There might be an END in FriENDships but...

When people do great things, they are often asked, "What does it feel like?" I'm sure after scoring 100 points on the New York Knicks, Wilt Chamberlain was asked that question. In 1969, Neil Armstrong stepped foot on the earth's moon, and I am positive he was asked the question. Now that I have graduated college, I've been asked that very question time and time again. Personally, I think dropping 100 points in an NBA game and being the first person to be on the moon are way more impressive than graduating from college. If you think about it, only one person has ever scored that many points in any level of compeitition of basketball, and only a handful of people can say they have been on the moon. Thousands and thousands of people graduated from college this year alone. So should I feel so accomplished from graduating from Ozark Christian College? I think so, but it is not because of a piece of paper with my name on it that i received from OCC for completing a four year degree. It is becaue of the many relationships I was able to build while being at Ozark that I can honestly answer the question, "What does it feel like?" with a resounding, "GREAT!"

Now I am no Wilt "the Stilt" Chamberlain or Neil Armstrong, but those guys could not have had better friends than the people who I have called family for the past four years at Ozark. There are way too many brothers and sisters that made an impact in my life to bring up in this post, but if I don't mention you its not because I don't love you...it is because you probably never bought me lunch or let me borrow your umbrella when it was raining.

Connor.


Connor, how do I even begin to describe our friendship? Our freshmen year, I just knew you as the kid that had a collapsed lung. I think everyone on our floor visited you in the hospital except for me and David. As time went though, we started to hang out, and I soon realized that you were probably one of the funniest people I had ever met. As our freshmen year came to a close, we started the infamous band, Worthy Prisoners. Six words to describe the worthy Prisoners...Too Much rock for One hand. I loved just sitting in our dorm room writing songs about Jonah or the Book of Acts. I know my junior year, we were not as close but I think we made up for it our senior year. I had such a blast with you my last year at Ozark. Whenever I needed to laugh or just feel better because I was in a horrible mood, you were there to crack a joke and make me smile. But our whole friendship wasn't based on laughter, we could have our serious conversations too about life and I really appreciated that. Connor, You are going to do great things whenever you graduate Ozark. If it is in Russia, I know you'll find a russian lady who just wants to use you for an easier access to American citizenship. Just Kidding! I love you man, and i will always cherish our friendship and I hope it continues for many more years.

Caitlyn.


Oh Caitlyn. Our friendship began in the food court of the mall in Joplin in an awkward way and awkwardness has not departed from a friendship ever since. I have to say that are one great baker. Your cookies were delicious, but you never had to bake us any goodies for us to love you (just in case you thought that was the case). I am sorry we didn't get to hang out as much our senior year, but the times we did hang out, I had a blast. I loved playing cards with you and always having awkward moments. I think my favorite memory with you was our trip down to Albuquerque. Going to the balloon fiesta was one thing I will never forget. You are a great friend Caitlyn, and I sure hope we get to cross paths again someday. And you are going to have so much fun this summer at Camp...you better let me know how it goes!

Blake.


This picture basically sums up our relationship Blake. I can only guess the background to this picture. I probably antagonized you somehow (all I am going to say is...Space Jam), and I tried running away but first you grabbed me and put me in the cradle. One of my first memories of you was when we were walking up the hill from a one of our first meals on campus during orientation, and I remember thinking to myself, "Man, that guy has some weird eyes." Blake, you are a great guy who I look up to spiritually. YOu are going to be an EXCELLENT youth minister, and wherever you end up going, I hope those kids understand how lucky they are to have you as their youth minister. I also want to thank you for putting up with my laziness when it came to working out. I know I ended up leaving you hanging with running in the morning, but you were always there to encourage and push me farther. As our college career came to an end, I felt like I was in your room everyday discussing the future and asking for your wisdom and guidance. Those talks we had were amazing, and we better connect later in life. And don't forget...The Landis Park Church will be the next mega-church.

Kinsey.


Oh Kinsey. I know that we have not been friends as long as the people I have already talked about, but our friendship is just as important to me. People have said that we are the exact same person, just different gender, and i think I would agree with them. We have so much in common that it is a little scary! I had such a great time getting to know you these past couple of years. Whether it was playing cards, playing paper football, or just sitting down and talking in the student center, there was never a dull moment. You have such a great heart and it was awesome getting to see how much you care about people (especially your Asian babies!). I just want you to know that you are going to awesome in Maryland. You are a beautiful woman who I know God will use in great ways if you just have confidence in yourself and in Him. You will always have a friend in me and if you ever need to talk, I'm here for you. I love you kinsey!

David.


Dear Best Friend, I cannot top what you wrote about in your last blog about our friendship. We have done everything together since 7th grade, and now that is all going to change. As I was sitting in my seat during graduation, I finally came to the realization that you were not going to be with me next year. I do not know if I have ever told you this, but you are the reason I went to Ozark. If you had not gone to OCC four years ago, I probably would have wasted my life at Kansas University playing for their football team. I have never met someone with such great discipline in their walk with Christ. I have learned so much from you by living next to you for four years. I honestly have no idea how I am going to be able to make it this next year in Indiana without you. You let me know when I am being stupid and when I need to lighten up. We have so many inside jokes, and now no one is going to laugh at my stupid jokes. But I like what you said in your blog..."For the average person, his best friend in middle school isn't much more than a casual acquaintance by the time they're in high school. His best friend in high school only gets an occasional facebook message when they're in college. And his best friend from college is nearly forgotten by the time they're 35. I hope to be the exception to that. I understand that people come and go and relationships change. But I have little desire to have another best friend. I'm pretty happy with the one I've got." I cannot put it any better than that my friend, so I'm just going to say, "ditto." I love you bro and I thank God for blessing me with your friendship.


Once again, there are so many more people that made an influence in my life. I'm so thankful for my experience at Ozark, and I sure hope that I will be able to continue the many friendships I made while at that school. While last Saturday might have been the end of my college career, I sure hope that it wasn't the end of the many friendships I created. I love you guys.

Good News for Chick-Fil-A

"Rise and Rise Again Until Lambs become Lions."

This was the saying Robin Hood's father coined to try and portray his idea of equality between the nobility and peasants. I went and saw Ridley Scott's portrayal of the hooded vigilante, and I thought it was a really entertaining flick that was filled with action coupled with background information on Robin Hood. I would say it is Gladiator-esque; but since Gladiator is the greatest movie of ALL time (therefore receiving 10 out of 10 stars), I would say Robin Hood receives a solid 7 stars. It was a little slow in the middle of the movie, but it was just building up the plot. So go watch it!

So I have seen 4 movies in the last two weeks for a grand total of only $20! Two of the movies were only 3 dollars a piece because i went to the drive-in theater, and the other two were matinees so they were a little bit cheaper. I don't know about you guys but every time I come out of the dark theater from watching a 2 hour movie, I feel like I enter a new world. It feels like I have been in my own little world for 15 years. Sometimes I come out of a movie and I think to myself, "Who is the president?", "What year is it?"..."Have my twinkies reached their expiration date yet?" The dark theater can play tricks on your mind but don't be fooled...Its 2010 and Obama is president and Twinkies will never expire.

Speaking of food, I do not think there is anything better in the world to bring people together. More specifically, I think it can be said that food brings about the most genuine, intimate time of fellowship. If you think about it, every family gathering is centered around the table. For family reunions, there is usually a potluck or barbecue. You might get together with your families for holidays like 4th of July or Christmas. Now even though there are extracurricular activities going on (shooting fireworks and opening presents), there is a meal that is shared that brings the family together. And if you are at the Landis house on Christmas, you get two great meals...A great breakfast and an amazing dinner.

I think the best conversations I have had with people are at the dinner table in the cafe. Of course, all of those conversations have not serious. Actually I am willing to bet only a handful of them were serious, but intimate fellowship is not always serious. It is about being involved in the presence of other people through conversation and life experiences. If you are not enjoying any fellowship of any kind, you are like superman without the sun, like Doug Funny without Patty Mayonnaise, or Jennifer Aniston without Charlie Landis. Fellowship is a necessity for humans. This can easily be seen in Genesis 2 when God says, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him." Now in this specific context, God is going to make woman to fulfill Adam's desire for fellowship, but this is a great example of how important it is for people to be in fellowship with other people.

Now getting back to one of my favorite things in life...food. The correlation between food and fellowship goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden. Just like food brings people together in the most intimate fellowship, food was the reason fellowship between God and man was crippled. It was Eve that ate FRUIT (or as a man from my home church so eagerly argues, "Its a pomegranate, and if you teach anything else, it is wrong!") from the tree of knowledge of good and evil that hindered God's presence with man to no longer be what it was before. Their fellowship was broken. But when you look at the New Testament, we see a different picture when it comes to God and man with fellowship and food.

Jesus, the God man, came to earth to restore that broken fellowship between God and man that was destroyed when our first parents ate the fruit. Jesus restored the possibility of fellowship between man and God when he died on the cross, and it ultimately becomes man's choice whether or not to come into the relationship with true fellowship. But when Jesus was walking on the earth about 2,000 years ago, he often used a meal to develop fellowship. The most intimate meal Jesus shared with his disciples was the Last Supper in John 13. Jesus knows his time to die is soon approaching, so what does he do? He shares a meal with his close friends. After he resurrects from the grave, Jesus appears to Peter and what does he do? He has a meal with Peter that reinstates him as the Rock (Mt. 16:18).

Jesus also pictures heaven as a great fellowship meeting around a meal. In Luke 14, Jesus tells the parable of the Great Banquet where a master told his servants to round up all the guests for his banquet but all of them had poor excuses, so the master invites everyone else to his table and says, "I tell you, not one of those men who were invited will get a taste of my banquet." Jesus is giving us a picture of heaven, and he describes it as a meal.

The last place I want to look at in the New Testament is Revelation 3:20 where the Apostle John is writing down the words of the Resurrected Jesus to the seven churches. To the church in Laodicea, Jesus says, "Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens my door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me." Jesus WANTS to fellowship with these people by having a meal.

Now all this talk about food is music to my ears. I love food...probably a little too much, but I just think it is great how food can bring people together. So the next time you are sitting around a group of people sharing some Chick-fil-A fries or eating a home-cooked meal (Only 5 more days until no more cafe food!!) just remember how awesome and important that fellowship can become.

Oh yea, I am graduating in 5 days...AHH!!!

My bad!

"My bad." My French teacher, Madame Stull, in high school hated when I said that phrase. Every time i mispronounced a word and had no clue what she was talking about, I would habitually say, "my bad!" Madame Stull would say something in French to me that I couldn't understand, and she would then say, "You make no sense when you say 'my bad'!" Well I didn't learn to quit saying "my bad," and I most definitely didn't learn any French...except for the one phrase, "Je ne suis pas fromage."

so to my readers, My bad! My apologies on my last blog. I really did not mean to sound so pessimistic and bothered by growing up! I had just happened to be talking about the whole idea of growing up with David that day and decided to write it down. I am pumped for the next stage in my life, and I cannot wait to see how I am going to glorify God. So I guess what I am trying to say is that please don't stop reading my blog because I sound like a Debbie Downer. I am thinking about becoming an Ursula Upper.

I Can't Believe its Not Butter...Its Cinna-Butter!

I secretly have a "Blog War" with David Heffren. He doesn't know about it(well, he might not if he reads this post like a good friend would). I saw that before tonight, we both have posted 11 blog posts so far this year, and as I walked into our dorm room, I saw him writing a new post. I can't let him write more blog posts than me, so I decided to write one. I know that people usually write when they have something of importance or meaningful on their minds, but I am competitive by nature. So I guess you could say this post was born out of spite for David Heffren. So take that four-eyes.

As my collegiate career is coming to an end, I have unfortunately just now discovered two important truths. First, the cinna-butter (a delightful combination of brown-sugar cinnamon and butter) that is in the cafe is very tasty. I spread that stuff on my toast, and it is a great dessert item. Apparently, the cinna-butter has been in the cafe my entire four years at Ozark, but I just now discovered it. The second discovery has also been around my tenure at OCC...the drive-in theater. For only $6 I saw Date Night and Clash of the Titans. I went with my blog-foe, David Heffren, and two other friends Kinsey and Lindsay, who we call "Doo." We all sat in some lawn chairs and enjoyed the movie. It was a great time.

I'm trying to hang out with more people before graduation on May 22nd. For instance, right now I am sitting in a room writing this post on my laptop. There are 5 guys in here, and we are just taking turns playing Call of Duty on X-Box. Earlier tonight, I played some cards with people and afterward we went to the Bell. As I was in line waiting for my scrumptious 5-layer burrito, I thought of my life and the many rite of passages I have undergone. I also realized the similarities between my life and the three hour drive from my house to Ozark. You see,the first hour of my trip involves different turns and exits while the final two hours is just one straight shot to Joplin. That is just like life. At the beginning of our lives, we go through many rite of passages. At the age of 5, we go to school. When we are 13, we enter the world of teenagers. Our 16th birthday brings car keys. When someone is 17, R-rated movies can now be seen in the theaters. Smoking and voting is now legal when some becomes 18 years old. Twenty-one is the age when young boys and girls can now OFFICIALLY drink. Renting a car is now possible for those who turn 25. And if you are very eager and motivated, you can run for presidency at the ripe age of 35. And the final rite of passage that everyone is looking forward to: Senior Citizen Discounts.

You should kind of see a trend. The older you get, the less Rite of Passages and perks you get. Just like at the beginning of my drive from my house to school that includes many turns and exits, the younger we are the more exciting and rite of passages that are present. I'm sure this is all kind of confusing. What I'm trying to say is that I'm on the second leg of my "drive." The final two hours of my drive is just kind of boring and monotonous. Basically, all i have to look forward to is rental cars and senior discounts.

I know this might all sound pessimistic and for that I am sorry. But I guess I just realized that I am on that 2 hour part of my lifelong road trip. I can make the most out of this time or I can feel sorry for myself and just live life to die. Personally, I think I will choose to live life to live it to the fullest.

I Can't Believe its Not Butter...Its Cinna-Butter!