ephesians 3:20

i was in phoenix on sunday for joel and amber's wedding and they read ephesians 3 for the wedding service. this verse is usually taken with the others around it, but i like it by itself.

"Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us"

i had forgotten about that verse until the minister read it. it convicted me of all the times that i try to do things on my own forgetting that if i give it up to God, He will turn it into something so much better. i ask myself why? why do i try to control situations? why do i try to make my own decisions? why do i worry about things i have no control over? sometimes, i make mountains out of molehills, when if i had trusted God to begin with, there wouldn't even be a molehill. silly human thinking. peace.

i need You

it's uncharacteristic of me to post twice in the same week, but i just had to post this amazing song by the swift called "i need You" (i can't do the colors like natalie can, but you get the point)


My heart is restless in me
My wings are all worn out
I'm walking in the wilderness
And I cannot get out
I need You, Oh, I need You
Blessed Savior come
I need You, Oh, I need You
Fill the every longing in my soul

CHORUS
Oh, how I need You, Lord
I need Your perfect Word
With tearful eyes to see
The sin that I afford
I need to weep and pray
For all the thousand ways
That I have failed You just today

My bed is soaked with sadness
My sadness has no end
A downward spiral of despair
That I keep falling in
I need You, Oh, I need You
To You my soul shall fly
I need You, Oh, I need You
Yaweh, how I love You more than life

CHORUS

Your silence is like death to me
So won't You hear my desperate plea

Today my soul is soaring
Way over mountains high
Though I can see the valleys
They're all just passing by
It's not that I am stronger
Look at my feeble wings
But I've been lifted higher
Yaweh's lifted me in His own strength

Oh, how I love You, Lord
I love Your perfect Word
With tearful eyes to see
The God who always will endure
Now I will celebrate
For all the thousand ways
That You have shown me grace
And made my heart in grace to stay
You've made my heart in grace to stay
Lord, make my heart in grace to stay

I need You, Oh, I need You

i'm not dead

i promise. sooo much keeps happening to me so i decided not to bother posting it. plus the few hours i have on evening and weekends, i just want to relax, not post. but i suppose i should give you something. you've all waited so long for it.

last night, i hosted my first ever halo party. first time hosting, not attending. i believe it went well. we had up to 15 people at one point. a few came and went, but there were a solid 13 or 14 for most of the night through halo (original) and halo 2. after the upstairs team finally won, four of them left and we went back to halo (original). we had pizza and soda for all. we ran a little short on pizzas so we'll have to get more next time. you can't beat $30 for 8 pizzas from prime time pizza. good times, good times.

tomorrow, i have an interview at linco in el paso. they're looking for someone to maintain and troubleshoot gps systems as well as maintain the website. i don't know much about gps and some about websites. they're looking for someone with lots of experience. i told the guy on the phone that i want to learn gps systems and that i am a quick learner so he told me to come in and we'll talk about it. could be a good opportunity so we'll see!

i'm only working three days this week because on thursday morning i'm going to phoenix! i'm so excited. i miss morgan and sam and andy. morgan, i was thinking of that improv comedy club on thursday night; what do you think? maybe we should run it by everyone else. or we could hang out at that coffeeshop or something (unless the man in an ice cream suit is next door [shudder]). or we could go swimming at the biltmore! or scorpion hunting!! ah, i need to get to phoenix more often. anyhoo, i'm hoping it's ok if we stay at sam's. i should probably call and ask.

i've committed to a colorado trip! and mexico with isu yg (i hope). kyle and tara and ben may go out the same week so i'll probably go one day to vail with kyle. i'm staying at tommy hoerr's condo. also going is david thames, ryan schick, logan hangartner, ryan luginbuhl, justin wiegand, and tim schmidgall. ty sauder's group is also going to be out there at the same time as well as kelly kaiser's group. it's a popular week to go!

for my devotions, i've been making my way through proverbs. it's tough since most consecutive verses aren't connected to each other, but there lots of great stuff to gleam from it. the main points that have stuck out to me are the importance of wisdom and the importance of keeping one's mouth shut. i was talking to former gridley elder edwin ringger in church today and he was talking about how his doctor remarked about how much wisdom he had. edwin told him that it was a result of learning from his mistakes. king david is a great example of this. how often do we think of david as one of the great patriarchs of the old testament? how many times did he make a mistake? the important part of david's mistakes is that he realized they were just that and he learned from them. the same thing applies to us today. even though we have repented for our past sins and have been baptized, we still make mistakes. we are not perfect and will never be in this lifetime. we can't look back at our past mistakes and think "i'm a horrible person. God would never forgive me for that." we need to think "i screwed up. this is what i did wrong. when this situation presents itself again, i'll know not to do that again."

ok, this is pretty long, and i don't like long posts so i'll leave you with some irish toasts that jake just printed out on his new printer:

i have known many
and liked not a few,
but loved only one
and this toast is to you.

may your heart be light and happy,
may your smile be big and wide,
and may your pockets always have
a coin or two inside!

here's to a long life and a merry one.
a quick death and an easy one.
a pretty girl and an honest one.
a cold pint--and another one!