Wait Was Today Monday? - CTCYM Philly

Something still feels very wrong about this mission trip. Surely it’s not all supposed to go this smoothly.

So today is Monday and usually on mission trips Monday morning is really slow moving and students almost never get loaded in vans until after 9 and by the time you get to the work-site and by the time work gets actually started its 10 then lunch from noon to 1. Then back to work for about 45 minutes before someone needs to potty. You have to load up the van to head to the convenience store to go potty and 30 minutes later you get back to the work-site just in time to do 30 more minutes of work before heading to the showers, because you have to have time to pit-stop at sonic before dinner. Usually that means you get about 3.5 hours worth of work done on a Monday.

That wasn't what happened today… not even close.

When the alarm went off for the guys to wake up at 6:30 most of them were already awake and moving about getting ready for the day. Breakfast was served, lunches were made, tools were sorted, supplies lined up for everyone to take to their different work-sites and the last van, by some miracle, rolled out of the parking lot by 8:15.

8 work teams swarmed Philly Mississippi today and a lot of work got done. Some work teams completely finished their first work project already.

My particular work team has so far been the most efficient work team of any youth trip I have been on. Ryan and Brad worked all day on re-doing some siding with Hardy Board. The students from Cleburne got the rest of the house prepped to be painted by washing and scraping. Autumn folded some tin flashing to match the roof of the house for a repair that we will be doing. The project, which I have seen similar ones take all week and not be finished, is almost halfway done after day 1.

Other teams with Lake Cities Students had similarly productive days.

Patrick, Dylan and Ian’s worksite has been painting a ministry of the local church here called God’s Closet. Almost a thrift store but not quite, that concept seems to be following Patrick a bit. The worst part (sarcasm) of their day was that the UMW would bring them by fresh baked treats nearly every hour.

Matt, James, and Gabe’s work team did some major work setting foundation footings for a wheelchair ramp they are building. Although when I asked the students what their favorite part of the day was, they only mentioned girls and conversations about conspiracy theories. They are certainly having fun while getting some work done.

Laken, and Eli are on a work team together but I didn't get a chance to hear about how their day went.

The evening activity tonight was a game of Kill-ball. Ask one of the students when they get back how to play.

Worship tonight was about how God calls us to do big things that can sometimes give us a bit of anxiety. We think that we can’t do it and God says we can.

Hopefully my air mattress isn't above the basketball goal again when I head in there to sleep.

Mission Trip Road Trip - Lake Dallas to Philadelphia Mississipi Edition

This morning we set off from Lake Cities UMC at 8AM on our way to Senior High Mission Trip to Philadelphia Mississippi. With many thanks of course to the parents who helped get everything loaded down on the trailer and in the vans, this morning went as smoothly as I could have imagined.

I couldn't help but to feel like we must have forgotten something significant because surely getting off for a mission trip shouldn’t be that stress free. As of yet, I haven’t figured out what might be missing. I guess checklists really do just make life that much easier.

We stopped for lunch in Shreveport at one of their great cultural restaurants… Whataburger. Then, we didn’t stop for gas until Monroe Louisiana, home of the duck commander headquarters. Which was literally 2 blocks from the gas station so we let some of the students take a picture outside the offices of Phil, Willy, Si, and Jase. Shortly after we got gas we drove through a grass fire that was a really cool experience and one that I am sure the students will remember for a long time. (It was a controlled burn and only smoke was covering the highway, we were 100% safe)

One thing the students in my van did for fun was use a phone to turn our van into a hotspot. They all connected their phones to the hotspot and played a network game of MineCraft. I think at one point I overheard James say to Ian “what are you Ghandi? Hit me!” while in the midst of fighting in the game.

Perhaps the most fun during the road trip came after we got off I-20 here in Mississippi. Our van played a great game of “HEY COW” in which we came up with some pretty awesome rules and decided there should be an app for calculating “HEY COW” points with our new point system. Everyone knows that “HEY COW” is a game where you score points by driving by a pasture, rolling down the window and yelling… you guessed it: HEYY COOWWW, then counting the number of cows who turn their head to look.

After circling the town like buzzards 6 times trying to find a specific place to eat we eventually had dinner and made it to our living center by 7PM. We got unloaded, set up, and oriented all before having a worship service at 9:30. The lights are out now and the students are in bed. I think I will head there myself. 

Be sure to pray that our week is filled with The Holy Spirit. I will try to post a brief update of our trip (late) nightly.

A Great Day I Will Always Remember

June 3rd 2014, was one of the most inspiring days of my life. Oddly enough it started around 1:30 in the morning.

That is the time in the middle of the night that my Son George woke screaming. Apparently he was cutting a big ol' tooth. When George cuts teeth he gets a bit of a fever and has trouble sleeping, but who could blame him. He got so upset that he threw up a little. After about 15 minutes of my wife and I tending to him, I heard 10 words that were music to my ears. &Go back to bed sweetheart. You have a big day.& 

At that moment, I didn't realize just how true that was. I don't think I will forget that day for a very long time. Here's what else happened.

3 Situations to Avoid Snapchat (Parents Pay Attention to #1)

Snapchat released an update today that now gives users the ability to send texts and to video chat all in their "Confidential" network that keeps the photos and now texts and videos from taking up the usable storage on your device. With the new update they will certainly increase their number of users and folks will find new reasons to sign up. Snapchat can have some advantages in certain environments; however I strongly discourage the use of Snapchat and similar apps like CyberDust specifically for the following people or situations.

A Needed Change

I will not be attempting to post at least 3 times a week for the rest of the semester. I have come to an understanding of my limits. Last week I had a 1500 word paper due. This week, a 2000 word paper. Next week, 2 Mid Terms.

I have also been writing a few articles for InfoBarrel and I am building a Niche Site about Podcasting and Ministry. All of this has basically been what I do from 10PM - Midnight each night after my work and home responsibilities are done. With the increase in school work this two hour window is going to have to be added to the time that I spend on Seminary work.

Crazy Week

Friends,

I have made a commitment to post 3 times each week. I have not kept that commitment this week. Even this post is a bit of a cheat in order for me to have more than one post.

However I have maintained a higher amount of writing than in the past. I became a writer for InfoBarrel and published my first article there. You can  read it here.

I also turned in my first paper of the semester for Dr. Lee about Erasmus' Handbook of the Militant Christian. You can read it here.

I sincerely thought about posting my paper as a post itself to meet my 3 times per week goal but I decided that I would rather stick to some of my blogging principles that I lay out in my InfoBarrel Article. Although I am still breaking some of my own rules for this post.

Thanks.

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Which One Will You Read?

Ideas are flowing much faster into my mind than I have time to spend publishing posts, and I know your time spent reading is just as valuable as my time writing. 

My Goal is to post 3 Blog articles each week. One of those each week of 2014 will be things I am praying for but...

What would you be interested in reading?

Here are a few titles of blog posts I am working on, Leave a comment with at least the top 2 that you would be interested in reading. 

"Attention Bloggers: Your Posts are Too Long! Why It's Killing Your Audience"

"Divisible by ___ - The Common Denominator of All Humanity"

"Sometimes You Have To Catch The Frisbee"

"If You Aren't Doing This, You Are Wasting Your Church's Youth Ministry"

"Obamacare is Saving Me $16K This Year: You're Loosing Money If You Don't Act NOW!"

I appreciate your input and will finish 2 of these Next Week. Which one would you read?

Hello MethoBloggers - I'm New to The Site

"Theology is written for the small community of those who would think of reading it"

From Marilynne Robinson’s “Dietrich Bonhoeffer” in The Death of Adam(117)

I am so glad to now be a part of the MethoBlog community of contributors. I would encourage you to check out my website www.JacobFields.org read some posts and leave me some feedback. If you would like more direct updates than the MethoBlog feed I encourage you to sign up for my email list. 

I look forward to sharing how I see the world through the lens of my faith with you.

Dare to click the "Read More"?

To my RSS Feed Audience

I have changed the way I write my posts and it will affect you the most.

You may have already noticed it.

Click "Read More" to find out why.

Book Review: RE: Memos on Faith and Life by Timothy Palmer

Tim Palmer has been a friend of mine since the Fall of 2005 I have known him to be one of the most authentic and passionate individuals imaginable. His life and faith have been an example to me that I try to live up to. When I found out he was writing a book I couldn't wait to crack it open.

I had no idea what to expect.

Re: Memos on Faith and Life is truly that, a book of memos. Short Stories and poems from everyday life that cause you to stop and reflect on things that are important. Tim writes, much like he speaks, in a way that is easy to identify with on a personal level. Occasionally (yet intentionally) Tim has you wondering "where is he going with this?" and at just that moment he brings the idea full circle changing your perspective on the whole subject. 

I do not recommend buying this book to read it in a day, although of course you could do that with some ease. Instead I recommend buying this book and reading a story or two a day. Think about what is being said, pray about how the truth told in the stories can be true in your life, then use the the given lines to take notes. This is a great book to be used as a devotional and is cheap enough that you can get a group of friends together and buy 10 copies and use these stories as discussion starters. (Click Here To Get Your Copy)

My Favorite Story

Re: Jesus

I know Tim to be constant in word and deed with regard to caring for those in need. Which is something that I think we as Christians all wished we could do better on. In this story Tim gives an accounting of just one of those instances where he interacts with a man in need of assistance. Yet he frames the story in a way that makes it easier for all of us to live out love. In the spirit of Matthew 25 he replaces every instance of the man who was the least of these with the name Jesus. I am certain that you will find this story to be true, to be inspiring, and to be convicting. I have read this particular story at least 10 times already.

Cell Phone Screen Replacement - The average person can do it!

My wife recently upgraded her phone to the brand new Nokia Lumia 1020. Like most people do she dropped it and the screen cracked. We went to CPR Cell Phone Repair and the price they quoted us to have it repaired was $290. We said no thanks because it was more than we spent on the phone itself.

I got online and after a few minutes of searching I was able to find out where I could order the screen for only about $160. It is called screen and digitizer because its not just glass it actually has functions to it (which is part of the reason it is so expensive). Its also expensive because its so new (the price has gone down a little since I ordered last week)

You can order a replacement screen here 

Then I did another Google search and was able to find out the tools needed to replace the screen - a standard cell phone tool kit you can buy for 10 bucks on E bay will work so long as you have the Torx + T4 a pair of tweezers and an SRT 6 pry tool (it looks like a guitar pick but thicker)

The tool kit I used is here

Nokia actually released the tear down manual to the public and it is here

I was really nervous at first because I had never taken apart a phone before and I was worried I was going to break it. Once I got the screen separated but had not yet released the connections is when I was really feeling like I was going to break it.

However, once I got the first connector released (the one for the battery) I realized that this was no different than taking apart a computer the pieces are just really small in comparison. 3 Connectors is all you need to release, first the battery then the camera then the display and the screen comes right off.

Then I took the camera off the old screen following the instructions in the tear down manual and attached it quite easily to the new screen. and re-attached the connections in reverse order attaching the display 1st then the camera and finishing with the battery. My hands are a little shaky so it took me a few minutes to do this carefully.

From there I was home free, I just snapped the screen back down tightened the 1 screw and popped the sim trey back in.

As I pushed the power button to turn it back on with the new screen I was really nervous and when it lit up I felt really accomplished.

I saved over 100 bucks by doing it myself and you can too! I hear other phones are really easy too especially iPhones.

Have you ever thought repairing your phone cost too much?

Why Is the song Cups so catchy

Cups by Anna Kendrick is currently shooting up the billboard charts and at the moment her Vevo on YouTube has 28 million views and counting.

The movie Pitch Perfect is where the song comes from and has been out for a while and can now be found in Redbox, So why is it gaining popularity now and why cant I get it out of my head? why do I get excited when it comes on the radio and why am I going to tell friends that its a good song.

The book Contagious: Why things catch on by Jonah Berger lays out a simple science that contributes to this phenomenon. The pattern that he lays forward is what he calls S.T.E.P.P.S. I definitely recommend reading his book to get the full insight but from what I understand it can be directly applied to my current favorite actress/music producer's hit.

STEPPS stand for Social Currency, Triggers, Emotion, Public, Practical Value, and Stories.

Social Currency comes from our own status, people like things that make them look good or improve their status so something that will provide them social currency is something they are more likely to share with a friend. Being able to know that the song came first from the movie is one of those "I was there first" credits in Social Currency no matter how annoying it may be when your friends say it we all do it because we all like things that make us look better. Many people, myself included, will add other insights to elevate their status even more which in all practicality is just more free publicity for Anna and Cups.

Triggers are things that make you think of the song. Great example is how everyone listened to the Awful song by Rebecca Black on Fridays. The day of the week reminded you of the song so you listen to it. The triggers for cups are plenty. Every time you eat and see a cup you might be triggered to think of the song. The very popular and almost becoming a cult classic movie Pitch Perfect is also a trigger anytime someone watches it or talks about it, which will then lead to you wanting to listen to the song. Acca-anything singing shows and sitcoms are becoming so popular that the movie Pitch Perfect was even made so the hit show Glee could make someone think of the movie which then leads people to think of the song Cups.

Emotion is simple, this is a song about someone who is going to miss you when you are gone which tugs at all sorts of emotions including but not limited to love, and appreciation or lack thereof. So the emotion might motivate you to listen to the song or share it with a friend.

Public obviously this song has been public and publicized during Anna's rounds on the late night talk shows, the movie being out, and social media.

Practical Value is that the song is actually musically solid. A catchy beat and quality vocals combined with lyrics that connect create a song worth listening to. This aspect cannot be underrated since we live in a world where content is the main driver of everything.

Stories come when you can talk with your friend about it and how it happened. In this case, Anna's character played this song during the tryout for the Bardon Bellas in the movie pitch perfect I was at the movie with Johnny the first time I saw it and I just thought it was so cool.

This is a practical application onto this song of  Jonah Berger's principals should be an example to you of how things catch on. Could you do something that might catch on? What about your life could spread like wildfire? How can you apply these STEPPS to spreading your faith and making disciples of Christ?


Just want to listen to the song? Here ya go!

As Always thanks for your time and giving this a read. If you enjoyed it share it with friends, you can do so easily with one of the buttons below. I pray that you will embrace life in the Love and Grace offered to you through Jesus Christ, and that you will always remember Jeremiah 29:11.  – For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, Plans to Proper You and not for harm, Plans with Hope for the Future.

Learning about Bitcoins

Hey I am trying to learn as much as I can about Bitcoins.

If you follow this link your computer will open a page and start "mining" bitcoins for my account.

What does "Mining" bitcoins mean? it means that the unused processing power on your computer becomes part of the worlds largest supercomputer that keeps getting bigger because it is a combination of computers all over the world connected to run algorithms and solve problems that help research.

Because mining only uses capability of your computer that you are not using your computer will not slow down because of it. However with this link you must keep the tab open and the computer running for it to continue to be a part of the system.

The more I learn about Bitcoins the more I will share with you about them here.

Click Here to help me mine.
http://www.bitcoinplus.com/generate?for=24553464

Advocare 24 day Challenge - Day 3 Me< Fiber Drink : Me=hypocrite?

Morning, I wake up have the spark no problem

The fiber drink today though causes me trouble, I end up throwing it up 3 times in route to downing the whole drink. This is surely more difficult a task than eating vegetables, luckily I don't have to consume it tomorrow. I had a banana with it.

Mid Morning, apple and 2 hard boiled eggs

Lunch, Tuna wild rice and green beans

Mid afternoon banana and spark

Dinner was the biggest challenge because it was College night at Preston Hollow and we provide food. So that means I pick out and purchase food for these young men and women to eat. Pasta Hut chicken Alfredo was the food of choice and this proves to be very difficult for me to resist. I LOVE PASTA, I love chicken, and Alfredo is not bad either. But the most difficult part is the bread sticks, the salty, flavory, savory, buttery garlicy, greasy goodness of bread sticks.  In a mental argument I had with myself I could have sworn that it makes me the worst of hypocrites to be feeding them such wonderfully delicious food that in reality is detrimental to their health while not subjugating myself to the same unhealthy fate. Then I decided it really wasn't fair for me to have to eat my food instead getting to eat the pasta and bread and I realized I had an overwhelming craving for the saltiness of it all. So I heated up my next serving of Tuna, wild rice, and green beans, once again forgetting to take the omega pills before dinner but this time remembered at the time I had my late night snack of an apple.

Had the herbal cleanse pills at about 12:30 even though I didn't really get to go to bed.

As Always thanks for your time and giving this a read. If you enjoyed it share it with friends, you can do so easily with one of the buttons below. I pray that you will embrace life in the Love and Grace offered to you through Jesus Christ, and that you will always remember Jeremiah 29:11.  – For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, Plans to Proper You and not for harm, Plans with Hope for the Future.

Advocare 24 day challenge - Day 2 Spinach?

So day 2 was a little bit easier than day 1 in a few ways. I was less tired throughout the day and I was less hungry in between meals.But I did have an interesting adventure with Spinach.

Upon rising I drank once again a Mango Strawberry spark, I really enjoy that flavor.
30 minutes later I drank the citrus fiber drink that is part of the Advocare Herbal cleanse. Let me tell you that thing fills you up so fast it is difficult to get the whole thing down. It may not help that I'm chugging it but Kim says it gets thicker and no easier to drink the longer it sits. The last gulp came back up. I suggest drinking this necessary evil in front of a sink. Your supposed to wash it down with 8oz of water so I did and then had a banana.

Mid Morning I had an apple and a hard boiled egg, I really like those eggs and apples and bananas taste pretty good so the fruits part of this thing should be NO PROBlem.

Lunch- The enemy is spotted - Kim is home and says "for your lunch veggie today your having spinach, you cant eat just green beans for 24 days" so for the Protein I make 4oz of chicken again and half cup of black beans left over from day 1. While I am cooking the chicken I look on the back of the bag of spinach leaves and it says
1 PORTION: 3 CUPS
My chin hits the floor and my brain starts telling me to play dead play dead the beast is too big play dead. But like I said, Kim was home so she wouldn't let me chicken out. 3 cups of spinach is like a whole big bowl, literally, and she wouldn't even let me saute it (I suggested it because I know it can greatly reduce the volume on leafy greens). Apparently if you cook leafy greens they loose a degree of their nutritional value. So there I am faced with an army of green stuff that I have to eat so I decide to mix my black beans and chicken in with the plant that I have to eat.

You see, I really love plants that's why I just can't bring myself to eat them, especially when they still look like a plant. A love animals too but Steak sure doesn't look like a cow and bacon sure doesn't look like a pig, they just have flavor... something that the poor plant choose not to have in hopes that us humans would leave them alone and not eat them.

But either way I figure a bowl of green is a lot easier to deal with than a disappointed wife or pants that cut off the circulation to my legs so I ate it.

I was afraid that I would run out of beans and chicken before I ran out of spinach leaving me defenseless in the 4th quarter of this lunch... much like the cowboys this season. So I was pleasantly surprised when my efforts payed off and I had a small amount of chicken and beans left at the end of the bowl to enjoy now free from spinach.

Mid afternoon I had a rice cake with Natural creamy peanut butter and little pieces of Banana on top. Hopefully its okay that I went ahead and ate the rest of the banana too... couldn't just waste a perfectly good banana like that I might get attacked by an angry monkey in my sleep if I did that.

For dinner I had Long grain wild rice with tuna mixed in with a side of green beans... so much easier to eat than spinach... I get to cook the green beans at least so they don't taste as bad.

Late snack I had another Banana and a serving of sunflower kernals

Before bed I realized I forgot to take the 2 omega pills before dinner so I had those with the herbal cleanse pills. Hopefully that doesn't ruin my momentum.

As Always thanks for your time and giving this a read. If you enjoyed it share it with friends, you can do so easily with one of the buttons below. I pray that you will embrace life in the Love and Grace offered to you through Jesus Christ, and that you will always remember Jeremiah 29:11.  – For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, Plans to Proper You and not for harm, Plans with Hope for the Future.

Advocare 24 Day Challenege - Day 1 Jan 8th

I have just begun an Advocare 24 day challenge, yesterday was day 1. I will try to blog about my experiences related to the challenge as well as what I eat and the results at the end. and possibly at intervals along the way. I am 5'8 and my weight was 175.4 to begin the challenge, my goal weight is 150lbs. I hope that through my experience you will be inspired and encouraged to try it for yourself. I am a distributor of Advocare products so if you are interested please contact me.

Day 1 - Sunday Jan 8th
Herbal Cleanse phase
Woke up at around 6:50AM and drank a Mango Strawberry Spark on an empty stomach. Got cleaned up and at about 7:30 drank the Citrus fiber drink. It doesn't taste bad at all but the drink is very thick so by the end of it it is difficult to get down. The drink doesn't necessarily taste good either though so it truly is a challenge to get it all down. I washed it down with 8 ounces of water and a Banana. I was very full.

By about 9:30 I was hungry again and for my Mid Morning food I had a Gala Apple and a hard boiled egg. Once again I was full.

* It is a regular thing at our church to have cookies and punch after the service. I out of habit grabbed a chocolate chip cookie and in the middle of breaking off a bite I remembered I wasn't supposed to have it. However I did not have the will power to put it down so I told a friend who then took the cookie from me. It wasn't easy.

Lunch was a little late today because I was busy I began cooking around 1PM after frantically trying to figure out how to get a complex carb without having to go to the grocery store. I had planed on doing black beans but did not realize the time it takes to prepare them from dry beans. So instead I just had 4 ounces of Chicken and a half cup of green beans boiled till the water is almost gone with a touch of olive oil and black pepper. I was a little less full than I was after the morning regiment but I was still full.

The difficult thing is not the portion sizes at this point the difficult part is the lack of salts or sugars other than the natural sugar in the fruits. My energy was low, must be why the spark is so important for the cleanse stage. I had to take a nap.

At around 5PM I drank another Mango Strawberry Spark as recommended in the afternoon as well as a portion of sunflower kernels.

Dinner was around 7:15PM and a neighbor gave me a can of black beans to use as a complex carbohydrate. I once again had 4 ounces of chicken as my protein (its quite a bit of chicken) Green beans as my veggie but this time I mixed the chicken into half a cup of black beans. I was really full this time.

Once again though somehow I was hungry again by around 8:45 so I had another apple and a glass of sleepy time tea.

* Every commercial for food had me drooling I wanted salt and grease of fried chicken so bad.

Took the herbal cleanse pill packet and went to bed.

As Always thanks for your time and giving this a read. If you enjoyed it share it with friends, you can do so easily with one of the buttons below. I pray that you will embrace life in the Love and Grace offered to you through Jesus Christ, and that you will always remember Jeremiah 29:11.  – For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, Plans to Proper You and not for harm, Plans with Hope for the Future.