Anger Management
Ya know…. when servers go down…. ….. ….. PEOPLE DIE! 
No wait… … I can’t say that … let’s try that again.
Ya know…. when servers go down… …. ……. Brent’s sleep schedule gets shortened 
, stress level elevated 
, and sense of humor dies…..
Grrr… Freakin technology 
…. I’m going to be spending many many many many hours at work now on top of my already packed schedule all while writing 20-30 pages due in a week. SERENITY NOW GOD!
Mood: Kill me. 
New Smilies!
Coming Soon to everyone… (the 8th) They’re only in Beta Testing right now… 
Do you KNOW how long I’ve waited for an Angry face?!?!?! This is GREAT!
WRONG FRICKIN NUMBER!
Have you ever gotten a phone call from someone that you didn’t know… and it was a wrong number? Ok… now imagine that happening 15 times a month… from the SAME GUY! A guy who thinks that despite my voicemail saying, “Hey, you’ve reached Brent Pirolli and I’m not available…” that his son Aaron MUST live here.
I first ignored the mistake and thought, “Oh… well, he’ll figure it out.” Then I kept hearing his messages… “Aaron… it’s your dad… give me a call….” Still I deleted the voicemail messages and thought that I’d just talk to him and explain it to him if he called while I was here… but he never does. Apparently his schedule and my schedule don’t match up too well. Finally today I’d had enough and I found his number on my caller ID. I called it and a female voice surrounded and clouded by about 120 decibels of TV came across the receiver, “HELLO?!?!?!”
I replied nicely, “Hi, I’m calling because someone from your number keeps calling me and asking for Aaron. He doesn’t live here anymore. He lived here last semester.”
“WHAT?!?! HELLO???” She screamed over the commercials.
A little flustered I replied, “Hi… I’m calling because…”
“WHAT???” At this point I’m getting really annoyed, but she turned down the TV to an extent that she could hear me. I decided to try again.
“Hi… … I’m calling because someone from there keeps calling for Aaron here and Aaron doesn’t live here anymore…” I restated.
“Ok,” she said with an air of confusion surrounding her voice.
“Yeah, so whatever number you have for Aaron, it’s not…”
<<CLICK>>
She hung up on me… … WHAT THE CRAP?!?!?!
I don’t get it… But I sure will have fun with Aaron’s dad if he calls me back… “Uhhh… yeah dad?” Heh heh heh… “I uhh… got a gay lover now dad….. … send me money… “
Actually I’d probably just be nice and explain that his son sucks and doesn’t call him becuase he moved… and that for the past two months he’s been calling the WRONG FRICKIN NUMBER!
Mood: Having fun with dumb people… 
Going to the chapel… and we’re…
Today is the day for Micah Saywer and Kelly Jankowski. She gets a new last name and he finally gets some… Actually, it’s really cool for them. They’ve been dating for almost 8 years and are still virgins. Both of them are out of college and are finally tying that perverbial knot. Woot!
So anyway, last night at about 3am 450 residents had to crawl out of bed and stagger down the stairs to go stand in the 45 degree night because of a few idiots. Yes, these few dumb guys actually were doing a beer bong underneath the smoke detector in their room… and they sprayed beer mist into the detecter.
So the building dumps, police arrive, I tell them where the alarm sounded from and they go to check it out. They arrive and the room is empty and locked so they key-in and find alcohol and liquor bottles everywhere… and a beer bong lying on the floor under the smoke detector. We finally get the alarm to reset 23 minutes later and the police waited in the room for the residents and their guests. They arrive. Two of the guests don’t go to BGSU, are underage, and lie to the police about their personal information. They get arrested on felony charges for lying to the police. The residents of the room are going to go through the school’s alcohol violation program… 2 strikes and you’re outta here, and they just whiffed a big one. Now they have to explain their actions to the Hall Directors as to why they woke up 450 people friday night… Smooth guys… real smooth…
Earlier that night though, Sarah and I spent 4 hours at Target (pronounced Tar-Jay for all you “uncultured” people) and registered for wedding gifts… They give you a gun to go scan things… I totally registered for tools… and a roll of duct tape… …. … and 2 3Musketeers bars…. …. ….
Mood: Happy for Micah and Kelly!!!
Longing…
I need words,
As wide as sky.
I need a language large as,
This longing inside.
And I need a voice,
Bigger than mine.
And I need a song to sing You,
That I’ve yet to find.
I need You oh, I need You.
I need You oh, I need You.
To be here now, to be here now…
To hear me now, to hear me now…
-David Crowder Band “I Need Words”
Have you ever felt the perpetual drowning effect of life? Those moments when you realize you’ve sat in the same place for so long that you can barely remember… How long has it been? God… How far have I walked? How hardened has my heart become? How thick have I built these walls? Can you see me still? Not this physical body I’ve carried on my shoulders… but the heart that you died for… the soul that you set free… Lord… Can you see me? Do you recognize my face anymore? Scarred… bruised… broken. Lord, do you see past my dirty clothes… my shredded garments of pride, anger, selfish ambition… Do you wipe away my tears and tell me it’s all ok now? Do you hold me in your arms and tell me that my quest is over? Do you hold me and tell me I’m home? I need You… to be here now.
Site to See
So if you haven’t seen “Stealth Disco” yet… You’re missing out. Stealth Disco was a concept created by an advertising firm. They had a lot of hours to work and had to keep motivated, so they’d play pranks on each other. One of the ways you knew you’d been welcomed into the company was if you got “Stealthed.”
Enjoy! <— Click Here Now!
Mood: Can’t complain!
It’s The End Of The World As We Know It
If you don’t read all of my SIR… then You’ll be kinda surprised by this entry… but if you DO read my sites, then you’ll know where this is coming from.
One of the sites I read with somewhat regularity is a woman who resides in MI as a stay at home mom. She has followed the end times events closer than anyone I know and is pretty opinionated that it’ll happen … well… during Rosh Hashanah (Friday or Saturday). What event shall happen so soon? Well, she thinks the rapture. After that is 7 years before Christ returns… She hasn’t claimed this as fact, but it’s more of a wishful thinking backed by scripture and current events kinda deal. In any respect, it doesn’t hurt to be prepared! Scripture tells us to!
I’m not entirely convinced that the rapture is going to happen in the next 24-48 hours here, but it got me thinking. Do I wish it’d happen? YES! Do I think it’ll happen this year, no. Yet, I pray I’m wrong!
Are you ready?
Honestly… Do you want it to happen soon? I revert here to a previous post of mine regarding heaven. For the 99% of you who won’t click that to read it… here’s the best part:
Recently our small group finished the book, “Everybody’s Normal Till You Get To Know Them” by John Ortberg. There is a chapter about Heaven. It describes how we are often fearful of going to heaven because we don’t know what it’ll be like for sure. We worry that we won’t have experienced life fully down here yet… We worry that we’ll be missing out on life. We ALL want to go to heaven… just NOT NOW! Here’s an excerpt:
I believe one of the reasons many people don’t look forward to heaven is that we badly misunderstand what the Bible is saying about it. Lewis Smedes, an ethics teacher of mine in grad school, used to ask students if they wanted to go to heaven when they died. Everyone raised a hand. Then he asked, “Be honest now, who would like to go right now, today, before the sun goes down?”
A few raised their hands slowly, giving what they thought must be the correct answer, looking around to see if they were the only ones. They were. Most people wanted a rain check. They were ready to die, but not today.
Then professor Smedes asked who would like to see the world we live in set straight on its hinges once and for all, tomorrow: “No more common colds, no more uncommon cancers. Everyone would have his day; there would be no second-class citizens. Prisoners and slaves would be free; hungry people would have plenty; no one would lift a finger to harm another; and we would all be at peace with everyone, even with ourselves. Anybody interested in that?”
There was a frenzy of hand-lifting. Smedes said that if a new world tomorrow is what you really want, you want to go to heaven.
Redemption is always the redemption of creation. God never creates something in order to destroy it; and if it goes wrong, he intends to redeem it. Smedes notes that sometime ago there was a book written about “the LATE great planet earth,” as if we were to look forward to God’s destroying what he had made. But Paul says that creation itself “waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed.” Far from being burned up or destroyed, Paul says that creation “will be liberated from it’s bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.” God loves this world that he has made, and, as Smedes says, “he has no plans to preside over its demise. His plan is to make it right again.” If in your heart you want that, you want heaven.
The truth is that we as Christians are all wanting to go to heaven… just not now! We have a life to live yet… we have children to have, to raise… jobs to take on, promotions to get, money to make, people to love and care for. We have goals to accomplish, agendas to fill, and dreams to fulfill. We’re scared of the unknown… of vanishing, floating, or God only knows what is going to happen when the rapture occurs! We don’t know if we’re going to leave behind a pile of clothes or if we get to keep our loved ones close to us in heaven! Do we need deoderant? NO CLUE! (Although I’d say the nay-no to that deoderant remark.)
But we trust Him. We trust that in the end we’ll be provided for, taken care of, loved, and so happy that we’d not have had it any other way. Scripture tells us how God will provide for us on earth, so how much better must heaven be?
There is another reality here. There is the reality that not everyone is going to heaven. Not everyone has that ticket in. If you don’t know 100% that you’re going to get into heaven, then you SHOULD be afraid of what could happen in the next 24-48 hours. You should be afraid of what could happen in the next 4 minutes… heart attack… building fire… psychotic murderer… Ya just don’t know!
So how? How do you know 100%? Simple. All you do is ask. Ask Christ into your heart. Just pray. Just say, “God… I know I can’t do life on my own. I know you died on the cross to forgive my sins. I accept Jesus as my savior. I accept this gift you’ve given me and I thank you. Come into my life and help me become the person you want me to be.”
Wait a minute… THAT’S IT? That’s all I have to do to go to heaven instead of hell? To have eternal joy instead of suffering… all I have to do is say and mean those simple words… whether out loud or in my head… … … Yup. That’s it.
BUT HOLD ON HERE! What about good deeds… what about pure intentions… what about giving money to the poor and being kind and nice and always putting the toilet seat down?!?!?! Well, those are all fine and dandy, but at what point do you draw the line? When is a good deed meter high enough to say you’ve earned your way into heaven? When can you look at God and say, “Hey, thanks for making heaven… I’m glad I earned my way into it by not being as big of a jerk as the rest of the world… I’m glad that my disobeying you was outweighed by my giving to charity… I’m glad my cheating on my spouse was outweighed by my telling the truth to my mother that her meatloaf really DID suck…” Somehow I think that the God of perfection… who created heaven and earth… will be just a bit more discerning of how we enter heaven.
He is SO Holy, SO good, SO perfect… that ONE SIN separates us from Him. One sin is all it takes to send us to hell for eternity. One lie. One foul remark to another. One lusting thought. The only way to atone for sin is with the shedding of blood. In the Old Testament (Before Jesus came) the towns used to have to slaughter animals for redemption. Often lambs were used. The head of the household would place his hands on the head of the lamb and pray to God to forgive his family for their sins. Then he’d slit the animals throat and the spilling of the blood would atone for the sins of that family. The families were told to select “blemishless lambs.” Ones without defect, scar, or marks that would decrease their value. Jesus was the final lamb. He was the sacrifice for all people, for all time. He lived a sinless life and was thus blemishless. Then he suffered his fate and bore the sins of the world on his head. It was with the spilling of his blood that we are redeemed.
Where Christianity differs from all other world religions is on the point of heaven and hell. All other religions say “DO!” where Christianity says “Done.” All other religions say, “Do good deeds, pray 4 times a day, eat this, don’t eat that, say this 5 times, meditate daily, confess sins to a priest, EARN YOUR WAY INTO HEAVEN!” Christianity says, “It is done. Accept it.” Christianity offers God’s grace to save us. God’s grace alone. Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God– not by works, so that no one can boast.”
Heck, even further on where Christianity differs from other religions… Most other religions don’t believe in hell! And if they do have any form of punishment, it’s that you have another chance to do it right… … … So logically the smartest thing to do for a non-christain is to prepare for Christ and if that is wrong, YOU’VE GOT ANOTHER SHOT! But somehow I think that’s kind of a moot point…
But I digress. God is an amazing God. Whether or not I’ll meet him tonight, tomorrow, or 50 years from now… God is awesome. His forgiveness, His grace, His love, His mercy, His comfort… His righteousness, His wrath, His unwaivering committment to those who’ve trusted in Him and who He calls His children…
It’s only a matter of time before you are hit by a car or find a lump in your neck… … … Are you ready?
Some cool verses:
If you oh Lord, kept a record of sins, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness, therefore you are feared! I wait for the Lord, my soul waits. In His word I put my hope, my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning. Put your hope in the Lord, for with the Lord is unfailing love and with Him is full redemption. -Psalm 130:3-7
He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquity, the chastisement that brought us peace was upon Him, and by his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray, each of us had turned to our own way, but God hath laid upon Him the iniquity of us all. -Isaiah 53:5-6
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. -Romans 8:1-2
All This For A King (O Praise Him)
So back in May 2003 I asked my (now) fiance Sarah to become my wife. After much convincing, a few drinks, 50 bucks, and many many many sessions of begging, she caved… or something… At least that’s what I thought it’d take… ANYWAY, shortly after that night, about 22 hours later actually, we and 6 others from CedarCreek left for the Passion One Day ’03 gathering in Sherman, TX. 22 hours of driving later, we arrived.
The 3 days of camping… the horrendous rain… the flooded tents… the fellowship with friends… the meals shared with strangers… the impromptu guitar/campfire worship times… the experience of a lifetime. One night the “David Crowder Band” was playing and performed a new song entitled “All This For A King (O Praise Him).” It was named this despite the many votes on his website for “Boot Scootin’ Boogey 2.”
“Turn your ear to heaven and
hear the noise inside
The sound of angel’s awe,
The sound of angel’s songs
And all this for a King”
Lately I’ve done a lot of thinking. I’ve been so “BUSY” as always… I’ve been so weighed down with life… I’ve been so concerned about school… so worried about graduation… so centered on going full-time at the church… so much effort has gone into trying to be a good fiance to Sarah… so many hours have been worked at my second job… so many nights spent lying awake wondering where God is in my life… And now… Now I can’t stop the tears from falling when I think what I’ve done.
“We could join and sing
All to Christ the King
How constant how divine
This song of ours will rise
Oh how constant how divine
This love of ours will rise
Will rise”
When I spent those hours with my knees in the grass 1,100 miles away from home… with my heart in the open… with my head bowed… with my hands surrenderred… with my pride erased, my agenda cleared, my soul crying out… When I stopped caring about my life for one second and I finally devoted myself 100% to doing NOTHING but praising God… When I finally realized how unworthy I am… How worthy He is… How foolish I am… How wise He is… How little I love… How He IS love…
“O Praise Him, O Praise Him,
He is Holy
He is Holy”
I’m broken. Here I am… the broken child. Before God I stand, convicted of my iniquity.
Have you ever been given a gift that you really didn’t deserve? Have you ever been given that gift by someone that loves you SO MUCH, that it hurts you to realize how you’ve acted towards them? How do you face them? How can I stand? Lord… How can I stand in Your presence? How can I face You? How can I speak anything when everytime I open my mouth, all that comes out is praise… thankfulness… apologies… gratitude…
“Turn your gaze to heaven and
raise a joyous noise
The sound of salvation come,
The sound of rescued ones
And all this for a King
Angels join to sing
All for Christ our King”
Stricken with my inadaquacy I stare to the sky and wonder why God spends any second thoughts on me… Why does He love me? Why does he care so much for me? I don’t know. But I feel it. I feel so accepted. I’ve never been one to go out of my way to care for others unless it inolved someone close to me. I don’t have much compassion for strangers… admittedly… I’m not a super compassionate person. But for some reason God cares so much for me that he not only forgives me, but physically faced death FOR ME! He was mocked, beaten, humiliated, pierced, tortured, and killed… not only for me… but BECAUSE of me… and all I can do is worry about making enough money… taking enough classes… keeping all of my plates spinning… When in reality, what I needed most… was to let those plates fall… to watch them shatter on the ground… and to realize that while I was so busy focusing on spinning my tasks… God stood by and watched me quietly. He stood by and whispered, “What are you doing? Don’t you know that I came to give you life to the fullest? Don’t you know that you don’t have to do that on your own? Just trust me… Just… … Trust Me.”
“How infinite and sweet
This love so rescuing
Oh how infinitely sweet
This great love that has redeemed
As one, We sing
Alleluia, Alleluia
He is holy
He is holy”
Tonight I woke up. I realized where I’ve been spiritually lately isn’t where God wants me. I’ve decided to make some changes. No, I don’t deserve what He’s done for me. I never will. But I can at least show my thankfulness… I can at least act as He has asked me to.
The Big Push at CedarCreek is coming up. We’re spending 30,000 dollars on an all out advertising blitz for 4 weeks. We do this twice a year. Hudreds of people who have never been to CedarCreek will attend. Hundreds who may have never stepped foot in a church will hear the message that God loves them… That God forgives them. Thousands will hear how God died for them… And hundreds will find hope, acceptance, forgiveness, and eternal life.
We serve such a big God… such an awesome, almighty, omnicient God. And for some strange reason, I have the opportunity to help His message be heard. It’s amazing… 14 years of my life have been spent knowing the truth and reality of God… 8 of those have been in a growing relationship with Him… and yet I still… to this day… can be broken like a dry twig under the enormous weight of God’s love.
Mood: Forgiven… Loved… Unworthy.
POOTIE!!! WHY YA BREAK MY HEART?!?!
Now obviously on a campus of 18,000+ students one is bound to see some strange people… but man, Sarah and I ran into a stereotype so thick that it was even made fun of in a movie made by Chris Rock. Yes… We met Biggy Shorty from Pootie Tang.
Yeah, do ya see the lady in the back left with the pink hair? Yeah… That’s Biggy Shorty.
“Her parties are so hard to get into that “Air” ain’t even invited… Air’s outside knockin on the door going… “Let me in, I’m Air…” and they’re like, “Sorry… You ain’t invited…”
Anywho, Biggy Shorty is played by Wanda Sykes. Some of you may recognize Wanda from a few commercials awhile back about her having her own show coming up on some network… I think Fox… But either it hasn’t happened yet, or it won’t happed because they realized it’d bomb… Sa
y hi to Wanda…
So beyond that, her character is one that stands on street corners dressed all funky listening to her cd player with headphones and dancing oddly to a beat no one hears but her… Yeah… moving on.
Sarah and I were leaving lunch and we walk up the cement ramp thing to the sidewalk and are immediately behind this girl who has on headphones attached to her CD player, and is waving her arms up in the air to the beat. She’s got this smile on her face like she just knows a secret that know one can hear and I’m thinking… “ok…” But then she starts spouting out loud rhetoric off of whatever she’s listening to like a poet in a coffee house… “DENTILATED…. TO SPEAK WITH PASSION…” At this point I’m trying to not die laughing. She’s on a sidewalk where a hundred people pass ever few minutes and she’s just grooving out loud oblivious to the world… Man… that was funny!
All hail Pootie… Too cool for words…
Then last night (Friday night) I worked the desk again… and guess who came in all bloody and beat up? Remember that guy from the picture Scoot drew me that I posted on September 4th? Yeah… He was back and was all busted up again… With the same girl by his side… Man, why do chicks stay with losers? Drunken, ill-tempered, fighting losers at that… ::sigh:: The world may never know… If you females have any input here, I’d love to hear it! Even if it isn’t an explanation, but can shed some light on this subject; such as, “The girls are losers too…”
Ok… must go eat lunch with Sarah and her roommate… then go to CedarCreek for the night. Peace out, hamhock… homefri…. RAMROD?
Mood: Gellin… like a fellon…