I just gone done watching Forrest Gump after a long day of sitting around. It came on channel 50, right after a riveting Modern Marvels episode on farm equipment. Forrest Gump is like the unsung hero of movies to me. I always forget about it, but then afterwards I'm always left thinking, "Whoa! That was the sweetest movie ever!"
So without further adeu...
Whoa! That was the sweetest movie ever!
I can't help but sit here, tired but not able to sleep, thinking about my adventure. How does mine go? Who are the lovable cast of characters that I'll get to meet and go through life with? What are the crazy adventures I'll get to embark on? Where will I learn crazy new lessons or engage in epic conversations, or experience phenomenal moments?
And immediately after that train of thought, another more awesome one comes chugging along - my story's already begun. I've already gone through the beginning of my movie - the part that sets the scene and the fundamentals of the film. I've already met characters and experienced tragedy and triumph.
But then continuing in that direction, I start wondering how life would be if it were really just a film all about me...
...
...
...
Yeah, let's not go there. That'd pretty much be the biggest waste of breath ever.
So I guess I'm not trying to say that life is a movie about me, me, and me (written and directed by me, endorsed by me.) But rather insinuating that my life is just another part of the story, and wondering what my side looks like. In fact, even more interesting are the possibilities of my interactions in other peoples' side of the story. How do I alter their episodes? Am I the role model? The geek? The antagonist? The optimist? The regret?
The end of Forrest Gump is amazing, too. It always makes me feel so... insignificant. I sit there, watching Forrest and his son perched on the same stump that Forrest sat on with his mom on his first day of school. And as the camera pans out over Greensboro Alabama, the whole story has an air of repetition. How does Forrest Jr.'s life play out? Who does he fall in love with?. Watching from the couch, underneath three cats and a load of laundry, I can't help but think about how pointless a lot of things really are.
Irritation with my brother, the copious amounts of leftovers in the fridge, my shiny motorcycle, the money I'm saving for the holidays. It all seems so worthless, doesn't it? One time when I was a freshman, I made a critical decision to bring my Gameboy on the band bus on our way down to Las Vegas for the state basketball finals. Picture this - there I was, on a bus full of band kids,* huddled under my blanket,** playing Pokemon.
Here was my (uncharacteristic) genius method of thought: In three years, no one is going to remember this. Heck, probably even by next year, no one's going to be running around saying, "Ew, there's Daniel.... did you hear he battled Charizard all the way to Vegas one time?" On a larger scale, there's this poster in Mrs. Dickerson's room that says something like "In five years, it's not going to matter what clothes you wore, how your hair looked, or what car you drove. What will matter is what you learned and how you use it."
But in 90 years, what will even that matter? What will your yearly salary, or your best family vacation, or your house, or your friends matter in 90 years? Wow. If it weren't for God, this would be an extremely depressing blog.
So where does that leave me? I love what Jeremy Malekos said one time: "My kids always know the answer is either going to be no, yes, or Jesus." Following that (awesome) train of thought and referring to the beginning of this paragraph... Jesus.
What does Jesus want from my life? How does Jesus want to write my side of the story? Because I've got a feeling He's a lot better writer than I am. Isn't it sweet how we're reminded how awesome God is through... Forrest Gump?
"When you think about it, there's so much holding you back. And yet there's nothing at all holding you back."
Or as Relient K put it, "This it how I choose to live. As if I'm jumping off a cliff. Knowing that You'll save me."
-Daniel
*Now I'm not saying anything bad about band kids. As I'm sure everyone already knows, band kids are the best group of kids known to man... and the second best know to felines.
**Yeah turns out I brought my blanket, too. I'm pretty cool.
Friday, November 23, 2007
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Good News.
Hey everyone, glad you're here to read this. I'm not kidding when I say this is the most important thing you'll ever hear from me.
That being said, I'll get started. (Please bear with me, as this will be rather lengthy.)
I had just pulled out of the Shell gas station in Hawthorne and was rapidly accelerating to highway speeds. I had left my dad behind (upon his request,) because his engine was having some problems and he was waiting for a trailer to come so he could load his bike up and head back to Reno. It had been raining on and off the entire day, we had been told, and so the road was slick with fresh rainwater. I had a white Jeep to my right as I reached about 75 miles an hour. Then something happened for the first (and I sincerely hope the last,) time - I lost control of my 2003 Triumph Speedmaster motorcycle.
You see, motorcycle engines are a little fickle at times. And after standing around for about an hour and a half in the 43 degree rain in Hawthorne, the engine becomes thoroughly cooled off. This means that it takes a substantial amount of warming up before it's fully ready to be ridden. But I was cold from the aforementioned standing around, and more than ready to get home after a week away in Mexico, so I went for it.
As I reached 75mph, I went to shift into fifth gear. This means I pulled the clutch, meaning that for a brief instant, the engine was idling. And since it still wasn't warmed up enough, it died as I completed the shift into fifth. Since the engine was in gear but not running, the tire was locked in place. Usually, it would have been overcome with friction from the road and done what's called a "rolling start." But the roads were slippery from the day long rain, so the rear tire stayed still as the bike continued to move.
I didn't notice anything at first besides the loss of power, but then the rear of the bike slid to my left, fishtailing. I immediately went into panic mode and threw down my feet to gain stability - they began to slide as well. I leaned wildly to my right and the bike followed, correcting itself only momentarily before slipping off to my right, again in a fishtail. As I mentioned before, I had lost control completely, travelling at 75mph down the highway. One thought smashed through the haze of panic in my mind: I need to get the back tire spinning again. The back tire was swerving left to right as I impulsively grabbed for the clutch to take it out of gear. It worked. The tire began spinning once again, returning stability to the bike. With the engine still dead, I coasted to the shoulder and stopped. I had some think time.
I was shaking from the adrenaline as I sat there, cars whizzing past on my left. A million thoughts sped through my mind. The most prominent was the little physics lesson we had been taught in my motorcycle training class. Our instructor had told us all about tires locking up; if the front tire locked up, you had to keep it pointed the way you were heading and get it spinning again, no harm done. If the back tire locked up, you had to be really careful to line it up with the front tire before starting it spinning again, because if it started going when pointed another direction, the bike would rapidly correct itself and you'd be more than likely thrown off.
How? I thought, how did I manage to pull the clutch, in a blind panic, at the exact right time so as not to be chucked from the bike? Luck? Chance? I don't accept those for a second. Luck and chance don't account for anything. I can tell you as surely as I am still breathing right now, God was with me in those few death-defying moments on the highway.
But you know what? That's not the point of this blog. God saving my life physically isn't the reason I'm sitting, still cold and tired and dirty, having not taken a shower or eaten after my long day of riding, at my computer desk in my house.
You see, there are a few things I want you to take from this story.
The first is this: I was being dumb. I knew my engine needed to be warmed up a lot more before expecting it to perform at highway speeds. But I was dumb and impatient and went anyway. I didn't think about the consequences and I didn't think about my safety because frankly, I didn't care at the time. But God did. God didn't say, "Well, I don't really care about this one teen aged, impatient kid out of a million down there, I'll just let this one slide." (No pun intended.) God looked out for me although I knowingly did something incredibly stupid.
The second thing Is this: I didn't do anything to deserve the outcome - God didn't base his actions on mine. When I was sliding sideways down the road, I wasn't thinking to myself, "Okay stay calm. Remember the training course and hit the clutch when the tires are lined up." I didn't lie in wait, stoically, until the back tire clicked into position before jamming that clutch handle and saving the day. Instead, I sat there with my feet sliding on the asphalt, yelling profanities at the top of my lungs and acting on instinct. And look what God gave me! It wasn't what I deserved, that's for sure. I deserved, from my actions, to be shot from the bike and land headfirst on the trunk of an oncoming semi truck. Ephesians 2:8-9 says this: "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast." God saves us not based on what we do, God saves us because He loves us.
The last thing I want you to realize is this: I recognized and believed that it was God. I didn't call it luck or chance, although those are surely easier, more widely accepted answers - telling you all about my incredible luck earlier today would be much easier than telling you all this. But I knew and proclaimed that it was God. In John 3:18, Jesus Himself says "Whoever believes in him [Jesus] is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son." I put my faith and belief in Jesus Christ and he delivered me from death.
So the question you have to ask now is: where does that put me? Maybe you've already placed your life in the hands of Jesus. Maybe you've already recognized that it's not based on what you've done or do, but rather on His love for you (that one rimed.) Maybe you've proclaimed with your mouth and believed with your heart that Jesus is King. If that's you, congratulations - I owe you a high-five.
If it's not you, think long and hard on this because let me tell you right now, it's worth it. God is worth it. Maybe you're not interested in religion. That's cool, neither am I. It hurts me when someone calls me "religious." it truly does, and here's why: religion is man's attempt at understanding God. Religion is the commentary on what God has said. I'm not interested in religion any more... I'm not interested in checking the box every Sunday or taking the "Communion Pill" to feel good about myself. I could care less about trying to impress others with how righteous I look or act. Now I'm not telling you to blow off going to church or anything, I'm just urging you not to show up, say some prayers, sing some songs, check church of your "to do" list, and then leave. I'm also not insinuating that the only result of religion is to take the focus off of God... in fact, I came to get my first glimpse of Jesus through a religious organization. But what I am getting at is that being "religious" doesn't bring you salvation - Jesus does. What I am after, and what I strongly urge you to seek out, is a relationship with Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. That, and nothing else, is what interests me.
Or maybe you're just not sure about this God character. Maybe you believe there's "something up there," but haven't looked into it or don't want to look into it. Please, please, please, give God a chance. Dedicate some of your time and efforts to seeking out who He is, because He won't let you down. Think about it - if there really is "something up there," wouldn't you want to know more about Who or what it is? God is waiting for you with open arms.
Thank you all for reading this. I know it was a bit wordy, but seeing how God can't be placed even into billions of millions of words, I'd say I did pretty good at keeping it short.
If you have questions, comments, hate mail, whatever, please feel free to contact me. Call me, talk to me, send me smoke signals. I want to hear from you all, and I want to help in whatever way I can.
I hope you're all having an awesome Veterans Day weekend.
-Daniel
That being said, I'll get started. (Please bear with me, as this will be rather lengthy.)
I had just pulled out of the Shell gas station in Hawthorne and was rapidly accelerating to highway speeds. I had left my dad behind (upon his request,) because his engine was having some problems and he was waiting for a trailer to come so he could load his bike up and head back to Reno. It had been raining on and off the entire day, we had been told, and so the road was slick with fresh rainwater. I had a white Jeep to my right as I reached about 75 miles an hour. Then something happened for the first (and I sincerely hope the last,) time - I lost control of my 2003 Triumph Speedmaster motorcycle.
You see, motorcycle engines are a little fickle at times. And after standing around for about an hour and a half in the 43 degree rain in Hawthorne, the engine becomes thoroughly cooled off. This means that it takes a substantial amount of warming up before it's fully ready to be ridden. But I was cold from the aforementioned standing around, and more than ready to get home after a week away in Mexico, so I went for it.
As I reached 75mph, I went to shift into fifth gear. This means I pulled the clutch, meaning that for a brief instant, the engine was idling. And since it still wasn't warmed up enough, it died as I completed the shift into fifth. Since the engine was in gear but not running, the tire was locked in place. Usually, it would have been overcome with friction from the road and done what's called a "rolling start." But the roads were slippery from the day long rain, so the rear tire stayed still as the bike continued to move.
I didn't notice anything at first besides the loss of power, but then the rear of the bike slid to my left, fishtailing. I immediately went into panic mode and threw down my feet to gain stability - they began to slide as well. I leaned wildly to my right and the bike followed, correcting itself only momentarily before slipping off to my right, again in a fishtail. As I mentioned before, I had lost control completely, travelling at 75mph down the highway. One thought smashed through the haze of panic in my mind: I need to get the back tire spinning again. The back tire was swerving left to right as I impulsively grabbed for the clutch to take it out of gear. It worked. The tire began spinning once again, returning stability to the bike. With the engine still dead, I coasted to the shoulder and stopped. I had some think time.
I was shaking from the adrenaline as I sat there, cars whizzing past on my left. A million thoughts sped through my mind. The most prominent was the little physics lesson we had been taught in my motorcycle training class. Our instructor had told us all about tires locking up; if the front tire locked up, you had to keep it pointed the way you were heading and get it spinning again, no harm done. If the back tire locked up, you had to be really careful to line it up with the front tire before starting it spinning again, because if it started going when pointed another direction, the bike would rapidly correct itself and you'd be more than likely thrown off.
How? I thought, how did I manage to pull the clutch, in a blind panic, at the exact right time so as not to be chucked from the bike? Luck? Chance? I don't accept those for a second. Luck and chance don't account for anything. I can tell you as surely as I am still breathing right now, God was with me in those few death-defying moments on the highway.
But you know what? That's not the point of this blog. God saving my life physically isn't the reason I'm sitting, still cold and tired and dirty, having not taken a shower or eaten after my long day of riding, at my computer desk in my house.
You see, there are a few things I want you to take from this story.
The first is this: I was being dumb. I knew my engine needed to be warmed up a lot more before expecting it to perform at highway speeds. But I was dumb and impatient and went anyway. I didn't think about the consequences and I didn't think about my safety because frankly, I didn't care at the time. But God did. God didn't say, "Well, I don't really care about this one teen aged, impatient kid out of a million down there, I'll just let this one slide." (No pun intended.) God looked out for me although I knowingly did something incredibly stupid.
The second thing Is this: I didn't do anything to deserve the outcome - God didn't base his actions on mine. When I was sliding sideways down the road, I wasn't thinking to myself, "Okay stay calm. Remember the training course and hit the clutch when the tires are lined up." I didn't lie in wait, stoically, until the back tire clicked into position before jamming that clutch handle and saving the day. Instead, I sat there with my feet sliding on the asphalt, yelling profanities at the top of my lungs and acting on instinct. And look what God gave me! It wasn't what I deserved, that's for sure. I deserved, from my actions, to be shot from the bike and land headfirst on the trunk of an oncoming semi truck. Ephesians 2:8-9 says this: "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast." God saves us not based on what we do, God saves us because He loves us.
The last thing I want you to realize is this: I recognized and believed that it was God. I didn't call it luck or chance, although those are surely easier, more widely accepted answers - telling you all about my incredible luck earlier today would be much easier than telling you all this. But I knew and proclaimed that it was God. In John 3:18, Jesus Himself says "Whoever believes in him [Jesus] is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son." I put my faith and belief in Jesus Christ and he delivered me from death.
So the question you have to ask now is: where does that put me? Maybe you've already placed your life in the hands of Jesus. Maybe you've already recognized that it's not based on what you've done or do, but rather on His love for you (that one rimed.) Maybe you've proclaimed with your mouth and believed with your heart that Jesus is King. If that's you, congratulations - I owe you a high-five.
If it's not you, think long and hard on this because let me tell you right now, it's worth it. God is worth it. Maybe you're not interested in religion. That's cool, neither am I. It hurts me when someone calls me "religious." it truly does, and here's why: religion is man's attempt at understanding God. Religion is the commentary on what God has said. I'm not interested in religion any more... I'm not interested in checking the box every Sunday or taking the "Communion Pill" to feel good about myself. I could care less about trying to impress others with how righteous I look or act. Now I'm not telling you to blow off going to church or anything, I'm just urging you not to show up, say some prayers, sing some songs, check church of your "to do" list, and then leave. I'm also not insinuating that the only result of religion is to take the focus off of God... in fact, I came to get my first glimpse of Jesus through a religious organization. But what I am getting at is that being "religious" doesn't bring you salvation - Jesus does. What I am after, and what I strongly urge you to seek out, is a relationship with Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. That, and nothing else, is what interests me.
Or maybe you're just not sure about this God character. Maybe you believe there's "something up there," but haven't looked into it or don't want to look into it. Please, please, please, give God a chance. Dedicate some of your time and efforts to seeking out who He is, because He won't let you down. Think about it - if there really is "something up there," wouldn't you want to know more about Who or what it is? God is waiting for you with open arms.
Thank you all for reading this. I know it was a bit wordy, but seeing how God can't be placed even into billions of millions of words, I'd say I did pretty good at keeping it short.
If you have questions, comments, hate mail, whatever, please feel free to contact me. Call me, talk to me, send me smoke signals. I want to hear from you all, and I want to help in whatever way I can.
I hope you're all having an awesome Veterans Day weekend.
-Daniel
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
!Nuevo!
!Hola por la pueblocita de Puerto Penasco!
(I hope that's actually Spanish and not some hybrid of Gibberish and Old Norse...)
Anyway, I'm here in the town of Puerto Penasco, Mexico. If you're wondering, it's at the tip of the Sea of Cortez, around this place called Rocky Point. It's been a total of roughly 89,642 adventures to get to where I am now, so I'll just skim over the ones that pop into my mind...
Set? Go!
-We had a total of 2 out of 3 motorcycles break down on our way to Vegas on Saturday... mine was the only one that didn't cop out. (Huzzah!) My dad's had some minor electrical problems and so he sent my uncle to continue on his way while I helped him out. Then after some time, when we figured out what was wrong, he sent me off after my uncle and sent Phil (our amigo who is driving his truck,) back to Hawthorne to get my dad's battery charged. Then I more or less blew right past my uncle, who was broken down on the side of the road... but it's not so bad because about an hour later, my dad and Phil blew right past him, too. (Don't worry, once we all got into cell reception, we coordinated and had a U-Haul on it's way to pick him up.
-I felt like I was in some kind of an action movie on Sunday afternoon, because my dad and I found ourselves hauling through the Southern Arizona desert towards the border with Mexico, racing against the setting sun and both trying to figure out ways to convince the Federales to let us through. (Dad had to disconnect his headlight because of affirmentioned electrical problems.) (Don't worry, we made it.)
-The tides here are crazy, so during low tide you have about 200 yards of would-be submerged sand to write on... Which may be childish, but I did it anyway. Now my name's forever written on the bottom of the sea!
-The comparison is stark here... we're in multimillion dollar condos on the beach, and not even a half a mile inland from us, in Puerto Pensaco, are shacks housing several families at once. I seem to be the only one staying here who is bothered by it.
-The other day I bought a genuine Luchadore mask from a street vendor (I bargained him down from 20 American dollars to 12. Booyah!) He called it "The Blue Demon," and my uncle and I have since formed the super duo of The Blue Demon and his faithful sidekick, Viking Man. Our mission: protect the Mexican Way! We've foiled many Pinata burning attempts and even stopped a few touristas from draining the infinity pool! El Fantastico!
-We made this salsa on the first day here, and they (Dad, Uncle Allen, Phil, and Chris [Phil's brother,]) added like 14 gallons of olive oil, so it tastes gross! And I should have said something, because so far its been an ingredient in EVERYTHING! Shrimp, eggs, tacos, cheese dip, even stir fry. No me gusta. :(
-Speaking of adventures, my uncle (Viking Man,) just asked if I want to go down to the ocean with him... When duty calls, The Blue Demon must answer!
Farewell!
-El Daniel
P.S. Don't tell Senora Lozada I'm using such blatant Spanglish in my blogging... The Blue Demon dares not upset her!
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