His Plan

This past week I really focused on finding some comfort as well as inspiration because I was given a grand challenge I needed to conquer. My biggest fear is uncertainty for the future, and last week I lived by one of my favorite verses found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

" 'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'Plans to prosper you, and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.' " Jeremiah 29:11

This is God's promise to all of us who are scared that things may not turn out so great immediately, but we must also realize that tomorrow is not in our hands, but in God's. I was overwhelmed with school work, college recruiting, and life in general, but reading this verse and meditating on it really widens my perspective on what is really important in life, and that's God. You see, I can set goals for myself and plan my life out, but I never know what could happen tomorrow or the day after that. I am unaware of where my life is headed, but I can trust in someone who knows where my path lays. This support really helped me last Saturday as I faced adversity but also was given hope by the grace of God.

I was able to attend a soccer recruiting camp this weekend at Cedarville University. Only hearing of me from my desperate efforts to set up an appointment with them during my visit there on PSAT Day, the coaches had no idea who I was or what I could bring to the table. All of the odds were against me, and I knew it. The pressure was on, but I was absolutely determined to show the staff and players what I had to offer.

Twenty four hours later, after spending the night with the team and training in 3 sessions with the 75 other recruits there, the head coach took me aside to tell me I was offered a spot on the team and that I would be receiving a scholarship to play for them. Although I am unsure on whether or not I decide to commit there, it was incredible how it all turned out. Having no prior contact with the coaches except and invitation to go to the camp, and only a day of them seeing me play, I was able to receive an athletic scholarship from a D2 school in just one day. I don't understand why good things happen to me even when I sin, but I guess God is being good to me for a reason, not because I deserve it all, but because he loves me.

American Greed

I began my week by minimally reading the story of how Mark Zuckerberg's billion-dollar, social-networking phenomenon, Facebook, was started in a small, but tidy Cambridge dorm room at Harvard University. As startling as his incredible journey may have been, I can't help but think about how he cheated his best friend and a pair of twin brothers out of the riches, keeping all of the money to himself. Creating the software hides the fact that he stole an incredible idea under the covers, and using money that wasn't his in order to obtain some start-up funds is then taken out of the picture after billions of dollars are made. An wonderful state of bliss for one man, but a bitter hunger for vengeance lies within the hearts of those who were victims of corruption and greed. But the Facebook empire is at the least of concerns. Instead, I must ask a question so thought-provoking I may be unable to answer....

Does anyone care that our world is becoming full of nothing but greed?

Why are people cheated out things but are never granted adequate justice for what has happened to them?

What should people do to change the hearts of those who verbally debauch or condescend others in horrible ways?

There is no easy way to answer these mysteries, but that doesn't mean they can't be answered. The answer to these questions lies within one simple word: Fear

People are simply scared of what will happen next in life, so they decide to steal, cheat, and harm others. Fear is the reason why Walter White continues to produce, manufacture, and distribute meth. The fear of financial failure, with no source of income; so instead, people like him decide to what's illegal to get what he needs. Or it could be the less serious of offenses, but just as dishonorable such as cheating. There is so much drive for people to get what they want, but how they achieve success is sometimes awful. Just think Lance Armstrong and his problem the performance-enhancing drugs. Even the greats don't only do what's right to get what they want. People like him are afraid to fail; so they decide to do what is wrong in order to prosper.

A New Beginning

    My blog’s themes generally comprise of very secular and earthly matters  rather than what my spiritual being composes of. It’s the other half of me that many know about but others still have questions about. The testimony I present to others is praised by few and frowned upon by others. I stand alone here on earth, but I am not abandoned because of the spirit that lies within me. The gospel holds all of life’s answers to me, and it is my job to show that to those who are without it. I am unashamed in my faith and shall hide no more; this is only the beginning of my walk.

  I know, a very interesting way to begin, but I needed to reveal myself to everyone. My faith in the Creator of the Heavens can no longer be unnoticed nor snubbed as I have committed myself to living a more beautiful and devoted life. The changes included will be what books I read, songs I listen to, and tv shows I watch. In order to continuously dedicate myself to something greater, I must begin to blog more about my life as a Christian guy in high school.

The Bible has been the only book I have touched for the last two weeks because I promised not only God, but myself, that I would get myself back on track with this whole “christian” thing. I decided to do this by reading a few passages from the New Testament. A few verses that stuck out to me came from 1 Peter, who first sent this letter to believers living in the northern regions of Asia Minor giving them encouragment to continue living out their faith.

    22 ”Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart. 23For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. 24For, “All people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, 25but the word of the Lord endures forever.” And this is the word that was preached to you.” (1 Peter 1:22-25 NIV)

The key to my revival of faith is that I continue to love others and follow the Word of God. Without these key elements of life, I cannot grow in my walk with the Lord and will wither like grass. However, if I remain in God, then I will not perish, but will only thrive forever. We are only here temporarily, but the word of God will ‘endure forever’. 

So here you go, that’s my life. I stand for what I believe in, and I must remind myself to act that way as well. I see too many receiving the wrong misconception to what it truly means to be a Christian. It’s not a religion, a doctrine, or a theory; these statements would only do a disservice to the actuality of it all. But it’s a relationship with a Creator, a Son, and a Spirit. You don’t have to agree with what I say, and you can even judge me if you’d like, but that will not phase me one bit.

"Stay in the game. Dominate the arena like home court advantage don't even matter!" Propaganda

What We're Loving Suggestions

"Back up or I'm gonna throw this bottle of piss at you!!"

were the first words that completely stole my attention into the podcast by comedian Dave Hill. In this hilarious, risible and supposedly-true story, he tells of a time when he first moved to New York and encountered an extremely angry civilian (if you can call the man a civilian) while waiting for the next subway to arrive. The theme of the quasi-ineffable tale is the transfer of messages through inanimate objects.

It begins with the description of how New York used to be seen as an edgy place; a place where you could just walk down the street and pop open a beer and just like, suck it down and throw the bottle on the ground. And now, it isn't considered that way anymore.
By the end of the experience, he learns that New York is, in fact, still edgy. 

  

I couldn't stop laughing the entire time! I strongly suggest you waste about ten minutes of your precious time to watch it, you won't be sorry.

WARNING: some profanities are used.

What I'm Consuming

Listening:
A newly rejuvenated, slow-tempo R&B is what has been dominating my playlist for the past two weeks. When I say R&B, I don't mean the washed up, club-savvy singers such as Usher or Ne-Yo, but rather those with the right amount of soul to compliment it's unique underground hip-hop style in which the lyrics are anti-commercial inspired with its amount of depth included. One artist who I have come to love has been Frank Ocean. My favorite song of his has got to be Thinking About You because he reveals a level of vulnerability and romance in which he makes every listener think about their significant other right as the chorus begins to play. Ocean's music has been characterized by music writers as idiosyncratic in style. Ocean generally plays the electronic keyboard, and is backed by a subdued rhythm section in the production. His compositions are often mid-tempo and feature unconventional melodies, occasionally having experimental song structure. Whenever I'm in the mood to pause and slow this life down a bit, or if I want to ponder about my "sophisticated" high school romances, I choose Frank.

Pandora Playlists

Throughout these past few weeks, I have began to concentrate my efforts on exploring genres of music I normally would never listen to. My music selection before was classified as very mainstream, so to say, because it included many well-known artists that you could instantly find off the Top 100 iTunes songs list. Ranging from Christian to Hip-Hop/Rap, my iPhone showed variance but also an overabundance of notoriety. It was to the point that whenever I would play a song from my iPhone on my speakers, my friends would reiterate from time to time that my music "sucked" because it "was too old."

 Almost becoming attacked from these accusations, it was obvious that I needed to find new music which added more variance, style, and substance to my playlists. And thank the Lord I had Pandora to help me do this. Here are some of the stations I have fallen in love with for the past two weeks and why I have suddenly downloaded 300 new songs in a matter of days. 

1) Hillsong United 

2) The Weekend

3) John Mayer

4) Lecrae

5) Mumford and Sons

6) Coldplay

7) Matisyahu

I refuse to even give a brief description about the bands because even that would do a disservice on my part because each of these talents are that incredible. Listen to each of them with an open mind and I guarantee that one of these stations will be enjoyable to listen to. 

Senioritis

I never thought this would happen to me. The realization didn't occur to me that every senior would encounter such a rampant epidemic that no one could prevent themselves from being afflicted by. No vaccines, pills, or activities could deter my lack of ability to focus on my school work. My work ethic has quickly vitiated, and we have yet to encounter the end of a very long fall term. This sickness is not going away either but will only get worse for me. And I ask myself  'How did I get like this?' over and over until my head begins to spin and I pass out. I developed a list on how one might become afflicted with Senioritis. So here is how one gets this horrid disease.

1) Become a Senior
2) Enroll in the easiest courses you can take at HHS (elective PE, film, business math)
3) Take all regular classes
4) Save the money you earned from your summer job so that you can spend it all on Senior year adventures
5) Watch all the TV and movies you want
6) Get a Twitter account so that you can spend a mere two hours developing a good tweet about 1% of your followers will actually care about
7) Count down the days until you graduate and leave HHS
8) Worry about having fun during your senior year rather than actually learning anything
9) Follow the horrible advice of hip-hop sensation Drake by involving yourself in YOLO endangerments.

There you go. The crisis of Senioritis and how one contracts it in a nutshell. I'm hoping I can work harder in school since my grades will soon drop, but it's not like I won't graduate or go to college because I did poorly during one year. Overall, the epidemic, the crisis, and the nightmare of senioritis has already gotten the best of me, and I'm confident that I will not be the one to find the cure for it.

Change

The most irritating part of blogging once per week is suffering from the ailment of writer’s block. After gathering a plethora of thoughts and ideas on what to write about into my head, my mind lacks the aptitude to transfer these thoughts into words as I am about to begin the blog. The desperation to find those words that express how I feel about various topics on a weekly basis is so immaculate that it initiates an enormous amount of anxiety. Tick tock, tick tock, tick tock, the clock goes as well as my ability to write this post. Personally, I believe I must do something about this by altering the way I prepare for writing these blogs I dread every week.

Freelance writing might just be one of the most rigorous tasks I have ever taken part of in my life due to the fact that an overabundance of freedom is granted to me on what I write about. My opportunity to finally write about whatever I choose to has been wasted because of my lack of preparation, passion, and persistence. I accept the truth that in order for me to change my routine prior to writing blogs, I must do a few things first:

Write down my thoughts throughout the week on a sheet of paper.

Indulge myself in more literature, film, and music so that I am thinking more often.

Draft possible topics I wish to write about eventually.

Read other blogs or articles so that my work can be aspired from a source of great writing.

Approach each blog with a positive attitude and appreciate the fact that I have the choice to write what I want.

I enjoy writing; however, my common encounter with the dreaded writer’s block makes me dread this assignment every single week.  

Twitter

Currently on my shelf is the story behind the creation of Facebook which was eventually made into a movie called the Social Network. Facebook has well over three-hundred million members, and businesses continue to use Mark Zuckerberg's code-breaking extravaganza as a chief asset for a successful marketing plan. The renovations with the addition of the Timeline compliment the social network's notoriety for establishing a professional profile for any person in the world. However, a new networking phenomenon was created just under three years ago that will blow the population of teenage Facebook users away: Twitter.

The more personable Twitter enables the sense of rebellion and security from any parental surveillance. Freedom of expression is taken pushed to the limits with the diction young adults are using to express how they feel, what they are doing, or what their interests are. By far less professional and structured as Facebook, the beauty behind restricting others to 140 characters or less in one tweet allows other 'tweeps' to express a sense of gratitude and relief from having to likewise read a four page paragraph status on the emotional kid who likes to complain a lot.

But this fabulous site is marvelled upon by many with the way news is spread by celebrities, friends, and other government officials. For example, I follow NFL analysts which help me decide who to start and who not to start for my upcoming weeks. Tips and facts are often featured on tweets with a link attatched for more information if needed. I only heard about Trayvon Martin and Joseph Kony via tweets from my quasi-emotional friends, humanitarians, and activists I follow. As ridiculous as it sounds, much like how One Direction won a VMA over Frank Ocean, the only way I can keep up with the news if through my Twitter Feed from politicians, economists, businessmen, and other important figures.

The staggering population growth of 'tweeps' continues to exponentially increase due to the rather underground reputation it still is given by many. The hidebound opinions made by many who have never even owned a Twitter account startles questions and interest in such a 'forbidden and awful' network for teens, but the sense of pride, rebellion, and privacy prove to be key incentives for those children to create their own Twitter account.

Identity

Finishing the very last chapter of The Good Times Are Killing Me helped me contract a vast array of chief life themes the mainstream student body of my high school can soak in to better themselves.  Entering the seventh grade at her school, Edna experienced a purview of emotions ranging from confusion to seclusion, with questions fluctuating from:

 ‘Who are my true friends’?

 ‘Who am I’?

‘What am I doing here’?

 They say middle school is where adolescents find their true friends and characterize their identity precisely, but is that statement even close to being justified as a validation to what actually occurs during those brutal three years?

Continuing on with the story, Edna initiated her energies into endlessly investigating the best route to bring her to class the most efficient way when she was swiftly approached by her black neighborhood friend, Bonna, along with two other girls. Rather than the unpremeditated greetings such as ‘hello’ or ‘what’s up’, the location transforms into a sharply aroused manifestation of one-sided donnybrook with the typical ‘ganging up’ on one kid, Edna. As the principal arrives to relieve the hostility amongst the girls by sending Edna and Bonna to the office, the two girls each glance toward one another, but no acknowledgement of the other is initiated. The once friends all of a sudden become nemeses all due to the entrance of a new stage of life, middle school.

Edna concludes the last chapter of the book by delivering an insight on why this might result with two suppositions:

1)      People change

2)      Social groups and cliques begin to form when people change

These apprehensions can be pronounced factual comprehensions which provide evidence to how the different assemblies of people in school were inaugurated. But why do these changes in social behavior among old friends occur? Why is it that Bonna didn’t acknowledge Edna while they were alone in the office?

My goal for my last year of high school is to figure out the answers to ALL of the questions I asked myself above. “What’s my purpose?” “Who am I?” “Why did I just stop talking to people I was once associated with?” I wish to be able to possible reunite myself with those who I have “exiled” from my life or those who blatantly left mine for absolutely no reason at all. My identification will then be revealed once I begin to intently ponder on those queries.  

The Quasi-Fulfillment of Escape and Servitude

I honestly believe that this week's theme in all of my classes has been variety. That noisome reminder in my head that I must continue to expand my knowledge in a multitude of ways with the purpose of raising my intellectual capacity has created an entirely new hierarchy of madness. More reading, more television watching, more music listening, and much more thinking; a fait accompli but yet so daunting and of a task for me to encounter on a daily basis. After reading two books, watching two television shows, and listening to hundreds of songs, the impact one book and one episode of a TV sitcom had on me this week was almost chimerical.

Indulging in a few books throughout the past few days seemed to be pretty difficult for me, but I was given a great chance to pick up on a great start while driving 5 hours in a car to Pennsylvania.  The Good Times Are Killing Me intrigues my train of thoughts when it deals with the societal implications people are faced with every day. Moreover, the chance for opportunity diminishes depending on what environment one is exposed to at first hand. After reading approximately one hundred pages of Lynda Barry’s prolific novel, I finally was able to make those conclusions shown above after the events that Edna Arkins must deal with to prosper in life. As the story progresses and the depth of Edna’s character surges, music ends up becoming a great escape to the troubles in her life. The ingenuous innovation of the Record Player Night Club institutes a widespread internal sense of approval which motivates her to even greater extents to pursue the dreams she has. How ironic that her escape from her disturbed environment taken place in her own home is in the basement.

To conclude this overly-extensive blog, I experienced a wild sense of euphoria during the prelude currently of one of the most beloved sitcoms on TV of mine, Wilfred. To begin each episode, a random quote is displayed on the screen to symbolize or foreshadow the theme of all that will happen during the 30-minute show. I was so intrigued by this quote by Lee Iacocca that it was essential for me to put into words what I was feeling at the time I read it.

 “The thing that lies at the foundation of positive change is service to a fellow human being."

This fascinating statement by such a brilliant and groundbreaking businessman completely altered my understanding of our motives for serving others. Do we solely provide assistance to others because it will make us feel better? Or do we genuinely want to deliver relief to one’s grievances in order to benefit them? After thirty minutes of witty, comical, and rib-tickling raillery, it was transparent that my first possible motive for service was the direction the show took the idea. My final analysis to this decision to base the show off that particular theme led to another question, “why is that we only do things to solely benefit our own well-being?

 I guess my parents were wrong when they said that TV will only make me dumber.

My Reading History

    My mother and father have always told me that a book is the best food for the brain. It energizes, stimulates, and unleashes the thinking process to a whole new level. Being able to picture what occurs from the words read in the book from your own interpretation is always enjoyable as it releases a new sense of freedom unlike any other. Sometimes it is a challenge; however, for me to really pick up on what actually happens during the story I read. Once I lose focus due to a lack of interest, I give up and do not even try continuing that book.

     The unsatisfactory feeling of not enjoying reading made me want to take this course. I want to finally be able to prepare myself for college by reading all levels of comprehensions: from a clear-cut plot to a rigorous, challenging story. My personal goals for this quarter include reading at least four books this quarter, taking time to read one hour a day, and fully understanding what I am reading without any questions asked. It’s imperative that I pick up on the importance of reading because it is an application I am going to use for the rest of my life, no matter what field of study I partake in.