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

Leviticus and Numbers

Leviticus and Numbers are two books that as a whole I sometimes wonder why they are in the Bible. There are things in both of them that I know are important. Devotionally I have always wonder what value there is in them.

Then I realized something. First it shows me that there are somethings God is very particular about and has told us how He wants them done. Secondly and more of the point that I have come to understand is that it's about spending time with Him.

Still not sure where I'm coming from? We all have friends in our lives that get really excited about things that we have absolutely no interest in, and sometimes even dislike. Despite are feelings toward hearing about these things or even sometimes doing them we do it anyway because we care about them and we care about those things because they do.

It's not a perfect parallel but for now I am satisfied in knowing that it's good for me to read those "boring" parts of the Bible, because they were important enough that God made sure they were put in there so I'm going to pay attention to them. I may not get a life lesson for the day but I'm still spending time with Him and that's what's important!

To Save a Life

This movie is awesome. One of the reasons I really like it is because it is so real. They don't try and smooth things over and they don't play them up either. They show life how it is and the message really come through! Check it out you won't regret it!

DC trip dissed by Big Rich

Typically I avoid calling attention to the times others made me look bad but I have to admit this is pretty funny!