Happy New Year!

Well it's been awhile since I have been on here and lots of things have happened. The most exciting thing that happened this last year for me was getting engaged. The year to come though poses more changes and excitement than I think I have ever had in one year. To come this year is; my graduation from college, getting married, and being hired for my first real pastoral position. These things of course have no guarantee, however I hope that if they don't happen it's because of the second coming. No matter what happens, this promises to be an exciting year with lots of changes and big decisions to make. If you think of me pray for me, that I may seek God in everything and be lead by him in this next year.

Sermons

If you interested in listening to any of my sermons you can check them out on Piedmont Park SDA Church's webstie here. http://lincolnpiedmontpark22.adventistchurchconnect.org/article.php?id=49

Something smells fishy...

So in my last post I said I was starting a fish tank again. It's true it's just been happening really slowly. I decided to try my hand at a community tank this time because I am only going to be here for another year then i will have to move it. On top of that I figured it was time to add some live plants to my aquarium experience.

So when I was buying the parts of my aquarium I decided to get a nice light fixture. What I didn't realize is that the lighting I bought is classified as high lighting for my tank (as opposed to medium or low lighting) I thought I was getting medium lighting. So I bought some plants mostly from a fellow fish lover at http://www.aquariumadvice.com/ (not only do I keep fish I like to read and talk about them too). Some of them seemed like they weren't doing so well. I found out that because of my high lighting I needed to be adding CO2 and fertilizers for my plants to remain healthy. So instead of shelling out a bunch of money for a CO2 system I tried to try my hand at a DIY CO2 system which failed epically. So I am adding fertilizers and hoping that will be enough.

I had a really hard time deciding what kind of fish I wanted to put in my tank since I am doing a freshwater community tank. I finally decided I was going to start with a big school of rummy nose tetras.

Well because of Nebraska's hard water the rummy nose didn't work out they were to sensitive to it. :( So I had to rethink my stocking ideas (the fish I am going to stock the tank with.) I finally decided to add a school of Black Neon Tetras. I went to PETCO and they were having a sale so I ended up getting 16 for the price of 6!

I took the rest of the rummy nose tetras to the fish store. Now I will let the black neons settle in for a couple weeks before adding anything else, but I am excited because now I have fish again!

Garbage Disposals

So I am starting a fish tank again but this time I am doing a community tank to try something different. For those of you who don't know what a community tank is it mean that the fish in the tank are of different species as opposed to a species tank which has all the same species in the tank. Most freshwater tanks are community tanks unless they are a breeding tank for a certain kind of fish or a Cichlid tank.

Back to my tank, I am putting pieces together at a time because of being a college student and not having a lot of money I can put towards it. I have had the filter running for a couple of weeks and last week i put some wood in there that I might use as part of my hardscape (wood and rock decoration layout) so that it can soak and hopefully sink on it's own by the time I'm ready for plants.

Well yesterday I noticed some algae growing on the wood. I wanted to get something to take care of the algae but that didn't need much care or i wouldn't be to upset about if it died since I didn't have everything setup yet. So I decided to get some ghost shrimp thinking they would take care of the algae. After putting them in the tank (acclimating them first of course) I watched them for a while and they didn't seem interested in the algae on the wood. So I decided to do some reading and it turns out shrimp don't eat algae they are just garbage disposals. They pick up what food (in any form) isn't consumed by the other inhabitants of the tank.

So now I have ghost shrimp and algae. I did some more reading and found out the type of algae I have commonly grows on wood when it's first put in water. There is some debate as to what eats this particular algae if anything does. It seems that water changes and time are the best way to get rid of it (it looks like a white beard algae). So now I have algae that will last for a while and go away and ghost shrimp. At least this gives me something to look at until I can start getting fish!

Trust

This is also something a wrote a while ago not sure when but I thought I would share it.

Trust in the LORD and do good;
Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness.
Delight yourself in the LORD;
And He will give you the desires of your heart.
Commit your way to the LORD,
Trust also in Him, and He will do it.
He will bring forth your righteousness as the light
And your judgment as the noonday.
Rest in the LORD and wait patiently for Him;
Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way,
Because of the man who carries out wicked schemes.
Psalms 37:3-7 NASB

Lord help me to trust in You
God show me how to find delight in You
Lord I want to wholly commit my life to You
Lord help me to trust in You

Lord help me to trust in You
Show me how to be still for You God
I desire to wait patiently for You
Lord help me to trust in You

Lord I know you'll help me to trust You
I know you'll show me how to find delight in You
I know you'll show me how to be still before You
Lord I know you'll help me to trust in You.

Poetry from the Past

I wrote this poem one day while I was working at subway I think. I was looking through some of the things I wrote a while ago and it made me sad because I recently I don't feel like I have been as close to God as I was at the time I wrote this. Who knows maybe He impressed me to write down my feelings at that time so that it would compel me to seek him more now. Well I hope this gives you a blessing to it's simple but good.

Jesus is my everything

Without Him I wouldn't be anything

His sacrifice is the best gift anyone could ever give

And He offers it to every child of His

He loves us all even though we sin

And He's coming down here to take us back with Him

All we have to do is believe in Jesus

Because no matter what happens He'll never leave us

Lord take my life

This is a song I wrote while I was trying to figure out what to do at the end of my freshman year here at Union. I was struggling in my classes and not sure if I should still do theology but at the same time I had a couple offers to be a taskforce assistant chaplain at an academy.

Lord I don’t know what you’re telling me

But I know you’re telling me something

Oh Lord I don’t know what you want to do with me

But I know you want to do something

Lord take my life

Take me and teach me

Lord show me your will

And help me to follow it right

It doesn’t matter what you’re telling me

Or what it is you want me to do

Because you are my God and my Savior

I’d do anything for You

So Lord take my life

Take me and teach me

Lord show me your will

And help me to follow it right

I want to spread Your love to all people

And show them Your grace

So help me Lord to live each day

In a way that glorifies You

So Lord take my life

Take me and teach me

Lord show me your will

And help me to follow it right

Lord take my life

Take me and teach me

Lord show me your will

And help me to follow it right