An actual update on life and things (for lack of a better subject)
Wow, I really haven't updated in a while. Things like this have a way of getting away from me, it seems. :P Comparing my last post to my current state (especially employment), not a lot has changed - yes, I found a job, but after being laid off the last post remains quite true. I'm unemployed. Not job-hunting, though. I probably should be. But I have a goal: to run my own business and get it off its feet without the support (if possible) of a good, solid paying job. That and now I just despise the idea of working for someone else - during my six months of employment I forgot how awesome it feels to be FREE. :P
Regarding the business (web hosting, if you didn't know), things have been going kind of well - I have a general idea of what I want to accomplish, and I'm mostly ready to start advertising and accepting customers. But the website's not done yet and without my source files (like Photoshop PSDs) I can't really finish it, since they're on my desktop PC and it's currently out of commission while I wait for my replacement power supply. Yeah, it's a lame excuse - I have a horrible tendency to procrastinate and be lazy, even for something as serious and important as my own business - but really, having to remake a bunch of stuff just doesn't appeal to me. :P I do have the automated billing system set up, so really all that remains (aside from the main site) is to customize the billing system theme and integrate it into my site. Which I would have done by now, except that I've never done it before and have no idea how. It's supposed to be as easy as converting a site design into a wordpress theme (which I've done), but it's not working for me for some reason.
Aside from that, I'm having a great long weekend (except for me, every day is part of the weekend... >_>). The weather today was just awesome, I was up early (for me - 8:00 AM), went to church, which is something I actually admit I haven't done since Christmas (and that was just for a puppet show I had to do). And man, I really needed it. I've been so wrapped up in everything going on (my business, for one) that I've just gone off track, and I really need to get closer to God. The sermon today was great, talking about three stages in a Christian's life - Entry, where you accept Christ and establish your belief that he died for us. You are saved because of this. But the next stage is the middle one, where you believe but God's not really Lord of your life. You say 'Jesus is Lord, hallelujah', but there's still so much... garbage, if you will, inside. One of my friends was recently going through this stage. He basically started questioning if God was really still there, if he was listening to his prayers for help, and he really went off track. He's a strong Christian, but he got too wrapped up in the world. He hid it from everybody for a while, though, even going so far as to just stay at home by himself all the time, and it just got worse. Eventually he got around to talking to us, and we prayed for him, and he's back with us now, leading the worship team as he usually does. Anyway, at that stage, you're in the process of being saved - where you have so much baggage, and you offer it to God and he takes it bit by bit, and changes it into good. I'd say I'm somewhere in between this stage and the first - I believe, for sure, I'm a Christian, and therefore I'm saved, but I definitely started having doubts if God could hear me sometimes. I know he has a plan for me, though, and after today, I really saw it. Not that I know what it is yet. But I know he hasn't left us, and I intend to just give everything up to him. He needs to be the Lord of your life, our pastor said, and that means fully in control. Not just when you feel like it. :P
The third and final stage is the exit, where you've been transformed by Christ. This is where you're going to be saved, apparently. I thought it was a bit odd that the first stage was 'You are saved', where this one was 'Going to be saved', but I'm not about to argue with my pastor about it. :P
Aside from doing some introspective thinking, praying, and stuff, I hung outside a lot today, which is also something I haven't done in a while. I really hope this summer will continue to be this nice. I went for a bike ride with the family this evening (which is what inspired this post, actually, even though this is now officially the butt end of it :P), and for some reason I really felt like going for a paddle in a canoe. The river was really calm. Which would be great, and I would have done so, except for the tiny problem of not having a canoe. Also, I need a new bike. Mine's apparently too small for me, which I was inclined to disagree with, until I tried my mom's bike, which I had previously decided was too large. Now it's actually pretty okay, so I might have to look in to that at some point.
So there you go. A not-so-small update in a huge wall of text that you'll probably have to be happy with, because I can't guarantee I'll be writing another post anytime soon. :P I also had other stuff to say, and everything else to say in a more precise, thought-out way, but now I just ended up rambling. I hope you don't mind. :P
Regarding the business (web hosting, if you didn't know), things have been going kind of well - I have a general idea of what I want to accomplish, and I'm mostly ready to start advertising and accepting customers. But the website's not done yet and without my source files (like Photoshop PSDs) I can't really finish it, since they're on my desktop PC and it's currently out of commission while I wait for my replacement power supply. Yeah, it's a lame excuse - I have a horrible tendency to procrastinate and be lazy, even for something as serious and important as my own business - but really, having to remake a bunch of stuff just doesn't appeal to me. :P I do have the automated billing system set up, so really all that remains (aside from the main site) is to customize the billing system theme and integrate it into my site. Which I would have done by now, except that I've never done it before and have no idea how. It's supposed to be as easy as converting a site design into a wordpress theme (which I've done), but it's not working for me for some reason.
Aside from that, I'm having a great long weekend (except for me, every day is part of the weekend... >_>). The weather today was just awesome, I was up early (for me - 8:00 AM), went to church, which is something I actually admit I haven't done since Christmas (and that was just for a puppet show I had to do). And man, I really needed it. I've been so wrapped up in everything going on (my business, for one) that I've just gone off track, and I really need to get closer to God. The sermon today was great, talking about three stages in a Christian's life - Entry, where you accept Christ and establish your belief that he died for us. You are saved because of this. But the next stage is the middle one, where you believe but God's not really Lord of your life. You say 'Jesus is Lord, hallelujah', but there's still so much... garbage, if you will, inside. One of my friends was recently going through this stage. He basically started questioning if God was really still there, if he was listening to his prayers for help, and he really went off track. He's a strong Christian, but he got too wrapped up in the world. He hid it from everybody for a while, though, even going so far as to just stay at home by himself all the time, and it just got worse. Eventually he got around to talking to us, and we prayed for him, and he's back with us now, leading the worship team as he usually does. Anyway, at that stage, you're in the process of being saved - where you have so much baggage, and you offer it to God and he takes it bit by bit, and changes it into good. I'd say I'm somewhere in between this stage and the first - I believe, for sure, I'm a Christian, and therefore I'm saved, but I definitely started having doubts if God could hear me sometimes. I know he has a plan for me, though, and after today, I really saw it. Not that I know what it is yet. But I know he hasn't left us, and I intend to just give everything up to him. He needs to be the Lord of your life, our pastor said, and that means fully in control. Not just when you feel like it. :P
The third and final stage is the exit, where you've been transformed by Christ. This is where you're going to be saved, apparently. I thought it was a bit odd that the first stage was 'You are saved', where this one was 'Going to be saved', but I'm not about to argue with my pastor about it. :P
Aside from doing some introspective thinking, praying, and stuff, I hung outside a lot today, which is also something I haven't done in a while. I really hope this summer will continue to be this nice. I went for a bike ride with the family this evening (which is what inspired this post, actually, even though this is now officially the butt end of it :P), and for some reason I really felt like going for a paddle in a canoe. The river was really calm. Which would be great, and I would have done so, except for the tiny problem of not having a canoe. Also, I need a new bike. Mine's apparently too small for me, which I was inclined to disagree with, until I tried my mom's bike, which I had previously decided was too large. Now it's actually pretty okay, so I might have to look in to that at some point.
So there you go. A not-so-small update in a huge wall of text that you'll probably have to be happy with, because I can't guarantee I'll be writing another post anytime soon. :P I also had other stuff to say, and everything else to say in a more precise, thought-out way, but now I just ended up rambling. I hope you don't mind. :P