God's Not Dead Tour

Yesterday I went to the Pecksville Assembly of God in Blakely, PA, with Chrissy to go see the God's Not Dead Tour concert. The bands featured during this concert included Anthem Lights, Abandon, The City Harmonic, and The Newsboys. There was also a speaker, Bob Lenz, and we learned about different organizations including Compassion International and I Am Second. We were blessed with very good seats when the usher misunderstood what our tickets said and placed us in the second row right next to the stage. It wasn't until later that I realized that we weren't in the correct section, but I viewed it as like getting bumped up to first class from economy class on an airplane.
The first two bands to play were Anthem Lights and Abandon. We determined that Anthem Lights was the Christian version of a boy band, but they were still very entertaining. Abandon was also quite good and apparently they are from Texas. I was super excited to see The City Harmonic perform. They played "It Feels Like Home," "Yours," "Mountaintop," and "Manifesto." I think "Manifesto" was my favorite of their performances because I love the piano section, along with the fact that they sing the Lord's Prayer towards the end of the song.

Following The City Harmonic, Bob Lenz spoke. He was very entertaining, especially when he joked about if they made Bambi Part 3: Bambi Kills Thumper. The point of his message was about how we all have a purpose in life, even when it seems like people don't want us or appreciate us. Also, no matter what our past circumstances, if we accept Jesus into our hearts and repent, we will be forgiven. His slogan was, "If the world says no way, we say Yahweh." This was followed by a brief 15 minute intermission before The Newsboys. During intermission, I browsed the Compassion International table, along with the merchandise from the bands performing.
We were a little late getting back to our seats, so Chrissy and I had to crawl across the row of chairs since everybody was on their feet for The Newsboys. They put on a really good show, playing both old and new songs. The lead singer joked that we should sway back in forth during one song and then said it looked like a gospel choir in a land of white people. He also spoke about growing up in D.C. the youngest of 9 to a preacher who apparently took the command "to be fruitful and multiply" very seriously (his words, not mine). They closed with the song "God's Not Dead," which was quite fitting given the name of their tour, which I don't believe should be considered a world tour, considering all of the cities visited were in the United States, except for one trip into Canada.

After the concert, we browsed the tables for another brief couple of minutes. I bought a small The City Harmonic poster so that I could have the band sign it and Chrissy also got my picture with the band. All in all it was a good night of music that we followed up with a trip to Perkins for some french toast before going home. If you'd like to see some of the concert, click the link for God's Not Dead Tour.

Spruce Lake Retreat

This past weekend I went with my young adult Bible study group to the Spruce Lake Retreat Center in Canadensis, PA. It was a great weekend all around, with much fun had by all.
We arrived at Spruce Lake around 9:45pm on Friday and unloaded the vans in order to get situated in our cabin. Once we were all settled, we played a couple rounds of Loaded Questions in order to get acquainted with one another. During this time, we also ate some soft pretzels as a late night snack before dispersing for bed.
The next morning we had breakfast burritos made by Wes, Roshelle, and Karl, which were delicious. Breakfast was then followed by worship in music and then a teaching on 1 Corinthians 1:30 by Jim. The teaching focused on how we need to have our lives centered on Christ and that we are given new life through Him. Also, we can never gain righteousness on our own, only through Jesus. We then had about 15 minutes of prayer before Jim's second teaching, which focused upon sanctification. He taught that sanctification is two-fold: first we are sanctified (set apart) when we first believe, and then God continually sanctifies us throughout the course of our lives. This is because of the indwelling sin that we have in us. It's dead, but still present. We are no longer slaves to sin, but that desire in our nature still exists and is only dampened through God's sanctifying of our souls. We cannot and should not try to reform ourselves, for this is God's job. It involves the painful death of our sins in order to enjoy the joy of God. If we refuse to let go of our idols, our joy will be limited.

Following Jim's teaching, we enjoyed some relaxation outside on the swings that were built around the fire pit. Some people read, others chatted, and a couple played guitar. We then enjoyed chili for lunch before tackling the hike, aka Powerstroke 5000. The view was fantastic once we reached the top, and the weather was gorgeous. Soon we all headed back down to the cabin for some round-robin ping pong, followed by some head to head games to 7. Schulte crushed us all by winning almost 20 games in a row before dinner. Dinner consisted of angel hair pasta and a meat sauce that Heather made using the recipe of an Italian woman from Staten Island.

Following dinner, we watched a documentary entitled Catfish. This was about the influence of social media and how some can use it to deceive others. A man from NYC had developed a close bond with this family in Michigan, but he soon discovered that the majority of it was a scam set up by a woman who was just desperate for attention. Our discussion afterwards confronted whether or not this was real and also made us question how we interact with others using social media. It definitely makes you question how honest people are being, but even in person, people can lie to you. We all enjoyed some icecream during our discussion, followed by a jam session that included vocals, guitar, a drum, along with an assortment of household items such as a cheese grater, pots and pans, wooden spoons, a cooler, and a pink lemonade container. I then went outside to enjoy the campfire for a while before coming back inside to take notes on an audio book while others either read or played Scrabble. There was a bit of a dispute over whether "gorer" was a word before I decided to get some sleep.
This morning for breakfast we had bacon, egg, and cheese sandwiches on bagels. After breakfast, Mark taught on the importance of having our identity in Christ and how when that is our focus, our actions are more likely to mirror Jesus. We must always remember that we are already children of God and then we will slowly have His ways manifest in us and flow out on a daily basis.
I chose to relax outside and listen to more of my book and take notes. I was definitely noticing some contradictions between the author and Scripture and between the author's own comments, which makes me leery. Heather was engrossed by The Hunger Games, while others played Perudo. I got in on the action for one round before going to relax on a swing while watching our chicken lunch roast over the fire. Lunch of chicken burritos soon followed before it was time for us to start packing up all of our belongings. We took one last group photo before everybody departed in the vans and I drove myself back to Stroudsburg.

Providing My Navigation Skills in New York

After awaking at 4:30am yesterday, Rhi and I ventured onto I-80 towards Hoboken, NJ, around 5:15am. We apparently picked the wrong radio station to listen to because the female DJ informed us that January 23 is considered the most depressing day of the year based upon how far away from Christmas it is and how much money people owe due to the previous Christmas. We parked at the Hoboken Terminal in order to catch the PATH to Penn Station. On the train, some woman chatted us up and we found out that she had gotten engaged over the weekend and was in her own little world since she is still so excited. At Penn Station, we got tickets for the LIRR to Great Neck, Long Island, for Rhi's first job interview. The train ride went smoothly and we determined that when the vents got turned off and everything was quiet, it made it seem like the train had narcolepsy.
After arriving at Great Neck Plaza, we had to wander along the sidewalks of Great Neck, which weren't always shoveled making walking difficult for Rhi in her heels, and made our way to the Equinox Fitness Center on East Shore Drive. I sat in the lobby and read while Rhi filled out her application and had her interview. The place was gorgeous, but I was a bit confused as to why the pool was on the 3rd floor of the building. Overall, the interview went well and Rhi will be having a follow-up interview next Monday.
I thankfully found us an easier way back to the train station that didn't involve a windy road that ventured up a giant hill with blind curves. Instead, we found cool old churches on our route, one of which had a fallout shelter in the basement. As we sat on the benches at the train station, we saw a man dressed like Inspector Gadget and were surrounded by a bunch of pigeons that looked strung out on cocaine or something. Rhi thought the deranged pigeons probably carried the plague because she considers pigeons to be flying rats.
Once we got back to Penn Station, we made a beeline for the Starbucks because we were both exhausted already and it wasn't even noon. We discovered that our Starbucks names happen to be "Rori" and "Kyla" since that was what the barista wrote on our cups. Soon we were hopping on the E train to 53rd and Lexington so that we could find the next Equinox Gym for Rhi's second job interview. Before the interview, we killed time at Barnes & Noble. The second interview went equally well, so we ventured to Murphy's pub for a celebratory beer and food since we were both famished. The bartender seemed to be amused by us and we were amused by her Irish accent. I enjoyed my chicken sandwich and watching soccer while at Murphy's. After eating, we went back to Barnes & Noble before taking the E train to Penn Station and hopping the PATH back to Hoboken. Following a nap in a mall parking lot, we finally made it back to the Burg to fall asleep for the rest of the night.

Acting Like Kids in a Candy Store

It seems like most people loathe the snow in the northeast, but I feel like it must be embraced. There are many ways to still have a good time on a snow-filled day. For example, Rhi and I decided to take a random road trip up to Wawayanda, NY, whilst doing errands. On our adventure, we were following a snowplow that seemed to take his job to the extreme. Not only was the plow clearing snow from the road, but it had an extended plow that got the side of the road and any small trees and bushes lining the road. We inevitably got super hungry, so we decided to swing by the Milford Diner. In true stylish fashion, we slid sideways into the parking lot (which was adjacent to a car insurance company...how ironic) because who doesn't like drifting on a snow day? We had a lovely meal of chicken parm subs and determined that the term "menopause" should have a much more basic definition like, "No more period; Just mood swings and osteoporosis."

We started back towards the Burg, but got sidetracked by Country Kettle. Rhi and I both had seen commercials on tv and wanted to know if they really had literal barrels full of candy. It was a last minute decision, which could be sensed by our drifting sideways into the parking lot before we made our way inside. To our delight, there are literally barrels of candy within Country Kettle, so we each decided to get a sack full since we were giddy like kids in a candy store. Our final stop for our adventure was ESU, which has some lovely parking lots for drifting/donuts. All in all, it has been a fantastic day in the snow! We plan on finishing out our day by going and watching Haywire at the Stroud Theater. Hopefully nobody will steal one of our tires like that one time I went with friends 4 years ago...

Pocono Summit

My typical Thursday night involves trekking to Pocono Summit for a friendly game of indoor soccer. It's a good way to slowly get back into shape and blow off some steam from the week. Tonight was no different, but definitely more intense and energizing. Nothing like a ball to the face and getting thrown into a wall accidentally to tire me out and make my whole body ache so I can fall asleep faster tonight...

Christmas Weekend: Trekking ~446 Total Miles to Visit Friends and Family

This Christmas weekend has been busier than usual for me, which wasn't a bad thing. I love driving, so it was kind of exciting to do so much traveling to visit with people. My fun started on Friday with a trip to Honesdale, PA, for a surprise going away party for my friend, Mark. He is moving to Chicago to live with a friend and work as a computer programmer. I came to town a bit early to run errands with Beth before venturing over to Mark's. It was great to see many old friends from high school again. I hadn't seen most of them since June or July, so I enjoyed catching up with everybody, including Cara, Mark, Shaun, Joe, Beth, Heather, and Allaina.

Following this little get together, I ventured back to East Burg to meet up with my friend, Teresa. I hadn't seen her since May, so I was really excited to spend time catching up. This visit to her house of course involved being poked and prodded by her mother who was wondering if "Flaca" has been eating enough. I also got scolded for not coming to visit, even though Teresa hasn't been home. Most of this discussion was of course in Spanish because her mom is convinced that I am fluent...the funniest part is that she'll talk to Teresa in English, who is actually fluent in Spanish. Makes me laugh every time. We relaxed watching a movie and talking about what we've been up to lately. Teresa also showed me all of the food that her mom had stocked up for her two day stay, which included a large leg of lamb that I was tempted to use as a club.

On Christmas eve, I ventured up to my parent's mountain in Galilee, PA. This was quite relaxing and involved eating, baking cookies, and a nap. My brother made it home for a tasty steak dinner before we all went to the Tabernacle Bible Church in Honesdale for the Christmas Eve Worship Service. It was very well done, and I thoroughly enjoyed the selection of hymns for the evening. Following the service, I promptly booked it back to my apartment in East Stroudsburg in order to meet up with Rhi and Seamus so that we could go to Midnight Mass at Our Lady of Victory in Tannersville, PA. I actually ended up traveling separately because I was dealing with some sporadic stabbing pains in my stomach. Thankfully it got to a point where it didn't get any worse, even though it didn't get any better for a time, so I was able to make it in time for the carols at 11:30pm. I was intrigued by the Catholic traditions that took place during the service, but I think my favorite part of it involved kicking off Christmas listening to the tolling of church bells. I made it home by 1:15am and I followed my brother's orders and opened my trunk to find my presents from him, which included a framed bag from when we went to Shakespeare and Company in Paris, a framed picture of East German soldier, Conrad Schumann, escaping to West Germany (he knows I love history), the book Choices, and a poster from the Switchfoot/Relient K concert we went to back in 2008. All around, some pretty epic gifts in my book. I then finished putting up the Christmas lights before Rhi, Seamus, and I all dozed off to episodes of Lock Up.

I got up around 8am to venture down to Hellertown, PA, in order to attend the Christmas service at Saucon Bible Fellowship Church. Pastor taught about how Jesus is our healing servant and that His birth and ministry fulfilled prophecy from Isaiah 53. After the service, I picked out two poinsettias to give to my mom before driving back to East Stroudsburg for a quick nap and to chat with Rhi and Seamus. Apparently they devoured all but three of the Christmas cookies I brought down from my parents, so I promised to steal some more for them. I finally made my way back to Galilee, with two brief detours in Honesdale. I decided to go up to Irving Cliff to get some pictures of town and I also stopped in Central Park to get some pictures. For those of you who don't know, the man who wrote the lyrics to the song Winter Wonderland, Dick Smith, was from Honesdale and it is said that his inspiration for the song was snow-covered Central Park.

I reached Galilee around 3:45pm and was greeted by my parents. We chatted a bit before opening presents. I was pretty excited for the toaster oven/rotisserie that my dad got me. I'm pretty stoked to try and cook a chicken now! About an hour later Nick arrived in his usual pre-zombie state. Being a nurse, sleep isn't always on the top of the list of activities. He opened his gifts and my dad tested out the RC helicopter he got. I was amused that he flew it right into the tree. Soon Anita joined us for a delicious dinner of turkey, stuffing, potatoes, and broccoli, which was followed by cookies and chocolate. We topped off the evening by watching the Packers game. All in all, a very busy Christmas weekend, but probably the most content I've felt in years, which is promising for me. Now it's off to rest my eyes and see what tomorrow brings. Possibly some indoor soccer, but maybe just a bum day on the couch.

Back to My Favorite Stomping Ground: The Big Apple

New York City is probably my favorite city to wander around. In my numerous trips there combined, I have walked from Battery Park all the way to 106th & Broadway. I have never lived in New York City, but I think I morph into a New Yorker every time I travel there. This includes booking it (power-walking) everywhere and crossing the street even when I'm not supposed to as long as there is no traffic that might run me over. Yesterday, since the weather was nice, I decided to drive down to Hoboken, NJ, to take the PATH into New York City. This was a change to my usual parking in Dover, NJ, and taking the train to Penn Station. But, hey, I enjoy a bit of variety in my life.
Anyways, I decided to take the PATH to the World Trade Center because I enjoy wandering the un-gridded streets that comprise the southern tip of Manhattan. It's so easy to get lost that you are always bound to discover something new by accident, whether it's the gothic architecture of a church, traditional Chinese, or cobblestone streets from the New Amsterdam era.
As soon as I left the station, I the new Freedom Tower loomed in front of me. Last year my roommate and I saw it when the structure was halfway complete. Now all of the floors have been built and the windows have been inserted up to about the 52nd floor. I then took the walkway on Vessey St. over West St. just for kicks. This actually gave me a nice distant view of the new 9/11 Memorial. I then decided to turn around and head back to Church St. and walk downtown towards St. Paul's Chapel. I continued down to 195 Broadway, which houses what I consider one of the fanciest Starbucks' in the city. Don't worry, I wasn't stopping for coffee because we all know that I only drink that in Europe; instead I was utilizing my knowledge of every Starbucks has a bathroom and bathrooms are quite scarce in the Big Apple. I soon continued my way down Church St. past Century 21, which was decked out in red vertical tube lights. I then made a left to wander east on Liberty St., which apparently borders Zuccotti Park. Once I realized this, the line of cops on the sidewalk made a bit more sense to me.
After the park, I decided to head uptown on Broadway. I came across the Woolworth Building and got a picture of the exterior; a sign announced that tourists were not permitted inside the Woolworth. I decided to veer off onto Reade Street because the architecture of the Catholic Church of St. Andrew's caught my eye. Since I found myself on Centre St., I of course got distracted by the Court House, which is where scenes from Law and Order are occasionally filmed. I took Centre St. passed Collect Pond Park all the way to Canal St. I wandered west on Canal before deciding to take Mercer St. uptown. Part of me wishes I could have oriented myself better so that I could have wandered the heart of Little Italy, but I was very excited to find Mercer St. to be old cobblestone. I was soon at West Houston St. diagonally across from the Angelika Film Center and Cafe. I continued uptown until I reached Bleecker St., which is where I decided to venture east for a couple blocks.

Once I found Broadway, I followed that uptown passed Grace Church, to Union Square. The German in me was instantly sucked in by the Christmas Market. Sure the sign said "Holiday Market", but I'm tired of being stifled by the politically correct. Anyways, I wandered around some of the booths and found the most amazing knit hat ever. It contained my two favorite colors (red and orange), was a mohawk, and had fleece-lined ear coverings. I kept coming back to it and finally bought it for myself as an early Christmas gift. I then wandered past the German Delights and continued my way through the square to Park Ave. I followed Park up to 35th, which is where I decided to head west to Herald Square and Macy's. I took in all of the window displays and singing salvation army men.
After gazing upon the windows, I was then approached by a woman who asked me if I was a sports fan. I replied "yes" and she wanted to know if I followed the New York Giants or had an opinion on the coach. I'm not a Giants fan, but I do feel that Coughlin has a temper. She then excitedly asked if I minded being filmed for a poll on the coach. After determining that this was just random and fun, I took the microphone and said my piece. For those interested in what I had to say, fast forward to 1:06 of this YouTube clip.
I then decided to wander into Macy's and take a look at their displays. I was videotaping just inside the entrance and promptly had some woman from security tell me that I was not allowed to do that. I settled for just taking pictures after that, but am quite amused by the fact that pictures are allowed, but not videos. I've always wondered why that is, so if anybody out there knows the answer, please inform me. I wandered the first floor, but promptly got tired of the large crowd and decided to leave. I looked at a few more window displays before venturing up Broadway to 42nd St. and Times Square. I always enjoy seeing this part of town lit up. As I passed the Walgreens, I noticed a large crowd standing outside the door. I ambled over to it and found out that apparently Heidi Klum was inside. I'm not one to really get excited over celebrities because I just view them as highly publicized normal human beings, but since I had nowhere else to go at the time, I stood around for kicks. Eventually we were informed that she left through another exit and asked to disperse.
I wandered up Broadway again until I reached Radio City Music Hall. I always enjoy the colorful lights and displays that are along the street and fountains in this area. After snapping a few photos and video, I ventured over to the crowd gathering alongside the music hall. After waiting about 10 minutes and having my bag checked, we were allowed to go get our spots in Rockefeller Plaza for the Christmas Tree lighting. Mind you, it was 4:30pm and the tree wasn't going to be lit until 9pm, but this was one of those once in a lifetime occurrences that I felt the need to take advantage of. I thankfully was smart enough to pack a book and granola bars, so I sat on the curb in my fenced in area for a couple hours reading to pass the time. I made passing comments to some of the people next to me, but had no conversation of substance.
At 7pm, Al Roker came out on stage to do his announcing gig. He announced the "live performance" of Michael Buble, which was really all of us watching a previously recorded tape done the week prior. From where I was, it was hard to know how many of the performances were actually live or previously recorded. Anyways, during commercial breaks, the crowd was encouraged to cheer loudly once the hosts came back to be taped. It was mildly amusing. I did see Donald Trump, though, and I'm convinced that he uses wax to hold down his comb-over so the wind doesn't blow it in every direction.

Finally, after hours of waiting, the countdown to light the tree began. Mayor Bloomberg did the honors, and it sparkled brilliantly, just as expected. I was very glad to be able to cross something off of my bucket list, but in hindsight, it's definitely much smarter to watch the event from home. I then had to figure out how to get outside of the fences and crowd, which took about a half hour. I made my way to the Rockefeller Center subway station to take the F train to 34th St. Once there, I wandered down to 7th Ave before looping back to 33rd St. and 6th Ave to take the PATH back to Hoboken. Once in Hoboken, I went back to the garage on Hudson St. and 2nd St. where my car was parked on the 6th floor and drove the one hour and 45 minutes back to Stroudsburg. All in all, it was a great experience and led to me falling into a very deep sleep for the night.