OMG

I like puppies
People like puppies
People like me
I think people would like me to have a puppy

Always a bridesmaid...never a bride...

Today was a momentous day. You may think that it was just the ordinary rainy Saturday, nothing special, nothing to write home about (or blog about). But I'm about to tell you why it was something extraordinary. Tonight one of the greatest people in the entire history of people (you know, from the Garden until now) got engaged. Jennifer Hughes McElveen is getting married. That's right, the day finally came and what a great day it is. I cannot think of anyone more deserving of happily ever after than her. She is one of the great people in the world, one of the great people in my life, who I am truly blessed to have spent the last 4 years of my life growing with. When something like this happens to someone like her, the people around her cannot help but to rejoice.

"In Him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it."
John 1:4-5

"Sin, he reflected, is not what it is usually thought to be; it is not to steal and tell lies. Sin is for one man to walk brutally over the life of another and to be quite oblivious of the wounds he has left behind."
- Silence, Shusaku Endo

don't it feel like sunshine after all
the world we love forever, gone
we're only just as happy
as everyone else seems to be

RAID

Here is a little secret about me...I hate ants. HATE THEM! I am anti ant! If I got my pick, if God sat us around one day and said, "A.J. I might have 'made' a few mistakes. I am giving you the opportunity to choose one said mistake and destroy, kill, eradicate it from the whole of earth. I would choose the ant. Why, you may ask, such animosity towards the ant? To which I would answer, 'Must you ask?'" You may be now thinking, why today is she hating all over ants, to which I would paint you a scene from my morning. I awoke to my alarm clock you know the usual routine. I grabbed my laptop (which I just got back from the Apple ICU after a bad runin with some juice) and opened to find an army of ants pouring out of the inside like something out of a psycho Wes Craven film. That is why the animosity. They also ate my Valentines sucker and it happend to be the only Valentine I received.

Career Builder

Okay, so its time to play a little interactive game. I need your help. I need a career and I need one fast. It is you, the reader's chance to have a vital role in the life of A.J. Jordan and help her choose a career. So, I need you to answer the question, "What should A.J. do with her life.?" Now I realize (and only because I am this person) that some of you will be tempted to be funny and that is okay. I could use some comic relief. But if you provide a funny answer also think of a serious one. You can comment anonomously like some of you do. You know if you're one of those who read this but you don't want me to know that you read and therefore you never comment, I'm going to need you to suck it up and comment, this is important people...life and death...the difference between a life given over to Einstein Bagel Brothers and something important. So, you have your task if you choose to accept it. Your reward will be in heaven (God is delighted that you are helping out his child of indecision!)

What's in a man?

In Poland the population of Jews started out in the hundreds of thousands. After World War II less than 4 thousand remain. I watched Schindler's List last night and had a nightmare about being in a modern day war like that one and being on the disdained minortiy side. I awoke relieved that it was only a dream and then realized that it had only been a dream for me....it had really happened and not all that long ago.
You know I've been to Europe, or rather just got back and I don't want to say that I've been there or I've seen it because I know that what Europe is now is nothing like what Europe was then, but the remants or World War II are still very very visible. How could the largest massacre of human beings, the largest display of hate in history not have effects that linger only 50 years later? When in Budapest we spent 4 hours in this place called the Terror Museum, the former headquarters/torture house for the AVO and the Arrowcross armies. I just can't believe that something like that actually happened. The population of Jews that were killled is just over 6 million. 6 MILLION PEOPLE killed because of their heritage, both a race and a faith. In the movie Goeth (the terrible director of the Poland prison camps) says, "They fear us because we have power." Schindler replies, "Power, true power, is having every justifiable reason to take a life and not doing it, instead pardoning them." There really is no way to end this entry. I knowthat man is essentially evil, but the reality of this defines evil in a whole new light. And Oscar Schindler, because of him there are 6000 Jewish descandants of the people he saved. That is 2000 more than all the Poles left after the war.

Random Pictures

The weirdest thing....this was a distinct line in the sky during a thunderstorm last week. (and yes I took this out of my car windshield as I was driving)

The Charleston Sunset

Sunset on the Charleston marsh. I stopped to take these on the bridge into Isle of Palms...I'm pretty sure that is illegal and dangerous, but oh so worth it!


Surprise Puppies

I was doing a size comparison...the gatorade bottle is definately bigger, as is my head


5 little bundles of joy!

V-day (Not to be confused with D-day)

I can only show love to the measure of which I have been loved or have seen others loved. I mean its Valentines Day right, the season of either perpetual love or depressing lonliness (and this is mostly girls, for guys its just a slightly more expensive day than any other of the year.) But here we are in a world filled with hate, war, disease and death and yet we recognize and dedicate one entire day to the word "love." I think that is huge! So, what is it other than just a word. What does it look like? Here is what I think. In the end of Corinthians 12 Paul is talking all about the body and its many parts and gifts and....you know the story. He is naming gifts and then in verse 31 he says, "But strive for the greater gifts and I will show you still a more excellent way." In Chapter 13 in verses 1-3 Paul pretty much says that you can strive for any gift you want, you can think somebody else has a greater gift and you can envy that one and forsake yours, you can have any gift you want, but if you don't have love you don't have! The absence of love voids these gifts of their potential. Speaking becomes dissonant noise, knowledge is useless and faith means nothing. All our empty giving and serving and sacrificing is nothing without love because its not giving and serving and sacrificing that changes people, its pure, unadulterated love. Who cares what I am good at...do I use my gifts as a chance to be patient with others, kind to others, protect others, hope for others, persevere with others or am I rude, proud, self-seeking and easily angered towards others.
If I can only show love to the measure of which I have seen it shown, then I have a lot of love to show. My model is one who "Lavished" his love on me, so that I could in turn lavish it on others. This kind of love is costly. Deidrick Bonehoffer once said, "The power of the cross proves that suffering love can vanquish evil." Not to show people the all-satisfying God is not to love them. And to show them this God is to love them the way that Christ loved us, unashamedly, unreservedly, a placing self aside type of love. John Piper said, "Untold numbers of professing Christians waste their lives trying to escape the cost of love. They do not see that it is always worth it." I think the ultimate Valentines day would be marked by finding the person you have the hardest time loving and pouring out love on them, no questions asked. "We love because he FIRST LOVED us." He loved us before we did anything to derserve it. We are to love others before they do anything to deserve it. That is costly love

Capture the flag

Last night an army formed. College students, camoflauge and the Carillion Gardens. It was 4 hours of hardcore, head to head, upperclassman verses lower Capture the Flag and one of the most fun things I've done at Clemson. The hillarious stories are endless. It was like being a kid again, running around in the dark, hiding in bushes, crawling on the ground in mud and brush, scaling walls, wearing camoflauge and chasing the opponents.....okay well maybe it was only like my childhood. We did these types of things in Bishopville. Some of the funniest moments of the evening were popping out of bushes and finding yourself face to face with a "civilian" who either thought they were about to get robbed or killed by the crazy person in camo hiding outside their dorm.....who does things like that? We do. And I must just say....the old people represented. Sleeve, you and I make a great team old man (and just between me and you I am feeling it today)! No flag is safe....and no game is ever "over" until we say it is. So, if you get a chance, organize a game of capture the flag. There is something about it that is wild and free just kind of awakening something you haven't felt in a while.

In Christ Alone

In Christ alone my hope is found

He is my light, my strength, my song

This Cornerstone, this solid ground

Firm through the fiercest drought and storm

What heights of love, what depths of peace

When fears are stilled, when strivings cease

My Comforter, my All in All

Here in the love of Christ I stand

In Christ alone, who took on flesh

Fullness of God in helpless babe

This gift of love and righteousness

Scorned by the ones He came to save

‘Til on that cross as Jesus died

The wrath of God was satisfied

For every sin on Him was laid

Here in the death of Christ I live

There in the ground His body lay

Light of the world by darkness slain

Then bursting forth in glorious Day

Up from the grave He rose again

And as He stands in victory

Sin’s curse has lost its grip on me

For I am His and He is mine

Bought with the precious blood of Christ

No guilt in life, no fear in death

This is the power of Christ in me

From life’s first cry to final breath

Jesus commands my destiny

No power of hell, no scheme of man

Can ever pluck me from His hand

‘til He returns or calls me home

Here in the power of Christ I’ll stand

Ode to the "Towed"

Parkings a pain
Morse is a code
Few things suck worse
Than your car getting towed.

Dwelling place

"The Father who sent me has testified about me. You have never heard his voice nor seen his form, nor does his word DWELL in you, for you do not believe the one he sent. You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you posses eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life." John 5:37-40

Synonyms for dwell are: reside, stay, have your home, inhabit, settle. So, the passage says, the word " resides" in you, the word "has its home" in you, the word "inhabits" you, the word "settles" in you. Now, I have only lived 22 (and 1/2) years, but I have yet to see something dead "inhabit" or "settle" or "have its home" in anything. Things that are dead don't need a place to reside. The dead have no home.
The bible is just a book. It is ink and paper set by man between bindings of leather. It contains only words, just words. Symbols and sounds put together by man as a means of communication. We say, "I LOVE you" but that is just a 4 letter word.....what does it mean? What does it look like. The letters in themselves mean nothing, they are dead. The essence of spirituality is that it is something outside of our understanding, outside of our definability, outside of our vocabulary. Jesus wants his people so desperately to see that the Scriptures are just words. It is possible to study them, to know them inside and out, to memorize entire books, even books about Jesus and still not find yourself "alive." Why? The bible will always remain only words to the reader until the author of all life makes it come alive inside. The word can only dwell if it is alive, if it comes and makes its home. This is the distinction between knowing and believing, between merely existing and living, between emptiness and fulfillment. "God" is only a 3 letter word. It means nothing until it is the force alive inside of me moving my very existence. This is Jesus, the waker of the dead, the breath of life. Without him the bible is merely empty words.

Music...um....good music

I love music. I cannot seem to put my finger on all the things I love about it. It gets me. Music seems to understand me, to fill me, to move me and comfort me. Sleeve recently embarked on creating a list of his top 10 chill music. And as I listened to so many of my favorites today I was inspired to do the same and with much difficulty narrowing it down to only 10 here it goes...
A.J.'s Top Ten:

1. Coldplay
2. Amos Lee
3. Robbie Seay Band
4. Death Cab for Cutie
5. Mae
6. David Gray
7. George Winston
8. Nickel Creek
9. David Crowder
10. Damien Rice
    

Who knows how to work this thing....?

So, last night I attended my favorite kind of pagan female gathering, a lingerie shower.....or as i will affectionately rename it, the "thong shower." Now, I know that this isn't a pagan gathering, in fact in some countries people might actually enjoy this sort of thing and find it soothing, but if I made a list of my 100 least favorite things to do (and i think it would be fun to have a list such as this) right above ab workouts and walking arm and arm with Satan would be lingerie showers. It is only partly because they just make me uncomfortable. The other 50% comes from just feeling stupid. With every new gift she presented to the room for observation I found myself wondering not only where it went, but if that item of clothing came with instructions.
When I get married my dear friend Katie Hogue is bringing me an old t-shirt...this will be my favorite gift of all.

Surprise puppies

I grew up in a family of very few traditions. Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving...you really never knew what you were gonna get. There is one thing however, that seems to be becoming a Jordan family tradition, its a little thing I like to call Surprise Puppies. Yep, that's right we've done it again. Now growing up we had dogs, but we always wanted them to have puppies and the answer was always a resounding, "NO!" However, we have had 3 litters of surprise puppies since my sophmore year of college. What I mean by surprise is this, we never know we are expectant parents until either the day before or the day of their entrance into this world. I went out to the farm today to find 5 little such 2 day old "suprises" curled up under a proud mother. Have I told you yet that I LOVE PUPPIES!!!! I love them. They really might be one of my favorite things about this crazy planet. Right now they look more like blind little piglets, but I assure you, that is only a phase.

Fix you

"When you try your best but you don't succeed

when you get what you want not what you need

When you feel so tired but you can’t sleep

Stuck in reverse
And the tears come streaming down your face

When you lose something you can’t replace

When you love someone but it goes to waste

Could it be worse

Lights will guide you home

And ignite your bones

And I will try to fix you"

There seem to exist some things that just can't be fixed, as if they were made broken. Maybe the soul purpose of these things is brokenness or maybe the only way they function at all is because they are broken and if you were to somehow fix them they would no longer work or know their purpose. Maybe some things prefer their brokenness, maybe some people prefer their brokenness, and still maybe some relationships prefer their broken disfunctionality. I guess it is possible that if pieces stay apart for long enough they begin to lose their shape and form and can never fit back together the way they once did.

I am a fixer. It disheartens me to think there may exist some things that I just can't fix.

Wreckage

I had a conviction today, I started to call it an epiphany and then I was convicted about calling it that instead of what it really was. I was driving on the interstate today and traffic came to a crawl at this one point because everyone was slowing down to peer way over onto a frontage road where some poor smo had wrecked into a fence. First off this iritates me when people slow down simply to take in a sight such as this. I would, however, be a hyprocrite if I said I didn't do the same thing. What is it in us that makes us so interested in something like that. We just want to see it, even if the scene is gruesome, gory, make you wanna hurl kind of sick we just have to see it. We all peer out our windows and marvel at the massive piles of crumpled metal that use to be someone's mode of transportation. Why is that curiosity rises inside of me almost instinctively, causing me to slow my vehicle down to a crawl on the interstate and yet the opposite seems to happen when I see someone hurting. When we see people hurting and broken down our feet tend to pick up speed and our eyes seem to divert in any and every other direction, but the direction of that person's "wreckage?" Where is my curiousity then? Where is that intense desire to "see" what the problem is? It is in times like these I find myself walking in perfect step with the Priest and the Levite, leaving the Good Samaritan in the dust.