M.C. Hammer the Prophet?

So I've got something I've been meaning to post for a while, but events today just added to guilt of not already writing about, so here goes. Basically this post is just a testimony to God's faithfulness in answering prayer. I hope that it encourages you even just a fraction of what experiencing the actual answered prayers has for me. God is good and gives us all good things; and He only gives us what is best for us. Period. So, here begins the list of answered prayer in the last month or so.

1. God has been providing for me financially in very great and humbling ways. I began praying that God would help me to get rid of my debt on top of raising support for the mission field, and He is actually doing it. He gave me a huge amount (huge to me and the couple that gave it, at least) through a couple who were themselves just beginning on a faith filled journey. They gave me the money specifically for my debt. Amen. Also, God has begun to provide for my trip to Spain as well. Just tonight I talked with a couple who want to support me monthly--despite my poor presentation of what I'll be doing, etc...

2. God provided jobs for two very good friends of mine who were just married and moved off to seminary. You would think it might be a bit difficult for a teacher to get hired a few weeks before school starts, right? Well, God is even Sovereign over school districts, no matter what those flaming Armos say.

3. God sold my friends Dave and Kristen Martin's house.

4. God brought a friend of mine who has been out of church for years and years back to church. Now I pray that the fruit of this will show up in my friend's life, especially in the form of joy.

5. Today, I got to catch up with a friend who I care a great deal for but haven't seen in a long time. She has had a rough go of it the past few years, but is seemingly experiencing a bit of green pasture again. A great husband, beautiful daughter, baby boy on the way. But the greatest thing is that she has been praying for God to show her something more about Himself. I happened to be the instrument that God used to answer her prayer. We talked about the Bible and Christ's sacrificde for quite a while. We talked about why the doctrine of justification is so freeing. We don't have to try to work our way to heaven, and we would never be able to anyway. The righteous life has been lived by Christ himself, and that righteousness is imputed to us. But we still have motivation to grow in likeness to Christ, as we demonstrate our love for Him by ungrudgingly keeping His commandments continuing to die to the old man by living in the new man God has made us.

Anyway, I'm sure this isn't everything, but God has used these especially to remind me that He is working to answer prayer. He is personally involved in our lives and concerned with our welfare, even when we forget about Him in our near-sightedness. Even when the temporal so overwhelms and engulfs us that we can only think of earthly comforts and circumstances, God is there, moving every atom to bring us closer to Himself. He is in everything and every situation, demonstrating His immense love for us despite our lack of regard for Him.

God help me not to forget to see your loving hand in everything--be it physical, emotional, enjoyable, painful, special, or common. And should I forget, thank you for always working to repeatedly re-open my eyes to that truth. Amen.

Joseph Smith Meets Mike and Mike

Today was a half day at work because, well, we are just running out of things to do. So, I went to the bank then headed to my Mom's house to see if she wanted to catch some lunch. On the way there I ran into a guy from my church named Mike (great name), who just happened to be on his way to do a little street evangelism at the University. It turned out my Mom couldn't do lunch so I went evangelizing with Mike--very cool, very fun, very encouraging.

First of all, Mike is very eloquent and a gifted evangelist. I, on the other hand, am very shy and easily frustrated during street evangelism. We ran into a couple of ex-mormon missionaries who knew all the tricks of the trade, side-stepping every question they could with other questions, which is a very common problem for lost sinners who don't want to see themselves for who they really are in the mirror of God's word. Mike took all this in stride, finally bringing them back to the key issues of sin and salvation in Christ alone. Of course, they dodged this and took off, but I am really thankful that God was able to use this encounter for His glory. They put so much stock in the 'impressions' that 'God' gives them. They don't care about logic and reason. They really don't believe that "...all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of god". They really want to do everything they can to save themselves, and then Christ can finish what's leftover.

As a believer this astounds me. How can they keep believing these things and claim to have the Holy Spirit? They must feel a terrible amount of guilt and conviction every time they sin, knowing that they must not have truly repented and therefore are not forgiven. Any person who reads the Bible and honestly looks in their heart must admit that they are a filthy sinner and always will be until God finally changes them at death. If you don't see these things, then you are lying to yourself and ignoring what the Bible says.

DW Day: 10 Days and Counting...

Just letting you know that Derek Webb's latest album, "Mockingbird", will be available for download on September 1st. Oh yeah, and did I mention that it's FREE? Just go to www.freederekwebb.com on Sep. 1st to enjoy the goodness. This album is a bit controversial, very thought provoking, and a great way to start addressing some of the sins that plague American Christianity. When you download the album, please join the discussion there as well. These are things we all need to talk about if we are going to grow as Christians and come to biblical, orthodox convictions in these areas.

"Can't stand ya'!!"

I just finished putting together my first batch of support letters. I feel like George Costanza's ex-fiance Susan, who died from licking all the envelopes for their wedding invitations. I licked too many envelopes. I hope I don't die. In other news I cut myself with a saw and stabbed myself with a rogue screw today at work. Fun stuff. Hopefully tomorrow will be a bit less exciting.

Right now my Dad's girlfriend is watching "Murder by Numbers" on AMC. It has given me a new idea--"Support Raising by Numbers". Who says you have to know the people supporting you? Tomorrow I am going to start finding random names on the internet and sending them support letters. It will be a sort of modern day money raising urim and thummin. So, if you randomly found my blog and are reading it, excpect a letter in about a week, then a phone call soon after. And make checks payable to World Harvest Mission.

Today was (is) a great day...

So today has been a great day. I haven't fully achieved any of the goals that I set this morning, but it rocks all the same. I spent a good portion of this morning sleeping, then I had a chance to catch up with an old friend. Subsequent attempts to catch up with other old friends were unsuccessful, but hey, not everybody can be home at once. Next, I rolled down to the coffee shop where read and thought a lot about James 1. God is really using that book to show me my sin, and for that I am grateful. I have needed that for a while. I have spent the rest of the afternoon locked away in my home "studio" recording a song. I'm not nearly done with it, but by the end I think it will really rock. Right now I'm sitting in front of my computer typing this to the five people (I like to be optimistic) who read my blog, which is giving the Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese in my stomach a little time to digest. Plus, the longer I stay out the the studio, the less it will smell like McDonalds when I'm done.

Back into the dungeon...

That's Racin'

I feel like my blog has been moving in a much needed new direction. Instead of posting about life and its struggles, I'm going to just start reviewing movies. Shaun of the Dead, War of the Worlds, Under the Tuscan Sun, and now Talladega Nights.

I just got back from the theater and honestly, the movie was pretty funny. And it was a lot cleaner than I heard it was or expected it to be (or maybe I'm just completely desensitized). I went with my friends Dave and Josh. Josh is just on his way through town, but hopefully we can wrangle him into staying for a few days. Actually, it would be great to sit down and play some guitar with him. We are going to try and play at a coffee shop in Riverton, Wyoming sometime in the next month, so it would be good to pick a bunch of songs and practice them. Sorry, that was a rabbit trail. Anyway, Talladega Nights was worth the five bucks--I got to turn my mind off for a while and just laugh.

Okay, I've decided that writing movie reviews would be depressing because they generally aren't very edifying, so I'm back to my original focus: networking in the hopes of finding free places to eat and sleep no matter where I go in the world. I mean: writing about meaningful things that effect my life and will encourage others to examine their lives in those same areas.

Have a good day.

War of the Tuscan Sun

Today was a fairly uneventful, but satisfying day. I woke up late and then played some guitar before catching lunch with Jeff Brown. Then, I bought three tons of sand and shoveled it out of the back of my Dad's truck into a huge pile in the backyard. Dinner was a barbecue in honor of my Dad's girlfriend's son and daughter-in-law complete with some fancy desert that tasted really good. So good that I had two servings.

The night is being closed with a few movies: "The War of the Worlds", and "Under the Tuscan Sun". I wouldn't have chosen either of them, but that's alright, I'm learning to watch a couple of crappy movies every once in awhile. They can't all be "Shaun of the Dead", I guess. Anyway, tomorrow I've got to do some stuff for support raising and then I'm going to do some recording with my friend Dave. I don't know what song he wants to record, but I'm sure it will be a lot of fun.

A Zombie Reunion at Bass Lake

Well, I just got back from the Martin family reunion in Minnesota. I had a great time even though I wasn't related to anyone, hurt my knee on the camp's waterslide (a very "Jackass" like moment with the Martin brothers), and can't sing eight trillion part harmony like every Martin to ever walk the earth. Seriously, they are born for singing. Anyway, I met a lot of great people and got to catch up with others I hadn't seen for a while. I enjoyed the trip thoroughly.

Also, I got a copy of the movie "Shaun of the Dead" at a Wal-Mart while in MN. It's a spoof of zombie movies like "Dawn of the Dead" or "28 Days Later". The short of it is that I love it. It is so funny that I almost undied laughing--pun intented. If you pay attention, you find so many little details that carry through in the plot, or the same language coming up from previous dialogue (not counting the F-Bomb, which gets dropped a lot, unfortunately). The only down side is that it is a bit gory, and the language is very crude (British humor), but I think if you can watch "Snatch" or "Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels" in good conscience, then you can watch this one.

Treasure in Heaven

I just got done having a great conversation about money, comfort, safety, and security with a friend who is visiting from out of town. We disagreed on a few of the details, but basically came to the same conclusion--that Christians in America need to be a heck of a lot more generous. So, with this subject still in mind, I'm posting about Christ's comments in the Sermon on the Mount and giving a testimony of God's provision in my own life.

In Matthew 6:19-24 Christ says,
"Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
"The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!"
"No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money."

Jesus is pretty clear about something here--DON'T STORE UP TREASURE HERE ON EARTH!! But unfortunately, not all commands are easily obeyed or understood. One question I've come up with is "how do I know when I'm storing up treasure in heaven?" I think the key to unlocking this is found in verse 21: "...where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." It could be stated this way, "if your heart is in your new car, guitar, house, clothes, engagement ring, etc..., then you are storing up treasure on earth." Or the opposite, "if your heart is in using your money to further God's kingdom on earth by giving to the spiritually and physically poor, in your church, community, country, and world, then you are storing up treasure in heaven." This doesn't mean that owning things like houses, cars, and guitars (especially guitars) is intrinsically wrong, however. Rather, I think that we need to be constantly evaluating our lifestyle and spending habits to see if our treasure is in heaven or here. For me, a scary thought is that God may someday move me to sell a lot of my musical equipment to give to somebody who needs money more than I need guitars and amps.

So, this all puts me in a unique and difficult position. Right now I make $7.50/hr. Right now I'm trying to get out of debt as fast as possible. Right now I'm raising support to be a missionary. Right now I have a huge desire to be generous and give out of my poverty to those who are going to the mission field, or experiencing financial difficulties. These are all seemingly conflicting thoughts that pull me in different directions, each giving its own excuse for why it is right. But, I know that I need to store up my treasure in heaven, and that "whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully." (2 Cor 9:6) These principles are beginning to shape how I view life, and how I am planning my future. I don't want to just take every penny I get and spend it on my own comfort, pleasure, and security. I have spent enough time doing that already. I want to live and give in such a way that provides for God's work in the lives of people who I know He is using to reach the world, and that shows other Christians that they can live a lot more simply than they actually do.

Anyway, God recently gave me a great example of this principle at work. He moved a friend to give me a substantial sum of money to put toward my debt. This friend and his wife just moved away and are currently unemployed. But they gave sacrificially, and I look forward to seeing the blessing that God will pour out on them for their obedience. I look forward to the opportunities that He will give me to give in the same manner. I look forward to the treasure, now unseen, that we will all see some day if we are obedient to God's command to store up treasure in heaven.

Life really sucks...sometimes

Today is one of those days. Melancholy spread through me sometime this evening, leaving me hopeless, judgmental, and just plain depressed. If you're reading this or care, or maybe even both, please pray for me.

Pleasure and Pain, or, Xbox's and Underwear

Wow. God really knows how to test me. Truth is applied to life in the oddest ways, but always for our benefit. For example, as I have read the book of James this past few weeks, God has impressed upon me a new way to look at trials. It's really a simple thing, and I'm not completely certain about some of the details, but my new doctrine was definitely tested tonight.

In James 1, it says that every good and perfect gift is from above. It also says that we aren't to say that it is God who tempts us to sin, but rather, our flesh luring us away from the truth. Traditional Dualism pits good against evil, God against the devil, in every situation. A sort of cosmic battle. I don't think this could be farther from the truth. Surely, there is a battle, but our God is in control of every little detail, not just the things that we traditionally want to give thanks for (a healthy baby, new job, car, wife, $$, etc...). I think we have a skewed sense of pleasure and pain.

We associate pleasure with things that give us certain physical or emotional sensations and pain with opposing sensations. I think this is very wrong. Why are we so quick to trust our flesh over God and His promises. God desires us to experience true pleasure no matter what He sends our way. Like tonight, when I was getting ready to round third base and head for home and I suddenly pulled up lame. Most people would say "pulled hamstring=pain." Physically, yes. My neurons were firing pain signals to keep me from continuing. But spiritually, I had to praise God for giving me this seemingly unpleasurable experience, knowing that it was a good and perfect gift from above. It was the only and best thing that God could have possibly given me at that time, otherwise, he would not have given it. I don't just think the things my flesh tells me are pleasurable are good gifts from God. Now, I think everything, no matter what my body or emotions say, is a perfect gift from God, and try to not let my flesh lure me into temptation and death. It was C.S. Lewis who said it is not that we are too focused on pleasure through sex, drugs, and rock and roll, but that we are too easily pleased (paraphrase). So, I think we are too quick to rob God of His due for giving us not only the gifts that feel good, but also the gifts that we need to really grow, but don't feel good.

It's like at Christmas time--we want to say God gave us the Xbox and not the underwear.

Wed like an Egyptian

I just got back from a friend's wedding in Dallas/Fort Worth at 5am. A group of us here in laramie car pooled down all night on Friday--a good sixteen hour drive--then went to the wedding Saturday night and drove back Sunday. We left way too late and paid the price for it. Anyway, the wedding was good and I got to see some people I haven't seen for a long time, which was also good. I love to catch up with people and see where the Lord has taken them.

Have a good Fourth and God Bless.

Sola Fide and Psalm 116

Over the past year or so I have struggled greatly with the doctrine of justification. It is not that I have been tempted to abandon the orthodox position for a cheap substitute, but that it's a doctrine not easily applied to life. Maybe it's because most of the literature I've read on the subject is very intellectually focused, or my flesh desires to have the right answers without the necessary pain and discomfort that coincide with obedience, but either way, I know that this great truth doesn't really look that great when set next to my life. In short, something is wrong.

The Bible is full of absolute commands. Christ seemed to be especially fond of saying things like, "...if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me." (Luke 9:23) Or, "if anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple." (Luke 14:26) The problem I find with these commands is not that they are bad commands, but that they aren't the type of commands I want Jesus to give--they are too vague. They are too ambiguous for an aspiring Pharisee such as myself. What I mean is that they are not easily obeyed. Christ isn't telling us to make a big, wooden cross and walk all over the world with it. That is too easy. He doesn't demand that we never speak with our disfunctional families ever again. That's even easier (for me, at least). He is asking of us something much deeper than external obedience.

Yet my search for obedience is too often characterized by this type of external obedience. I go to church twice every Sunday. I play in the worship band. I go to bible studies, church work days, and potlucks. In short, I look good. Everybody sees my good works and I know it. But this isn't what Christ asks of me. His righteousness hasn't been imputed to me so that I can continue trying to establish my own. Paul puts it this way--"O foolish Galatians (Mike Gorski)! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?" (Gal 3:1-3) So, what's a boy to do?

Psalm 116 says, "What shall I render to the LORD for all his benefits to me? I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the LORD, I will pay my vows to the LORD in the presence of all his people." (v. 12-14) First and foremost, I am to give back to God the very thing which He has given to me, salvation. There is no greater work than God's own, and no greater thing I can offer than praise and thanksgiving for the saving work of His Son. Living in the light of this truth should completely change my life. It should cause me to deny myself and follow Christ, to love Him so much that any love I might have for family and friends will look like hatred. And the necessary and natural extension of this is external obedience. Not just an outward 'obedience', but obedience that grows out of a pure love for God and a realization that we having nothing good to offer Him in return. At the end of every day, I can truly boast in Christ alone. His life. His Death. His resurrection. His intercession on my behalf.

Praise God that "...whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith--that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead."--Philippians 3:7-11

Hallelujah!...or...What Happens When I Lead Worship at Church

Wow. Today was awesome. The worship leader at my church is out of town, so he put me in charge of the music for today's services, and it was so much fun. We had a very stripped down 'band' (my church has a lot of decent musicians) consisting of me on acoustic guitar/vocals, the worship leader's brother on vocals, the worship leader's other brother on djembe and shaker, and a friend who played acoustic guitar/vocals/harmonica. I usually just play electric guitar, but these past two weeks I've done a bunch of different stuff, which has been a nice change of pace. There is something about the folk rock vibe that I love, something very organic, and when combined with hymnody, I just get giddy. Anyway, I introduced three new songs to the congregation--'the love of christ is rich and free', 'free grace', and 'father, long before creation'--and the congregation seemed to catch on quickly and enjoy the lyrics (I LOVE HYMNS!!). Anyway, 'Father Long Before Creation' turned out really cool. I hope we continue to sing it as a congregation.

After the morning service, I went to lunch with a few friends and then helped one of them move a mattress from my garage to his house. He is an Indian working on his PhD in chemical engineering and we had a very encouraging talk about many a subject. His name is Sanil and he is one of the coolest guys I've talked to in a while--very humble, very honest, very real. Plus, he doesn't mind it when I make fun of Bollywood movies.

Also, our church has a college-age bible study/barbeque/church volleyball extravaganza every Sunday night and we are trying to make it a bit more evangelistic. Not evangelistic in the sense of "hey, bring your unsaved friends here so they will see how (un)cool we are and become Christians", but evangelistic in the sense of teaching people about the various doctrines involved in salvation so that they are able to share the gospel accurately with the people they're around all day long. Tonight we talked about justification by faith (Sola Fide!) and it was a great discussion. The leaders are really teaching from a reformed perspective and I think it is making the muddy theological waters a bit clearer in many a young person's mind. The guy who led tonight even quoted John Murray, Daniel Ahn's homeboy from Westminster.

Another cool thing that happened tonight was that one of my ex-divers came to church and the barbeque. I haven't seen her for a few years and it was cool to catch up with her. I hope to talk with her a bit more and help her to get plugged in with some good solid people because she is starting college next year. She is also very interested in missions, so I hope to talk about that with her as well.

Well, it's time for bed, and I've got a long day tomorrow. Running at 6am, then spending the rest of the day working on five sections of scaffolding, wetting myself from being 30-35 feet in the air and fighting the beautiful Wyoming wind. Good Night.

Mike Gorski and the California (Support) Raisins

Well, it's official, my blog is number one--all others are number two or lower. I can't quite remember where I got those statistics, but you'll just have to take my word for it--I know a statistics professor.

Also official, is my appointment as a full-time, short-term, missionary apprentice in Spain (don't ask me how I will ever fit that onto a business card). Although I was offered the position last week, I guess it wasn't "official" until I got the letter in the mail, which happened today. Maybe the reason they don't want you to trust what they tell you at the sending center is that faith, it seems, is blind, and they want you to have a Hal Lindsey type faith. Just like his proposed dates for the end of the world have come and gone, but he still hangs on, World Harvest Mission wanted me to trust that even if that letter of appointment never came, and my departure date passed by, I needed to believe that it would somehow miraculously happen. Ok, maybe a better explanation is that all the people in the Sending Center are really just super-intelligent robots, and the only way for their decisions to become "official" are to print them off in the form of a letter and send them to a guy in a white suit somewhere who looks like Colonel Sanders (like the architect dude in the Matrix), who then signs the letters "Ward Shope" and sends them off to Missionary Appointees.

Anyway, I'm a little nervous about raising support. I've never had to raise money for a missions trip before--granted, I've never gone on a 20 month long trip either--and since my move to North Carolina, I have grown increasingly averse to accepting gifts from people. I don't want to be labeled a free-loader, nor do I enjoy feeling like one. The fact that I am raising God's money for God's work among the lost will need to be an ever present reminder. Also, I am learning a few things about why raising support can be very helpful to whatever ministry a missionary might have. Here is a list of a few of those things in no intentional order:
1) It creates a community of prayer for the ministry.
2) It gives people an opportunity to be blessed by giving, to store up treasure in heaven by getting rid of it here on earth.
3) It connects those who have vocational callings within their home country to God's work in the rest of the world.
4) It builds stronger relationships, founded on the Gospel, between people who may have otherwise lost touch.
5) It creates reciprocal prayer as supporters pray for missionaries and missionaries pray for the needs of their supporters.
6) It causes all parties involved to live by faith, not trusting in their own self-sufficiency.

This list is by no means exhaustive, nor is it my attempt to coerce you ('you' being the five people who know about this blog) to give me your money, but it is a few of the things I have been learning as I try to peel away my pride in preparation for support raising. Seriously, though, give me all your money (just kidding).

In more spiritual news, I'm going to see "Nacho Libre" tonight. Brian and Roseena said that "Bend it Like Beckham" was an accurate representation of South Asian culture, and I'm hoping that "Nacho Libre" will help me better prepare for ministering in Spain (even though the movie takes place in Mexico, which is nowhere near Spain). I'll let you know if it is funny and educational.

Comments--confusing, invisible, and yet all there

I thought that I would post instructions as to how one would comment on my blog posts should the desire so move them. It is a bit confusing, mainly because right now the comments aren't showing up in the tally at the bottom of the post. But be not dismayed, for when you click on the "0 comments" link, all the comments do indeed appear.

So, anyway, to leave a comment here is what you do:

First, click on the "0 comments" link under the post, then type your comment in the window that pops up. After that click on the button that says "other" (as opposed to, "anonymous" and "blogger", unless of course you have a blogger account), type your name and click the "publish" button. After that, your comment should appear amongst the ideas of lesser men, namely, the other people who will theoretically comment in the future.

Hello David

Have fun in Illinois, even though you will bear the constant burden of knowing that you don't have your own blog for nobody to read. And say hi to all your family for me.

Is there anybody out there?

Well, this is my first venture into the world of the internet beyond having an email account. Up until recently, I didn't exactly know what a blog was, and even if I did, I just assumed that you needed to be particularly technologically savvy to have one (and you know what happens when you assume...you are sometimes found to be mistaken). Even now, while writing my first ever real post, I don't know what I'm doing. I'm going to finish typing this, push a few buttons and hope that it works. A monkey could probably do this--and who knows I may soon be looking for an assistant if you happen to see any runaways from the zoo--and so I'm going to learn. My hope is that eventually this will be a good way for all my friends, near and far, to keep up on what is going on in my life, as well as stir up some good discourse through comments left and responded to. But for now, I am the only person in the world who knows this blog exists, and so I can say whatever I want. Here goes--purple monkey bumblebee. Hmm...who knows what other profound thoughts are crying to be communicated to the world, just wanting to be noticed, like the scalp of a balding man (or eagle). Anyway, I'll start this blog out right, by thanking those who made it possible.

First, thanks to God, because if there is anything I will ever have to say that is worthwhile and meaningful, that will ever effect anyone's life for good, it will be owing to His infinite worth and beauty. Secondly, thanks to Matthew at World Harvest Mission for taking five minutes to show me how easy this really is. Thirdly, thanks to google for creating Blogger. Without this service, Matthew wouldn't have been able to take five minutes to show me how easy this really is (deja vu). Lastly, I would like to thank Al Gore for inventing the internet. What other ingenious inventions are we missing out on because the state of Florida is scenile (just kidding)? Anyway, I'm going to say goodnight to myself. I look forward to future blogging, hopefully with people other than just me.