Justin's Daily (Sometimes) Journal

Hotel fun!

2007-09-28T23:50:00.000-05:00

Runways have a beginning and an end - memories don't

2007-09-28T21:30:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow I will attend a Runway 36 farewell show at 6:30 at Club 3 Degrees.

I have known these guys for years. They do some things better than anyone else. They are great at promoting, booking, and fan relations.

But the most important thing- they are fun. And they had fun.

I was in the music industry for years, and squandered much of it. I put "contacts" before people, and business before many other things. I am ashamed of much of what I did, although some things I am proud of.

I often tell bands who ask me for advice this: Just have fun. I give you a .01% chance that you will ever be on a label, and a 2% chance you will still be together in 2 years. When you look back on your time together, just make sure you look back on it fondly.

Runway 36 always had fun. They truly enjoyed performing, meeting people, and most importantly, each other. I know they will have nothing but good memories to look back upon. And incredible relationships. Faces. Smiles. Smells. Good times. Bad times. And more faces.

They did it right. They pushed the business, but really didn't lose sight of the fun. Good for you, Runway 36.

May God bless you guys in all that you do, and I can't wait to rock with you tomorrow!

Whirlwind.

2007-09-27T09:41:00.000-05:00

Wow. Rarely have internet access or time out here. The amount we've done already is consistent with my travel style- insane. Daily hikes, new sites, features, etc. A couple highlights since my last post at Greybull-

We're currently in Thermapolis, home of the world's largest hot springs. Taking a dip in a bit before heading toward devil's tower. The last few days we've seen almost all the sites in Yellowstone (note the pic of me playing with Old Faithful) AND the Grand Tetons, which are very beautiful! We also drove a loop into Idaho to knock it off my "been to that state" list and saw some very beautiful colors there. ANIMALS!!! God's let us see Bison, Elk, Moose, Silver Fox, Prong Horned Deer, Mule Deer, etc. Still no Grizzly, but the trips not over yet!

Time for me to download some mp3s for traveling! God bless you!

Justin.

Yellowstone 2007 Road Trip Part 1

2007-09-22T09:06:00.000-05:00

Day 1 was a success. Drove all the way from Rochester to our 1st night sleep (spontaneous due to our tiredness) in Greybull, Wyoming. Drive went actually REALLY smooth! I thought I'd be completely dead, but God was merciful!

I REALLY like Wyoming! It's just like you'd expect. Cowboy country, only not in a fakey way like I've seen at so many other spots (reminds me- stopped at Wall Drug, SD on the way, too!). Mountains are just beautiful. Very rugged. I feel like I expect to see the Stetson man ride up to my cabin on a horse.

For Jess and Gamb- you would not know where to start climbing here!

Little Girl

2007-09-07T13:22:00.001-05:00

As I sit here at Dunn Bros., there is a little girl, can't be older than 3 or 4, dancing in front of me to beat all hell. She looks at me on occasion and I give her an encouraging smile and nod my head. She is a ballerina. Not because she has a degree, not because she even knows what she's doing, but because she wants to be. She has been doing it for 20 minutes now. There's a lesson in there for all of us.

Man, God loves me!

2007-08-29T16:23:00.001-05:00

Yep. :-)

Video blog!

2007-08-28T00:20:00.000-05:00

Thought I'd test out blogger's new feature!

Here's some footage from Rochester's recent floods!

Shanghaiist: Giant man-eating catfish found in Guangdong reservoir?

2007-08-20T01:46:00.000-05:00

Shanghaiist: Giant man-eating catfish found in Guangdong reservoir?

Looks real. Makes me think about Foster Arend park!

The work of the church...

2007-08-04T11:52:00.001-05:00

.. is not survival.

My Hero's.

2007-08-04T11:39:00.000-05:00

Reading a great new book by Brother Anderew, one of my heros. Called "Secret Believers: What happens when Muslims believe in Christ." Brother Andrew is one of the extreme Christians that lay down their lives in love in extreme acts of faith for the sole purpose of serving other people, of any religion, race, denomination, and God comes through in extremes to support him. This made me think of all the other inspirations to me in my Christian faith. If you take the time to read anything by any of these people, you will be AMAZED at what you find!!! These are the people who have changed my life more than anyone else.

Some of my other heros (excluding the obvious Jesus and parents) are :

Bruce Olson: READ BRUCHKO!!!!!!! My favorite book of all time!!!!!
Arthur Blessitt: Read any of his books online for free here: http://www.blessitt.com/books/index.html
Brother Andrew: God's Smugglers tells his amazing story of smuggling Bibles into the communist Soviet Union.
Rod Marquette: Pastor, spiritual Father, and good friend.
Anybody who cares enough to be counted: For example, with Darfur. Simply being counted - writing a letter to Congress, attending a march, wearing a shirt, telling a friend or whatever the case may be for issues that only require that a person just simply is counted in order to bring justice to another human they do not even know.
Anyone who overcomes, in any way, anything, inspires me.

I am...

2007-08-04T11:31:00.000-05:00

Extreme. Passionate. Tempered. Resolved.
Eager. Living only to give myself.
Compassionate. Gentle.
Shrewd. Changing (for the better!)
At Peace with the King of Kings and the Lord or Lords, my Daddy, my Love, and my Friend.

I have only 1 life to live, and I will live it with the utmost extremism for Christ.

Food of Wrong

2007-07-17T01:18:00.000-05:00

Food of Wrong
AWESOME website!! I hope Rod Marquette will read this!!

39 Ways to Live, and Not Merely Exist - Dumb Little Man

2007-07-14T15:44:00.000-05:00

39 Ways to Live, and Not Merely Exist - Dumb Little Man
Good advice.

fotocommunity: Norway

2007-07-10T17:28:00.000-05:00

fotocommunity: Norway

Yet ANOTHER example of why Norway is one of my #1 destinations to visit in my lifetime!!! MUST be what heaven looks like!!!

FINALLY!!!!!

2007-07-06T15:16:00.000-05:00

So today I am done with Dance recitals for the year. It has taken months of hard work to get the 6 shows recorded, edited, duplicated, labeled, and mailed, but I am FINALLY FREE!!!! Now I can get outside and enjoy the summer!!! Working until 3-4 a.m. every night just sucks in the summer, I've decided. I've got to plan better next year.

A friend of mine helped me realize that I'm not putting any important information on my blog anymore. Just random rants. So here is the skinny on the life of Justin for the last 6 months...

First and foremost, Matt, Diana, and new addition Joshua paid me a visit from Switzerland early this year. It was awesome to see them, and especially Joshua. I wish we had more time together, but it is really just fodder for me to get back to Europe sometime soon. My personal highlight was Famous Dave's with them. Here is a picture...

I really appreciate the fact that they made this trip. You guys ROCK!!!!

Other important news - Jess and I are currently dating again. I really love her more every passing day. She is truly an incredible person. I am enjoying taking this relationship as the Lord allows, and am finding out SOOOOOO much about me (much of which is yucky!) but enjoying working on becoming more like Jesus through it all. Thank you, Jessie, for blessing me with your friendship and love!!!

Today I dropped off of every worship team at church. I was surprised to feel relieved. I only get to church once every month lately, and it's not fair to Jon, Stacie, or anyone else. It is odd, because worship is where I'm anointed, but I am confident I did the right thing. I am simply too busy, and my focus, hallelujah, is so much on relationships now that I am even more interested in my relationships with others than I am in worship. God really has been changing my heart in a good way!!!! I know that sounds a bit ironic because I've been so busy at work I have neglected my friends and the worship team, but it is true. I hope now that I'm more free to re-connect with those people most important to me - my friends and my family.

Other news, I was at Foster Arend's the other day swimming (1 of 2 times this summer I have been able to do so), and a man died while we were there. It was a 34 year old man, which was a relief, because we had heard that it was a child that day/night. The body was not found the entire 2 hours we were there. It is amazing the dynamics at a beach when something like that happened. The rebellious people were there complaining about the police and loudly speaking to each other at the gate "that's why you don't let your kids out of your sight when you got to the beach" and complaining because the "pigs" are all standing around doing nothing. It was frustrating, granted. But we had no idea the call had been made probably long before we got there. But they weren't allowing anyone in that part of the lake and only slowly looking for the body in a small boat. Looking back, they know better than any of us how long a person of any age can survive underwater, and were just doing their job. But I didn't appreciate these people jabbing their jaws with the family 15 yards away on the other side of the fence. I almost said something.

I suppose I should mention Steve. He was back for many weeks before and after our trip to Peru, and I truly enjoyed hanging out with Him! You ROCK, Stevearinobobarini!

I can't think of anything else important. Really, the less you see me on here, the more and better things are happening in my life, so I apologize for not keeping this very current!!

God bless, all!
Justin.

Peru

2007-06-08T16:20:00.001-05:00

Just got back from what I'm tempted to call the best trip I've ever taken. Peru, ladies and gentlemen, is an amazing experience.

Our path: Lima - Cusco - Inka Trail (Machu Picchu) - Cusco - Puerto Maldonado (Amazon Rainforest) - Cusco - Train to Puno - Lake Titicaca (highest lake in the world) - Uros Islands (islands made out of reeds by a tribe of people who LIVE on them!!) - Arequipa - Lima.

Too much to write about, and with over 2GB of pictures, there is only one that I have time to post. Check Machu Picchu off the list!!

WEIRD!!!!

2007-05-14T20:29:00.000-05:00

I have a wedding video I'm doing after I get back from Peru. Today, I got my car out of impound in the Cities (LONG story), and first had to go to the airport police in Minneapolis to get it "released".

So I get a call tonight from my wedding party to leave me a credit card for a deposit, and she says, "I think my fiance met you today. Something to do with your car?" It was one of the 2 officers that helped me get my car!!!

Talk about a SMALL world!! I believe the Cities have a couple million people? The odds really were pretty staggering!

A Cry for Help

2007-05-07T20:19:00.001-05:00

A Cry for Help

Once upon a time, there was an island where all the feelings lived: Happiness, Sadness, and all of the others, including Love.

One day it was announced to the feelings that the island would sink, so all repaired their boats and left.

Love was the only one who stayed. Love wanted to persevere until the last possible moment.

When the island was almost sinking, Love decided to ask for help.

Richness was passing by Love in a grand boat. Love said, "Richness, can you take me with you?" Richness answered, "No I can't..There is a lot of gold and silver in my boat. There is no place for you here."

Love decided to ask Vanity, who was also passing by in a beautiful vessel, "Vanity, please help me!" "I can't help you Love. You are all wet and might damage my boat," Vanity answered.

Sadness was close by so Love asked for help, "Sadness let me go with you." "Oh...Love, I am so sad that I need to be by myself!"

Happiness passed by Love too, but she was so happy that she did not even hear when Love called her!

Suddenly, there was a voice, "Come Love, I will take you." It was an elder. Love felt so blessed and overjoyed that he even forgot to ask the elder her name.

When they arrived at dry land, the elder went her own way. Love, realizing how much he owed the elder, asked Knowledge, another elder, "Who helped me?"

"It was Time", Knowledge answered.

"Time?" asked Love. "But why did Time help me?

Knowledge smiled with deep wisdom and answered, "Because only Time is capable of understanding how great Love is."

Author: Unknown

If I was principal.

2007-05-03T00:43:00.000-05:00

Children have begun, artists have continued (Third Eye DUMB!)

2007-05-02T23:52:00.000-05:00

Children have begun, artists have continued (Third Eye DUMB!)

Check out this link to an AWESOME idea about artists finishing young kids art!

Morning Worship

2007-04-24T09:36:00.000-05:00

There are three disciplines I try to do every day to keep me focused on Christ. I try to do each for at least 20 minutes. The first is read the Bible. The second is get outside. And the third is just relax and spend some alone time with Jesus. This could be in prayer, worship, or just sitting and enjoying His presence.

I seem to many times feel more judgmental of myself or down in the morning. Not always, but enough to recognize it. I know many children, including my nephew Gabe, who don't do well with the newly awake process as well.

Today I read my Bible and then turned on my iPod player to relax and have some worship time with Jesus. Delirious "Rain Down" came on, and I almost changed it, because it seemed too "happy" for me. But then God spoke to me and told me it was supposed to be a happy time.

The Bible says that "God inhabits the praises of His people." If you want to encounter a happy God, enter into happy songs of Jesus! :-D

Coming to the light!

2007-04-24T00:21:00.000-05:00

John 3:21 "But he that does the truth comes to the light, that his works may be made manifest, that they have been wrought of God."

Sometimes it is hard to judge our own hearts. What are our intentions? Are we in God's will, or just selfish? I think this verse spoke to me tonight in a round about way-

If we are continually desiring to see and feel God in our lives, and continually stand before Him seeking his face and love and more of Him, then we are in the light. Our hearts are right. Even if we are making mistakes, God is faithful to help us give them up or correct them. But the fact that we stand before God soaking in His presence says enough. We love standing before the Sun because we are of the light.

Hypediss » Pico DLP Projector

2007-04-09T13:45:00.000-05:00

Hypediss » Pico DLP Projector

Yeah- I know. INCREDIBLY COOL!!!!!

More Mexico!

2007-04-03T22:52:00.000-05:00

After I gave my devotional yesterday we had some time to relax and reflect before going out to a lookout point over Mexico.

At night we went back to the first place we ministered at, and did kids ministry,door to door evangelism, and an adult service at night. Great times. My favorite part was probably spontaneously jamming some blues to the evangelism sheet we had. Pretty fun!

Today we went to the prostitution area, which is what I remembered most about last year. The children there came out in droves. It was wonderful.

Our evening service got rained out, and now I'm back at the shelter.

God bless!
Justin.

Big update!

2007-04-02T10:15:00.000-05:00

Man, I can't believe all that God does in my life sometimes. I'm still here in Mexico, and have been so busy I haven't had time to even collect or journal my thoughts or the events. I'll try to do a little here.

First of all, after my last post we went out at night to minister to a place where we stayed at last time I was in Mexico. There were some kids near our residence that we never got to minister to except at night one on one because we were always gone to poor areas.

So we went back there, and I got out of the bus and into the street with a soccer ball. I saw a little girl come running from across the street right at me. It was Allejandra. She must be about 6 and is just as cute as they come. I said, "Allejandra!" and bent down with my arms wide open. She ran right into my arms and we hugged tight for a minute. The other gringos got out their cameras- we were all SO shocked!! I can't believe she remembered me, let alone missed me that much!! Just goes to show- we never know how much of an impact we make on people's lives!

Allejandra

At night we had a time of worship and prayer. Mike Kramer and I played until our fingers dang near bled.

One thing I should mention- we have not done a single program where someone didn't get saved or healed. I believe this night there were 38 people, including a few of the kids parents.

The next day, April 1, 2007, is a day that will go down in history as one of the funnest events in my life. I only wish my girlfriend, Jessica was here! It was national Taco day!! (No kidding!!!) AM I BLESSED OR WHAT?!?!!! HA HA!!!! Those of you who know me know my obsession with anything food, and anything Mexican. This is the best of both worlds. And, no kidding, they had the Mexican bands playing with the blue polyester suits and everything. I taught Stacie how to Salsa dance a little, and took the record for most tacos eaten at 12. :-D No joke. They were little, though. YUMMY!!!

By the way, I have probably got tacos coming out my ears. That's about all we eat, and I've probably had around 30 by now. No complaints from me!!

At night we went and did our first outdoor ministry at a neighborhood. This is a somewhat poor neighborhood, but still not really that poor. The big one will be when we visit the prostitute area with all the abandoned kids. I got to preach, though, and NAILED what I believed God wanted me to speak about! I talked about the goodness of God and how we can know that God loves us. How God not only forgives our sins, but lifts us up, cleans us off, calls us His child, and gives us his robe and crown and then goes with us into the world. Amazing!

The next day, April 2, was a Sunday. Man, talk about a long, fun day! It started in the morning when we went to a small church to put on a program and join their service. I got to play with their worship team, and lead a few songs, which was really a blast- a dream come true, really. Then we went to the city park, and did the program twice. Then, at night, we went to the host church, which is the most revolutionary church I've ever seen in Mexico. They truly believe that they are special, that they are the children of God, and that they can also do missions work. This is SO not typical of Mexican churches, and it was AWESOME!! The WORSHIP WAS INCREDIBLE!!!!! I felt, at one moment, like I was incredibly, and completely free! I can't tell you how long it has been since I have felt that, and felt so peaceful and secure in the knowledge of the goodness of God. Simply awesome!! So I played Jesus in our drama 4 TIMES this day!!!

I have more video than pictures of the church, but here is on of me and some of the boys there!

Today is April 2, and I gave the devotional this morning. It was SO cool, because one of the verses I chose was exactly the one God had another lady reading. I spoke again on the goodness of God, but this time on TRUSTING in his goodness when you don't feel it. I believe, over the last 3 months, more than anything that is what God has been doing in my life- helping me to understand and to trust in the fact that He is good, and that He is ALWAYS for me!!

God bless all who read this!!! I have tons of pictures and video to show you when I get back!

Justin.