Pickles and Cheese: the Final Frontier

SageMenno · 03-02-2006, 07:49 PM

Hello all, my name is Dan, and I am an 18-year-old Hoosier. I was born on July 27 in the Year of Our Lord 1987, in Evansville, IN. I am the firstborn son of two Christian parents who have brought me up in the way I should go. I'll start out my journal here by imparting unto you my life's story

I spent the first six years of my life in southern Indiana, near and later in the town of Washington, Daviess County. I started out as a Pentecostal, as my parents were not allowed to take communion in any of the Mennonite churches where we lived. It's a long story (that I'm not going to tell right now) and is the reason I despise legalism. My dad was raised Mennonite, and I would say that's why we're Mennonite now. After I 'graduated' Kindergarten, we moved up to northern Indiana due to a few circumstances. Dad needed more work, and our church broke up for reasons I won't go into.

We first lived in rural Kokomo, but we only lived there about seven months. In this time, we found a Mennonite church nearby that my dad's cousin went to. My parents were allowed to become members and take communion at this church, and that was a main factor that caused us to stay at that church even when we moved a half hour away. I'm sure a lot of you know tht00, he is one of my best friends and it is at that church that we met and our friendship fostered. Heck, he's the one that got me started posting here on CGR.

Anyways, after the short time we lived near Kokomo, we moved a bit further north to get closer to the school I attended, a Christian school in a town near Fort Wayne. We continued to go to the Mennonite church. We lived in this place, rural Peru, for about 4 years. During this period of time, I came to Christ when I was 8 years old. My younger brother also came to Christ and we were both baptized the following summer, when I was 9 and he was 7.

We moved again when I was about 11, to a place about 7 miles from where we had previously lived. This was much closer to where I went to school. But after two years, my parents decided to take me out of the Christian school due to the cost, and because I was getting nearer the age of driving and they were always at differences with the administration of the school who maintained their right to search students' cars whenever they wanted to.

So when I was in eighth grade, I was put into public school. This was probably the hardest time of my life, as I was constantly teased by my fellow classmates for trivial reasons. I was pretty sad for a long time (vast understatement), but the Lord helped me pull through it. The teasing and such quit as soon as I got into 9th grade, praise the Lord.

The biggest passion I have is to sing. I joined my high school's choir when I was in 9th grade. Originally it was just for the credit, but I soon discovered that I could sing well, and that I actually enjoyed it. To this day, I am still in choir.

High school passed quickly, and I graduated on May 27, 2005 from Southwood High School. Earlier in the school year, a great opportunity came our way. My grandmother's house was going up for sale and was being offered along with the property of 15 acres for a low price if a member of the family bought it. Mom and Dad jumped on the opportunity to finally own a home again, and on July 30 (three days after I turned 18) we officially moved into our new home. You might be asking yourself, "So where is it, huh?" The answer to your question is: perhaps a mile from the very first place I lived. I have found myself back in Daviess County. My family now attends one of the same Mennonite churches that had a problem with them taking communion. I'm still not entirely sure whether there will be a problem with that, I certainly hope not. The pastor is an old friend of ours (incidentally, he used to go to the church we attended in northern Indiana). The Lord works in mysterious ways.

So, now I'm a freshman at the University of Southern Indiana. I am involved in USI's Chamber Choir, which I must say is one of the best experiences of my life. We sing a lot of Christian songs (it's sad, though, that many of the members of the choir are not Christian). I am involved in our school's Campus Outreach, a nondenominational Christian evangelizing and fellowship organization.

So, that gives you quite an insight on my life. If you've made it all the way through, please feel free to give yourself a pat on the back. May the Lord bless you as you go throughout your day!

tht00 · 03-02-2006, 10:08 PM

First reply! yay!

Nice title, btw.

weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Demon_Hunter · 03-03-2006, 09:03 AM

Dude, you could write a book on your lifes story, lol (actually, I think I just read a bood

).

So, things are cool at your new church now?

SageMenno · 03-03-2006, 02:27 PM

Yeah that really was a book lol.

So far things are going pretty well at church. My brother is really involved in the youth group and my parents seem to be enjoying it. I don't go often as I am a college student and I only go home every couple months or so. When I do go, I enjoy it. Our pastor is excellent and I am in the "young adult" Sunday School class, which is full of really fun people.

If they have had communion at church, I haven't been there for it. Either that or they haven't had it since we've been there, and that would be kind of odd for a Mennonite church, since communion is twice yearly (in spring and in fall). I sincerely hope my parents and brother were able to share in that. There was a vote one Sunday that I was there over a choice for 'overseer.' Our pastor right now is an interim, and we are in the process of getting a permanent pastor. As such, an overseer was chosen to help in the process. Now what is really coincidental is that the person chosen as overseer is the pastor of my old church up in Kokomo! Him and his wife were down one Sunday I was home and it was good seeing them again.

Back to the vote, though. My dad did not participate in the vote (Mom wasn't there). I don't know if that means that he can't be a member of the church, or if my parents just haven't formally transferred membership.

Anyway, I am now on SPRING BREAK! I got out of my Political Science class about a half hour ago, and so I AM DONE until March 13th!

Praise God from Whom all blessings flow
Praise Him all creatures here below
Praise Him above ye heavenly host
Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
Amen.

I'm going to try to attach a song sung by our Chamber Choir. If it works, it'll be "Poor Man Laz'rus" by Jester Hairston. It's a song about Jesus' parable of Lazarus, the poor leper who was denied aid by a rich man. They both died that night, and Lazarus went to Heaven while the rich man (in the song, his name is Divies) went to Hell. Divies could see across the gulf to Heaven and asked for Lazarus to come put a drop of water on his tongue because he was in torment. Sorry for the echo, we were performing in a very large Catholic church. I hope you enjoy it! God bless!

fallinguprawks · 03-03-2006, 03:40 PM

Cool blog/journal

Your choir songs I've heard so far sound really good. If I had to critique it, the only thing I could come up with is that the basses are a bit overpowered. That's a common problem though, as choirs have mostly girls, and tenors are in a range in which they can push a bit and be as loud as they need to be. Excellent job.

What vocal part do you sing in choir?

What's your favorite movie?

What are some of your interests other than singing?

Do you play any other instruments?

I think it's good when guys sing, because most are too insecure to. How long have you been singing?

It's been nice meeting you, Sage. I'll look forward to posting here in the future

SageMenno · 03-03-2006, 05:08 PM

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