The Shape of Things

Tonight I went out with a few good friends to celebrate Mindy’s birthday. Even though we kept it simple by just going out to dinner at the local eatery I really enjoyed myself. You see I am moving to another state soon and I wont be able to hang out with these people anymore. I am not an outgoing person, I have lived here for 7 years and I just now feel like I have ‘close’ friends. I want to make sure I let each one of them know how much they mean to me before I move away. That will be part of my February manifesto.

Only to sit and think of God,
Oh what a joy it is!
To think the thought, to breath the Name
Earth has no higher bliss.
~ Frederick W. Faber ~

I am starting to realize more and more that I have tendencies to be anti-social. I enjoy a quiet night at home (which most people do) but I do it 3 or 4 nights a week. It’s time for me to step out of my shell and get to know more people. I am going to be moving to a new city in a couple months. It will be much easier meeting people if I actually have social skills. hmm….

life is all about relationships

I have been known to say that. But do I practice what I preach?? It’s time to.

I am starting a “shared” blog with a few buddies of mine that I am studying Knowledge of the Holy with. Check it out here…

Knowledge of the Holy

For me it always brings back a flood of emotions…

Seeing mom and dad. Seeing my sister. Visiting with old friends from high school. The first couple days when I go home for a visit I always feel like my ex-girlfriend is going to be stopping over at anytime. Swed and Scotty should be calling at anytime to go frisbee golfing…

Then reality sets in and I realize that my ex, Swed, and Scotty are all married. Scotty is the only one without kids. I can’t explain how strange it feels. I left after high school so I remember all those faces as they were 8 years ago.

I am also really lucky because I have a great family in Mn. I feel true love from them all the time. The kind of love that is a choice (like I am going to support and love this person no matter what) not the cheap “puppy dog” love that are just words.

• Spiritual Goals
• Read Book of Luke
• Prayer with Demsin once a week
• Start a Prayer Journal
• Set aside 10 min a day to reflect on who God is and my role in his kingdom
• Stay on top of Spiritual Formation and Essentials homework
• Love others from the deep resources of your relationship with Jesus and not your own will power.
• Repent from sin as early as possible by calling a confessing it to God, and notifying a group member of the sin.
• Fellowship
• Hang out with 1 member of small group once every week
• Call parents once a week
• Call sister once a week
• Career
• Study 2+ hours for MS Cert nightly
• No sports websites at work
• Follow up w/ Uncle once a week on Starbucks
• Follow up with RHI on job find
• Developing Intimacy with Kelly
• Send Kelly a Card twice a month
• Phone date once a week
• Find a couple “little things” that I can do for Kelly
• Misc
• No Spending on credit card
• Walk 1 mile every morning
• Fast food and pizza limited to twice a month

A few people have asked me what clandestine means. Well I actually started this blog as an underground journal to keep my secrets thoughts. Being underground didn’t last very long but I really liked the title so I kept it.

Clan-des-tine
adj
Kept or done in secret, often in order to conceal an illicit or improper purpose.

I am getting married may 20th. My wonderful fiance designed this for our “save the date” email that went out tonight.

Well, today was my Mother’s birthday. I didn’t get to spend it with her because of the geographical distance between us. Sometimes it is hard being away from family, especially on days like this. Anyway I did get to spend a few minutes on the phone talking to her so that is good.

Love you Mom!!

What does it mean to put God first?

Well, that is my goal. Here are my objectives to obtain that goal.

Developing my personal relationship with Jesus
1. Read 3 chapters from the bible before work
2. Pray for 15 min before work
3. Spiritual Formation Class — Starts this Sunday
4. Essentials 1 class — Starts next Wednesday

Developing my personal relationships with the people around me
1. Church — Weekly corporate worship and sermon
2. To Have and to Hold — 6 Part series from Chip Ingram that I am studying with my fiance.
3. Small group — Weekly deep connection with other men my age