Sometimes I hate people

21 years

Posing in my new UWEC sweater that my sister sent me for my birthday!



I'm celebrating 21 years alcohol and tobacco free today... and going to keep it that way!

Dust and Bones video

Stinking sweet trailer... and the intro is so good, make sure you have your volume up.


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Practice Makes Perfect

Practice makes perfect. How many times has your mom or your coach told you that? But it is so true: the more you practice something, the better you get at it. This holds true across a vast spectrum of activities. If you practice mountain biking all the time, you are going to end up riding farther, faster, and more skillfully than you have ever done. If you practice studying at school, you are going to get really good grades. If you practice being diligent at work, you are going to be a hardworker, and people are going to notice.

Conversely, if you practice sitting in front of the TV every night, you are going to get fat. If you practice putting off your homework enough, it won't get done. If you call in sick to work all the time, your boss is going to have a very bad opinion of you.

In the most important realm of our lives, however, this rule: "Practice makes perfect" still applies. If you practice praying your guts out and seeking God's will, your heart is going to be transformed to mirror His will! But if you practice putting other things in front of God, distracting yourself with the things of this world (entertainment, sports, etc), you will wind up being very good at straying far from God.

People, this is the issue: practice following Jesus, and you will get good at it! Practice wandering away, and you will get good at that too.

biking or sleep

So what's going to benefit me more tomorrow:

a) sleeping in and taking it easy in the morning
b) going mountainbiking

Haven't decided yet. I really want to go biking, but i'm super exhausted right now. it's a toughy.

eh, sleep is for wussys (or people still recovering from the sickness)

Black Widow!

Super freaky black widow that I found in Summer's wheel AS I WAS PUTTING IT ON!! I WAS FREAKING OUT!! That was not a fun day... I have developed a hatred for spiders over the past month or two since that day. Spiders are evil.

Wal-Mart worker dies

This is absolutely ridiculous!  How in the world could a bunch of people trample a man to death, cause a pregnant woman to have a miscarriage, and injure several others ALL OVER STUPID JUNK!  "OO, I'm gonna save money on these toys for my kids..." Yeh, at the expense of someone's life!!  I am in shock.  

My Philosophy of Missions

A paper that I had to write for Missions Class:

My philosophy of missions is essentially wrapped up in a statement that Professor Jeff made in class. He basically said that “If you are not one hundred percent sure that you are called to do it, then you shouldn’t be doing it.” However, I do think that God is calling me to missions somewhere down the line.

First, I believe that in whatever way that we serve God, He will use us according to the spiritual gifts and talents that He has given us. If God has given a person an extraordinary gift or talent, I believe that God will use that gift or talent to further His kingdom, and it may very well be through missions. At this present time, I am unsure as to what my spiritual gifting truly is. I have a good deal of time to figure it out, though. Whatever that spiritual gift is, I am certain that God will make that gift a great asset on the mission field. I believe that our talents also play a large role in the equation. For instance, I really feel as if I am called to the area of, how shall I put it, “mountain athletics” or “adventure sports.” I am very passionately attracted to many of the athletic sports that are focused in and around the mountains. For instance, I absolutely love to downhill ski. I am certain that God has given me a natural, raw talent for skiing, and a passion to do it and use that raw talent. During the summer time, I pursue the sport of mountain biking with almost the same drive and passion. I believe that there is a good chance that God will call me to a mission field where I will be able to use my passion for sports, not necessarily those two, but “adventure sports” in general to further the kingdom of God in some way.

Now, how I will go about this over the course of the next 5 years. First, I will complete my education at Big Sky Bible Institute. BSBI has been an excellent place of learning, and this learning will serve me well as I continue to serve God for the rest of my life. My aim in coming here was to have a firm, Biblical foundation at the base of my adult life, and this year will provide excellent knowledge that will be useful in the mission field. Second, over the course of the next 3 to 4 years I am going to focus on becoming a backcountry guide, with a skiing as the primary discipline, to begin with. In order to effect this, I am going to work a number of different jobs that will give me experience in the field, and I have a variety of courses that I am looking at taking which will give me knowledge that I sorely need. This summer I sincerely hope that I will get hired at camp ID-RA-HA-JE (I’d Rather Have Jesus) in Bailey, Colorado. I applied for a position on Adventure Staff, and if I get the job I will be leading mountain biking, rock climbing, whitewater rafting, backpacking, and ropes course trips and activities. This will give me a taste of a true guiding experience, and will help to, hopefully, solidify my goal of becoming a professional guide. Camp ID-RA-HA-JE itself will be an amazing way for me to use my life for the furtherance of God’s kingdom. I think that it may, in fact, qualify as a mission field… even though the cultural boundaries that I will be crossing will not be very difficult to surpass. Nevertheless, I think they (the boundaries) could definitely be there, qualifying this camp as mission field. Regardless, next winter I am going to attempt to end up in Jackson Hole, most likely working at the ski resort. Over the course of the winter I will take several avalanche certification courses, and receive my level I and level II certifications. Assuming I get hired this summer at camp ID-RA-HA-JE, it requires a two-year commitment, so I will most likely be working there again in summer of 2009. After next summer, my plans assume a lot more fluidity, as a great deal can change over the course of a year and a half. I really want to intern at Silverton Mountain one winter sometime in the near future. That would provide me with an amazing amount of practical, hands on experience that could help me to get a job as a professional guide. I also am striving to save money so that sometime in the near future I will be able to take an outdoor semester, either at NOLS or IWLS. Either of those courses would give me an incredible amount of knowledge to do with guiding, and the hard skills of several different disciplines, which I might be leading. But, if the amount of money proves too great to achieve in a timely fashion, I may resort to just taking a 24 day long backcountry ski guide training course, offered by IWLS. All of these things will most likely help me on my way to becoming a professional guide.

So, how does becoming a professional backcountry guide have anything to do with missions? As I stated in the first paragraph, I sincerely believe that God will use our talents, abilities, and gifts to further His kingdom. It is my goal to use guiding and sports as a ministry. Exactly what form it will take, of that I am not sure. I was thinking of working with a Christian camp during all but the winter months, and ministering in that venue. In fact, my classmate, Priyanke, is founding the first Christian camp in the country of Sri Lanka. I have seriously been considering that, maybe in 4 years or so once I have the skills amassed, I will be able to join him in Sri Lanka and set up an adventure branch of ministry in conjunction with his organization, Miracle Valley Ministries. That would truly be missions work, crossing an enormous cultural (and geographical) boundary. But in the end, all of these plans rest in the hands of God. The only thing that I can truly do is to continually make myself pliable and receptive to His leading, something that I am not really all that good at most of the time. Ultimately, my philosophy of missions is that God will use me how He wants, and whatever God wants, I want!

Es mucho Powdero, pero no esquiar, con espanol muy malo.

Big Mountain has been receiving rather substantial amounts of snow. I took off of work the whole last week that I would be in Montana before Christmas vacation, with the thought that I would ski every day. As it turns out, I was only able to ski the days of Saturday and Sunday.

Why? My car is currently on the injured reserve list. It started making very bad sounds and vibrations, so I took it in. Turns out the bearing that I noticed was going out two months ago is almost completely shot, and I cannot get it worked on until Friday (which is the day I will be departing). So a potential week chock full of skiing has been emptied down the drain due to mechanical difficulties. I'm wondering: is this a lesson that God is teaching me? I have thought a great deal about what my motivations in life are, what my true priorities are, and what is most important to me. I have given my entire life to God (in prayer), every aspect of it: my finances, my relationships, my sports, my career, my schooling... everything I have consciously been given up to him, and have followed it up with actions (Please see James, "faith without works is dead.") But, I have decided that skiing is a worthy pursuit and activity, and God has given me a passion for it, and I should pursue it. And yet, I am realizing, that even when I pursue that passion, I still must keep my eyes on what really matters. Is God trying to tell me that through this week? I've been consciously making decisions to do this, and yet, maybe I need more of a smack on the head. Hey, I just realized: I've told God that if ever he really wants me to do anything, he is going to need to beat me over the head otherwise I'm not going to get the hint. (Well, that specific prayer wasn't in the context of skiing... it was... another context... but a smack over the head is always nice.)

So yeah, lots of Pow on real mountains, no skiing for Goo. Phoey.

Jumping off of a bridge

I jumped off of a bridge this weekend. I didn't die though. It really is me writing this post.

So yeah, I was going to attempt to create a well-written post about me jumping off of bridge and swinging into a lake on a rope swing, but I just decided that I really don't like trying to make things sound good, even though I enjoy reading good writing.

Whatever, so I jumped off of a bridge twice this weekend, and it was really sweet! It was about 20-30 feet high. I've always wanted to jump off of something into a body of water that wasn't a diving board, and this was the first time I have ever done it! It was a load of fun, because that's me for you: doing random things that are potentially life threatening and occasionally illegal, like jumping off of a bridge. But that made it even more fun: we had to make sure to watch for cops and other cars before we jumped. That also gave the added benefit of having to jump quickly, without letting the nerves build up. I actually had no problem jumping. I would have thought that I would have started thinking about all the things that could go wrong, and that I would have seized up... but no such thing happened.

So the long and short of it is: I jumped off the bridge, broke the law, and had a blast.

Yeah, you here that: it was illegal! What up. Do you think I shouldn't have done it because it was illegal? I say not: I saw someone jump before me, it looked perfectly okay, there were no cops around, I jumped, I didn't come close to hitting bottom, and I didn't get caught. In Goo's book of morals, this is totally acceptable. What about your book of morals? Is this unacceptable?

How about a Biblical worldview? Was that not a Christ-like thing to do?

How about some comments.

Pick up my trash for me

Today our youth group prepared and sold food at an auction. It was great, we had loads of customers, and after expenses we made over $800! All in all, it was a great success.

But that's not what I'm writing about. Here's what went down:

Part of the way through the day, a lady walked past our stand and told us to go and pick up a bunch of trash that people had left down in an area where the auctioneer had been auctioning off stuff. I thought she was mistaken, and I said "Oh, we're not affiliated with the people that put on this auction. That's not our job."

And she was like "Well you sold the food didn't you?"

"And we've got trash cans right here!" I shot back.

And then my little sister, the saint that she is (and I'm not being sarcastic), interjected "Well, we can do it."

"Kaitlynn, it isn't our job, don't do it," but off she went to pick up trash.

A minute later, our youth pastor walked up, and I asked, "Hey Al, is it our job to pick up trash?"

And he agreed with me: "Nope."

"I thought so," said I. A little later on in the day I found out that the woman who had told us to pick up the trash was, in fact, one of the organizers of the auction - whose job it was to do, well, just about everything other than sell the food and talk really fast.

First off, I was really taken aback when she told us to pick up the trash. I pick up after people all week, and I get paid for it. Here I was, volunteering my time, preparing and selling food; and now this person, whom I don't know whatsoever, has the audacity to tell me to go pick up trash, when it is not my job and I'm not getting a cent for what I'm doing! There was absolutely no way in hell I was getting off of my butt to pick up trash. You know what made it worse? The reason she gave for us needing to pick it up: "You sold the food." Well sure, we sold the food, but we're not responsible for what the people do with it after it leaves our tent! Is the gun dealer who sold the gun charged with murder, or is the person that fired the gun? Seriously lady! We sold the food, indeed!

For a bit I thought that maybe I wasn't being Christ-like by standing my ground, but I didn't get up. Later on, my decision was proved correct: a. Alan confirmed that it wasn't our job & b. she was one of the organizers. So why did she want us to pick it up? She was too freaking lazy to do her job! All she was was a lazy bum! She wanted to get out of the work herself, so she tried to guilt me into doing it. Well what's up lady, I'm not that gullible! My sister is, but she served selflessly, probably like Christ would have done. But that doesn't mean that I was wrong. Not in the least.

How it Feels to Be Obsessed Like Me

By: Goo

I am extremely obsessed with several different things. My winter obsession of choice is skiing. To me, skiing is not just a pastime that I take part in once a month. No, obsession is the correct word. Every single chance that I have to go skiing is pursued with the utmost priority. There are very few things that can divert me from my snow-plans. Work? No! School? No! But there is one thing that comes between me and skiing. The one person, the one being, the one focus of an activity that can consistently persuade me to not go skiing is God. But second to God, skiing reigns supreme!

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Passion ::Old Randomer::

Passion.

By: Goo
Written: 5/16/05

The complexities of life are as myriad as the multifaceted shape of a diamond. As intricate and disconcerting as the most convoluted highway interchange that you have ever seen. Modern life and culture are as twisted and rotten as an apple core, thrown out of the window of a passing car, sitting upon the shoulder of the road as forgotten as the waste you flushed down the toilet yesterday.

But, the complexities and confusion and general dirtiness of life are swept aside by an outside force. That outside force is a passion. An occupation. Something that is loved by the individual. Something that is enjoyable to that person, or something that a person cares very deeply about. Everything else flows about that passion. If something does not work, then the passion will thrust its way through the tide of time consuming and troubling worries of life, and make itself known. Life will begin to flow around it, the passion will take hold. Sometimes, it comes as if by accident. Other times, the person will have to reach out for the passion, grab its hand, and push back against the wall of time-wasting infidels. Then, the passion will have the utmost place in this person’s life.

If not the utmost, it will be in a place, a specific place that is directly linked to its worthiness to the being. If he or she deems it worthy, it will take the top point of power and control in that person’s life. If he deems the passion not quite that worthy, but still worthy of being a priority, but not above that of other passions such as a relationship, it will get pushed further down the scale to a place suitable of its worthiness. It all depends upon the amount of value a person places in the passion. The place it is allotted will determine the impact it will have on one’s life.

But, if a person is bereft of a love of anything, they will wander through life utterly destitute, lacking direction of any kind. They will be as a dandelion seed, tossed upon the wind, going as it fancies, never knowing the location of its destination. But, unlike the dandelion, carefree upon the wind, he will be like a boat lost at sea in the storm of all storms, with no way to steer, no sense of direction, completely at the mercy of the savage winds and the enormous, crashing waves. He will live a turbulent, twisted life. A life without meaning. A life built around misery and anguish. If he lives at all.

Is it even possible to live without a passion, or a love for something? For anything? How can it be that if you have nothing to drive you, you persist in life, continuing to work and live. I think that you need to search deeper. There is something driving every single person, however honorable that fuel is, there is something driving everyone. When people commit suicide, its as if a chunk has been cut out of the fuel line of purpose and they have lost their passion to DO. Their passion, or fuel to live. What they don’t realize is that they must give that fuel line time to heal. They must come back to whatever is driving them, however honorable it is, or find another passion. Another driving force for which to live for.

For many people, the driving force is immensely different. For one, it may be a sport. For another, love. For another, sex. For another, God. For yet another, money. For others, fame. For others, enjoyment. Possibly, getting wasted. Music is an immense driving force. Friendship. All things such as these drive people, and some are less honorable then others.

But of course, that depends on one’s perspective. And perspective, is a whole other matter.

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