these words are my own... (valentine's)

Singles Awareness Day (S.A.D.) has arrived, but i'm sure most of you know this day as Valentine's Day. If somehow you have forgotten, you may have JUST enough time to buy that special someone a gift... I suggest Valentine's Fortune Cookies.

Valentine's day can be a really tough day for a lot of people. Some couples have no idea what to give to their significant other... I'm sure for them that can be a daunting task... however for those of us that don't have someone to snuggle with today other problems arise. Perhaps you have been dreading this day because it reminds you of how alone you feel. Maybe you are too nervous to ask someone to be your Valentine. Maybe you did ask, and they were creeped out. Maybe you've recently been hurt and this day brings back unwanted memories. Maybe this day gets you upset because you feel as though "the Man" is commercializing Love and trying to replace it with chocolates and dancing robotic animals singing, "Wild Thing".

Whether you are happily single, recovering from a break-up, looking for that special someone, in a new relationship, in a strong, long lasting relationship, or even married there is something that I hope you remember.

God loves you. He loves you SO much. He sent His son to die on the cross for all of our sins. He wants to be an active part of your life. No matter what you are feeling on this day, Jesus is waiting with His arms open ready to comfort and show us an everlasting, unconditional love.

I hope you remember that today, tomorrow, and for the rest of your life. If you ever want to know more or just talk about life, talk to me... I WILL make time for you.

I want to share with you a Bible verse that was sent to me the other day. ..

“Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.

He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.

Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;

but those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.”
Isaiah 40:28-31

I also want to challenge you today. There are so many people hurting everywhere. On this day that we celebrate love, I beseech you to show love. In John 13:34-35, Jesus says, "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." Show love to your friends, show love to other students, to teachers, to complete strangers, to the people you are always around, to the people you can't stand, to everyone. A little bit of love goes a long way, longer than you may ever see the benefits of.

To whoever reads this and even those who don't, I'll be praying for you today. I hope you have an amazing day and I love you.

JP

1 John 3:18
“Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.”

P.S. "His timeless truth is always timely." - From a letter I received the other day.

if you think you belong enough...

[just as well, just as well, just as well]

nice dream, nice dream
nice dream, nice dream
--

have you ever had a dream that you didnt want to wake up from? I'm not asking if you were too tired to get up. I'm asking that the dream you were having felt so real, so right, you didnt want it to end.

last night, I had a dream. in that dream, i knew i was asleep and dreaming, but everything around me was great. relationships were perfect. friendships were perfect. and we were all happy. I'm not even sure that we had a certain goal, but we were just running around having fun.

i woke up for a little bit but i didnt want to leave the dream so i went back to sleep. when i went back things were different. the doubts that plague my mind from time to time bothered me in my dreams. i think it may have been the nyquil in my system.

I got a call from Pine Cove a few hours ago and they asked me some more questions and asked to see my photography. Which makes me excited... I had to update my website real quick and upload the pictures i've been taking recently which I have yet to mention on here, but I imagine i'll write about them soon. I'm still praying that God take full control of this and that if Pine Cove is where I should be, that He would open the doors and if it's not, close the doors. I cant worry about it all, so I'm making sure i lift everything to Him.

I'm starting to get sleepy...

will you listen...

there's a bunch of stuff that I need to catch you up...

1.Laptop
2.Painting Elevators
3.Procrastination
4.1984

1. Laptop
Well, I'm kind of ashamed because I know one of my new years resolutions was to write in my blog more... however Gateway has had my laptop for the past few weeks... so needless to say I havent been able to. But I have it now, and so I hope to be blogging much more frequently now.

2.Painting Elevators
Wow. God can really pull people together. Keith, Melissa, Mallory, Tanner, Ryan, Maury, Tanner, Josh, Vince, Paige, and I painted the Woods hall elevator Saturday night. It's interesting though because the group is a mixture of very artistic people and people with less art experience. I say it's interesting because everyone helped out some way. We even had mini painting lessons during the time we were there (showing people how to draw tears, correctly paint, etc). We met at 10pm and painted till almost 2am. As you can imagine, the art department is a pretty dark part of campus because of the lack of respresentation of Christ. the goal for this was to bring some light into this side of campus as well as to reach some people by sharing Christ through art. I hope and pray that it lasts for a very long time, but even if people paint over it, even if people distort it, I hope God is able to use the art to reach at the very least one person. (I actually checked yesterday after hearing some stuff... and some people def. painted over a few of the verses, which is saddening but I still have hope that it may have reached one person.)




3.Procrastination
Tonight at Bible study, we talked about Procrastination/Lazyness... which is actually one of the topics I had suggested we talk about. It's funny how procrastination and lazyness is something that so many college students have in common. I know for sure that it's a major struggle of mine. I think I'm so easy to fall into it because I'm usually pretty care-free. So there are times that I am SO care-free that I just decide to not ________. (you can fill that blank with whatever... study, call people back, write papers, read my Bible, etc.) And really that's pretty sad, I mean, I have so much to be thankful for but I put off spending time with God and furthering my relationship with my Savior because i'm tired or for whatever reason. So I am trying to get my act together and I want you to pray for me that I will.

4.1984
I finished1984 by George Orwell for the second-time. Really, this should be the real first time because the last time i read i just breezed through it quickly. It's a great book and you should read it... though I warn you that it's a bit sketchy and def. not a happy book... but it's SO interesting and almost scary when you think about how it's almost possible for it to become a reality.

---------
there's a few more things i need to catch you up on... but i'm so tired i'll do it later... oh, crap... there's that procrastination again...

it's this scene that leaves you cold...

i'm going to miss these skies... my last day in memphis. i leave tomorrow for school.

the last thing i did with any friend in memphis was with Cole and we went to go see Blood Diamond. it was a really well-made movie, it's hard to say "i enjoyed it" because there was so much suffering in the movie... the whole time there's just this really heavy mood and a lot of it is hard to watch... and when the movie was over, i just had this lump in my throat that eventually went away after having to drink some water. the movie made me thankful for what i have. i can complain and rant... but there are times that my life could be a lot worse...

a brief goodbye to Cole since he's going to france for the semester... when i'm back at school, it'll be weird to think he's not going to be 45 minutes away in Bham.

but i'm going to keep on running head-on through the semester... trying not to let things slow me down...

I just pray that God leads me down His path and that i wont lose sight of Him.

i'm going to miss these skies...

bad day...

Throughout the years - January 7:

bits and pieces from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/January_7

Events

• 1610 - Galileo Galilei observes the four largest moons of Jupiter for the first time. He named them and in turn the four are called the Galilean moons.
• 1782 - The first American commercial bank opens (Bank of North America).
• 1797 - The current flag of Italy is first used.
• 1904 - The distress signal "CQD" is established only to be replaced two years later by "SOS."
• 1927 - First transatlantic telephone call - New York City to London.
• 1927 - The Harlem Globetrotters play their first game.
• 1990 - The Leaning Tower of Pisa is closed to the public due to safety concerns.
• 1999 - The impeachment trial of President Bill Clinton begins.

births

• 1 BC (O.S.) - Jesus of Nazareth, central figure of Christianity, (date celebrated by Eastern Orthodox churches as Christmas)
• 1800 - Millard Fillmore, 13th President of the United States (d. 1874)
• 1957 - Katie Couric, American television host
• 1964 - Nicolas Cage, American actor
• 1977 - Dustin Diamond, American actor

deaths

• 1536 - Catherine of Aragon, first wife of Henry VIII of England (b. 1485)
• 1913 - Jack Boyle, baseball player (b. 1866)
• 1919 - Henry Ware Eliot American industrialist and philantropist (b. 1843)
• 1920 - Edmund Barton, first Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1849)
• 1943 - Nikola Tesla, Serbian-born inventor and electrical engineer (b. 1856)

holidays

• Catholicism - Feast day of St. Raymond of Peñafort.
• Christmas Day in the Julian calendar. This is the day on which Christmas is celebrated in Oriental Orthodox Churches.
• European traditional - Distaff day: women's traditional work begins again after Epiphany.
• Japan - Nanakusa (Seven Herbs Festival).

oh yeah... and my birthday.

till next time 3.0

every once in awhile i compile a cd for my friends at home. a compilation entitled "Til Next Time"

I decided I would start posting up the song lists because these are all songs i enjoy and that you might want to look up.

Till Next Time - January '07 (#3)
1. Augustana - Boston
2. Lazlo Bane - Superman
3. Snow Patrol - Chocolate
4. Rihanna - SOS (rescue me)
5. Paramore - Conspiracy
6. Bjork - All is Full of Love
7. Finger Eleven - One Thing
8. The Cure - Friday I'm in Love
9. Kristian Stanfill - Jesus Paid it All
10. Paramore - Hallelujah
11. Thrice - For Miles
12. Stars - Soft Revolution
13. Len - Steal My Sunshine
14. Kutless - All of the Words
15. Everclear - Father of Mine
16. Flyleaf - Red Sam
17. Andrew Bird - Fake Palindromes
18. Foo Fighters - Everlong
19. Underoath - Some will Seek Forgiveness, Others Escape
20. Vedera - The Falling Kind

I hope you get a chance to listen to these!

it's friday, i'm in love...

so a week or two ago I had an idea.

I decided to put together a half-surprise birthday party. you see, my birthday is this upcoming Sunday (the 7th) and normally i dont enjoy celebrating my birthday but here is where the twist comes in... one of my best friends, Cole, is going to be in France this next semester. His birthday happens to be in February and he'll be overseas and we're all going to be in school. So the surprise half of the party was for him.

Cole just thought we were going to be celebrating my birthday... but when he came through the door, he had NO idea what was going on... it was awesome.

Some of our friends couldnt make it, but most of them were able to and i had a lot of fun. we ate little ceasars pizza, we had a pinata (which i decapitated), pin the tail on the donkey, cake, hung out, watch MI3... and some other stuff...

something that made me pretty happy was that we were able to take group pictures... somehow these past years i have failed in ever taking a group picture... but we have one now... i just need to get it developed.

thinking about it, i think i know why i enjoyed it so much... you see, i normally do not like celebrating my birthday... personal reasons... anyways, because it was a split party and there was someone else who i was sharing in all the festivities with... things just seemed so much better. i felt i could relax. i dont know why i feel pressure or anxiety on my birthday but today was different.

i enjoyed the party, cole enjoyed the surprise party, and i think everyone else did.

:)


these are some pictures that emily c. took... hopefully she doesnt mind me using them here for the time being...


these are my friends...

(i dont care if monday's blue
tuesday's gray and wednesday too
thursday i dont care about you
it's friday, i'm in love...)