I apologize for the lack of recent activity.  Life has been to busy/crazy/chaotic/hectic/ridiculous and my poor little blog has been neglected for the past few weeks.   Hopefully new life will spring back into this thing soon.

        

Yesterday at work I came down with a bad case of hiccups.  After about 45 minutes, the frustration was to high and I decided to consult my good friend Google.  I came across this site...and it worked.  My mind is still reeling from the sheer weirdness and awesomeness of that little pressure point trick.   Maybe it's all a mind trick.  But the only thing I care about is that it worked!

        

        

So I'm currently using Google's Chrome over my beloved FireFox.  Alas, parting is such sweet sorrow.

        

You know it's going to be a bad semester when:

You have Russian teacher for Calculus II that is used to teaching the course in Spanish (yeah…I know)

You're Discrete Mathematics teacher keeps reminding you how hard the class is going to be (and he's never taught Discrete Math before)

However…I look forward to my Chinese micro economics teacher. Her English is pretty good and her accent is funny (she tends to introduce new topics like a sports announcer). She also has a great sense of humor. There's just something to be said about Asian humor. I would insert a link to Young's page, but he's gotten slack on his blogging. If you're reading this Young…get to it yag.

    

        

I really don't know how to title this because I can't really describe what I'm feeling.

I am so in love with my church and so thankful I'm able to be a part of what's going to be known as the one of the biggest moves of God in the country.  Elevation held a 'preview' service at our new uptown campus, at the McGlohon Theater in uptown Charlotte.  During the worship I couldn't help but remember everything God has brought me from and couldn't help but get excited about what he's doing.

Elevation exists "so that people far from God will be filled with life in Christ."

That's our mission statement.  And tonight, I was reminded of how close to church I used to be, but how far from God I really was.  I sang in the choir, filled in on bass, occasionally taught Sunday school and Wednesday night bible study, and served on the Student Leadership team of the Youth Board.  I neglected most of high school social life to be involved with church.  I grew up in church.  I was raised in church.  And occasionally, I would get excited about church.  But looking back, I never truly got excited about God. 

Revivals?  They were OK, I guess (even though I dreaded going to church every single night.) And youth retreats, and summer camps, and Church of God 'Shabach's and 'Winterfests' were a fun way to get away for a few days and get loud.  But even the most energetic of those services...wouldn't compare to Elevation.  I mean seriously.  Does your church start yelling, and clapping, and jumping up and down...BEFORE THE SERVICE EVEN STARTS?  SERIOUSLY?!  Elevators are FREAKS. 

I don't know if I've ever told anybody about this or not...but for a major part of my 'church life,' I questioned God's existence and wondered why I was wasting so much of my time in a fairy tale.   Eventually, I just quit caring at all.  I visited other churches, to no avail.  I began to think that it wasn't me...it was God (who wasn't real after all) and church was just a nonprofit organization to take people's money.

And then I moved to Charlotte...and on my first Sunday in town, I decided to visit this little church I had been hearing about (Thank you Tim O. and thank you Michael W.) and my world...my heart...my mind...my soul...was changed.

A few months later, at Cricket Arena, my pastor made a statement that still rings in my heart.  "What a life time of religion could never do, God did in a moment."  What 21 years of 'church' could never do, God did in an 80 minute church service.


Tonight, at McGlohon theater, I realized just how lucky I was and I couldn't help but cry and get excited all at the same time.  What God is doing in Charlotte through Elevation is just freakish.  1044 baptisms in two weeks.

Elevation barely broke 1,000 in attendance after it's first YEAR.  And we had 1044 public, spontaneous, unannounced, and unplanned professions of faith in two weeks.


If you have a regular church you attend, great.  You still need to visit just one Sunday to let God flat out blow your mind.


If you haven't been to church in a while, or you're looking for something "different," come and see.

John 4:29

Come see a man who turned my world upside down.  Come see a man who makes an educated, lifelong church going, unbeliever believe.  Come see a man that does impossible things in impossible ways and be amazed.

        

As a summer student at UNC Charlotte, we get the benefit of checking in early to our fall assignment if we lived on campus during the summer. A few weeks ago, I received an e-mail detailing our check out information. Here's an excerpt with all the pertinent information:

INSTRUCTIONS ON FALL HOUSING CHECK-IN

You will be able to pick up your key to your Fall housing assignment on Wednesday, August 13 from 6:00pm - 9pm at your assigned residence hall.  You will be given door access immediately and will be able to move into your Fall 2008 assignment at that time.  Please make sure that you bring some form of photo identification with you in order for us to process your check-in. 

INSTRUCTIONS ON SUMMER HOUSING CHECK-OUT 

Please note that you must be moved and checked out of your current summer space no later than 9:00pm on Wednesday, August 13.  Remove belongings and all trash from the apartment before you leave. 

 

What makes this so ridiculous is that we have only three hours to get our stuff moved. After the Spring semester, we had an entire WEEKEND to move our stuff to summer housing. Essentially, my moving time has been reduced from 72 hours to THREE hours. So….I called the housing office at UNCC to verify the check-in information for summer students that will be living on campus this fall. The response I received, in a very sweet, sarcastic tone:

"Well what does your e-mail say?"

A hundred different expletives raced through my mind…some I've never heard of before…but I assure you…they were expletives. I'm thrilled (really thrilled) to know that I attend what's supposed to be the fastest growing university in North Carolina and they pay their staff to be sharp mouthed A-holes.

        

Summer classes go by so fast, which is a two-edged sword. On one side, it's a relief that they go quick. On the other, it's a pain when you're studying topics like 'data structures' in Computer Science and studying computer networks in depth (please see "suicide"). My first final exam is tomorrow at 8:00AM. And then at 12…dundundun…I start a new job.

I know you're thinking "Another job? Already?" Settle down. I began talks with my previous supervisor about transitioning over to more an IT position because I need to start focusing on my career and building a resume that has more to it than just sales. All of my education points towards "Computers" and all of my work experience points towards "Sales / Retail." Due to the large size (and bureaucratic nature) of my previous employer, that transition was moving very slowly, if at all. I decided to put my résumé online to see what kind of responses I would get. After a week, I got a phone call that reflected my goals. The person on the other end of the line had a strong interest in me but they weren't originally planning on bringing any one in until October. An interview got worked in…and I got a job offer!

I'll be doing a little bit of everything…general IT support and help-desk type stuff, general office support, designing email newsletters for the company's clientele, etc. Eventually, I'll be helping the company convert its legacy VB6 code to VB .NET and help with new software projects! I'll also be required to get a passport because I'll be making trips to Canada to meet with one of the companies partners! This job is going to be what gets me through the rest of my collegiate career. And who knows? Maybe I'll have a full-time position waiting for me when I'm finished with school!

 

Fantasy Football:

I have 6 positions left in the league. If you want to play, send an email to radthad [AT] gmail [DOT] com and I'll send you an invite.

        

FANTASY FOOTBALL!

 

I created a custom team on Yahoo. If you want to play, send me an email: radthad {AT} gmail {DOT} com with your email address, and I'll send an invite and password for you to join.

        

I got FULL credit for my answer! Wooo.