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| My friends and I have had this conversation several times: what makes someone an adult? Part of the difficulty is in that fact that in the 21st century it is possible to live away from home for four years without paying for a dime of your expenses. We call that college. Are college students adults? Jen and Diane don't think so; at least they don't think they are adults. And neither are any students who rely on their parents for everything from money for tuition to laundry service. In fact, even after having a lengthy discussion about these factors, these two lovely ladies still said they couldn't think of me as a "man." Maybe a "guy" or just "Josh," but not a man. I'll be honest, I was a little bit insecure about myself--could I really say I'm a man? Well, Beth said she thought of herself as a woman and an adult, which made me slightly more sure of my own conviction. But this doubt lingered over my friendship with Jen and Diane... until last month. They finally admitted, when I moved into my new house (check out pictures! A little messy, but hey, I was moving in) that they can now think of me as officially...[drumroll please] a man. That's right, I now have my own house; it's on the small side, but there's enough room for me and all my stuff, which is all I need. I did the math, too, and I'm officially not relying on my parents for money; I pay my own bills, I take out the trash for myself, I do my own laundry, I clean my house for myself, and I cook for myself... and guests. Just call me automatojosh. Well, anyway, let me take you on a tour of this man's house: 
This is the front of the house. See how it looks like it might fall over? 
You can also appreciate the storefront billboard. And according to Jocelyn I need to get a rocking chair and spittoon for the front "porch." 
Here is the view from the front door looking in. 
Here is my kitchen. You'll notice there is a left cupboard, a middle cupboard, and a right cupboard. I spared no expense. 
Turning to your right you will see a world map on the wall, with pins sticking into three categories of places:
1. White pins: places I have been
2. Yellow pins: places where someone I know currently resides and/or a country I am praying for
3. Blue pins: places I am planning on going.
Right now the only blue pin is in Canada (I've never been there!). Any ideas? 
Turning around you will see a map of the United States as well as two of the four windows in my small abode. 
Turning to your right and traversing forward you will enter the living room / study / library / den. And yes, it does serve all those functions. 
And here is the final room in my house: the bathroom. There is scant room for a body to enter, but alas, 'tis all there is to use. Actually, though, it's not too bad, and the shower is right next to the water heater, which means I never have a cold shower. Mhhmmm... Well, That's all there is to that. It's small, but cozy. So it works for me. Want to visit? I would love to have you, and I would love to cook for you; just leave me a comment or send me a message. | | |
| Well, so this semester kicks off a kind of new period of time in my life. I'm doing some crazy things which I've never done before and which I really never thought I would do. Classes, labs, church, jobs, friends, working out, taking care of a car, living on my own, buying my own food and managing my finances will all be activities with which I will fill my weekly schedule. Really the thing on that list that most stands out to me right now is managing my finances. Me and God had a little chat the other day about responsibility and the importance of being careful with money, especially when a credit card is involved. Don't get all worried; I'm not in irreperable financial straights. I have just been realizing that I need to be extremely conscious of every purchase I make and track my spending so that I know how much I have and how much I owe at all times. So I'm keeping track of all these little financial things in a little black book with entries for credit card purchases and payments, banking account activity and cash on hand. I think this whole thing is giving me incredibly important life skills that I will be extremely happy to have coming out on the other side. I'm keeping a journal of my adventures and I'll probably post a few entries here at a later date. Also, a certain song has been playing in my mind for weeks now (and on my computer right now!): No More No Less, by MercyMe. It's kind of the song of my life right now. Ta ta! | | |
| A friend of mine had a friend who died recently. I don't know any of the details, and I didn't really know the guy who died (I think I may have played frisbee with him once), but I am heartbroken for his family and his close friends. I remember vividly the moment when I heard the news that Ian Murphy was in a car accident and it looked like he was going to die. I was shocked, scared and speechless. We all met together to pray... and cry for Ian; what else can you do? Now he is in recovery, but still also in some level of coma. And we continue to pray for him. Please, pray with me for the family and friends of Brice, that they would be able to see the love of God and feel his presence in this time of grieving. God worked through Ian's accident to give his family and friends countless opportunities to see and share God's love. I can only hope and pray that he does the same for Brice.
God, who can know your purpose? Who can know your plan? Not me. Please, comfort the grieving, give rest to the weary, mend the broken and hurting hearts. Be I Am. In my anguish I cried to the Lord, and he answered by setting me free.
The Lord is with me; I will not be afraid.
What can man do to me? | | |
| Life has been quite hectic. Here it is, more than a month later and I have not posted, nor really have I thought about posting. I would like to quickly sum up everything that happened in the last month, but there has been far too much. I suppose I'll do my best, though... so here goes: I'm doing well in school, keeping up my grades and learning a lot. I am only more excited about each class I go to, I don't have a single bad professor, and the homework load is just right (meaning enough to keep me busy, but not so much I go crazy). In other areas of my life, I couldn't be doing better. Of course, the biggest reason for that doesn't follow from a logical line of reasoning. My life has actually been really difficult and I have been struggling to keep everything straight basically since the semester started. I guess you could say I'm learning humility the hard way. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful family that cares about me so much, and is willing to work with me through life's hard lessons. Not too many people are willing to wake up in the middle of the night and listen to my struggles after being rudely awakened :) I want to say that I am leaning on grace, but that's simply not true. This dependence of mine is much greater than leaning, and I have received much more than grace. I am blessed beyond words. When I am afraid,
I will trust in you.
In God, whose word I praise,
in God I trust; I will not be afraid.
What can mortal man do to me? Psalm 56:3-4 | | |
| I never realized how much of a backwoods, country family I live in... until now. I was quietly getting ready to take a shower on Thursday when a heard a knock on the door and a loud inquiring voice. I quickly put on my shirt and walked upstairs to the door, following the loud barks of Glad, our dog. I was surprised to be greeted at the door by a police officer, gun in holster, uniform looking trim and spiffy, who wanted to know if there had been some shooting happening recently at my house. I told him I had been shooting the guns in order to sight them for hunting season. He said that he saw the targets in the field and figured that was what I was doing, and that the soccer players over at the athletic club were just concerned... and what was my name again? Josh Moss, ok, I'll tell them that you were just shooting target practice... and please try not to shoot when you know there are kids playing soccer next door. He walked away, hopped in his cruiser and sat for a while, filling out his report on the respectable country gentleman who was shooting a 30/30 Winchester rifle next door to soccer fields and then drove off, leaving me to laugh about his visit. Three weeks at home and I got something that dad said has never happened in the twenty years we have lived in that house. So then I started thinking about our family and put together a few pieces of information that had never all been in the same thoguht process of my brain together. We have two broken down cars sitting in our driveway waiting for us to call someone and have them removed. We have a trailer parked next to a ditch that we dug to keep the water from flooding our basement. We have tires sitting next to the shed. We have a barn where we used to keep goats and a chicken coop where we had chickens until we butchered them ourselves (that is, until I butchered them). We have four acres, which is apparently not small, as I thought it was. (Did you know that some people don't measure their yard in acres? Wierd, I know). So, I guess I am more of a country boy than I thought. | | |
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