Currently Listening The Altar and the Door By Casting Crowns see related

Well, I'm still alive. Bummer huh?? I don't know if anyone is really on here anymore.  Facebook seems to have taken over.  Oh well. If anyone is still tooling around on xanga, howdy to ya.  The summer is almost over which is crazy.  I'm pretty sure that it was just a couple of weeks ago that the snow all melted. Time flies. 

Things that happened this summer.

1. My sister got married.

2. I hiked Mount Katahdin.

3. I worked.

4. I dated. (still am)

5. God has been good.

You know that's not really a lot to happen for a summer, but work has been pretty busy.  God is so good.  I am more and more convinced of that all the time.  He also works everything together for good.  Even what I consider bad.  Hard times bring us to the point where we can do nothing but trust Him.  I think for me, I can sum up the Christian life by saying "Lord, I can't do anything by or for myself.  You have to do it through me."  There is nothing good of myself.  Only by God's grace and the Holy Spirit, is there anything good.  ...just a few thoughts.  Well have a good day everyone.  Maybe I'll update again some time.

Shoutouts to the book The Normal Christian Life

Shoutouts to running the race with patience

Here's some music that I highly recommend.  All by Casting Crowns.

Praise You in this Storm

The Voice of Truth

East to West

Love Them Like Jesus

Christ in Me

Prodigal

Currently Watching The Kite Runner By Khalid Abdalla, Atossa Leoni, Shaun Toub, Sayed Jafar Masihullah Gharibzada, Zekeria Ebrahimi see related

Ever hop into something that you didn't properly prepare for and then had it go much worse than it would have gone if you were ready for it?  I did.  This week.  Unfortunately.  The thing I hopped into unprepared for, was whitewater.  Me and my brother Tim were doing some canoeing/fishing on the Cobbosseecontee Stream.  We went through some small whitewater that did little more than speed up our journey.  However, we came up on some bigger stuff later in the run.  It looked kinda nasty, but I am of the belief that things often times look worse than they actually are.  We started going down the whitewater without really doing any preparation for it. (little things like putting life jackets on, securing gear, and kneeling in the canoe)  We quickly took a wave into the canoe and shortly thereafter dumped.  Now water in Maine in April is not know for it's particular warmth.  It was probably around 40 degrees.(the lake above the river still has ice on it)  At first we tried to get the canoe to the side but soon realized that it would be impossible to do considering the speed of the water.  We let go of the canoe and turned our attention to trying to get out.  In an attempt to avoid being hit by the canoe, I got turned around and was going down the river backwards.  Needless to say, I wasn't real excited about that.  I got turned around but not before hitting a few rocks.  Thankfully we were able to get to the edge before a particularly bad stretch.  We were only in the water for a minute or two.  I crawled out of the water and sat on a rock.  I was so numb, I could hardly feel the rock on which I was sitting.  As I am want to do after situations like that, I sat there and laughed.  I don't know why I do that but it wasn't the first time I've laughed after escaping danger.  Anyway, Tim and I hiked down river until we found our canoe and most of our gear caught on a deadfall. (on the other side of the river naturally)  Tim waded into the river and got one of our paddles.  We found a canoe that someone had left in the woods and used the paddle to get our stuff.  All in all, we lost 2 fishing poles, almost all our tackle, a fleece sweater, and a water bottle.  Tim had a few cuts on his wrist and I have a bunch of bruises on my legs and rear end, but other than that we escaped unscathed.  Thank God.  Tim and I are discussing when to run that stretch again.  Probably soon, if we wait too long the water will go down, the whitewater will be gone, and the fun with it. 

Shoutouts to warm weather

Shoutouts to having 7 feet of snow beside our barn

Lottery: a tax on people who are bad at math

Currently Listening Unbreakable By Fireflight see related

The Dating Trap

I have long been a supporter of singles, singleness, singularity, and any other forms of the word single that you know or can make up.  Many a time I've warned others about the dangers of the dating trap and where it can lead--the word will not be spoken here, but it starts with M and rhymes with carriage.  So it may come as a surprise to some of you that I am now announcing that I am indeed caught in such a trap.  "How could such a thing happen," you might say.  I don't have a good answer to that question.  It's one of those things that can sneak right up on you.  ; )

Disclaimer:  the above paragraph is written for satirical purposes only.  I'm really enjoying the trap.  Valerie is awesome and I'm happy and honored to be dating her.

Currently Listening Turn the Tides By 38th Parallel see related

I guess I'm going to update.  There's not a whole lot happening here.  Lots of snow, which is cool. (I think I'm the only one who thinks that)  Last weekend Kdog, Q, Jordan, Jim, Paul Shildt, and I went up north to snowmobile.  That was pretty sweet.  It was very cold.  Quintin got some frostbite and Kenny blew the motor on the sled he was using but all in all, we had a good time.  One of my sleds had been in the shop for about a month while a part was backordered.  I finally got it back yesterday and a few of us went trail riding.  Down on Sabattus Lake I was trying to see how fast it would go.  The track tore off somewhere around 100mph.  I guess it was just a stress rip, because I didn't hit anything.  Now it's back in the shop to get that fixed.  In other news, I've been sick for about 6 weeks now and surprisingly enough, I'm ready to be over it.  Oh well, so it goes.  Catch yall later. Sorry for the boringness of this post for anyone not interested in motorsports.