Wanted to write one more post while it's still March. Especially while it's still March 31. Because as my lover wrote for a school assignment due today, "March 31 only comes once a year - celebrate it!"
Right now I am glad to be finished with March, mostly because it allows me to move on to April, and after April comes - well, you know. All sorts of people are now telling me how quickly May 23 will come. And well, yeah, it is - and I kinda feel bad that it's coming quickly for my dear future mom-in-law, because she has so much to do to get ready, and even though it's a special day for her, she's not the one getting married. I don't guess I've thanked you for all your work, Mrs. T - Thank you so much! It overwhelms me how hard you're working to make my and Lana's day even more special.
But I'm not the mother-in-law, I'm the groom, and May 23 seems so far away still. I miss Lana so badly. I even miss her when I'm with her now - not because her presence is lacking in some way; I'm missing something else, that we've never had and won't have until the wedding day. It hurts to not be able to hold her hand or kiss her or wrap my arms around her. But I know, however much of an eternity it may seem, the end is very near.
I wrote an article for the upcoming CtB (which is, BTW, the last one, if you hadn't heard that yet) about waiting for my wedding and how it must parallel Jesus' waiting for His own wedding. Definitely something I'd never thought about before.
Well, I'm gonna go to bed now. Please be in prayer for me and Lana, especially Lana in the next few days; she has a lot of school assignments to do and not much time to do them. And also, we've been going through some...well, spiritual warfare, is the way she put it today, and I think that's right. So pray that God will focus our hearts on Him and that we will trust Him with everything.
BTW, I apologize for the title of this post. It's terrible, I know. I just couldn't resist...
Showing posts with label CtB. Show all posts
Showing posts with label CtB. Show all posts
Monday, March 31, 2008
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
School starts tomorrow...
Tomorrow it's:
History and Development of the English Language 10:00-10:50
History of the United States 1900-1945 11:00-11:50
Editing for Usage, Style, and Clarity 1:00-2:15
Then on Thursday I have:
Imaginative Writing 9:30-10:45
Advanced Nonfiction Writing 12:30-1:45
Right now I'm actually almost excited about the semester. Well, maybe it would be more accurate to say that I'm not dreading it (which is still pretty good). Mr. Cooper, a wonderful instructor who taught two of my classes last semester, returns as my Editing prof. And I've got my all-time (thus far) favorite instructor, Ann Winters, for Imaginative Writing.
And I've got my all-time favorite classmate for four of my five classes, so that's, like, pretty much the greatest thing about this semester. No, it really is. That and the fact that it's my last semester as a bachelor.
It's pretty cool because every week, I can be counting down to not just summer break, but the most anticipated day of my life too. Wait, did I say pretty cool? Yeah, that's amazing stacey.
Printing CtB on Friday, Lord willing. Thank you to all who subscribe to this magazine and help it in any way. We've been doing it for over two years now!
And let me just take this opportunity to say that I love my fiancee and she is the most incredible person in the world! Lana, my darling, you're so godly and beautiful and smart and thoughtful and Christ-like and loving and sensitive, and I cannot wait to wed you nineteen weeks from this Friday!
History and Development of the English Language 10:00-10:50
History of the United States 1900-1945 11:00-11:50
Editing for Usage, Style, and Clarity 1:00-2:15
Then on Thursday I have:
Imaginative Writing 9:30-10:45
Advanced Nonfiction Writing 12:30-1:45
Right now I'm actually almost excited about the semester. Well, maybe it would be more accurate to say that I'm not dreading it (which is still pretty good). Mr. Cooper, a wonderful instructor who taught two of my classes last semester, returns as my Editing prof. And I've got my all-time (thus far) favorite instructor, Ann Winters, for Imaginative Writing.
And I've got my all-time favorite classmate for four of my five classes, so that's, like, pretty much the greatest thing about this semester. No, it really is. That and the fact that it's my last semester as a bachelor.
It's pretty cool because every week, I can be counting down to not just summer break, but the most anticipated day of my life too. Wait, did I say pretty cool? Yeah, that's amazing stacey.
Printing CtB on Friday, Lord willing. Thank you to all who subscribe to this magazine and help it in any way. We've been doing it for over two years now!
And let me just take this opportunity to say that I love my fiancee and she is the most incredible person in the world! Lana, my darling, you're so godly and beautiful and smart and thoughtful and Christ-like and loving and sensitive, and I cannot wait to wed you nineteen weeks from this Friday!
Friday, December 28, 2007
CtB, and please pray for Lana
Well, it's Friday of Christmas week; the break is now halfway over and school will be back to smack in the face before I know it. Today I'm planning on editing some Hunted footage and working on articles for the next issue of CtB. Yes indeed, CtB is alive and well, and while our Jan/Feb 08 issue will probably get out rather late, it will come if the Lord wills. You can send in your submissions to calltobattle@mail.com; as always, we can't promise to print them, but we definitely welcome whatever you'd like to send.
Please keep praying for my Lana Marie; she's been feeling really bad the last few days. Worse than usual, which is saying something considering that she's been sick for months and months. Very possibly she may have caught something extra from Tony, who may have gotten it from me, and I may have gotten it from...never mind. That doesn't matter. Just please pray for her faithfully. She's been studying for two CLEP tests and thus has gotten basically no Christmas break, which doesn't help at all when you're trying to feel better. She probably won't be able to work on CtB much at all this time. Anyways, pray, please.
Well, better go so I can start writing. Hope all of my readers are having a wonderful holiday season and that God pours out His blessings on you as you look to begin a new year. For now, namarie!
Please keep praying for my Lana Marie; she's been feeling really bad the last few days. Worse than usual, which is saying something considering that she's been sick for months and months. Very possibly she may have caught something extra from Tony, who may have gotten it from me, and I may have gotten it from...never mind. That doesn't matter. Just please pray for her faithfully. She's been studying for two CLEP tests and thus has gotten basically no Christmas break, which doesn't help at all when you're trying to feel better. She probably won't be able to work on CtB much at all this time. Anyways, pray, please.
Well, better go so I can start writing. Hope all of my readers are having a wonderful holiday season and that God pours out His blessings on you as you look to begin a new year. For now, namarie!
Monday, September 10, 2007
Sunday and CtB
Thanks to those who prayed for filming on Saturday and for my sermon last night. The filming ended up falling through yet again, but the message went pretty well and I could definitely feel the prayers.
I absolutely loved having my bride-to-be there with me, from 5:00 till time to go home. It was great to have her in class and to sit by her in the service. We actually got to sing side-by-side for the first time (usually I'm up on the stage). She encourages me and lifts me up so much. So do my fellow youth leaders Chris and Dusty, who left their seats and came and prayed for me during the worship. I love those guys and appreciate them so much. I know that I don't have a clue how good I have it in my youth group. Or how good I have it with the love of my life, for that matter.
The message was, well, really hard. At no point did I feel that I was communicating particularly well, but that's okay since what matters most is that I'm submitted to God. There were plenty of things I wish I could have said better, elaborated on, made clearer; but ultimately I believe I obeyed God's call and delivered the message He gave me. If I do that, then I have succeeded even if there is no response. And there was some response (visible, that is), so I consider myself very blessed.
Call me immodest, call me vain, but I'm really looking forward to hearing from those of you who have received the latest CtB and read the "Warrior of the Dawn" short story. I hope you all like it; I think it's one of the better pieces I've written, though that's not saying much. I would like to make clear that it's not an autobiographical story; I do identify with the protagonist, but not in a way any of you would likely understand. I had already written the story when I started this blog, and this name was the only good one I could think of, so, there.
And I fully realize that some of you have NOT received our newest issue, so all I can say for you is be patient; it's coming. Hope you like pictures of me and Lana; I think it has five. Unfortunately, they're in black and white and don't show up particularly well, so maybe we can get them all posted online (I know Lana's already posted the best one on her blog).
Also, please pray for our beloved Meggy and her family, who are completing their move to Colorado as of today. I can't imagine what it would be like to move that far away from everything I've ever know, and I know it has to be very tough for them; so lift them up before the Father.
Elen sila lumenn omentialvo. There, Emy, I did it.
I absolutely loved having my bride-to-be there with me, from 5:00 till time to go home. It was great to have her in class and to sit by her in the service. We actually got to sing side-by-side for the first time (usually I'm up on the stage). She encourages me and lifts me up so much. So do my fellow youth leaders Chris and Dusty, who left their seats and came and prayed for me during the worship. I love those guys and appreciate them so much. I know that I don't have a clue how good I have it in my youth group. Or how good I have it with the love of my life, for that matter.
The message was, well, really hard. At no point did I feel that I was communicating particularly well, but that's okay since what matters most is that I'm submitted to God. There were plenty of things I wish I could have said better, elaborated on, made clearer; but ultimately I believe I obeyed God's call and delivered the message He gave me. If I do that, then I have succeeded even if there is no response. And there was some response (visible, that is), so I consider myself very blessed.
Call me immodest, call me vain, but I'm really looking forward to hearing from those of you who have received the latest CtB and read the "Warrior of the Dawn" short story. I hope you all like it; I think it's one of the better pieces I've written, though that's not saying much. I would like to make clear that it's not an autobiographical story; I do identify with the protagonist, but not in a way any of you would likely understand. I had already written the story when I started this blog, and this name was the only good one I could think of, so, there.
And I fully realize that some of you have NOT received our newest issue, so all I can say for you is be patient; it's coming. Hope you like pictures of me and Lana; I think it has five. Unfortunately, they're in black and white and don't show up particularly well, so maybe we can get them all posted online (I know Lana's already posted the best one on her blog).
Also, please pray for our beloved Meggy and her family, who are completing their move to Colorado as of today. I can't imagine what it would be like to move that far away from everything I've ever know, and I know it has to be very tough for them; so lift them up before the Father.
Elen sila lumenn omentialvo. There, Emy, I did it.
Thursday, September 6, 2007
What God's been showing me (a little bit of it, anyway)
Boy am I glad it's Thursday afternoon. Not that the week is over, but the more undesirable aspects of it are. Now the focus shifts to printing CtB tomorrow, prepping for the major woods shoot on Saturday, and, well, doing the major woods shoot on Saturday.
As you know if you read Lana's blog, we went yesterday and picked out a beautiful white gold bracelet. We went to JCPenny's first, followed by the mall jewelry stores, Sears, Dillard's, K-Mart, and Kohl's; then went back to Penny's and got practically the first one we had looked at. Oh well, neither of us minded how long it took, if you can imagine that. It was so much fun to take my girl around the mall and Fort Smith while shopping for jewelry for her. She had a ton of fun too.
Now she has something she can wear and show to people when she tells them about me; that's the main reason I got it for her. I have a watch from my future father-in-law that I can show people; now she has a bracelet from her future husband to show off. It's only fair, as I see it. Of course, I guess the fact that I just love buying things for her counts in there somewhere as well.
Thank you again to those who responded to the FtF query in the previous post. As for me, well, I don't know. On the one hand, it feels like FtF was very significant and formative for me; on the other, I feel quite nearly the same as I did going into it.
Of course, I know that (1) it's not about me and it ultimately doesn't matter how it affected me as long as the Lord's Name was lifted up; and (2) if I was there and doing what God called me to do, then it did affect me, maybe in ways that I can't even comprehend.
I don't feel radically different, as if the heavens have opened up and sprawling new avenues of truth have been revealed to me. But on the other hand, the opening heavens and sprawling avenues probably do fit the last several months for me; God has shown me so much and drawn me closer to Him. Hope you don't think that means I've unlocked perfection; on the contrary, I've been reminded of my imperfection and my utter dependence on my Savior. And I still continue to rebel against my God in ways that shame me.
Thanks to two particular works of John Piper (who is by the way a must-read theologian; seek him out and read his stuff), Desiring God and The Pleasures of God, I have been impressed (not in the sense of admiration, but in that of having something pounded into you) by the amazingly simple equation of life: Love for God = Happiness. Or, to put it more properly as Piper does, revising the old Westminister Catechism, "The chief end of man is to glorify God by enjoying Him forever."
What a delightful phrase, "enjoying Him forever". Do we often hear about our need to enjoy God? Sure, we hear quite often about believing in Him, knowing Him, surrendering to Him, even loving Him. But, to enjoy God? I think the Church falls short in expressing that fundamental need that rests in all of us. Our passionate love for God, our enjoyment of Him, is meant to be our fuel, our lifeblood, our thirst that is always satisfied and never quenched.
This is what David meant when he cried out, "Oh God, You are my God. Earnestly I seek You, my soul thirsts for You in a dry and weary land where there is no water." Or as an anonymous Psalmist exclaims, "As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for You, oh God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I come and see the face of God? My tears have been my food day and night, while all day long men continually say to me, 'Where is your God?'"
Feel free to check my quotes as I don't have my Bible right here with me at the moment; those are from the opening verses of Psalms 63 and 42. But when was the last time you felt that passion for God? That longing, that thirst, that desperation? When was the last time your heart cried out as godless people around you mocked the Name of your God?
And how do we get this hunger? That's the more pressing question. If you're like me, you can at best claim to have this passion only at times during your life; and often you wonder where it has gone. I have no answers, other than the ones you hear all the time: Read your Bible, pray, go to church. Whether or not you believe it, those really do help, if you seek God in doing them.
Ask God to give you a heart that longs for Him, and then don't stop there. Get into His Word; seek His face; shut all else out and focus on Him. As you attend church, enter with a mindset of willing obedience. If you do those things, you are already on the right path.
But don't ever stop seeking Him; that is, after all, what you're already doing at this point. Note the biblical promise: "You will seek Me and find Me," God tells us, "if you seek Me with all your heart." There are a lot of promises in the Word, but that is one of the most heartening to me.
Anyways, I don't even know if any of you guys even have any struggles with this, but I do. Lana can tell you that I often write out stuff in e-mails to her that she already understands, just so that I get it more clearly. Not a bad habit, I guess, especially for a writer.
But yeah, that's something God's been revealing to me and bopping me on the head about a lot over the past few months, so I thought I'd share that. I'll try to get more into what He's revealing to me, in future posts. For now, sayonara and please pray for our filming on Saturday.
As you know if you read Lana's blog, we went yesterday and picked out a beautiful white gold bracelet. We went to JCPenny's first, followed by the mall jewelry stores, Sears, Dillard's, K-Mart, and Kohl's; then went back to Penny's and got practically the first one we had looked at. Oh well, neither of us minded how long it took, if you can imagine that. It was so much fun to take my girl around the mall and Fort Smith while shopping for jewelry for her. She had a ton of fun too.
Now she has something she can wear and show to people when she tells them about me; that's the main reason I got it for her. I have a watch from my future father-in-law that I can show people; now she has a bracelet from her future husband to show off. It's only fair, as I see it. Of course, I guess the fact that I just love buying things for her counts in there somewhere as well.
Thank you again to those who responded to the FtF query in the previous post. As for me, well, I don't know. On the one hand, it feels like FtF was very significant and formative for me; on the other, I feel quite nearly the same as I did going into it.
Of course, I know that (1) it's not about me and it ultimately doesn't matter how it affected me as long as the Lord's Name was lifted up; and (2) if I was there and doing what God called me to do, then it did affect me, maybe in ways that I can't even comprehend.
I don't feel radically different, as if the heavens have opened up and sprawling new avenues of truth have been revealed to me. But on the other hand, the opening heavens and sprawling avenues probably do fit the last several months for me; God has shown me so much and drawn me closer to Him. Hope you don't think that means I've unlocked perfection; on the contrary, I've been reminded of my imperfection and my utter dependence on my Savior. And I still continue to rebel against my God in ways that shame me.
Thanks to two particular works of John Piper (who is by the way a must-read theologian; seek him out and read his stuff), Desiring God and The Pleasures of God, I have been impressed (not in the sense of admiration, but in that of having something pounded into you) by the amazingly simple equation of life: Love for God = Happiness. Or, to put it more properly as Piper does, revising the old Westminister Catechism, "The chief end of man is to glorify God by enjoying Him forever."
What a delightful phrase, "enjoying Him forever". Do we often hear about our need to enjoy God? Sure, we hear quite often about believing in Him, knowing Him, surrendering to Him, even loving Him. But, to enjoy God? I think the Church falls short in expressing that fundamental need that rests in all of us. Our passionate love for God, our enjoyment of Him, is meant to be our fuel, our lifeblood, our thirst that is always satisfied and never quenched.
This is what David meant when he cried out, "Oh God, You are my God. Earnestly I seek You, my soul thirsts for You in a dry and weary land where there is no water." Or as an anonymous Psalmist exclaims, "As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for You, oh God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I come and see the face of God? My tears have been my food day and night, while all day long men continually say to me, 'Where is your God?'"
Feel free to check my quotes as I don't have my Bible right here with me at the moment; those are from the opening verses of Psalms 63 and 42. But when was the last time you felt that passion for God? That longing, that thirst, that desperation? When was the last time your heart cried out as godless people around you mocked the Name of your God?
And how do we get this hunger? That's the more pressing question. If you're like me, you can at best claim to have this passion only at times during your life; and often you wonder where it has gone. I have no answers, other than the ones you hear all the time: Read your Bible, pray, go to church. Whether or not you believe it, those really do help, if you seek God in doing them.
Ask God to give you a heart that longs for Him, and then don't stop there. Get into His Word; seek His face; shut all else out and focus on Him. As you attend church, enter with a mindset of willing obedience. If you do those things, you are already on the right path.
But don't ever stop seeking Him; that is, after all, what you're already doing at this point. Note the biblical promise: "You will seek Me and find Me," God tells us, "if you seek Me with all your heart." There are a lot of promises in the Word, but that is one of the most heartening to me.
Anyways, I don't even know if any of you guys even have any struggles with this, but I do. Lana can tell you that I often write out stuff in e-mails to her that she already understands, just so that I get it more clearly. Not a bad habit, I guess, especially for a writer.
But yeah, that's something God's been revealing to me and bopping me on the head about a lot over the past few months, so I thought I'd share that. I'll try to get more into what He's revealing to me, in future posts. For now, sayonara and please pray for our filming on Saturday.
Thursday, August 30, 2007
What's Goin' Down
A bit of here and there.
First, my bride-to-be and I will be formatting the September-October issue of Call to Battle tomorrow (Friday). If you have any articles (or certainly blog posts would be cool), you can send them in (or point us in the direction of the blog post if it is that) before noon on Friday. We love receiving and printing contributions from you, so please don't hesitate to send stuff in! If you don't, it's entirely possible you'll simply read more romantic gush from me and Lana! (OK, so with a mostly-female readership, maybe that wasn't the most effective threat to make.)
I want to warn you now about my articles for this issue: Most will seem familiar to you because they are in fact modified blog posts. Hey, it's not my fault you read the blog and get the magazine. Think of it this way: The blog provides you with a partial sneak preview of the next CtB issue.
Oh, and let me just tease you by saying that in this issue, you'll finally get to discover why my screenname is "Warrior of the Dawn." I'm excited about you getting to read this particular work of mine, leftover from the last issue.
I believe the word is getting around my church that Lana and I are engaged. (EDIT: The correct term is courting, not engagement; though we are committed to marrying, we are not officially engaged.) Josh -- a friend, one of my actors in Hunted, a classmate at UAFS, and fellow member of FBC Branch -- asked us today if we'd set our wedding date. Well, no; we will when I get her the ring, and it'll probably be some time before that happens. But I'd much rather people think we're engaged than dating, if there's a choice. I'll try to provide some clarification to my church at some point.
For those of you who have asked about Hunted, well, rest assured we haven't pulled the plug on the project. We have taken a hiatus from filming due to Fan the Flame, and will be idle this weekend in order to give some of our production members a break. We plan on picking it up again next Saturday and hitting it hard, with only about three or four more days of filming to go (Lord willing)! Thank you again to all of you who have voiced encouragement, and we ask that you continue to pray for the movie.
The latest update from Lovers' Lane: Note-giving is all the rage. Note-giving, you ask? Yep. During class, as opposed to taking notes, we often find ourselves giving notes -- to one another. We had a delightful time doing it in Reasoning yesterday, and in both of our writing classes today. But I told Lana that, alas, we'll have to cut down on it or we'll lose our scholarships due to poor grades.
College football begins tonight as LSU takes on Mississippi State on ESPN. I can't wait (and am trying to get CtB articles together so I can watch some of it). Most of my readers may not care about this staple of Southern life, football, but I am eagerly anticipating the coming season and have high hopes for the beloved Arkansas Razorbacks. The Hogs open against Troy on Saturday. Woo Pig Sooiee!
I ask for your prayers for our youth group. I know God has some awesome things for us coming out of FtF, but the devil is attacking us right now. We had kind of a tough service last night. It ended up being good, but there was definitely a feeling of tension in the air. I expect it from Satan; he's trying to steal what God has given us and continues to give us. But as the ending of one of our FtF skits quoted, "One little word shall fell him." Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!
First, my bride-to-be and I will be formatting the September-October issue of Call to Battle tomorrow (Friday). If you have any articles (or certainly blog posts would be cool), you can send them in (or point us in the direction of the blog post if it is that) before noon on Friday. We love receiving and printing contributions from you, so please don't hesitate to send stuff in! If you don't, it's entirely possible you'll simply read more romantic gush from me and Lana! (OK, so with a mostly-female readership, maybe that wasn't the most effective threat to make.)
I want to warn you now about my articles for this issue: Most will seem familiar to you because they are in fact modified blog posts. Hey, it's not my fault you read the blog and get the magazine. Think of it this way: The blog provides you with a partial sneak preview of the next CtB issue.
Oh, and let me just tease you by saying that in this issue, you'll finally get to discover why my screenname is "Warrior of the Dawn." I'm excited about you getting to read this particular work of mine, leftover from the last issue.
I believe the word is getting around my church that Lana and I are engaged. (EDIT: The correct term is courting, not engagement; though we are committed to marrying, we are not officially engaged.) Josh -- a friend, one of my actors in Hunted, a classmate at UAFS, and fellow member of FBC Branch -- asked us today if we'd set our wedding date. Well, no; we will when I get her the ring, and it'll probably be some time before that happens. But I'd much rather people think we're engaged than dating, if there's a choice. I'll try to provide some clarification to my church at some point.
For those of you who have asked about Hunted, well, rest assured we haven't pulled the plug on the project. We have taken a hiatus from filming due to Fan the Flame, and will be idle this weekend in order to give some of our production members a break. We plan on picking it up again next Saturday and hitting it hard, with only about three or four more days of filming to go (Lord willing)! Thank you again to all of you who have voiced encouragement, and we ask that you continue to pray for the movie.
The latest update from Lovers' Lane: Note-giving is all the rage. Note-giving, you ask? Yep. During class, as opposed to taking notes, we often find ourselves giving notes -- to one another. We had a delightful time doing it in Reasoning yesterday, and in both of our writing classes today. But I told Lana that, alas, we'll have to cut down on it or we'll lose our scholarships due to poor grades.
College football begins tonight as LSU takes on Mississippi State on ESPN. I can't wait (and am trying to get CtB articles together so I can watch some of it). Most of my readers may not care about this staple of Southern life, football, but I am eagerly anticipating the coming season and have high hopes for the beloved Arkansas Razorbacks. The Hogs open against Troy on Saturday. Woo Pig Sooiee!
I ask for your prayers for our youth group. I know God has some awesome things for us coming out of FtF, but the devil is attacking us right now. We had kind of a tough service last night. It ended up being good, but there was definitely a feeling of tension in the air. I expect it from Satan; he's trying to steal what God has given us and continues to give us. But as the ending of one of our FtF skits quoted, "One little word shall fell him." Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!
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