26 February, 2007

They're taking the hobbits to Isengard!

Ha! Love it.

Friendly Friends.

I like having friends, I've discovered.
I've always sort of had friends, I guess, but only recently have I had any real friends.
I've usually been one of the favourites in my friendship groups, I hope I don't sound like I'm bragging or anything, that's just the way it normally is/was. But even though I was the 'favourite', my friends never really cared about me, and loved me. I mean, they'd say they did, but I never really felt it.

Just recently, as in late last year/early this year, have I had any friends who are of great value to me, and treat me like I'm of great value to them. I've always wanted friends like this. Always. And I always wondered why I didn't have fantastic friends, why my friends didn't mean everything to me like they meant everything to other people.
I still don't know the answer to that question.

Having friends who love you is pretty much one of the best things in the world.

The other day, for example, was a time when I felt loved; I'd missed youth on Friday because of Veta camp, and on Sunday night at church, more people than I'd expected commented on how they'd missed me on Friday, and how it was weird that I wasn't there. I know they were just words, but they were said with meaning, and they meant a lot to me.
"Wow, people actually missed me!" I've never had that feeling before.

I've always been really shy, and quiet. I think I assumed that my presence just always goes unnoticed... apparently not so.


One of the strange things is as well, that I don't know if I'd consider myself to be close friends with a lot of these people. That might just be me beating myself up and saying that 'they don't really like you that much', but I don't know them a whole lot... and still, some of the friends and acquaintances I've made recently are the best friends I've ever had.

Music

Hmm..... nothing to really blog about, so here are some bands I've been getting into lately:

Lazy Susan
Damien Rice
Thank you, Chongy

Phoenix
Imogen Heap
Frou Frou
Brooke Frasier
Thank you, Taylor Twins

Hmm... So you should really get into it. Whoever you are.

Also I still love Sufjan Stevens, & Switchfoot & Muse & etc...
I really want Switchfoot's new album, Oh! Gavity.

Doo doo.
END.

21 February, 2007

VETAMORPHUS.
You should all do VETAMORPHUS.
Even though, if you're reading this, the chances are you have already done Veta, as the only people who really even know about my blog are old VETArans.

Ha. I'm awesome.

Anyway, I went on Veta retreat 1. last weekend, and it was good.
The part I thought was the best was actually the bible study of the genealogy of Jesus, which I thought would be boring.
I don't read my bible much, which may be strange considering I'm a 'Christian kid' but it just never really appealed to me, and then I felt bad because at church people would blab on about how reading the bible is essential and blah blah blah.
That's all well and good, I know reading the bible is good, and when I'd feel bad, I'd beat myself up and make stupid promises, like 'I'll read my bible 10 minutes every day.'

Unless you are good at keeping those sorts of promises, don't make them. You just feel bad later.

Anyway, I think the reason I hardly ever read my bible is because I don't know how! Did they teach me in kid's church? No. How about in youth? Maybe, but I don't remember, and there was nothing extensive. Connect groups? Hardly, maybe had the most of the three and still had scarcely anything.

I think there are a lot of Christians out there who don't know how to read the bible. Because no one teaches us. Maybe that's something I should talk to my youth leader about.

Well, we looked deep into the genealogy of Jesus and got so much more out of it than I ever thought we could. I really had no idea that you could look at the bible like that and get so much out of it.
I still don't know exactly how to read the bible, but I expect I'll learn a little from VETAMORPHUS. Coolies.

The part of the camp that wasn't so good was the fact that I didn't know anybody. I knew Digger though, so that was fun.
But everybody seemed to come from the same church or school, and their peer groups had started three weeks before, whereas my group only stared the Wednesday before the camp.
But everyone had their own little clique, and if you joined in their group discussion they talked about stuff back home, that you didn't know about.

I just hate that left out feeling, and feeling awkward standing around seeing the groups of people talk away. It doesn't help that a lot of the other people are loud personalities and I'm extremely shy in situations where I don't know people.
Although one girl, Kristy, saw me one time when I was by myself and asked me if I wanted to join them, so that was nice, she didn't really know anyone either.

Highlights of camp:
1. First bible study.
2. The other sessions were good as well. I like sessions. I'm a sessiony sort of person. I wish teachers were as passionate as the people on camp.
3. The beach. Love the beach. Went swimming in my clothes.
4. Listening to Switchfoot on... Sam's? iPod. (I had a song stuck in my head and I was annoyed that I wasn't going to hear it on the weekend, then I did, and t was satisfying.)
5. Using initiative! I asked Cheryl if they need more singers for worship which they did, so I joined and that was fun.

14 February, 2007

'The measure of a man's real character is what he would do if he knew he would never be found out.'

I read this yesterday in a little lame joke/quote book I have.
What would you actually do if you knew you would never be found out?
What would would you do if you knew you could never be found out by God?

As impossible as that is, it's a scary thought, and I really have no idea what I would do, but I wonder what I would be capable of. I'm generally a follow-the-rules person as a principle, but would my morals stand by me if I knew no one would ever find out what I'd done? Would I still carry the guilt, the shame, if I'd done something terrible?

I'd like to think that I wouldn't do something terrible, but the truth is, I really don't know.