"This plane is crashing, this boat is sinking, this building is totally buring down."

Sometimes it feels like everything is crumbling down around us.

The Psalmist wrote:

O Lord, how long will you forget me? Forever?
How long will you look the other way?
How long must I struggle with anguish in my soul,
with sorrow in my heart every day?
How long will my enemy have the upper hand?

Turn and answer me, O Lord my God!
Restore the sparkle to my eyes, or I will die.
Don’t let my enemies gloat, saying, “We have defeated him!”
Don’t let them rejoice at my downfall.

But I trust in your unfailing love.
I will rejoice because you have rescued me.
I will sing to the Lord
because he is good to me.

God is omnipresent. He is with us always. Find peace in God today. Find joy and restoration in life.

Accept,
John Denton

(Art work snagged from Shannon; thanks)

Day Dreaming (like always)

Mustache March (3 Days Away)

Start preparing your mustaches now! Mustache March is only a few days away!

Surf: Trestles (Day off photography time)

While at trestles this morning I shot a few pictures. The swell seemed pretty awkward; at best a strange direction. I like taking photos sometimes so I shot these two just for you.

30 Hour Famine: Part 2

30 Hour Famine: Part 1

Our 2008 3o hour famine was amazing! I pray that every group that participated experienced what we did this weekend. Students learned, inquired, and grew together as a group. Our main goal of raising awareness in our community and giving a voice to hundreds of thousands of starving children around the world was accomplished. We spent our day not only doing great activities, collecting food, and having fun, but brainstorming about how we could take this journey so much longer than 30 hours. Thank you to our great leaders, Louisa, Julia, David, and Caleb. Check out these pictures of our famine.

Ice Cream

I have decided to make myself the official food taster of Riverside. Today I went out and experienced one of the best ice cream places in the city. Frostbites on Magnolia and Tyler offers up some great treats. My rainy day ice cream craving was put to an end. Ice cream is great. After ice cream I handed out free soda and talked to high school students walking home from school. We had some fun conversation. Side note: I am so excited about the 30 hour famine tomorrow, come back tomorrow to read more about our famine.

My Day at a glance:

-Get Starbucks
-Prepare for 30 Hour Famine
-Work on a few things I have been putting off
-Call a few students about 30 Hour Famine
-Go for a Run...
-Eat Dinner
-Watch American Idol (I hope the girls sing better than the guys)

The Guitar Hero!

Surf (another sterotypical blog for Phil)

Today I went surfing. It was really fun (I always have fun but today was fun fun). I hung out with my cousin slash friend Philip and had a great time. Thanks Phil. My day; Surfing, Starbucks, and Church. After Church I hope to add sleep to my days experiences. (Phil's iphone took this picture of me laying around watching tv.)

Valentine’s Day (a poem for your valentine)

Writing an amazing poem takes time and true love but I figure let’s just go for a Haiku. This doesn’t take much time but still represents your love for that special someone. A Haiku is broken down into three lines typically five words, seven words, five words. It also makes the poem a little more interesting if you categorize the lines into, abstract thought / abstract thought / concrete thought. Choose a season that your love admires and go from there with your creative energy.

"Some are of the opinion that in English, Haiku should be limited to a 3/5/3 format to preserve the broken nature. Japanese words tend to be longer than English words, which is why translated Haiku tends to sound less complete than 5/7/5 poems written originally in English. You might try the shorter format to see how you like it." -Online Haiku Resource

My Haiku for Stephanie, my valentine:

Beauty from above
Delightful moments my love
Be my valentine

American Idol (yes it is that time of year)

Joshia went home already? Sorry Steph. I liked the kid. He sang well and I would have pegged him to last into the top 24 but whatever. They build lots of people up and a few in the end fail, oh American Idol producers. Anyways get ready to read a lot of American Idol blogs in the months to come...

Day off fun.

Wow: sunday sprint to surf between youth gatherings.

I had a four hour window between youth group gatherings and took advantage of it. The beach was beautiful, and the ocean was glassy and clean. Stephanie and I had a great time! Pictured is my fish at 56th Street Newport.

Oranges

As I continue to look around and enjoy my surroundings driving around town, one of my favorite tourist destinations in Southern California comes to mind. No I am not talking about Disneyland. In between Starbucks and our church rest the original parent navel orange trees (where all of your navel oranges began). After a quick google of this historical landmark I gathered this short bit of fact:

The parent navel orange trees came from Brazil; they were planted in 1873 by Luther and Eliza Tibbets, these two bud stocks - derivatives of a Brazilian navel orange - took surprisingly well to the area's semiarid climate. All other navel orange trees in the country were drafted from these two.

I shot this picture of the trees mid sip of my morning iced mocha. A few times a week I notice tourist standing around the fenced in trees taking pictures, and I have even seen a few stick their hands inside and grabbing at the ancient trees fruit. What interesting things are in your neighborhood? Historic landmarks? Old factory's? Police riding Segway scooters?

Accept,
John Denton

Let's do this (take action)

Armed with my skateboard, a few flyers, and a ice chest full of soda, I headed out to meet a few new high school students and to build new relationships with the youth of Riverside. Translation: I spent my afternoon in the church parking lot talking to students as they walked home from school. It was awesome, I met some great high schoolers and had good conversation. I spend most of my days behind my computer with my fingers crossed that our youth ministry will continue to grow spiritually and numerically. This last week I have felt very convicted of my lack of effort to meet students in our area, so today I did just that. I took action; Free sodas, a flyer, and conversation. If we don't take action who will?

Vote!

I voted a few minutes ago. Don't forget to vote.

Smart Car?

2008 Smart Car
$13,500
36 MPG
3 cylinder- 70 mph top speed
Premium Gas: $3.20 Gallon
Monthly Fuel Cost: $108 per Month (Tank Size 8.5 gallons - 1224 miles a month)
2008 Toyota Yaris
$11,500
35 MPG
4 cylinder- 120 mph top speed
Regular Gas: $3.00 Gallon
Monthly Fuel Cost: $99 per Month (Tank Size 11 gallons - 1155 miles a month)
1988 Honda Civic
My Current Car - Free
36 MPG
4 cylinder- 120 mph top speed (tested)
Regular Gas: $3.00 Gallon
Monthly Fuel Cost: $99 per Month (Tank Size 11 gallons - 1188 miles a month)

Recently I have been thinking about purchasing a new car. I enjoy small cars because parking is easy and they get great gas millage. My top options were getting the new hyped out Smart Car or a Toyota Yaris hatch back. I thought the Smart Car would get 120 mpg but it turns out its not that Smart. Not even as Smart as the Yaris or my current 1988 Honda Civic Hatch Back. My final verdict, drive the civic for life.

2.4.08 Video Blog

Fact Checker:
Like 7 Billion people live on less than a dollar a day? : Of the 6.39 billion people in today's world, 1.2 billion live on less than $1 per day and more than 852 million people in the world are malnourished - 799 million of them are from the developing world. More than 153 million of them are under the age of 5. Each day, over 29,000 children die from preventable diseases such as malnutrition, malaria, diarrhea, and acute respiratory infections. Malnutrition is associated with over half of those deaths. www.30hourfamine.org

She's Amazing

Yesterday was our 6 years anniversary. Steph and I have been together for the entirety of our adult lives. It has been an amazing 6 years, and yesterday we celebrated. I was in charge of planing the day; we had breakfast at the Cottage in Laguna Beach than walked down to the cliffs and painted for the rest of the day. What fun.