8:00 i was in robeson county (lumberton/pembroke) taking a left out of an intersection and saw a deer while accelerating and slammed the brakes and swerved out of the way and the car fishtailed into a 12 foot ditch. the owners of the house next to the ditch called the police and the state trooper came out and was a GRADE A jerk! he was rude and told me to fill out the policee report and dont scratch his car and that if i lie in the report about what happened and it goes to court and im proven wrong that i can go to jail and all this other junk. there were no other cars involved and i was driving approximately 35 mph. he gave me a misdemeanor citation for careless and heedlessly in willful or wanton disregard of the rights or safety of other (aggresive driving)(must show violation of two specified offensives listed in statute)(reckless driving is listed under 20-140 - lesser offense). the cop measured the tire marks and drew pictures and everything and was a real pain in the neck and very rude to me. i had a passenger who can back up everything i said in the report as well. my court date is oct. 3rd. anyone know any good lawyers or been in any similar sort of situation with any advice? the front end of the car is totalled (both front fenders, front bumper, hood, intercooler, possibly radiator, etc). car got towed and i have to go pick it up tomorrow. anyone with a parts car.. let me know. however, i have no money right now to buy any parts September 17th, 2007 Here are some notes from yesterday's sermon: What is Marriage? Ephesians 5 -Marriage is defined by God and displays the reality of Christ and the church. v.31-32. (Christ is the busband and the church is the wife). -Fight for and feel the weight of the biblical view of marriage knowing that the name of Christ and His church are at stake. -View it correctly and value it passionately. September 19th, 2007 Well I finally have a lawyer all worked out for my Agressive driving ticket that I got because of my accident with the deer. It is incidents like this that happened to me that makes people hate cops. I don' hate cops.. I just hate the ones like the one I had. Anyways. I was trying to plan a trip to go back to Campbell and visit sometime this month but it doesn't look like it will be happening since I will be coming back home to Raleigh each weekend this semester to be fixing my car. I bought a 1997 blue camaro that I will be transferring my drivetrain (engine, trannsmission, blower, etc) into, and then trashing my 2000 pewter camaro. I am sad to see it go, but there was no way the frame could have been pulled since this is the second front end wreck it has already been in. I also got a 1991 Acura Legend from my dad's best friend that I will be using as a daily driver until everything is done to the new car. BSU is getting better as the year goes on, and I love being the band leader. It is really giving me a good opportunity to do what I love doing and what I hope to do one day in a church. Homework isn't too bad. I just got back my first theory test, and I got 85, and thats my hardest class. So so far I think I'm doing pretty good! November 6th, 2007 This semester seems to be flying by. I have been extremely busy with school work and guitar practicing. As I said earlier, I have my evalutation forum coming up so I've been working hard on all 6-7 of my guitar pieces that I will have to play for the entire faculty at the end of the semester.. It is less than a month away now. Wow. Anyways, I have also been busy with BSU. We had a missions trip to Seagrove, NC at Dover Baptist church where we worked with the youth last weekend. It was a lot of fun and I think the kids really learned something and took something away from the weekend. I want to take a little time during this post to talk about a new minsitry team that me and a few of my friends down here at school at Pembroke are putting together. It is called "Love Absolute". We are trying to get it up and running and so far we have a lot of good ideas floating around a a lot of interested people so tat is always a good thing. It is meant to be a street team that ministers and serves the poor and the needy. We coin the term "the least, the last, and the lost" often when we are talking about it. We believe God has specifically called us to do this work in his name and that the work we do for them, is the work we are doing straight for the Lord. We are going to be serving their physical and hopefully spiritual needs as well. Pembroke is one of the poorest towns in the country and we feel that the people here are hurting and are desperately in need of a Savior. We care for these people and we are striving to further God's kingdom here in Pembroke. I am excited about it even though it is still in the starting stages. We should have bag lunches and hopefully other things as well. We will be working alongside a lot of other teams such as the BSU (baptist student union) and the RCCCC (robeson county community center and church) and the local soup kitchens and churches as well. We already have t-shirts and looking for a van to help transport supplies and such. We are also looking into getting our non-profit license so we can take donations as well. If you are interested or have ideas, please email me! Our website is also in the works, you can check it out here: www.loveabsolute.org. We have formed our missions statement and other things that should be going up on the site soon! November 19th, 2007 Some good quotes... "You never know what temporal days may bring. So Laugh, love, live free, and sing. When life is in discord, Praise ye the Lord" -Anberlin Re o bama, re i koba, naong tsa go Jesu. Lo lorato, le legolo, naong tsa go Jesu. O boitshepo, boitshepo O boitshepo, boitshepo O boitshepo, boitshepo O kwana ("We Fall Down" in Setswana) "If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probably explanation is that I was made for another world." - CS Lewis