While my Computer Battery Gently Weeps...

43 minutes of Christmas left.

It was a very delightful day. I have never had a "bad christmas" and knowing me, I doubt I ever will. I really love the whole thing... just being with family and the presents and such. We always read the Christmas story in Luke 2... Dad and I quoted the whole thing almost...

One of the biggest Christmas traditions in the Miller Household is going to the Portersville Bible Christmas Eve Candle Lights service... it's always been the same, and I hope it never changes. THAT is what makes me mentally prepare for celebrating Christ's birth.

Last night though, I did something I should have done a long time ago. I watched the entire It's a Wonderful Life movie... I have only seen like the last 30 minutes.

What a great movie. I don't know why some people don't like Christmas. I know sometimes bad things happen... but come on, the birth of Jesus is always exciting. It's so sad to see people not having that Joy that I have during this time. I feel bad for people like that.

I only have a few minutes left on my computer battery... but I want to briefly mention Greg. A guy I met on the plane coming home last week... ironically we share the same name. To make a long story short... this guy was a cool, modern, easy going, professional, unsaved guy.

He was easy to talk to and was quick to start conversation. Anyways at one point he told me, "I really love talking about theology, and what people believe." So i did something I rarely do. I shared everything.

Romans road... stuff I was taught from day one. All that I believe in, and it was amazing. I felt God direct my words... it was... amazing. Crazy adrenaline rush. He was easy to listen to me and take my opinions into consideration, but never made any decision. I gave him my email address and told him to email me if he ever wanted to... I think some of what I said stuck with him... he said he was surprised to hear that people like me (christians) do not consider themselves to be good people.

I said we are not good people, we are just saved by the gift of God.

I hope that stuck with him. I have prayed for him a lot and it would really be an awesome Christmas gift to get an email from him.... I know he was looking for the truth. I hope he finds it.

That is what Christmas is all about.

Invisible God

I give you praise, O Great Invisible God,
for the moon in the space of a dark night,
for the smile on a face in the sunlight.

I give you praise, O Great Invisible God,
for the sound of the storm on the window,
for the morning adorned with a new snow,
for the tears on the face of the old man
made clean by the grace of the good Lamb.

And oh, I long to see your face,
Invisible, Invisible God.
All the works that you have made
are clearly seen and plain as day,
so mighty and tender.
O Lord, let me remember
that I see you everywhere,
Invisible God,

in the seed that descends to the old earth
and arises again with a new birth;
in the sinner who sinks in the river
and emerges again, delivered.

And oh, I long to see your face,
Invisible, Invisible God.
All the works that you have made
are clearly seen and plain as day,
so mighty and tender.
O Lord, let me remember,
your power eternal,
your nature divine.
All creation tells the tale
that Love is real and so alive.

I feel you, I hear you,
Great God Unseen I see you
in the long, cold death that the winter brings
and the sweet resurrection spring.

---

-andrew peterson

.wow. those words are good.

Sweet Chin Music

Whoa, so I can't believe I have already (almost) been home for a week. Time just goes way too fast. Wow. So Christmas is next week? Ahh. I need a vacation... or a chance to make time stop for a few weeks.

Anyways so here are the exhilarating things I have been doing in the past week...

Saturday- went to Chris' house alll day, which was enjoyable. Dad/Ben/Chris hunted all morning and I didn't have much in the area of warm clothing so I stayed in the house for most of the time. It was a nice chilly day though, I enjoyed that much. Then we went to the outlets, well just Ben and I. and we had a great time... as we ate our Charley' Grilled Subs, we saw Pastor and Candy, which was great.

Sunday was church and the usual... sunday night we did Christmas Caroling at the Ellwood City Hospital. At one point, we saw this little old man creep out into the hallway to hear us sing. His face lit up and he began to sing with us as loud as he could. He told us that he sings with his church choir and he sang with us for probably 15 minutes. He was so happy to get to sing Christmas songs for a few minutes, I really think we brightened his evening. I know it really made me smile to see him smile...

Monday was work and... what did we do that night? I can't remember. Oh Sunday night, we watched Bucket List, which is currently one of my favorite movies. Anyways After work I think... OH YEAH I went to Chris' house and spent the night. After working a long boring Tuesday doing cleaning at Jones' and stuff, we came home... and Ben was at his friends house so I just hung out with Dad and Mom

YESTERDAY (was awesome.) Aaron kniess and I and Scott cumberland went to Southpointe and watched the Penguins practice. We got Crosby's autograph and we got to see him up close for a bit... the others werent so nice though. It really was great... well I think that brings me up to last night... my hands are tired from typing so I will finish later.

BUT I got most of my Christmas shopping done, so that is so exciting. I love Christmas.

I love Christmas.

Cliff Klingenhagen

Something, a few weeks ago, something weird happened at Books-A-Million. Matt and I were reading "Where's Waldo?" and it was the one where he was hidden with all of those other Waldo-look-a-likes... it is very tedious actually. (We actually found him a week or so later...) Anyways, as we were pouring our attention into this children's book, a normal looking, bearded, in his mid thirties probably, average looking man walked to us closely and said "Is your name Gregory?"

Ok so I was raised to not give away personal information. As a child, I was taught if someone didn't tell me their name on the phone, I was to hang up. Stuff like that, I am always careful about personal information.... anyways... I said the first thing that came to my mind.

Now I know that my name is 'Gregory' and... I mean... obviously the easy answer to "Is your name Gregory?" would be... "Yes." I mean a child of 3 or 4 would be able to answer that question with no problems.

But me? Well... I said the first thing that came to my mind....

"No." was all I said. As the word was coming out of my mouth I was thinking... "wait... why did I say that?"

The man walked away... and Matt looked at me and said: "Did you just say 'no?'" and I thought about it for a second... yes. I did. Why? I have no idea. Why do I do the strange things that I do?

No Idea. haha. I dunno. So we noticed that the guy walked around, and I think he was asking other people also, but I could be wrong. Anyway as we were walking toward the door, we noticed the same man with an older lady sitting at a table. The older lady looked up at us and pointed to us. Why? I have no idea. So to this day I have no idea why the man asked me if my name was Gregory. Maybe I dropped something with my name on it and he went around looking for "Gregory" all around the store, maybe he recognized me from a thousand miles away from my house... no idea. Does that count as lying, if it was an accident?

Haha my life is full of weird and awkward positions. Maybe someday I will figure out why it happened.

So that is a weird "Greg-Story." As for everything else, it's going well. I love that poetry class. I am doing a report on Edwin Arlington Robinson, what a great poet... but yeah school is well. I really miss friends from back home... and the fall weather sometimes makes me lonely feeling, but not really in a bad way. More of in a thoughtful way.

So about the election, I was really depressed on Tuesday night. I know things will be ok. Everyone has been "God has everything under control", and it is true. but I just really want someone who loves the same God that I do, and reads the same Bible as I do, but I don't think our country would EVER elect a man like that. I mean I am not the biggest McCain fan to tell you the truth, I just disliked him less than our current President-Elect.

But hey. God is in control. Right?

Right.

"And though I know the fellow, I have spent
Long time a-wondering when I shall be
As happy as Cliff Klingenhagen is."

He do the Police in different voices.

It's "Midterms are over" time. I can't believe how fast the semester is going. Classes are splendid; I am actually doing well is every class (except Genesis because my teacher is delusional and isn't sure how to teach/ write tests. But hopefully I am ok) and I am learning much. Teaching English is the most work, but it isn't difficult... it just involves a lot of paper work and the like, but I can't wait to teach in a school. man.

The poetry class is a.w.e.s.o.m.e. and I am so happy I took it. Dean McDonald is fantastic... so far we have done Thomas Hardy
William Butler Yeats
Edward Arlington Robinson
a few other random ones like Ezra Pound, and E. E. Cummings
and William Carlos Williams.

My favorite is Robinson, but Hardy is up there too. Williams is childish and Yeats is wacked out. but I know now that I actually enjoy good poetry a lot.

Anyways today is pumpkin carving day at Matt and rashell's and I can't wait... but I should get some homework done. I will write later.
later.

Len Liller

Let me just say that I really really miss blogging. I miss being able to snuggle up to my computer and pour my brain into my keyboard...

ew... that's kinda gross.
Anyways I miss that. So I am going to do my best to do several per week as the summer digresses.

Something I am working on is my writing... after taking advanced grammar and creative writing and the like, I feel much more equipped in the writing field, albeit I have a long, long, long way to go. Anyways... this is good for me.

So, *long sigh* my summer has been interesting. Not really... well maybe some of it has been. Going to Ireland was excellent... and hanging with the brothers up in Taxachusettes was a grande ole time as well.

I haven't read many books, but the list for this summer is: The Picture of Dorian Gray, Of Mice & Men, and Marley and Me. Now I am reading Dubliners, and should be reading either an H G Wells or Dracula.... or maybe some Dekker... or Hardy.

D,SMB,SLTRT. [dang, so many books, so little time to read them]

So I love bookstores. I wish I had one that I could go to anytime... like at school. That's nice... but the one in Cranberry is sufficient when I get a chance to run down there.. I think there is something about those couches that makes me read better. ?? Maybe not... but they are most comfy....torble. comfortable. *hmmm*

So I am @ Jones' [aka- where I spend my life, aka- I hate it when people say aka]
And I ought to get rollin' home here pretty soon. But I miss this... I'll do more. Don't you worry, none.


Later.

'Cause he sent you along like a summers day...

Probably my favorite thing ever is driving home from Jones' with the windows down. This picture here, is a typical shot from route 19. (I think this shot is about half way or so...) but it's just awesome. Especially days like that day, when the sky is blue and contains puffy clouds that seem to smile with the sunshine, and the trees and grass are so green and... it's just awesome.

My favorite part is probably just having the windows down while putting my left arm out the window and feel the rushing wind sweep up and down my arm. I love blasting a song on the radio or something also and just singing as loud as I can.

Long drives can be tiresome and just long but I just love this ride. It's like 30 or 40 minutes of peace where I can just think. Sometimes I call friends or pray or sing or just let my mind veg for a few minutes in between being at home and being at work. Sometimes I think it's good for us as humans to just take some time and realize... hey man, everything's ok.

---

.

Thoughts & Living.

The thing about life is... that it's different for everyone. I have this weird theory that life is actually mostly all in your mind. Ok so I know that God is good, and God created the universe and then sin came along. So I know the world is evil and all that, but I think it's still possible to live a good and happy life.


Ok God has given me bundles of awesomeness. I mean I have the greatest family ever, the best friends ever and just loads of fun in general. So I know maybe I have it better than someone who is in total depression and who hates life, and that makes sense that it's easier for me to be happy, but I think God's joy can be obtained by anyone.


I think it takes some time and effort, but once anyone can grasp that the fact that there is an ancient, yet living, legendary God who created, and still controls this world... (and every other world for that matter). And do be honest, I forget this sometimes.

A long time ago I told myself that I hated depression and I would do my best to never be depressed. I think there is a big difference in being depressed and being sad. I think sadness comes to everyone, I mean I face it all the time but I look at it under a different light:


Ok this is kinda weird but follow me, so God is in control right? and God is a good and just God right? So everyone always says "why does God allow all this terrible stuff to happen!!" and I think it's simple. We did it. It's our fault. We blame Adam for everything, but I think if I were the first man, I probably would have blown it before God even got the words "Thou shall not eat..." out of his mouth. So ok we have sin everywhere, yet God died so we can live with him. I think if we have to endure some hardships every once in a while, that is a fair trade.


I know it doesn't make it any easier to rely on God but I think if we try to think of life from God's perspective then life seems much simpler. God cares about every tiny detail in our lives, but at the same time he knows that in the grand scheme, it's really not a big deal. I bet sometimes God wants to cover his face with his hands (so to speak) and think... man they have no CLUE why I created them, do they?


So I guess my point is that life is what you make of it. I know some people have better "luck" (not really) than others, and some are more fortunate or whatever, but I think as humans we have it all wrong- what do we want? Happiness. Why do people make every decision of every day, because we want somehow to be happy... I think happiness is based on happenings. Things that we see and things that just, well... happen. I think Christians have the advantage because no matter if we are happy or not, we still have the Joy of the Lord inside us that still can make us smile in the hard times and say, hey God is in control.


You think Job was "happy" when his entire life was demolished before his eyes? Of course not. But he still (somehow) managed to get on his face and worship God. Man that takes some serious joy.


So maybe this pointless rant might not stop global depression, but I kinda wish that we Christians were able to wrap our minds around the bigger picture. And sure I get sad, but I think that being sad is different than being so depressed that we blame everyone on God and hate life. I think as Christians, we have no excuse for that one.

---

So I'm not really sure where that came from haha... I guess it's been on my mind for a few years.. I probably have blogged about this on some old forgotten webpage years ago, but it's good to get it out sometimes. Because hey, the only way I can fight depression is to keep telling myself this stuff.

---

What can I say? God is good. All the time.



I think that covers it all.

Creative Non-Fiction

I wrote this for my Creative Writing class at the very end of the year, and I must say this was probably the most fun I have had writing in a long time. Anyways, here goes.

---

MORNING PEOPLE


There are two types of people; those who have the ability to wake up in the morning quickly, with a good attitude; and those who find waking up difficult, painful, and generally terrible. I probably fall into the second category. Of course, if I need to wake up early for something important, I usually can still be on time: however, I still find it an arduous task. Don't get me wrong, I do wish I was a morning person. I am jealous of the way my roommate can hear his alarm, spring up from his bed and begin to start his day. My waking process up probably looks more like a bear waking up from a long hibernation. I do enjoy getting up early and experiencing the morning because, well, mornings are beautiful. I would say it’s my favorite time of the day, yet somehow I can never get up early enough to enjoy it.


A few months ago, I decided I was going to become a morning person. I tried several tactics to wake up easier, but didn't get very far until I recently continued my experiment with the help of my roommate. The first method I used was trying different alarms. I went through all of the various ring-tones on my phone and chose the loudest, most obnoxious ones, hoping they would annoy me so much that I could wake up quickly. However, I noticed that the loudest alarms only made me angry and the only result was for me to start my day with a headache. Then I decided to move my phone across the room, that way I would have to jump down from my bunk and walk over, and hopefully wake up in the process. One particular time, I decided to do this, only I would put various obstacles on the floor so I would have a difficult time getting to my alarm. Maybe I would trip and fall and mildly injure myself. That would surely wake me up, right? Well, this was a failure because I somehow, heard the alarm and was able to maneuver through the obstacle course, shut my phone off, and then climb back into bed, all the while miraculously staying asleep.


I became so busy with work that I never gave much more thought to my morning person experiment till recently. I tried one more method on my own, which was very pleasant but not very effective. I kept my phone near my pillow and put it on vibrate mode. This was great because it was nice and soothing and did wake me up in a good mood. But it also was so nice that I would never completely wake, and soon would drift back asleep. This was getting me nowhere. I consulted my roommate and told him that I was giving him the responsibility of waking me up for a few days.


I told him that since I was experimenting, he could use, almost, any method he chooses, as long as I didn’t get severely injured or nothing was damaged. The first day was a Sunday morning. When it was time for me to wake up, he walked over to my bunk and picked me up right off of my bed. I am not sure where he was planning on taking me, but he didn’t make it very far without me slamming my left knee on the bed frame. He was slightly stunned by my yelp, so he placed me back into bed, where I sat frozen for a few minutes trying to bring feeling back into my poor knee. Actually this worked very well. I was wide awake, but I didn't think that hurting myself daily would be very good for my body.


Later on that day I took a nap and told him to wake me up in 45 minutes. I did manage to drift off into sleep only to be awakened by my roommate who was not only standing on my bed screaming at me, but beating me mercilessly with a pillow. This also worked very well, but I don't think I would have been very happy if it was in the morning.


The next day began by my mattress being rolled up while I was in it. I was not exactly sure what was happening till I saw my roommate standing silently next to me with his arms violently pushing and pulling my mattress. This was not completely effective because as soon as he walked away, I fell fast asleep again. The very last day of our experiment began by my loving roommate dumping a box of empty cans on me. He had been collecting empty energy-drink cans for the whole semester and I am pretty sure each one of them rained on me and my bed that morning.


Ok so let's recap: I tried, injuring myself by tripping over items while turning the alarm off, the vibrating alarm, being carried off my bed, having my mattress rolled and moved under me, being beaten with a pillow, and having cans dumped on my head. As much as this research has been enjoyable and interesting, I think I would rather wake up with a cup of coffee and maybe a bagel. Food is probably the best way to wake me up, and sadly I still live in a dorm room where food is a scarce item. Only a few weeks left till I get to wake up in my own bed, and I can't wait.

---

Gregory Miller, 2008

Varity.

I got it in my head that I had all these things planned... and then I got home and I just chilled with the family... then I got to the point where I figured "well the summer hasn't really started yet," but I suppose the summer has not only started, but two weeks have gone by. Or something like that... who is counting. Anyways so I am at Jones'...

I really don't have time for much of a post but I wanted to kinda get a book list going. My reading so far has been stanky since I have only read like 30 pages of the Oscar Wilde book. Anyways here is my gameplan

-finish Picture of Dorian Gray- Oscar Wilde

-Of Mice and Men- John Seinbeck

-Invisable Man- H.G.Wells

then from here it's kinda up in the air... but I have all of these that need to be read:

-Tess O the D'Urbervilles

-4 other H.G. Wells novels

-the Darkness books by Perretti

-Showdown/ Skin- Dekker

So that is how I am as far as novels... then in Non-fiction I have a few

-Pursuit of God- A W Tozer- Mary got this for me and I havent read it yet

-Mortification of Sin- John Owen

-Velvet Elvis- Rob Bell (maybe someday)

-and maybe a few biographies if I get real bored.

---

So those are the biggies... but I don't know how far I will get at this rate. Well it's time for lunch... I might go to Dunkin and maybe I will warm up a bit.

Standing Bye

So this semester was... wow. So much has gone on. SO I am at the Pensacola Airport chillin... talking to Stephen. This semester I have gone through Advanced Grammar and General Teaching Methods and just a ton of insane things... let's see here...

a few highlights:

-awesome roommates- Israel and Jonathan

-Cheese dip

-Pastor Jackson coming to our room

-Going to see Huckabee

-getting a new phone

-devos with mary

-fine arts- mary/sarah

-getting used to black coffee

-aquired some new books to read this summer (persuit of God, Showdown, Tess of the D'Urbervilles, Picture of Dorian Gray, the H. G. Wells stories)

- I learned a lot about Stonehenge from that book and my report. Pretty sweet

- heard some awesome preaching- John Ray, Johnny Pope (awesome!), Brad Phillips, James Earls, Dave Kistler and a few others

-many walkings to Barnes and Noble with Pete

-Bagelheads with Matt and Rashell

-making crazy-awesome videos with Israel

-and just getting closer to God

This was probably the best period of spiritual growth I have ever experienced... and I can't wait for the summer for it to get better.

Anyways I am back in action with the Bloggination. I am quite happy to be gone from school... I will miss people... and I am not exactly home yet haha but hey It's a start.

c'mon now.

You Do.

Mouths are moving

People talking slowly In my ears

Another year goes

You stood up gently

Turned around

To face me staring back

"I'll see you sometime soon"

If only I could see the way you do.

The midnight air it blows

Between my fingertips

So cold

As I walk back inside

It's hard for me to understand

How you could die for me

When I fall short sometimes

If only I could see the way you do.

If only I could see the way

And if only I could see the way you do.

The walls are closing in on me again today;

So...Monday. Monday was warm. It was wonderful, in that "smell of spring" kind of way, but I am a big believer of seasons. I think that soon it will be summer and I will be wishing that there was some snow... Especially since I am going to Florida. Ahh I hate the weather in Florida. Finally it is chilly again today in Wexford. It is quite pleasant I think.

Man I have been drinking a lot of tea lately... Tazo Giant Peach (awesome) yesterday, and this very tasty, large bottle of Lipton Lemon today. I love iced tea... Anyways,

Dad has been really awesome lately... he has just been happy since he got home. He was probably sick of being away and everything, plus the blast furnace he was there to work on blew up (!) it was insane, thankfully he wasn't there and nobody got hurt. But yeah he has just been pleasant... lots of laughs and jokes... mom has been really hyped up... she needs to calm down. I hope she takes today to relax... the last week of me being home is always stressful or everybody.

I am gonna miss everything... I mean I am super excited about going to be with Stephen next week and I am (kinda) ready to tackle this semester. I mean. Mentally... mentally totally I am ready in the sense that I want to do an awesome Job... but physically I don't feel like going back and all. Dang, I had a really good talk with Mal last night... she is not doing well emotionally. She knows all the answers in the sense that she knows God. She is really someone I look up to spiritually... she is really close with God... so I mean she knows the promises are true... she just has to keep telling herself the promises are true. That guy breaking up with her was so insanely sad for her... just because she thought it was never going to end like that... she was telling me how she was reading Proverbs 3:5-6 the day he called her... then she kept falling back on that verse AND a few minutes after she told me, we looked up in the room in the basement of the church (that we were in) and those exact verses were on a poster, right next to our heads. We both looked at it with no words to say. God is clearly giving her that verse to remember... pretty awesome I think.

we talked and talked... for probably 30 minutes or something. I really feel for her... she is one of my best friends and she is a great person... I just hope she pulls herself back together regardless of the future with him. I wish I could do more...

I guess prayer is a pretty good start. Anyways...

God really is good... all the time. She knows that.

I can hear you, just barely hear you

So it’s the deuce, doubt ought eight, eh? I am excited. Something is always awesome about the New Year. Not quite sure what it is. It might be the Christmas in the air, or the brisk feeling outside while the snow dust is blowing, or the staying up late and watching the ball drop in NYC, or... I don't know. It is refreshing to wipe the slate clean... and mine is filthy. Not with all bad things... but its messy... my slate is full of stuff that happened in '07... just school and the insane-awesome summer I had, and more school and Christmas and everything. I have so many changes to make... I usually don't make "resolutions" per say... I have been doing this thing where I set "goals" that I rarely reach the way I want to. So I have actually thought it over and I think I know what I can resolve... (is that the right word? hmm...) Anyways since I didn't make it through both of my History classes this past semester (and didn't even do as well as I should have on my others honestly) I had one of my "swirly thinky times" yesterday. My bill came from school... $1,100. Thanks PCC. Happy New Year to you, too. Anyways, that was an insane amount... and then I remembered that I am broke and I think I blew my small scholarship (it wasn't much, but still a lot of money to waste) because of my History marks... and now I will have to retake them, wasting MORE money and even more importantly- time. Ah time. The inevitable enemy of mine.


But anyways I had a talk with dad where I ended up breaking down and letting it get way into my head that if I don't buckle up, I am messing up everything. I absolutely hate that feeling... it’s the feeling where you are safe and things are fine... for now. But you can see disaster happening. Something I think that feeling is worse than the disaster. When reality smacks you in the face... hurts.


I mean. Yeah. I know I can do something about it. I guess that is my point... it is not hopeless... and I mean hopefully in the future I can look back at this as just a bump in the road... but only if I take care of business and get it done. It was a good talk with dad. He is amazing... I hated hearing all that stuff but it was good and it was real. I have to stay on top of EVERYTHING. Once I let one thing take me down, I am done.



Anyways, on with the resolutions... I came to the point where I see that if I keep putting my God on the backburner, I will get no place fast. So I am going to make a bunch of new rules for school... but those come later.


Two things will I do this year.

1.- I want to read. I say that every year, but I figured out a way to get some progress made... I have a lot of books that need to be read. So my resolution is that I want to read all the books I own this year. That is a lot for me, but not a ton... no more than ten I don't think... so I think I can handle that... that way I can start getting more books and I won't be wasting my time. Anyways

2- More importantly I want -need- to get closer with God. So I am going to read my Bible in a year like I planned on doing while at school, but I will use that book that Paul gave us from youthgroup. It is fantastic... it goes through the whole Bible in a really cool order... it gives the passages to read and it gives some insight. I love it.

So that's it. Those are my goals. Simple, subtle, but doable. I wanna get to the point where it is in my brain that I need to get the Bible read. Anyways God has been good to be in '07 and I know He will continue.



God is good.... All the time

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And that's where we are at.