Poems, Prayers and Promises

Well I do now, and if you're not up there it's either because I don't know you or just because I sang the alphabet song so many times while trying to get 'em all in alphabetical order that my mental energizer bunny was beginning to pant to I gave up and went to bed. So if your not up there shout at me in the comments section of this post. You can even use all caps if you want. I might cringe at the sight of it but you can do it if it makes you feel better.

Well, here she is. The new-to-me canoe good ol' number 27. She's had a rough life at the canoe livery, but now she'll be able to peacefully live out her remaining years. She and I snuck out this afternoon for a test run on the wabash. As you can tell from the picture above of a river that's much too small to be the Wabash, I ended up going a little further than I had planned lol. I paddled up stream till I got to the confluence of Wildcat creek and the Wabash and then went up Wildcat creek a little ways. This picture is the first one I took on the trip..... it's when I stopped to rest a little before I headed back down the creek. I didn't take any pictures up to this point 'cause if I had stopped paddling I would have been swept away pretty quick. On the way back though I got a few. I really never thought a big ol' piece of sheet metal could be so much fun. 

Wildcat Creek 

View of Wildcat creek from the Wabash 

Wabash 

Well, instead of doing something wonderful and wholesome like go to navs friday night, I built a potato gun. Philip had actually started with me on this little project when he was up here thursday. I guess you could look at it the other way: isn't it great that I was building weapons instead of joining in the drunken frivolity of Grand Prix weekend? Anyway, here's the diagram. I modified the gun I made a little from this picture. Built in some safety features. Yeah I know I'm my father's son "Mr. Safety". But hey, the older I get the more I value remaining in one peice but I'm not getting any less crazy so the natural result is to try and increase safety. 

the potato gun with Josh's bear for scale 

Combustion chamber section, still with bear for scale 

detail of end cap, igniter switch and reduction boot 

Here's what I got on that quiz thing everyone's been doing. If you ask me though, it can't be a valid test...... the questions aren't any good and are somewhat loaded, not to mention that to have that many possible outcomes of the quiz they would need way more than 10 or 15 questions to come up with good percentages. But yeah so here it is:

1: Presbyterian/Reformed (100%)
2: Congregational/United Church of Christ (93%)
3: Baptist (Reformed/Particular/Calvinistic) (87%)
4: Baptist (non-Calvinistic)/Plymouth Brethren/Fundamentalist (65%)
5: Lutheran (63%)
6: Anglican/Episcopal/Church of England (54%)
7: Eastern Orthodox (48%)
8: Methodist/Wesleyan/Nazarene (46%)
9: Church of Christ/Campbellite (43%)
10: Roman Catholic (39%)
11: Seventh-Day Adventist (39%)
12: Anabaptist (Mennonite/Quaker etc.) (34%)
13: Pentecostal/Charismatic/Assemblies of God (14%)

Like seriously, were did the Congregational come from? And it might also say something that pretty much everyone that has taken it gets about the same percentages lol.

After lots of hard thought and prayer, I was able to make a decision this Sunday between two options that were fully qualified to spend the rest of their life with me. And it ended up being the one I knew it would be all along. I mean, when an option like this comes along, you’d have to be blind to miss it. The beautiful Red Truck is back with me for good now and the faithful old Taurus is back at home. And I already wrote a weird post like this so I’m cutting it off there lol.

Well, yeah and besides getting the truck back it was an awesome to be back home for a day. Church was really great. Pastor Faris talked about Women’s role in society basically, I don’t remember exactly what he called it but that’s what it was. It was really kind of cool, for one reason ‘cause you always hear people raggin’ on guys using the verse about how if you’ve just looked at a girl and lusted after her you’ve already committed adultery with her; well he turned it around and pointed out there are “women’s sins” too. Particularly dressing and acting in a way as too cause men to want them and being manipulative. There was lots of other good stuff too and it really helps as a guys to understand a little more of what all going on with that.

So then after church Philip and I took Kathryn to hang out with some of the girls at E

…..aw man.. sorry. I was sitting outside writing this and then a random bug flew up my nose. Aw so nasty. Bugs don’t normally bother me but …… yeah so I’m inside now. Back to the regularly scheduled programming…….

Yeah so like I was saying, we took Kathryn to Eagle Creek Park and on the way we picked up Trenton and his bike. We figured if we were going to drive all the way up there we might as well ride around a little. It’s a cool park just to hang out in if you don’t want to drive far and all the roads in there are perfect for biking. So we rode around a while and then Philip’s bike bit the dust hard. It started like chewing up the rear shifter or something. So for lack of tools, we broke out the bike lock I had and bent it back into shape enough he could ride back, and it broke for good just as we got back to the truck. So we just went over took pictures for the girls of them playing soccer, which somehow aren’t on my camera anymore... yeah I don’t know what happened to them but whatever lol. The girls only played for about 5 more minutes before deciding it was time to go back and eat ice cream and get ready for church. Yeah and we still had over an hour till church started lol. Before we left the guys were enlisted to take “the pyramid” pictures for the girls and those where the only pics I have so I’ll probably post them on here just ‘cause.

After the park, the girls were nice enough to let us in on their ice cream but right after that we blasted off to drop off Trenton’s bike and made it to evening church just in time.

Once evening church was over we scooted home to grab some waffles (mmmmmm). That new waffle make can sure make some mean waffles. I sat and chatted with Mom and Dad till about 11:30 and then finally blasted off for Lafayette. Long day, but really fun. I just wished us guys had gotten in on the soccer L. Even if some of those girls probably could have run circles around us lol.

Alright, well I have to go spend some time with my dearest since it’s been a whole week that we’ve been apart.

This one was probably the best of the ones I had...... but I was playing with the photo editer I I have and I didn't really know what I was doing..... so somehow y'all got saved in watercolor format. I added the canvas texture just for effect once I realized I couldn't change it lol.

This is the best one..... the collapse lol 

Well it was such a nice day today I had to get out and work on my farmers tan for awhile, or do my homework on campus was more like it. It's so nice to actually have the time to go to cool places were I can study and enjoy God's creation at the same time. Up to this point the semester has just been crazy, and it's still crazy but somehow I had a little free time.

Actually it's also part of my making a statement on a life or death issue.... high gas prices. I hate it when I hear people make the comment "yeah gas prices are high, but it's not like people are going to buy much less gas" followed by a little chuckle 'cause they know it's true. So as a part of my crusade for my new found cause, I've began my own protest by not purchasing gas. As much gas. At least on sunny days when I feel like riding my bike. So yeah, if I need to buy gas and it's a sunny day when I feel like riding my bike to the airport and I have the time to ride all the way down there, I will not buy gas. Yes, I will ride my bike all the way to the airport just so I don't have to buy 16 gallons of gas ....... and then I'll jump in an airplane that burns 500 pounds of jet fuel an hour at 6.7 pounds a gallon and go fly. Be ready to watch those petroleum giants squirm!

Alright so maybe I just wanted to ride my bike and it sounded like a good excuse. So I rode into campus, studied for awhile, and then rode to my class at the airport. I did the same thing coming back..... rode to campus, studied for a couple hours, then rode home. Its not that bad of a ride when you break it up like that. Plus I got to study in campus, which is cool on a nice day. Might have to try that again....

Well, my parents are awesome and I get to keep my beloved red truck lol. I'll probably drive back Sunday afternoon or Saturday evening to get it. I guess they figured for all it's little problems it really wasn't that bad, and now it has new tires and everything. I promised I would love and cherish her and take curves tenderly if she came back.

Speaking of being busy, God has really been showing me the benefits of making time for him this week. No matter what else I get done, the day just isn't complete if I haven't taken time to read his word and pray. When I do get time with him, it just makes his will for me that much clearer and easier for me to follow. I've been reading about David and his mighty men the past few weeks and it's truly incredible some of the stuff they did. But why did they have success? Well it says why in there..... the Lord gave them success. And why? Because they were striving to do what God had set forth for them to do. And for them to do what God wanted them to do they first had to know what it was that God wanted them to do. So if it's good enough for a man that can go out and kill 800 fighting men by himself with a spear (I got to know what that spear was made of) to seek God's will and follow it, then it's probably the way to go. So if I want to be a "mighty man" of God I need to start by listening everyday during my time in the word for my marching orders from God, and it's kind of tough to do that if I never make the time to get in the word. So yeah I know, simple things, but it's something that can be really easy to forget in the self serving college environment.

Well that's all for now..... got to get some dinner and think about studying for my exam on Friday. Three more weeks!

Got to visit Fall Creek Nature Preserve Sunday afternoon. It was a much needed little break after a long and pretty stressful week. I was able to take a few picture, but not nearly as many as I thought I did. This is one of my favorites. It shows where Fall Creek runs through a narrow (and slippery ;-) ) channel of limestone wearing several "potholes" in the bottom of the creek bed. They were 3-5 foot deep versions of their namesake. You can kind of see them as dark spots in the picture above. It was definitely awesome enough to revisit with a larger group of people. This time it was just me and my partners in sporadic Sunday afternoon get aways for several weeks running, Kara and Andrew. Well, by the time we got back to Lafayette the dining courts were closed so I invited those two over to have waffles with Shu, Josh and I. Nothin' better than waffles on Sunday night. Well ok so there is but waffles are pretty good. We tried to convince the Brights (well, and Trent unless he's a part of the Bright family now lol) to stay for waffles too, but they were taking off and it's probably a good thing they didn't take us up on the offer 'cause I found out I just had enough stuff for us. Once I figured out what I was doing; man waffles are so much more confusing than pancake. But anyway....

Frog on a log. 

It's a poorly composed photo, but it shows what the creek beds were like. Sandstone worn down into all kinds of cool chutes and little falls. 

Andrew and Kara looking at shale in the creek bed.

Today I lost my true love. Just when I was beginning to picture us being forever, it all ended and so suddenly. I really didn’t see it coming at all. One day she and I are spending time together between every class, eating lunches together; I just couldn’t seem to go anywhere without her.
After a long, stressful day I knew I could always recount for her the many small trouble that littered the time since I last saw her and somehow it just made me feel like it was all going to be alright.

It’s strange how you can come to love so much and not even realize it till you loose what is so precious to you. How feelings can be so confusing till viewed through the looking glass of hind sight, and then the contrast makes them sickeningly clear. Already the memory of her grows faint; her smell that would surround and comfort me even in my darkest hours, the sound of her that made all other sounds seem to disappear, and the feel of her every inch …. so strong for her task yet so tender and ready to follow me anywhere. So simple yet so complicated. She would know what I needed her to do without me ever having to speak a single word. Yes, she was indeed my closest companion; one with which familiarity goes beyond description.

My heart is broken in two, and will remain so ……… until I get another truck.

Yep, that was my big melodramatic moment of the day. Mom and Dad came up to say hey and get some dinner, but also to swap out the Taurus for my truck ‘cause Dad wants to try and sell the truck. I figured a post in memory of my late truck was in order. I also just saw “Finding Neverland” and you can’t watch Johnny Depp trip out for two hours without being slightly affected.

Yep, so now that blogger is letting me post again.......the pictures below are what I did after church on Sunday. Then I went back to my house and crashed for about 20 minutes before driving all over town to find a pair of tweezers so I could take a splinter out of my thumb that ended up being a good 3/8 of an inch long. No wonder it was sore.

Although I missed evening church I was still able to make it to the "fire side chat" thing that pastor Long puts on for the college students and it's a good thing 'cause Eric, Stacey, Nirmala, and Anjali all came up. Always a good time. Makes it easier to be away from home when people from home come to you lol.

And then today we could just pretend never happened and it would be just the same. Lots of class and homework. ugh.

The weather Sunday was awesome, so Andrew, Kara and I jumped in the car after church to go check out Portland Arch near Attica. It's actually a National Natural Landmark believe it or not, just kind of tucked back in this little Nature Preserve. Unfortunately I forgot to get any pictures of the arch itself, But this is a covered bridge we went through on the way. We were only out there for like 30 minutes though cause we had to be back by 5:30, so we chalked it up as a place to revisit when there's more time.