Math Again?

So today was different.  Even though I spent just around four
hours working for the church, I then spent seven hours, from four
thirty to eleven thirty, doing more algebra homework than I've ever
done in my life.

I went over to help a friend of mine, David Hoback, with a huge amount
of on line algebra course work he had to get done by tonight. 

We took section after section, quiz after quiz, and tests, and it stunk

But the worst thing of it was, that it wasn't easy.

This most certainly had to be the hardest "algebra" I'd ever covered.

I mean, I was going over things I remember learning in Pre-Calculus!

It was nuts.  I mean, to be honest, I just had some high level algebra kick my butt.

I had to learn all kinds of new stuff, and teach it I guess, and do it.

Ugh, it was an.. interesting ordeal.

And to think, I thought I was done with math of any substantial difficulty in life.....

guess what!?

I got a job working at Knoxville Christian Center.  I'll be working there for the rest of this month through VBS!
Sweetness. 
Now, what I also found out tonight, that may happen ( for you boro friends whom I will miss! ) Is that I may end up coming home right after VBS because there won't be much to do.
Meaning that I may be able to work at a church, do VBS ( KCC's huge 1500 person awesome one ) and still
Come home with my friends there!!!

God is gooooooooooooooood.
I mean, maybe I won't come home, for sure, but it might happen that way, which would be sweet!
Well, because there's a great paying job that Russell applied for last summer mid way through and got it, so I'll go for that one when I come to town.

Man... I'M FEELING HAPPY.... AND GUESS WHAT!
MISSION IMPOSSIBLE THREE IS AMAZING! Yes, I saw it early.

So today's thursday and I'm still in Cleveland.  I'm staying in
Thorne's room until graduation this saturday.  Granted, it's
pretty cool to just get to hang out here and all, Russ went to Samford,
Johnathan left for Tiffany's this morning, Brent left earlier, and a
bunch of other people are of course already gone.  The bottom line
is, Thorne and I are pretty much the only ones for today, so we're kind
of... HAVING NOTHING TO DO :)

But I guess that's a good feeling.. I don't know

It's definitely weird to be someone staying here and see pretty much
everyone else leave before you do... I don't know if I like that too
much.

STill uncertain as to where I"m going to be this summer, knoxville or the boro, the next few days shall tell.

Well, God is good, this first year of college has been rockin awesome,
and I guess it's nice to end it with a few days with nothing to do....

Next year should be fantabulous!

So everyone knows so I don't have to tell the same story a million times, I'll give the run down on fine arts this weekend.

And just to go ahead and get this out of the way, no, I did not advance in short sermon.

Yes, I made it to the second round at nationals last year, but, well, I
think I went over time, which stinks, but o well, I guess.

But though I didn't advance in the category I've made it in for the
first two years, let me just give you the story of the category I tried
for the first time this year: drama solo.

See, I loved our large drama last year, I had somewhat of an important
role, so I wanted to be able to do drama this year, so I signed up for
it.

For WEEKS in advance I had the same idea for a drama solo, working on it and all.

Then, either tuesday, or more likely wednesday, I couldn't get it to
fall together, so I sought what God wanted me to do. " Go through it
one more time."

So I did.

I figured in doing so He'd show me how to pull it together.  Instead, I realized.. it wasn't going to work. 

Realize this was just a couple days before the competition, with finals
right in the middle, more specifically a monologue and drama exam on
friday.

There's no way I can do it.  I run through things a million times.
I've had plenty of human video ideas that took forever, and sometimes
didn't really work.

In fact, I remember telling my friend Lori Basler at lunch that I was
considering not even doing one: man, am I glad I didn't do that,
because,

Well, it happened. I had an idea, it fell together, I hardly had to
revise any lines at all.  All I really had to do was memorize it,
get a spectaculous drama major to help: thank you TIFFANY TERPIN
(spelling) Your suggestions were GREAT.

And the end result was:

I was blown away at how much everyone loved my drama solo.  WAAAY more support than I was expecting.

And in a category where almost everyone advanced, I advanced......

AND TOOK FIRST PLACE :)

Yep everyone, I didn't advance in sermon, but I took first place in
drama solo.  Adam Rodrigues, yes, you heard it correctly.

Fine Arts 06- Amazing! ( in its own way :) )

    Fine arts=tomorrow...
Wait.... I checked my work... is this right?
I guess it must be...
Man, well, a cool story, so I've had like the same idea and layout for a drama solo for the past several weeks.  But to be honest, I just couldn't get it to work like I wanted it to. So GOd tells me "run through it one more time" So I did, and in doing so, I realized, man, this just isn't going to work.
So I try to write a new one.  I'm thinking " maybe I just won't do one, there's no way I can prepare this, with my sermon, with all the finals I have this week" by the way, I started rewriting this past wednesday.
But Guess what!
God basically gave me a drama that just fell together perfectly, I easily put it together in like one day, and now I"m really excited about doing it.
GOd is good.
So who else is excited, freaked out, and/or unprepared for tomorrow!?

Just so everyone knows, I got my braces off ( as I'm sure you can tell from the pictures)  So yeah, I took some crazy ones, and some serious ones, because I wuv my new teethe!  I didn't know I had white things behind the metal... it's like they've been gone for so long.
So yeah, hope you like the pics, and it is kind of exciting to have them off right before fine arts, so now I can preach without metal glued to my face!

So I spoke at CAK on April 20 I would say that things went
well, and I pray that what I said got through to these students.

With that said, on the way back, I was listening to Blindside, and a
song that I've heard many times really, made sense to me.  It was
really weird, because I can say in all honesty, their song Pitiful, is
basically, the sermon I spoke that morning.  I can't really
explain exactly why, because I'd have to really go into my sermon, and
I'm sure you'll don't really want that.  But this song REALLY got
to me this morning. 

Just read this lyrics, ( and yes, I've altered them a bit, but they're basically the same )

Man, this is a powerful song..


Blindside: Pitiful


As I recall with my stomach turning,

I was hiding away from myself, away from You,

Pretending nothing, but I knew something was terribly wrong.

I'll admit that I was only waiting for the right time....

The right moment for You to look away....


And though you never did I still pretended for a while

Just so I could look where I don't belong


I remember every word you said...

PLEASE COME BACK IN TIME! COME BACK!

God, I remember I will soon BE DEAD!

.I am so pitiful...

So pitiful...


But I know, as I HAMMERED THOSE NAILS into your Beautiful Hands..

Your eyes they try to search for mine,
But I'll look away....


And though your eyes ARE THE ONLY THING THAT CAN SAVE ME...
I'M STILL AFRAID of them piercing..

.You're breaking into my prison..

I JUST pretended for a while!
NOW MY SOUL IS DIEING, GOD, NOW I WON'T LOOK AWAY!


I remember every word you said!

I needed to come back in time, I came back!


.But my situation was so pitiful..

We can all be so pitiful.....


---- So in the real song he doesn't say " i remember every word you
said!" but I think he just continues to repeat the first part of trying
to remember everything, to keep coming back to the point of us just
looking God in the fact, and turning away from Him..

And how pitiful that is.

So I figured I'd put something a bit more interesting than "schifty five" or at least, more serious.

So I've enjoyed being home this weekend.  Spent a lot of time at the house of the infamous "Mrs.Jeanna," and it has been quite fun. Actually, I'm here right now- but this time partially due to the fact that I needed some internet access, getting some notes off of a site from my economics teacher.-

So, the trilogy was AMAZING, and I loved the David PHelps song you guys did when Jesus rose.  I heard it at a church in Cleveland, and they did a pretty awesome human video to it. 
But yeah, the boro is still my great home, although I'm really going to miss leaving Lee here in a couple weeks.

Last thing, if you guys could pray for me speaking at the CAK ( christian academy of Knoxville ) middle school this thursday, I'd really appreciate it. O, I'm speaking at their chapel

Do you want to know what it schwas?

It is sooooo good to hear it.

And I bet you I can tell you faster than you can say:

POOPTY PEUPTY PANTS.

I know.

HOW to count.

ALL THE WAY:

To Schifty Five.

Well, I don't really have anything else all that interesting to say right now, but this is one thing I guess:  I am obsessed with Blindside.
I might have posted about them in the past, but a while ago I discovered that they were Christian.  After that, I very quickly bought all three of their cds ( after their three.... lack luster.. independent albums )
Silence is an amazing cd.
About a burning fire is an amazing cd.
The great depression is a great cd.
The thing I love about them, is, duh, their sound, but if you just read their lyrics, they are amazing poets.  The spiritual message behind every one of their songs is.. you'd just have to read them.   Go to google and type in blindside lyrics.  About time someone didn't just give you the link.  Get some internet savvy. 
So yeah, this post wasn't really all that.. meaningful, but um, I Love Blindside!

Okay everyone.  I think I'm going to start doing something that I
believe to be quite interesting, mainly because it's been a HUGE part
of what God's been doing with my mind, but for other reasons too. 
Anyway, I'm going to start... giving my philosophical, theological,
conclusions that prove God in multiple ways.  I will be honest
though.  It might bore a lot of people, and the entries will
probably be long.  But I don't know, I want to do this, and I find
it more intriguing than the droning of every day.  Not to say no
daily posts, but this is my focus I think....


Okay--  First, one of the well knowns


God's existence, focus on divine creation.


Okay, so I know most people have heard this one a million times, well, hear me out anyway.


Two theories to negate-

Evolution ( which I'm going to argue a way that might be a little more interesting than the typical scientific impossibility)

which is tied to

Spontaneous Generation.


Well, spontaneous generation is kind of the start of evolution, but
I've heard the argument, that everything just "appeared."  NOw
admittingly, this sounds retarded, but if you think about it, if we
weren't there in the beginning, with nothing, how do we know, that it
didn't happen that way?  Well, the thing is, nothing, is..
nothing.  Meaning, there couldn't have been anything "mystical"
about the nothing before anything existed, in comparison to the nothing
that we know in the vaccum of space today.  It's properties (
having none ) don't change.  Meaning, if there was "nothing" in
the beginning, it would do the exact same thing as "nothing" in today's
world.  There wasn't some "special nothing" that somehow had a
spontaneous generation capability.  Nothing never changes, never
produces anything. The nothing of today is the nothing of a million or
whatever years ago.


-- I hope you bothered to read this far, cause I'm actually takling
evolution on a different side than just the scientific possiblity of it.

Rather, on a more moral and spiritual aspect.


Okay, lets look at the principle of right and wrong.  Every other
animal in creation lives for survival.  They live by what their
physical bodies tell them.  Your physical body is for living, and
reproducing, and the thinking to do that.  Example, an animal has
no problem killing off young because of food shortage.  HOWEVER,
humans do.


Now, if humans are just another creature that evolved, then our
motivations should be as sheerly physical as animals, but they're
not.  See, here's what I see-

Morals, RIght and Wrong, are SPIRITUAL aspects.  Aspects directly
tied to fellowship with God, the one thing we were designed to have
that animals don't have.

God made us in His image, and unlike animals, with a basic knowledge of
what's right and wrong.  However, sometimes what's right is
totally cotradictory to the basic physical necessities.  Like on a
desert island with limited food supply.  Even if you resorted to
killing everyone for survival, you wouldn't be able to get past some
type of guilt, regardless of how "right" it was to survival, in God's
standards put it in you, it's wrong.


So in conclusion to that, there's no getting past that some standard
beyond your basic physical properties exists within you.  Meaning,
obviously, that if something beyond this world and its physical
properties exists in your existence, then your existence must have
originated from somewhere beyond this world, which blatantly points to
the existence of a Supreme Being.  More specifically, the Supreme
Being of the Bible.  Why?  Because the standard of right that
you just seem to "know" is the exact one He outlines in His word.


And there you have it.  haha, "volume one."  I might talk
about the validity of His word next time, I don't know.  But
hopefully this was a slight bit interesting.  And just humor me
with some comments at least.  I'm somewhat curious as to what
other people think of this, whole thing...

Well, in three weeks I managed to accumulate nine remarks.  I guess that's okay.  well, as of right now, I'm seriously debating leaving my economics class because they're reviewing for the exam, and I really don't need to review for this.  But anyway, um, yeah, I'm looking forward to an awesome twelve inch sub after this class.  I'm also going to run, and what sucks is how tired I am.  I'm either going to take a nap, or just hope some food and stuff perks my energy.  I don't know.  Maybe I can get some coffee.  Ugh.  Don't you wish you could just hit an energy button sometimes?  It would be so nice to have more energy right now.  So yeah, that's where I'm at right now.  Um, how are you guys doing? I guess...

Hope whoever cares to read likes....

Breathe in,
and take Him in.
Exhale, and let Him be,
Something more to you and me,
Than just a theory, or a thought,
But the Creator of everything.
Inhale, and know He's there.
Exhale, and give a stare,
To the countless stars in Heavens realm,
Of a God sitting at the healm
Of all that exists past the skies of blue,
Down to someone as insignificant as me and you.
Breathe.
He's there,
From the beginning of substance to the end of no where
Unto all the world and to all mankind
His throne that reigns beyond all time.
And breathe, let the air flow through
Your heart and lungs, your spirit too.
Breathe,
It's simple.
His air, His truth, His life, His love.
His power, His creation, His arm from above
Do you see it?
Can you breathe it?
Will you believe it?
And will you mean it?
His arms stretch across eternity
And grasp things beyond concept
His truth reaches deeper than the cosmos,
His infinince can not be met.
There's nothing that ever was or is
That His finger did not create,
And all I want every day is to sit back
And meditate
On Him that is, was, and is to come
The one to whom all will succumb
Who's power stretches beyond all match
With a presence that permeates down to that
Which holds everything in every day
And for which I can only manage to say:

Breathe,
And take Him in.

1821 users.  I guess this is  a question for Nathan, is that a lot?  I mean, I know compared to facebook, it's not many at all, but what about like, xanga, or myspace?  Interesting, but it would be pretty cool to see phusebox EXPLODE, but yeah, I think it will anyway, considering the new users list is almost always fresh.  So for the rest of you people, get phusebox, mwuhahahaha, and it shall spread like an unstoppable virus!

Hello World.
My name is Adam.
I hope I did you good today.
And thank you for oxygen.
Cause without it, we'd all die.
Yep.

i love clam chowder, and this is my second night having a real late night bowl, and i like it. :)

Hello everyone.  It's been quite a while since I"ve posted anything on here.
But for anyone who this means anything to, something miraculous has happened tonight:
I"m full!
But yeah, it's pretty cool.
So anyway, this sememster's looking like it's going to rock for sure.
I'm excited about my classes, I"m making new friends already, and I"m just really enjoying myself.
God is sooo good.  I'm trying to see Him and His infinite reality around me at all times.  How He's in everything, at all times.  That's what I want.
Peace out duuuudes.

So uh, my first semester of college is almost over.
Can you say " What the frick happened?"
But anyway, it's cool that christmas break is soon. EVen cooler that in college that means a month off.
Um....
So anyways.....Jesus is the coolest guy ever.
Yay.

I get no comments on phusebox, what a sad thing.

Aww, o well.  I guess I can live with that.  That and the fact that I only have eleven friends on here, so that could deffinitely be part of the problem.

So yeah, I have 1709 dollars left over from scholarships after my first semester in college.  Freaking owned.  Not to mention that means that I'll probably have around 3400 left over after my first year, and that money, my friends, shall go to my next three years, when things aren't as generous.  It is quite awesome to know that if I keep my grades up, I'll only have to work for barely any money at all in comparison to the thousands of dollars it takes to go to school here at Lee.  But yeah, to people like Paul, be good students.  It means money money money !