more 6

So Ed tagged me as well so here are 6 more

1. I still tend to not step on cracks on the sidewalk.

2. Shohn Johnson and I buried a time capsule when we were 9 out of a Pringles can and buried it somewhere in my front yard.

3. Whenever I see a series of numbers in an address or phone number I try and look for a formula or pattern that fits it. For example my address is 2077 so : 2 X 0 +7 = 7, so it works in this respect. Yea I'm a dork for this, but I have done it since I was a kid and can't help it anymore. Nor do I care.

4. I still enjoy cartoons quite a bit.

5. I have a recurring dream of the witch from Wizard of Oz coming to my room and taking me away along with some of my childhood friends.

6. I constantly wish I loved Christ more and more.

I tag
Ed Buehler

Tag! I'm it?

So Darren tagged me, I will try and put things on here that most people don't already know about me.

1. Whenever I have a song stuck in my head, I sing the song "Chumbawamba- I get knocked down" in my head. This usually remedies the other song being stuck. For some reason this song never gets stuck in my head.

2. I always imagine what places would have looked like 100 or 200 years ago as I am driving through towns and such.

3. I always try and imagine what it is like to experience life as other people. I always thought it would be interesting to see the world through others' eyes. When I see strangers I am intrigued to know what it is like to be them.

4. I do not like the number 4. I have so ever since I learned my numbers as a little tyke. Some of you had heard my thoughts on this. To much to list here. The main reason is that I feel it is a poorly designed numerical symbol.

5. If I see disturbing images, it usually stays in my head for quite some time up to months sometimes. Not that I want this to happen, I generally have little control over this, although I can control my dreams....

6. My mind wanders a lot if I do not have something to focus on. For this reason I generally hate being alone with no work to do.

So there you go, some minuscule things about me and some stuff I need to deal with.
Anyways,

James Bonar,
Matthew Feldhues,
Robert William Lilie (aka Bob the guitar guy)
Morgan Berry,
Leah Blanton,
Kyle Crofford,

Consider yourself tagged! Not really a big deal. Post 6 random things about yourself on either your blog, my blog, or facebook or whatever means you feel like doing so.

thoughts

So after I have done this prayer thing in the morning, which I admit I was not always consistent in the times I did it, I still have a few things I realized.

First, I realized if I spend time asking God to change my heart to put Him and his will on my mind throughout the day, He will.

When I pray for other people more often, I have learned that I generally care more and more about them. I become more intentional and love them more. This has been mostly the product of our Oak Hills prayer list and from just attempting to pray for our leadership. But also this extends to the people I pray for outside of anything like that. Such as random prayer requests people send my way and my prayers for my family.

I generally seem to have more peace and feel better when crappy things are dished my way. Such as when I found out I did not do so good after an exam.

The most significant thing I learned though, is that I still do not love the Lord as I should. I do not consistently think about him and treasure time with Him like I should. Why should I want to do anything besides spending time with my creator, father, and source of my salvation, and the one who loves me more than anyone?

Today, I was spending time in prayer and at the time I did not have access to my Bible. But I imagined opened it up. The first thing that came to my mind was the treasures in Heaven. I don't think this was an accident. How much do I really put worth into my relationship in Christ? How often do I still not trust God to provide me with what I need? Why am I not just letting God take over everything? I really agree with Darren on his post about "Just being" I think we all should attempt to let God really take hold of our lives.

Journey back

So after class today I was thinking how it sucks that I feel like no matter how much I study for classes, I always feel behind. I feel like I can never keep up. And even in class I can't grasp every detail in the lecture. Then I thought about the fact that I haven't spend much time with Christ lately. I feel like I have used school and everything else going on in my life as an excuse sub-conscientiously. This is dumb because I know it is a poor excuse. But when you can use up all your time just to seemingly stay at pace in school only to realize that you are not, it drains you pretty quickly.

The fact that I have not blogged this month very much is only another testament to myself that I have not spent time with Him. This blog of mine is for me to journal my thoughts and record what God is telling me and teaching me. When I am not spending time with Him, it is a little difficult to blog about what He is teaching me, surprise right?

Anyways, this is what I think I need to do, for whatever its worth, to stay consistent in Him. I am going to intentionally set a good part of every morning to spend 30 minutes in prayer and to read as long as it takes for God to speak to me through it. Feel free to keep me accountable is thing. I did this for a while back when Kolia suggested to read scripture for an hour. But I feel like I need to spend at least 30 minutes talking to God and just to be in silence with Him.

God is gracious and God is good and I think what He is telling me is that if I give Him time and spend time with Him, he will make the time I spend in the books and in school more efficient. If I focus on Him, He will provide and he will take care of me. Let me reiterate, Please if you feel like you are willing to hold me accountable on this, then by all means do so. For me all it might take is "So, you haven't blogged in awhile, Derek..." That would be sufficient to remind me.

Lord take hold of my spirit, Holy Spirit make my will one with you, Lord.