So, after much prayer and thought for many years, I have begun rising early to exercise/train and read my Bible.
It isn't easy.
I hate rising early in fact, and I hate working out too. I love the kung fu, but physical fitness is not fun.
I have often thought there was something wrong with me, but I don't know if that is true. I just don't like working out.
any way, that's it for now.
If anyone knows somebody in the st louis area looking for martial arts classes, have 'em check out www.kingdomwarrior.org
They offer classes in Xing Yi Quan kung fu, an internal style, taught from an Biblical perspective. It is a new school, small, so a lot of one on one attention.
The owner/instructor is a homeschool graduate so all y'all homeschoolers can get behind him.
So I replaced the rear strut/shock assemblies on my car today, big difference. Drives soo much better.
A big thank you to Ben Pendle for doing all the work for me.
Hey Everybody!!! I know it has been like an amazingly long time since I posted anything on my blog. Life is crazy.
In January of 2009 I moved back to St Louis (some of you may know that, some may not I can't remember). I lived with Jason in his apartment until this last month, when the lease expired and we had to move because they were turning it into a condo. So now I am crashing at Marty's house with Jason Moughton from church up in Spanish Lake (north county)
I have been working on keeping a small kung fu class going while I settle in to a more stable life here in st louis, you know, one where I have a place of my own to live and aren't overburdened with debt!
It's been fun and God has been providing! Gotta run, talk later.
so, one week down. I am adjusting to the meat dept. and to getting up at 4 am. I think I will like it and it meets my basic needs.
I joined Grace Baptist Church my first service, I think that kinda surprised everybody. I am gonna enjoy being there.
I am about to start doing some research into opening my kung fu school this week. I am gonna start by studing the competition.
so, one week down. I am adjusting to the meat dept. and to getting up at 4 am. I think I will like it and it meets my basic needs.
I joined Grace Baptist Church my first service, I think that kinda surprised everybody. I am gonna enjoy being there.
I am about to start doing some research into opening my kung fu school this week. I am gonna start by studing the competition.
God is good!
I was praying for and attempting to get the store in Chesterfield to give me a position on the same pay grade as I am at now, with day time hours.
I was having a hard time and was pretty convinced I was gonna end up stepping down a pay grade and being a cashier.
On Sunday, the co-mgr called my store looking for me and of course didn't find me, but left a msg for me to call him today. I did, and he asked me if I can work in his meat dept. working 5 am - 2 pm full time, no Sundays, and its the same pay grade I am in now. I start Monday the 19th.
It is amazing to see God work out all these obstacles.
I finished the Bible through for my 4th time, very exciting.
this year I read the NKJV and thoroughly enjoyed it.
this year was a great read for me, I connected with several books for the first time, psalms, hebrews mainly.
if you're not spending time daily reading your Bible you should, it is sooooo worth it.
turned down the job with Combined Insurance
just wasn't the right job for me
that's all for now!!
I was asked back for the third and final job interview today. it is scheduled for next wednesday.
pray for Gods guidance folks!
I have a lead which may develop into a great new job. we'll see how it goes.
UPDATE EDIT:
I HAD AN INTERIEW, MADE THE TOP 3 AND WAS CALLED BACK FOR A SECOND INTERVIEW.
I have a lead which may develop into a great new job. we'll see how it goes.
UPDATE EDIT:
I HAD AN INTERIEW, MADE THE TOP 3 AND WAS CALLED BACK FOR A SECOND INTERVIEW.
there is a new job possibility for me at Wal-Mart, so please pray in that regard.
It would mean moving, but I am ok with that now.
thank you!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MEEE
HAPPY BIIIIRTHDAAAY TO MEEEEE!!!
THAT'S 26 DOWN...
they have admitted her to room #2024 in icu; in st mary's hospital in decatur
she has had a bleeding stroke as oppossed to a clotting stroke, which is the good because a bleeding stroke causes less damage.
she is really confused and disoriented. she told dad it was 1950, that she is 49 years old, she thought dad was grandpa.
the doctor said however that there is a chance she will come back from it and be fine. keep praying.
my grandma had a stroke this morning, we are with her at the hospital with my mom and dad.
they are admitting her and have a neurosurgeon on the team already.
will post updates as they are available.
ALL PRAYERS ARE COVETED AND APPRECIATED!!!
thank you!
I finally did it. I bought a new car. I got a 2001 toyota camry.
I am still in shock...
on another note: I am going to Romania in Nov. for a mission trip with my pastor.
I am both scared and excited!
be praying for me, I still need:
$800.00 for the trip,
the ticket to be finallized,
the passport to be approved,
time to prepare...
thanks!
will fill in more detail in a few days,
but know its coming!
I just spent a week with 1st and 2nd Peter (two of my students from St Louis) here in Findlay. It was an intersting experience, I thoroughly enjoyed it and I end the experience encouraged and inspired to continue on in the direction my life is going.
The week was full of mutually fun and encouraging/stimulating conversations and activities. We helped remodel the youth center at my church, went through a 5 part series from Answers In Genesis, lots of martial training and practicing, rearranged my room, cleaned out the garage, watched the Fantastic Four...
which leads me into the most humorous moment of the week. Coming home from Mattoon after watching the movie I found myself in the left lane at a light next to a car full mostly of teenager girls. As the light turns green we both start to progress forward, and she initially took off much faster than I, but then I caught her look over at me out of the corner of my eye and then suddenly slow down to be even with me. Initially I thought she wanted to race me and I decided to have no part in that foolishness so I continued especially slow and easy. She, however, wasn't going to be ignored that easily and so slowed down again trying to maintain her position beside me. This presented a problem for me because I needed to get into her lane to make my turn and she would not let me over (unknowingly) so I pulled a little trick. I took off real fast, and as soon as she matched me (as expected), I hit the brakes (of course making sure I would not run the risk of being rear ended) and switched lanes. Then I stopped at the next light after she went through. "That's the last I will see of those girls." thought I. I thought wrong!
Yep, they pulled over and waited for me. I passed them and they pulled in behind me. Once again positioning themselves beside me, they matched me and started honking at me. As I looked over at her, she smiled just that one certain way that you know young girls smile and waved. I raised my eyebrows, pursed my lips as though to express the thought "oooohh k?!" and waved back. Persistence was her strong suit, for she continued this constant honking and sticking to my car until finally I left the limits of Mattoon.
The Peters of course found this to be very entertaining, it was definatly an interesting experience. Goes down into my books as a first.
yep, Mattoon women are wierd!
good taste thought ;) jk
tayl
ok, this is an update on me, I haven't written anything of value lately so I thought I would post this just to say that I have written something.
I am doing well, my car is parked in the driveway, going on two months now without running. Appearently, the AC compressor seized up and the pully won't turn. That in turn prevents the whole drive belt from turning fast enough to start the car and keep it running. I will have to have the car towed to a shop and have a bypass pully installed as it is too big a repair to do ourselves. I don't have the money, however I serve a great God, and shortly after determining that I would have to have it fixed by a mechanic, Wal-Mart notifies me that I have been underpaid and that they are going to repay me that amount with interest -- the amount is more than enough to fix my car. Isn't my God amazing?! So now it is just about waiting for the check to come.
I started working two jobs about 4 weeks ago, I now work at Subway, I bring in about 70 dollars a week take home and that just about takes care of my gas and food for each week. That frees up a lot of money to pay towards bills, and maybe now I will be able to make some progress with some of my bills.
I am still working with my youth group and in March we will be going to a youth event in Indiana, so be praying for my youth group, we still have a lot of growing to do there.
I am seeing a stirring up of Believers at Wal-Mart where I work, and that encourages me. In my work with the youth I have been confronted with a lot of disappointment at first, and I had to re-evaluate my thinking process (that was a good thing), but still struggling with a burden for these kids and the disapointments that come from not seeing that potential realized has been somewhat countered by God sending me a few young people at work who have really encouraged me by their own strength of faith and hunger for God. Thank God we serve a God who knows us so well, and knows how best to keep us going.
I have been working on reading the Bible through this year, and so far I am on track, reading the NIV this year (I have read the KJV and the NLT already). I have enjoyed it. I am working on memorizing Hebrew 11 and have been spending a lot of time thinking about how the part that faith plays in our walk with God. It is rather eye opening, although I am not sufficiently able to articulate it at this moment.
I have been taking my Sunday School class through the book of Genesis chapter by chapter, hoping to establish a foundation in understanding other events throughout the Bible. I have also been trying to encourage them to get active in reading the Word for themselves, with rather dismal results so far, but I will not give up on them. I remember the difficulty that I had in that same endeavor at their age, and look at me now. There came a time in my life when it just clicked how important it was, and then it got a lot easier. I pray that time comes with them also. Meanwhile, I am trying to give them the understanding of the Biblical worldview that they need to have when that happens. to make an allusion to the movie, Facing the Giants, I am preparing for rain. :)
well, that's all for now, drop me a line and let me know how things are going for y'all. I love to hear about it.
thanks for thinking about it, and may your love for Jesus Christ grow ever deeper and ever broader!
ok here are a few updates on my life.
I start a 2nd part time job on monday working mornings at a subway. hopefully that will help ease the burden a little without killing me.
my car still won't start, however we now know the reason behind it all.
the a/c compressor pully froze up and that prevents the serpentine drive belt from turning fast enough to start the car. we priced a new compressor at 200 in the lowest and not to mention the time and effort to replace it so we opted for the much cheaper 30 bypass pully. We haven't had a chance to replace it yet but hopefully that will get done this weekend. pray to that end
my car refused to start two weeks ago, thankfully, my father was right across the street when it happened. I called him and he came over, we couldn't get it to start, so we drove home in his car. We had it towed home the next day, and then after much wait (didn't have time to mess with it) we got the starter off, which tested bad and was a warrentied item so it was replaced free of charge.
We got it on yesterday, but it still won't start. We charged the battery up fully but still no go. It is giving us some strange symptoms and so Jason and I are going to see if maybe something wasn't done right in the installation and maybe that will fix the problem.
Pray for my car please, I just need the problems to go away.
I knew from the moment I woke up, that today was going to be a very bad, horrible, terrible, no good day.
I overslept, managed to still make it to work only moderately late, was only able to pack half my lunch,I felt horrible, nothing selled out of my aisle, the remodel crew messed the shelves up, instead of giving me money to mark stuff down several items went back to the original price, they messed with my peg hooks, there was a cart of junk waiting for me, they bent a hook into a u with merchandise still on it, i pulled a muscle in my shoulder while bending the metal hook straight so I could get the merchandise off the hook, I was forced to buy an instant ice pack and some icy hot patchs so I could move due to excrutiating pain in my shoulder, I didn't get anything done the first hour of work due to pain, I couldn't find a telxon or a printer, I finally found a telxon and printer but they wouldn't connect all day, due to said connection problems i couldn't print any labels, Marvin wasn't there to give me any money to get rid of stuff, they still don't have any one to replace me so I could go to sporting goods, I am running out of money from my pay check (no surprise), the stuff we marked to half the other day isn't selling fast enough, they keep giving me more stuff to put in clearance and I am running out of room, did I mention the telxon and printer wouldn't connect so I could print my labels, I couldn't do my job due to lack of resources which is intensely frustrating, my lunch was cold, I finally got off and got home and once again they locked the stupid door in the middle of the afternoon when they are home in a town of less than a thousand people after we have decided that that wasn't going to happen again (growl!!!), it rained today which means that I won't get the lawn mowed till next week, i ran out of ink in my printer and had to print my paper in blue, which ran out because it was a 68 page paper, i had an extra color cartridge but didn't catch it until about 10 pages was mixed color, despite the ice packs and icy hot patches my shoulder still hurts, i have to work tomorrow so I won't be able to go to stl until evening which was fine until my kung fu teacher asked me if I wanted to go with him to wentzville for a kung fu class at 230 in the pm but I can't cause I won't be there in time, and now I have to go to bed so I can get up and be at work by 730 am (I hate mornings!) tomorrow morning and I can't sleep because I just watched a really great movie (take the lead) and I am all excited!
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaggggggggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ok, I am better now.
It was a really great movie?!?!
ok, so I am still stranded in StL. I have watched all of season 6 of Macgyver, and am sooo bored.
Last night was the worst thunderstorm I have ever seen, the wind I hear was blowing at 85 mph in some places. It blew a large portion of the roof off the building, most of StL is without power, and (the coolest part) I almost saw a funnel cloud form over top the building. Cool huh?!! It felled trees left and right in our neighborhood. So, I did the natural thing . . . went outside and started clearing the road, and directing traffic . . . in the middle of the storm.
What?! You wouldn't have?
Then it started raining, then it split a tree in half (just wind mind you) and so Finally Jon came home and he came out and helped me. Then another lady came out and helped, then two guys in a car stopped and helped us move the big branch, then a few other people stopped and helped and before long we had moved the equivalent of an entire tree out of the middle of the road. It felt good and it was loads of fun.
It just proves my theory of leadership. That a leader is someone who goes on before, which means that often he goes alone, until others follow. It worked this time.
TAYL
Ok, well a lot has happened to me while my blog was in remodel.
First I want to take the time to give a nice big public thank you to my web administrator/whatever-I-need-computer-person, Jason Wall. He fixed all my problems, YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Your work and time spent is not unnoticed and very appreciated. every one say thank you to Jason.
Now, I no longer live in StL. I moved back home to my parents, Findlay IL. Back into the neighborhood of my other computer geek brother (love and affection only :) ) Jeremy and fam. (Julie, Amie, James, Christine, Anna, and Noelle) who live in Sullivan.
I have been active in the church there (Sullivan SBC) and starting in September will be teaching the 7&8 grade Sunday School Class. Also, I have become an Assistant to the Youth Director Jeremy Rhoades and so now I wear the hat of a youth leader. I have really enjoyed it.
I had to take a step down from my supervisor's position to transfer within Wal-Mart so now I am a Cashier at the Mt. Zion Wal-Mart. I like it ok, but I am bored with it. I just put in for a transfer to the sporting good dept. and hope that will be more interesting.
I have been teaching my eldest brother Jeremy kung fu privately (open invitation for others to attend) at his house on Wednesday before church. His kids join in a lot, and sometimes we can't actually train due to interruptions but it keeps me sharp on my things and gives me the experience in maybe teaching more actively later.
In September, there is the chance that the church will let me teach a kung fu class with an emphasis on building Biblical Character on Sunday nights. That will be a challenge, but I am looking forward to the opportunity. (prayers requested)
I am still planning to join the Air Force Officer program when I eventually pay off my School debt (just my direct to school debt) so I can get my diploma and transcrips (a pre-req). I want to leave Wal-Mart eventually, I am closing in on the 10 year mark and would like to hit it, just to say that I did. Then I want to quit and find another job, prefferably before I quit.
The trouble is that one of the reasons I am here is to save money and reduce expenses so I can pay off debt and establish a better footing financially. Looking for another job would probably mean taking a pay cut, at least initially, until I can get into a job that pays on a professional level. So I am looking at stayin with Wal-Mart for at lest another 2 years so I can reduce as much debt as possible before having to take that step. Meanwhile I am looking around to see what opportunities are out there. Of course, the Air Force is my first pick, but getting into the AF isn't easy (as an officer) so I am planning a second choice. (prayer requested here also)
Well, that seems to cover all my bases for now. Hope to get into the habit of posting regularly again quickly. I missed it.
Talk at Y'all Later!! (tayl)