the online journal of jordan e.

Something Borrowed, Something Blue, Something Stained, Whatever
Since when do your elementary school buddies get married? My friend since third grade, Miss Mary Simensen, will become Mary Rasch this Saturday. Mary Rasch. Mary Rasch. Maybe I should make a toast in "TDS," the language we invented at age eleven. Perhaps I should talk about our forts in the woods, the videos and tapes we made or the how I laughed so hard at camp one year that I puked. Or maybe I should get used to the fact that she's grown up and mature enough to have a husband and not pee her pants over childish antics.
All I know is that makes one of us. I should have stock in Depends.

posted by Jordan @ 3:40 em

Soaking It Up
Talk about blessings. Here's the low down: I needed a new car because my beastular vehicle was overheating daily (and caused a four-car pile-up on Arrowhead Road whilst Jonah navigated the terror on wheels). A friend and I were searching for a house or apartment to rent and having no luck finding a place outside of the ghet-to. I lost my wallet two weeks ago. I greatly dislike one of my jobs (hint: it rhymes with mublishing rouse). I made up a budget for the fall and got dizzy trying to figure out how I could afford all of the expenses.
Results: My dad happened to have a buddy fixing up a 1999 Saturn with 64,000miles. He sold it to me. Cheap. Not to mention, my insurance miraculously went down and the buddy o' my dad provided new license plate tabs for me. No pile-ups yet.
Another friend from church called me up last week telling me she was moving out of her house and that Tiffany and I were free to move in if we so wanted. Five minutes from church. Three blocks from Lake Superior. Sun porch. Ninety-one year-old neighbor.
My wallet wasn't found, but the one thing in it that would cost to replace, my driver's license, (I had no cash, credit cards, etc) was found laying on Superior Street by some kind coffee shop owner and returned to me.
Through a string of connections, I got an interview at a graphic design company in Duluth and will start doing freelance work sometime soon for them, thus allowing me to permanently squeal out of the parking lot of this particular poopy job. Plus, the owner speaks German fluently. Ich bin doch gluecklich.
My pastor asked me to be the church's site coordinator for the Vineyard Leadership Institute, the two year theological, leadership program I'll be starting this fall. Turns out I get a tuition knock off for doing it. My budget doesn't look too freakishly frightening anymore.
With all that said, I am wowed by God's goodness. I know we've all heard it a bajillion times (that God is good), but isn't it still a little stunning when you realize this is really what he has for us? Having "good luck" is so unfulfilling. Being spoken to, prodded and loved on by a living God is complete satisfaction.

posted by Jordan @ 3:53 em

Still Alive and Kicking
I haven't been snorting the sniffy jiffy. I'm still working lots and housesitting for my family who is out on vacation frolicking and drinking Yoo-Hoo. Funniest news I've received from them: Jonah took a deep dive in a hotel pool and scraped up his face. He has since taken on the habit of rubbing the massive scab on his chin, which has fooled at least one college tour guide into thinking Jonah is incessantly deep in thought.
In other news, I've just completed my first experience with fasting. Twenty-four hours without grub is nothing compared to other fasting feats (my friend Erica fasted for forty days), but in that single day I became quite aware of my dependency on God and my need for his sustenance. I also didn't receive a clear answer about the particular topic in which I was fasting, but those hungry hours were still valuable. In fact, now that I reflect, if the simple absence of food can draw us that much deeper in communication with God, how much more can I permanantly cut out of my life to sustain that connection? And, if just after a single day I desire to get dangerously close to God's glory that much more, how would my desires change after an entire week?

posted by Jordan @ 4:11 em