my goal is to start this blog back up.
and post regularly.
but if you know me well, you know that i may decide to redefine regularly to once every month or even year.
stick around.
hopefully i’ll have something interesting for ya.

weight that is.

since the discovery of my celiac disease early this year, i have been gradually losing weight due to the change in diet.
that, along with 3 weeks of summer camps where i ran, played, and drank mostly water, has caused me to lose a decent bit of weight. just throughout the week at sky ranch fellow campers were telling me that i looked like i was losing weight.

so i went to the doc the other day and got weighed. since around february, i have gone from 235 to 205. that’s right, a 30 pound weight loss. and probably 5-10 pounds was lost solely during camp.
so to keep this weight loss constant, i’m drinking tons of water, and trying to eat a bit less and a bit healthier.
so far it’s working.

it is quite early (for me)
and i sit.
listening to the music that will consume worship tonight.
some shane and shane.
some delirious?
the doxology.
and a song learned at camp.
and with my fingers numb and my voice hoarse,
i play.
i sing.
i realize the intensity, validity, and relevance of these words.

and i urge you to do the same.
don’t just go with the flow and use worship as a sing-a-long.
listen to and embrace the words. make them an expression.
believe these words.
and you will find a new joy for worship.

i haven’t cleaned my room (the attic) in about a year. i’ve occasionally picked up a few pieces of trash, but never actually cleaned it. so i have started on a journey to get my room clean before i go visit my friend in oklahoma on/around july 6th. occasionally i will try to put up a photo between now and then. if i can do it, it will be a great accomplishment. and i might find some things i thought i had lost.

so my buddy ben robbins, takes some pretty good photos. and he just happens to have been in New Zealand for the past year or so, which gives him all kinds of amazing opportunities to shoot in so many different climates and environments solely contained on two islands.
and i must admit, a certain one of a glacier gives me the chills.

p.s.
he made me do this. in my last posts comments, he threatened to kill me and my dog. i had to do it. i value my life.
(there ya go, ben)

i have come to the realization that the lot on which we reside does not like the grass to be mowed.
here’s the long story:
a week or so ago, i was mowing the lawn on the riding mower. i noticed that it was cutting weird. i thought the blade wasn’t tightened on enough or that the wheels might be low on air. i didn’t worry, though, because my mom had been nagging me for quite some time to mow the lawn.
then it hit me. literally.

yes. a sai. if you don’t know what that is, it is what raphael is wielding up there.

so, back to the story, it flies up and hits me in the head and i stop mowing. i am pissed to say the least, go chew out my brother, then drive the mower back into the garage. we checked it out and the blade is all bent up and way dull. now we have to buy new blades.
a day or two letter the grandparents come over to help. all the equipment they brought plus our weedeater work intermittently the whole day. so we give up again.
yesterday my mom took the pushmower to the shop. today we got it back. i had all but a couple of passes finished on the lawn and it stops. and now it won’t start. lame!
hopefully it will start tomorrow so i can finish the job.

in short:
lawn equipment will break if used on our lawn. our lawn is cursed. or something like that.

i am exhausted. this lawn stuff is crazy.

occasionally i check my followers, just to do some nice bit of clean up. today, i found i was inundated with spam followers.
my favorite:

to block or not to block?
it’s up to you.

-drew.martin

seriously, facebook? you can’t even get your own essential built-in “apps” to run?
my sarcastic comment to that:
“i make friends quite easily, and i’m not helping them. maybe i should. i’m not that great at ironing, though.”

-drew

earlier this morning i read on carlos whittaker’s blog about yet another tragedy in the church. it sickens me every time i hear or read of something of this nature happening. i HATE my dad for doing it and have similar feelings for anyone that does the same. but, if you can turn the situation around i will have so much respect for you for actually trying.
if anyone from revolution church in long beach reads this, i’d like you to know that it’s early enough where you can work through this. it may be too late for my family, but you still have time. we both need to be reminded that, though it may feel like it, God will not leave completely leave us in the dust. i have learned and am still learning from this craphole of a situation(to put it nicely). i must insist again that for you and many others there is still hope. stay strong. don’t doubt God. i’ve started that and it has just made me worse off.

here is the comment i left on carlos’ blog:
“there are no words to explain how i feel about this happening to yet another family. a similar thing has happened to my dad in the past few years. rumors at the church, yada yada yada, led to him resigning. we moved towns and he took a a vp of relations position at a local counseling company. it was the first time he had been out of the ministry since before i was born (at least 15 years, no more than 25) and the world hit him hard. almost 2 years ago, now, he left us. now the divorce is almost final, and i believe that he might have another woman. i know how INTENSELY hard it is for the family to go through this when there are seemingly no reasons why he (or she) should leave. as i read this post and wrote this comment, tears stream down my face. this experience has left me high and dry. i have so many doubts now that i never would have had. i hope its for the better and that its making me stronger. right now i’m searching for answers and i’m not finding them. because of this experience, i’m not in prayer right now, but i do hope the best for them. this is something i wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy.

for now, i just feel relieved that i was able to write that without a single cuss in it. haha

-drew”

lessons are learned everyday, but it sucks when they have to be learned from hurting and heartbreak.

-drew.martin

yes. there is snow in hot springs, arkansas. and yes, school is still open. bahumbug.

i understand that i never updated you on my medical condition. more on that later.