Archive for February, 2010

Good Advice

Kevin Mannoia Monday, February 22nd, 2010

Many folks may assume that if they are sold out to God, decisions are easy. All they have to do is wait around for God to show up and make decisions for them. I call that “blind passivity.” They feel like they are so spiritual that certainly God will work on their behalf so they don’t really have to worry. They just don’t do anything but wait. God will work it out; God will make the decision. But really, that’s abdication.
In reality, though, the decision is ultimately ours. God respects the free will He gave us from creation and will not usurp your choice. Instead, God nudges us, woos us, encourages us, whispers to us. In all of that He is urging and helping us to choose rightly. He is a close friend ready with input and advice, if you are ready to listen.

If you have any prayer requests, please send them to me. Our Prayer Partners will be praying for you this week. And remember, you can also stay connected with us on Twitter and Facebook.

Blessings on you,

Kevin

And So the Track Season Begins

Staphon Monday, February 15th, 2010

It has been about a month since Track season started for APU.

Trying to figure out how to blog about the meets without seeming like I’m bragging or whatever has been a challenge that has been swimming and swimming around my head.

For those of you who don’t know, I am the Jump Captain for our Track team here at APU. My events are the High Jump, Long Jump, and quite recently… the Heptathlon… but we will get there later.

Meet one:

Since I was planning to be at a Staff Retreat in Palm Springs the next day, I needed to compete the day before, so, I decided to do the first half of the Hep which is the 60 meter Dash, Long Jump, Shot Put, and High Jump.

60m Dash went well, got 3rd in my Heat.

Long Jump went well, only one to jump passed 7 meters, and I qualified for Nationals.

Shot Put… Fouled out.

High Jump… well, I jumped 2.14 (7 1/4ft) which is the first time I have done it officially, making me one of only 4 jumpers in APU history to jump over 7 feet and bumped my APU record to 3rd Highest jumper to ever attend our University. At the end of the day, I was really happy with my performance.

Meet 2:

Fresno State. Not a happy meet for me. I spoke to my Psychology of Personality professor the next week about it, and how it relates to Adler’s theories on Superiority and how some people need things to be perfect and are not happy with average results and I definitely began to realize that I am a bit of an over achiever… oh well.

I Long Jumped only 6.80m or so and High jumped 6’8. Unacceptable by my standards, but the conditions for the High Jump was as Hugh Grant would say “Utter Rubbish”

Meet 3:

Somehow my coach talked me into doing a complete Heptathlon. I am still not recovered from it and my whole body hurts, but somehow I ended up winning.

Score: 4883!

Now, I have a huge decision resting on my shoulders. Since I definitely qualified in the Hep, do I do this event at nationals, seeing as how Day 2 will end at the same time as the open high jump and right after will be the open Long Jump. If I feel anything close to how I’m feeling now, I’m not sure I’ll be able to do well in either of those… however, I have heard Tell that it HAS been done before… I have only a short while to make the decision… maybe it will be easier to decided when every sneeze doesn’t make my body want to fall apart.

Videos to come.

Busyness

Kelsey Bjugstad Thursday, February 11th, 2010

Ahh! It’s been such a busy semester! My unit load is the same, but my classes are harder this semester. Harder doesn’t necessarily mean bad though, all of my classes are interesting.  I decided I’d rather take classes that are a little bit harder where I learn a lot than take super easy classes where everything is simple and irrelevant.  Some days I feel like I regret this decision, but in the end I know it’s going to be way more beneficial.

This is especially true for my Christian Life, Faith, and Ministries class. ‘CLFM’ is a required bible class for all undergrad students. My professor warned us the first day of class to drop if we weren’t going to take it seriously and actually do the work. And he repeated that frequently. I’m so glad I stayed though! ‘CLFM’ doesn’t always have the best reputation because it’s a required class, but it really depends on the teacher. Mine makes the class so interesting! Actually, fellow blogger Ellie recommended the class to me :). I know I couldn’t do it justice by talking about everything we are learning about. Let’s just say the class is an hour and half long and I’ll think only 45 minutes have gone by. That is so much better than my three hour classes :).

Speaking of three-hour classes… that could also explain some of my busyness this semester. I planned out my schedule so I would have Fridays off this semester, which I love! The problem with not having Fridays is I have to make it up somewhere. For me, that is 7:30-10:30 Monday and Tuesday nights. I have a Philosophy and Fundamentals of Bio Lecture on those nights.  I’ve never been a big fan of Mondays, but I’ve definitely gained a new dislike for both Mondays and Tuesday. At the same time, my Philosophy professor’s goal is to teach us AND keep us awake and my Bio teacher lets us out a little early, so they are both do-able.  I just need to get some sleep Sunday nights, which doesn’t seem to happen all that often :)

My roommate and I (and another hallmate who often has slept over in our room) often stay up watching movies and TV shows pretty late. She has every episode of Friends, which I’d never really watched before now. We try to keep this habit going only on the weekend… but we sometimes just put it on to go to sleep, knowing we probably will watch the whole thing.  It’s a choice I make though; everyone can decide when they want to sleep.  I love staying up late and can rarely fall sleep before one but it gets hard to get up at eight in the morning.

Another reason I’ve been so busy is that I started working this semester! :) It’s an on-campus job, which is really nice when it comes to days off and finals week.  I also just really enjoy the office I work in, but it’s been a little overwhelming trying to adjust.  Its only 4 and half hours a week… but it starts at 8 in the morning, and that kills me :) On the plus side, I have discovered breakfast in the Caf is amazing. I get up a half hour earlier so I can get breakfast before work. Omelet’s and lucky charms cereal completes me. :)

In light of all of this.. I’ve been having a lot of fun too!!

Last Friday our hall had an event called GYRAD. GYRAD stands for Get Your Roommate A Date. Basically, you get your roommate a surprise date for a fun group date.  A lot of girls went with friends but a few brought their boyfriends too.  We went to Downtown Disney and played a game called  “Are You the Freak I Seek.”  Our RA organized a game where a few APU people dressed up in strange costumes and had passwords for us. The goal was to get all the passwords by finding all of the ‘freaks.’ The catch was that we had to perform a task for each password.

Activities included making giant pyramids, doing the ‘Single Ladies Dance,” introducing yourself to someone you didn’t know, singing Backstreet Boys and even a fake proposal. All of this was in the middle of Downtown Disney. We definitely drew some crowds and made some Disneyland visitors laugh :). It was a lot of fun and a great way to spend a Friday night with the 3rd North girls and their dates.

We are a talented bunch :)

We are a talented bunch :)

Last weekend we had a hall event called ‘Lazy Dayz.’ We all slept in and then our R.A. and R.A.R. (Our resident advisor and her roommate) made us pancakes :) It was nice to have a relaxing day with the girls in my hall. We ended in by dragging pillows, mattresses, and blankets into the Study Room and watching a Chick flick.

This Saturday I attended Mugs and Muffins. Mugs and Muffins is an event for all Trinity girls.  We’ve had two other ones, and everyone has really enjoyed them.  We always start with worship, although I missed most of it because I was running late. Have I mentioned I don’t love mornings? :) Then we have a speaker come. We had an admissions counselor and a science professor, and both had really great stuff to say! There is something about being able to just hang out as girls and talk about God that make getting up early (well… okay, 10:00) so worth it. This time we had the RD of the Shire/Mods. She was so great! She talked about getting through our fears with some great example! :)

Well.. back to the busyness of classes :)

-Kelsey

Life Or Death Choices

Kevin Mannoia Tuesday, February 9th, 2010

Every day you make life or death choices! The first thing that comes to your mind is a huge decision where someone’s life hangs in the balance and you must choose rightly to save them or lose them. Well, not every “life or death” choice is that obvious or dramatic. You see, every day you make choices about many things – especially relational things or factors related to your everyday job. Each of those choices leads incrementally to life or to death. When you make a choice that closes the possibility of God’s grace to work and bring healing or wholeness, that’s a choice for death. When you make choices that allow for grace to continue working, inviting improvement, opening the chances for growth – that’s a choice for life. Every time you make a choice like this, you move incrementally along a path to one or the other. That’s why every decision you make is important. Listen to the nudge of the Holy Spirit, choose life!

If you have any prayer requests, please feel free to send them to me and I’ll be sure our Prayer Partners pray for you specially this week.

Blessings,

Kevin