[[Below is a short prayer I wrote, that I just felt like I needed to write somewhere. Don't feel obligated to read it, its really for my sake anyway :)]]
Father, there are so many things I don't understand. I'm so confused about why things are how they are. I know that there is coming a day when all things will be revealed to us children of men, and I eagerly await that day. All I know is I need you. I have been running away from you, but I know that anywhere else I may run, nothing can satisfy me as you can, God. You give me more life, love, and hope than I could possibly fathom. Thank you for building this earth so elegant in its simplicity and so sublime in its complexity, where I may grow and learn, as your son. Help me that I may have the clarity to help anyone I meet. Thank you for all of the blessings you have given me, and all the hardships you have given to me to overcome. To you be the kingdom, the power, and glory forever and ever.I love you, God.
~Sean
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Reason for not posting anything
Well, I didn't make a post on Sunday, but I though i ought to explain why I haven't been posting anything at all. I noticed that everyone reading this (for the most part) doesn't really care too much about what I personally do in a day, and I don't blame them. The reason why anyone reads my blog is in order to hear what I learned/or what my point of view on things are. The truth is, I've done a bunch of fun things in the past 2 weeks, I just haven't posted because its nothing anyone would care to read.
Sorry for getting all emo on you guys XD I'll post stuff, just not once a day, and they'll usually only be a paragraph from now on.
Sorry for getting all emo on you guys XD I'll post stuff, just not once a day, and they'll usually only be a paragraph from now on.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Day um... 15?
The past week's adventure: Nothing of much interest
Well! Doubt much of you cared much, but my blog had no entries at all for the past week. We'll calm down! I have a good reason!
Of course, that's what I would have said if I did actually have a good reason. No, I really don't. Just laziness I guess. But I did do a bunch of fun stuff!
Like erm... sit in the house?
Oh! I played Pokemon FireRed using Nuzlocke rules! Basically you can only catch the first pokemon you see on each route/cave/town and no others. Also you have to nickname each of your pokemon. Oh and every time one of them faints, its considered dead and must be released ASAP. If all of your pokemon faint, you've failed the Nuzlocke run and must being a new game.
T'was rather hard, but I got to the second gym. Unfortunately all of my pokemon were killed, and I finally lost. But I guess it meant more to me in this game than it had for others that my pokemon faint. Usually, if your pokemon faint, no worries, you can always heal em up later. After a while, they just become some sort of weapon to you. But when you have limited pokemon which you have named yourself, and they die, you feel a lot more attatched to each of them. Like instead of viewing the game as trying to get all the badges and beat the final 4 trainers, you view it as trying to keep your friends alive, and keeping them strong. It actually hurts when one of your favorite is killed in a battle. In this way, I kind of like Nuzlocke runs more than the standard game. They're more intimate, and promote creating personalities for your pokemon.
For those of you wondering, yes, I'm a HUGE nerd. That's fine though, I like what I like.
But anyway, back to the blog. I'm not making any promises, but I should start up again next sunday.
Sorry for the wait, Hope you've been having a great summer :)
Much Love,
Sean
Well! Doubt much of you cared much, but my blog had no entries at all for the past week. We'll calm down! I have a good reason!
Of course, that's what I would have said if I did actually have a good reason. No, I really don't. Just laziness I guess. But I did do a bunch of fun stuff!
Like erm... sit in the house?
Oh! I played Pokemon FireRed using Nuzlocke rules! Basically you can only catch the first pokemon you see on each route/cave/town and no others. Also you have to nickname each of your pokemon. Oh and every time one of them faints, its considered dead and must be released ASAP. If all of your pokemon faint, you've failed the Nuzlocke run and must being a new game.
T'was rather hard, but I got to the second gym. Unfortunately all of my pokemon were killed, and I finally lost. But I guess it meant more to me in this game than it had for others that my pokemon faint. Usually, if your pokemon faint, no worries, you can always heal em up later. After a while, they just become some sort of weapon to you. But when you have limited pokemon which you have named yourself, and they die, you feel a lot more attatched to each of them. Like instead of viewing the game as trying to get all the badges and beat the final 4 trainers, you view it as trying to keep your friends alive, and keeping them strong. It actually hurts when one of your favorite is killed in a battle. In this way, I kind of like Nuzlocke runs more than the standard game. They're more intimate, and promote creating personalities for your pokemon.
For those of you wondering, yes, I'm a HUGE nerd. That's fine though, I like what I like.
But anyway, back to the blog. I'm not making any promises, but I should start up again next sunday.
Sorry for the wait, Hope you've been having a great summer :)
Much Love,
Sean
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Day 8
Today's Adventure: Day and "Would you Rather"'s with Sharon
Well, its late, and also I don't want to make these blogs too long. Its better if they're just little anecdotes to read, so I'll try to make this rather short.
But today Sharon and I spent most of the day together, and did a bunch of stuff. We watched How to Train your Dragon, went to the pool, and played Would you Rather/a random question game. It was really fun to do that, as her answers were so interesting, and neither of us judged one another, regardless of how weird the answer was. It just go me thinking about how vital it is to have at least one person whom you can tell everyone to. We're not meant to work alone, its super important to have friends who we can share all of our secrets with. And Love is vital to that. Like I said, Love is everything.
"The LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone."
This is also very relevant XD
Much Love,
Sean
Well, its late, and also I don't want to make these blogs too long. Its better if they're just little anecdotes to read, so I'll try to make this rather short.
But today Sharon and I spent most of the day together, and did a bunch of stuff. We watched How to Train your Dragon, went to the pool, and played Would you Rather/a random question game. It was really fun to do that, as her answers were so interesting, and neither of us judged one another, regardless of how weird the answer was. It just go me thinking about how vital it is to have at least one person whom you can tell everyone to. We're not meant to work alone, its super important to have friends who we can share all of our secrets with. And Love is vital to that. Like I said, Love is everything.
"The LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone."
This is also very relevant XD
Much Love,
Sean
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Day 7
Today's Adventure: Listening to music
Okay, stop laughing, that's an adventure to me XD. Listening to music puts me on adventures all the time. But stay tuned, the blog WILL get more exciting.
(Also a note: This blog is almost completely about The Almighty, if you don't like hearing about Him, feel free to skip today's blog)
But anyway! Today I got in the mail my new gaming headset 3 days earlier than I was supposed to. So of course, I tore open the packaging and set it all up. Its a wireless headset so I can like walk around while still listening to music. And the sound quality on these things are amazing. So I popped em on, and blasted Attack Attack!. After jamming around for a while, I had to shower/get dressed. it was odd though, for some reason out of NOWHERE the songs "Birmingham (We are Safe)" by David Crowder Band and "Love is Here" by Tenth Avenue North were stuck in my head the entirety of the morning. And it wasn't even the whole songs, it was specific parts of the songs.
In the David Crowder song: "Love has come, and we are safe. Hope has come, and we are safe." In the Tenth Avenue North Song: "Love is here, love is now." Yeah, its odd how both of them dealt with love being here and all around. Its funny when you worship to a song in your head, that you aren't even listening to, but in that morning, i was kind of overwhelmed. To those who don't believe in God, or don't believe in the God which I worship, you may not understand this. But occasionally the Holy Spirit wants something from us that we don't really even notice. So it'll put things in our life to get us to notice something. Whether that just be nature, a person, something someone says, or one of my favorites, music. God knows us more than anyone else, and he certainly knows where our priorities lie. If our priorities are out of place, God's going to use whatever is out of place, in order to return things to the way the should be. Like when I got the headset this morning. For a moment, that became the highlight of the day. But God knows how to reach me. He knows how much music is to me, so he did the obvious thing. Reach me through music. He used what I love: Music, to get me focused on Him again. :)
This blogpost isn't going to be completely about music, but its more of an example of what I'm trying to get across. The main point I think I'm getting at is, God doesn't forget about you, regardless of what you're doing, or thinking, or thinking of doing. He is always looking out for you, even if you're farther from him than east is from the west. God never gives up on you. He's always going to be looking out for you, making sure you know what is really important in life. And not just that! He's there no matter what. Again, you may not believe in God, but its just something I noticed. You may not call it God, but its 100% God to me.
He's always there. And he loves you. If your life is going downhill, don't worry, he's got your life in his hands. Nothing you will ever go through is uncommon to man. God is faithful, he will ALWAYS provide a way out. Also remember, you can't know joy without knowing pain. (Thanks cass)
I realize I'm kind of all over the place at this point, but I'm just typing as The Spirit leads me to, surprisingly, through music. Specifically "How He Loves" by David Crowder Band. Man I love that song. I swear that song is a gift from God XD.
Anyway in summary: Regardless of what you do, God is there for you and he will help you no matter what. Also, he's not always going to talk toy you in ways you think he will, he's a very creative God XD. Love is here, love is now, and you are safe.
Much Love,
Sean
Okay, stop laughing, that's an adventure to me XD. Listening to music puts me on adventures all the time. But stay tuned, the blog WILL get more exciting.
(Also a note: This blog is almost completely about The Almighty, if you don't like hearing about Him, feel free to skip today's blog)
But anyway! Today I got in the mail my new gaming headset 3 days earlier than I was supposed to. So of course, I tore open the packaging and set it all up. Its a wireless headset so I can like walk around while still listening to music. And the sound quality on these things are amazing. So I popped em on, and blasted Attack Attack!. After jamming around for a while, I had to shower/get dressed. it was odd though, for some reason out of NOWHERE the songs "Birmingham (We are Safe)" by David Crowder Band and "Love is Here" by Tenth Avenue North were stuck in my head the entirety of the morning. And it wasn't even the whole songs, it was specific parts of the songs.
In the David Crowder song: "Love has come, and we are safe. Hope has come, and we are safe." In the Tenth Avenue North Song: "Love is here, love is now." Yeah, its odd how both of them dealt with love being here and all around. Its funny when you worship to a song in your head, that you aren't even listening to, but in that morning, i was kind of overwhelmed. To those who don't believe in God, or don't believe in the God which I worship, you may not understand this. But occasionally the Holy Spirit wants something from us that we don't really even notice. So it'll put things in our life to get us to notice something. Whether that just be nature, a person, something someone says, or one of my favorites, music. God knows us more than anyone else, and he certainly knows where our priorities lie. If our priorities are out of place, God's going to use whatever is out of place, in order to return things to the way the should be. Like when I got the headset this morning. For a moment, that became the highlight of the day. But God knows how to reach me. He knows how much music is to me, so he did the obvious thing. Reach me through music. He used what I love: Music, to get me focused on Him again. :)
This blogpost isn't going to be completely about music, but its more of an example of what I'm trying to get across. The main point I think I'm getting at is, God doesn't forget about you, regardless of what you're doing, or thinking, or thinking of doing. He is always looking out for you, even if you're farther from him than east is from the west. God never gives up on you. He's always going to be looking out for you, making sure you know what is really important in life. And not just that! He's there no matter what. Again, you may not believe in God, but its just something I noticed. You may not call it God, but its 100% God to me.
He's always there. And he loves you. If your life is going downhill, don't worry, he's got your life in his hands. Nothing you will ever go through is uncommon to man. God is faithful, he will ALWAYS provide a way out. Also remember, you can't know joy without knowing pain. (Thanks cass)
I realize I'm kind of all over the place at this point, but I'm just typing as The Spirit leads me to, surprisingly, through music. Specifically "How He Loves" by David Crowder Band. Man I love that song. I swear that song is a gift from God XD.
Anyway in summary: Regardless of what you do, God is there for you and he will help you no matter what. Also, he's not always going to talk toy you in ways you think he will, he's a very creative God XD. Love is here, love is now, and you are safe.
Much Love,
Sean
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Day 6
Today's Adventure: A ton of stuff
Well! Blog's back! Sorry about yesterday, I was just have a plain old boring as heck day with no interaction with anyone aside from my mom. So I just kind of sat around, and did nothing. Bright side is, today was SO much better! :D
Well day started off with me trying to get my learner's permit. So we scurried on down to the DMV only to find out that, uh-oh!, we need to actually enroll in a driving school first. So unfortunately that meant that today's adventure was NOT going to be driving. ):
But my uncle came up to see my mom and I and we went out to eat. I had some good food n such, yadda yadda yadda. After that, I had a dentist appointment, and I got my teeth cleaned and stuff. Normal dentist stuff.
Basically the day was rather full and eventful. But... looking back there's something I realized. That amidst all of the things I did today, I think simply resting and enjoying the comfort God has to offer was the real adventure today. I feel like resting can both be amazing and annoying as heck, depending on the day. Like yesterday, resting around was annoying as heck to me, and above all else, I wanted to just go out and DO something. But on days like these where you do a lot, I feel like rest can be the best part about it, if that makes any sense. As God put in place Shabbat, he's also separated work from rest. Both very different from one another, and a balance between the two is definitely needed. How can you work without resting? You'll overheat. How can you rest without working? You'll never get anything done! God's gift of rest is an amazing one, which I call Shabbat (or Shabbos land for all you camp folks). Shabbat doesn't need to be a day, or even a Saturday or Sunday for that matter. Shabbat (or rest) is a state of being, a rest that ALL people may enter.
"There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God's rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience.
For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account."
-Hebrews 4:9-13
(The second half of that quote had little to do with the topic, I just LOVE that part, and think its significant nonetheless)
If you're a part of the Church, you know how much we're all pushed to be led by the Spirit to do great things for Christ, but I can't stress enough that resting is vital. As much as most of us laugh at the term "resting in the spirit", I believe there is some truth to that. Don't misunderstand resting as being weak, or not living up to the call. God CALLS us to rest. Or at least, that's my opinion. Food for thought.
Much Love,
Sean
Well! Blog's back! Sorry about yesterday, I was just have a plain old boring as heck day with no interaction with anyone aside from my mom. So I just kind of sat around, and did nothing. Bright side is, today was SO much better! :D
Well day started off with me trying to get my learner's permit. So we scurried on down to the DMV only to find out that, uh-oh!, we need to actually enroll in a driving school first. So unfortunately that meant that today's adventure was NOT going to be driving. ):
But my uncle came up to see my mom and I and we went out to eat. I had some good food n such, yadda yadda yadda. After that, I had a dentist appointment, and I got my teeth cleaned and stuff. Normal dentist stuff.
Basically the day was rather full and eventful. But... looking back there's something I realized. That amidst all of the things I did today, I think simply resting and enjoying the comfort God has to offer was the real adventure today. I feel like resting can both be amazing and annoying as heck, depending on the day. Like yesterday, resting around was annoying as heck to me, and above all else, I wanted to just go out and DO something. But on days like these where you do a lot, I feel like rest can be the best part about it, if that makes any sense. As God put in place Shabbat, he's also separated work from rest. Both very different from one another, and a balance between the two is definitely needed. How can you work without resting? You'll overheat. How can you rest without working? You'll never get anything done! God's gift of rest is an amazing one, which I call Shabbat (or Shabbos land for all you camp folks). Shabbat doesn't need to be a day, or even a Saturday or Sunday for that matter. Shabbat (or rest) is a state of being, a rest that ALL people may enter.
"There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God's rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience.
For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account."
-Hebrews 4:9-13
(The second half of that quote had little to do with the topic, I just LOVE that part, and think its significant nonetheless)
If you're a part of the Church, you know how much we're all pushed to be led by the Spirit to do great things for Christ, but I can't stress enough that resting is vital. As much as most of us laugh at the term "resting in the spirit", I believe there is some truth to that. Don't misunderstand resting as being weak, or not living up to the call. God CALLS us to rest. Or at least, that's my opinion. Food for thought.
Much Love,
Sean
Monday, August 16, 2010
Day 5 (Again nothing)
I apologize for not doing anything two days in a row. I planned to do something today, but its really just been a melancholic day. I woke up at 1, never went outside, didn't talk to Sharon or any other friends today, and most importantly, I spent little to no time with God today. Pray for me if you can, I'll try my best to be up and running tomorrow. :)
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Day 4 (Nothing)
Well, I've decided to make Sundays my Shabbat in that I wont do anything super exciting, and even if I do, I wont blog about it. It gives me some time to rest and not have to worry about a blog. So from now on, there will be no blogs on Sunday.
Much Love,
Sean
Much Love,
Sean
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Day 3
Today's Adventure: Hanging out with Sharon
Alright, its late so I apologize for making this one so short. Or maybe You're welcome, depending on if you actually read this or not. Regardless, here's my short tidbit of today.
Today I saw Inception with and hung out with Sharon. it may not seem like any sort of adventure to you, but to me it is. Hanging out with Sharon is just about my favorite thing to do. Not just because its fun, but because I learn so much about myself when I'm with her, we build up one another, and we can always share absolutely everything going on in our minds. And not only that, but because I love her. You may say "You're too young" but well, each to his own I guess.
She makes me so happy, and I can always be completely myself around her :). I felt all of that today, but I really feel like sharing something that's very relevant to how amazing it is to be with Sharon. God often times shows his love to us through people. Often times, we may be mad at God for not helping us at some point in our lives, but we completely neglect the Love he's showing us through our family, our friends, or even our significant others! I thank God every day for giving me Sharon, and all of my other friends who stick by me and show me just a little glimpse of his love for me and all of us. I love Sharon, not just because she loves me, but mainly because she's just deserving of it. As everyone in this world is deserving of love. Whether that be from God or man, everyone is worthy of authentic love. I only wish everyone in the world knew how special they were and how much they're worth. Believe me, you're worth SO much more than you can imagine.
Much Love,
Sean
P.S. Also I promise to make these entries more like this one rather than yesterday's, as a few of you commented on how long it was XD
Alright, its late so I apologize for making this one so short. Or maybe You're welcome, depending on if you actually read this or not. Regardless, here's my short tidbit of today.
Today I saw Inception with and hung out with Sharon. it may not seem like any sort of adventure to you, but to me it is. Hanging out with Sharon is just about my favorite thing to do. Not just because its fun, but because I learn so much about myself when I'm with her, we build up one another, and we can always share absolutely everything going on in our minds. And not only that, but because I love her. You may say "You're too young" but well, each to his own I guess.
She makes me so happy, and I can always be completely myself around her :). I felt all of that today, but I really feel like sharing something that's very relevant to how amazing it is to be with Sharon. God often times shows his love to us through people. Often times, we may be mad at God for not helping us at some point in our lives, but we completely neglect the Love he's showing us through our family, our friends, or even our significant others! I thank God every day for giving me Sharon, and all of my other friends who stick by me and show me just a little glimpse of his love for me and all of us. I love Sharon, not just because she loves me, but mainly because she's just deserving of it. As everyone in this world is deserving of love. Whether that be from God or man, everyone is worthy of authentic love. I only wish everyone in the world knew how special they were and how much they're worth. Believe me, you're worth SO much more than you can imagine.
Much Love,
Sean
P.S. Also I promise to make these entries more like this one rather than yesterday's, as a few of you commented on how long it was XD
Friday, August 13, 2010
Day 2
Today's Adventure: A walk through unexplored areas around Madison's downtown
Just a quick note. If you just want to hear about what I learned today and not about the adventure, skip to the last 2 paragraphs~
Well, today I did absolutely nothing until around 3 pm, mainly because I was just lazy as anything today. At 3 however, I went to Starbucks and had a Mango orange smoothie and a marshmallow square. The same stuff I got at Starbucks in New York. I miss everyone so muuuuch! D: But soon Gabby (a friend of mine from camp) texted me and said that she liked my blog. This was frankly super surprising as I had no idea anyone aside from Sharon and James would be reading this! But for those who can actually sit through and read these blogs, thank you so much. It means a lot that you actually care what my thoughts are. :)
But anyway, I asked Gabby about an idea for today's adventure because, I was frankly at a loss for ideas. She suggested a walk and I though "Well that sounds good! I can take a walk through the forest near my house later!" and thanked her for the idea. However, my mom wanted to walk around Madison for a half hour, so I figured I'd just have to wait until i got home to do my adventure.
But I realized soon that I was going completely against my principal of finding happiness and adventures in the moment, and not always looking ahead to happiness! So I decided, "You know what, this'll be today's adventure. Do something new and exciting in Madison!" So I basically just wandered around for 30 minutes. Yeah, that's todays topic. Sorry XD
As I walked around the main road, I noticed the train tracks were super close. I toyed with the idea of running up the hill and crossing the tracks, but I figured that its probably super unsafe/illegal, so I clearly decided against it. But I eventually left the main road for a bit and found a huge grassy area behind a school. I had never seen the front of the school, so I walked around the fence and began to walk all the way to the front. On the way up, I realized that I was incredibly happy, and filled with excitement as to what will be at the top of the hill the schoolyard was. I took a look back to the road and it felt like I was almost leaving the real world to go on a wonder filled adventure, as stupid as that may sound.
But I made it to the top and there were a bunch of kids and their parents. Because I didn't want to be that weird kid everyone's parents tell their kids to stay away from, I turned the other way to a parking lot. I was about to go back to the main road again, but out of the corner of my eyes, I saw stairs! Stairs are exciting to me, especially random ones through a little wooded area! So I went up these stairs (Which were made out of those concrete bike stops) to find another parking lot behind a large, odd-looking building. I had to find out what this building was! Turned out to be a small place for English classes. It may sound like a big watse of time to you, but I felt like I was accomplishing so much for some reason. I liked this. I liked that I could find all of these fun little areas and then discover things for myself, just like a kid. That's basically the theme of this post. The feeling of being young, discovering something for the first time :)
I walked down the road and realized there were no cars, so I walked in the center of it. This was oddly fun as well, as I'm not used to walking in the middle of the street! Again, out of the corner of my eye, I saw another street I, again, had never seen before, so I walked down it. A police car was behind me, so for a second, I wondered if I was even allowed in all the parking lots I passed on the way to where I was, so I hoped he wouldn't stop me as he passed by. He didn't so I kept walkin.
I found some sort of apartment complex so I walked toward the main street, as I wasn't sure if I had enough time to keep wandering. There was a small wall that went up to about my waist separating the yard of this area from the sidewalk and I again got super excited. I could totally jump over this! So I did, and it made me really happy. You may call me a simpleton, but man, these simple things make me really happy :)
I checked my watch and I realized something that surprised me. It had only been 15 minutes! It felt like I was wandering around forever and it had only been 15 minutes! It was then that I realized how much I waste my time. At home, sitting around, those 15 minutes would have flown by. But I used THESE 15 minutes to accomplish something special and truly fun! Its amazing how much happiness and excitement you can get by doing new things that don't even take too much time! But I was getting very far away from where I had to meet my mom, so I headed back to the clock on Waverly Place. On the way there though, I again noticed ANOTHER street I had never been down, so i thought, why not?
I went down it, and I saw a bunch of buildings I hadn't seen before like a super small baptist church that looks like it was just a house with a larger roof and stain glass windows. That's probably what its like to start a church, I thought. Anyway, I continued down this street, and I realized I didn't recognize anything around me, but I knew a little bit of where I actually was.
I found my way back to the clock tower, but before I did, I saw that someone wrote "Jesus saves" on a the streetlight post. Another person wrote Amen underneath it. And ANOTHER person wrote John 3:3 on top. Needless to say I HAD to look it up. I had a feeling God was going to speak to me through this passage. Needless to say, he did.
"I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again."
Born again. That's it. Being born again! Born again to what? Born again as a new creation! I realized that I was born again, but I didn't really realize how literal that can be! I've accepted Jesus into my heart about 3 or 4 years ago, so I think that reflects me spiritually very well, especially today! I had just been going through, discovering new things like a child. Gazing in awe of all of the amazing things God had created. Once you're born again, you don't just act differently. You ARE new! You can look at things with new eyes, process it with a new mind. Feel it in a new heart. It may sound weird to you, but bear with me. I feel like once one acknowledges that everything was created by God, and begin to talk with him and love him, you see everything differently. Not as just looking beautiful, but looking at something and seeing just how... AMAZING it is! I mean, we look at people's artwork today and praise it, but how often do we look at GOD's artwork, the world, and say just how GORGEOUS it is? Its magnificent how everything in the world is so detailed, and that there's ALWAYS something new to be found in it! I feel like God made the universe infinite because he always wants there to be something new to be discovered, like a child. Discovery is amazing.
But anyway, I went back to the clock and sat on a bench nearby, and waited for my mom. I looked around and saw birds, saw people smiling, and it made me unbelievably happy. I realized something big that moment. Sometimes, excitement and adventure aren't aways physical adventures. Its about HOW you look at things that makes an adventure. I was just sitting down, looking at birds, but I felt like I was still having an adventure! Not a physical one, but one in my mind and in my soul, that I realized I miss so often. How often do we just look at birds and trees and say "Just another boring summer afternoon" and then just complain about how humid it is? We TOTALLY miss the adventure God wants us to have! We miss the WONDER we're suppose to feel! Something we all need to realize. Happiness isn't something good that happens when life isn't going our way. Happiness is already here! Happiness has ALWAYS been here! Its about perspective! Like when I saw those birds and people and it made me happy! It wasn't that the birds were pretty, or the people were any happier than usual, its just the fact that they were.. There! And BEAUTIFUL! As they ALWAYS HAVE BEEN! I can't make it any clearer unfortunately, its hard to express the feelings I felt. But one word always describes all true happiness that anyone can feel. That word is Love. Love is everything. Being happy with the world around us isn't just enjoying nature, its LOVING nature. And loving nature is Loving God, whether you call it God or not. Its funny how God is in all of us, he's in nature, and he IS love. The lover, the thing being loved, and the love are all God. Basically, Its all about God. All about Love. Love is everything.
Much Love,
Sean
Just a quick note. If you just want to hear about what I learned today and not about the adventure, skip to the last 2 paragraphs~
Well, today I did absolutely nothing until around 3 pm, mainly because I was just lazy as anything today. At 3 however, I went to Starbucks and had a Mango orange smoothie and a marshmallow square. The same stuff I got at Starbucks in New York. I miss everyone so muuuuch! D: But soon Gabby (a friend of mine from camp) texted me and said that she liked my blog. This was frankly super surprising as I had no idea anyone aside from Sharon and James would be reading this! But for those who can actually sit through and read these blogs, thank you so much. It means a lot that you actually care what my thoughts are. :)
But anyway, I asked Gabby about an idea for today's adventure because, I was frankly at a loss for ideas. She suggested a walk and I though "Well that sounds good! I can take a walk through the forest near my house later!" and thanked her for the idea. However, my mom wanted to walk around Madison for a half hour, so I figured I'd just have to wait until i got home to do my adventure.
But I realized soon that I was going completely against my principal of finding happiness and adventures in the moment, and not always looking ahead to happiness! So I decided, "You know what, this'll be today's adventure. Do something new and exciting in Madison!" So I basically just wandered around for 30 minutes. Yeah, that's todays topic. Sorry XD
As I walked around the main road, I noticed the train tracks were super close. I toyed with the idea of running up the hill and crossing the tracks, but I figured that its probably super unsafe/illegal, so I clearly decided against it. But I eventually left the main road for a bit and found a huge grassy area behind a school. I had never seen the front of the school, so I walked around the fence and began to walk all the way to the front. On the way up, I realized that I was incredibly happy, and filled with excitement as to what will be at the top of the hill the schoolyard was. I took a look back to the road and it felt like I was almost leaving the real world to go on a wonder filled adventure, as stupid as that may sound.
But I made it to the top and there were a bunch of kids and their parents. Because I didn't want to be that weird kid everyone's parents tell their kids to stay away from, I turned the other way to a parking lot. I was about to go back to the main road again, but out of the corner of my eyes, I saw stairs! Stairs are exciting to me, especially random ones through a little wooded area! So I went up these stairs (Which were made out of those concrete bike stops) to find another parking lot behind a large, odd-looking building. I had to find out what this building was! Turned out to be a small place for English classes. It may sound like a big watse of time to you, but I felt like I was accomplishing so much for some reason. I liked this. I liked that I could find all of these fun little areas and then discover things for myself, just like a kid. That's basically the theme of this post. The feeling of being young, discovering something for the first time :)
I walked down the road and realized there were no cars, so I walked in the center of it. This was oddly fun as well, as I'm not used to walking in the middle of the street! Again, out of the corner of my eye, I saw another street I, again, had never seen before, so I walked down it. A police car was behind me, so for a second, I wondered if I was even allowed in all the parking lots I passed on the way to where I was, so I hoped he wouldn't stop me as he passed by. He didn't so I kept walkin.
I found some sort of apartment complex so I walked toward the main street, as I wasn't sure if I had enough time to keep wandering. There was a small wall that went up to about my waist separating the yard of this area from the sidewalk and I again got super excited. I could totally jump over this! So I did, and it made me really happy. You may call me a simpleton, but man, these simple things make me really happy :)
I checked my watch and I realized something that surprised me. It had only been 15 minutes! It felt like I was wandering around forever and it had only been 15 minutes! It was then that I realized how much I waste my time. At home, sitting around, those 15 minutes would have flown by. But I used THESE 15 minutes to accomplish something special and truly fun! Its amazing how much happiness and excitement you can get by doing new things that don't even take too much time! But I was getting very far away from where I had to meet my mom, so I headed back to the clock on Waverly Place. On the way there though, I again noticed ANOTHER street I had never been down, so i thought, why not?
I went down it, and I saw a bunch of buildings I hadn't seen before like a super small baptist church that looks like it was just a house with a larger roof and stain glass windows. That's probably what its like to start a church, I thought. Anyway, I continued down this street, and I realized I didn't recognize anything around me, but I knew a little bit of where I actually was.
I found my way back to the clock tower, but before I did, I saw that someone wrote "Jesus saves" on a the streetlight post. Another person wrote Amen underneath it. And ANOTHER person wrote John 3:3 on top. Needless to say I HAD to look it up. I had a feeling God was going to speak to me through this passage. Needless to say, he did.
"I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again."
Born again. That's it. Being born again! Born again to what? Born again as a new creation! I realized that I was born again, but I didn't really realize how literal that can be! I've accepted Jesus into my heart about 3 or 4 years ago, so I think that reflects me spiritually very well, especially today! I had just been going through, discovering new things like a child. Gazing in awe of all of the amazing things God had created. Once you're born again, you don't just act differently. You ARE new! You can look at things with new eyes, process it with a new mind. Feel it in a new heart. It may sound weird to you, but bear with me. I feel like once one acknowledges that everything was created by God, and begin to talk with him and love him, you see everything differently. Not as just looking beautiful, but looking at something and seeing just how... AMAZING it is! I mean, we look at people's artwork today and praise it, but how often do we look at GOD's artwork, the world, and say just how GORGEOUS it is? Its magnificent how everything in the world is so detailed, and that there's ALWAYS something new to be found in it! I feel like God made the universe infinite because he always wants there to be something new to be discovered, like a child. Discovery is amazing.
But anyway, I went back to the clock and sat on a bench nearby, and waited for my mom. I looked around and saw birds, saw people smiling, and it made me unbelievably happy. I realized something big that moment. Sometimes, excitement and adventure aren't aways physical adventures. Its about HOW you look at things that makes an adventure. I was just sitting down, looking at birds, but I felt like I was still having an adventure! Not a physical one, but one in my mind and in my soul, that I realized I miss so often. How often do we just look at birds and trees and say "Just another boring summer afternoon" and then just complain about how humid it is? We TOTALLY miss the adventure God wants us to have! We miss the WONDER we're suppose to feel! Something we all need to realize. Happiness isn't something good that happens when life isn't going our way. Happiness is already here! Happiness has ALWAYS been here! Its about perspective! Like when I saw those birds and people and it made me happy! It wasn't that the birds were pretty, or the people were any happier than usual, its just the fact that they were.. There! And BEAUTIFUL! As they ALWAYS HAVE BEEN! I can't make it any clearer unfortunately, its hard to express the feelings I felt. But one word always describes all true happiness that anyone can feel. That word is Love. Love is everything. Being happy with the world around us isn't just enjoying nature, its LOVING nature. And loving nature is Loving God, whether you call it God or not. Its funny how God is in all of us, he's in nature, and he IS love. The lover, the thing being loved, and the love are all God. Basically, Its all about God. All about Love. Love is everything.
Much Love,
Sean
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Day 1
Today's Adventure: Hiking with Jesus
Well today I went on somewhat of an adventure! Hiking through the great swamp isn't that exciting, but its better than sitting around :) Anyway, hiking with Jesus is basically (for those of who who don't know) a hike through the Great Swamp where we pay attention to the nature around us and find god in it.
It was an odd day really. I woke up at 7 feeling rather tired and not in the mood to do anything. But nonetheless, I woke up, again feeling a tad disappointed I wasn't waking up in my room at camp. I miss all of my friends so much from there. Pray for them if you can :)
Anyway, we set out and I went on my magical journey! We started through the woods and the feeling felt immediately different than other Hiking with Jesus' in the past. For some reason, I felt like I was more comfortable with myself, more free, and happier. Though I was still tired, we worked our way to the site where we sat, ate, and talked about our experiences walking in the forest. The entire walk, I could barely concentrate on one thing, so I said nothing, as, honestly, I wasn't listening to God during the walk completely. We broke off for 20 minutes for prayer which was amazing and contains most of the things I wanted to talk about today.
I just kind of sat there praying for all of my friends for the first ten minutes, and then for the last ten, I contemplated the actually existence of God for a moment. Its never been any issue for me, so this isn't something I usually do, but for a moment, I asked, "If there were no God, would the world still make perfect sense?" Before I even could finish the statement a resounding "No." came from inside me. I brushed it off as just me telling myself that, but quickly the proof of god was surrounding me. Birds, trees, the sky. All of them wouldn't stop with their persistent existence, if that makes any sense. They were there... and they were... good! God speaks through nature a lot, I've noticed this. Saying that all of nature and the existence of humanity was an accident was like calling the Mona Lisa an accident! Masterpieces and accidents aren't exactly the same thing :)
But After the time was up and we went back together, I again remained silent, as I couldn't really describe exactly what my time with God was like. Any attempts to describe it would just come out incredibly cliche.
But then we did our blindfold walks which just made me happy and enjoy the relationships I have with my friends. You can never be thankful enough for all the relationships in your lives guys!
Aaaaand then I returned home for a while, and again the boredom returned. But luckily Sharon and I made plans to see Despicable Me! The movie was pretty good, but it was the theme of parenthood that stood out the most.
In the movie, the main character, a supervillain, adopts kids as part of a plot to steal the moon, but eventually begins to bond with them. By the end, he's reading them stories and I started thinking about my kids in the future. But then I stopped.
I realized recently that I don't like looking ahead and planning my future much. I miss so much of being a child right now! Besides, God has a hold of my future, no need to wonder about what'll happen. As it says in Matthew:
"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."
Words to the wise from Jesus himself :)
If you find yourself often thinking about how great your life will be, or how bad it'll be in the future, I'd encourage you to stop such thoughts. Especially if you're my age! You still have your youth, don't waste your time worry about such things! In my opinion, one of the secrets to happiness is not always looking forward to happy times, but rather finding happiness in the moment you're living in right now! I dunno, just my thoughts.
Sorry this entry was so centered around my day, I promise I'll make tomorrow's apply to others as well.
Much Love,
Sean
Well today I went on somewhat of an adventure! Hiking through the great swamp isn't that exciting, but its better than sitting around :) Anyway, hiking with Jesus is basically (for those of who who don't know) a hike through the Great Swamp where we pay attention to the nature around us and find god in it.
It was an odd day really. I woke up at 7 feeling rather tired and not in the mood to do anything. But nonetheless, I woke up, again feeling a tad disappointed I wasn't waking up in my room at camp. I miss all of my friends so much from there. Pray for them if you can :)
Anyway, we set out and I went on my magical journey! We started through the woods and the feeling felt immediately different than other Hiking with Jesus' in the past. For some reason, I felt like I was more comfortable with myself, more free, and happier. Though I was still tired, we worked our way to the site where we sat, ate, and talked about our experiences walking in the forest. The entire walk, I could barely concentrate on one thing, so I said nothing, as, honestly, I wasn't listening to God during the walk completely. We broke off for 20 minutes for prayer which was amazing and contains most of the things I wanted to talk about today.
I just kind of sat there praying for all of my friends for the first ten minutes, and then for the last ten, I contemplated the actually existence of God for a moment. Its never been any issue for me, so this isn't something I usually do, but for a moment, I asked, "If there were no God, would the world still make perfect sense?" Before I even could finish the statement a resounding "No." came from inside me. I brushed it off as just me telling myself that, but quickly the proof of god was surrounding me. Birds, trees, the sky. All of them wouldn't stop with their persistent existence, if that makes any sense. They were there... and they were... good! God speaks through nature a lot, I've noticed this. Saying that all of nature and the existence of humanity was an accident was like calling the Mona Lisa an accident! Masterpieces and accidents aren't exactly the same thing :)
But After the time was up and we went back together, I again remained silent, as I couldn't really describe exactly what my time with God was like. Any attempts to describe it would just come out incredibly cliche.
But then we did our blindfold walks which just made me happy and enjoy the relationships I have with my friends. You can never be thankful enough for all the relationships in your lives guys!
Aaaaand then I returned home for a while, and again the boredom returned. But luckily Sharon and I made plans to see Despicable Me! The movie was pretty good, but it was the theme of parenthood that stood out the most.
In the movie, the main character, a supervillain, adopts kids as part of a plot to steal the moon, but eventually begins to bond with them. By the end, he's reading them stories and I started thinking about my kids in the future. But then I stopped.
I realized recently that I don't like looking ahead and planning my future much. I miss so much of being a child right now! Besides, God has a hold of my future, no need to wonder about what'll happen. As it says in Matthew:
"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."
Words to the wise from Jesus himself :)
If you find yourself often thinking about how great your life will be, or how bad it'll be in the future, I'd encourage you to stop such thoughts. Especially if you're my age! You still have your youth, don't waste your time worry about such things! In my opinion, one of the secrets to happiness is not always looking forward to happy times, but rather finding happiness in the moment you're living in right now! I dunno, just my thoughts.
Sorry this entry was so centered around my day, I promise I'll make tomorrow's apply to others as well.
Much Love,
Sean
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Day 0 (Introduction Part 2)
Todays Adventure: Nothing
Well the first day is over, and I was too lazy to start today, but I have plenty of thoughts about the blog and observations from today so I thought I'd at least make an entry for today about them :)
The most exciting part of today was going to the supermarket, so you can probably guess my day was rather dull. I played games with Leo and Brett for a while, went to the store and came back home. Whoop de doo. But a lot of things struck me.
Ever since I've gotten back from camp, I've been plagued by boredom. Today I sort of realized, I hate boredom. More than that, I hate the overall feel of having "a normal day." I like adventures! I love the abnormal. I think thats what attracted me to God in the first place back when I was 12, the fact that he was so... different. You know what I mean? He's EXTRAORDINARY if you haven't noticed! A being that's everywhere at once, is in all things, and not only that, CREATED ALL THINGS and COMPLETES all things! But perhaps most of all is that he loves everything he has made. Amazing isn't it? Now compare that with just.. normal. We're no more than passing beings meant to live, reproduce and die. Doesn't that sound at least a little terrible? I feel like God has programmed me to love the extraordinary because that's what he is. I feel like I can often miss how amazing the ordinary is though, as weird as that sounds.
But another thing I noticed today was how amazing human interaction is. How we can form bonds with one another and all be a collective community. I saw a couple today at the supermarket and both the boy and the girl reminded me of every character Michael Cera has every played. It was adorable honestly. It just makes me cherish all of the relationships I have in my life with God, Sharon, and my friends. Relationships with others are something special, if not magical. Again, I feel like God has programmed me (and just about everyone else on earth) to feel this way because of his love of having relationships with all of his creations.
But anyway, that's just what I noticed today. And its funny how that works out, as it basically outlines exactly why I'm doing this. I'm doing things exciting everyday because simply being content in a boring world just isn't the kind of life I want to lead. I can be content in all situations, I can at least make life colorful. That's why I dig the URL for this blog. "magical rainbow ponies" is just like, me. Also, I'm a big fan of interaction with others. That's why its a blog I can share with others. So people can maybe hear about my antics and at least put on a little smile.
That brings up another point. I LOVE HAPPINESS. It's what I live on. That's why my favorite thing to do in the world is make people truly happy. If I put a smile on your face at any time this summer, it's been perhaps my most successful summer ever.
So come along if you'd like, I'll try my best :)
Much Love,
Sean
P.S. I'm listening to Teenage Dream by Katy Perry as I type this. It just makes me oddly happy. Or something like that :)
Well the first day is over, and I was too lazy to start today, but I have plenty of thoughts about the blog and observations from today so I thought I'd at least make an entry for today about them :)
The most exciting part of today was going to the supermarket, so you can probably guess my day was rather dull. I played games with Leo and Brett for a while, went to the store and came back home. Whoop de doo. But a lot of things struck me.
Ever since I've gotten back from camp, I've been plagued by boredom. Today I sort of realized, I hate boredom. More than that, I hate the overall feel of having "a normal day." I like adventures! I love the abnormal. I think thats what attracted me to God in the first place back when I was 12, the fact that he was so... different. You know what I mean? He's EXTRAORDINARY if you haven't noticed! A being that's everywhere at once, is in all things, and not only that, CREATED ALL THINGS and COMPLETES all things! But perhaps most of all is that he loves everything he has made. Amazing isn't it? Now compare that with just.. normal. We're no more than passing beings meant to live, reproduce and die. Doesn't that sound at least a little terrible? I feel like God has programmed me to love the extraordinary because that's what he is. I feel like I can often miss how amazing the ordinary is though, as weird as that sounds.
But another thing I noticed today was how amazing human interaction is. How we can form bonds with one another and all be a collective community. I saw a couple today at the supermarket and both the boy and the girl reminded me of every character Michael Cera has every played. It was adorable honestly. It just makes me cherish all of the relationships I have in my life with God, Sharon, and my friends. Relationships with others are something special, if not magical. Again, I feel like God has programmed me (and just about everyone else on earth) to feel this way because of his love of having relationships with all of his creations.
But anyway, that's just what I noticed today. And its funny how that works out, as it basically outlines exactly why I'm doing this. I'm doing things exciting everyday because simply being content in a boring world just isn't the kind of life I want to lead. I can be content in all situations, I can at least make life colorful. That's why I dig the URL for this blog. "magical rainbow ponies" is just like, me. Also, I'm a big fan of interaction with others. That's why its a blog I can share with others. So people can maybe hear about my antics and at least put on a little smile.
That brings up another point. I LOVE HAPPINESS. It's what I live on. That's why my favorite thing to do in the world is make people truly happy. If I put a smile on your face at any time this summer, it's been perhaps my most successful summer ever.
So come along if you'd like, I'll try my best :)
Much Love,
Sean
P.S. I'm listening to Teenage Dream by Katy Perry as I type this. It just makes me oddly happy. Or something like that :)
Introduction
hi. im sean! 20 bucks says you know me if you're reading this. if you dont thats kind of creepy, but thats okay, maybe you want to read about adventures too.
basically what i'm doing is making a blog entry a day for the rest of the summer in order to cope from boredom. what am i going to do, you ask? well ill tell you, thanks for asking. im going to do some sort of new thing every day, whether it be as boring as drawing a pineapple or as fascinating as going to the moon (maybe). so i dunno when i'm gonna start this, probably tonight, so stay tuned if you want! you dont have to, thats fine too, ill just be blogging to myself. also i wont be this annoying as to type without capital letters. i thought it would look cool without caps. edgy, right? anyhooz, yeah i'll be doing fun exciting things from now on, and ill also be doing plenty of deep things too, like explaining how i see god in things, and where my life is headed. i dunno.
but yeah, this will basically be the "what's-going-on-in-my-head-as-i-do-fun-and-exciting-things" blog. if you dig it, then come along for the ride! lets gooooo! wheeee!
basically what i'm doing is making a blog entry a day for the rest of the summer in order to cope from boredom. what am i going to do, you ask? well ill tell you, thanks for asking. im going to do some sort of new thing every day, whether it be as boring as drawing a pineapple or as fascinating as going to the moon (maybe). so i dunno when i'm gonna start this, probably tonight, so stay tuned if you want! you dont have to, thats fine too, ill just be blogging to myself. also i wont be this annoying as to type without capital letters. i thought it would look cool without caps. edgy, right? anyhooz, yeah i'll be doing fun exciting things from now on, and ill also be doing plenty of deep things too, like explaining how i see god in things, and where my life is headed. i dunno.
but yeah, this will basically be the "what's-going-on-in-my-head-as-i-do-fun-and-exciting-things" blog. if you dig it, then come along for the ride! lets gooooo! wheeee!
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