I’m Back!!
Be nice and save a life!
I posted the blog post last night coming off of a great day, and today has proven that yesterday wasn’t a fluke. It is nice to finally feel included in someone’s life (not counting the one you are dating). It is a great feeling and it is super easy to share, so if you know of someone that you’ve never spoken to or even smiled at, next time you see them please acknowledge them and make them feel as if they are important to you. I’m not saying invite them to dinner, just a simple hello or a smile can turn someones life around.
I promise once you take the time to be nice it will become habit and you will change peoples lives everyday, oh how great that will be.
If you didn’t get a chance to read my post last night titled “Do you matter?…Self-confidence is hard…”, scroll down or click here. It is my story about how a smile can truly change your life and how a simple hello saved mine. 🙂
Enjoy!
-A
Do you matter? …. Self-confidence is hard….
What is self-confidence? Honestly, what does it mean?
I will begin with a little history of myself, I am not writing this for pity or sympathy but rather to educate other people who may be struggling with self-esteem and self-confidence issues.
I was always the kid in the corner of the classroom that no one ever noticed. I had people in class that I talked to, but as soon as the dismissal bell rang at the end of the day I ceased to exist. No one ever called, texted, or invited me to do anything. Yes it was very depressing, and I can totally relate to the Mark and Bill story, though I wasn’t quite to the point that Bill was at, but I was close, as I had struggled with suicidal thoughts. (If you haven’t read the Mark and Bill story, please take the time, you may save a life). I hated high school, but even worse I hated myself. What was wrong with me? Why didn’t I have friends? Why couldn’t I even talk to people?
I have always been driven towards my career and immediately after my high school graduation I started college and my loneliness followed me. Once again I found myself alone, with no one to talk to or hang out with, and I once again began to sink into a sad and depressed state. After a year in college I enrolled in a program that consisted of the same students for twelve months, five days a week and I had friends in the program, some that even studied with me after school hours, but as soon as the program was over BANG I stopped existing to them. Seriously, not a word one has been said to me since school. Then I began working for an organization made up of all adults who have dedicated their lives to helping others, I thought I would surely make friends that I could do stuff with on the weekends, HA! Nope… for an organization made up of adults, they were a bunch of stuck up pricks that had their cliques that I guess I just didn’t fit into. Once again, I hated life. I hated myself; I hated waking up everyday because I knew I would be without friends. I have people that say “I had a buddy in high school” or “my friends from college” and all I have to say is “my girlfriend” or “I” because my stories never consist of anyone else, because they didn’t exist.
Okay, enough about my sad life, allow me to move onto my attempt at a new life. One filled with self-confidence, I hope. While in my college program now I do have one friend, she has turned out to be the best friend I could ever ask for and I pray every day that we will continue our friendship after school is over, with her and my girlfriend I think I can be happy after school. I digress, my friend, I will call her Alexa, and I were in our Lab Management class the other day and we had a guest speaker. This man was incredible, he was a been-there-done-that kind of guy. He spoke to us about attitude in the workplace and how to improve our day-to-day attitude. This man was eye opening and I hope he was life changing. He was so impressive I want to share him with you.
“I am Chief Kamehameha, of the tribe of one, I control me.”
The man repeated this phrase and it is amazing how true it is. I am in charge of me; no one holds a remote to control my emotions. If someone upsets me I have to decide to be insulted or hurt. If someone doesn’t want my friendship it is a choice to be upset about it, and from this day forward I refuse to choose to offended or upset. If you don’t want to be my friend then screw you, I don’t need you in my life. “I am Chief Kamehameha, of the tribe of one, I control me.” I choose to be happy. This man has a motto that he repeats everyday and I don’t believe that he would be upset if I shared it as I am sure he would hope that it would help you as well. His motto to live by is “Everyday Awesome”. Simple and concise, two words dictate his everyday life. Everyday I will choose to be awesome. Awesome is a choice, no one can control me, and no one is important enough to me that they can take away my ability to be awesome.
In order to live a happy life, you must be happy inside, you must be happy with yourself. So from this point on I choose to be happy with myself, without the haters and losers that never invited me places. This man gave out cards with rules written on it, the rules are designed to aid you in creating a happy life for yourself. The rules are as follows,
- Take the opportunity today to show respect and appreciation.
- Take the opportunity today to show acts of kindness to all those around you.
- Take the opportunity today to treat everyone as if it was the last time you would ever see them.
These are truly some great rules to live my. I ask that each of you take these to heart and spread them around, if each person follows these rules imagine how great of a place the world would be.
I end this post with the same statement he left us with.
Matter…
My actions today affect everyone tomorrow.
Do I matter?
I matter to me, and if I matter to be and am happy with me, then I will be happy to others, and others will feel that they matter and we wont have anymore Mark’s in the world. Don’t be a dick, be a Bill. (Read the story, PLEASE.)
-A
****PLEASE READ BELOW****
If you liked this post feel free to click like! If this post moved you or you think it could benefit another person in your life —please feel free to share it however you would like; Twitter, Facebook, text message I don’t care! It is written to help people just like me!– To share it easily please click on the link below!
Also feel free to follow me as my life can be pretty revealing when it comes to mercies from above! He only knows I need his intervention a lot of the time!
God bless!
-A
Sunday’s Soliloquy
Sunday’s Soliloquy
January 25, 2015
Pastor K.M
Topic: The Cornerstone: The Holy Spirit and the Transforming Power
Today was a good day at my church. Being well rested, well fed (except my wonderful girlfriend didn’t bring me a donut), and in a positive mood it was a great day to be a child of God.
The message that I took to heart today started even before the sermon even began, it started with the prayer to bless the offering when one of the pastors said that on the day that we reach the gates of Heaven God will ask if we were good stewards of what he has blessed us with, and honestly right now I cant say yes; I don’t tithe as I should, and that was eye opening. I am so afraid of upsetting and disappointing my 
dad here on Earth, but I have never put a second thought into disappointing my Father in Heaven, the one who controls my future, how crappy is that?! Why am I such a bad son? I am going to be a better son to my earthly dad and my dad in Heaven.
This is where the sermon started; “be the neon of this world of darkness”. The pastor, a younger guy, likened the spirit that glows from Christians to the lights of Las Vegas, no matter how thick the blinds the lights from the strip still shine through, so why not let the light of God shine from us at the same intensity?
I am going to write todays Soliloquy in a manner that makes sense to me, so bear with me.
In order to live a true “holy life” we first need to accept the fact that we can’t do it alone. It is impossible for us as humans to live a perfect life, we need help; for a guy like me that is very hard to hear. The help we need cant be found on Earth either, we need help from above, we need God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit to help us live a life that is good in the eyes of the Lord. The pastor made a funny statement today saying that the Godhead isn’t a buffet, it is a no substitutions menu item and we have to have all of it or none of it; so I don’t know about you but I’ll take all of it. I want to be seen as a success and as a good person in the eyes of God. I don’t want to be a disappointment anymore, so I am surrendering myself and asking the Holy Spirit to fill me so that I may live a holy life.
“A cup can only spill what it contains”. “Duh!” was my first thought, then he stated that everyday we all spill something onto 
those that we meet, so why not ask the Holy Spirit to fill us daily so that we may spill onto others? Whoa! Mind blown! Why don’t we surrender and ask the Holy Spirit to fill us so that we can spill onto others but also so that we can have help to live a holy life?
Driving in the dark without headlights is seriously dangerous, so is going through life in the dark. Psalm 119:105 says
Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.
(Psalm 119:105)
Let the Lord be our headlights that light the path so that we may see where we are going and where we must go.
The pastor explained that the Holy Ghost has many powers some of which include the power to overcome Satan and his temptations and he gives us the power to live a good life. Also, the Holy Spirit is our bridge between us and God where prayer falls short. The Holy Spirit passes on our needs when we cry out because “when a child cries out, a Father can not help but respond” and God will hear our cries.
God is good all the time—All the time God is good.
-A
****PLEASE READ BELOW****
If you liked this post feel free to click like! If this post moved you or you think it could benefit another person in your life —please feel free to share it however you would like; Twitter, Facebook, text message I don’t care! It is written to help people just like me!– To share it easily please click on the link below!
Also feel free to follow me as my life can be pretty revealing when it comes to mercies from above! He only knows I need his intervention a lot of the time!
God bless!
-A
Sunday’s Soliloquy
I am sorry this is late again, Sunday afternoons can be hectic, even though it is meant to be a day of rest…
Sunday Soliloquy
Pastor J.B. (Sister Church)
Topic: The Holy Spirit
This Sunday was a little different at my church, we had our “sister church” join us in our service. The pastor of this church actually gave the sermon at the service I attend, it was okay, but it was different. He was a Pentecostal preacher, and very different than what I am used to, but it was refreshing to see another way to worship. The message he gave was that we all need a relationship with God and Jesus Christ; we need a relationship, not just to be religious. He loves us, so we should strive to have a personal relationship with him. God shows us love and support through the third member of the Godhead, the Holy Spirit. The pastor explained to us that in order to receive this gift from God all we need to do is throw up our arms in surrender and ask Him. He wants us to have the Holy Spirit with us, as the Holy Spirit is the one that gives us the promptings that help us to make our good choices. This will lead to blessings that we can enjoy, unless we are disobedient and cause the blessings to go to someone who obeyed.
I don’t want to miss out on any more blessings, I am surrendering myself right now. I am prepared to listen to the still small voice now that I know that my blessings could potentially go to someone else.
Are you willing to surrender and reap the rewards? I sure hope so!
-A
****PLEASE READ BELOW****
If you liked this post feel free to click like! If this post moved you or you think it could benefit another person in your life —please feel free to share it however you would like; Twitter, Facebook, text message I don’t care! It is written to help people just like me!– To share it easily please click on the link below!
Also feel free to follow me as my life can be pretty revealing when it comes to mercies from above! He only knows I need his intervention a lot of the time!
God bless!
-A
Did your college experience suck as bad as THIS?! Tell me about it…
Can you relate?
Well I’ve already told you that school was getting ready to start, and today it pseudo-began! I spent two hours in the campus library with a great friend of mine attempting to fill out comprehensive study guides from last semester. I’m not sure if you understand how bad that actually sucks, they total to be about 50 pages of material from just last semester and the test that they are for don’t take place until December of this year, and I don’t even have to start back full time until Tuesday the 20th!! While talking to my friend today she asked if I had started to browse the classes that we are in this semester, of course I told her “no” and then she commenced to tell me that for the first two months of
Immunohematology we have tests EVERY WEEK! Are you serious?! I miss middle school where you spent the first week learning how to use a locker and getting to know the class. When did school begin to suck this bad?
How many of you are in college? What courses are you studying, and does your college experience blow as much as mine? Feel free to leave your comments below so I know that I am not alone in this terrible world called “college life”.
-A
Sunday’s Soliloquy
I know this is a day late but yesterday after church I hit the ground running preparing for house guests and another church event, I apologize.
January 11, 2015
Pastor D.W.
Topic: Cornerstone: The Authority of Scripture
As I write this please bear in mind that the thoughts are mine,
but some of the phrases and the general idea are originally from my Pastor,
these are just my thoughts and opinions of today’s sermon.
Today at church I was well fed prior to so I wasn’t clouded by hunger, I was also in good company as my good friends are back in town. Today was good! Not only were friends present, the weather nice, and my belly full the message this morning was great! It was something that I hadn’t actually thought about before. The series Cornerstone is all about the basic beliefs of Christians and today was the nonnegotiable fact that the Bible is the true word of God. The pastor took us to Hebrews chapter 4 verses 12-13 where the beginning of chapter 12 states, “For the word of God is alive and active.” 
I hadn’t really thought about it, but the word really is alive. The Bible is fluid and is applicable to most situations in life differently for each person. How amazing is that? One thing though that I have always been twisted about he actually mentioned today, how is the Bible the word of God when it was written by people just like me, people that sin, people that are human? Why am I to follow their words when they are no better than me? Pastor today hit that one right on the head with one very powerful phrase “Look past the messenger, and take home the message”, humans wrote the book, the words came from God. Humans were prompted to write the words that we now know as the books of the Bible, therefore the Bible is truly the word of God and the authority brought forth from the words within does not come from the authors, but from the God himself.
The Bible is not just a book with words, it is a guide, it is a series of instructions, teachings, parables, and examples of how to live a “Holy Life” as he put it today. The following verse was presented,
“16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching,
rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,
17 so that the servant of God may be thoroughly
equipped for every good work.”
(2 Timothy 3:16-17)
We learned that “God-breathed” translates to “God-inspired”, solidifying that the scriptures are truly the word of God.
“In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.”
(John 1:1)
The pastor today also mentioned the story of Jesus being tempted by Satan and how he continued to combat Satan by making it proclaiming that “It is written!” I learned today that in the Greek language that meant that the Word was final, it was complete, without argument, and without change. The word truly is the word of our Father in Heaven. The pastor stated that “to read the Bible is to truly know God”, and today that rang true and will help me to understand why I need to read daily and learn and study, so that is what I will do; I will get back on track with reading everyday.
In Hebrews chapter 4 verses 12-13 it reads that the word judges the thoughts (negative thoughts) and attitudes (intentions) of us; but have you ever thought about what we are being judged against? The pastor expressed this thought that the standard by which we are judged is the Word of God, the Bible and its teachings.
He also pleaded with us to strive to live a “Holy life”, a life in which we strive to please God with all that we do. We live in a life of sin, pastor said today that we chose that life and “we walked into it, therefore we can walk out of it”. That struck me very hard as right now I am making serious life changes and I am finding that it is really easy to just walk out of that life when I have Jesus on my side. 2 Corinthians chapter 6 verse 17 says “come out from among them and be separate”, we need to do just that now more than ever in this society, don’t be afraid to be different and stand out against the crowd.
Today’s sermon was brought to a couple closing questions and they are as follows, please attempt to apply these to your life,
- Are you living the life that God wants?
- I am not, but I am seriously trying to do better.
- Are you able to look past the messenger and really understand and take in the message that God has given us?
- Now that I understand that concept, I will do much better in that regard.
-A
****PLEASE READ BELOW****
If you liked this post feel free to click like! If this post moved you or you think it could benefit another person in your life —please feel free to share it however you would like; Twitter, Facebook, text message I don’t care! It is written to help people just like me!– To share it easily please click on the link below!
Also feel free to follow me as my life can be pretty revealing when it comes to mercies from above! He only knows I need his intervention a lot of the time!
God bless!
-A
WHY IS SCHOOL SO EXPENSIVE?!?!?!
Having to pay for school yourself really sucks, but I am doing it, so it is possible!
It’s that time again; time for spring semester. I have been out of school now for over a month and I go back in nine days! Have you ever seen the movie “Kicking and Screaming”? If not, that is okay because the plot has nothing to do with my point, but the title reflects the exact point of my feelings about returning to the lab. I’m not sure what the worst part about returning to school actually is, the actual act of going back or the having to take out a large fortune to pay for it! The older generation wonders why none of the younger generation is going to college, and in fact its their fault! They are the ones that have made it almost impractical to go to college. Graduating with thousands in debt just to go to a menial paying job doesn’t seem very “educated” now does it? Yet there are still some of us who find that school is worth it, it just hurts us to have to pay for it. My debt after my bachelors degree will be around sixteen thousand dollars, and after my masters that will grow to around one hundred thousand dollars, that is a lot of money. I am hoping to be able to pay it off quickly by getting a job soon out of school, as I am going to graduate as a Physicians Assistant, if all goes well.
That is just tuition cost, next are textbooks. Holy Caca! Those things had better be gold plated and printed on parchment for their cost. My girlfriend priced her books last night and the total came to $366 just for four general education classes! My books last semester were around $300 also but that was only three classes, and the real kicker is that I only opened ONE of them!!! Therefore I have come to my decision for this semester, I am not going to purchase books. I will beg and borrow books from the school or classmates should the need arise, but there is no sense in wasting the money just because the syllabus said so. That’s dumb, and I’m not dumb, okay; I am not THAT dumb.
One piece of advice I can offer every one, don’t be afraid to apply for loans. Loans are not a sign of weakness, they are a necessity.
So that is my rant about the price of school, it is ridiculous, it is outrageous, it is almost not worth it, but hopefully the education pays off and I am able to afford my dream house in the mountains of Montana with my beautiful girlfriend.
Thanks for bearing with me, I hope that you find all the necessary resources to pay for school.
Visit these sites for help paying for school.
FAFSA: https://fafsa.ed.gov/
Scholarships: http://www.fastweb.com/
Info about having to pay for school yourself, like me: http://www.finaid.org/otheraid/parentsrefuse.phtml
-A
Just Added!
Just added 93 NEW PHOTOS!!!! Enjoy! Also added, reviews for the Petzl Nao 2 headlamp and the Osprey Momentum 34 backpack.
Blazing the Trail to Awesomeness 