ready to bite the apple. 
  
(so cheese. i love it.)
 
by this time tomorrow i will be in new york city - home of the yankees, rangers and my beloved sister. :) i'm so excited - even though the forecast calls for thunderstorms. meh. how reliable is the weather network anyway? ;) heehee.  regardless of the weather, i'll make the most of it as best as i can. guggenheim, central park, the new york public library (haha. i'm such a geek) are just a few of the places i want to see.  but on the bright side, even if it is raining and i can't go outside there's always mtv. :) 

switchfoot. omg.

went to the switchfoot concert in hamilton last night...

oh they know how to rock.

totally blew me away.

they were amazing.
____________

here's some brainfood for you (emphasis mine). read it. it's good stuff.

WHAT MAKES MUSIC CHRISTIAN? A question was raised to the guys at Switchfoot about why they aren't very direct about their Christianity (specifically not mentioning Jesus) in their songs. Here is Jon Foreman's, the lead singer and primary songwriter, response: It's 2:30am in Philly. We’ve been hitting it hard lately… very hard! The road is long and worthy of resting for. But I just read a question worthy of response. First off, thank you for your compliments. I would love to speak to all of you in person as I've had some great conversations so far this tour and look forward to many more. To be honest, this question grieves me because I feel that it represents a much bigger issue than simply a couple SF tunes. In true Socratic form, let me ask you a few questions: Does Lewis or Tolkien mention Christ in any of their fictional series? Are Bach's sonata's Christian? What is more Christ-like, feeding the poor, making furniture, cleaning bathrooms, or painting a sunset? There is a schism between the sacred and the secular in all of our modern minds. The view that a pastor is more “Christian” than a girls volleyball coach is flawed and heretical. The stance that a worship leader is more spiritual than a janitor is condescending and flawed. These different callings and purposes further demonstrate God’s sovereignty. Many songs are worthy of being written. Switchfoot will write some, Keith Green, Bach, and perhaps yourself have written others. Some of these songs are about redemption, others about the sunrise, others about nothing in particular: written for the simple joy of music. None of these songs has been born again, and to that end there is no such thing as Christian music. No. Christ didn’t come and die for my songs, he came for me. Yes. My songs are a part of my life. But judging from scripture I can only conclude that our God is much more interested in how I treat the poor and the broken and the hungry than the personal pronouns I use when I sing. I am a believer. Many of these songs talk about this belief. An obligation to say this or do that does not sound like the glorious freedom that Christ died to afford me. I do have an obligation, however, a debt that cannot be settled by my lyrical decisions. My life will be judged by my obedience not my ability to confine my lyrics to this box or that. We all have a different calling; Switchfoot is trying to be obedient to who we are called to be. We’re not trying to be Audio A or U2 or POD or Bach: we’re trying to be Switchfoot. You see, a song that has the words: “Jesus Christ” is no more or less “Christian” than an instrumental piece. (I've heard lot's of people say jesus christ and they weren't talking about their redeemer.) You see, Jesus didn’t die for any of my tunes. So there is no hierarchy of life or songs or occupation only obedience. We have a call to take up our cross and follow. We can be sure that these roads will be different for all of us. Just as you have one body and every part has a different function, so in Christ we who are many form one body and each of us belongs to all the others. Please be slow to judge “brothers” who have a different calling and thank you for reading. Oh, to be so young, yet so wise. May God bless Switchfoot.

I'm in total agreement with this. Jon Foreman you are hero material.

Liz, (and anyone else who's interested), i uploaded the pictures from your weekend in toronto. you can find them here. :)

twenty-four...

to the best jeh in the world - HAPPY BIRTHDAY LIZ!!!! :)

(darn you hello. there was supposed to be a picture here, but i can't figure out how to use you. argh.)

perfect timing.

all I gotta say is...You're so awesome.

post-encounter

GOD IS...

good
awesome
powerful
so faithful
the "prayer answerer"
the breaker of barriers
the equalizer of the unequal

phew. what an amazing weekend (even with the crazy cold/rainy weather in haliburton and the lack of heating in...every single building we were in). :) just what i needed. still gathering my thoughts from the whole retreat and everything that happened, but i think that it can be summed up in one sentence:

Once again, God knew exactly what I needed.

thanks Father - for knowing me so well, and for leading me to Encounter.

ah-weeeee-eee-eeeee-eeeeee...

A wimoweh, a-wimoweh a-wimoweh, a wimoweh
A wimoweh, a-wimoweh a-wimoweh, a wimoweh
A wimoweh, a-wimoweh a-wimoweh, a wimoweh
A wimoweh, a-wimoweh a-wimoweh, a wimoweh

In the jungle the mighty jungle the lion sleeps tonight
In the jungle the quiet jungle the lion sleeps tonight

Near the village the peaceful village the lion sleeps tonight
Near the village the quiet village the lion sleeps tonight

Hush my darling, don't fear my darling. The lion sleeps tonight.
Hush my darling, don't fear my darling. The lion sleeps tonight

oh, how i've missed this one. what a great song. how can you not smile? :)

"feels like hooome to me..."

...because i am home! :) *gotta love using lyrics completely out of the context that they're meant to be in* :P

thought of the day: yesterday i hated packing. today, unpacking is even worse.

but i'm home! so that makes up for it. :D

tiff & amy: i'm missing the csi parties already. :( hahaha.

"and i'm freeeeeeeeeee..."

well, my second year at laurier is officially over!!! :D

good grief time passes by fast in university. anyway, this weekend (so far) has been filled with, good talking times with tiff, CSI...and more CSI. :)

things are good. now all that's left to clean up the mess that the tornado made when it came into my room sometime during the past week or so. funny, how it was only my room that seemed to be effected by this tornado... :P

gundy

i love gundy bear (aka. "gundy").

he's my all-time-favourite-all-star-hug-and-squish-i-love-him-all-the-time bear. (he's a white Gund polar bear looking thing.) :) i've never washed him in the washing machine before - i don't trust them. good grief i wash him by hand and after that's done, i wrap him up in a towel and blow him dry with my hairdryer. (or, at least blow him a little dryer). on the COOL setting so his fur doesn't get all messed up, demented, gross and ugly. i've had him ever since i was little and for as long as i can remember i have been calling him the name which i had so lovingly bestowed upon him, gundy bear. i remember when my best-friend in elementary school received a pink gund bear she wanted to name hers gundy too...

i wouldn't let her. he had to either be gundy jr. or another name completely.

before you think i'm a horrible mean bitter person, hear me out. it wasn't that i was being mean. but it was because i didn't want gundy to feel as though he wasn't as special anymore because another bear was going around with his name. Gundy bear was the only "gundy" i knew of - and that was MY name, for MY bear. i was pretty firm about it too. i actually remember getting pretty upset about the whole thing. and this was probably like...when i was 9 or so. it was alright though, she understood. (she was a great best-friend). :)

anyway, back to the point of this blog. so just realized that there is more than one gund bear out there going by the name gundy. now, just as i was little ehh about the whole thing when i was 9, the feelings are kind of coming back again. *sigh* some things never change i guess. gundy (though people make fun of the name when they first find out what my bear's name is) is an awesome name. everybody wants it for their bear too. the only problem is that gundy was my special name for my favourite bear in the whole world...but now it doesn't seem all that special anymore. :(

maybe i should rename him? hmmm....what do you think of the name OscarFred? :) beeheehee (hahaha. still gets me everytime. i love it.)

man. maybe i just need to let the name thing go. (but ack! it's hard!) maybe i need to grow up. (and maybe, i need to get ready for my exam that's real soon). ;)