MOVED

Ive moved to blog.stephenobryan.com Ive got lots of work to do over there but thats where I am. So for those of you who are linked to me on your sites if you would be so kind to change your links please do . . . and if not then don’t be so kind. And check out stephenobryan.com

This story is true I promise

Okay so both of my readers probably already know this story but it was very traumatic and I felt the need to post about it.

Last Friday night I was waiting for some friends to arrive for the soccer games over at school I had gotten there early and was standing by the bleachers by myself . . . while I was standing there I was getting all there judgmental looks from my fellow students who were like “ Like so totally like what in the world would you like even like come to these games like alone” for some reason though I began to feel very lonely and miserable standing all by myself. Well as I waited patiently and avoided the ever awkward stares of my piers a very large moth; it is at this point that I must interject that you may not really relate to the size of these beasts unless you yourself have seen one but you’ll just have to take my word for it they are GIGANTORS; anyway while I was waiting one of these over size moths flew down and perched between my eye and my glasses. Perched is probably not a good word because that sounds so friendly like the bird that sings that little sing-a-long song. This moth attacked me and began to flap its dirty little wings ever so violently while lodged between my left eye and the lens that usually protects it. Instead of making the rational decision about what to do and calmly taking my glasses off . . . I began to shake violently as though I was possessed by something very much not a moth. The one good side of this was that all of the judgmental cheerleaders that were silently criticizing my being by myself now had an understanding as to why I was alone. Well the story continues for while I was shaking my head so violently to release my self from the power of this moth it . . . well . . . (Im trying to come up with some blog appropriate terms) relived itself all over my glasses and my eye . . . now some of the smarter readers my say “stop right there . . . how do you know it was not just dust from its wings?” and to that I say it was in my eye and I know what it was next time a moth stops for a bathroom break in your eye feel free to tell me it was dust . . . but in this case it was most definitely NOT dust. After plaguing me with this terribly gross substance the moth flew away . . . so I looked up after this traumatic experience only to realize not only were said judgmental cheerleaders staring at me I was also completely un aware of what was going on to my left because I couldn’t see anything . . . so I ever so calmly took my glasses of wiped of the lens went to the other side of the stadium where I saw my friends who were in no way sympathetic. (except for Dave and KT, the former of which inspired me to write this blog post)

Revision

Dailey made an intresting point from my last post. He commented on the fact that non-violence is not the answer its Christ. . . non-violence is not the answer its a way to communicate the real answer. . . thanks you Dailey for pointing that out.
I also forgot to say what the Donnald Miller quote was talking about. There is an organization called the Blood Water Mission doing a great work in Africa. . . check it out at
bloodwatermission.com

Some Quotes

Well again today I was smacked in tha face with the global perspective i so many times live without. The need in Africa is great. I dont know what to do right now other than not forget these people. Here is a quote by Donald Miller (yeah thats right its acutally a good one)

“The crisis in Africa is difficult to translate to those of us living in the states. Our hearts do not know where to begin. Of the greatest accomplishments of Bloodwater Mission has been their ability to sort through the chaos to match provision with need. Clean water prevents many diseases that can prove fatal to a person suffering from AIDS. Clean water, then, guards clean blood. The simple gift of a dollar provides invaluable clean water for one African for One year. Our calling, then, is to give from our undeserved provision into their undeserved need. In doing so, we participate in the search and rescue mission God is orchestrating in this fallen world.”
-Donald Miller

Further more here is an intresting quote i heard in a song, we can argue about the justification for the war in Iraq later but think about this at least

Non-Violence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time. The need for man to over come oppression and violence without resorting to violence and oppression.

Thats all for today but it keeps me thinking

TAGED

Okay so I have now been tagged by three people David Ruse, Tony B. and Dailey Crafton I guess I should do this thing.
Here are the rules
- let others know who tagged you.
- post 8 random facts about yourself.
- post these rules.
- tag 8 others to continue the meme (?)
So here it goes:

I have this weird thing for jackets (I wear them pretty much year round)
Im currently reading: The Beatles: Image and the media
The Bible: (Normaly I would not put this because I’m always reading the Bible (although not as much as I should) but usually Im reading from the ESV or re-reading a passage in The Message, however in several of my classes I have to read from the NASB and that is a great translation, it’s not quite as conversational as the ESV but I’ve been turning there a lot in my personal Bible study)
True Spirituality: If I could sum this book up in a few words it would be that it is Donald Miller with some real theology and scripture behind it, a great read.
Im Currently learning HTML and CSS and I love it.
Secretly I love tennis
I have two screws in my left elbow
My middle name is Blaine (hence the address of my blog)
Secretly I also like fashion although Im extremely UN-fashionable (whatever that means)
I’ve always wanted to donate a non-vital organ. (always being since I cant think of an eighth thing to write I came up with that.)
In other updateable news,
Well there is none.

I henceforth tag Josh I, Sarah C, Sarah M, Erin N, Cory G, Esther E, Sam G, John B.

Growth

Well its been a while since I have posted to this blog. I’ve been spending most of my blog time over at www.thebow.wordpress.com. Im not sure if anyone else is reading over there but it has encouraged me just to type posts and read the posts from my good friend Will Meadows. The Lord has been working in an amazing way over the last few weeks. The start of the school year went very well and I could not ask for a better schedule. Most of my assignments are to read scripture, which has been a huge encouragement. I’ve leaned more in the last 4 weeks than at any other time in my life. The only thing I can say is that it is the work of the Spirit. The growth I’ve been experiencing over the last few weeks has not come from a decision made in church or as a result of some great trial. Its nothing more than the Spirit of God answering a prayer that he would just switch something on inside of my heart. I praise Him for his work. My burden for local church ministry has grown and the desire for urban ministry becomes stronger everyday. The thought if global church ministry also excites me. I don’t know where the Lord is leading . . . But I know that He is and that is enough for me for now. I’m called to school at this moment and I have to take that one day at a time, but the prospects for the future are very exciting.

AWAKE

So its about 2am and i cant sleep. I’ve been up writing by the light of my iPod. I must say Im not much of a writer (especially when writing about the current subject Im writing about) but I do it alot. And I have found that I am doing it more and more it helps. One day I hope to convert all this useless scrabble into music. My mind just cant shut down tonight. My thoughts travel through the events of the day because it was a good day nothing out of the ordinary happened it was just a good day and evening spent with friends, they travel to the one I love and i hope she knows. . . Im thinking of her like I do every night. They travel to what is true and lovely and honorable. . . they make me aware that I dont spend the time thinking on these things like I should. They travel to Grudens Systematic Theology. I hope they will soon travel to nothingess so I can sleep.

BOW

A project Will Meadows and I have been working on check us out at thebow.wordpress.com or click on the link in the links section at the bottom of the page. Check out the site leave a comment visit regularly, and link to us on your pages and blogs. Here is an excerpt from the about page.

BOW is based off of the verse found in Ps 111:10

BOW is about reverence. It’s about opening our eyes. It’s about
putting God where he belongs and recognizing how awesome, mighty,
omnipotent and truly worthy of praise He is. BOW is about seeking
after wisdom—wisdom which comes from fearing God.

Now days it seems like we don’t fear anything. It’s like we’ve become
immune to it. We look to “Extreme Sports” and “Fear Factor” for
entertainment. Our t-shirts proclaim “No Fear!” We do and say
whatever we want, and never consider the effect. We break the law
because we don’t fear the consequences, and we tempt God to his face
because we have no understanding of who he really is. I find that
even some of the most devoted Christians I know, still don’t have a
healthy fear of God. They might say they do (we all know how easy it
is to “say” that we do something), but when it comes down to it, they
still live their daily lives according to their own plans and not His.

Us? Well, Were in the same boat, and that’s the point of this blog. we
find ourselves very wanting when it comes to practicing the art of
fearing God. We find ourselves in need of instruction—in need of an
example. Fortunately those two things exist in the person and work of
Jesus Christ. So as we search for wisdom, beginning with the fear of
the Lord, we’ll come here to record what we’ve learned and hopefully
edify some of you along the way. Bring us your comments, bring your
insights, and come and join us as we bow to Him who is worthy

The Wait is Over

The wait is finally over, my girlfriend has arrived in Greenville for good. Saturday we went out for dinner with my family and her family. After dinner Sarah and I and KT and Tyler and several other friends headed over to the Greenville Drive game where we had a great time. The last night we went to the Summer Shakespeare play at school, which was much better the second time around. The reasons it was better are probably two fold, number one the first time I went it was opening night but now they have preformed the play many times and they know what makes the audience laugh and they can play up those things, number two, the company was WAY better this time around (sorry Tommy) In other non-girlfriend news, I have now finished the first and second seasons of LOST and its great. I at one time would have laughed at THOSE people. Yeah you know which people I’m talking about those LOST people, But now I think I am one of those LOST people. As for the keep up of the design a day that has been a little hit and miss. I’ve gotten a lot of good design done but my trials expire soon and I feel dried up on inspiration. I am mulling on pretty cool idea around in my head. Well two cool ideas right now, so hopefully I can get them out before my trials expire. School starts in 4 short weeks, Im still a little unsure about how I feel about that.

UPDATE

Well it’s been a while since my last post, due to an unusually busy last few weeks. For the fourth I headed up to DC with my good friends Tommy Ferris, Sharon Murry, and Jane Coates for the most amazing Fourth of July I can remember. We left on Tue after work around 5:30 and started out we arrived in Virginia for a overnight stay at Sharons Aunt and Uncles house, We woke up about 6:30 Wednesday morning and headed into DC. We parked about 30 minutes outside of DC and rode the Metro into the city. Riding the Metro made the trip itself worth it, because I just love public transportation. We hung around the city for the day and I met up with my friend Nathan Dueck who is currently stationed at Camp David as a marine. We headed back to South Carolina around 10:00 after the fireworks show. It took us an amazingly long amount of time to get out of the city because we had to wait about 45min to get on the Metro. This was the negative side of the public transportation system. Everyone arrived in DC in stages but we all left at virtually the same time trying to get on the Metro was on of the most uncomfortable experiences I’ve had in a while. But once on the train things went smoothly. When we finally got on the road (due to another few turn abounds) it was about 12:00 am. Tommy and I were going to be doing a majority of the drive for the trip back so I took the first shift from about 12:00 am to 3:30 am by that time I was beginning to doze and Tommy took over from about 3:30- 8:00 am where we had to stop again and switch so Sharon could finish out the drive. We got back to SC around 9:00 am and I was at work by 10. It was a quick trip but it was defiantly one of the best I’ve taken. Saturday morning I woke up around 6:00 am to take my mother up to Kentucky to see some relatives and we dropped her off and my dad and I came back Sunday just in time for another stellar trips to the lake with the guys. We had a good time just like the old days, for most of the week it was Tommy Alex and I but on Friday Josh Innerst and Matt Fisher came down to spend the day with us they stayed till Saturday when we took our last rides on the boat and Jet Ski and headed back to G-vegas. We had a great time Friday night because several other friends came down to the lake for a bit of a shin-digg. The official party count was 8 all the guys and then Mellisa Muth, Elizabeth Appelian, and Brittney Gillstrap. One of the highlights of the lake trip was learning to water ski. Most everyone else smoked me and learned much quicker than I did (this included Elizabeth) But finally I laws up for good on Saturday. I kind of thought that the challenge in water skiing was getting up but now after experiencing it I would say its almost harder to stay up. I did not have nearly as much trouble getting up as I did staying up. But alas the real world is calling and I am now back into the mundane routine of things. In other news Sarah arrives late Friday night and this whole long distance thing is over! I’m psyched! This whole long distance dating thing is LAME. Sine I’ve been back I’ve been running the trial versions of CS3 and trying to do at least one design everyday so I can get really use to some of the new features its been a lot of fun and very challenging.