First time paintballing

Yesterday my youth group and I went paintballing. It was so fun! Our first game I was the last person alive on my team and three people on the other. I shot my best friend in the face and time ran out before I could get Jessie or Heather. But I stayed in. The next three games were fun but I never shot anybody and I never got shot, but I was always kinda hidding.
Anyway, I've been doing good since the fight and all. Thanx to all who gave me encouragement.

Stupid Fight

Yesterday after school there was a fight right after they got off the bus. The kid that got beat cracked his head opened when he head butted the other one. He ran inside and his family came out as Elijah ( the winner ) :( came on the bus. The whole time other people on the bus were laughing at Jason ( the loser ) :(. When the family came outside Jason's brother started talking to Elijah, I think you can guess what he was saying. Elijah talked back the same way. As the family walked away everybody started making fun of his mom and how ugly and fat she was. This whole time, Kyle and I were surprised that people can act this way. I was ready to walk off the bus but Kyle said we were about to leave. I sat down and started crying. It makes me mad to know I am affiliated with this bus and everything that happens. I started sitting up front as far as I could today to get away from the evil on the bus. Kyle and I are embarrassed that we ride it.
I think if Jesus were on the bus, which he is but we can't see him, he would want another flood. ( Not to say this bus is the most horrific thing, but that's the sad thing ). That's the problem with these people, they can't see him, so they don't want to do what's right.
I started to notice that my friend Derek has been questioning God's authority. It makes me think that I've been failing them because I'm the one who asked them to be a Christian and depended on me to help them. So that's Derek and Elijah......

My Life

My life starts out in Oklahoma in 18 May, 1990.
My name is Daniel J. Smith ( Danny ). As I grew up in some home in Tulsa...... I really don't remember much. At all. I moved to Collinsville when I was two in a house that we've been in for 13 years.
I have three brothers, Josh, Jake, then me, and Levi. Josh, Levi and I are albinos with HPS4, tell you about that later.
Nothing much happened for a while, just went to preschool. When I was five we got an Irish Setter puppy. We named it Oh Danny Boy's Crimson Pride. Crimson for short. It was a lot of fun for the five years we had it. Then one Christmas my aunt came over with her dog and Crimson bit it in the neck and left a hole. My mom kicked it out of the house for the night. We fed it supper that night, but the next morning he was nowhere to be found. In the field we saw blood and urine trails ( there was snow on the ground). I tried to follow it but I couldn't go any further because the trail just faded away.......
In school I was a good person, never getting into trouble. Except for once I don't remember why. I was a believer in Christ, though I was never saved until when I was 9. So I tried not to sin, but every once in a while my friends would try to get me to cuss. So I prayed to God to say that I am saying this word as the actual meaning, and then I would so a word. That would shut them up. My elementary days were well spent. I made principal's honor role six times, in other words I was a staight A student. Music class though was a bit difficult because I (like most of us) did not think much about that kind of stuff. Though now I am a member of my highschool marching band and concert band as a Front Ensemble member, A.K.A. Pit, and a percussionist. We are the people that you see, usually on the front sidelines, playing on xylophones, marimbas, bells, chimes, timpani and any other non-marching instrument that you bang on. I also have been playing the drums for six years and piano for two.
One day in August when I was nine, my brothers and I were laying outside for a meteor shower when Josh started catapulting me off his feet. I landed on mine each time. But one time both my brothers did it at the same time. As i flew off, my body leaned backwards and PLOP! I was unconcious, landing on my upper back with my head hitting my right shoulder and the ground. When I awoke I was crying and Josh was kneeling down and praying. I told him that my ear hurt and I touched the inside and it was bleeding. At the same time Jake went inside to tell my parents what had happened. My parents came outside from bed and my mom came to me and tried to talk to me. After a minute my dad started throwing our shoes at them and told them to get the heck out of here. That night they slept under a culvert. My mom called 911 and told them the story. They asked if they should send an ambulance. My mom didn't want to talk to them after that so my dad put me in the car and drove to the hospital. On the way there they saw an ambulance headed down highway 20. Nothing much happened. I found out that I broke (more like bent) my right collarbone, punctured my right eardrum and fractured my skull in two places. Now I have 35% hearing loss and a popped out collarbone.
After elementary school is when things became rather messy in my life. My two friends that had lived in my neighborhood had moved away. After that I started cussing and lieing and trying to get sexual favors from neighborhood girls, though, thank God, never had any type of sex. I never became the popular kid that everybody wanted a part of. In fact, I drew people away from me. Which is a good thing because I would have never turned out the way I did.
Then I got depressed. I didn't care about anyone or what I did really.The only thing that kept me happy was band. Band is my favorite thing to do still because I get to play music, which I love so much, and I get to see my friends.Then one day in eighth grade, in English class, we were supposed to write down our feelings and what we wanted to do. I started writting things like: sad, depressed, angry, I want to kill my self, I hate this school (talking about the people), and I even started hating the pen I was writting with. As class ended and walking down the hall I started crying a little. When I got to my locker, which was actually in a room, I let it out more and more. The teacher came in and saw me and asked what was wrong. I got out my assignment and showed her. She said she wasn't going to tell anybody but the next day (or next week I don't know), I was called down to the office. There was a city councilor waiting for me, apparently to help. Then I realized that I was no longer depressed or wanted to die.
That's when my soon to be best friend showed up at my door. My depression and sadness completely went away and I was the happiest person I knew. His name is Kyle, a fluffy headed, soccer playing, guitarist. He's been playing guitar now for about five years. (Him playing guitar is way more important to me than him playing soccer. But he feels the same way about me playing drums and me being in band). We were sort of enemies back in elementary shool so it's kind of awkward. Over the few years of friendship I've had nothing closer to me except God. But not by far. We started jamming in my garage every once in a while, and we've gotten so much better.
When highschool hit me I was pretty excited. There was marching band that I wanted to make. So I started going, along with my other percussion friends, to the practices for drumline and pit. After a while the tryouts came along and I, along with all the other percussionists, made one of them. Unfortunately that year they were accepting all percussionists anyway, so it wasn't much to say that I made competition band (which is the marching band that goes to competitions). The other marching band, which we all are a part of anyway, just does halftime shows during football games. Before we even tryed out for this stuff I met one of my other best friend Brad Mester. He is also a percussionists in my grade. He moved in Owasso in eighth grade. He's a hip knows a lot about classic rock, which is Kyle and I's favorite music, drummer. Brad and I had great times in marching band together. At my first away game the mascot for our team came by and I ran at it and gave it a hug. When I came back to my seat, and after everybody stopped laughing, they told me we are not supposed to run in uniform. OOPS! My most famous band trip story is called the crapper story, here it is:
We went to St Louis for a competition. we were sitting on the bus, parked on the parking lot, when I had to take a crap. I remembered stuff about our bus like it didn't have any toilet paper and it didn't flush. So I thought, hey, there are four other buses to do it on. So I went to the bus in front of us and went to the back. When I was done I tryed flushing the toilet but wouldn't go down, so I left it and walked off the bus with a few comments on how it smelled. I got onto my bus and sat down. Not too long went by before one of the chaperones from that bus got on and asked "who took a crap on my bus and didn't flush it". Well, I had to raise my hand because everybody knew it was me. So he told me to clean it up. I didn't know how exactly I was going to do it, but I thought this was not going to be pretty. As I got on the bus the people were in pain and had their nose covered. Went to the back and went into the bathroom and shut the door. Now, I thought to myself, what will I do. I saw some toilet paper and the wrapping in came in. So I took a lot of toilet paper and that wrapping and started pushing the crap down the toilet. It was an experience to be pushing my crap down a hole, and I learned my lesson. The End.
I had a great time in competition band that year, and recommend band to anyone who loves music.
My sophmore year, this year, in marching band was probably even more fun. It was also more challenging to get in since this time they only took people who actually made it. This time we played Free Bird, from Lynyrd Skynyrd, and Fly Like An Eagle, from Steve Miller Band. I really don't have a good story this year though. We went to Grand Nationals this year too, and we actually made finals for the first time in Owasso band history. When they anounced us we were so excited and joyful some of us were crying. It took us so long to get settled down and we were the last people out of the RCA dome. When we played our last time we were so pumped and confident that we did pretty good. When all the finalist band got on the field after everybody played, we found out that we made 12 out of 12 in finals, but in all the bands that came we were 12 out of 92. We were the only band from Oklahoma to make finals. So were are the best in Oklahoma.
Back to my freshmen year (mind you that I was still a big sinner). I started going to church by myself at Faith Assembly in Colinsville. I invited him and a few of my other friends there and they came with me most of the time, I guess. After awhile I moved to the youth. There they learned that I played drums and they wanted me to play for the youths. What could I say? I never really played in front of people until then. Their drumset was OK but I didn't like how the muffled the toms so much.
One day in the morning while at Kyle's bus stop I thought to myself: I am going to serve Christ even if it leaves out my friends. So I told Kyle that we should stop sinning and go after Him. To my suprise he agreed without hesitation. After a while I didn't like that church any more so I quit going. Then my friends and I started having our own little church service on my front porch. We wrote all our usual sins on a piece of paper, ordering them from most often did to least. We were going to try to quit that top sin then go down. It worked out for Kyle and I, but Derek and Elijah had a lot more problems trying to quit than we did. Tyler was at a speed in between us and them. After a while Elijah just gave up on trying to be a christian. We kept on trying to convince him to keep trying, but he simply said "It's Boring". It hurt me to know one of my friends didn't care but I wasn't going to let that drag me. Derek is trying but it has taken him a while to actually commit to it. I think his life with Christ has gotten better but still questions some of it.
Kyle and I have been going to this church on highway 20 called Meadowview Babtist Church. It is a very good church with a very nice youth and I love them dearly for accepting us.
As for me, I think I am doing pretty good but there are rough spots. Overall my walk with Jesus has greatly improved my life. Just recently I wrote a note to a girl that I had been anoying and harrasing, not in a bad way. In the letter I pretty much apologized to her, asked for her forgivness and told her I'll never mess with her again. She has been treating me better too, so I am greatly eased at heart.
That's my story of my life and Christ. I am very happy to know I have a new life.

Jesus Is The Rock!