What's a Doppelganger?

I would like to interrupt your long, cold, (hopefully not so) lonely winter to share with you a revelation I had earlier today. Some of you may be aware that it is 'Doppelganger Week' on Facebook.

"But Adam! I don't even know what doppelganger even means!" Fear not. As reported by dictionary.com, you now know what it means:

Dop⋅pel⋅gäng⋅er
  /ˈdɒpəlˌgæŋər; Ger. ˈdɔpəlˌgɛŋər/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [dop-uhl-gang-er; Ger. daw-puhl-geng-er]

–noun
a ghostly double or counterpart of a living person.

Now that we have that out of the way, I can explain the epidemic that's happening on Facebook. Basically, if anyone has ever said you look like someone famous, you post a picture of the celebrity look alike as your profile picture and try to get others to do the same. It's actually pretty scary how close some of my friends look like other well known people. As for me, I think God is laughing at my misfortune, and I envy all of you who have a celebrity look alike.

Let me explain...

Here's my friend Jordan...this is only the side of his face, but the other side looks exactly the same.



Now compare him to the more famous Tom Cruise...



Pretty close right? Or take my girlfriend, Meagan, as another example:



Isn't she so pretty?? I certainly lucked out. Now look at this:



Am I dating Meagan? I don't know...I might as well be dating Natalie Portman's twin. That's pretty cool, right? It's awesome to look like someone who is good looking. That's where I get frustrated. Look at this...it's a picture of me and my dog Charlie.



I must admit, I am by no means an ugly person. I have enough confidence and self esteem to say that. I mean, Meagan is attracted to me, so I must have done something right. My 'celebrity' look alike makes me nauseous.


Here it comes...





Wait for it...







Wallace and freaking Gromit. People have actually said that i look like him, and he isn't even real! If you ask me, that looks more like my dad because they're both folically challenged. Only on certain occasions might I look like that.



Ok. I guess that's pretty close. Wallace still isn't real! Thank you, Doppelganger Week, for reminding me of the cruel trick that nature has played on me.

I blame my parents.

Welcome Me Back!

I remembered the other day that I had a blog. It's been nearly 5 months since I last blogged so I hope my three or so followers weren't holding their breath in anticipation for my next post. My last post mentioned that I was going to be very busy during the semester. Well, I survived it, as it is now the spring semester! Not only did I survive it, but I loved it! I was never bored, and almost always doing something: planning, teaching, listening, studying, typing, writing, reading...the school breaks were life saving, however I somehow managed to earn my highest semester GPA yet which was pretty darn awesome. (No...my GPA is not something I brag about...because there is nothing to brag about)

Anyway, I was so wrapped up in everything that I forgot to blog like I said I would. Based on my last post, here are some updates:

-Youth ministry has been great. I've enjoyed building relationships with those students, leading worship, and speaking from the Word. Hanging out with them takes up a huge chunk of my Sunday afternoons and evenings, but I always feel refreshed and ready to take on the week.

-ACF rocks. It stinks that this will be my last semester serving that Church. The people there are pretty darn serious about seeing the Lord more clearly and knowing Him more. My Bible STUDy guys make me proud. I'm gonna miss them a ton - perhaps more than most people. (I do not consider this favoritism...we just have a lot of quality time invested in one another) Another personal highlight is that Thursday Morning Prayer is really growing and we fill our little prayer room to capacity every week! The Lord is moving...

-I already talked about school...probably my least favorite part because it all feels like busy work to me but I'm going to have a degree in a solid program from a well known institution...strong.

-Last post I mentioned starting a blog on dating...mainly because every book I've read on dating is pretty week (with the exception of 'I Kissed Dating Goodbye.') That is, until I read 'I Isaac, Take Thee Rebekah' by Ravi Zacharias. That book is everything that needs to be said about dating because it doesn't focus on the other individual and how the couple should act. Instead it focuses on what your relationship with Jesus needs to look like and how that will change your relationships. It's very good. I'd even recommend it to high schoolers.

This semester is probably going to be more of the same: Busy busy! But it's good. I'll try to stop in and blog, because I like writing, but I can't make any promises. I only write when I have a cool idea, and those ideas usually emerge in my free time.

Now I'm done.

Colbie Caillat on A Rainy Day

So I was just journaling, and I felt like blogging, so I decided to sit down and type instead of write. As I was walking to my computer, I was thinking of what to name the title, and initially it was going to be 'On A Rainy Day.' Then I noticed that Colbie Caillat was playing on my iTunes, so I decided to add that...then I realized it rhymed, and I became very satisfied with myself. I've been killing the unintentional simple rhymes lately...I'm just that cool. I'm so cool that I even laugh at myself when I do it...

So there are some pretty cool things going on in my life right now. School is back in action, and that's kinda nice. It's good to be with my friends...school is just alright, but hey it's my senior year, so hopefully all of these 'just alright' classes will soon give me a 'crazy awesome' job.

Speaking of job, I just got hired to lead a youth group part time at a church in Centre Hall! How crazy awesome is that? It's weird to think that at the beginning of the summer I was wrestling with whether or not God was calling me into ministry, and through a couple conversations and and a whole lot of prayer, I feel as though the Lord confirmed my call, and now lookie! I get to spend a year with high school students and hopefully I'll get out of the way enough to let God do something amazing in their lives. I am really excited!

In addition to that, I'm also incredibly stoked for ACF this year! This is my third year serving as an elder, and it blows my mind to see how the Lord has used a handful of full time students to give direction to this church. This is my home - I feel a connection there that I get nowhere else, and I can't wait to see what is in store for this year. My guess is it's going to be incredible.

So yeah, I'm gonna be busy: ACF. School. Youth group. I'll keep you posted.

That's all for now. I could write a lot more, but for the sake of my three readers, I'll stop. I'll be blogging frequently, so don't go crazy! There's plenty more of my brain to read in the near future. Here's what's on the list of future blogs:

-My thoughts on dating - i might actually start a new blog on that
-My experiences in youth ministry - I will most likely start a new blog on that as well...the links will be on this page, so you can find it easily
-the awesomeness that is ACF
-more of the same sweetness that is my life

**Read my previous blog post...it's one of my favorites so far!**

Where Did He Come Up WIth This?

Once upon a time, there was this deer and he wandered through the woods looking for friends and food. (Food and friends were two of his most favorite things) One day he and his friends decided to go hang out and find something really fun to do, like frolic through meadows or go irritate an old, lazy, ornery bear. They walked down an old dirt path to the bear's house until they came upon a strange tree with orange balls falling from it, so they decided to check it out.

The tree was full of oranges. They bumped the tree, and much to their surprise, even more fell to the ground! One poor deer had one land on his face, which gave him quite a fright! After a short time, the deer began to become more curious. They sniffed and licked the oranges, and they immediately were overjoyed with their discovery. They ate oranges until they couldn't move, and they rested under the shade of the orange tree - which didn't provide much shade, but they were happy nonetheless.

Now you know that when you eat that much fruit, you normally have some issues later on, and this instance was no exception. Their bodies passed on all of the oranges that their stomachs couldn't digest, and it laid in small piles throughout the forest. Part of those not so pleasant little treasures contained the seeds of the oranges.

Fast forward to the present...

Not so long ago, the parents of a friend of mine visited Florida and brought back some oranges. I have had oranges before, but let me tell you, these were no ordinary oranges. They were like juicy candy - easily the best oranges that I have ever had! And I was sad when the last one was gone, because I didn't want to go back to eating regular oranges ever again.

The other night I laid in bed, reminiscing about my near life changing encounter with these incredibly delicious oranges. I remembered the smell, the taste, the virtual party in my mouth after every bite I took. And then that got me to thinking about the creativity of our Creator: how in the world is it possible that something that delicious can come from a doodie-covered seed that grew out of the dirt? Something I just ate got its nutrients from dirt, poop, water, and sunshine. Now this story is made up, but the scenario isn't too much of a stretch...so how do those four things help in growing something I enjoyed so much?

Because our Creator is creative, and he is awesome. Have you ever had any mini revelations like that? They're quite fun to ponder, and I think they make life more exciting and enjoyable. Any cool stories out there?

Please Come Home

Love this song...love the lyrics. Story of my life.

Enjoy!

Thank You Apple!

I'm sitting here with my computer, listening to Pandora Radio (one of my favorite things, especially my Train radio station) and checking my email for the first time in a few days. School is done, and I figured I'd blog since I haven't blogged in two months.

Two months without a blog? Must mean two months without internet...something like that. I must say that there were times when it was nice. I did a lot of homework (I completed my summer classes without constant internet access!) and I did even more reading...for school and for my own entertainment. Tom Clancy knows how to tell one intense and exciting story!

On the other hand, if you have a computer, and you've had internet access in the past, then unwillingly going without internet is a royal pain. I had to do everything from my iphone, which does not replace my computer, but yes, the iphone is one revolutionary tool. while i had no internet, i spent many hours on my iphone doing my homework - flicking and pressing and flipping that tiny black screen checking email, twitter, and researching for class. I wrote about 50 pages worth of papers for my english class - much of the research retreived off of my phone. I have much more appreciation for my iphone now, but I don't want to do that again. It was really frustrating.

I feel bad that I haven't had the ability to blog...had I had internet, I could have written in detail some of my experiences from summer session. Here are a few highlights:

-walking on campus in the summer is really cool. Everything is green, it's quiet because everyone is gone, and the people there are really chill because it's beautiful out.

-the kids-on-a-rope continue in their hilarity:
kid on a rope: (pointing to old main) someone's buried there. hey, did you know that someone's buried there?
adult supervisor: no, there is nobody buried there. that's where the university president works.
kid on a rope: no! some guy got killed and they buried him in there!
adult supervisor: no, nobody got killed, and nobody's buried down there.

it was pretty funny, that kid was so sure that old main was haunted or something...

It feels good to be done with school though. Now I have more time to do other things...like fill out applications so I can finally get a job!

That's My King

I saw this last week during my last ACF of the year. I wanted to write it out but that wouldn't do it justice. If this doesn't get you excited then you don't have a pulse...



Words are by S.M. Lockridge. Hope you like it!