Box and I have this crazy idea to start a youth band. What do you guys think? Who has hidden talents that I'm not yet aware of.
So far I know that Jake plays bass/piano, Devin plays drums, Ben plays drums, and that's all I know. Give me your contact info.
We wouldn't be playing every week...it would just be too difficult, but I definitely would want to do once a month or something. A big question for everyone is, what style is acceptable? I really like to rock and with the band I'm not sure I would ever use my acoustic guitar, only electric. But would you guys enjoy it? Could you worship to it?
Give all thoughts and feedback you can think of.
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Monday, November 27, 2006
Jason The Scrooge
I started writing this in response to Sean's latest blog, then I realized it would be too long for a comment so I'm putting it here.
Sean, I totally agree with you. I have been a total Scrooge for years. I hate Christmas carols; I hate 98% of the church services that happen on the weekend of; I hate almost all decorations, especially nativity scenes; I hate capitalism; and the list goes on.
This year, however, I'm going to forget all of the negativity and try my best to be cheerful and be in the "Christmas Spirit". To do this I have a few issues to get past.
One issue is that I've always questioned why we give gifts. Here's what I've come up with this year. It may be an obvious statement, but we give gifts because of the gift God gave us. However, I started thinking about this in more depth. "Yay God, thanks for Jesus, I'll give some gifts now too so you're proud of me". How absurd is that quote!? It's kinda how it feels to me though. So now I have to walk through it from the beginning. I was dead in sin and deserving of nothing but hell. God, however, sent His one and only son... Ok, stop there. Let's use Bobby and Kristin as an example, and their beautiful daughter, Aliyah. This is a NON-real scenario...just making a point... Kristin's days are numbered. Yes, Bobby loves her a ton and would do anything to save her from her imminent death. However, the only way to save Kristin is to give up Aliyah. Aliyah has to die to save Kristin. Now, many of you might think this is doable, but you haven't experienced what it's like to have a child, and I assure you in this situation Bobby would NEVER kill his child...even to save his wife. So that one was tough, let's make it easier to come up with the answer. Bobby has an enemy named Billy. Billy hates Bobby, wishes he never existed. Billy is going to die in a week. Bobby, in order to save Billy, has to kill Aliyah. What's he gonna do? DUH! See ya Billy, it was not so nice knowing you! Reality: I hated God, yet he sent his only son to die for me. So, given that the GIFT that God has given us, free of charge, even though we are undeserving, even though we had rejected him, even though the cost was HIS SON; I now have the opportunity to give gifts to others. Forget the ceremony of a tree and singing around the piano, I'm talking about a selfless, humble, for no reason other than Christ type of giving. I need to have an attitude of giving that portrays something other than the typical Christmas season mindset. If I can accomplish this and people wonder why what I'm doing looks different than the rest of the world, I've opened a door to share truth.
Ok, issue #2. Jesus's birthday. It sounds so cheesy to me but I can't really put a finger on why. Perhaps it's the fear that people view this as the day that Jesus came into existence. John 1:1-2 "1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was with God in the beginning." Jesus always was and always will be fully God...long before 33BC. Even as a baby in a manger (which was perhaps a cave not a manger though that doesn't matter) he was fully God. Fully human and fully God for 33 years...it's a trip but it's true. I don't have a conclusion to this, just thoughts on the matter and a bit of unsettledness.
Issue #3. Christmas carols. If the lyrics serve as a reminder of what you're celebrating, good stuff. However, even given that, don't expect any from me on Sunday mornings. I have yet to hear or sing a Christmas song that really leads me into connecting with my savior. No song yet that has helped me encounter God. The theme, IF there's actually a spiritual one, is Christ coming to earth. Yet the songs are more cheerful than anything else. They don't deal with the characteristics of God that initiate worship, they're not from the right point of view (1st person vs. 3rd, etc.), and they don't deal with the reason I actually needed a savior. Some are good lyrically, don't get me wrong, but the "some" are few and far in between and those "some" still don't seem to meet my criteria for a worship song. I don't know, I'm probably just ranting and being Scroogish, and a lot of you probably disagree. If so, please let me know about it.
The bottom line. Christmas makes most people happy. My wife loves seeing the lights and trees, children love getting gifts, people like hearing the music. While none of these things have anything to do with the meaning of Christmas, and some of these things make my cringe, these things bring joy to people's hearts. If I can have a cheerful attitude, yet carry myself differently in the way I communicate about Christmas, it might just make an impact on my peers. If I sulk and talk trash about all the cheesiness and such, I will only turn people off. For Sean and Brian, and me, it's OK to be cynical, but we need to keep ourselves in check with how we are communicating our savior. For those of you who put up nativity scenes and crank up the Christmas songs recorded in the 80's, more power to you. Just make sure you understand why you are doing the things you are doing. For the capitalist who puts on the big sales and cleans up from all the silly shoppers, good job. Way to seize a good opportunity. Just know that your reward is paid in full. The money you've earned is all you'll ever have to show for your hard work and creativity. To the atheist, you are likely as cynical as I am to which I give you props. I think you may understand that the whole hype is bogus. However, I encourage you to step back and think "what if?" What if God actually did love you and actually did act on that love. It might change your life. To all, be happy and enjoy the season. Enjoy the time that brings everyone together. Give gifts and enjoy receiving gifts, but do it all in remembrance of the gift you were given. The gift that you never deserved and that cost more than you may realize.
Sean, I totally agree with you. I have been a total Scrooge for years. I hate Christmas carols; I hate 98% of the church services that happen on the weekend of; I hate almost all decorations, especially nativity scenes; I hate capitalism; and the list goes on.
This year, however, I'm going to forget all of the negativity and try my best to be cheerful and be in the "Christmas Spirit". To do this I have a few issues to get past.
One issue is that I've always questioned why we give gifts. Here's what I've come up with this year. It may be an obvious statement, but we give gifts because of the gift God gave us. However, I started thinking about this in more depth. "Yay God, thanks for Jesus, I'll give some gifts now too so you're proud of me". How absurd is that quote!? It's kinda how it feels to me though. So now I have to walk through it from the beginning. I was dead in sin and deserving of nothing but hell. God, however, sent His one and only son... Ok, stop there. Let's use Bobby and Kristin as an example, and their beautiful daughter, Aliyah. This is a NON-real scenario...just making a point... Kristin's days are numbered. Yes, Bobby loves her a ton and would do anything to save her from her imminent death. However, the only way to save Kristin is to give up Aliyah. Aliyah has to die to save Kristin. Now, many of you might think this is doable, but you haven't experienced what it's like to have a child, and I assure you in this situation Bobby would NEVER kill his child...even to save his wife. So that one was tough, let's make it easier to come up with the answer. Bobby has an enemy named Billy. Billy hates Bobby, wishes he never existed. Billy is going to die in a week. Bobby, in order to save Billy, has to kill Aliyah. What's he gonna do? DUH! See ya Billy, it was not so nice knowing you! Reality: I hated God, yet he sent his only son to die for me. So, given that the GIFT that God has given us, free of charge, even though we are undeserving, even though we had rejected him, even though the cost was HIS SON; I now have the opportunity to give gifts to others. Forget the ceremony of a tree and singing around the piano, I'm talking about a selfless, humble, for no reason other than Christ type of giving. I need to have an attitude of giving that portrays something other than the typical Christmas season mindset. If I can accomplish this and people wonder why what I'm doing looks different than the rest of the world, I've opened a door to share truth.
Ok, issue #2. Jesus's birthday. It sounds so cheesy to me but I can't really put a finger on why. Perhaps it's the fear that people view this as the day that Jesus came into existence. John 1:1-2 "1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was with God in the beginning." Jesus always was and always will be fully God...long before 33BC. Even as a baby in a manger (which was perhaps a cave not a manger though that doesn't matter) he was fully God. Fully human and fully God for 33 years...it's a trip but it's true. I don't have a conclusion to this, just thoughts on the matter and a bit of unsettledness.
Issue #3. Christmas carols. If the lyrics serve as a reminder of what you're celebrating, good stuff. However, even given that, don't expect any from me on Sunday mornings. I have yet to hear or sing a Christmas song that really leads me into connecting with my savior. No song yet that has helped me encounter God. The theme, IF there's actually a spiritual one, is Christ coming to earth. Yet the songs are more cheerful than anything else. They don't deal with the characteristics of God that initiate worship, they're not from the right point of view (1st person vs. 3rd, etc.), and they don't deal with the reason I actually needed a savior. Some are good lyrically, don't get me wrong, but the "some" are few and far in between and those "some" still don't seem to meet my criteria for a worship song. I don't know, I'm probably just ranting and being Scroogish, and a lot of you probably disagree. If so, please let me know about it.
The bottom line. Christmas makes most people happy. My wife loves seeing the lights and trees, children love getting gifts, people like hearing the music. While none of these things have anything to do with the meaning of Christmas, and some of these things make my cringe, these things bring joy to people's hearts. If I can have a cheerful attitude, yet carry myself differently in the way I communicate about Christmas, it might just make an impact on my peers. If I sulk and talk trash about all the cheesiness and such, I will only turn people off. For Sean and Brian, and me, it's OK to be cynical, but we need to keep ourselves in check with how we are communicating our savior. For those of you who put up nativity scenes and crank up the Christmas songs recorded in the 80's, more power to you. Just make sure you understand why you are doing the things you are doing. For the capitalist who puts on the big sales and cleans up from all the silly shoppers, good job. Way to seize a good opportunity. Just know that your reward is paid in full. The money you've earned is all you'll ever have to show for your hard work and creativity. To the atheist, you are likely as cynical as I am to which I give you props. I think you may understand that the whole hype is bogus. However, I encourage you to step back and think "what if?" What if God actually did love you and actually did act on that love. It might change your life. To all, be happy and enjoy the season. Enjoy the time that brings everyone together. Give gifts and enjoy receiving gifts, but do it all in remembrance of the gift you were given. The gift that you never deserved and that cost more than you may realize.
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
Even More Photos
I finally got some more photos up. I put Authentic Faith Weekend up just a few days ago, and today I posted pics from the Dodgeball Tournament and from the Celebrity Murder Mystery. Unfortunately, I only have pics from our group (granted, the better of the two), so if you have pics from the other murder mystery group...please share.
Ok, so the Dodgeball pics came from Stephanie. She put them on a CD for me. However, within the CD slip she had to give her own color commentary by writing me a note that said:
"Hey,
I know you're old so that might by why you're so slow. Here's dodgeball pictures, please don't be as slow with these like you were with AFW. :)
Steph"
Great...more confirmation that you guys just love me so much (HEAVY SARCASM).
Ok, so the Dodgeball pics came from Stephanie. She put them on a CD for me. However, within the CD slip she had to give her own color commentary by writing me a note that said:
"Hey,
I know you're old so that might by why you're so slow. Here's dodgeball pictures, please don't be as slow with these like you were with AFW. :)
Steph"
Great...more confirmation that you guys just love me so much (HEAVY SARCASM).
Friday, November 17, 2006
A Special Treat for Members
As I promised on the "wall", I have some exclusive video of certain members of the youth group. I only have a couple (literally two) thus far, and I've only posted one, but boy oh boy did I choose the best for first! I'm not making a link on the main page as to avoid invading people's privacy, but if you are one of the lucky ones that reads my blog, you get the link right here right now!
www.two14sw.com/video.php
Enjoy!
Oh, and equally as important...I added more pictures, particularly of Authentic Faith Weekend. Go check those out and leave all your lovely comments here.
Peace,
Jason
www.two14sw.com/video.php
Enjoy!
Oh, and equally as important...I added more pictures, particularly of Authentic Faith Weekend. Go check those out and leave all your lovely comments here.
Peace,
Jason
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Fooseball's the Debil
Looking forward to tonight! For those that don't know, the guys are utilizing the chill night for football. Bobby and I were reflecting on our current physical state and we realized that professional athletes at our age are at their prime. We, well, I'll just speak for myself...I am in the worst shape of my life. How'd this happen you may ask. Well, I ask the same question. First of all, I'm married. Now don't hear me wrong, being married is the best thing that's ever happened to me, however, the downside is that I have no time. This isn't all due to being married though; work contributes, an hour and half of traffic every day doesn't help, other commitments as well. Then there's the lack of motivation. Working out just to work out is miserable. I'm going to go run on a treadmill or lift some weights!? I don't think so. Play basketball, football, rock climb, snowboard, SURE!-bring it on. I'm just not as active as I used to be and it's depressing. Well, this week should be good. Football tonight, then again Saturday morning with the young adults. Hopefully this will start a trend. Maybe we can get something going on Sunday's after church (when the Cowboys aren't playing at noon). Who's in?
Well, I guess this isn't really something to comment on unless you want to encourage me, or even poke fun at me. You can poke my flab too if you want.
Well, I guess this isn't really something to comment on unless you want to encourage me, or even poke fun at me. You can poke my flab too if you want.
Friday, November 03, 2006
The Day of Master Hacking
So, for those of you who pay attention to the two14 website, you know that Jonathan got banned from the "Wall". I think I accidentally banned Colin as well, but that's cause his IP Address showed up in the midst of all of Jonathan's ramblings. Well, Jonathan became very heart-set on hacking the web site. Since that feat is impossible given my programming experience, I thought I would make an easier and more fun challenge for him.
I bring my laptop up to church almost every Sunday to run the lyrics during worship time. This week (and following weeks if they can't figure it out this week) on the desktop there will be a file. A Microsoft Word file named "Delete Me, I Dare You!" It's a valid file, they'll be able to open it up and everything. The challenge: DELETE THAT FILE! That's all they have to do. Note: I'm saying "they" now because Jonathan's obsession soon became Colin's as well. Jonathan knew that in his inferiority he had no chance, so he recruited Colin.
Sounds easy right!? Well, we'll see........
I bring my laptop up to church almost every Sunday to run the lyrics during worship time. This week (and following weeks if they can't figure it out this week) on the desktop there will be a file. A Microsoft Word file named "Delete Me, I Dare You!" It's a valid file, they'll be able to open it up and everything. The challenge: DELETE THAT FILE! That's all they have to do. Note: I'm saying "they" now because Jonathan's obsession soon became Colin's as well. Jonathan knew that in his inferiority he had no chance, so he recruited Colin.
Sounds easy right!? Well, we'll see........
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Let the Voting Begin
I got the names and stories picked out. Have a blast.
Faith, I hadn't even read yours, I never saw it. Then when you told me to just make up a name I realized that I had missed it so I'd better read it. I must say I was impressed with your story-telling. Too bad none of it's true, huh!? So I came up with the name "10G's and 2 J's". I hope that's acceptable!!!
By the way, I'm going to reset the IP addresses each day so you can keep voting.
Faith, I hadn't even read yours, I never saw it. Then when you told me to just make up a name I realized that I had missed it so I'd better read it. I must say I was impressed with your story-telling. Too bad none of it's true, huh!? So I came up with the name "10G's and 2 J's". I hope that's acceptable!!!
By the way, I'm going to reset the IP addresses each day so you can keep voting.
Monday, October 23, 2006
Voting Time
I'm going to put a Poll on the site for everyone to vote on the Greatest Story Ever Contest. I have a max of 10 entries, so I need to narrow it down big time. So each blogger needs to tell me his/her favorite story...your OWN story that you want submitted for votation. Give me some funny titles too. Here are some examples of the titles I need based on stories I've seen online...
Jake Box's: Family TP Thivery
Jake Box's: B's 5k Marathon to Vomitland
Jason's: Take the Dive(r) With Me?
Jason's: TP COPS On Patrol
Colin's: Flight of the Nerd
Lindsey's: All Tied Up
Wack Sisters': Mystery Meet
Sean's: Cry For The Little Kitty
Jake Box's: Family TP Thivery
Jake Box's: B's 5k Marathon to Vomitland
Jason's: Take the Dive(r) With Me?
Jason's: TP COPS On Patrol
Colin's: Flight of the Nerd
Lindsey's: All Tied Up
Wack Sisters': Mystery Meet
Sean's: Cry For The Little Kitty
Monday, October 16, 2006
My Wife Rocks *(and more info)
So I get home from work on Friday and Beth is sitting in her car with the engine running and as soon as I park she makes me get in. I have no idea what is going on, but she proceeds to drive us all the way down to San Antonio where she had booked us a hotel on the riverwalk for the whole weekend. As many of you now know, Paul subbed for me this last Sunday...she had set that up unbenounced to me over a month ago. So we an incredible weekend in a great hotel with great food too! My wife rocks!
Music Stuff
Ok, so I got some feedback on the current music poll. I am limited to what I currently know as far as songs are concerned, and as you know I'm trying to teach some songs that you guys probably haven't heard. But I am pretty out of touch with what is "cool" so I need your help. Please leave your suggestions for what songs you want to hear and why on my comments. Make sure you give me a song name and an artist. Optionally tell me what genre it is in and give me a rundown of what the songs is about.
Music Stuff
Ok, so I got some feedback on the current music poll. I am limited to what I currently know as far as songs are concerned, and as you know I'm trying to teach some songs that you guys probably haven't heard. But I am pretty out of touch with what is "cool" so I need your help. Please leave your suggestions for what songs you want to hear and why on my comments. Make sure you give me a song name and an artist. Optionally tell me what genre it is in and give me a rundown of what the songs is about.
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Murder Mystery
Hey guys, you can now RSVP for the Murder Mystery online at www.two14sw.com.
Also, I have a new poll up. With this one you can vote once per day since there are so many options.
Also, I have a new poll up. With this one you can vote once per day since there are so many options.
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
Greatest Story Ever Entry #2
So back in high school, namely 9th grade, I was pretty much awesome. I was great friends with all the cheerleaders which as a 9th grade dude, was about as good as it could get. One of my biggest "ins" is that I lived one street away from Cherish, the head of the cheerleading squad. Well, one of the awesome things I was known for was being the King of house wrapping (don't worry, this story isn't lame like Box's). Nobody messed with me cause they knew my mom and her minivan were always willing to go out past midnight and buy as many rolls as possible to make our mark. Everyone wanted me on their team and nobody wanted the wrath of Jason's Mom. Well, there were a few good wrap exchanges between me and the cheerleaders. I had hit up pretty much all of their houses over the course of the summer prior and the schoolyear thus far. They never directly got my house, but they would get one of my friends when I was staying over at their place. Eventually, however, they decided that it was time to get Jason directly. There was a HUGE sleepover with all the cheerleaders at Cherish's house and I knew they were going to try something. My friend, Brandon, and I thought long and hard as to how we would prevent them from success. Of all the great ideas we had (water balloon bazookas, paintball guns, etc.), the genius idea we decided on was to call the cops. Not 911, we weren't stupid, just the local police department. Of course, this idea was not shared with my parental units...we just thought we could pull it off. We stayed up all night waiting, then finally the moment of truth. As soon as we saw them rounding the corner at the end of the block it was "go time". *ring, ring, "Dallas Police Department, how may I assist your call?" Here's where I took over and my stupidity shined... "There are a bunch of people at the end of my block wearing all black and they look like they're up to no good" click.
Unbenounced to me, two weeks prior there had been some gang activity close by my neighborhood. So, they didn't send a cop car, THEY SENT 5! From both directions of my street came the cop cars racing with lights and sirens and the whole shabang. Me and Brandon?...our jaws dropped to the floor as we said to ourselves "what have we done!?" Out of each car popped 2 cops each (yes, 10 policemen for a house wrapping raid)! Guns drawn and everything, half of the girls (10 of the 20) dropped straight to the ground, the other half RAN. Yes, they just bolted; climbing fences, running in between houses...anything to get away. With all of the confusion and craziness, it actually took the police quite some time to realize they weren't stopping any gang activity at all, they were interrupting a teenage house-wrapping. Once all of the policemen that had chased after the girls had gotten back, they proceeded to gather information for each and every one of them, call all of their parents in the middle of the night, and issue citations. One of the things we hadn't thought of was that it was PAST CURFEW!
To wrap it all up, those things I said at first about being pretty much awesome and being great friends with all the cheerleaders........yeah, that was pretty much over after 9th grade.
Unbenounced to me, two weeks prior there had been some gang activity close by my neighborhood. So, they didn't send a cop car, THEY SENT 5! From both directions of my street came the cop cars racing with lights and sirens and the whole shabang. Me and Brandon?...our jaws dropped to the floor as we said to ourselves "what have we done!?" Out of each car popped 2 cops each (yes, 10 policemen for a house wrapping raid)! Guns drawn and everything, half of the girls (10 of the 20) dropped straight to the ground, the other half RAN. Yes, they just bolted; climbing fences, running in between houses...anything to get away. With all of the confusion and craziness, it actually took the police quite some time to realize they weren't stopping any gang activity at all, they were interrupting a teenage house-wrapping. Once all of the policemen that had chased after the girls had gotten back, they proceeded to gather information for each and every one of them, call all of their parents in the middle of the night, and issue citations. One of the things we hadn't thought of was that it was PAST CURFEW!
To wrap it all up, those things I said at first about being pretty much awesome and being great friends with all the cheerleaders........yeah, that was pretty much over after 9th grade.
Monday, October 02, 2006
Great Stories Contest
In case you were not aware, Jake Box started a new contest...check out his blog to figure it out.
I have so many good TRUE stories that people can hardly believe are true. From Audio Adrenaline using my guitar on stage at a concert, to playing football with Jars of Clay 5 on 5, to being the head engineer for a national Warner Brothers publication (twice), to being in a band and selling 1000 albums and getting interviewed and played on the radio, to playing as the opening band for the Supertones and All Star United, to meeting Shaded Red, Plum, Shane Barnard, all of the aforementioned bands, and more. It's just too hard to decide which story to use. However, I think for my first official entry I'll go with how I proposed to my beatiful wife, Beth...
JASON'S OFFICIAL GREAT STORIES CONTEST ENTRY #1
It was getting close to our 4 year dating anniversary and she was sure I was going to propose on the actual day so I decided to do it about 2 weeks before, just to throw her off. It was a Wednesday and we were both at our respective jobs doing our every day routine...so she thought. I had taken the entire day off and had even contacted her boss a week prior to make sure what I was about to do was OK. About an hour or so before she was scheduled to leave for the day, I showed up in her office with my guitar. She worked around a corner so she couldn't see me coming. I just started playing my guitar and walking around the corner singing a song I had written for her the week before:
"Words to Say"
I searched my heart for words to say
That might explain just how I feel
It almost hurts to search so deep
When I've never felt this way before
You are the answer to my prayer
Cause you are more beautiful than I could ever know
And you are more precious than I'd imagined
Elizabeth, I'm in love with you
I took her to the car and blindfolded her. The actual destination was in the same parking lot of downtown Dallas, but I wanted to throw her off so I just drove around in a big circle for about 5-10 minutes. We ended up at a place called the Dallas World Aquarium. It's basically an indoor rain forest with monkeys, crocodiles, birds, penguins, snakes, fish, tons of wildlife and tons of cool plants/trees.
The coolest part was that we were the ONLY people in the aquarium other than staff. A normally crazy crowded place was closed for regular business and I had rented the place out just for us.
Outside we went to the penguin exhibit, and on the way back in we had to walk underneath the big aquarium arch (you're completely surrounded by water and you can see the fish, etc.) and in there was a diver who as we walked underneath held up a giant sign that said "BETH, WILL YOU MARRY ME?"-and then it had a "YES" and "NO" checkbox By the time she turned around towards me to make sure it was for real I was already knelt down with a ring in my hand. I proceeded to tell her how much I care for her and how much I love her, then with tears in my eyes I asked her to marry me.
Of course she said YES!
We walked out to the rest of the aquarium exibit and there was a table set up for two with a candle and a rose (yes, in the middle of the aquarium all to ourselves). We were served wine and bread. They brought the sign from the tank (it was in waterproof ink) out to Beth and handed her a marker to check the "YES" box! We ate our dinner surrounded by many tanks of exotic fish from all around the world! We were free to wander around the whole aquarium to see and go where we wanted! Dessert was a decadent chocolate cake with rasberries, blueberries, and blackberries and champagne!
------------------------------------
Beat THAT TRUE story!
I have so many good TRUE stories that people can hardly believe are true. From Audio Adrenaline using my guitar on stage at a concert, to playing football with Jars of Clay 5 on 5, to being the head engineer for a national Warner Brothers publication (twice), to being in a band and selling 1000 albums and getting interviewed and played on the radio, to playing as the opening band for the Supertones and All Star United, to meeting Shaded Red, Plum, Shane Barnard, all of the aforementioned bands, and more. It's just too hard to decide which story to use. However, I think for my first official entry I'll go with how I proposed to my beatiful wife, Beth...
JASON'S OFFICIAL GREAT STORIES CONTEST ENTRY #1
It was getting close to our 4 year dating anniversary and she was sure I was going to propose on the actual day so I decided to do it about 2 weeks before, just to throw her off. It was a Wednesday and we were both at our respective jobs doing our every day routine...so she thought. I had taken the entire day off and had even contacted her boss a week prior to make sure what I was about to do was OK. About an hour or so before she was scheduled to leave for the day, I showed up in her office with my guitar. She worked around a corner so she couldn't see me coming. I just started playing my guitar and walking around the corner singing a song I had written for her the week before:
"Words to Say"
I searched my heart for words to say
That might explain just how I feel
It almost hurts to search so deep
When I've never felt this way before
You are the answer to my prayer
Cause you are more beautiful than I could ever know
And you are more precious than I'd imagined
Elizabeth, I'm in love with you
I took her to the car and blindfolded her. The actual destination was in the same parking lot of downtown Dallas, but I wanted to throw her off so I just drove around in a big circle for about 5-10 minutes. We ended up at a place called the Dallas World Aquarium. It's basically an indoor rain forest with monkeys, crocodiles, birds, penguins, snakes, fish, tons of wildlife and tons of cool plants/trees.
The coolest part was that we were the ONLY people in the aquarium other than staff. A normally crazy crowded place was closed for regular business and I had rented the place out just for us.
Outside we went to the penguin exhibit, and on the way back in we had to walk underneath the big aquarium arch (you're completely surrounded by water and you can see the fish, etc.) and in there was a diver who as we walked underneath held up a giant sign that said "BETH, WILL YOU MARRY ME?"-and then it had a "YES" and "NO" checkbox By the time she turned around towards me to make sure it was for real I was already knelt down with a ring in my hand. I proceeded to tell her how much I care for her and how much I love her, then with tears in my eyes I asked her to marry me.
Of course she said YES!
We walked out to the rest of the aquarium exibit and there was a table set up for two with a candle and a rose (yes, in the middle of the aquarium all to ourselves). We were served wine and bread. They brought the sign from the tank (it was in waterproof ink) out to Beth and handed her a marker to check the "YES" box! We ate our dinner surrounded by many tanks of exotic fish from all around the world! We were free to wander around the whole aquarium to see and go where we wanted! Dessert was a decadent chocolate cake with rasberries, blueberries, and blackberries and champagne!
------------------------------------
Beat THAT TRUE story!
Friday, September 29, 2006
Website Updates!
New pictures under the photogallery...
Fashion Show...what you've all been waiting for.
-I don't have a ton of pictures, and the ones I have weren't the best, but you'll get the idea. If anyone else has pics, you should send them to me to put on the site.
New Feature - Polls!
Just like it sounds. If you have ideas for polls, let me know and I'll put them on the site. You'll find the polls under the Blogs / Polls section (the link is a bit different from before). A neat feature is that you can view past polls and see how people voted. I can have more than one poll up at a time if you have good enough ideas!
Fashion Show...what you've all been waiting for.
-I don't have a ton of pictures, and the ones I have weren't the best, but you'll get the idea. If anyone else has pics, you should send them to me to put on the site.
New Feature - Polls!
Just like it sounds. If you have ideas for polls, let me know and I'll put them on the site. You'll find the polls under the Blogs / Polls section (the link is a bit different from before). A neat feature is that you can view past polls and see how people voted. I can have more than one poll up at a time if you have good enough ideas!
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
Leader Profiles
ok, so i use this more often than i thought i would. but it probably won't last long, i always get burnt out on these things.
anyway, i'm here to tell you about a new feature on the site: leader profiles. not all of them have filled in the questionnaire yet, but they will, and the few that are there are good. go check it out: www.two14sw.com
anyway, i'm here to tell you about a new feature on the site: leader profiles. not all of them have filled in the questionnaire yet, but they will, and the few that are there are good. go check it out: www.two14sw.com
Monday, September 25, 2006
Impressed With the Youth Group
crazy impressed
so yesterday a ton of people got together and we helped bobby and deathrage move into their new house. i thought, oh, maybe a couple of kids will show up and that should help. WRONG! a stinking ton of kids showed up and it helped TREMENDOUSLY! a few were being pretty stingy handing out kudos, but as a leader, i feel i have the authority to go ahead and give out 26 kudos per person. you really rocked the house guys, bobby and kristin couldn't have done it without you (neither could we, not in one day at least).
now, on to dodgeball. first of all, how 'bout us old farts!? we took those c-weirdos to town, did we not? hopefully that made you all proud. ok, so i admit, i stink as a dodgeball ref. my years of hoping to become a professional dodgeball ref, all crushed in one night. i can already think of a few calls that should have gone the other way...hopefully you can all forgive me. however, keep in mind i wasn't the only one making decisions, even though i had the fancy jersey.
speaking of jerseys...it was only by pity and self sacrifice that we didn't give the best team name and best uniform award to ourselves. in case you didn't know, kristin kailing was our inspiration for our team. DEATHRAGE BABY YEAH! the fact that kristin's maiden name was Deatherage, is just incredible. and did you see that intimidating face of hers on the front of our shirts? yeah, thats right, be afraid, be very afraid.
ok, then lastly, whether you guys like it or not, i enjoyed worshipping sunday morning. not that i'd want to go that long on a regular basis, but it's good for me to spend some extra time praising my savior once in a while. i'm glad jake let me do that. god even saved my voice for just long enough to make it through.
I LOVE YOU GUYS!!!
so yesterday a ton of people got together and we helped bobby and deathrage move into their new house. i thought, oh, maybe a couple of kids will show up and that should help. WRONG! a stinking ton of kids showed up and it helped TREMENDOUSLY! a few were being pretty stingy handing out kudos, but as a leader, i feel i have the authority to go ahead and give out 26 kudos per person. you really rocked the house guys, bobby and kristin couldn't have done it without you (neither could we, not in one day at least).
now, on to dodgeball. first of all, how 'bout us old farts!? we took those c-weirdos to town, did we not? hopefully that made you all proud. ok, so i admit, i stink as a dodgeball ref. my years of hoping to become a professional dodgeball ref, all crushed in one night. i can already think of a few calls that should have gone the other way...hopefully you can all forgive me. however, keep in mind i wasn't the only one making decisions, even though i had the fancy jersey.
speaking of jerseys...it was only by pity and self sacrifice that we didn't give the best team name and best uniform award to ourselves. in case you didn't know, kristin kailing was our inspiration for our team. DEATHRAGE BABY YEAH! the fact that kristin's maiden name was Deatherage, is just incredible. and did you see that intimidating face of hers on the front of our shirts? yeah, thats right, be afraid, be very afraid.
ok, then lastly, whether you guys like it or not, i enjoyed worshipping sunday morning. not that i'd want to go that long on a regular basis, but it's good for me to spend some extra time praising my savior once in a while. i'm glad jake let me do that. god even saved my voice for just long enough to make it through.
I LOVE YOU GUYS!!!
Monday, September 18, 2006
Dodgeball
I have to say that my day has been extremely dissapointing. I had a secret weapon I was going to unleash at the dodgeball tournament but he is going to be out of town. I won't reveal what the weapon is, I'll just wait until the next physical competition and bring it along then.
So I was thinking of a team name, and I'm pretty sure I want to go with the "Yes I Can's". Anybody want to be on my team? Thing is, I haven't even signed up yet, but I'll definitely be there to put the hurt on you senior high guys who think you're so tough. Any junior high guys wanna join me? We'll tear it up!
Oh, unfortunately, my lovely wife will not make it. There's a lakehouse retreat going on the same weekend that's been planned for like 6 months. All of her college friends will be at lake Travis. I will be there as well but I'm comin' back for the dodgeball. Beth has already committed to a lot of things that she can't get out of. We just realized yesterday that they're the same weekend.
Bring on your comments!
Peace,
Jason
So I was thinking of a team name, and I'm pretty sure I want to go with the "Yes I Can's". Anybody want to be on my team? Thing is, I haven't even signed up yet, but I'll definitely be there to put the hurt on you senior high guys who think you're so tough. Any junior high guys wanna join me? We'll tear it up!
Oh, unfortunately, my lovely wife will not make it. There's a lakehouse retreat going on the same weekend that's been planned for like 6 months. All of her college friends will be at lake Travis. I will be there as well but I'm comin' back for the dodgeball. Beth has already committed to a lot of things that she can't get out of. We just realized yesterday that they're the same weekend.
Bring on your comments!
Peace,
Jason
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Freezing in Here
so cold, so very cold
it's freezing in my office. i sit right underneath the ginormous air vent and the air is so cold. it's always cold. there's no escaping it. i wear a huge long jacket every day. i brought a space heater up here. my boss won't turn the air down. he refuses. i'm not sure i like him. i need some gloves too. i can barely type. i sure can't concentrate.
AAAARRRRGGGG!!!!
well, anyhow, i am eating lunch with jake box today, that should be cool. i'll let you know if he spills anything on himself.
does anyone read this stuff?
it's freezing in my office. i sit right underneath the ginormous air vent and the air is so cold. it's always cold. there's no escaping it. i wear a huge long jacket every day. i brought a space heater up here. my boss won't turn the air down. he refuses. i'm not sure i like him. i need some gloves too. i can barely type. i sure can't concentrate.
AAAARRRRGGGG!!!!
well, anyhow, i am eating lunch with jake box today, that should be cool. i'll let you know if he spills anything on himself.
does anyone read this stuff?
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Site Up and Running
new site is up
check out www.two14sw.com. it's the coolest site EVER.
ok, so, i got bored and went ahead and made the site, but i still want feedback and i'm sure i'll still need help making things happen with the site.
give me your feedback yo!
oh, i have an idea. if you want to host pictures for your blog profile, i can use this site. just let me know and i'll have you send me the file(s).
check out www.two14sw.com. it's the coolest site EVER.
ok, so, i got bored and went ahead and made the site, but i still want feedback and i'm sure i'll still need help making things happen with the site.
give me your feedback yo!
oh, i have an idea. if you want to host pictures for your blog profile, i can use this site. just let me know and i'll have you send me the file(s).
Friday, August 25, 2006
Worship Feedback
Hey two14 youth. Give me some feedback on the worship. Like, what are your favorite songs? How can I improve? Do you want to help out (hint, there may be a "team" forming soonly)?
Peace,
Jason
Peace,
Jason
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