A Preacher

Pardon my blog hiatus the last 2 weeks. I was writing and preparing sermons for the high school group the last 2 Sundays. Preaching isn’t something that I do often, actually I never do it. Two weeks ago was my very first time preaching outside of a classroom. I was nervous.

Why do I get nervous? This is something that I have spent considerable thought on. I hear that 90% of people have a fear of public speaking. I can understand that, no one likes being put on the spot. I used to think that I was just nervous to speak in front of any group of people.

Hold on, let me discuss what I mean when I say “nervous”. Before I would preach in class, I would feel physically ill from the day before to the day of speaking. This would include a giant stomachache as well as lower back pain; I feel terrible. I have told Rachelle that if I had to preach each week that I would have an ulcer. That is what I mean when I say nervous.

I found that my hypothesis about speaking in front of groups was completely false last year when I had to preach to only one person, my professor. Sure, you can make the argument that speaking in front of the prof. is just as stressful as an entire class but I don’t think that was the case for me. That was when I began to think about why I was so scared, if it wasn’t the number of people then what was it?

I know why I get scared now. I am afraid I will teach some falsehood; and by doing so lead a person into a wrong understanding of God. Do I think I will actually do this? I want to say no, but obviously there is a part of me that doesn’t agree.

The last two weeks have been a great validation for me. Stressful, painful, tiring… but still validating.

Hard Days Night

Sorry, I havn't been able to post in a while. I've been extremely busy this past week, but I don't have time right now to get into it. Posts will be coming soon, as soon as I'm not getting home at 11pm.

A Pox On Both Your Houses

A pox update for everyone who wants a peek at my hideously disfigured visage. The pictures really don't do it justice, but here they are. The first picture below is from yesterday and the latter is from today.Yesterday

Today

I made this comment on Eric's blog today and considering it was long enough to be its own blog, I thought I'd toss it in down here:

Ok, I can't really go to a movie right now being sick and all. I must admit though, I have been sorely tempted to go to "The Crappiest Place On Earth", Disneyland, and infect as many unsuspecting children as I can with the plague I carry. Oh, so you thought it would be a good idea to take your newborn to Disneyland before its had its 1 year vaccinations.... you chose poorly.

This may stem from a long held desire to be the first to bear a virus that would annihilate the population of the Earth as we know it and they name it after me. News Reporter says, "Sey is killing thousands of people by the day, and there looks to be no end in sight for Sey's rampage". Yea, that would be cool.

But I'm sure a more fitting disease would be some bacteria/virus that was persistent, annoying, and popped up when you least expected it... like an STD. "Oh man, Sey is making me all itchy and red spots are appearing! And I have an appointment with the Bobs' in 20 minutes... what do I do?" I would only ruin their social life and make them feel inadequate, sounds about right.

"The Tree" part 2

I thought I would add some more writing from my short stories, seeing how I'm pretty much stuck at home all the time right now. For those who didn't read the beginning, go ahead and click here.

Even in its sad state, far from the grandeur it had once basked in, it still loomed over me ominous and unforgiving. As I beheld it my instincts screamed at me, demanding that I bow in fear or cower and pay tribute. But my heart was not filled with fear, instead I felt a great sadness. I became strangely aware of the silence that engulfed the area surrounding the Tree. A morose feeling of loneliness that is felt when one living thing is cut off from all other life. I strained to hear just a simple chirp of a far off bird, the sad howling of a solitary wolf, or even the droning of a summer cicada. Nothing. Then I heard it, or rather I realized for the first time what had always been there. A sound, deep and billowing at once and high and screeching at others. I spun around in place trying to pinpoint the origin of the hideous melody and found that it came from all around me. It was the voice of the forest, unrecognizable in any linguistic form, yet I understood; the same way one can tell a couple in an adjacent room are fighting through the muffled voices. We trust the walls to hold the silent secret words that we never want strangers to hear, yet they can never hide the anger, lust, betrayal, and overall depravity in life. I heard weeping, like that of a mother agonizing over a child taken from this world too soon, from the old willows neighboring the dead river. Proud mocking coming from a grove of young upstart Oak trees, barely fifty rings of age. The Ash reveled in their new blooms and flaunted the Wisteria that hung from the branches in clusters of striking blue and purple that infested the trees like some beautiful disease. I was disgusted by it all yet something inside me demanded my gaze remain. Was it simply that beauty be recognized or the fear of offending a creator that could conceive of such things, I did not know.

Viruela De Pollo

So the results of my Mexico trip just keep getting better. The last day we were in Mexico, as we embarked on our long trip home, I began to feel sick. I was sure it was a cold, from all the freezing nights, early mornings, and non-stop activities. But when I got home I didn't feel congested, instead I felt achy, feverish, and had a headache. Great, I'm getting the flu; but it wasn't like any flu I had ever had. The symptoms came on gradually over days rather than hours and I didn't feel nauseated. I knew something was wrong with me but I had no idea what it was. Well, I found out today that I have Chicken pox. We were joking that I had some crazy form of Mexican Pollo Pox. Whatever the case, I was never infected with it as a child and now I'm going to pay for it.

Mexico: And All Things South Of The Border

It would take too long to describe all that happened in during my week in Mexico, so here are the highlights:

5 minutes into Tijuana I get pulled over by the Federales who try to shake me down for money, $125 to be exact. I was accused of going 100km/h when I was in fact going 60 km/h, the officers let me go shortly after they discovered I had a grand total of $15.

Driving through a muddy, rain soaked field on the way from the beach I hydroplane the rental car into a barbed wire fence.

Feliz ano nuevo! For New Years we went to "El Pollo Loco" (not the same one you're thinking of on the corner). It is a taco shack around Vincente Guerrero in which the 47 of us made the place burst at the seams. While there one of our students inadvertantly made friends with an old drunk man that wandered up. The man belligerently waved his left hand ordering tacos for the student while he squeezed him close with his right.

A fellow driver takes a bump too fast and rips the entire rear bumper off his rental car. We left the bumper in Mexico.

Getting chewed out by a Mormon missionary who said we were driving too fast through a neighborhood.

Driving through a military checkpoint on the way home I, of 8 cars, am the only one in which the driver is questioned and asked to get out of the car while the guard proceeds to knock on the plastic doors looking for contraband.

Taking 1 shower.