At the end of the line

I watch YouTube videos on various subjects when I want to semi-distract myself and get something inspirational. Tonight I found something that might've answered a very old question for me. I was watching a video by Leonard Ravenhill, who's an old-skool preacher, and he said this:

"I preached...on Elijah. And the more I see men like that, I realize that all he did, and that he never had a Bible. All the heroes in Hebrews 11, all of them never had a Bible. And you and I have everything that God is ever gonna say to the world! Boy are we in for trouble at the end of the line."

This is significant for me in two different ways. There are people, those who believe in religion and those who don't, that sometimes use the arguement, Well what about all those people that never heard Jesus or had a Bible, how'd they get saved? I could never had a solid answer for that, partly because I hadn't researched it enough. But Leonard puts it plainly and directly; PEOPLE HAD PROPHETS.

We have the entire Bible, everything that God has said to us can now fit into a book that fits in our pocket, on an iTouch, on CDs, anything we want. Do we need prophets now? NO! The days before Jesus' ministry, yes they needed prophets, because they had nothing to read, most were illiterate at the time. Prophets went traveling from city to city, preaching to the people what God had to say. Now, the populace of the world has much more literacy, and Bibles become our way of understanding God, as well as having a personal relationship with Christ.

In both of these ways, we have no justifyable reason to refuse God and what He has for us. If we truly want to follow Him, the ways to achieving that are unlimited. This encouragement goes for myself as well: Let us read the Bible daily, let us pray daily, let us do these things so that our relationship with God increases tenfold daily.

Death of a Summer

The following conversation took place 7.26.2009 over Facebook IM. All rights reserved.

-------------------------

11:07pm

Chanelle

today was my last day of summer

11:07pm

Jesse

>!>!>!>!>!>

11:08pm

Chanelle

this whole week i have band camp from 9am-5pm and then next week i have band camp again from 9am-9pm

11:08pm

Jesse

.................................OW

11:08pm

Chanelle

ya i know

it sucks

11:08pm

Jesse

that's like a smack to the head with a hammer

11:09pm

Chanelle

ya

tell me about it

11:10pm

Chanelle

so yes today was pretty much my last day of summer

11:12pm

Jesse

that is sad

we should have a funeral over IM for it

11:13pm

Chanelle

yup

ok

lol

go right ahead to start it off

11:13pm

Jesse

*clasps hands*

today we are here...to celebrate the short-lived life...of Chanelle's summer 2009

11:14pm

Chanelle

(sniffles)

11:14pm

Jesse

it was a young summer, that started out with great fanfare and much hope for adventure

11:14pm

Chanelle

*a few sprinkled amens*

11:15pm

Jesse

even though the heat was incredibly intense at times, the AC prevailed in the shade when available, which provided a great dance of temperature

11:16pm

Chanelle

yessir

11:17pm

Jesse

at the end of its life, VBS sustained great excitement, partly supported by Jesse Niebolt, the youth groupians were greatly pleased by this

11:17pm

Chanelle

AMEN

11:17pm

Jesse

unfortunately, summer 2009's life was cut short by a drunken driveby accident

11:18pm

Chanelle

WOAH WOAH

WAIT

HOLD

ON

11:18pm

Jesse

the driver, which will be an unnamed school district....

11:18pm

Chanelle

oh lol ok

continue

11:18pm

Jesse

...took its life, without remorse, feeling, sensibility...not even a shred of mercy

11:19pm

Chanelle

*SOB*

*SOB*

11:19pm

Jesse

it lay twitching in the street, as the life faded slowly, with all of its friends, near and dear to it, close by

11:19pm

Chanelle

ok that was too much lol

11:20pm

Jesse

*closes bible*

you may now speak freely of whatever memories you may have

11:20pm

Chanelle

*SOB*

11:21pm

Jesse

are there any further words?

11:21pm

Chanelle

It was a good summer, filled with memories that will never be forgotten. Many good ones and some bad. And some that even made her laugh so hard she almost peed her pants.

hold on

i am writing

11:21pm

Jesse

continue...

*hands tissue*

11:22pm

Chanelle

Many are saddened by this death, including the many who were included the memories

and all of God's people said...

11:23pm

Jesse

AMEN

11:23pm

Chanelle

Thank you for coming and we will be serving refreshments in 5 minutes

11:23pm

Jesse

wait wait

what about the casket!

11:24pm

Chanelle

*many blow noses*

11:24pm

Jesse

lol!

11:24pm

Chanelle

OH NO

WAIT

EVERYONE COME BACK!

11:24pm

Jesse

HOLD YOUR NOSES!

11:24pm

Chanelle

HAHa

ok

Jesse, would you help me put the casket in the grave please?

11:24pm

Jesse

...I think we should light it on fire...

11:25pm

Chanelle

HEY

11:25pm

Jesse

fire's always good

11:25pm

Chanelle

NO

11:25pm

Jesse

DUDE! God talked to Moses in a burning bush

11:25pm

Chanelle

what does that have to do with my summer funeral?

11:25pm

Jesse

nothing, it's just cool and biblical

and all that stuff

11:25pm

Chanelle

lol ok

well i guess we are lighting it on fire

11:26pm

Jesse

sweet

*pours on gasoline*

who has a lighter?

11:26pm

Chanelle

*holds candle to casket as it catches fire*

me

11:26pm

Jesse

it's gotta be a freebird lighter!

11:26pm

Chanelle

UGH FINE

*holds FREEBIRD lighter to casket as it catches fire*

11:27pm

Jesse

*watches as the fire goes up*

wait...

11:27pm

Chanelle

*many sob, cry and blow their noses*

11:27pm

Jesse

IT'S MADE OF PLASITC!!!

11:27pm

Chanelle

WHAT????

11:27pm

Jesse

*watches as the casket begins to melt*

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

11:27pm

Chanelle

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

11:28pm

Jesse

*fortunately the casket melts into the grave*

pants

11:28pm

Chanelle

oh ok good

11:28pm

Jesse

THAT WAS WICKED

11:28pm

Chanelle

HAHAHA YES IT WAS

gosh we are weird people

LOL

11:28pm

Jesse

not weird

different

and different is also diverse

11:28pm

Chanelle

ah. very true

11:28pm

Jesse

which is good

11:28pm

Chanelle

yes it is

The human condition

I don't understand people, therefore I don't understand myself. I laugh at people that think of people as their hero, that think they're this amazing person, but fail to see the other side of the curtain. Yet sometimes, it works the other way around...not nearly as often, but sometimes. The point is, it's all an illusion...an illusion that seems okay to accept.

I wrote a song about death today. Hold up, let me back up. I've written a little over 20 songs, and I'm starting to lay down tracks for a CD at some point this year. I'm writing/recording/producing this record, everything on my own, and excited for it. I think I'm coming up with a tradition; when I write a folksy song for the CD, that will be enough songs. This song is a little song, it belongs at the beginning as an intro or a hidden track at the end...though I realize that in this digital age of music, hardly anybody does hidden tracks anymore. Drat you digitalness, you've taken away the secret joys of CDs! Well actually it's taken away CDs altogether...meh.

As a closing statement, I'm really loving this whole immense growing thing I'm doing with God, through God, because of God. To quote my own song, I will be still, because I don't realize who I am...or He is.

Second week

Right then, so I'm in the middle of my second week back at college, it's alright. Doin psychology, found out my teacher was shot in the right side of his head when he was 17 and lived, and after that got masters in psychology and CIS. Got my first test tomorrow, and I actually studied, slightly motivated by Jessica I must admit. But yeah, I'm officially being responsible and being a real student...it's a weird feeling, you know what's happening instead of letting chaos reign...not sure when I'll get used to that :)

Keep prayin for me though, I'm still just in the beginnning. But havin fun.

LucasArts loves me

One quick blog, then I'm off to sleep so I won't be deprived for class tomorrow.

Today was my birthday, and LucasArts decided to pick this day to announce that it would be teaming up with Steam to re-release all its titles, new and old ones. Steam is an online game provider that is pretty solid, puts out high quality games and has a good network for gamers.

if you had no idea, i am a HUGE STAR WARS VIDEO GAME FAN. The fact that this news came out on my birthday, my 21st no less, bodes the omen of epicness. If they put out the KotOR games and the early EARLY Star Wars games, I think I'll have a good excuse to spend some money. But I'll also have to balance that with getting The Old Republic MMO whenever that comes out...heck I'll have better income by then or put it on the credit card

I do believe I'm turning into a Star Wars video game addict.