Brian Morris' Blog

A lot has changed since my last posts. For starters, I am now a college student. For the first time, I am living on my own. It has to be the most confusing experience of my life. It's freeing though. From what? I am not sure.
But nonetheless, I am very excited about life. I have begun the part of my life that I am in total control. From here on out, it is my life. My actions from this point on will shape the person I ultimently become.
A lot of change is taking place. Mostly good. There are also a lot on my mind as I change life stations and move to a city miles away as I begin preparing for the rest of my life.
For this, I am very excited.
More posts to keep you updated are to follow.

Okay, Okay, I’m here … as promised.

Oh, where to begin. This past month and a half (as I am reminded every day in Government class) has been CRAZY.

For starters, ABOAMO. I know, I know. Let me just point out the pink elephant in the room. I said this book was to be done by March 14th - I lied. BUT I did finish the great book they call “The Hunger Games” by Suzanne Collins and it was VERY good. Who knew a book about mass murdering children could be so interesting? I surely did not! For anyone looking for a good read, you should definitely consider reading this.

Since my read of “The Hunger Games”, my literature selections have taken a more serious and frankly saddening assortment of books. First we have, “Desperate Hope” by Candi Pearson-Shleton. This book is about her and her family’s grieving during and after the death of her brother, Rick Pearson (who happened to be a Worship Pastor at MLC). It has been great to learn of the Worship Pastor I never really knew and how he had a great impact on so many. The other book I am currently reading is “The Year of Magical Thinking” by Joan Didion. This book is about the woman’s grieving after the loss of husband and how her thoughts shaped the year following his death. I have tried three times to finish this book and have yet to do so. I need to. For me.

Many of you, I’m sure (not really), that you are on pens and needles to hear of the book selection that has been chosen for the month of April. Well, wait no longer for I am about to tell you. Are you ready? Do you think you can handle it any longer? Wait for it. Wait for it. Here is comes! Patience is a virtue. Are you ready now? How about now? Ok, here I go. There will be no turning back. The selection for April is The Last Lecture - Randy Pausch, Jeffrey Zaslow. How is that for melodramatic? This selection is for the moth of April 2010.

Here is the Barnes & Nobles synopsis on the book:

“We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand.”
—Randy Pausch
A lot of professors give talks titled “The Last Lecture.” Professors are asked to consider their demise and to ruminate on what matters most to them. And while they speak, audiences can’t help but mull the same question: What wisdom would we impart to the world if we knew it was our last chance? If we had to vanish tomorrow, what would we want as our legacy?
When Randy Pausch, a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon, was asked to give such a lecture, he didn’t have to imagine it as his last, since he had recently been diagnosed with terminal cancer. But the lecture he gave—”Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams”—wasn’t about dying. It was about the importance of overcoming obstacles, of enabling the dreams of others, of seizing every moment (because “time is all you have…and you may find one day that you have less than you think”). It was a summation of everything Randy had come to believe. It was about living.
In this book, Randy Pausch has combined the humor, inspiration and intelligence that made his lecture such a phenomenon and given it an indelible form. It is a book that will be shared for generations to come.
SO, what do you think? I think it is going to be GREAT.

In the mean time, I have fulfilled all public duties and declare this post officially OVER.

Hey Folk!
So after our first ABOAMO selection is over and hopefully read, I thought I'd share my thoughts on The Shack by William P. Young.
If you haven't read the book and wish to in the future, you may not want to continue reading the next paragraph!

Brian Morris' Review on THE SHACK
At first the book was eh... predicatble and then when it began talking about the THE GREAT SADNESS, it became very interesting and kept my interest, and as he returns to the shack, it was quite interesting. I thought the author had a great idea on personifying God, the Holy Spirit, and Jesus. It was interesting and I thought portrayed Mack's emotions really well. The problem I have with the book comes in when they begin dialoguing about spiritually and discussing religion, etc. Although I agreed with / found the things interesting that they were talking about, there were a few things that seemed a bit elementary! I say this with the fact that the author chose to include the information that Mack attended Seminary and was married to a very devout woman. It puzzles me that he was confused about what the relationship between the three forms of God and Jesus' crucifixion and sin. I'm not sure, that is where it got a little eh for me. Other than that and the extreme amount of dialogue in the book, I did really enjoy the book. Especially the ending with the car crash and hospital and loosing memory - genius! I would definitely recommend this book for any new Christian or anyone who doesn't understand the meaning of the local church.

Anyone else who read the book, I encourage you to also write a blog post with a quick review of the book! I am anxious to see how each of you liked / didn't like the book!

With the first ABOAMO selection winding down, the next selection is just beginning! Anyone interested in joining us, it is not too late! All ABOAMO is is a "book club" where we read through a book a month. Our next selection is The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins! The RECOMENDED due date for this selection is Sunday, March 14th, 2010.

I think it is going to be a great book, a bit different than the first choice. Here is what Barnes & Noble has a synopsis:

"In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV. Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives alone with her mother and younger sister, regards it as a death sentence when she is forced to represent her district in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before-and survival."

Anyone interested in reading this book, be sure to just comment here saying you're in!

Hello all!

Change is good. And with that in mind, you can find this blog at blogspot / blogger here or now available on Tumblr here. So, be sure to bookmark one of those so that you can stay up to date on ABOAMO [uh-boa-moe] [a book a month] (renamed from PROJECT: BOOKSHINDIG) and all things going on in my life.

And speaking of ABOAMO, only a few more days to finish "The Shack" - William P. Young by January 30th, 2010. And although I haven't finished with is quite yet, I am eager to share with you all my opinions on the book and I hope if you read it that you would be willing to share yours as well - through blog post, etc. Also, on Saturday, I will be sharing with you guys the next book selection which I think will be a good one!

Some Things That I Have Learned This Year:

One thing that I heard at PASSION that has consumed my thoughts since the conference was that generosity and giving shows that the stuff that we own doesn't own us. This has become even more noticed with the recent devastation in Haiti. It has been truly inspiring to see people come together her in America and give to this broken nation in the form of MILLIONS. But why is it that for the most part people give ONLY in times of devastation. Each day there are thousands of people that die each day from diseases that could have been treated with just supplying them with clean water. My dream is that we will become a generation of givers and doers.

And similarly, something else that I have learned is that volunteering and service to others shows selflessness - something I struggle with. By nature, I am a selfish pessimist which is something that I am hoping to change. Is is definitely not a good habit that I have and it's a habit I do intend to break. But at the end of the day I hope I can to bed and be able to honestly say that I cared about people today and invested in others! Because if I missed that, I missed everything - it doesn't matter about how successful the rest of my day went. The most important thing for me to do is to care about everyone around me.

Lately, I have felt a little weird and I can sense that something HUGE is in store for me. I can feel it and know it and am just waiting eagerly! Can't describe it, but God has a plan that is going to rock me to the core in the weeks and months to come; I can feel it! So, please be praying for me for clarity and wisdom in the weeks to come.

What is something that has been weighing on your heart lately?

Share with us. Comment. To do so, post comment at bottom of this page.

I regret to inform you that PROJECT: BOOKSHINDIG has hit a speed bump. Our first book selection, The Shack deadline has been postponed until the end of the month. I know many of you were waiting on pins and needles to reach this deadline and share all that you have learned from this read. But, you are going to have to wait a few more days.

The new deadline is Saturday, January 30th, 2010. So, for all of you folks that have failed to join us on this quest, you now have a second chance. Because this PROJECT: BOOKSHINDIG is going to be HUGE and is going to EXPLODE and you will definitely be sorry that you missed the opportunity to join this shindig from the first month!

So, if you missed joining us the first time, comment and tell me that you are reading The Shack with us and if you have no idea what I am talking about read this post HERE and you should be caught up!

So JOIN, guys! it's going to be sweet! No lie!

I just want to take this post to seriously apologize to everyone! These past few weeks, I have just been so caught up in the new decade and PASSION and PROJECT: BOOKSHINDIG that I have forgotten the meaning of this holiday season. No, I am not talking about Christmas, but I AM talking about National Bath Safety Month! When I was talking about books and all the things going on in life recently, I should have been taking the time to talk about bath safety. Bath tubs and showers are DANGEROUS DANGEROUS places, people! So dangerous that January has been dubbed 'Bath Safety Month'... not by me, but by several Family and Protective Services.

With that in mind, I want to dedicate this entire post to the real reason of this month. First, I would like to start with suggesting a few things that may make this holiday period even more festive and celebratory. So here is Brian's approved tips to help you get through this hectic season:

TIP #1. If you would consider yourself to be ... well, let's say ... elderly or with having joint or lower limb pain, installing a safety rail to your tub or shower will make it all the more easy to enter and exit the shower and/or tub in a safe manner.
TIP#2. Take showers and baths in room temperature water. I can remember so many times that I have I heard of severe burn patients who were scarred by the boiling water of a bath or the numerous people who have been injured by hypothermia due to water being dangerously too low. In order to have adequate room temperature water, it may be necessary to let water sit in your tub for at least three days prior to using the water to bathe with. A great rule of thumb I have heard is that the more bugs residing in the water, the better bathing water it is. So just keep that in mind, very important.
TIP#3. Have a nice bulky, corded phone hanging in your shower. Many injuries are caused from people in the shower hearing the phone ring, and of course your instant reaction is to either answer it or to check caller ID to deem whether or not it is even worth answering. The dangerous part comes when the showering person leaves the shower and steps on the slick, smooth, glossy, just-polished, tiled floor and WHAM! Head makes firm contact with hard floor. Instantly knocked out, naked on the bathroom floor. What to do? Well, you surely can't answer the phone now. So the only reasonable solution is to bring the phone to the shower. Duhh.. So just contact your local electrician and have them install an electric outlet and phone jack right inside of your shower. For legal and so-called 'safety' purposes, they are going to try and talk you into installing these outlets right outside of the shower; But this part is key, You are to then slip them a few hundred dollar bills and tell them in a firm and threatening voice, that it is essential they give you the outlet INSIDE of the shower. (REMEMBER, WHAM, KNOCKED OUT... we don't want that, do we?) And then next time the phone rings, don't die trying to get to the phone, die answering the phone. AH. I MEAN, well.. I am sure you know what I mean.
TIP#4. GIFTS! Many will say gifts are reserved only for Birthdays and Christmas, well, this is a bunch of rubbish. It is TRADITION to give nice-sized and amble gifts during this holiday season. Such things as say... a new plunger or a handheld shower faucet. Or for your closer friends, a new toilet would be a reasonably appropriate gift. (Also, don't forget that the gift wrapping medium of choice is a shower curtain. So make sure to have plenty of nice subtly-designed and gender mutual shower curtains to gift wrap all of these great gifts.)

So, now that I have shared a few of the secrets that help me cope through this stressful season, what are some tips that help you get through January - the National Bath Safety Month? Let us know, comment!

LIVE FEED
Status Update: Brian Morris and Facebook are in a relationship. Listed as "It's Complicated".

WHAT'S ON YOUR MIND?
Social networking is on the rise. An explosion that has happened virtually overnight. First there was Xanga, then MySpace, then Facebook, then Twitter and each one "improves the one prior". But the odd thing is, it seems like each one is getting more and more simple. Simplicity is the raging fad it seems, but I feel Facebook has missed this memo. It seems that with every update, Facebook gets MORE COMPLICATED.

Facebook frustrates me so much. Every time I log in, it feels like a little piece of my heart was gauged off with a rusty and splintered javelin. But just as much as I hate it, I kind of love it. This is where it gets complicated. I rely on Facebook to keep up with people, to get invitations to various things, and to view pictures of me and my crazy friends.

NOTIFICATIONS
Brian Morris has taken a new survey called "5 things I hate most about Facebook":
#1. 12 New Notifications! "oh, Awesome" ... *click* begins to read..

-8 of your friends have invited YOU to join FARMVILLE
-Scott Haventtalkedtoinyears challenged your music knowledge on a quiz called "Rock Bands". Scott's score was 20%. Can you beat Scott's score?
-Johnny Appleseed needs help harvesting his Kiwano African horned melons. Can you help him?
-One of Elanore Tate's giraffes have disappeared from her ZOO. She has invited YOU to join her! Click Here!
-Shaylanda Javier has commented on post of someone you know's post that you liked and then unliked a month ago and have forgotten all about and really don't care about anymore.

#2. Suggestion! You haven't talked to Kim Kimmy in a while! Catch up with her! (ah, please Facebook! Let me call the shots on my social life! Thanks!)
#3. When someone is mad at you or one of your friends is having people issues, you always hear about it on Facebook before you do anywhere else. Example: Susie Smith> "Status Update: UGH! OMG! I HATE IT WHN PPL DONT TELL U WHN THY DONT AGREE W/ U. GOSH! I REALLY HATE PPL! " ... well good news, Susie! The very person you are talking about is going to read this and you are going to start one big dramatic mess! Congrats!.. but seriously people, let's try and refrain from venting to the world on Facebook. Because ya see, we tend to find it akward and really dont find it near as humorous or interesting as you think we do.
#4. Two words: FAN PAGES. Susie is now a fan of "When I Was Younger, I Put My Face Close To The Fan To Hear My Robot Voice". REALLY PEOPLE! I have to say I expected a lot more out of you guys... // Josh has become a fan of"Being Alive". Well that's really awesome and unique BUT, you see, I could have lived without that tidbit.
#5. Facebook has a limit on how many friends you can have. Needlesstosay, I havent gotten anywhere close to the limit but still, why does Facebook have the right to say that someone has too many friends.

COMMENT ● LIKE
Leave a comment! What do you think about Facebook and Social Networking? Do you think it is hurting or helping culture?

(to leave a comment go to the top of a post and click on the number within the polaroid)

I have set ambitious goals for this year. Goals I hope to accomplish. Goal that I think will help me. Most of you have already read about my PROJECT: BOOKSHINDIG, where I plan on reading a book a month with people also reading the same book.

Well, another goal that I have set for me, myself, and I is to read God's word everyday this year. By the end of the year I hope to read the entire New Testament and already have found a reading plan to do just that. I am doing this because this is something that I have always struggled with and it is something that I am hoping will allow me to rediscover God in a whole new way.

Also, throughout this year I will be posting things that I learn. Things you may have already discovered and hopefully some things that you have never thought about.

So far, I am only about a week into this and I can already feel God moving in my life and He has revealed some exciting things with me.

As many of you know and are probably thinking, YES, I did go to PASSION 2010 and probably think that I am going to share things I learned from there but, I have just began to sort through everything that was just thrown at me during that conference… so it may be a while before I begin sharing anything from PASSION.

---
The world around us is always telling us to "slow down and relax" or to "slow down and smell the roses" and to "take time to just enjoy what you have accomplished". Society has taught us to not be too ambitious and to not "overload our plates". And I believed this for a long time. But what God has began to show me is that this is the opposite type of attitude that we need to have with life.
In Proverbs it says:

"32For the waywardness of the simple will kill them,
and the complacency of fools will destroy them;
33but whoever listens to me will live in safety
and be at ease, without fear of harm."
-Proverbs 1:32-33 (TNIV)

We have all heard that God has a plan for our lives. That EACH of us was chosen for a purpose. Well, here God tells us something extraordinary! He tells us that by being content and just sitting idly will destroy us! God is calling us to do GREAT things. God doesn't want us to be content with all the things in the world. He wants EACH of us to CHANGE THE WORLD. He doesn't just want us, though. He wants our BEST! Just meandering through life, dodging all things difficult, is NOT pleasing to God.

God doesn't want good things to happen through us! He wants GREAT things to happen through us!

And this really woke me up! Being a disciple of God is hard work and He tells us that! He shows us that following Him is a lifelong, day-in and day-out commitment. He tells us all of this in just verse 32! THEN comes, in my opinion the most profound thing of all of this - verse 33. In verse 32 God is saying "Yeah, its going to be hard. Yeah, I am asking a lot of you." THEN in verse 33 He tells us "BUT, BUT, if you listen to my plan for your life, I, GOD, will protect you! " How encouraging!

God has equipped us for this plan He has for our life; He has designed each of us with certain interests and desires, and he knows that HIS PLAN for our lives will lead us to the greatest satisfaction! This is something I have been struggling with for a LONG time! Why don't I just do what I want and IGNORE God. I want to be happy. But in reality, HIS PLAN is what will lead to the greatest joy.

Even though this seems so simple, it can be so easy to forget.

LORD, today I just want to surrender my life to You.
I want to give all of my energy to Your plan for my life.
I wait eagerly to discover all that You have planned for me.
Thank You for showing me that this life is not about what I want
but that I was created by You and for You!
I pray that I never forget that!
I pray that my life can be used for GREAT THINGS,
and not just good things!
Amen.

Just sitting here thinking about this past year and how it has flown by. How much it has changed. Changed the world around me. Changed me. Just bizarre to say the least. But not only is it a new year, but it is a new decade, which in my opinion, a new decade is so much cooler than a new year.

But anyhow, I have embarked on a project that I might just soon regret. But I am starting a group of people reading a book a month. I guess you could refer to it as a book club. Even though I don't think that term expresses the awesomeness of this shindig. THAT'S IT! BOOKSHINDIG. That is what I shall refer to the project as. Anyhow, anyone can join in on the fun. It is, like I said, a book a month.

Before I show you the book list we are pulling from, I have a disclaimer. I am doing this to read books that I would not normally read, so although you may think of some books are looking pretty cool and others as looking terrible, just know, that we designed this to incorporate many genres and styles so that people read books that they aren't normally used to reading. And besides it ups the fairness factor quite a bit!

So here is the book list:

1. The Alchemist: A Fable About Following Your Dream - Paulo Coelho

2. The Shack - William P. Young (Dec 2009-Jan 2010)

3. Murder on the Orient Express - Agatha Christie

4. The Know-It-All - A. J. Jacobs

5. The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins

6. The Last Lecture - Randy Pausch, Jeffrey Zaslow

7. The Catcher in the Rye - J. D. Salinger

8. Stop Me If You've Heard This One Before - David Yoo

9. Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury

10. The Happiness Project: Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun - Gretchen Rubin

As you may have found out by now, the first book is The Shack by William P. Young. We are reading this from December 15th - January 15th. Many of you have already read this book. Others haven't. So you can either read it quickly or just skip this book and start with us as we randomly select another book from the list sometime later this month.

I know this sounds nerdy! But I really don't want it to or think it is. And.. it would be really cool if a lot of folks joined in. Yeah..

So leave a comment or something if you are interested! And if you aren't interested, you should still leave a comment saying you are and then fall into peer pressure and actually join in on the fun!

(For those who the new layout confuses you, to leave a comment click on the number within the polaroid near the top of each post by the title)