Love's Gonna Last Forever!

Love's gonna last forever!

Love's gonna last forever!

Love's gonna last forever and ever!

Oh, Jenny and Tyler! You two treat my ears so well with your blissfully complementary voices and plethora of songs about love. Such a great band!

But, to change the subject: I'm worried.

But it's not really about anything majorly important, I just don't know how I can not lose my voice at camp! I mean, it's obvious, I just won't scream, but have you met me?! It won't be difficult except for the whole rec thing... I'm going to feel like crap not screaming my face off at rec!

I need alternatives! Should I just be the cheer-maker-upper? Or should I bring noisemaking devices? bah! Any suggestions, my friends? Yes, even you, person who I don't know reads my blog! What should I do?

I've Been Learning How to Die

I'm gonna miss you,

I'm gonna miss you when you're gone.

She says "I love you,

I'm gonna miss hearing hearing your songs."

I said, "Please. Don't talk about the end!

Don't talk about how every living thing goes away."

She said, "Friend,

All along, thought I was learning how take,

How to bend not how to break,

How to laugh, not how to cry.

Really, I've been learning how to die.

I've been learning how to die."

Hey everyone! I've got nowhere to go.

The grave is lazy...He takes our bodies slow-ly.

I've been learning how to die.

I <3 love.

I was just thinking about it, and I'll admit it: I really am a sucker for a good love song/story.

Despite the fact that I argue that Moulin Rouge is about a prostitute (which it is), Elephant Love Medley is a great song. I really liked the book The Notebook, though I have no plans to see the movie. I like it when my books have a love story somewhere in them that ties into the main plot. (And I'm talking legit love story, not like in Harry Potter where everyone decides to randomly make out.) Ted Dekker always has good love story sub plots. Jon Foreman has great love songs.

But I still don't like Taylor Swift's 'Love Story.'

Nope!

That is all.

Whirlwind

Rewind: Play starting Thursday.

Group interview at the Container store. It went well I think!

TNT was great. Riley, Tyler (Stamps), and I spent the night at Trey's house afterwards so we could leave early the next morning for Trey's grandpa's property like 4 1/2 hours north of here. It was great! I love camping with those guys (We all missed Eric and Brian!) We hiked a bit, scaled this tree by our tent, played around with Trey's baby Taylor and practiced our shooting (which was exciting, though I'm not a huge fan of guns) Friday and Saturday were really hot, but they were good for camping.

Saturday I got home and went out to eat with my parents and AJ (nick went to a friends house) for the 'last supper' before AJ leaves for Stanford in California.

The next morning (Sunday) I wake up early to take my parents and AJ to the airport. On the way back I run out of gas right before the Cypresswood exit on 249 and just kind of drift down off the highway with my four-ways on to the Lowe's parking lot where I got Tyler (Yates) to pick me up for church.

Steven Welch filled in for JM on drums and did a great job! I was really glad he played with us.

I painted a canvas while Darren was speaking on the stage and I think it went well. haha, I think all the adults were like "what is that disrespectful kid doing?!" in big church since I had my paint clothes on. I definitely enjoyed painting. Thanks, Darren!

I got home and napped. When I woke up I got on my laptop and then the power went out. lame. But I couldn't even tell it was raining, so I go look outside and it's raining CATS AND DOGS! My first thought is, the JEEP has NO WINDOWS! So I run out of my house to put the windows on (I couldn't open the garage door cause the power went out.) and I'm getting drenched and can't see very well cause there are water drops all over my glasses when I hear this CRACKTHUNK. I look over and see that the awning on the back of our house has broken off and covered the back doors. It was crazy.

Then it stops raining and I get Taylor to take me to get my car back from the Lowe's parking lot, which was a whole 'nother ordeal because my gas can didn't have the right nozzle and we had to get Taylor's parents to bring us a funnel. It was crazy, but we got my car back. Thanks Taylor/Taylor's Parents!

Then the Weises kindly offer to let me spend the night at their house because I still don't have power at my house (because my house always loses power for like twice the time as all the other ones.) They are so great! I they all called my within 30 minutes to ask if everything was alright with my car. It was kind of funny. But I definitely appreciate it. Thanks Weises!

The next morning I had a one-on-one interview for the job at the container store which I also think went well.

I got Nick back from his friends and we go swimming with Allison Short and then get Tyler, Kyle, and Nathan to come play Brawl, which was exciting.

This morning I got a call from the Container Store. I got the job! :D I am now a merchandise processor for the Container Store.

Piano lesson next!

Sine Wave

Today when I signed up for my classes, I wasn't thinking and scheduled one on Thursday evening, which means I'll have to miss most of Throwdown starting the week after camp, because the Art Institute starts on July 13. But I'm still excited to be starting classes soon!

Tomorrow I have an interview for a job at the Container Store that Taylor's mom has helped me get. We'll see how this plays out, because the job is from 5 to 10 am in the morning... and I'm definitely not a morning person. haha.

Random observation: I feel like a sine wave. Up, Down, Up, Down.

What a nerdy way to put things.

oh, and, 3.0! I heart sideways texting. Riley's right. I'm more excited about being excited than anything else. haha.

Random things I've been pondering:

1. I think I focus better when someone is speaking when I have my eyes closed. I'm too much of a visual person to focus on what a person is saying when they are wearing clothing with weird patterns or have a weird body type or something. I'm always trying to figure out how a clothing pattern repeats or where lines on something would meet if they extended farther.

2. I very rarely do things accidentally. Like, I pay attention to how I dress so much (and how other people dress) that it's more work for me to try to not think about what I'm going to wear than to just think about it.

3. I'm fairly certain I will never be able to play the guitar very well. There are too many places to put your fingers and they aren't grouped visually or anything like on a piano.

Apparently I'm a visual freak. Well, welcome to my life.

ps - my trial version of Adobe Fireworks CS4 expired. :(

The Jesus Painter

Jesus Painter Example

Okay, so if you haven't heard about this guy, then you can check him out by clicking here.

He's this guy that basically paints giant pictures of Jesus with his hands and sometimes paintbrushes on stage at churches and stuff.

Well, a couple of months ago, Darren asked me if I would be interested in doing something like that one Sunday in 249 and I thought it sounded like it would be interesting, so I agreed. Today he asked me if I'd do it this Sunday on the high school side. Exciting!

We'll see how this turns out...

Love.

How can I love God and others better?

It all comes down to that question.

"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads." Deuteronomy 6:5-8

I pray that I can love God and love people as much as possible.

I hope that we can all make that our prayer. 

The next time I have an inclination to be rude or hateful I pray that I remember these verses.

The next time I feel the need to sin, I pray that I remember these verses and that I can remember that God will not let me be tempted more than I can bear.

Does anyone have any verses or things they do that help them love God and people? I'd love to hear them.

mmhmm

^"It wasn't so long ago that you were mired in that old stagnant life of sin. You let the world, which doesn't know the first thing about living, tell you how to live. You filled your lungs with polluted unbelief, and then exhaled disobedience. We all did it, all of us doing what we felt like doing, when we felt like doing it, all of us in the same boat. It's a wonder God didn't lose his temper and do away with the whole lot of us. Instead, immense in mercy and with an incredible love, he embraced us. He took our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ. He did all this on his own, with no help from us! Then he picked us up and set us down in highest heaven in company with Jesus, our Messiah.

"Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It's God's gift from start to finish! We don't play the major role. If we did, we'd probably go around bragging that we'd done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing."

Ephesians 2:1-10 (The Message)

Nostalgia

These past 13 years of school have been good to me.

That is why I would take a little bit to reflect on some important people and events that have affected me since I've entered grade school and exited it again a much different and better person.

(These are in no order)

First of all, I have started my relationship with God since starting school, and I have learned so much that has become invaluable in that relationship. And although I have so, so, so much more to learn about love and life and death and God, and although I have sins to overcome, nothing has brought me more joy than being able to worship the God of the universe and love and be loved by him. May I focus the rest of my life on him. May I be able to worship Him with my whole heart and mind and soul.

I don't think I can put into words how much my parents have selflessly done for me and my brothers during my school experience. They have not only helped me with homework, but they have taught me so many life lessons that I don't know how I could even function without them. 

All of you reading this have done so much for me too. I still have a thing of fake grapes in my room from that dollar store present for my birthday freshman year :) And I have so many concert tickets for Relient K, Nickel Creek, Switchfoot, David Crowder Band, etc. You have all been so exciting and fun. I'm so glad we got to have each other through the laughter at parties and kick the can ventures and making music together, and through the tears when things had to change and when things weren't working out; but they always worked out in the end. Thanks for all the leadership and random talks at Starbucks and at lunch on Sunday. I will never forget these times.

All that being said, I have no intention on lamenting the loss of my high school days. I look forward to finding new ways to love and worship God, to grow a family of my own and have giant Horst family gatherings, to create new memories with my friends and make new ones! As cliche as the subject of this whole blog is, I hope that I can equally appreciate my past and enjoy the present and not worry about what the future holds. Please try to pray for me as we all continue with our lives and I will try to pray for you. 

ON TO THE REST OF MY LIFE!

that is all.

A Random Update

I'm so close to college I can almost taste it. And it tastes of paints, pencils, and macintosh computers. I'm so excited about going to the Art Institute! They were supposed to call me Wednesday to find out when to sign up for classes, but I never got a call, hmm...

I haven't read any fiction in a while so I went on down to the Harris County Public Library off of Jones Rd and picked up the first two books of Ted Dekker's 'the Lost Books' series, which stems off of the Circle Trilogy. I must say, they're really good so far. I always love and get something out of Dekker's books. If you haven't read any of them let me know so I can lend you a few. 

Speaking of books, Nick started the Harry Potter series today! I'm so excited for him! :D

In other news, Obama's speech today 'to the muslim world' was really good. For what it's worth, I'm so glad we have an eloquent president.

I leave for Disney World on Sunday! Eeeee! I've never been, so I have no idea what to expect, but I'm sure it will be amazing.

Oh, also, I got the Sims 3 on Tuesday, and it has been eating a lot of my time. I've always loved the Sims games, and they just keep getting better! I'm currently working on a mansion for my sims (Yes, I used the money-getting cheats, but I like building the houses more than anything else in the game!)

College people are back in town! yay!

Something I Found; Something I Should Remember