As the prophet foretold...

at 09/13/07 7:56PM

I have a new username. New year of gold - new blog.

Go here, add me to your friends list, and send love!

DJW/meh/chewie.

by a_diamond_is_forever at 09/20/07 6:39PM
Nature thought you could use a holiday cheercomment. Have a fun and natural holiday!

by naturesensei at 11/28/07 9:51AM
Have a Great New Year !!!

by adwestphal at 12/28/07 12:17AM
Are you the Shanna Kaye that has a bunch of kids in your family that attends the HS campouts?

by secondmiles at 07/21/08 11:26AM
Today is Christopher Mongeon's Birthday!

by kailua at 09/11/08 12:04PM
wow you're as bad as i am about updating...

by volleyball08 at 09/19/08 12:11PM
You've been tagged to list 8 little known facts or habits about yourself. After posting yours, tag 8 other people to do the same!

by daphneel at 01/23/09 4:34PM

Winter Camp is officially back on!!

at 08/01/07 3:51PM

I just received this email from Robert Gabhart:

"Wiser folks think that parents will bring campers to Winter Camp even if we do start the day after Christmas this year. Which just proves that when you create something that is really good for young people,folks believe it i s irreplaceable. So -- not being one to stand in the way of things that are good for young people, we will have Winter Camp as we have for the last 12 years or so. Campers will come in on Wednesday afternoon, December 26, at 3:00 and leave on Saturday morning at 11:00. We will have Bible class on Wednesday evening and on Thursday
and on Friday -- with a holiday party closing things out on Friday evening."

Praise God!!!

This is such a good opportunity for spiritual growth and good Christian fellowship

by sparker at 08/01/07 4:05PM
rockin!!! i preciate it.

by runningblind17 at 08/01/07 6:15PM
you totally stole my post. i don't believe you

by youknowimdano at 08/01/07 6:34PM
:D!!

by chelstee at 08/01/07 6:51PM
HAPPY!!!!

by darth_bluejay at 08/01/07 6:52PM
weird that we copied the exact same part of robbys email and posted it on nast...

by youknowimdano at 08/01/07 7:06PM
HAPPINESS!

by waynezworld007 at 08/01/07 9:15PM
YAY!!!!!!!!!

by squeaker at 08/01/07 10:15PM
thank goodness! so i hear you're coming to the singing and staying with my dear friend mark parsons?

by kaleighbrooke at 08/01/07 10:46PM
Thanks for saying hi to me after chap! No one else noticed that I was holding the door...you made me feel special...AWW!! :)

by mandymara at 09/04/07 5:43PM
oh my names nick

by hollister_dude at 09/08/07 4:14PM
hey, i've gone 3 years to senior summer camp, and 1 year about to be 2 years to winter camp. My name is james

by thecarguy at 09/11/07 8:21PM
how are you?

by thecarguy at 09/11/07 8:21PM

My last public entry

at 01/07/07 11:36PM

Well, I've become a little creeped out by the widespread access to my blog. I'm announcing that in the future all posts will be private - i.e. pleonast friends only will be able to view. Not that I love all of you any less...in fact, if I've even remotely heard of your name, I'm willing to be friends with you. I love you guys (generally!) and hope that you hackers don't feel too bad about having to actually join Pleonast to spy on me further.

This is one of the benefits of going gold!

Galatians thoughts: since only Bekah has shown any interest, we may have our own private symposium.

God bless and Stop Sinning! (I Cor. 15:34) (thanks Dominic)

D-train/D-wat/D-squared/D-dub/Meh!

What about Daniels the Maniels? :(

by aubrey_leigh at 01/07/07 11:43PM
true...

by requiem2651 at 01/08/07 12:38AM
I worte a poem!

by naturesensei at 01/09/07 10:47PM
california is glorious

by yoyoma at 01/11/07 10:53AM
by thearteest at 02/10/07 12:06PM
who is this?

by adwestphal at 03/20/07 12:48AM
hey man, yea i cant wait till ill be in theory II, probably will be next year, i had fun stayin w/ ya and the others in suite 7

by fhbandnerd88 at 03/20/07 11:21AM
stupid hackers!!

by amanduhhhh at 04/20/07 6:13PM
yo friend! It was good to see you this weekend! We had some mad volleyball fun, huh?!?! :) Oh, this is Tiffany btw. :)

by windham4life at 06/23/07 8:13PM
hiiiiii!!! Daniellll!!!! guesss whoooo~!!!!!

by mrsheadlee at 07/26/07 11:08AM
hey daniel whats up this is Josh Willis

by willis at 07/26/07 9:25PM

Ups and downs and all arounds...

at 08/01/06 1:42PM

This is going to be long...

I had a great time this weekend, thanks to the Westside lectures! Getting to see friends and brothers and sisters in Christ is always uplifting. I really appreciated David Banning and Bubba Garner - their lessons were thought-provoking, encouraging, and well-presented. I don't care for David's youth workbooks, but the lesson was great! I was finally able to get some of my emotional turmoil off my chest to my fabulous sisters at Chili's Friday night. The Holders at Castleberry were so kind in opening up their home to every spare teenager Sunday night! I was so impressed, I even sent them a card. (Woah!) My dad commented, "Wow, you are your mother's thoughtful son." I said, "Yeah, but I'm your son too, because I used a card, envelope, and stamp that all belonged to Mom!" I sent a card to Bro. Ed Britt (Plant City, FL) too, because...umm...just because.

I also (finally) made good on my last post, and have begun (again!) being completely focused on God. Bubba's lecture sort of pulled the rip cord on my idling spiritual lawnmower! (How's that for a weird Daniel analogy?) The complacency will probably sneak back in at some point, but not for long! I am more determined than I've ever been before, I think, and have already noticed some answered prayers and more positive results coming from this dedication. It's not enough to be fully dependent on God, I've learned. You still have to be and to do on your own...Past prayers are appreciated and Future prayers are desired. He is answering them now! Praise to Him!

Jesus said, "To whom much is given, much is required." It seems to me that these last few days I have been tested a great deal by this statement (really, all of my life, but I never really noticed). This may sound extremely arrogant - it's not arrogant, and I'm not a jerk, but I'm trying to be humble, and it's from the heart, so please don't misjudge me, and how many commas, can I sneak in this sentence, (!) - but I hate being better than everyone else. Now, before you freak out, let me explain. I don't mean that I am intrinsically better than anyone else, or that my soul is more valuable, or I should be treated with more respect. God has given me some incredible talents, and sometimes it just irks me that others aren't as good at something as I am.

What started this train of thought was the Saturday afternoon singing at Westside. I was clearly one of the better songleaders - not the best. Claiming to be the best would be arrogance, and it would not be true anyway - and it was so discouraging and distracting to me, trying to worship with all this mediocre song leading - more like song starting. I know God doesn't care about ability - He cares about the heart - and I know I used to stink too. But this discouragement is just beating me down. What can I do? I know this is a personal hangup that I just need to get over, but how? I love my brothers in Christ - especially other song leaders. Hence my statement, I hate being better than everyone else. My dad told me last night, "With a lot of talent comes a lot of responsibility," and reminded me of my need to be patient!

In other news, this Job class is still killing me, and the Queen song "Don't Stop Me Now" has been stuck in my head since Sunday morning! It's great! But at least I don't have "O aula nobilis" stuck anymore...knock on wood...!

Thanks, and God's blessings on all of you, and on me, and help me be humble...

D-train

What u can do is offer us (the less experienced song leaders) advice in a respectful way. You might be surprised when one of us listens.

by imdifferent at 08/01/06 1:48PM
Also, dont worry about something you cant control?

by imdifferent at 08/01/06 1:49PM
i understand exactly where you're coming from brother. just remember though that God doesn't care how it sounds as long as its from the heart. keep pressing on brother i'll keep you in my prayers. d2

by youknowimdano at 08/01/06 1:50PM
As one who is not a very good songleader, let me say that your abilities edify me. One thing I do, even though I'm not good, is when an inexperienced leader gets up I sing with him. I sing loud and I do what I can to help out. If he can't hear me, maybe others around can and they can pick up also. By doing so you edify those around you AND the songleader!

by jestersncourt at 08/01/06 2:20PM
Daniel, I am so blessed to have met you and now that I have a friendship started with you it shall never fail. I know what you mean, when I see others who aren't as "talented" as me in areas I think I am gifted in sometimes it makes me think wow I am better than them and it is hard to stay humble. I will talk to you later my friend.

by never_trust_a_gnome at 08/01/06 3:58PM
I'm so glad things are going better for you :) I'll be praying that they continue to do so...hit me up on AIM sometime, my sn is the same it is here!

by cascadingharmony at 08/01/06 9:26PM
Hey Daniel! How are you doing? I didn't know you were on pleonast! Are you comin back to fc in the fall? if so, i'll see you then:).

by yellowsubmarina at 08/01/06 10:40PM
ahh got to love using spiderman quotes and changing them to fit your situation.

by bparker1000 at 08/01/06 11:28PM
whats up buddy, great singing with you sunday

by thebeatles08 at 08/02/06 12:16AM
i know what you're talking about with the song leading. that can backfire, depending on how you do it. one time my brother and i decided beforehand to follow the leader's pitchpipe and see if we could get the rest of the congregation singing along on pitch, we ended up noticing about a line or two in that everybody else had followed the pitch the leader had started on, and we were singing in two different keys.

i think being the music theory tutor next year will force me to learn patience in this area. :P

by alexthecellist at 08/02/06 9:59AM
Daniel! I didn't know you were on here! Too bad I discovered it with only three weeks to go before school, eh?

by essie at 08/02/06 8:03PM
Hey Daniel! Nice to see you... here.... on pleo.... eh.... yes!

by thatonegirl at 08/03/06 5:40PM
Hey bud!

by nac at 08/03/06 10:07PM
I'm lookin' forward to seeing you soon!

by nac at 08/03/06 10:08PM
hi buddy! I got some pics of you from camp, I will try to email them soon.

by kermit at 08/04/06 10:20AM
I wanna go to the lecturessssss :)

by kiss_the_rain at 08/05/06 11:15AM
as my brother says: "God's tonedeaf anyway." heart counts for alot

by heroforthenight at 08/05/06 2:12PM
hi daniel i wasnt sure who yhis was at first but hey

by jj07mavs at 08/05/06 11:16PM
Hey do you know of any way I can contact Whitney Sasser? If you can please tell her to email me at Roar_xo@yahoo.com

by xwhit at 11/01/07 1:05PM

disappointment and regret

at 07/24/06 11:34AM

A Death Cab song popped into my head...hence the title.

I know that I'm connected to all of six people right now, but hopefully this will change.

I had fun last week at camp - I also worked my posterior off! - but I was spiritually disappointed...I've worked myself into another trough of complacency, and I was subconsciously hoping that camp would recharge me, like it always has.

But my time was pretty much divided up between working and sleeping. In years past, I've seen JC's come to Bible Classes regularly, though late; I figured it would be much the same this year. For some reason, the schedule that Richard "Pickles" Fontenot drew up had us working a lot more than in previous years. Jimmy and Becca both noticed that they were working a lot more this year than they ever had before as a JC (which for Jimmy is a lot - this was his fifth time as a jc!). I didn't get to go to any Bible Classes - not many morning or evening devos. Even when I led singing, I couldn't lead the songs I really wanted to lead, because either we didn't have the books, or it was the morning devo and people were still tired and straggling in. (appropriate use of straggle?) And whenever I had free time, I was so exhausted that I didn't have the energy to do something spiritual...

I think God is trying to teach me that I can't rely on outside catalysts to motivate me to be closer to him and a more devoted Christian. I've tried camp, I've tried a girl, I've tried all sorts of things, events and people (all of which are good on their own, but I've tried to apply them for a higher purpose). If I'm going to live a more spiritual life, kick the last (and the worst) of my bad, sinful habits, and really devote myself 100% to God, then I'm going to have to want that on my own. Camp, or a friend, or anything else just isn't a strong enough pull for me, like I hoped it would be. I must have a burning desire for God. I'm reading "Diligently Seeking God" every day, and it has helped, but not enough.

What scares me, though, is that I keep shying away from keeping my promises of commitment to God because I'm too scared to fully commit. Some part of me is still satisfied with how things are, and until God helps me get that part into submission with what I want, I don't think I'll be able to truly change. What is it going to take?

Now, I'm not saying that I'm just going to wait until everything's peachy-keen. I must start living this life now!

Prayers are appreciated.

In other news, this book of Job class is scaring me to death! So much time and so little to do...strike that...reverse it.

17-36 of 36 comments « prev 1 2 next »

whoa! hold the phone! you like death cab?! dude....that's AWESOME!

by heatherthefearless at 07/28/06 12:03AM
daniel watkins! hows it going, sir? hope you are having a wicked awesome summer! i heard you might be taking over for me in jazz band. im glad to here that the piano will be in good hands!

by siedenstud at 07/28/06 7:03AM
hey daniel! thanks for adding me! :-)

by elyse at 07/28/06 12:28PM
hey, daniel, its Paul... i second what shanna-kaye said!!

by imdifferent at 07/28/06 5:36PM
Hey Daniel! I totally didn't know you were on here! Can't wait ot see you in a few weeks!!!

by rosemarie at 07/29/06 8:04PM
Hey, I miss you and your mad music skillz!

by cascadingharmony at 07/29/06 8:48PM
it was great talking to you during the "bonfire" this year. its always a treat to talk to a person everyone knows and respects on a friendly down to earth level. it was good seein you at the lectures last night too. sorry i wasnt working! i hope to see you again soon. ill be posting my schedule from now on so you can plan your week around it! haha jk. but seriously. do it.

by runningblind17 at 07/29/06 9:18PM
Heyyy :) So glad to see you on here! wish I could have been at camp!

by kiss_the_rain at 07/29/06 11:18PM
wud up bro?! Man, I've been there before. At every camp I grew so much but no way could I rely on that one weeek to last me the year. I thank God for every Bible class we had there though. That stinks you werent able to make more of them. Man after I left camp that Sunday I was so bummed. Not bein with all of our bros was prolly part of it too. Dude, we should have like a reunion or something. lol. take care bro.

by bjg40 at 07/30/06 12:24AM
Hey Daniel! This is Sharon Campbell! Welcome to the nast!

by keebs at 07/30/06 4:16PM
Welcome to the world of growing up. I had many similar thoughts as a JC myself. Camp is wonderful, but at some point you come to the realization that you don't go anymore to be encouraged yourself, as to serve and encourage others. And amazingly, that's just as uplifting in a very different sort of way. I hope you have a great 2nd year! God bless. I heard you did an amazing job as chorus director at camp. Somehow, I wasn't a bit surprised!!! Take care...

by chica at 07/30/06 9:11PM
what's up Daniel!

by bobthetomato at 07/30/06 9:16PM
HEY! its me Sarah, i saw you tonight at devo at castleberry!! it was so awesome seeing you tonight! :)

by sweetie2 at 07/31/06 12:20AM
I was having the same problem. I heard someone preach about that topic and how some churches are trying to get more people involved with church by starting sport camps, youth rallys, and other entertainment functions. The bottom line was that you can't draw people to God with candy, but by His word. I get discouraged a lot, but whenever I pick up the bible and just read, it really rejuvinates me. I'm reading from Genesis to Revelation. There's a lot of books I have not read yet, so I am really looking forward to them. There was this saying I heard: When you entice people with ice cream, tea, and chicken, they become as cold as the ice cream, as weak as the tea, and as dead as the chicken. I encourage you to not "find" the time but "MAKE" the time to read the bible more. I hope all will turn around soon.

by spacehobbit at 07/31/06 8:17AM
hey

by fccamp_junkie07 at 07/31/06 10:20AM
Hey Daniel!

by haileybaileyboo at 07/31/06 11:38AM
Wow. I'm somewhat shocked that you even know who Death Cab is. But good for you.

by adambomb at 07/31/06 5:57PM
Daniel! Glad you joined up. Good points on commiting to God!

by sparker at 07/31/06 6:02PM
Hey Daniel. Welcome to the 'Nast. My sister pretty much sums up what I've learned in my years of counseling at camp -- it's more about serving and giving every ounce of energy that you have away to those kids. Once I learned that, I began to get so much more out of camp, even though I'm often too tired to focus on things I would like to be focused on. Our Lord's words, "It is more blessed to give than to receive" takes on a whole new meaning. I'm glad you were there to serve and I'm bummed I missed seeing you do that!

by lumpy at 07/31/06 7:08PM