Graduation

Well I just graduated! Its a big relief to be done with High School. Don't get me wrong, Lebo High was great, but its time to move on. Anyway, while I was sitting listening to all the speeches people gave telling us to "make them proud", to "constantly work to right injustice", to "always seek to greatness", and to "leave your mark on the world" I started thinking that this is not the attitude of a servant. Most of the messages they gave us last night fueled our pride in our Leboness, and our own selfish ambitions. It just felt wrong, but I seemed to be the only one who noticed. It seemed like from this day on, everyone in my class began their journey to personal success and material wealth. And those folks up on the podium were to be the leaders of this success drive. Most of the folks in my class seemed pretty confident in their future successes, and I'm sure they'll get it, but I often wonder if they'll ever work for something bigger, if they'll ever really get it. Sure Mt. Lebanon's class of 2006 won six WPIAL titles, blew all other schools out of the water in academics, and did more charity work than any other class in recorded history, but in 5 years- or even 5 days, will any of that matter? Nope. "How quickly the glory of the world passes away!" (Thomas a Kempis). So as we begin our adult lives, I really pray that my class, or for that matter my generation, will one day understand that nothing we do in this world will mean anything without the love of God. "Vanity of vanities and all is vanity, except to love God and serve him alone" (Tom Kemp). So that brings me to now: this summer, my goal is to work on being humble/or selfless and through that, be drawn closer to God, and maybe figure out what to do with my life. Racine '06!!!

"He is truly great who has great charity. He is truly great who is little in his own eyes and makes nothing of the highest honor. He is truly wise who looks upon all earthly things as folly that he may gain Christ. He who does God's will and renounces his own is truly very learned." -Thomas a Kempis- The Imitation of Christ.

Prom '06

Well I just got back from prom and I can't sleep because I drank about four giant cups of beautifully strong coffee. I'll probably crash in a few hours, but now I'm up. Prom was great. I'm currently flushing all the dance music clutter out my head with heavy doses of Jimi Hendrix, The Who, U2, and Coldplay... it feels really good. We had a great time- dinner at Monterey Bay on Mt. Washington, sweet dance, and all my best friends. Great way to wrap up High School. Here's some sweet pictures.


My date Alysa and I



Our limo driver had the biggest yinzer accent ever


Me with Big Handsome Roy


Me and JJ, best friends since 2nd grade.

The One and only Xiao Dong



This is my boy- Josh. I cant say enough about this guy. We've been great friends since Kindergarden- way back in 1993- Wow I feel old.


Sarah & me.













Well this is where my batteries gave out. I know there's a shot of Steph, Sally, and me out there somewhere- so if you guys can get that to me, I'll put it up too. SENIORS '06!

Call of the Wild

So I'm reading the Imitation of Christ and I'm learning that the author, Thomas a Kempis is really in touch with God. This is a quote that's really been on my mind, "The more recollected a man is, and the more simple of heart he becomes, the easier he understands sublime things, for he receives the light of knowledge from above". I think this could be an answer to prayers, not only mine, but many others in the faith. If you rearrange the words & dumb them down a bit, your get, "If you become simple, you will understand the complex". Stax may be a prophet after all. But anyway, I think there is allot to be learned from this. I've noticed that its really hard to concentrate on God when there are a million distractions around you (noise, light, people). There is no such thing as silence today. That's part of the reason I do my devotionals at midnight or later- everyone else is asleep and its really quiet, well except for the refrigerator humm, the computer sounds, the cars outside, airplanes going overhead, and my cell phone. Ben C told me that when he was in Scotland, he had a lot of quiet reflection time because there wasn't a phone, or tv, or something. Ben K told me that had some time in college that was a time of isolation, reflection and focusing on God, and God's calling for his life. So I want to try this. Since I'm a naturalist, I think the best way for me to simplify my life in order to really focus on God is to get out there in the sticks. Really, really out there in the sticks for some time alone with God. I think it would really help me to connect with God, and he may even reveal some answers to questions I have about my life. I really think this could be a big thing. God has used the wilderness & isolation in powerful ways in the Bible. Moses encountered God in the wilderness before he began his ministry, the Israelites wandered the desert for years and were refined/cleansed/renewed, John the Baptist lived out there, and Jesus was led by the spirit into the desert before he began his ministry. I don't hold a light to any of these great men, but I figure the Spirit might be leading me out there for some time. (Yes I know the devil tempted Jesus for 40 days- that's not my goal). The goal would be simplicity, silence, and intimacy with the Lord in order to renew my mind. Maybe I'd do it alone, maybe with one other Christian friend looking for answers like I am. I don't know. But I definitely think God wants me to do this... soon. So if anyone out there is feeling a similar Godly Call of the Wild, talk to me.

The Imitation of Christ by Thomas a Kempis

This is the first of many books I hope to read this summer. Thomas a Kempis was a 15th century monk and he wrote this amazingly powerful book. Read it. Its just as powerful today as it was 500 years ago. I'll post quotes I think are awesome.

Chapter 1
"Vanity of vanities and all is vanity except to love God and serve Him alone".
"It is vanity to wish for a long life and to care little about a well spent life"
"Turn your heart from the love of things visible and bring yourself to things invisible".

Chapter 2
"The more you know and the better you understand, the more severely you will be judged, unless your life is also the more holy"
"Shun too great a desire for knowledge, for in it there is much fretting and dilusion"
"He who concerns himself about other things than those which lead to salvation is very unwise"
"If you wish to learn and appriciate something worthwile, then love to be unknown and considered as nothing"
"All men are frail, but you must admit that none is more frail than yourself"

That's all I have so far. It took me almost 2 hours to read the first 4 pages of this book because it is so dense. I'm going to nibble at it rather than blow through. I highlighted and marked the whole 4 pages up as well. Its really great when you can read without a schedule like in school. This 2nd chapter was really tough for me. Its rough. It sounds somwhat depressing. Regardless, this book is powerful. Wow.

I'm Dying Here!

Here's a question: What were you doung at 2:00 AM last night? Hopefully you were asleep. We'll since you asked, Last night at 2:00 AM, I was working on my Computer Science group project. AAAHHHHHHH. How can everyone else in my grade slack, yet I'm still working like a mailman (Bob for Pres). It wouldn't be that big of a deal if I wasn't a second semester senior, yesterday wasn't June 1, and Computer Science wasn't an elective, but I am, it was, and it is. After today I have three days left in this building, yet I still have over 7 hours of finals and a 15 minute speech to do. Great Thor's Hammer! Its June yo! Why am I working!!?? I'm so done with High School, so done.

On Anonymous.....

This is for all those folks who post offensive or challenging comments under the name "Anonymous": You are cowards. I think of you as a person who wears a paper bag on your head and walks around pointing out faults in people. No one knows who you are- but they don't like you. If you have something to say. SAY IT. And leave you name. And if you think that the comment is so taboo that you don't have the guts to say it- YOU PROBABLY SHOULDN'T SAY IT ANYWAY. A pretty accurate parallel would be for you to insult someone to their back, then run away when they ask- "who said that?". So stop, because you're accomplishing nothing.

Youth Sunday, Being a Pastor, & Deep Fried Cheeseburgers

Well it’s been a while since I last blogged. I've been spending all my time getting ready for youth Sunday, which finally went down yesterday. It was awesome. Genuine worship, powerful testimonies, awesome witnessing. A pretty sweet weekend overall. We went to Claypools for British deep fried cheeseburgers...ohhhh, they taste better then cookie dough, mountain dew, and bacon combined. Speaking of bacon, Bob Madden is back on the meat- Amen. In other news, spiritual warfare broke out at my house Saturday night. As I was putting the finishing touches on my testimony, I read through it- and it sucked. I got really depressed & doubted if I could give my testimony at church the next day. I was going to forget it completely, because it seemed so stupid. I thought, "How could I ever be a pastor, if I couldn’t even write a 10 minute testimony?". Basically the devil put all these thoughts of doubt into my head, and it was really really depressing. So I shut all the lights off, went to bed, & prayed. But I tried something new, praying with my hands open. It’s really sweet. It just seems that there is a physical contact with the Spirit that way. Anyway I prayed that God would speak through me, and the others on Sunday, and that our names would fade away so that only Christ would shine through. All this time I still had some doubt. And then it happened. It felt like a finger touched the palm of my hand. It was if an angel touched me or something, and instantly I felt this awesome affirmation as if God said- I chose you to speak tomorrow- so do it. Instant spiritual high! All my doubt fell away. It kinda reminds me of when the bleeding woman touched Jesus' robe & was immediately healed. That's pretty much what I felt. It was SO COOL. Sunday morning, I gave the testimony at the 8:30 service & was really nervous up there. My legs shook behind the podium and I thought I'd pass out. The only thing I can think to compare it to is how a groom must feel when the bride comes down the aisle. Anyway the 8:30 service was an awesome crowd. They actually interrupted me with an applause when I told them I was considering ministry. That was a real nice warm feeling of affirmation up there. It was the first time I'd ever seen life out of a Presbyterian congregation during a talk, sad but true. Anyway it felt real good. So thanks to everybody who worked to make the service happen, Ben, Ben, Bob, Cam, Gu, Phil, Stax, Sarah, Steph, and everybody else who spoke or ushered or whatevered, God worked through us yesterday, and it was real good.

100 Simple Pleasures of Life

This is a list of 100 things in life that I love in no particular order. It only scratches the surface so maybe more will come later. I encourage everyone to make their own list because when I look at mine, I realize how blessed I truly am.

1. Steelers
2. Backpacking
3. Black Coffee in the morning
4. Mountains
5. The Honda Civic
6. Sailing with the wind at your back
7. Sailing so fast that the boat tips over and you go for a swim
8. Swimming
9. Lake Chautauqua
10. MLUPC
11. Kayaking
12. Dr. Pepper
13. Manual cars
14. Rock music
15. Retreats
16. Family
17. Christmas
18. Snow
19. July
20. Stars
21. Driving
22. Toddlers
23. Mechanical Pencils
24. Doing well on Math tests
25. Ham barbecue
26. Manual Labor
27. Fixing stuff
28. Tinkering
29. Sleeping in
30. Airplanes
31. Chocolate
32. The smell of gunpowder in the morning
33. Reading
34. The Nalgene Bottle
35. Praying in the woods
36. Praying in secret
37. Hot Showers
38. The Holy Spirit at work
39. Funny people
40. Walking home after school
41. The Kitchen
42. Fire
43. Bacon
44. The Who
45. U2
46. Genesis- the band
47. Yes- the band
48. Coldplay
49. Mellow tunes
50. The Bible
51. Naps
52. Thursday Night Football
53. Friday Night Football
54. Sunday Night Football
55. Monday Night Football
56. Football
57. Baseball
58. The Winter Olympics
59. ESPN
60. Saturday
61. Couches
62. Short Hair
63. Ice cream
64. Shade
65. Mowing the lawn
66. Sunrise
67. Sunset
68. Pramanti's
69. Oasis
70. Rockets
71. Mint Gum
72. Garlic
73. Spaghetti
74. New car smell
75. Diesel
76. USB sticks
77. Worship
78. Finding peace in God's presence
79. Fresh air
80. Nature in general
81. Mullets
82. Running downhill
83. Rain
84. 5:00 A.M.
85. Bathroom fans
86. Cookies
87. C.S. Lewis
88. Oswald Chambers
88. Servant minded people
89. The Well
90. MLUPC Youth Group
91. Cooking
92. Humble People
93. Eating Doritos off your chest
94. Honest, Straitforward people
95. Grandma's cooking
96. Relaxing
97. Christian friends
98. A Job Well Done
99. People who love the Lord with all their heart
100. Laughing

What Happened?

This is kind of a depressing & frustrating topic for me, and its been on my mind a lot in the past weeks. As I've grown up at MLUPC, I've noticed that... well I'm one of the few left from my grade. From what I see, I've met a bunch of people my age through the church, from the dozens of kids I went to preschool with, my Sunday school classes in elementary school, all my friends from middle school youth group, the 15 or so kids in my conformation class, and the kids that stuck with it through high school. If you total them all up, it probably adds to around 50 of my peers that have walked along with me to this point in my faith at MLUPC. Of those 50 or so folks, I can only count four people who are still strong in their faith. Four. Sarah Haddad, Stephanie Smith, Phil Swaney, and Me. Its so sad. What happened to the other 46? Where are they now? Why have they turned their backs on God, even after some seemed to have grown so deep in their faith? Ahhh! Did they ever get it in the first place? Did they build their house on sand? Some of them have even become mockers & slanderers of the faith. Nothing breaks my heart more. Ahhh! Cant they see what's happening in their spiritual lives? Wake up guys! Sigh. Well, for the ones that have kept their faith solid all these years: I thank God for you. You are awesome. So pray with me for those folks struggling to find Christ, that they might find him and that he use them in awesome ways.

Kayaking

So we got sea kayaks for my uncle's lake house in New York. Dude, Kayaking is the hit. I was the only one with the guts to brave the cold- wimps. It was really windy, but the boat cut through the water easily. The wind generated a bunch of waves on the lake that I could surf. That was awesome, you get going like 10 or 15 mph when you paddle real hard and you're right in front of a wave. It makes you feel like a Native Alaskan walrus hunter. For all of you who've never tried it, kayaking pretty much the aquatic equivalent of backpacking- the perfect combination of water and human.

NEED GOOD BOOKS

Sorry about the LEBO STREET GANG videos folks, I tried but they won't work anywhere, so I give up.

In other news- through a lengthy discussion/lecture/debate/argument with my mom, it was decided that the TV will not be on all summer because it makes me lazy or fat or something. Therefore I'll have quite a bit of time at home & I'll be really bored. So I decided that I'll read. A lot. Right now my book list includes the Bible, Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis, My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers (not the whole thing), and Catch 22 by Joseph Heller. So if anyone out there has any other life changing books or absolute must reads, leave them. (No Cam this doesn't include comics).

Lebo Street Gang

Ok, I gotta explain this one. A few months ago, my cousin Jordan came over for a few days and we got bored of playing N64. So Jordan, Kevin, and I busted out my christmas present, a digital camera, and made what we like to call the LEBO Street Gang . This is episode I & II. Before you watch these, you gotta know that they were meant to be a satire of LEBO in general, and in no way to I claim to be cool kid. The sound is kinda hard to make out, because I'm too cheap to pay for a better videohost. I think its hillarious, mainly because my cousin is one of the funniest people I know. So enjoy.

(let it load for a minute or two before you play, sorry the site stinks)

LEBO Street Gang I
LEBO Street Gang II

Academic Extremes

Well, I've hit the end of a period of academic craziness. Its weird, my school work comes in waves. I either have so much work that it is physically impossible to finish, or none at all. Right now, I'm in one of those "nothing to do at all" periods. Its great. Now that I've come out of my crazy academic purgatory, I've noticed the world around me here at LEBO. From what I can see there are 3 types of people in my grade. The kind who work, the kind who complain about working, and the kind who complain about not working. I guess this is the whole senioritis debate. I don't know where I fall among these folks, but I do know that the complainers get to me. Maybe its a lack of compassion on my part, but if you complain about being bored, I think much less of not only you, but anyone you associate with. Find something to keep your mind from wasting away. If you think life sucks, it will. So change your perspective. And stop whining while your at it.

Music Visualizer

Ok, so I talked to some of you about this thing called a music visualizer and most of you thought I was crazy, so I want to show you what I mean. A music visualizer takes whatever song you want and puts it to an image. Its awesome. From a programming aspect, its amassing and ridiculously creative (cuz I'm a nerd like that). So if you are reading this, and you like music, you must go to http://www.soundspectrum.com/g-force/serve.html and download this awesome visualizer demo so I can prove my sanity. Just click on the media player you run, set it up with the wizard, find a really cool song, then go to your media player under 'now playing' and hit G-force (it should be an option) & click play. Its defiantly worth it.

The Non-denominational / Emerging Church

Sorry I haven't been able to blog in a while, but I've been crazy busy (See the quote up top). Anyway something that's been on my mind is the whole emerging church/ non denominational church. I don't know what to think about these churches, mainly because I know very little about them. What's different about these churches? Why do they separate themselves from the more traditional protestant churches? Why are they so successful? Is the massive success of these super churches success because some of them are more accepting of homosexuality or other things the traditional church would deem 'worldly'. Do they normally address difficult issues or just say "we'll pray about it, in the mean time, love God" and then forget about it (we'll I guess many Churches do a lot of that too). Are the super churches (Joel Orsteen) successful because they tell people what they want to hear, instead of what they need to hear? (is that a universal church issue?). So many questions. So if anybody out there wants to answer these questions, feel free to drop some smart.

V TECH

Well, its official, as long as I graduate in June, I'll be at Virginia Tech in the fall! Sweet.

California, Easter & Life.

(Ok Claypool, ya happy?)


First off, Happy Easter everybody!
Well I got beck from California on Saturday. It was great. We saw San Francisco, a Redwood forest, Monterey, pebble beach, & then had great ski weather up in Lake Tahoe. Literally, the best skiing I've ever had. I got real bad sunburn, real, real bad, my face looks like I've been through a nuclear reactor. But it was worth it. The only thing that was bad was that I didn't do any quiet time stuff. That part stunk. I also missed the Youth Group, its been a while, but I'll see you all on Wednesday. Its Easter, which means its the end of lent, So I want to thank Ben Kendrew for all the work he put into all those devotionals for the last 40 days. They were really, really good. If anyone is looking for a good devotional series, go onto his blog & read through them. They have focused on a bunch of things that I have taken for granted or have overlooked in my Christian life. This is the first Easter in a while that has been exceptionally awesome to me. Last night I read through Ben's devotional #39, the Via Dolorosa, and it was awesome. I never saw the connection between the old testimony prophesy in Psalm 22, and the crucifixion/Easter story laid out in the new testiment. Its really cool, and it really affirmed the fact that Jesus was the Christ. Then it hit me (I know this in nothing new, but it was awesome at the time, and still is) that the whole old testiment, all the way from Adam, through Moses, David, and even the whole... well EVERYTHING, led up to ONE point, the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ. Whoa. Think about it. Whoa! That was really cool. I felt like I just came out of a Stuart Hall talk. Spiritual high! It rocked. So Praise God Everybody because Christ is alive! Whoa! Amen!

Ministry?

Well, I’m coming to you all from an altitude of 36,000 feet somewhere between Atlanta, Georgia, and San Francisco. It looks like Texas outside, but I can’t tell. I can’t really sleep, because I’m right behind the left engine on this Boeing 737. So I thought I’d blog. We’ll not really blog, more like word process, and then put it on the blog later. But, who cares. Anyway, something that’s been on my mind lately is what I’m supposed to do with my life. Many of you reading this are probably in the same situation. The interesting part about it is that from about the age of about 12, I thought I wanted to be an engineer (scary but true). I think, back then it was mainly because my Dad was an engineer, and I really liked cars, and planes, and boats: basically anything that could move. By junior year of high school, I was certain that Engineering was my calling, I applied to the schools and all that, but towards the end of the year, everything sorta changed. I kept hearing from other people that I should be a pastor, or a youth pastor. People at church, at school, even my 91 year old great-grandmother says I’ll be a pastor one day. It happens randomly, and the cool thing is that I heard it from a bunch of different people. The interesting thing was that whenever someone suggested that I should go into ministry, almost immediately, or with in a few days, another person would affirm it. It was strange. After that the idea would sort of go away for a while, and then reappear. The most recent of these reappearings happened two weeks ago at the awesome Pastor Bob dinner. After the meal, I was sitting at the table and Pastor Bob, sitting across from me says, out of the blue, “Erik, Kelly and I think that you should be a Pastor, not even a Youth Pastor, just go straight into seminary after college”. Immediately after, Ben, Mel, Bob, Shelley, and a couple other people threw in a, “Yea!” or a “You’d be great”. It was cool, and a God thing, but unbelievably random. It followed the usual pattern. One person says it, completely out of the blue, and immediately, about half a dozen others affirm it. At the time, I really didn’t know what to say, so I just gave a pondering “Hummm”. But it did rock the boat. It says in the Bible somewhere (anybody know?) that people called into ministry should be affirmed by a group of believers. And it appears that this is happening. But, there are a few things I worry about, if I were to go into ministry. From what I see, being a minister is one of the toughest jobs ever. Then again, ministry isn’t really a job, is not even a career, it’s a calling, a lifestyle. Seminary looks rough too. Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, Philosophy, writing huge papers. Ehh! That doesn’t interest me too much. However, there does seem to be a middle road. I know a few pastors that are engineers. Right now, I think I’ll go for the engineering degree, then, after four years the call may be clearer. Would doing this be running from my true calling? I know that people who are called into ministry know their call, like for sure. But I don’t. Hummm. So, if anyone out there has any idea what I should do with my life, leave a comment, and back it up with something too. I guess for now all I can do is pray about it and listen, and read, and let God take care of it. But for now, the battery on this thing is dying, so I’ll catch you all later.

Calif.

Well, I'm off to California on Saturday. It's gonna rock! We're going to visit some family in San Francisco, then head off to Lake Tahoe for some April skiing. It's kinda the opposite of spring breaking at the beach but it'll be SICK. Right now they got over 19 feet of snow, and its still coming down! I'm stoked (haha). See you guys at Easter.

Climbing Higher

DUDE, IT WAS ROCKIN.
In my 6 years with the youth group, I have never been on a more rewarding trip. The awesome thing about this retreat was that it was more focused spiritual growth than anything else. The worship was the most genuine I've ever experienced. Our speaker, Stuart Hall, is one of the best youth speakers I've ever heard... ever. I discovered the concept of journaling, it rocks. Stax, Sarge, Rev. Prib, Snacks, Gu, Phil, and I did some amasing devotions & small group stuff with Ben, Ben, and Bob. We climbed stuff too...like rocks...and mountains... and jungle gyms. There was the beastly Mountaintop Football. Mel and Shelly got us more food. Cam ate pudding. Phil had awesome one-liners. Prib climbed like a Billy goat. Gu made a mess. Stephanie was the human Zamboni. Stax's foot nast could stop a beating heart. And Cam invented the double hander lander (big pimpin'). Thanks for making this retreat the best ever, guys. Check out Ben K, Bob M, and Phil's (people's) blogs for some awesome photos.