Maus, School, and other stuff

I hope that everyone is doing well! I know that you were thinking to yourself, "When is Scott going to update again? I am on pins and needles here!" Well, there is no need to worry! Because here is an update with what is going on in my life.

I ordered a couple books on Amazon. One was Coraline which I haven't gotten yet, and the other was a set of graphic novels called, "Maus I: My Father Bleeds History" and "Maus II: And Here my Troubles Began" This graphic novel is by Art Spiegelman and..."it is about his father, Vladek Spiegelman, a Jewish survivor of Hitler's Europe, and a cartoonist who tries to come to terms with his father's terrifying story, and History Itself." The Jews are represented by Mice, the Nazis are represented by Cats, and the Polish are represented by Pigs. I got the books today, and I read the first book front to cover. It was very exciting, it flowed well, and it was very moving. I got interested in getting these novels when I heard about them in my class last semester. These books are a great way to get Upper Elementary and Middle School (Even High Schoolers) interested in reading and a better grasp of the subject concerning the Holocaust. I enjoyed it, and I am excited to read book number II (By the way, this is also a 1992 Pulitzer Prize Winner).

On a different note, school is going well. In Practicum I teach a small group of four 1st graders and I teach the whole class twice. I did my first lead-teaching yesterday on George Washington's Teeth. For those of you that think it was made out of wood, it was not! It was actually made out of Hippopotamus Ivory. My next lead teach will be about Abraham Lincoln, so it should be fun.

I enjoy playing raquetball (even though I'm not that good) and math methods is....giving me a lot of good materials. I am enjoying the two classes I am taking for fun. I'm learning about the Middle East and I really enjoy learning about PBIS (Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports). I actually use a webcam and record comments on papers I write for this class. The cool part is my professor responds to me through his webcam so it's like we are having a conversation. I am glad I am taking this class.

The only real issue I have been having with classes has been...creativity. I have had to do several projects that involve arts and crafts and expanding my mind relating to such things. Now, I was never good at arts and crafts. I don't like arts and crafts. When it comes to decoration, I don't know how it should look or why it should look that way. Needless to say...I am at a loss when it comes to these things. Because of this, I am happy if the professor/teacher says that the work is acceptable. I know I am not going to get a, "I have never seen such beautiful work," but I am okay with that.

That's about it for me. I hope you all have a great rest of the day!

My Amazon experience

When you read the title, did you think I meant The Amazon as in South America or Amazon as in the website? I personally mean Amazon the website, so all of you who were interested in hearing about my journey in South America can start playing Pac-Man or feeding my Llama.

For the first time this year, I asked my sister to get me an Amazon.com gift card. Being the generous sister that she is, she has given me a substantial amount of money to spend (that wasn't being sarcastic either. When it comes to money, she's way more generous than I am!) Anyway, I have been buying different books from there. I got Student Edition - Case for Faith, Praying the Psalms, Beyond Discipline, and The Middle East for Dummies. I have spent a total of...$33.07. For four books plus shipping and handling, that is pretty awesome! There was only one book that I was disappointed with the quality (let's just say it was not like new)...but I bought it for $8.59 (and that included shipping and handling) and if I bought this book at a store, it would be about $17.95, so it's still okay. My suggestion to all of you would be to give Amazon.com a chance if you haven't already. It's well worth it.

I'm excited for the Math Conference tomorrow and the Super Bowl on Sunday! I'm more excited for the Super Bowl to be honest. But, the math conference will be good because we all can use tips on how to teach kids math. All I remember in grade-school math was how much I hated coordinates and shapes. I did well on tests, but I always did bad on the homework. What gives?

I'll have more updates on my classes. I'm really enjoying Raquetball. I am probably near the bottom of the list when it comes to top players in my class, but I am still having fun and getting a work-out. Plus with my height, I am able to do low serves which makes the tall people have to work hard. TAKE THAT TALL PEOPLE!

I hope you all have a great rest of the day.

Eustress Vs. Distress

To describe what my semester is going to be like, I am going to quote one of my professors. He said, "There are two types of stress. There is Eustress which is good, and there is Distress which can kill you. I am offering you Eustress. Have a great weekend."

Even though I am not taking a whole lot of hours, I still have a pretty nice class-load and work today. The main thing I did today, as a matter of fact, was buy a Calendar and a Planner and write out what was due and when it was due. This helped to relieve some of the stress I was feeling. Here are the classes I am taking

1. Beginning Raquetball
2. Geography of the Middle East
3. Mathematics Methodology
4. Methods and Techniques of Behavior Management
5. Practicum

Those look like fun classes, don't they? I only need three of those for my major. I'll give you a hint which three they are...they are the odd numbered ones! I needed to be a full-time student, so I had to fill up some classes. I'm excited about both of those classes though. They are really interesting and I think they will help a lot.

Other than that, I am also really excited because I got a webcam! I needed it for a class I have this semester, and I have been goofing off with it. Some people got Facebook messages with me using it...so I hope they enjoy it as much as I did.

This has been a great week so far; My good friend came to church and the sermon/music were awesome; college life-groups started up on Monday night and we not only had a good turn-out but we have a great topic we are discussing; I got to spend a day with John and even see his plant in the midst of helping to move, I had class yesterday (which was eustressful!); and today I got to play with a webcam as well as get myself organized! Let's just see what Friday and Saturday bring!

That's it for me. I hope you all have a great rest of the day!

Football & Sunflower Seeds

So...only one of my predictions came true during the wild card playoffs. For the sake of making certain teams do well and certain teams to not do well, I will not make any predictions for the remainder of the playoffs.

Santa brought me some low sodium sunflower seeds in my stocking this year. I started eating them, and I couldn't stop. It became a routine. I would sit in my chair, eat some sunflower seeds, and watch some TV. When I ran out, I didn't know what to do. I tried popcorn, but it didn't do the trick. I had a Popsicle, but it wasn't the same. I even tried just eating peanuts. But it didn't have the same thrill of cracking those little sunflower seeds and eating that little goodness that is inside of it. So a couple of days ago, I bought another pack of sunflower seeds. I am eating them as I type this post; sunflower seeds and Sweet Tea. I am also watching King of the Hill.

Could life get any better right now? We'll see :-)

Relaxing Days

If you were on the outside looking in on how I spent my day, you would probably think that I did nothing. From a stand-point of what I usually do, I would say that's true. I basically just watched TV and ate today! I would say the two highlights of my day were ordering a pizza, and getting a book in the mail that I ordered from amazon.com. I read the first chapter, and I am really excited about introducing it to my Lifegroup! It is Case for Faith - Student Edition. You can't really find it in the stores, but I got a better deal online anyway. It covers basically six different sections

1. If there's a loving God, why is there so much pain and suffering in the world?
2. If miracles contradict science, how can any rational person believe they are true?
3. If God really created the Universe, then why does science point to evolution as the origin of life?
4. If Jesus is the only way to heaven, then what about the millions of people who never heard of him?
5. If God cares about the people he created, how could he send many of them to hell?
6. If I still have doubts, is it possible to be a Christian?

I think that this will be a good book to study. Some of it it seems like we have covered, but Lee Strobel and Jane Vogel put it together so rationally that it is just a good way of representing the material.

Something I have discovered about my personality is that when I have "relaxing days," it seems like my mind never gives me time to relax. I have thought of so many different things today. When I woke up, I just laid for about an hour or two just thinking about different aspects of life. I thought about my friends and stuff they are going through right now, what next semester holds for school and ministries (both college and youth), and how I would react in certain situations. Even after I got up and watched TV, I kept analyzing characters and asking how their lives would be different if they made different choices (particularly embracing their faith) and what I would do in that situation. Fun and relaxing, isn't it?

I did watch a good amount of ESPN and read some more about what the Broncos are doing and my picks for the wild card games tomorrow. I think Indianapolis will win in the AFC game (I hope they kick the tar out of San Diego after what happened with Denver). I am hoping the Cardinals win tomorrow, but I think realistically the Falcons will win. I haven't really seen Arizona put any real effort the past couple of games, and I don't see how you can just suddenly have a win mentality if you haven't been giving it your all the past couple of games. For Sunday, I believe the Eagles will beat the Vikings and Miami will beat Baltimore. We'll see though...

This is a long post, so I will end it. Have a great rest of the day!

Christmas and Remembrance

Hey Everybody! I hope that you all had a great Christmas. Mine was very hectic. My sister and Dad got home the night of the 22nd and Mom and I got home the night of the 23rd. None of us did any real Christmas Shopping so we were all getting our stuff on Christmas Eve. Later that day we went to BBC's Christmas Eve service. I have never heard so many crying/screaming babies in my life! However it was amazing when we all had our candles lit. At 11pm, Ferrell and I decided to go to the Methodist's Christmas Eve Service. I have to say I was really impressed and I enjoyed it! Some of it was unusual, but it was great. I am going to try to go again next year if someone will go with me.

I ended up getting a Nintendo DS (which I didn't ask for) on top of some awesome gift certificates that I haven't used yet! I got some other stuff, but that was the major thing. I got my dad the DVD "Mama Mia," my mom some certificates for two manicures, and my sister a DS game (Final Fantasy IV) and a book called, "Wet Cats."

For those of you that are wondering why I was gone for so long and why it says "remembrance" on the title, my Grandmother (Phyllis Lemons) passed away near the 16th. It was amazing to talk to people in Lander (as well as my family) that knew her very well. She was loved by everyone. There were many that claimed her as one of their best friends! She showed us, myself included, how much difference one person could make just by living an unselfish and humble life that pleased God.

I decided in honor of her death, I would post a list of top 5 things I have learned from my grandmother

1. God First
2. Treat everyone you meet as a friend, not a stranger
3. You can never have enough coats, gloves, Kleenex, clocks, or candy
4. Don't just sit around waiting for something to happen, get up and do something about it
5. "Smile...because it worked for me" (this was said during her funeral)

Everyone have a great holiday!

Grades & Other Stuff

Let's talk about ME! :-)

Here are my grades for this semester:

1. Cultural Anthropology - C
2. Books, Media, and Literacy for Children - A
3. Classroom Assessment - A
4. Methods of Teaching Social Studies - A
5. Corrective Reading - A
6. Modern English Grammar and Usage - B

Semester GPA: 3.438

Cumulative GPA: 3.648

Total Hours earned: 111

I did a lot better than I thought I would in Modern English Grammar and Usage. I keep looking at Cultural Anthropology. I spent so much time in my other classes making sure I got good grades in those, and that led to Cultural Anthropology being overlooked. Our only assessments in there were three tests and attendence, so I didn't have a whole lot of motivation. It all turned out okay.

I have spare time now. It's really weird because my weeks were arranged by tests/homework assignments. Now, I am going back to work and waiting for Jesus Trip. On the bright side, I watched Oceans 11, 12 & 13 this past weekend! They were all awesome. It made me sad though because I was watching Bernie Mac, and I knew he wouldn't be back for a sequel :-(

I think I have figured out my favorite Christmas songs.

1. O Holy Night
2. O Little Town of Bethlehem
3. Welcome to our World
4. God is With Us
5. Evening in December
6. Silver Bells
7. You're a mean one, Mr. Grinch
8. Breath of Heaven
9. Joseph's Lullaby
10. The Christmas Song

I may have missed some, so I may update/change this list depending on how I feel. Well, that's about it. Have a great rest of the day!

Dead Day!

Today is what we refer to as "Dead Day" at MTSU. The school gives us this day off to study for exams. There are some students that use this day to study at catch up, and some that use it to relax and mentally prepare themselves for the storm to come. Which one of those people am I you ask? Well, I'm typing this from my bed right now. But...I may venture to attempt some projects. I was planning on doing some Social Studies stuff today, so maybe I will be a good student and do that. We will see.

Here's a quick update. Thanksgiving was good! My Dad, Sister, Mom, Nana, the Greats, Aunt Sue, and Julie were all there to share in the feast! It was good. Turkey, dressing, cranberry sauce, orange salad, pumpkin pie, green beans, some other foods I can't remember...it was good. It was also fun being with the family and joking around with each other. Not to mention the Titans DOMINATED the game against the Lions, so it was a good day!

I got an "A" on my Case Study - that went along with the tutoring I was doing at Nolensville - so I was pretty pumped about that. I have three more projects in one of my classes due before/on Sunday, two exams on Wednesday, and one on Thursday (which requires a lot of outside work). So I am about to have a lot of fun pretty soon.

I hope that everyone is doing well and I will update as soon as the craziness stops!

Fall Retreat - Get Restored!

I will try not to let my current mood affect the way I write this blog. Why do you ask? Well let me put it this way. Today I feel like Alexander. He is the star of the book, "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day." It's raining, I am still tired, I didn't feel confident about my test I just took...so yeah.

Now that I've vented a little bit, let me talk to you about Fall Retreat! We went to Jonathan Creek in Kentucky from Friday-Sunday. Our theme of the week was being restored. The first night we did an overview of what we have called the "Connecting Moments" at church. Basically it is four circles talking about us being originally designed for good, then damaged by evil, then restored for better, then sent to heal. If you want a demonstration, come find me. I am pretty good at it by now :-) We basically focused on the fact that no matter how bad you messed up, God still forgives you and he loves you. Because God loves us so much, we should try to live a life that is pleasing to him. That right there, pretty much sums up the four sessions we had.

It was different this year because we had a Master Teacher for each grade and then broke up into small groups...which were coed. I was a Master Teacher for seventh grade. Looking back, I would have to say it was a good experience. I learned a lot myself, and I hope they did too. I brought in some visuals and referred back to stories in scripture as well as the verses we were focusing on. I don't know whether my teaching did a whole lot, but just being a small part of something big is good enough for me. We had over 30 decisions made this weekend and a little over 20 were first time decisions to accept Christ.

It's great looking back but during that time I was thinking to myself, "Did we even make a dent? Are they even listening to anything we're saying?" After I taught my last session, I was very discouraged. But like all retreats I'm part of, God tends to kick my butt and let me know what is really important. It's not about me. Even though as I write this I am smiling to myself thinking, "It's a little about me, isn't it?!?" And I guess it is. It's just not ALL about me.

"Goals are the fuel in the furnace of achievement" - Brian Tracy

I was trying to think of a good tag-line for this blog. I basically am going to talk about school and the upcoming fall retreat (leave today return on Sunday), but my tag-line for my next blog will be about fall retreat, so what's the point? Not to mention I have about 50 blogs that have the word school or update in the title, so I should just be original. I like this quote anyway.

I told one of my friends recently, "Just remember how you eat an elephant...one bite at a time!" That has been my mantra for this past semester. This has definitely been one of the busiest semesters so far. I know that next semester will be icky too since I have Practicum (somewhat like a mini version of student teaching) and Math Methods - which will encompass a lot of tutoring. I have learned a lot this semester from my classes, but I have had to eat that elephant bite by bite. You know the funny part? I am about to the shoulders. I have a ways to go with the really big projects that are coming up.

I am excited about Fall Retreat. We're going to be talking about being restored, and I am teaching 7th grade. It will be different, but I think it will be good as well. I will also be able to spend some time with my current life-group in a non-formal setting. That will be good. I'm also looking forward to hanging out with the leaders as well as some 7th graders I may meet for the first time in that session.

Thanksgiving is coming! I have to say, that I really enjoy Thanksgiving. I am somewhat impartial when it comes to turkey, but I absolutely love Pumpkin Pie and Cranberry Sauce. Not mixed together, but just in general. It is also fun to see the family and talk about life. I am almost 5"6 with my hair now, so it gives the allusion that I've grown a little bit. That's the thing about my hair. It grows out and up...not down. I get like a little 'fro going, so I look like well...have you seen those Chia Pets? It's something like that.

I guess I should be going. I hope that you all have a great rest of the day and I will update soon on the Fall Retreat!

Lifegroups & Tutoring

Hello everyone! It has been a little while since I blogged. I intended to blog shortly after Monday's Life-group section, but then I just never sat down and did it. With projects, readings, events, and other things it's really tough to just sit down and so things like this. Yet I understand that I am just presenting excuses right now, so I will stop making excuses and update.

I will take about my College Life-groups as well as my 8th Grade Life-groups. First, the College Life-group.

Since John was out of town, I did the main teaching and leading of the guys group for the College one. I've done this a couple times in the summer, but that was about it. It's such a different feeling teaching in front of your peers than a group that is younger than yourself. I don't mind it so much in College Classrooms now, but I was really nervous addressing it this past Monday because I was taking a piece of scripture that I struggled with and had to present it to them (It was on Galatians 3:1-14). The reason I say I struggled with this was for more than one reason. I wanted to figure out not only what this passage was saying, but how we should apply it personally and as a church reaching those who don't know Christ. I had to ask myself some tough questions and do some digging (I quoted some theologians and even the Greek words that were used in the text). I finally came to a point where I asked two questions. One was do we as Christians fall into the same thinking as the Galatians? Then I asked a follow up to that question of Liberalism vs. Legalism. Regarding the church being too Liberal with scripture, I asked if we were at a point where non-Christians saw no significant difference in our lives vs. theirs. In regards to Legalism, I asked if we as a church are so fixed in our tradition/way of doing things that we are so inclusive where no non-Christian will want to come to church and we are then guilty of what the Galatians were doing in respect to putting emphasis on the Law rather than Jesus. Then after we talked about that, I asked the group what it meant to them personally that Jesus made the sacrifice for us so that we no longer had to be slaves to the law.

For my 8th grade Life-group, we went over a couple things. For the first 10-15 minutes, we discussed if Christ's Biographies were accurate (i.e. the validity of scripture). That was really cool because we looked at the Bible as a book and the credibility of eyewitnesses, the original manuscripts, and the people/authors within the Bible. It was very cool. Then for the last 15 minutes, I had to High School students, Harrison Hall and Chaz Allman, talk about their trip to Guatemala and the offering that the Youth group is doing for that community to have a youth pastor. I got a lot out of it, and I think they did too. It just goes to show that it doesn't matter watch age you are, God works through everyone at anytime.

This was my last week of Tutoring at Nolensville. I still have to write my Case Study, so I still have a good amount of work to do. I am kind of glad that I don't have to come up with two different lessons each week for this, but I'm sad because it was fun going to the school and working with this student.

I was going to talk about something else, but I realize that this blog is long enough! I hope you all have a great rest of the day!

Poetry Slam, Testimony, Fall Break, and other things

If I think about it, I could just be smart and put tags on my blog and have a more creative title. However, I think that the title can be a gauge of what the post will be about, so I'm not too upset with that. I think the creative titles will come in the future but for now, we'll just leave it.

My partner and I won a Poetry Slam earlier this week. A Poetry Slam is a competition in which poets get up in front of an audience, perform an original poem (or in this case just a poem), and receive scores from judges based on how they perform. Since I read with expression and showed off my acting skills, we won! It was a great poem too. I may post it for future reference. I didn't get anything for winning, just the satisfaction of being number one. Which is fine with me and I'm assuming my partner as well.

I decided to do something different with Life-groups this week. We've been going over the Case for Christ and just finished up the section about Jesus. That section included questions like, "Did Jesus think he was God?" "Was he crazy to make that claim?" and "How does Jesus match up to the identity of the Messiah?" I thought that this would be a good point to say, "Okay we have the answers here, but what does that matter? We know about Jesus, but how does that affect our lives?" So, I gave my testimony about what it meant in my life. I know that God was with me when I did it because I had a large number of students show up and for 20 minutes, they gave me their full attention...You know how almost impossible that is with Middle School?!? It was amazing.

I am on Fall Break now. We actually had an extension for fall break because of what happened at MTSU. There is a lot of details to this so if you want to read about it, go to www.mtsu.edu and click on the link at the bottom. It will tell you what's going on. I did have tutoring, a project, and Junior Achievement (thank goodness I have learned patience) those two days, so it wasn't exactly time off. But I didn't have to go to class, so it saved me money on gas! I really didn't mean for that to rhyme. My apologies.

Other than that, everything is going well. I'm really busy with schoolwork, so having days completely off is really nice. I also was able to do stuff with the College Ministry like our Dinner and a Movie last night. That's where we watch a movie, have dinner in a theme of that movie, and discuss biblical principles. Last night was The Legend of Bagger Vance. I joked around with John saying, "I hope there's enough symbolism in this movie to talk about!" If you haven't seen the movie, there's a lot in there.

Well, I need to be going. Have a great rest of the day!

Fall Focus

For those of you that didn't know, I attended fall focus in Brentwood this weekend. Fall Focus is when the Baptist Collegiate Ministries from all over Tennessee come together and worship, go to sessions (this year focusing on missions), and meet and interact with other colleges students. I originally was only going to be able to go on Saturday but do to certain circumstances, I was able to go the whole time.

This was a great experience. I got to talk with my friends from the BCM that I don't normally get to talk to as much here at MTSU. I met some new people and I was able to take time off from this busy schedule and focus (see the theme?) on where I am and what I'm supposed to be doing. I didn't have any obligations, I wasn't in charge of anything, I was just going and seeing what God had to say.

The turning point for me this weekend was during our morning worship time. They had all these "worship experiences" set up, and we were able to take advantage of it during worship. Me however, my first thought was I needed to get away from all the noise and journal. So I took my Bible, Journal, and a blue pen (I write only in blue pen in this journal because I am crazy) and I went outside. It was beautiful sunny weather in Brentwood that day and being outside was just what I needed. I wrote about my thoughts, what I wanted to hear this weekend, and things that have been crossing my mind. I came to the conclusion that I wanted to hear two things: One was that God will reveal to me what I need to do now that I know what he wants from me, and two was how to find opportunities to form relationships with people who don't know Christ.

God answered a lot in the very next breakout session I had. One of the main points of that session was, "Be Obedient to God in the small things, and trust him with the things you can't control." When I heard that, an old man in my head yell BINGO! All the dots lined up on that card, and it was all vertical; simple answer for what I thought was a tough question.

I kinda have a feeling on what I need to do for the next question, but I still need to figure that out. For the time being, I am going to search and pray about it.

Fall Focus was centered around living Missionally. I'm going to leave with a quote from the Blues Brothers that is very applicable to our lives.

"We're on a mission from God."

Titans, school, and peanut butter

The Titans game was awesome!!! My dad and I went after the first service (so we did go to church for all of you who called me a Heathen). We got there, got some lunch (foot-long hot dog for Dad and Bratwurst for me), and sat in our seats. They were good seats and we were shaded from the sun, so it was really cool. The people around us weren't cursing or being rude but just enjoying the game. We both had fun and it was great to see them win :-) Then we got home and watched the Broncos' game, and they won too! It was a good day for football.

When I pulled into school today I said to myself, "Uh-oh...I have a test today!" It was a Cultural Anthropology test that I just finished with 10-20 minutes ago. I think I did all right. We'll see soon. But I did have a nice lunch of Peanut Butter and Kettle Chips, so I had some Brain food to work with. At least I think it was Brain food...all I know is that it was filling.

I have to sit down and look at my schedule this week because I have four-five projects I need to be working on. They aren't too hard, just very time-consuming. Depending on how far I get with one of my projects will determine if I can go to the BCM retreat this Saturday. I don't see it being a problem.

Overall, things are going very well. I hope you all have a great rest of the week!

This one-liner is Good

I found a really funny one-liner that I have used for my Facebook status. It is, "Support bacteria, they're the only culture some people have." Isn't that funny?!? It can work on many different levels. If you are in the medical profession, science major, or like me, need a clever status update. My last one didn't really attract any responses. Silly people.

So, this post is also from the MTSU library. Do you see a pattern here?!? It's all right. I'm not super good at updating these things anyway, so this helps me to sit down and do it. I just got out of my Grammar class. I will be happy to pass this one. I will shoot for an "A" in all of my other classes, but this one I just want to pass. My problem is I just can't really explain why I do what I do. I know that it's correct, but I can't explain why it is. Using the answers, "It sounds right" Or "I put the verb in this column because it evens the page out." doesn't work very well.

On a very different note, guess who gets to go to a Titans game this Sunday?!? I got tickets from one of the guys in my Lifegroup. It was a funny moment because right when he did that someone came up to me and asked, "What do you have there?" and I replied, "A Bribe!" I am very thankful for it. Dad and I are going to go, so it should be a lot of fun. It won't be like the Jets vs. Broncos game where we were able to cheer, "J-E-T-S SUCK SUCK SUCK!" but it also won't be as cold. Which I know Dad will appreciate as well as me. I just hope all the people won't be cursing and drunk. That always makes the game less enjoyable...or more depending on if they are a happy drunk :-)

I guess that's about it for me. I'm still moving along. Senior year is very busy which is sad because it's going to be a long Senior year with my Victory Lap.

All right everyone. Be sure to vote in the upcoming election! (Unless you are voting for someone silly, then just stay home)

Dreams, Choir, Kids

I think of the several years I have been blogging, I have only submitted a couple from the MTSU library. This is one that is being submitted from the MTSU library! I am waiting for Zach to go to lunch, so I thought I would update people on my life....or at least some random things happening with me.

First off, I had one of the coolest dreams last night. You know those things they use for the luge or skeleton? You know, where it's the one guy in that sled-like contraption and he is going down hill? Well I was riding a motorized one of those across the country because I needed to make it someplace or else something bad was going to happen. I had people following me who were trying to take me out, I was stuck in horrible rains, a fire, and long stretches of no life. It even came to the point where I found a place to stay, but discovered he had a camera and was taking video for the local church who was planning on assassinating me. Why? Because my death for the church would be the one thing that would help bring unity. Weird?!? I THINK SO!!!!

I started to listen to some of the choral arrangements on my Ipod. It made me realize that I miss singing in choirs doing grand choral arrangements. I listened to, "Oh My Luv's like a Red Rose" and it reminded me of the standing ovation we got when I was in All State when we sang, "Sleep." That moment still ranks in my top 10 by the way. My schedule and everything permits me from really being in choir except for maybe certain occasions on Sunday. I'm pretty rusty anyway. But there are lots of opportunities here, so I may be taken with some of them.

I'm also going to be tutoring this semester as well as doing Junior Achievement. My Senior Year is full! I love going into classrooms though. Which is probably a good thing since that is where I will spend most of my professional career!

Other than that, I have Genesis Weekend coming up which is like an overnight youth event for Middle School. Talk about God...stay up all night...fun stuff. It's okay though. I'll have help this year :-) I'm also getting used to being part of the leadership team for Oasis. It's fun, just a whole different mindset towards the ministry than what I was used to thinking.

I hope you all have a great rest of the day!

The first week of my Senior Year

I need to clarify something really quick. My Senior year is probably going to last three semesters so it won't be like a typical Senior year. It will be a Senior year for with a victory lap. I mean after all, why deny the college community the privilege of Scott Lemons? That's what I thought.

I am taking 6 classes this semester.

1. Cultural Anthropology
2. Books, Media, and Literacy for Children
3. Classroom Assessment
4. Methods of Teaching Social Studies
5. Corrective Reading
6. Modern English Grammar and Usage

All my classes are very interesting. The only thing this year is I really need to be adhering to a schedule or else I will not be able to get everything done that I need to get done. I was telling mom that my workload and content was more in depth and she was like, "Well you are in upper division in your Senior Year!" I guess that's true. I shouldn't have a big issue with the classes this year as long as I manage my time. My only problem is that I work best doing stuff the night before or a day or two before, and I have a lot of semester-long projects. Not fair!

I am leading a Lifegroup again...this time of 8th grade boys! I moved up with my guys, so it's all good. I'm really excited because we're going to do the Case for Christ! I always wanted to read this book now I can read and teach it! It will be sweet. This will be very challenging for them as well as me because we get into, "Why do you believe what you believe?" this year. All of us have some big evaluating to do.

I'm also on the leadership team of the College Ministry. It's exciting. I'm being reminded that I am pretty much the oldest college student there. That's okay, it just really didn't cross my mind until I was like, "Wait a minute...I'm 22 years old and a Senior." I'm looking forward to this semester though. Things will be different, but I feel like we are going in a good direction.

I better be going. I hope you all are having a great rest of the day and I will blog soon!

St. John Update, Olympics, and other stuff

I wrote a lot on my St. John journal so the update for this section of the blog, will be that you need to go to this link to read about it. http://www.brentwoodcollege.com/SJ_08/journals.php?name=scott.

I have enjoyed watching the Olympics. I have been keeping up mostly with Swimming, Men's Gymnastics, Beach Volleyball, and Sculling/Rowing. I tried to watch a bit of Water Polo, Fencing, and Cycling, but the ones mentioned in the previous sentence are probably my favorites. I love hearing the stories of some of these athletes. They have such dedication to their craft and their worth ethic is flawless because they know that they can't just go about it in any normal way. They have to give it their best and then some. Let's look at a small comparison. The Oscars are great because the actors will say that it is an honor just to be nominated. It's like that for the Olympics...it's great just to have the opportunity to compete against the best. To be mentioned among the best is a reward in itself. Yet each member that is nominated or competing wants the Gold.

I'm excited about Football starting. It's such a unique year. Favre is now with the Jets, Pennington with the Dolphins, and I think that this year Young and Cutler will need to have a good year to prove themselves. Not just to the league, but to their teammates and themselves.

Well, that's about it. Be sure to go to the link above to read about St. John! It was an amazing week!

Frist Center, St. John, Corn Dogs

I don't know why, but I have been wanting Corn Dogs lately. The other night when I had to pick up dinner I was thinking to myself, "I don't want Hamburgers, Tacos, Sandwiches, Soup, or Salad...I guess I'll have a Corn Dog!" It was enjoyable. The only mistake I made was I got two and I left one in the car. One of our St. John meetings was the other night, and it was getting kinda long. So to break the ice, I though it would be funny if I just randomly got a corn dog and started eating it. I knew people would be like, "Where did you get that Corn Dog?" I got some laughs from it but the moment I took a bite, I knew I was in trouble. It was sitting in the car for a couple of hours...but luckily I didn't get sick. Yeah me :-)

I also went to the Frist Center! It was really cool. I felt somewhat out of place because my gut reaction to some of the art was like, "Really? I could have drawn this!" Then I got to the "Shades of Gray" and "Artist's Voice" galleries. Those impressed me and even moved me a little. I do have to admit that I really enjoyed the Tiffany Lamp exhibit. It's amazing how much work and attention to detail these lamps require. It is really admirable how dedicated this company was to perfection and beauty. I am man enough to admit that I think Tiffany Lamps are cool. Take that, society!



I guess that's about it for now. I will not be blogging for a while because our trip to St. John is July 26th-August 3rd. We will be updating the website with everyones journals. So if you would like to see my journals for the week while I am at St. John, go to this address:

www.brentwoodcollege.com.

Thanks!

Summer Camp 2008

LET'S HEAR IT FOR SUMMER CAMP 2008! YEAH! God is B-I-G Big, I'm watching you like a llama, let me show you my Sumo Flop followed by Chicken of Death, AND other inside jokes that only we can understand! Yes!

I was at Summer camp from June 22nd-June 30th. June 22nd-26th was the Middle School Camp, and the 26th-30th was the High School Camp. I was a leader at both. I had a 7th grade Bible Study and a 9th Grade Bible Study. However, we used the same curriculum for both. We talked about Creator God, Omni God, Capable God, Sufficient God, and Famous God (although I personally rephrased the last lesson to "Glorifying God" because of some personal word issues)

Each camp was a five day camp. Each day included Breakfast, Devotion time, Worship, Small Group time, Lunch, Recreation, Free Time (3-4 hour where they could choose between various activities), dinner, Family Groups, Worship, Peer Groups, Late-Night, and then Lights Out.

I'll go ahead and divide this blog into two sections so you can get the full effect of both camp experiences. I won't be able to cover everything, but this should at least give you an overview.

Middle School Camp:

I was really excited about this camp because a couple guys from my Lifegroup were coming, and some more that I haven't really met before. I ended up having a really great group of guys. They talked, didn't really pull any pranks, were respectful an listened, and were nice. I had some problems, but nothing really huge. Our camp speaker was Chris Brooks. He was great. He has actually spoke at some camps and retreats I went to a while back. He is a fun speaker and a deep speaker. We all learned a lot from him. My favorite thing that he talked about was the story of him and his father. It's a longer story, so I may tell it sometime in the future. Worship was led by the Joey Everett Band/9th Hour...not really sure of their official name right now. They always to a fantastic job. I was really impressed with my group and the group we brought. They were serious when it came to their faith, and I see such great potential in the group that was there. I just hope they don't wait to really dig into their faith.

High School Camp:

I was very nervous about this because I have never really worked with High School Students before. I must have been hyper because of my lack of sleep or nervousness because they thought that I was a, "Fun Teacher" and apparently I acted crazy and easily distracted. But my goodness...these boys asked some deep questions! There were several I had absolutely no answer for and I had to ask Chris (our middle school minister) about them. However as the days went on the teaching got easier and we had some really great discussion. Once again I was blessed with a great group of guys. Our Camp Speaker was this guy named Afshin Ziafat who is Iranian, grew up in Texas as a Muslim, converted to Christianity, and is now a world-wide speaker telling his story and sharing the gospel. What God did in his life is amazing...I can't do it justice on here, so I'll leave it at that. Michael Boggs who leads worship for Kairos at our church led worship for this camp. He is an amazing worship leader and a really cool guy. I ate lunch with him and his band a couple of times. Awesome people all around.

Camp was a very good experience. I learned a lot about teaching, how BIG God is, I learned about myself, my friends, I felt that I got closer with the students as well as the ministers, and I really felt God stretch me beyond my capabilities. If it weren't for prayer, I wouldn't have gotten through the week!

I could go on and on, but I hope this gives you a glimpse into what Camp was like.