Worship and Warfare with music.

When worshipping and warfarring there isn't just the good things that come with it. There are bad things and even things you wouldn't expect. Talking about worship you might think of your favorite band or the really good worship bands. Why are they so good? First they were taught, then they practiced a lot and sought the Lord. First anybody is taught how to do something. Even if you don't know that you are being taught; you are. No matter how long it takes you can be taught anything. Depending on your patience and willingness, you will keep through. You get taught something, now you want to get better at it. You practice for hours and keep going. You keep doing this routine and then boom, over time you got it down pretty well and pretty dang good. Through this whole process you seek the Lord to help you with the practices and getting the instrument and accessories. He gives them to you and over time over a decade and more you are awesome and better then anyone you know personally. You decide to make a worship band with people of the same background of getting this far. You guys get far in your career and you are famous. Obviously that's not exactly what you want, it's just to glorify the Lord with your talent. Now, go back to before you were taught something. You pick something up on your own, not exactly knowing what you are doing. You practice and practice, still you have not been taught the right way and are just thinking you are pretty good. So you want to be part of a worship band. Great! You go out and find some people, make a band with people with the same background of getting this far. But something happens. You don't get so far and you break up after a few months. Why? You guys did not have the knowledge and skill to get far with the band thing. When worshipping with the good bands you can really get into the Spirit. What about the band? What are they going through during this? Sometimes the band will go through spots of great power with the Spirit, and then sometimes they can be attacked really bad by the enemy. The enemy doesn't like worship music obviously, and so he tries to stop it. What does the band do? Well, they can pray obviously. But they can also be very skilled and knowledgeable of the instrument and music. The more you know the harder it is for the enemy to mess with you. Let me give you an example in warfare with little knowledge of what you are doing and about your weapons. You are in the middle of a war and you hear shots and bombings everywhere. You go to the best place where cover is. You sit there. Waiting for an opportunity to come out and shoot somebody or move somewhere else so you can advance. The time comes. You sneak your head out a little bit. You see enemies running across the battle field. You go to aim and shoot. You pull the trigger...Click. "What happened?" you think. Then you remember that you have the safety on. You turn it on. So you aim again and shoot. You pull the trigger...Bang!...Bang!...Bang!!.."Why can't I shoot these guys?" You say angrily. They are shooting at you now because they know where you are at. You, in a very frightful manner, jump up and run behind something bigger than where you are now. Bullets wizz past your head and legs as you are trying to take cover. DING!!...They hit your helmet, luckily the bullet doesn't go through. You are behind this rock. You look over and see that they are pretty close to you and you start shooting but they are shooting too while running at you. Finally you hit one...In the knee. You pretty much immobilized that enemy. You punch out some more rounds...Bang! Bang! Bang! Cick!! "What now?!" Oh yeah! I have to reload now! CRAP!! So you duck behind the rock and start reloading having trouble. Finally you got it. You look over and they are now only 20ft away from you reloading at the same time you did. Dang it!! "What am I going to do?" You don't have much time to think, so the only thing you got is a full clip of ammunition and a few enemies coming at you. So you peek your gun out with the least possible flesh in the open and start firing. Unfortunately you forgot the whole time about the grenades you have. You keep shooting but they are shooting right back knocking off part of the rock each time..Going fast. You've shot down maybe three by now because you suck at it. They get so much rock out of the way that your head, that is exposed from the missing helmet, is popped into sight. Everything's going so fast you don't know what to do and then...Thump! You are on your butt with a shot in the face OW!! You are pretty much not moving though you are still alive. From your pain you forgot about the grenades again and didn't throw one not caring if it'll kill you too. And then death comes.
Everything that happened that was bad happened because you didn't pay attention to any of your course and they still let you go because you wanted to. Apply this to worship. If you don't know what you are doing, don't know music theory at all and you don't try to learn and be skilled with your instrument, that's what's going to happen. The enemy will over come you are you abilities cause in all reality, you don't have enough for leading people to worship or do it in a group. By yourself it's probably the same thing, but you are practicing. What can you do about it? Pray obviously and just keep pushing the enemy away. Take that situation with the battle and now you are trained. You payed attention to things and passed all the course with a really high score. What do you think would've happened? You probably had the brains to actually win and survive. It's not just the good things that happen during worship but the bad things and knowledge of your instrument and music will keep you much safe from the enemy. And you'll do better altogether too.

An analogy of Worship.

Alright. Imagine this. You are in the middle of a war and you hear shots and bombings everywhere. You go to the best place where cover is. You sit there. Waiting for an opportunity to come out and shoot somebody or move somewhere else so you can advance. The time comes. You sneak your head out a little bit. You see enemies running across the battle field. You go to aim and shoot. You pull the trigger...Click. "What happened?" you think. Then you remember that you have the safety on. You turn it on. So you aim again and shoot. You pull the trigger...Bang!...Bang!...Bang!!.."Why can't I shoot these guys?" You say angrily. And you remember, you didn't pay much attention to the marksmanship course. You really shouldn't have gone, but they let you since you wanted to. They are shooting at you now because they know where you are at. You, in a very frightful manner, jump up and run behind something bigger than where you are now. Bullets wizz past your head and legs as you are trying to take cover. DING!!...They hit your helmet, luckily the bullet doesn't go through. You are behind this rock. You look over and see that they are pretty close to you and you start shooting but they are shooting too while running at you. Finally you hit one...In the knee. You pretty much immobilized that enemy. You punch out some more rounds...Bang! Bang! Bang! Cick!! "What now?!" Oh yeah! I have to reload now! CRAP!! So you duck behind the rock and start reloading having trouble because you didn't pay much attention to your weapons training. So it takes you a little bit longer. Finally you got it. You look over and they are now only 20ft away from you reloading at the same time you did. Dang it!! "What am I going to do?" You don't have much time to think, so the only thing you got is a full clip of ammunition and a few enemies coming at you. So you peek your gun out with the least possible flesh in the open and start firing. Unfortunately you forgot the whole time about the grenades you have because you weren't trained enough to stay calm during battle, so that was an opportunity missed. You keep shooting but they are shooting right back knocking off part of the rock each time..Going fast. You've shot down maybe three by now because you suck at it. They get so much rock out of the way that your head, that is exposed from the missing helmet, is popped into sight. Again, you weren't trained to stay calm and therefore get your helmet. Everything's going so fast you don't know what to do and then...Thump! You are on your butt with a shot in the face OW!! You are pretty much not moving though you are still alive. From your pain you forgot about the grenades again and didn't throw one not caring if it'll kill you too. And then death comes. You believe worship is warfare, so treat it like it is.

Praying knowingly.

I believe it is better to know what you are praying for. Not just in general. The other people that believe the same thing are prophetic worshippers and warriors. Have you ever listened to these people worhip and intercede? They don't just pray in a general, "we pray for this world, help it out" or "We pray for the people here" They really pray the heart of God. And if they are praying the heart of God then there's a lot more than what most people pray for. I bet most people don't konw how much war we are in with the enemy do you. And I bet most people are oblivious to what is going on when worship takes place. My prayers are not for the enemy to take from me. The more accurate my prayers the more of it goes to God and satan can't touch it. I can pray for missionaries b/c it's warfare out there, I know what to pray for. I don't want to pray an empty prayer. Sometimes I feel more like an intercessor or a warrior than just some christian who thinks they can get by with the minimum. We have different jobs in the body of Christ, somethings need to be different with other people. My thing is is that you really don't need to hide anything when needing prayer. There a certain things that might be embarrasing, like for me it would be something that has to do with porn or masturbation. Those things I would have trouble saying that I needed prayer for, unless it was like "raise your hand if you need prayer for anything that has to do with sexual stuff." Then I'd most likely raise my hand. Or if you asked or something to that effect I would admit. But other than that, I really don't think there is anything anybody should be afraid of saying, "hey I need prayer for this" you know?

"soulmates" Part 3. cont.

You wouldn't marry someone who isn't fit for you. You would marry someone with the same beliefs There are people who God have had marry that didn't seem right for each other. For example my dad heard the Lord say that he was going to marry the wife he has now. They wouldn't have worked out if it weren't for their same beliefs and trust in God. If they didn't have this they would have left each other way back. If they left each other way back, then I wouldn't be here. If it was God's plan that I be here but my parents left each other then they pretty much messed with God's plan. My point is that not EVERY single thing is planned by God. You say that He as planned your WHOLE life, and then you say He knows what you'll say and do. There is a difference in plan and knowing. He didn't PLAN for you to sin, but he KNEW you were going to. Where in the bible does it say that you have a certian person for you? Or that everyone has a "right" person for them? Obviously the second one is out of question b/c, like I said in my earlier blog, Jeremiah wasn't suppose to marry and he didn't. Even Paul didn't marry. He made this decision ON HIS OWN FREE WILL. Marriage is something that takes a lot of passion for your spouse and for God. Not everyone is meant to marry, and not everyone should. If you do get married I believe, if you're really look for a person, that He'll send one to you. He knows what you want and need. He'll supply you with it.

"soulmates" cont.

This a continuation of "soulmates." I personally believe that God only has a general plan, and no matter what happens, it's going to happen and the fianl outcome is going to be the same. Since we do have free will not everything we do is going to be in His plan. If we do something that has disrupted His plan He WILL find a way to put something back on course. So He has a general plan and then plans that come around when we do something stupid. Does He know if you are going to love Him or not, or if you are going to go to heaven? Do you think that He has already planned every single little thing out? I believe God gets surprised, He has moods and hasn't looked into the future and seen what you are going to do when you're 50. That's what I believe, otherwise we would not have free will nor would we have good or evil. In my opinion if God planned everything out then there wouldn't even be such things like that. If God planned for some poeple to love Him and some people to not love Him, but he wants everyone to love Him, do you think that that pretty much gives Him the credibility of retarted? When Jesus was casting out demons the pharisees thought that he was a demon himself, and Jesus was like "Why would a demon cast out a demon?" Same rule here: Why would God plan for people to love Him and people to not love Him if He has planned EVERYTHING? Now when it comes to the "right" one, would it make sense to pick someone for a certain someone, give them free will, and make divorce a sin? Not every one knows what God wants, and in fact a lot of people are confused on what His voice is and what their head is. If the "right" one was actually a true thing and you were to marry someone because you thought that he was the "one" but he wasn't, you're screwed from finding the right one. Only alternative is to divorce, which is a sin unless your spouse commits adultry. Now you marry a person (still asuming that the "right" one is a true thing) you find out from God that that person isn't the right one and that person never commits adultry. You are pretty much required to live in a mistake. I honestly don't think God would want us to get screwed like that. So here we are: finding someone that fits you or finding this "right" person that people think God has put out in the world somewhere.

My thoughts on "soulmates."

This is all my opinion. I just want to know your thoughts on it too.
There are three different types of people. I personally don't really believe in "soulmates" or "the one" or something like that. There are(1) People who really do have a certain person that God has set as their spouses. Like the guy in the bible, or there are probably more, that God said send a servant to the well in this city and there will be a woman. This shall be your wife or something like that. And if you read about how Suzy W. Yaraei ( MorningStar singer) and her husband got together, they talk about having a vision about the other one and God saying this will be your spouse. (2) People who God doesn't want having a spouse, like Jeremiah the prophet. (3) People who need use their free will to actually find a spouse if they want one or feel like they should. There are more of these people I believe. When you "like" someone you really can't keep it in hoping that all of a sudden you guys are going out or God is going to be like, "Yep, the one you like is the one." You are going to lose your affinity, if you don't do anything about it. Do something about it, keep it up, and try to make it work and you might find yourself a spouse.

Worship and Warfare, Let's do it.

In the bible it says worship in spirit and in truth. Why worship in spirit and in truth when you could just sing in the flesh. It might seem true. The songs that you sing in flesh might seem true but they aren't truely true. What I mean by "in flesh" is songs that are secular, of this world, something to that effect. Songs that are sung about, for, talking to, or of God, that are actually made to praise God, are songs that are more in spirit and true. There are groups out there that sing what God tells them on the spot. It is truely amazing to hear these people. Worshiping in spirit and in truth brings spiritual warfare to our level, and therefore we can fight alongside our fellow spirits and angels. Worshiping in spirit and in truth is one very effective way to win battle after battle and have warfare with the enemy. Dance with all your might. Sing and play music for His delight. Pray without losing sight. Some things that came up that would really crush the enemy.
Danceing with all your might and take the land that you place your foot on. Put the kingdom of God wherever you go when you are dancing for Jesus. Step on the enemy. "The God of Peace has crush satan right under our feet."
Sing for His delight and shout the praises of Jesus Christ. Slash the enemy with the Sword of the Spirit. Take them down with the truth and the word of God. The enemy will flee at the sound of the trumpets and drums of the Army of the Lord. The ones that don't will have their time with the truth. "Praise God with instrument and with dancing...Let everything that has breath, praise the Lord!"
Pray without losing sight and send the demons back from where they came. Prayer sends a sharp point through the spiritual airwaves and hits the enemy. They will fall when they hear the name Jesus Christ.
Fight with the Armor of God on: Helmet of Salvation, Brestplate of Righteousness, Belt of truth to gird our loins, The Shoes of the Gospel of Peace, Shield of Faith, The Sword of the Spirit. Stand strong in the spirit against the ways of the enemy. "We will not be pushed back in Jesus' holy name."

I know Daddy loves me....do you know?

I know this story might be actually quite familiar and old but it's still good.

This man goes is getting ready for work and his boy asks if he could come with him. He agrees as long as he didn't go down by the lake he worked by. So they arrive at the guys work and things are going good. Next thing the man notices is that his son is missing. He looks for him everywhere except the lake because he had said not to go down there. Finally he gives up and looks by the lake and his son is sitting on the dock with his feet dangling over the edge playing with the water. The man yells for his son to get off and run away from the lake. As soon as he said that an aligator pops out the water heading for the kid. His father sprints over there, but the aligator gets the kid before he got there. The man grabbed the boys arms and tryed to pull his son out of the algators mouth. The aligator just keeps fighting for him. At that time a trucker comes by and sees this tragic event. He pulls out by the lake pulls out his gun and shoots the aligator. It kills the beast and the man gets his son back. In the hospital they put him in a nurse waks in and says, "man look at those scars on your legs!" and the boy says"Yeah, but look at these scars." The boy shows the nurse his arms and scars on them. The nurse in confusion asks where did they come from. The boy answers, "Those are from my dad trying to save my life from the aligator."
God has a protection from enemies for His sons and daughters. Daddy will never let us go. There will be scars from both sides and they will be reminders of what God has done for us and what we have overcome...."overcome"...what a nice word. It makes me feel as though no ememy will get in my way nor can it stop me. It's true though, nothing that we face can overcome us. As long as we have God on our side, we are victorious!

Come home.

This pastor gets on a train heading somewhere and sits down. He sees a teenager figeting and unable to stop moving. The pastor goes up to him and asks "son I'm a minister, can I help you?" The kid says "I had a quarrel with my dad 3 years ago and going by my old house. I write my mom and call her most of the time. One day I called her and said 'I know it's alright with you if I stop by, but what about dad? Put something white on the house if it's alright if I stop by." They are coming around a hill and the boy says. "Pastor around this hill is my house on top of a hill. I cannot bear to look at the house. Could you look for me?" So the pastor agrees and after they turn the corner he says, "look son look!" The boy looks at his house and everything is covered in white. White is even in the trees. Table cloths and sheets cover their house. The boy jumps out of his seat with his luggage and jumps of the train and runs up the hill to his home.
That's what the Lord has done for us. He's just saying "come home, come home with me." We might not want to go on or maybe have even turned away, but he'll never leave you or not accept you . You can come home anytime you want.

Mastercard of Master's Card?

an ounce of weed: $40-50

a thirty pack of beer: $12-15

a prostitute: $300

all three combined in one night: $900

being able live and tell the story: priceless.

for everything else there's mastercard.

.....

getting high with your ounce: a screwed up brain.

getting drunk with your thirty pack: a screwed up brain.

having sex with your prostitute: some type of STD.

being able to say no: priceless.

for everything else there's the Master's Card.

Which one would you rather have?

This is why I love my Jesus...

A guy works at a railroad company as a bridge operator. He he hears that a train from Chicago is coming at a certain time. His son is at his work with him but he has no idea where he is at. Around the time the train is suppose to come he sees it coming down the railroad. He looks down at the gears that lower the bridge that the train as to cross...and there is his son, playing in the gears. The bridge operator as a choice to make: He saves his son or saves the poeple on the train by lowering the bridge. Next thing that happens he pulls the lever to lower the bridge...and watches horribly weeping as his son is being crushed in the gears. He watches the train goes by and see people doing ordinary everyday life things. God had to make a choice too...: Watch his one and only son die on the cross or to let everybody suffer. He makes the choice of sacrificing his son to save all of us. Just think of how much sorrow he had. Just like the bridge operator. I don't know about you guys, but if I knew someone sacrificed someone for me to live I would serve them. That's why I live for Jesus Christ.

Our Band

For the past few months my church's youth and I have been trying to start a band. We've practiced together and all but we haven't actually gotten anywhere. It sucks to b/c when you play drums and all the guitars are playing different things you just want to go crazy and start yelling. But lately one of the members, Jessie, nominated me for leader person. Kyle and Krystle don't have a problem with it and I guess I haven't talk to Heather about it, but I think she'll be happy. Anyway, so i've given them something to practice on and my plans. We haven't been together since so I guess we'll see how it goes. Yea!!

My Birthday. Yea!!

It is my 16th birthday today finally.

Hermansky-Pudlak Syndrome

Hermansky-Pudlak Syndrome (HPS), is a genetic disorder that I have. I have type 4. There are 7 known types. Some of the outward signs that I have are: Albinism, I bruise easily, I have low vision and prolonged bleeding. Thankfully that is all that I have right now. Some of the symtoms that I may or may not get are colitis, pulmanary fribrosis, and a waxy like substance that could build up in my organs.
I really don't care if I do get any of these things. It would suck, but God has His plans and purposes. I wouldn't trade anything to be "normal." But having HPS4 makes me even more rare!

My Poem

He loves me majorly,

He looks at us uniformly.

My love cries out for Him

As I try to find a way

To get rid of my sin.

forever and ever.

He forgave me like we forgive our mom,

'Cause we all know how they're never wrong.

He said let there be light,

And died on the cross.

He was a baby in a manger,

A carpenter at home,

A preacher to all,

A savior at last.

There was a crack and a boom,

And then He was in heaven.

He walks with me eternally.

His temple is inside me.

I bow to the floor:

I raise my forgiven hands,

To worship the King of Glory,

The Son of God, the Son of Man.

But still I ask why

Why did He save me.

And then I know,

It's for the life that He gave me!

Percussion concert

This Thursday we are going to have a percussion concert for our parents and anyone who want to come. It going to be the same stuff we played at the festival but it is in the band room and all the other grades are performing there. It is going to be cool so come.

.......

Hey guys I don't really don't know why I am writing. Just to waste time I guess

Percussive Arts Society festival day 2

WOW! Last night was the last night of the percussion festival and it was so awesome. Gregg Bisonette was the funnest person to play with. We played are music and it was fun. I danced around and started to improvise on my steel drum part. I didn't know it anyway. After the concert he shook my hand and told me how good I was on it. I told him I was improvising and he hugged my. I got a pair of drum sticks that were signiture series sticks and I got his autograph. I love him, he's a great person.
Also I signed up for this drum day thing. This guy is trying to break the world record of 502 drummers playing the same beat at the same time. He wants to have at least 550 drummers playing for 7 minutes. I thought it would be cool and fun. Any participant has to bring 7 cans of food to participate. That should be pretty fun.

Percussive Arts Society festival day 1

Tonight was the first night of the Percussive Arts Society festival at the Owasso Performing Arts Center. It was so cool. Some schools' percussion ensembles came to perform from 1:00 to 5:30. Then at 7:00 the featured concert was Glen Velez, one of the best hand drummer in the world. He played some insane stuff, and at the end they had the Owasso percussion ensemble and Bartlesville ensemble play with him on a couple of his tunes.
Tomorrow we will have other percussion ensembles at 8:00 am, and that night the featured concert is Gregg Bissonette, one of the best drum set player in the world, with bassist Rod Clark. The Owasso percussion will play with him on six songs. I will be playing in four of them. It is going to be one of the best experiences in my life. Four of the songs are strictly drum set and steel drums. Two of the four I play are these.

2 Peter

I just read second Peter and it told me a few things that would help me. You need to have faith, virtue, knowledge of Christ, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity.
Watch for the false prophets and the followers of sin. They walk after the flesh. They are selfwilled and speak evil. They shall receive the reward of unrighteousness.
The return of Christ is not slack on his part, but is long suffering to us, not wanting us to die but for us to repent.

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!