Alright, so the whole point of having a blog, is to well, blog! I was told i should be blogging about once per week, if not more… i don't know if i'll have time for that coming up to this grand adventure im heading on, or if i'll have internet access the entire time i'm on the trip. This being said, i should prolly be as diligant as i can with bloging now so that i'll have something to shoot for on the field.
first off, a special thanks to anyone reading this, that's right, YOU! you guys have helped me get this far, and i'm super stoaked to be sharing the rest of this journey with you, (ya, that's right, i totally just signed you uip to keep on checking in…)
second, I'm sorry. to all of you, my grammer is terrible, and my spelling is worse. I hope you'll be able to keep up with my random tangents, and un-checked work. I'll try my best now, but on the trip, i might not be able to check everything, or have enough "internet-time" to post everything gramatically correct…
third… i'm going to stop listing right now… i consider lists to be rather redundant and not very exciting.. i mean i don't want to spell out EVERYTHING for you, just like i wouldn't want everyhting spelled out for me!
Lets start back in february, adn i'll quickly catch you up till now.
I work in construction and have a very physical job at times. I try not to over-do it, but hey, being one of the 'youngsters' on the whole job site, I'm often handed the heavy lifting jobs or hard shoveling jobs, after all, i have to learn right? haha, so at work, after trying to show up some others, i pulled my back. Now i've had back problems in the past, infact in grade 11 i had to go to the chiropracter and get everyhitng strightened out.. i really don't enjoy the chiroprator.. i mean i love the results (usually) but i can't handle the fact that my bones are tangably being re-adjusted.. kinda freaks me out.
So after being sent home early from work, I called the chiropractor, because i couldn't even reach the dials on my car sterio to change the radio station without whincing in pain. Later that night, i couldn't sit, stand, bend, lye down, or crouch to stay comforatble. even after my little check-up with my chiroprator. So i decided to stay home from work the next day, after all i couldn't even bend down to put on my pants in the morning, so i wouldn't be very good working, would i?
that happened on a thursday, by monday i was back at work, but i re-injured my back, and had to stay home on tuesday. lets just say i havn't been asked to lift much at work recently (good thing!). this is when i prolly had the biggest revelation of helplessness I've ever had. All the inconviniance associated wtih appointments, losing money, missing work, pain and discomfort, reliance on others, loss of sleep, impatiance, anxiousness, and fear really had me feeling quite helpless. I mean I've injured myself before, but never to this extent. All i could do was wait to get better, and even then, wonder if i would ever fully, 100% recover. Little did i know that God was just beginning to start teaching me lessons.
About a week and a half later i made plans with a friend to go to the movies. After not realizing what i was getting into, and some confusion on details i soon found myself on the road, thinking about how stupid i was for agreeing to drive 45 mins from my home to first pick him up, return to town and the theatre, watch our show, drive him home, and then return to my house for a good nights sleep. It began snowing about 4 hours before leaving to pick my frined up, and we had to postpone our plans of seeing an early show for seeing a 9:30 show, this would allow for me to first pick him up, and drive cautiously in the snow. but this wouldn't be a problem, becuase i was driving my jeep (i'm single, but lets just say, if i had a girlfriend, she would prolly be jelious at how i love this jeep so much! its my baby, my love, my life.. haha well not quite, but i really ebnjoy driving it, and have had ALOT of great memories from offroading, passenger-conversations, camping, to getting out of traffic jams, becuase it was a 4X4 and i could just pop the curb, and go up an imbankment if i needed to…) back to the story…
I arrive at my friends house and we started back on our voyage to my home town to watch a movie. but just as we entered the city, we noticed a car had gone into the ditch of the highway, so we puilled over and decded to offer a hand. turns out the drivier a young lady who had just about rolled her car was without warm clothes, good shoes to walk in, and had no cellphone. it's snowing remember. After missing our show, because this whole endevor took 2 hours, from getting a tow truck to driving her home, we decided to go out for some drinks and appies and call it a night.
let just say the drive home didn't end well. I'll stick to details, adn not wirte a story… haha:
ditch has a new friend (it's name is jeep)
jeep is no longer functioning (totalled)
insurance went up by 55% over the next 3 years ($364.00 a month)
i hate driving in snow now 🙁
back re-injured :S
friend going after more money than he should from the insurance agency (which puts me in a sticky situation: should i rat him out, or let him fight this imaginary battle?) ????
looking for new vehicle…
(totally just realized i used a list… sorry.)
I was so ticked that all this stuff was happending to me.
Well I was payed out by the insurance agency about $2000 more than i was expecting! 🙂 and i picked up a really great car for a smoking deal! unfortunately only after 2 days of owning the car i had engine problems… and had to spend an additional $500 on it… UGH!!! i desided to post a little somethig on facebook to encourage my feelow racers…
K so this month has been FREAKING TERRIBLE! but its all turning around, and trust that if you're having a bad week, God will honner your efforts in seeking him, and He will provide!
It all started with a back indury at work that had me off work for half a week, and then 2 weeks on "light duties" which made work go by even slower than it already does! (i really don't like my job site, and i often wonder if its what i should be doing, but i decided for the funds, i'll stay in construction)
anyways, i then was sick, and i was facing hard times every where i turned… i was so overwhelmed. I was wondering how i was going to come up with the cash to go on this trip, and during a freak snow storm up here i went off the road, and totaled my jeep. I was so freaking upset, knowing that i just had finnished paying $5000 to the provincial government for an accident i had when I was 18… (*please note.. i can drive… i promise*) … and now knowing that my insurance was going to go up again, plus i was without a vehicle! (i'm dependant on my vehicle to get me to work every day which is about 45 mins away from home)
oh, and i also, re-injured my back in the accident, and was on medication, and i lost my passport somehow in the meantime… UGH!
I bought another vehicle off craigslist, and was starting to feel better beauce i had new wheels…
Well my vehicle broke down this past weekend, after only having it for 2 days, causing me to rely on a tow truck 40 mins away from home, my parents for a ride, and friends to accept my appologise for being late. I'm really freaking tired of trials, but hey, the cars now fixed, ($500 later.. pfff) and i'm feeling much better.
actually today i started running again, (only a baby run, but it still felt okay on the ol' back/neck/knees) and I have A TON of paper work to get through for re-applying and gettting a new passport… but i think things are looking up… and there's still ongoing troubles with work, friends,and family, but hey… that's life. I'll prolly Blog on this in more detail
I hope all of you can get something outta this… Even when times get rough, Gods still there… i made it through, and I know you can prolly much more gracefully than me!
2 weeks later, i got sick, so sick infact that i missed work again. I wasn't sure what end fluids where comming out of, and i ached, throbbed and felt so weak! there were points i'd be sitting on the toilet with a bucket infront of me… just incase….YUCK!
I wanted to give up! I was under stress, in pain, and so done with answering the same questions about my upcomming year, every single time i spoke to anyone… I didn't want to be happy anymore, i didn't want to be excited for this trip, i just wanted to be angry. but for some reason i couldn't be!
here's why:
"why would God create more than 350,000,000,000 galaxies (and that is a conservative estimate) that generations of people never saw or even knew exsisted?….Did you know that a caterpillar has 228 separate and distinct muscles in its head? That's quite a few, for a bug. The average elm tree has aproximately 6 million leaves on it. and your own heart generates enough pressure as it pumps blood throughout your body that it sould squirt blood up to 30 feet… Have you ever thought about how diverse and creative God is? He didn't have to put 3,000 differnt species of trees withing one square mile in the amazon jungle, but He did. God didn't hae to create so many kinds of laughter. Think about the different sounds of your friends' laughs–wheezes, snorts, silent, loud, obnoxious…How about the way plants defy gravity by drawing water upward from the ground into their stems and veins? or did you know spiders produce three kinds of silk….coral plants are so sensitive hat they can dies if the water tempurature varies by even one or two degrees…or what about the simple fact that plants take in carbon dioxide (which is harmful to us) and produce oxygen (with we need to survive)…"
excerpt from "crazy love" by francis chan
God planned it all, and he knows it all. he created eveything for his glory, and no matter what valleys i go through, or mountians i climb, He'll stay the same, and be there no matter what.
Isaiha 41:10 says "so do not fear for i am with you, do not be dismayed for i am your God, i will strenthen and help you, i will uphold you with my righteous right hand."
no matter what happens, it all happens for a reason. right now it's easy to say that, i mean my quality of life has improved alot since my seemingly bad stream of misfortune, but hey, God's not done with me. He'll always be teaching ms something.
be blessed.
-frank
