Since last fall (2009) 23 has been on my mind quite often.
It all started in my Personal Evangelism class. One day I was sitting in my chair listening to Dr. Beougher’s lecture when I looked up at the clock and it read [1:23PM] (I used the brackets because it reminds me of the rectangular digital clocks that are in all our class rooms. Also you will notice that the time is in blue. This is because all the clocks’ lights are bright blue). I thought to myself, “hmm, that’s a coincidence last week when I looked up at the clock it was the same exact time [1:23PM].” I didn’t think any thing of it until two days later I was in the same class and the very first time I looked up at the clock it was [1:23PM], again I thought it was such a coincidence. I gave a little smile and thought, “Oh my goodness what are the chances, that is so cool.” I know you’re thinking, “Wow, what a dork”, but come on its a little cool. And if you’re thinking I’m making this up, I actually have pages of notes to prove this. I started drawing the clock on the top of my notes with [1:23PM] on it. Well it started happening all the time, not just in Personal Evangelism. In other classes I would look up at the clock and it would read [12:23PM] or [8:23AM] or [3:23PM], all the time. I would get board at work and check the time, [7:23PM]. 23 was imposing itself on me, impressing itself into my brain.
I finally told Laura about it and she said it was because I was looking for it. To some degree this had become true, but in the beginning it really wasn’t on my mind. I never checked the time hoping it was the 23rd minute of the hour, but time and time again it would be.
I’ve spent plenty of time over the last few months trying to figure out why 23. Why have I been seeing 23 so much? Is God trying to tell me something? Am I going to die on the 23rd? Should I enter the lottery with 23? Well I finally got my answer. Lost.
Jack Shephard is a character on the tv show Lost. He was brought to an island by a character named Jacob. Jacob had a job to do and he was looking for a replacement. Jack is one of the candidates for his job. Jacob had assigned the candidates numbers and Jack’s number is 23. Jacob’s job is to keep evil incarnate on an island and from going into the world. The season finale is going to be on the 23rd on May. It appears that Jack “Shepherd” is going to arise as the “new” Jacob. Also the 23rd Psalm is about the Lord as a Shepherd. Jack Shephard’s number is 23, my name is Jack, I’ve been seeing 23. Am I Jack Shephard and I don’t know it?
When all this first dawned on me, I was bursting inside, but I couldn’t tell my Lost buddies. They wouldn’t understand. That’s why I’m blogging it. I’ve been seeing 23 for months and now I know why, it is the key to the end of Lost. Jack Shephard is going to the new Jacob and keep evil at bay.
This root beer tastes good but it doesn’t taste much like root beer. It is actually very similar to Henry Wienhard’s Vanilla Cream Soda, which is the best cream soda ever. So, it’s a tasty beverage but not so much in the realm of root beers.
Also for any Harry Potter fans it tastes exactly what I imagine Butter Beer to taste like.
This picture took like six takes to get. Laura and I just kept looking goofy. She’s so cute with her little animal cracker.
It’s been a long time since I’ve blogged but I’m bored and it’s fall break so I figure I’ll just sit here and type about myself. I’ll justify it by thinking that my family and friends back home will get to see or here what’s going on with the Jarrett Family (Jack and Laura edition).
Laura’s in bed. She has to get up at 5:30am for work. She’s not super excited about it. I’m proud of her though. She is such a hard worker and when it comes down to it she does it with a great attitude. I love her so much.
I taught bible study the last two weeks at Glenn and Amy’s. Matt and I are doing a series on 2 Corinthians 3:15 about examining ourselves. Its going really well so far I think. Tonight was about examining the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. We talked about bearing witness to Jesus through the Spirit (John 15:26-16:15).
I’ve had plenty of new root beer encounters. On the way to and from my cousins wedding in Cary, NC Laura, Ray and I hit up a place that made their own root beer. Heinzelmannchen Brewery in Sylva, NC and Farley’s Hot Dog Stand in Barboursville, WV. The Growler I picked up at Heinzelmannchen is just flat-out beastly. Heinzelmannchen is German if you couldn’t tell, it has the two little dots above the “a”. The root beer was a little disappointing and I’m beginning to think that I might have caught them at the end of their keg, because it took the guy like four or five minutes to fill up the growler which is only half a gallon. Anyways it still had a unique taste but it just wasn’t carbonated enough for me. Over all I was disappointed. Farley’s root beer was unique as well. It had brown-sugary taste and felt more like an actually soda in the mouth. You know what I mean, it wasn’t rich and creamy it was carbonated more like A&W or Barq’s. Anyways I enjoyed it more than Heinzelm…yeah you know the German one.
I have also just received a package in the mail containing two of each of seven brand-spanking-new root beers and one bottle of a root beer I have had before, but never in a glass bottle (only in a can). I have tasted three of them so far and have not been impressed with any of them, but I think I’m going to devote a separate post to each of them with a picture of the bottle, maybe. After these seven root beers I will be right under one hundred different kinds of root beer.
Changing gears, I have discovered that Laura is awesome at throwing a football. She has a great spiral and can throw it at least 30 yds. It is my new favorite hobby. A couple of weeks ago we both had the afternoon off and decided to go to Cherokee park to throw the frisbee and walk some trails and what-not. Laura decided she wanted a football as well so we went to Dick’s Sporting Goods and got a 10$ (actually we got a 20$ one and took it to the park and didn’t like it and took it back) NFL sized football. Ever since we’ve have been throwing the football every chance get. We’ve taken with us to class, church and work, I kid you not, and have thrown the fields and parking lots at each. It’s great fun if you have a couple of minutes to kill.
My Personal Evangelism class is really pushing me spiritually. It’s really forcing me to get outside myself and share the gospel with people. Our sunday school class participated in a church wide prayer walk this afternoon and it was great to get out and slow down and pray for the people living around our church as we walked through their neighbor hood. Its given me some ideas for personal evangelism and a project I am doing for the class. The purpose of the prayer walk is to pray for the seed that will be sown this upcoming March. Our church is going to be doing a mass handout of information about the church and about the Gospel, trying to peak families interest in Bethlehem and to let them know that we are a church in the area that cares about their spiritual and physical well-being.
I think that’s all I got for now.
Oh also basketball season is going well. My team is undefeated 5 or 6 games into the season. We’ll see if I (my team) can bring home the championship shirt this year…
The Cattail Pull-a-thon was a big success thanks to The Rock’s Youth Group and Seminole Height’s Youth Group. We pulled cattails for 8hrs Saturday. It was hard work, but we made a ton of progress. That was the longest we had ever pulled cattails for, and it showed because that was the most we’ve ever pulled in one day.
This is Pastor Mike giving us the cattail pulling 101 class.
By the way, he’s the guy to get it from…did you see how fast that old man can pull cattails!
Shhh. Don’t tell him I wrote that.
Here’s us at it. Even though you probably can’t make us out unless you zoom in. Oh well.
How many of ya’ll have some killer bites/stings to prove you’re in the picture?
Seriously, really great job you guys. You made me proud with how well you all hung in there!
Don’t forget to sell some tickets for the car wash this Saturday.
The text I used was Proverbs 7. In this text Solomon, the writer of Proverbs, perceives a situation from his window of a young man being successfully seduced by an adulteress.
There are a couple key factors that doomed this young man and led to his fall into sexual immorality. First he lacked sense. To put in short, the young man was not a godly man; he did not desire to follow God. Second the adulteress was wily of heart. This means that in her heart she wanted to deceive her victim into believing what they were doing was okay.
She gave him four reasons/excuses as to why he should go home with her.
1. She was right with God. This is an outright lie.
2. She prepared her bed with great feeling linens from Egypt (Egyptian Cotton I presume) and great smelling perfumes. This is not a lie but a very enticing offer.
3. She appeals to his desire for sex. She says, “let us take our fill of love until morning”. That’s a pretty heavy come-on.
4. She says her husband is gone and will not be back for a while. aka: this is a total freebee, and no one will know.This woman is a liar and deceiver.
I tried to put a twist on the passage by symbolizing the adulteress with our world and our culture. Our culture seduces and deceives our young people every day. Millions fall into sexually immorality and most don’t know that God hates it. That is because ultimately Satan is behind this deception and he loves it. He loves it when unwed people engage in sexual activity.
The best way to fight this deception (any deception) is with the Truth. Having God’s word in our hearts and mind and confessing Jesus as Savior is the only way to fight this deception successfully. If we do not have Jesus in our life we will ultimately fall to Satan’s deceptive ways. We will become one of his many victims.
For the rest of the summer the Rock Youth Group is going to be over at the Jarrett’s house (my house) hanging out, starting at 6:30pm (pool, pool, ping-pong, trampoline, frisbee, etc.) and watching Wipe Out at 8:00pm. Tomorrow night is the premier and I’m fairly excited about watching people “wipe out”. There is just something about seeing people fall painfully into a body of water that is pleasing to the soul.
1. I’m youth pastor at The Rock
2. My bro is getting married this coming Saturday
3. And most of all I’m getting married July 25th
Now, reason number three would be enough in and of itself to have me super pumped, but I also get the privilege of serving as youth pastor at The Rock, alongside my Dad, and being Rayford’s best man in his wedding. What a great summer! Today was my second Sunday as youth pastor at The Rock, but it was really like my first because last Sunday I had only been home for a day and I had no clue what was going on. This week I was actually able to answer most questions and make announcements about our action packed summer. I am really excited in aiding our youth in their spiritual growth. It’s going to be an awesome summer.
I’ve been coming across the importance of community lately in my scripture reading and discussions in class and with friends. And I cannot get over how central the church is to each Christian. You see, I feel like it is a current trend to think that “I don’t have to go to church to be a good Christian.” That is such a legalistic attitude. What? Yes, a legalistic attitude. And it’s funny because the people who say, “I don’t have to go to church to be a good Christian” are saying that because they think going to church every Sunday is legalistic, when really they are missing the picture completely. Going to church is not a matter of legalism, it is a matter of the heart. The bible makes it clear that Christians desire to be with other Christians. It is one of the main functions of Christians. God called us to be one in Christ. You can’t be one in Christ if you never express a desire to be with other believers. There are plenty of passages in the bible that show us the importance of being in the community of faith. It would take forever to comment on each one so I’m just going to list some passages I’ve been reading lately that stress the importance of being apart of the Body and meeting together, and assume that if this post concerns you, you will read them. Hebrews 10:24-25 “not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some”, 1 Corinthians 14:26 “when you come together”, Paul assumes that the Christians at Corinth come together regularly, Ephesians 2:11-22 especially in 16 he says “and might reconcile us both to God in one body though the cross” both meaning Jew and Gentile, what this passage means is that we must reconcile with other believers, so we can become one body, in order to be reconciled to God. Still some of the strongest support for being apart of the church is found in 1 John 4:20-21 “if anyone says, ‘I love God’, and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.” How can we love our brothers and sisters without meeting together to worship our Lord regularly. Loving non-believers is great and necessary, but it cannot come at the cost of loving our fellow Christians. It is clear that our priority as Christians is to meet together with other Christians and worship God. If you are struggling with why you should go to church then you should read these passages as a start. I’m learning this myself, but it is a true sign of spiritual maturity to view church as somewhere you want to be rather than somewhere you have to be. It is a heart issue.
Just got back from earning me some more Chick-fil-a, and its a good thing because I was down to my last two cards from the grand opening in January. That means I’ve eaten there 33 times since January 8, or 9, I think 8 though. Thirty three because I gave 17 to Laura, one for each week we are apart this semester. (Speaking of my beautiful fiancee, she is enjoying a mac-daddy vacation in the Virgin Islands right now and I am so jealous I’m not with her and I miss her a ton)
Back to the Chick-fil-a story. It started out a beautiful day, sunny with a high of 75, a little hot at points, but that’s a real nice change around here. Around midnight things went south and it’s still raining as I type this. I got soaked in the tent, but it was well worth it…
Thanks Jimmy, Laura, and Emily Marion for your honesty. Well Jimmy and Emily, Laura I hate to say it, no I’m proud to say it actually, that you are just bias sweet girl. I just got through processing the return order, so I will ship them back tomorrow or Monday and become sunglassless again.
My last post was about an assignment for my Spiritual Disciplines class. This post will be no different. Seventy five percent of my grade for this class is to keep a journal this semester. There are a number of requirements for the journal, it’s not just a “journal everyday” or “journal whatever you feel like” thing. It’s journaling….for the purpose of Godliness and the professor requires certain journal entries that he feels will help us in the process of journaling for the purpose of Godliness. As hinted in the titled we have to journal about an evangelistic encounter from that occurred during this semester. Here is my entry…
It’s Thursday 11:59 pm, about forty five seconds from Friday. Last night, Wednesday night, I had an evangelistic encounter with a guy at work. Devon is one of the store managers at my work place, which is Snappy Tomato Pizza. I started working there when I moved up here last August. I think it was September by the time I actually found a job. Anyways Devon started working there shortly after, in November I think. Upon meeting him I could tell he was not a Christian, or at the very least not at all concerned about being one. The first conversation I had with his wife, Jenny, she told me how she despised the Church because of its big buildings and wrong use of funds. Needless to say neither where interested in God, although they said they believed in “God”, I think they meant more like “a god”, because it is definitely not the living God of the Bible. Through talking with Devon over the last couple of months I gathered some information about his life. He went to Church until he was seventeen. He married at nineteen, but already had a kid by someone other than his wife. He stopped going to church because he thought it was bogus and he loves all things about wrestling, hard rock, and using foul language. But I have been praying for Devon, praying that God would allow me to talk to Devon and share the gospel with him. Wednesday night I got that opportunity. I was praying, it was a slow night and we were making dough for the next day, which normally would be a one-man job, but because it was slow and the other driver had left I was helping Devon because, as a driver, I had no other responsibilities. He said something about his sixth anniversary coming up soon and mentioned the church he and Jenny got married in. I saw my door, “what kind of church did you go to back home”. “A Quaker church,” he said. Seeing the door opening further I asked, “do Quakers have any unique beliefs?” It was quite amazing, what followed was genuine interest in my schooling and beliefs about God, the Bible, Jesus, and other God-related stuff. I was able to tell Devon that the Bible was true and the it accounts for people suppressing the truth that God is real and that he made the world and that sin is real and that God must punish sin, and Jesus was sent to save us from our sin. I was able to present the full gospel, and the highlight of the evening was when towards the end of the night he said, “well I’m sure I’ll sit down one of these days and think about all that stuff.” My response was surprisingly bold, but I think given to me by the Holy Spirit. “Well Devon I think when you finally do you’ll know in your heart and mind that what I’ve told you is true.” At the end of the night he was still holding his ground and resisting the Holy Spirit, but I’m praying that God will be gracious to him and allow him to see the gloriousness of His Truth, and the Light of the Gospel.
I’m sharing this with you now, so that you can be in prayer for Devon and his wife Jenny, that they may be saved and turn to Christ. Next I want to invite them to church so you could be praying for that too.
In my Spiritual Disciplines class we have a floating exam that can be taken any time during the semester. We have to write out the books of the bible in order and spelled correctly, the ten commandments (short hand version), and quote 1 Tim. 4:7 and 1 Tim. 4:16.
Pretty easy right?
Well the reason the professor has this exam is because of a story he heard about a Ph.D student study for his oral exams. It takes a good six months to study for the exams and this student spent months and months cramming for this exam. When the time came for him to stand in front of the exam committee they said, “okay we’ll start you off with a warm up question, a “gi’me”, so just state the books of the bible in order please”. He couldn’t do it. After all of the study and knowledge he had learned about an abundance of different subjects he couldn’t give the books of the one book he was devoting his life to.
So in the spirit of not wanting to be like that fellow, here goes my studying, this is with out looking, completely from memory. Check me for order and spelling and let me know if i get any wrong.
*Note: Read as if the books were arranged in columns. Apparently wordpress doesn’t want to recognize the spaces that I inserted.
Genesis Ecclesiastes
Exodus Song of Songs
Leviticus Isaiah
Numbers Jeremiah
Deuteronomy Lamentations
Joshua Ezekiel
Judges Daniel
Ruth Hosea
1 Samuel Joel
2 Samuel Amos
1 Kings Obadiah
2 Kings Jonah
1 Chronicles Micah
2 Chronicles Nahum
Ezra Habakkuk
Nehemiah Zephaniah
Esther Haggai
Job Zechariah
Psalms Malachi
Proverbs
Matthew 1 Timothy
Mark 2 Timothy
Luke Titus
John Philemon
Acts Hebrews
Romans James
1 Corinthians 1 Peter
2 Corinthians 2 Peter
Galatians 1 John
Ephesians 2 John
Philippians 3 John
Colossians Jude
1 Thessalonians Revelation
2 Thessalonians
I cheated on the spelling of Philippians and Zephaniah.
Ten Commandments
1. No other gods before me (The Lord speaking)
2. No idols
3. No Lord’s name in vain
4. Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy
5. Honor your father and mother
6. No murder
7. No adultery
8. No stealing
9. No false witness against your neighbor
10. No coveting
1 Timothy 4:7 “Discipline yourselves for the purpose of godliness”. (NASB)
1 Timothy 4:16 I don’t know yet, I haven’t looked at it intently for a while.
Just a little more studying and that’s the easiest 100 I’ve ever made.
Of course I say that, but I probably spell something wrong on the test.
“The Spiritual Disciplines are the God-given means we are to use in the Spirit-filled pursuit of Godliness.”
1 Timothy 4:7 says, “Discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness.”
As Christians we are called to pursue godliness. It is not an option or a track that super-Christians can choose. It is a God-given decree that we become more like our Savior, Jesus.
I’m in a class this semester that is devoted to teaching us the Spiritual Disciplines. We will cover the Spiritual Disciplines of Bible intake, prayer, worship, evangelism, service, stewardship, fasting, silence and solitude, journaling, and learning.
I’m really looking forward to the class because God knows how bad I need discipline.
My professor, Donald Whitney, is where I got that first quote from, the second one was from his book too, but first from the Bible of course. He’s written several books on the issue of the Spiritual Disciplines, and is very serious about the pursuit of godliness (AKA: Christ-likeness, spiritual maturity, and self-control).
I am fully expecting this course to crush me and convict me and teach me and guide me in the Spiritual Disciplines, which is awesome because that is exactly what I need.
John Michael took it to heart, when in my last blog I said Rayford and JM couldn’t complete the feat….so today he completed the feat. I also ripped my second phonebook in half.
I’m not really sure how we got all these phonebooks in our apartment.
But they were like manna after we saw that Mythbusters episode.
Phonebooks will fear our apartment in the future.
This post is for you JM. Oh and I know I’ve already told you, but happy birthday
It’s not a joke, I really did rip it in half with my bare hands.
You can ask Rayford and John Michael.
Rayford and I watched a Mythbusters episode that tackled the myth of being able to tear a phonebook in half. And we found out that there is a trick to it. It’s not the easiest trick, it still took some man power, but I was able to get it, Ray and JM weren’t able to complete the feat.
They also did the myth that if you interlock two phonebooks page by page then it is impossible to tear them apart. It turned out that it wasn’t impossible but they had to hook the two interlocked phone books to tanks to pull them apart. It took 8,000 lbs of force to pull them apart.
Another Fact: I round-house kicked a little boy in the face yesterday.
I felt really bad. Rayford was coming down the slope right at me and in my attempt to avoid/push him he swiped my left leg out from under me. Pivoting around on my right leg, caused my left leg to swing out about hip high, striking a little boy in his right cheek. He, and the girl on the sled both seemed to be about four, crashed shortly further down the slope. I rushed to their side to see if I had killed the little fella’. They were both screaming and crying. I asked if they were okay and if their parents were close by. Mom came rushing down the hill to their aid. I felt really bad, she saw it happen from atop the hill. She knew it was an accident and consoled them by saying, “this kind of stuff happens guys, I’m sorry, but when there’s a lot of people out here this can happen.” I apologized and started back up the hill. I felt really bad. I was, and am, worried that the little guy had/has a concussion. Only he and I know how hard the heal of my boot struck him in the face, and I’m telling you most grown people would have been down for the count. It was hard. I just hope the little dude’s okay.
That was yesterday at Cherokee.
Today was much better.
Oh and just to let you know right after Rayford turned the camera off I found yellow snow right at the base of that bush I grabbed those icicles (i spelled that right the first time) from. Could have been dog pee or beer, either way it made me feel weird.
Total there is about 6” of snow and 3” of ice. The ice has caused 600,000 people to be without power from Oklahoma to New England, most of them being in Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Kentucky. Trees and power-lines are buckling under the enormous weight of the ice.
I broke my car free from it’s ice box yesterday and this is what it looked like this morning.
It looks like a winter wonder land here.
It’s pretty and fun, but it comes at a price. Lot’s of fender-benders and no school for the rest of the week, which I do consider a bad start to the semester. They’ve (Southern) canceled classes for the rest of the week because the main campus doesn’t have power. We have a couple friends coming to stay with us as a result.
Despite the cost it has been a fun couple of days, acting like we’re in middle school again and all.
It was supposed to be my second day of classes today.
Not so much though, freezing rain and 3 inches of snow last night leaves me here blogging five minutes after my first class was supposed to start today.
I don’t like getting behind especially this early, but we (me, Rayford, Becca [maybe], Matt and Ashley) are going to hit up Chick-fil-a at 1pm and then Cherokee to see how good the sledding is.
Its supposed to keep up with the freezing rain all day and by tomorrow night have accumulated another 3 inches of snow, that’s six inches total, that’s a lot of snow.
Please be praying for me because I have to deliver pizza tonight, and Paula (my manager) said we keep on delivering until all the drivers can’t deliver anymore. In other words, have a wreck or get stuck. And she said she was joking but I have a feeling it was partly true.
God seriously landed me into one of the most stacked families ever. I am so thankful for my family. I miss them, save Rayford…and Becca (although technically not my family yet, but whatev). Okay first we have the patriarch, Dad (Mike Jarrett aka Pastor Mike), and he’s awesome. He has always been there to love on me, sometime of the tough variety, and guide me in the best possible direction. Then there’s Mom, (Karen Jarrett aka Momma, and Momma J, although not to me, mainly Adam and Laura), and she has always been there as my conscience, asking me questions and making think and stuff, and feel guilty when necessary, and praying for me, 24/7 I’m almost positive. Then Carrie, the eldest of the kids (Carrie Jarr…Robertson aka Carrie Jarrett, on accident, out of habit, also Carrie Berry or Care Bare) and Adam (Adam Robertson aka The Wreckingball). Carrie used to beat me up until I reached puberty, then the tide changed and she turned to getting under my skin about still being able to take me, even though she couldn’t. It worked for awhile, then I just realized how crazy she was. She’s the best big sister ever! Adam is great, I would have chosen anyone else for Carrie in the beginning, but then God showed me how stupid I was and how awesome he actually is. We share a great passion for Root Beer, one could say he is my right hand man when it comes to Root Beer.
This is getting long….sorry.
Next is the Rayford. He’s my roommate as of right now (soon to change as he and I are getting married this summer). I know he’s got my back no matter what. I’m his best man and he’s mine, nough said. Becca, God’s gift to Rayford. Then Sara (Sara Jarrett aka Sara Beth), she is very much like me, I see myself a lot in her, hope that’s not a disappointment to her. People say we have the same eyes. She is just getting started in life and I’m excited to see where she goes. Last is Renee (Renee Jarrett aka Nee Dog) she is the the culmination of all of us. Her intelligence is off the charts, she’s stunningly beautiful, as are the rest of the girls in the family, and good at sports, which I had my doubts early on, boy she proved me wrong.
And if you missed her there in the picture Laura Brocco, soon to be Laura Jarrett, which sounds amazing. I am so thankful for her and I miss her so much. She’s tearing it up this semester 20hrs of classes and a journalism internship, where she’s soon to have her fourth front page story.I miss them all so much. Of course I’m most ready to see Laura and start our new life together, but I also miss my family a lot.
