What teachers makes

Amen.

City on Our Knees

Role Models

(Wonder what’s going to happen to Tiger’s endorsement deals.)

Sir Charles said it best… He got paid to ball not raise your kids.  So then why do we as a society look to these super athletes in so much awe and hold them to such high standards?  This past year, two of my favorite entertainers have gotten themselves in the news for doing the unthinkable… that’s right, they showed that they were actually human.  Now in no way am I defending the actions of these guys, and by no means would I ever argue that the things that they did were by any means ok.  Earlier this year Chris Brown, whose album drops in like a week, was involved in an unhealthy relationship with another big name star.  Long story short it was a case of domestic abuse, physical abuse.  His issues stemmed from his childhood household situations, not giving him the right to act the way he did, but can probably explain why.  So because he can dance and sing we’ve raised him on a pedestal in which he influences the well being of the people?  Now this next example is a big one.  Superman himself, Mr. 350 yard on the spot, Tiger Woods comes clean to having an affair.  Tsk Tsk… This kinda stuff happens to people everywhere.  People as people are fallen, we sin, it’s inevitable.  Again this is not an excuse for their actions I’m simply questioning the validity of their role modelship.  Just cause Tiger is the best in the world at whacking little balls into little holes all over grass means he’s all of a sudden who all kids should aspire to be.  REEEDICULOUS.

Athletes and other superstars are still only human.  In fact they have more of a chance to screw up than a majority of the rest of us.  With all that money and fame come a whole new world of temptation.

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. – 1 Timothy 6:10

If all people are sinners than who do we look up to?  My belief is that if this is the case, than there should just be one to follow after, the only one who never sinned himself.  Jesus.

I looooove sports, and I support artists that I enjoy listening to, watching, reading.. whatever form it may be, I enjoy stuff.  But I don’t look up to these people as people I want to be.  I’m also a strong advocate that children shouldn’t either.  We all had role models when we were growing up, heroes to which we aspired our hopes and dreams.  How do we really want to be?  Who do we really want to emulate?

Charles Barkley said it best… he’s not your role model, he got paid to be good at basketball.  Yet… Nike is the one lifting him up, oh the contradictions… Let’s look to someone who’s worthy enough to be idolized, not cause they sign lucrative advertising deals that make them look God-like in ads and on television but because they truly deserve to be looked upto…

“Whoever wants to become greater among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.” – Mark 10:43-45

Perry the Platypus

As a 23 year old… I never thought that I’d have the kinda love for an innocent cartoon as much as I do Phineas and Ferb. Okay that’s a lie.. I love cartoons and always have.  From Sponge Bob to Arthur… I still catch myself in complete hysteria watching such shows.  Really its all genius.  This past summer, I babysat for an 11 year old and an 8 year old.. so I got my fill of Nickelodeon and Disney.  This by far was definitely one of the highlights.  The combination of intelligent humor and kind hearted innocence continues to draw me back for more and more.

Find out who Perry is… go watch Phineas and Ferb.

((Click on the platypus))

Enjoy.

Sing Sing Sing

More Beautiful You

This goes out to my future daughter…guess really any girl? iono, just enjoy it. =)

Wait and See

Nike (Red)

I Can Not Sleep…

This simple blog alone doesn’t come close to cataloging my life, it was a means to help document some events or thought that came along in my life, to help me remember.  Obviously I don’t blog too often.  No one really reads it, and I’m not looking to build any sort of following… I wanna look back and say to myself, “Oh that happened..” lol but besides sports stuff and sneaker releases, I haven’t really given myself much to look upon.

I think I’m gonna start doing randoms tidbits.  I’ve done this in the past and figured I’ll start doing this at least once every couple of months.  Thoughts, ideas, anything really that’s been running through my head.  It’ll definitely be fun to look back on that.

4:12 on a Monday morning…

- I love church.. I love to worship, I love sermons, I love being surrounded by people everywhere.  I hate that it’s so far away.

-Speaking of sermons, all I do on my free time is listen to either sermons or music while playing tetris online… Tetrisfriends.com has consumed my life.

-It’s weird meeting new people.  I like to think of myself as someone who is good at socializing, but better on my own terms, I feel like I’m the kinda person that can grow on anyone given the chance.  It’s always weird at first though… It’s like I’m a totally different person when I first warm up, not on purpose.. just sorta kinda happens.

-Professional athletes are glorified to an unbelievable pedestal.  But at least kids look up to them, I’ve seen a lot of influence that professionals have on kids.. I mean I did idolize Jordan half my life.  I just can’t imagine the kinds of thing I’d be capable of doing with that kind of money…

-Money… I’m happy I don’t have a lot of it.  Sure I say I’d do good things, but money really is evil.  Greed gets the better of you and totally takes over.  I hate being materialistic, I might sound hypocritical right now, and that’s ok… I don’t like being like that, but it’s a work in progress.

4:20… It’s only been 8 minutes.

-I wonder why I can’t sleep.  Actually I haven’t been able to sleep very well as of late.. I fell asleep this morning as I was giving blood, then fell back asleep when I got home from that getting ready to go to church.

-Instead of sleeping I’ve been reading and watching movies.  I’ve been reading a bunch of C.S. Lewis.  His language is outdated and foreign to me, but I could still make out what he’s saying… for the most part anyway.  I also just read a book called Everything is Illuminated which was really good, I wish I read more.

-I’ve been watching a whole buncha movies too, well this past break anyway.  Which reminds me I should probably stop downloading movies… in all honesty though, redbox charges 1$, I’ll just start putting $1 into a jar everytime I watch a movie.. even if I own it.. makes things a bit more interesting.. and maybe at the end of next year, I’ll donate it all to a better cause than Hollywood.

-I really want to travel.  California would be pretty fun.  Outside of the country would be fun too.  There’s no specific place that I want to go more than anywhere else.  I figure I have a long life ahead of me to travel.

-Hopefully I won’t have to travel alone.  Relationships… kinda don’t know where I am with this one.  I mean I’m not sitting here longing to be in one, nor am I living each day looking for a potential spouse.  I’m very happy being able to grow in my relationship with God and continue learning how to take care of myself… the very fact that I’m up at 4:30 in the morning says a lot about the way I take care of myself.  There’s still a lot of room for growth, and I most definitely see that it’s a lot easier to do that without distractions that come with being in a relationship……. On the other hand I am a sucker for romance.  I CAN NOT wait to meet my future wife and begin my life long friendship with that person.  I mean above all Love is the most important right?  You can’t take that out of any context… Love is so almighty, its the golden rule.  Anyway, so I’m not sure about that.  I don’t even know if I know how to initiate conversation with girls.

-If I were to say what kinda girl I’d be interested in… I’d say one that’s seeking after God’s heart, sense of humor is very big, independent to the point that she can come up with her own set of values, but at the same time open minded, should most definitely be compassionate and understanding of the world around us, to follow after Christ and not acknowledge the needs of the world just don’t seem to go hand in hand with me.  Smart, I’d want to be with a smart girl, she can be smarter than me, as long as I can learn from her.  Respectful and nice… This one’s pretty big, pretty self explanatory, being kind is really we should all strive to be more.  Sense of adventure, whether its diving into a new novel, or bungee jumping, always down for something exciting.  Now with all that being said 5″5′ 120 Blonde with green eyes and long hair……. j/k

-Now after that last bullet I want to say by no means am I going around looking for a girl like this.  It’s silly for me to paint a picture of what only God can.  I don’t know what I’m going to have fun lunch today let alone what kind of girl I’ll end up marrying… if that even is God’s plan for me.

-Humility.  I’ve been pretty convicted as of late to be more humble.  Especially while already exhibiting humility it can be easy to get caught up in the act.  Being humble to portray an image of some sort.  Essentially I want to get down to the core of humility and represent it in everything I do without realizing it.  Sitting here typing a biography of a girl who doesn’t know I even exist doesn’t really fit that model.  I don’t deserve anything.  And I really have to remember that.

-Sneakers.  Speaking of not deserving anything, why in the world do I have so many shoes… One day in the near future, it’ll all get gone somehow… someday… =/

-School.  I hate being in college… 6 years. Yeesh.  I love being in an elementary school.  Teaching is fun, I get in a zone, its up one day its down the next, never a dull moment.

-These past few months have been really eye opening for me…  I’ve always had this “me” state of mind…  Do what’s best for Joe, look out for Joe, What can I do make make Joe’s life as best as possible…  With a lot of life experiences within the past few months, it’s almost unbelievable how quickly one can change this perspective of their own life.  I’ve already come close to doing 180s on life with the way I live and the choices I make, but it doesn’t mean I’m anywhere near perfect, far from it.  I just like to believe that I now make choices not to my satisfaction alone but to that of Christ, in line with his teachings.

-I kinda want to eventually write or co-write a book.  My family’s story is interesting, I’m sure someone will get something out of reading about it.

-Speaking of which I visited my grandpa’s grave the other day, it was a bit scary yet relaxing at the same time.  I brought my Bible with me and just read.

-I’m pretty nervous about where life’s gonna take me, but I enjoy living it moment by moment, it adds excitement and keeps things in a more magnified perspective.

-I’ll tell you one thing though life is so much better through these Jesus goggles.

-5:02 I’m getting a bit tired… I pray I wake up in 2 hours…

Night

Enemy of the State

..was a good movie, Will Smith x Gene Hackman x Baltimore, it worked well.

Lupe’s new mixtape happens to share the same name… also works well.

11 tracks // around 22 minutes // Click on the picture // Happy Thanksgiving.

01 Intro
02 The National Anthem (Radiohead)
03 Turnt Up (Travis Porter)
04 Fireman (Yoga Flame) (Lil Wayne)
05 L.A.S.E.R.S. Manifesto Interlude
06 Angels (rmx) (Dirty Money)
07 So Ghetto (Jay-Z)
08 Say Something (Timabaland)
09 Thank You (Jay-Z)
10 The One (Slaughterhouse)
11 Popular Demand (Clipse)

Props to Mr. Mister