Cornerstone Festival 2010 was my first time experiencing the Cornerstone community. I went with expectations of what I was going to experience but I didn’t anticipate on the community that the people create like the sense that we are all a big family or that we’ve all known each other for a long time. I would end up in conversation with someone for a half hour that I nearly ran into and just started some good conversation.

I CAN say that I did not miss packing one thing! I went over my checklist 4-5 times and thought about what I was bringing for about a month before we left. After running sound for Element Church on a Sunday morning, Caleb and I took off to drive straight through to Marietta, IL. We stopped off in St. Louis to meet up with a friend for coffee. My timing was exact but I forgot about the time change! We were meeting at 6am but I got us there at 5am! So Caleb pulled out his cot and slept in the Starbucks parking lot.

After Starbucks, we have another 4 hours of driving through nothing but cornfields to get to Cornerstone Festival. That is probably the hardest part, not the 18 hours we spent getting to St. Louis, the driving through the same scenery for hours. 11am Monday morning we arrive and blast through the line and see a spot to set up our tent. We set up the tent and realize that the tent is not large enough to hold our stuff and our cots! Oops. Luckily we kept the Element right next to the tent so we didn’t have to walk too far for our food and clothes.

To cut down on costs, we stopped at a Walmart and picked up ham, turkey, cheese and bread. This became the staple for every meal. Cornerstone has carnival food but that can wreak havoc on you if you eat too much of it in the middle of the non-stop heat!

Camp is set up and we already hear bands playing on the stages. The metal begins! So we jump on our bikes and tour the campgrounds. Tents begin to pop up anywhere and everywhere they possibly can. If you watch the video below, we went and watched a few shows starting with a hardcore band with a female singer; this singer has a deeper voice than what I can even produce! After the breakdowns there would be a pause in the songs and then the girl would flex right before singing again and it freaked me out! Scary scary stuff. Walking a few tents down we see a band that’s hardcore (go figure) but they have some serious talent! In The Midst of Lions has some sick guitar riffs and they even have a midget screaming in certain parts of the songs too.

To sum up the first day there, we go to the skatepark and talk with some of the skaters and had one do a kickflip over Caleb. That was day 1.

My wife asks me, “So what do you want for your birthday? People keep asking and they need to know so they can buy it for you.” I’m drawing a blank on stuff. Maybe because I don’t need stuff. I don’t need stuff.

I would rather the money that is going toward my unnecessary birthday gift go towards a good cause. Telling me that you donated to one of these causes would make me happier than a wrapped box full of stuff.

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charity:water

Element Church

New York Dream Center

By donating to one of these causes, you will have made my day.

Do you ever get the crazy feeling like, “I have to do that sometime in my life”? I get those feelings quite a bit and I would have to say the most bazaar one is the desire to learn Mandarin Chinese. Why? I don’t know yet.

I picked up The Pimsleur Program and have been going through it over and over. I keep losing my knowledge simply because I don’t have anyone to practice with.

My goal: to be beginner level fluent in Mandarin Chinese by the end of 2010.

Chinese (Mandarin), Basic: Learn to Speak and Understand Mandarin Chinese with Pimsleur Language Programs (Simon & Schuster’s Pimsleur)

This story is going to be one of those, “he’s gotta be lyin” stories. Our dogs sleep in the laundry room which has a doggie door to a small outside patio that’s fenced in. Marlyse and I are seconds from going to sleep when we hear some crazy weird barking. I walk outside to see what I thought was a dog fight but I couldn’t really see because the outside light burnt out. I run up to Rhino and Ellie to see a small blob of something. They have a history with animals! It ends up being a neighborhood cat. I don’t know what it did to make the pups mad but now I’m trying to back 2 huge dogs off of this cat. I pulled them both back and what does the cat do…run inside my house.

Not only did this cat run inside my house, it runs into the kitchen and started making its way behind my refrigerator. I locked the dogs outside on the patio while Marlyse and I begin to talk softly and try to coax the cat out. The cat was so shaken up, it didn’t want anything to do with us. Marlyse puts on my snowboarding gloves and an extra sweater to try and feed it some tuna and pet it. That cat wanted us gone! It kept punching the wall to scare us and I gotta say that I did jump every time that cat punched the wall!

We tried coming up with any idea possible without calling Animal Control because we didn’t want the cat to be put down, just out of our house so we can go to sleep! Our idea of grabbing the cat wasn’t working. To further our options, I grabbed a suitcase and the laundry basket. Wasn’t sure how I was gonna get the cat in either but out of excitement I had them available. Then I thought how Animal control would catch animals (thinking back to the possum issue) and he had a long fiberglass pole with the line run inside. So, I created the next best thing. A piece from our old screen door with a rope in a slip knot. Oh yea, I’m also wearing two pair of leather gloves. Again, I didn’t want to hurt the cat, just get it out the door.

By my surprise, the cat was completely fine with this piece of metal around it while I was trying to slip this rope around it. After 10 minutes of diligent patience, success happened. I got the cat and began running backwards towards the front door that was open the whole time, hoping that maybe the cat would just book it. I got outside, the cat wiggled lose and away it went. Hopefully he’ll tell other cats of his stories and why they shouldn’t go in our yard!

After winding down, I had the thought of maybe the cat scratched up the dogs. So, we checked them over and I found that Rhino had jumped around on the concrete in a weird manner that he had 4 bloody paws. Ellie only had 1. We cleaned up the dogs, put neosporin on and bandaged him up. Now for the healing process.

Marlyse and I took our annual trip to New York City and combined it with a trip to the ski slopes and visiting family in Hartford, Connecticut. We have learned how to navigate throughout the busy city but this time there was a bit of a twist. I had my six foot snowboard bag where I also stashed all of my clothes making this bag close to 50 pounds. Marlyse had a big camping bag where she somehow was able to make it a carry-on!

We arrive in NYC and trying to cut costs, we take the local bus…with a snowboard bag and huge backpack. The drop-off is in the middle of Harlem where we have to find the subway. Because Harlem is a very active neighborhood, there are tons of cops everywhere. I think around every 15^th person was a police officer so I felt fairly safe walking throughout crowds with an awkward six foot long bag! Made it to the subway train and we get to our hostel. Our hostel room ends up having its own bathroom so it seemed like it was a hotel room, not a typical hostel with either a shared room or a shared bathroom.

Next, we begin our trek to west midtown to find where the New York Dream Center is passing out food and jackets to the homeless. We are walking in the general area where we should be at but there are cop cars, fire trucks and ambulances everywhere in the streets! Focused on finding where the NYDC stationed its food table, we see a guy handcuffed with around 10 police officers surrounding him. Later, we find out there was a shootout in the streets! We must have missed that by minutes. We walk for an hour going a block in each direction of the coordinates we were given and still no luck in finding it.

We just about give up searching when we finally see a table with food on it and around 10 homeless in line. Come to find out, the shootout made the NYDC van take an extra 45 minutes to get to its destination. Marlyse and I get to know some of the staff as well as help pass out food and jackets and then one of the staff members invites us back to their dorm after we were finished. We actually had no plans because we wanted to hang out with the NYDC as much as possible while we were there. So, we load up in their van, go back to their dorm and get to know 10 of them that were there at the time. Later, we all went over to the pastor of NYDC’s house where they were having a party due to some people leaving and some people joining. It was great to see a similar ministry to the TBDC and meet people with parallel passions and desires.

Friday early morning Marlyse and I walk through freezing temperatures to the train to take us to Grand Central. It always looks like a shorter distance on the map! It was a 30 minute hike to get to the 1 train! We get to Grand Central and get train tickets to New Haven, CT which took 2 hours. Then we rent a car and drove another 2 hours to Mohawk Mountain for me to snowboard and Marlyse to learn to ski. We got on the slopes at noon and stayed till 4. All schools let out and the place was flooded at 4 with tons of kids so we decided it was time to go! Drove an hour and got to Marlyse’s cousins house.

This family has three very energetic kids that want to do everything all at the same time. The also all want to talk to you at the same time and will continue repeating themselves until you’ve caught all of their stories, questions, comments or what game they want to play. While we were there, we went to O’Rourke’s Diner which has numerous combinations of eggs, omelets and pancakes. We love finding unique/local places to eat when we are out of town! Then we went to the Gillette Castle otherwise known as the Sherlock Holmes castle. We also played a lot with their cat and tried to get it interested in Catnip!

Early Sunday morning we leave Hartford and head towards New Haven all to find out the car rental place isn’t open. I drop Marlyse off at the train station with our stuff and I return the car followed by a mile run to the train station so we don’t miss our train. We missed our train. Our goal is to be able to attend the NYDC church service that starts at 10:30 but we’re in another state! After being late to the train station, navigating through NYC’s subways then hiking to the theatre near Union Station WITH all of our gear, we made it about 10 minutes late!

Being able to be there was important to me. I wanted to experience as many different aspects of the NYDC as possible while we were there this year. Marlyse and I made quite a few connections that will turn into long distance relationships. For a ministry just recently starting four months ago, we had a lot of information for them to help them with their process since we were in the TBDC for six years.

After dropping off all of our gear at Astor on the Park, the hostel we’re staying at, we jump on a train towards Brooklyn. At this point, it’s a drizzling, cold and wind blowing day. We get to experience it all! There is a lot in Brooklyn that we’ve been missing. While we were walking, we saw a few people coming out of this unlabeled warehouse. Curiosity made us want to see what it was. It was a huge warehouse for wall climbing and tons of people were in there! That was the find of the day! After seeing that, it made us wander what other warehouses full of surprises have we walked past.

The final adventure of the night was going to an indie movie theatre that also showed live shows and live bands. This place is called BAM and I wish they had something like this in Tampa! Monday morning, we wake up, get breakfast then walk through Central Park for about an hour. Instead of trying to navigate through all of the public transportation with all of our gear, we pay the fare and get a taxi to the airport. We’ll see you soon NYC.

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Hello 2010! Time flies when you let it, huh? Time to get ready for my 10 year high school reunion where I hear that some people still work at the same gas station or they work for Nasa; where they are single or married with 6 kids. Some people don’t look forward to reunions but I like to see progression. Even if you haven’t met every resolution that you wanted to since you left high school.

Rather than making a resolution to do “more of this”, it should be more of “believe in this”. Point in case: I was to go to the gym more (like every year) but it’s I believe I need to work on my waist line, not attend the gym 3 times a week. So if it means getting something to work on from home, then I can go to the gym once a week and work at home once or twice a week.

I believe that Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior and I know there are plenty of ministries that need more volunteers to help with homeless, less fortunate families, migrant advocates and global needs as well. I need to get out of my comfort zone more than I currently do and help those that need help so I can stop focusing on my selfishness. I know I need to get back to my roots and start showing my faith through my actions rather than just letting it slide under the table.

I believe I need a healthier relationship with my family. I don’t take the time to call them enough because I’m “too busy”. I need to know at least once a week how the family is doing and make sure I build a better relationship rather than wait on their phone calls.

Those are my big resolutions for 2010 and I know they are attainable because I believe in them and not just think they’re great thoughts if I can stick to them. Make sure you create goals that you believe in.

A few of us decided to take a camping trip down the Withlacoochee River. We had a late start but we were able to launch on Friday at mid-day. We pulled up to a river bank, found a good place to stay and set up camp. The guys were able to start the campfire without using a lighter too.

We each cooked up a campbells soup and then we made some smores. Later on, we saw a light that resembled a flash light. I thought it was a firefly but the other guys said it looked like a flashlight (which is weird because we were in the middle of nowhere). We looked around, didn’t find anything but we did hear some bores rooting around nearby.

After a hard night of sleeping on the ground, got up around 6am because Ben had the fire already started. He was using a little kids sleeping bag and it didn’t keep him warm at all! We used our Campbells soup cans for some instant Starbucks coffee. Leighton had a potato in his coffee…

We packed up the kayaks and launched at 7:30am. Paddled down some narrow and shallow river sections. We had to get out of our kayaks four times to get around some blocked areas. Saw numerous turtles, birds but only 2 gators. Was looking to see one up close in the water but nothing.

We paddled about 13 miles before we finally found a place that we could stay for the night. We trudged through some muck to get to a dock, hoist ourselves 6 feet up and camp in an old grow field. Later we found that we were in someones back yard, so we kept it on the downlow. We tied the kayaks to some thin rope and lifted them to the dock.

After staying the night there, we packed up our kayaks, paddled about a mile and found we were near the finish of our trek. We had breakfast at the local store then headed home. Check out the video!

I pay an incredible amount of attention to detail in every aspect. I would say too much attention. Today, I come home and I was fed up with the way the front yard looked. Have been frustrated with it but decided to take care of the overgrowth in the garden and trim the trees and bushes.

Another example: I realized about 10 years ago that I don’t like the site of needles. I thought it was the fact that I couldn’t handle blood, but I like watching Mixed Martial Arts and I cut meat up all the time. I use to work at a butcher shop. It’s not blood that’s the problem. My wife got her nose pierced and I end up passing out. I was out for an hour. My friends carried me out of there like I was passed out drunk but I didn’t have a thing in me. I hate needles! Why? I imagine the feeling that they give me if they were sticking me. While watching movies, if a needle shows up on screen, try as I may to stay awake, I pass out. Someone talks to me and tells me they got stuck with a needle the size of a straw – that’s all it takes and I imagine it and put myself in the situation. Attention to too much detail.

I am a software support guy. When someone is complaining about the software, sometimes I don’t really stick to the Burger King policy: Your way, right away. I get defensive. Why? Because I feel they are frustrated with me because I feel the software is a part of me. When someone criticizes my work in a negative manner, it is ultra hard to keep “business with business” when it is my work, me, that is being negatively criticized. It nearly got the best of me today. I had to take a “smoke break” outside and just sit on the sidewalk (I don’t smoke, usually just drink a coke and it’s a coke break). When I get hot, I start getting vivid, detailed and descriptive thoughts of what I have the potential of doing to someone to show them my frustration! Crazy as I sound, you’ve probably been there (or maybe it is just me!). I take things too personal and don’t know how to make it “just business”.

What is the answer to this? How do I supress this sensitive and graphic mind of mine that grabs ahold of every detail? Or should it be supressed? I will never be able to just get away from the negatively criticizing people regardless of what job I do. I’m always told, “Don’t take it personal. Don’t sweat it.” That doesn’t work for someone like me. Does anyone relate to this situation?