So let me set the scene: I’m sitting in my living room editing photos. And I hear a thud against the window. No big deal, I wait to see my family walk up to the door.. But they never did!! I go outside to investigate and find that a bird has died mid-flight and slammed into our window! I swear if a bunch of birds start falling out of the air like they did in Missouri I’m leaving the country!!!
When you want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe, then you’ll be successful.
Saturday Dec 3, 2011
I was driving to Meads to finish hanging my gallery. I hadn’t had a very good morning. And I asked myself, why not. What’s holding me back. I have been trying to get a job in Colorado for over 2 months now.
I made it to Colorado and decided to surprise my friend Hannah with a visit. We grabbed coffee and caught up on life. She’s really cool!
I then proceeded to check out downtown Denver. It started snowing on my walk and looked amazing!
So I signed up for an account on Couchsurfing.org about a week ago and had forgot about it until I woke up shivering in my car. I sent out a couple requests to hosts in the Denver area.
I found a guy that let me stay at his place. He was super cool too. He had just gotten back from snowboarding. He has roasted marshmallows over lava flow in Guatemala!! I mean seriously, who does that!?! haha We shared stories for a couple hours that evening before going to bed.
Monday Dec 5, 2011
He’s a HS teacher and lives on campus. This is his backyard.
I woke up and was so grateful for having a place to stay. It was 3 degrees!! lol
So off I went. I headed to the mountains to find a job!
How neat is that? That’s pretty neat!
I made it to Copper and drove around. I found HR and talked with the pretty ladies about my application and found out the hiring manager was out of town for the week. POOP!
But hey, they have a half pipe thing!!
And a rock wall! Heck yeah!
Monday Dec 5, 2011(AFTERNOON)
Well I had done all I could here so I left and drove from ski resort to ski resort to check out the layout and talk with their HR departments.
Yup…it’s the Continental Divide!
Well I drove around and hadn’t had much luck. Some maybes but that wasn’t what I was looking for. It was getting late and even colder. I was at Winter Park and the motels in the area where going for $100. I didn’t know what to do. I sat in my car for like an hour. I zoomed out on my map and said if I find one for less than $50 I’m taking it. The second one I called they wanted $40 so I took it. I drove the hour long winding slippery drive through the mountain pass back to i70. Gosh this place was so sketchy! haha
Tuesday Dec 6, 2011
This is the place I stayed. lol
So uh…yeah. It was freaking cold! haha
I got coffee and gas from the gas station in town and got in my car to go…go where. I hadn’t been impressed with any of the other resorts. I called Copper back because some things had changed and they still had nothing. I sat there scouring the web for an hour or two. I applied for a couple more jobs and called asking for interviews with no success. Finally I remembered a Photo job at SharpShooters on Copper Mountain I had applied for two months ago. I finally got through to a real person and got myself an interview that day. I immediately headed back to Copper.
I got there and met up with the manager…let’s just say it didn’t work out. She liked me. She wanted to hire me. It just wouldn’t have been worth it.
I finally got out of there and went back to my car extremely let down at this point. I had down just about everything. I sat there for quite some time trying to decide what to do next. I was out of ideas.
About that time I get a call from Trevor, the manager at the Check In for Copper. He was calling in regard to a Night Auditor position I had applied for. Mind you this is the very first application I submitted and was then rejected for? He didn’t even see my application until that day!! What? ugh online stuff never works right!! lol
So I told him I was in town(haha in the parking lot actually) and we setup an interview. He said he almost sent me an email but decided to call me(So glad he did/God thing).
The interview went great. He wanted to check my references and said he’d get back with me the following day but that I would most likely get the job. He was shocked I was in town! lol
I knew I had the job before I went into the interview. It was a God thing. This trip wouldn’t have worked without the prayers of my close friends and family. Gods fingerprints are all over it. This was one of the most unplanned and crazy trips I’ve ever taken spur of the moment yet so smooth and successful. I mean I had a couple bumpy spots but for the most part I had an amazing time. I met some amazing people along the way and even made some new friends!
I never once regretted it. It was so great to be there with nothing but me. If I needed something I stopped at walmart. To my friends, sorry I didn’t tell any of you. This was something I needed to do for me.
So today I got a call from Trevor. I got the job. I will be taking the position of Night Auditor at Copper Mountains Guest Check-In Building on Monday Dec 7! Yeah, that’s the one that’s in a couple days! I don’t know when I’ll be back. But you all should come out to Copper and go skiing/snowboarding this winter with me!
I will be working nights. I’m going to pick up snowboarding. I’ll be staying in their Employee Housing complex called the EDGE. I am sooo excited. I headed home after the interview and got in late last night. hmmm I should prob pack, I’m going back to Colorado soon! haha Don’t worry I already know I’m crazy!
Yup. That’s Denver. In all it’s glory. Found a wonderful place to view the Sunset up on a hill on my drive home. I’m gonna find a pretty girl and we’re gonna come up here an watch the sunset together! :)
I like this picture because I feel like it’s a good photo showing the transition from Kansas to Colorado.
This is a repost but I found it interesting so I’m sharing it.
Source: Lover or Prostitute? The Question that Changed My Life by David Ryser
A number of years ago, I had the privilege of teaching at a school of ministry. My students were hungry for God, and I was constantly searching for ways to challenge them to fall more in love with Jesus and to become voices for revival in the Church. I came across a quote attributed most often to Rev. Sam Pascoe. It is a short version of the history of Christianity, and it goes like this: Christianity started in Palestine as a fellowship; it moved to Greece and became a philosophy; it moved to Italy and became an institution; it moved to Europe and became a culture; it came to America and became an enterprise.
Some of the students were only 18 or 19 years old–barely out of diapers–and I wanted them to understand and appreciate the import of the last line, so I clarified it by adding, “An enterprise. That’s a business.” After a few moments Martha, the youngest student in the class, raised her hand. I could not imagine what her question might be. I thought the little vignette was self-explanatory, and that I had performed it brilliantly. Nevertheless, I acknowledged Martha’s raised hand, “Yes, Martha.” She asked such a simple question, “A business? But isn’t it supposed to be a body?” I could not envision where this line of questioning was going, and the only response I could think of was, “Yes.” She continued, “But when a body becomes a business, isn’t that a prostitute?”
The room went dead silent. For several seconds no one moved or spoke. We were stunned, afraid to make a sound because the presence of God had flooded into the room, and we knew we were on holy ground. All I could think in those sacred moments was, “Wow, I wish I’d thought of that.” I didn’t dare express that thought aloud. God had taken over the class.
Martha’s question changed my life. For six months, I thought about her question at least once every day. “When a body becomes a business, isn’t that a prostitute?” There is only one answer to her question. The answer is “Yes.” The American Church, tragically, is heavily populated by people who do not love God. How can we love Him? We don’t even know Him; and I mean really know Him.
What do I mean when I say “really know Him?” Our understanding of knowing and knowledge stems from our western culture (which is based in ancient Greek philosophical thought). We believe we have knowledge (and, by extension, wisdom) when we have collected information. A collection of information is not the same thing as knowledge, especially in the culture of the Bible (which is an eastern, non-Greek, culture). In the eastern culture, all knowledge is experiential. In western/Greek culture, we argue from premise to conclusion without regard for experience–or so we think.
An example might be helpful here. Let us suppose a question based upon the following two premises: First, that wheat does not grow in a cold climate and second, that England has a cold climate. The question: Does wheat grow in England? The vast majority of people from the western/Greek culture would answer, “No. If wheat does not grow in a cold climate and if England has a cold climate, then it follows that wheat does not grow in England.” In the eastern culture, the answer to the same question, based on the same premises, most likely would be, “I don’t know. I’ve never been to England.” We laugh at this thinking, but when I posed the same question to my friends from England, their answer was, “Yes, of course wheat grows in England. We’re from there, and we know wheat grows there.” They overcame their cultural way of thinking because of their life experience. Experience trumps information when it comes to knowledge.
A similar problem exists with our concept of belief. We say we believe something (or someone) apart from personal experience. This definition of belief is not extended to our stockbroker, however. Again, allow me to explain. Suppose my stockbroker phones me and says, “I have a hot tip on a stock that is going to triple in price within the next week. I want your permission to transfer $10,000 from your cash account and buy this stock.” That’s a lot of money for me, so I ask, “Do you really believe this stock will triple in price, and so quickly?” He/she answers, “I sure do.” I say, “That sounds great! How exciting! So how much of your own money have you invested in this stock?” He/she answers, “None.” Does my stockbroker believe? Truly believe? I don’t think so, and suddenly I don’t believe, either. How can we be so discerning in the things of this world, especially when they involve money, and so indiscriminate when it comes to spiritual things? The fact is, we do not know or believe apart from experience. The Bible was written to people who would not understand the concepts of knowledge, belief, and faith apart from experience. I suspect God thinks this way also.
So I stand by my statement that most American Christians do not know God–much less love Him. The root of this condition originates in how we came to God. Most of us came to Him because of what we were told He would do for us. We were promised that He would bless us in life and take us to heaven after death. We married Him for His money, and we don’t care if He lives or dies as long as we can get His stuff. We have made the Kingdom of God into a business, merchandising His anointing. This should not be. We are commanded to love God, and are called to be the Bride of Christ–that’s pretty intimate stuff. We are supposed to be His lovers. How can we love someone we don’t even know? And even if we do know someone, is that a guarantee that we truly love them? Are we lovers or prostitutes?
I was pondering Martha’s question again one day, and considered the question, “What’s the difference between a lover and a prostitute?” I realized that both do many of the same things, but a lover does what she does because she loves. A prostitute pretends to love, but only as long as you pay. Then I asked the question, “What would happen if God stopped paying me?”
For the next several months, I allowed God to search me to uncover my motives for loving and serving Him. Was I really a true lover of God? What would happen if He stopped blessing me? What if He never did another thing for me? Would I still love Him? Please understand, I believe in the promises and blessings of God. The issue here is not whether God blesses His children; the issue is the condition of my heart. Why do I serve Him? Are His blessings in my life the gifts of a loving Father, or are they a wage that I have earned or a bribe/payment to love Him? Do I love God without any conditions? It took several months to work through these questions. Even now I wonder if my desire to love God is always matched by my attitude and behavior. I still catch myself being disappointed with God and angry that He has not met some perceived need in my life. I suspect this is something which is never fully resolved, but I want more than anything else to be a true lover of God.
So what is it going to be? Which are we, lover or prostitute? There are no prostitutes in heaven, or in the Kingdom of God for that matter, but there are plenty of former prostitutes in both places. Take it from a recovering prostitute when I say there is no substitute for unconditional, intimate relationship with God. And I mean there is no palatable substitute available to us (take another look at Matthew 7:21-23 sometime). We must choose.
“I didn’t shave. I didn’t eat. As my story stopped, so did I. You can’t go on without a story any longer than you can read a book about nothing.” — Donald Miller
Is it May already!? =O wow The past 4 1/2 months have gone by so fast! I’ve been to so many new places and done so much in the past 4 1/2 months it’s ridiculous! It’s been crazy! Super fun, but man it went by fast. I’m home for the summer and have a lot of fun things planned. Touring has been great! I already miss all my new friends. Laying here in my hammock in the park I sat down and for the first time thought about all that’s happened in 2011. It’s been a great year so far!
or at least begin to plan some, rather than having them be generic or impromptu or both.
i want to be creative.
Yeah I’ve been feeling/thinking the same way! :)
(Source: takecaretiredsouls)
Colorado sunsets are beautiful.
Coronado Island, California
The beach was amazing. Had great times with awesome new friends.
Tour Blog - March 13, 2011
Coast to coast in a week.
On Wednesday Aaron, Shelby and I hopped in my truck to begin our trip to Orlando, FL to go to Amanda’s YWAM DTS graduation.
I said my goodbyes to my family and we were off. We drove through the night on Wed and arrived in Galveston, TX on Thursday morning.
Halfway through the drive that night though, we got pulled over in OK for not having a license plate light. The officer asked me to step out of the vehicle so I could see what the issue was. I got out of my truck and shut the door as I was walking towards the rear bumper of my car. The only problem was I found myself unable to reach the rear of the vehicle because my two middle fingers on my left hand had been eaten by my car door. I turned and noticed what had happened and quickly reopened the door freeing my hand, which was already changing colors. The cop didn’t even notice what had happened. lol
As soon as we arrived on the island we went to the beach and hung out for a bit. We had hoped to go swimming but it was to cold. I took my shoes off and walked around in the ocean for a bit, it was nice.
We ate lunch on the beach at a place called “The Spot”. It was amazing. We spent the remainder of the afternoon wandering around Galveston exploring and joking around.
The next leg in our journey took us to New Orleans. Mardi gras got over a week before so there were beaded necklaces all over the place. We drove around the New Orleans Bowl. We got back on the highway and continued to Florida.
We drove along I10 everything had been going smoothly until a couple hours into Florida the truck starts making terrible noises and by this time its 2am on Friday morning and we are in the middle of nowhere. We pulled off the highway in a shady area and try to assess the damage. Finally narrowed it down to being a drive train issue. It’s late and we couldn’t stay there so we limped another 10 miles into a town called Crestview, FL. All the while my truck making terrible grinding noises. We found a Walmart and took a 2hr nap in the parking lot.
Once morning hit we drove to the Ford dealership down the road to see if they have any rear differentials laying around since that’s what I thought the problem was. They wanted to charge me $90 just for look at it and I told them no. lol But one of their mechanics came out and look at it anyway, after he had it on the lift you could hear where that noise was coming from better and turns out it was my transfer case which has to do with 4wheel drive. He added some oil to it which helped but didn’t fix the problem, we were on a time crunch and didn’t have the money for a new one so just decided to take our chances and drive it till it breaks.
By this time it’s 9 to 10 o’clock in the morning and we have to be in Orlando soon. We drove another 7 hours to a friend of Aaron’s where we ate dinner and cleaned up a bit. We Finally arrived at Manda’s graduation right as it’s starting. The graduation went on for quite some time.
After things settled down a bit we went to an IHOP nearby and were able to spend some time together. It was good seeing her.
After spending the evening with her we found it was time to leave again. This was a very short trip with little planning involved. I tour with a band called The Radiance Effect and we had a couple shows fall through and Aaron’s car broke down so I told him we could take my truck down for a couple days and then meet up with the band in TX.
So that Friday night after being with Amanda we begin the 18 hour drive that will get me to Dallas in time to meet up with the band before the show on Sat night.
By this time the two fingers I’d smashed in the car door, a couple days earlier, had swollen up a lot and there was vast amounts of blood pooled under one of my finger nails. I needed to release some of the pressure, so I bought a drill bit and whittled a hole in the nail until blood sorta just glurped out. It was kinda cool. lol it felt a lot better after that, since before it was nearly ready to pop! I got everything cleaned up and then we headed for Dallas.
We made it and everything went good, the truck didn’t explode, and nobody died.
Aaron and Shelby drove my truck back to El Dorado, KS and made it home safely. It is now Sunday and I am riding in the van across Texas for a show tonight. We will be in California later this week thus I can say I went from coast to coast in a week!
It was one of the best road trips I’ve ever been on. So many good times and memories. It was awesome seeing my best friend again, even if it was only for a couple hours.
Now begins the second leg of my adventure….Tour
We’ll be on the West coast for a month and then in the studio in Nashville for a couple weeks.
Surfing in Cali and snowboarding with friends in Colorado on the way home.
Should be a lot of fun and meet some awesome new friends.
Hey there peoples!
So I’m laying on some chairs turned bedish in a church in Dodge City. It’s been a long while since I’ve updated! Things have been good though.
Currently we’re on the Big Gulps tour. It’s an acoustic tour with Sean Lea and Corey Martin from the band I’m touring with The Radiance Effect. Greg(bass) came along and is selling merch while Ben(drums) enjoys time off with his family in Florida at Disney World! The tour’s almost over but it’s been a lot of fun! Oh and did I mention all four of us are packed into Sean’s little VW Jetta! It’s ridiculous! haha
I’ve met so many awesome people!
I talked with Corey tonight a little more about the music video. I’m still editing it. Hopefully I’ll have it finished in a couple weeks! :) I’m also working on getting another video blog edited! If you haven’t seen them yet check out the Neef Wars video I made on my YouTube channel at JoshTakesPics also check out the Effectcast 12 I made at The Radiance Effect YouTube page! :)
I’m tired so I’m going to bed now. I’ll get to see my friends and family tomorrow so I’m pretty stoked about that because I’ll be gone for about two months after this! :) lol