Things have their seasons, including this blog. It'll be back at some point, but it's done for now.

Momma's Boy...

Hey Sterling,

I am a Casting Producer for NBC. We are currently in North Carolina this week casting great looking guys looking for love to be on a new hit show produced by Ryan Seacrest. You are just the type we are looking for! If this is something you would be interested in please give me a call. You can also check us out at www. nbcdatingshow. com for more info! Hope to hear from you soon:)

ML,

N-- T--
NBC Casting
#

---

Are you kidding me?

HECK.

NO.

I don't see it as wise to trust serious relationships to Hollywood.

Sorry, Ryan Seacrest.

International Flavor

Site Stuff

Looking at visitor statistics this month, the top visitors this month are from:

1. China
2. China
3. France
4. Spain
5. China

...and for the first time, the most popular section is Movies (mostly DDR videos), and the second most popular section is Music (mostly mp3s of old stuff).

I'm wondering if one of my missionary friends to China told people about my site.


Trinidone

Yeah. Done with Trinity. I did finish with a 4.0 in my Master's concentration (Pastoral Care), and all the Counseling electives I took were As (10 courses if I count correctly). My cumulative GPA was a 3.7, which is a far cry from the 4.0 I got at NC State in both my degrees. I did resolve to do a few things before starting at Trinity (not to make grades an idol, not to risk sanity over perfectionism), but I still feel a little annoyed with myself in that I could have aimed higher. However, that's easy to say now that I'm not taking 18 or 19 a semester of grad credits while doing 40-50 or more hours of ministry per week. I tend to seek overachievement a little too much sometimes.

Things are a little too quiet for my liking. I feel idle when there's nothing to do, but I'm not sure that I can handle doing much of anything for at least another week or two. I feel better than I did last time I posted, but I still feel the trauma of the 7-year grind I just undertook. I finished 11 years of coursework in 7 years. I also feel the shock of the contrast between having everything to do and having everything not to do.

So I figured that I'd pick up a game and obliterate it. I asked Ken if I could borrow his Nintendo 64, and I started from scratch with Mario 64. I've taken about 15 stars a day, and I'm at 111 right now. I have 9 more to go, so I'll try to get some time this weekend to finish the game off. It's been pretty therapeutic...except for that Shifting Sands world. I can't STAND that world. I need to finish that world, though. I have one that I can't find on Rainbow Ride, but it should be pretty easy to get once I find the cannon. Don't give me any hints, either.

I also have about 99% of everything backed up from my old computers and on this new laptop. It already has some issues, so I might take it in at some point soon. The headphone jack doesn't work quite right, and the keyboard lags out quite a lot. I'll optimize the system when I feel up to it. It's nice to encode videos on this thing, though. It's much faster than the 2001 laptop that I was using for the last ...many years.

lol @ some of these pictures:

Here's an inverted image I did for 'Grand Slam Magazine' from a basketball party I had back in like 1995 or so. Wow, that's a long time ago. I'm going up to dunk it --




The next one is me hosting Teen Scene Jeopardy, which was back in 2000 or 2001. I should really know the date, but I don't. That's about it!


Anyway, I have tons more pictures, but I'll put them in picture albums if and when I feel like it. Yay!

The end.

Contrast

I didn't think that the adjustment would hit me so hard.

No ministry.
Nothing in sight.
No church to attend.
Very few friends left in the area, and none currently available.
No income.
No prospects for a date.

I'll refrain from posting anything else. I need silence and solitude so I can think life through right now.

Done!!!!!!!!!!!

Wow, um, I got bored after the evening service tonight, so I finished all the rest of my written work at Trinity.

YES!!!!!

I'm not fully done with everything while still here, so my list is still full, but taking care of the written stuff makes things much lighter.

School stuff:
- Exit Interview, Church Planting Class (I have no clue why, but he's doing that with everyone in the class)
- Exit Interview, Internship

Church tasks:
- Service planning on Thursday
- Sunday service, will find out my part tomorrow
- Spiritual Gifts assessment curriculum
- Finish surveys and evangelistic tracts

Other stuff:
- Fill out medical insurance forms
- Insurance phone interview
- Inner-city event, Friday 5/2

Visits:
- Racine, Wisconsin
- Romeoville, Illinois(?)

Here's a link to the basic sermon outline, sans-introduction and other tangents: http://www.djsterf.net/sermons/spiritandflesh.swf

I will see if I can get the audio from it. It was a powerful time. Lots of red eyes at the end from the time of response, so the Holy Spirit worked, and it was refreshing to see. :)

I also was blessed this week with an Evangelism Award, which came with a decent sum of cash. I had $7 in my wallet until then. Sweet! Anyway, I have to pray about how I'll use that. I used my Leadership Award money from last year to dedicate toward finding a wife (i.e. money for dates). Hopefully I can use that again soon!

Graduation on May 10!

MPG Driving

Graduation comes once again on May 10.

MPG Driving

Well, since gas prices are insane, I've been working on getting as high a Miles-per-Gallon reading as possible. Here are a few obvious tips in conserving gas --

- Don't be heavy on the accelerator. If your car jerks when you take off, you're probably wasting gas.

- Know your most efficient MPH -- my minivan is most efficient around 60, and 55 is generally not far off.

- Use cruise control if there are flat stretches of land. I've had a lot lower MPG from hills in using cruise control, though. It seems to really push the gas to maintain the MPH on hills.

- Close the windows. More wind resistance = more energy required to keep the car going. It's much less aerodynamic to have your windows open.

- Turn off the A/C or Heat. This made about a 0.3 MPG difference on my minivan.

- Stay consistent with your speed if possible. At stoplights, try to glide into it so you don't have to jam on the breaks and then wail on the accelerator.

However:
- Use the accelerator if you need to. Don't get into an accident because you're trying to increase fuel efficiency (obviously).

- You don't have to be an ascetic driver. I mean, why not enjoy the wind on a nice day?

The End!

lol that was lame.

Here's a link to a Bag AAA video. I also got Legend of Max AAAed today, praise the Lord. That gives me 511 AAAs on Single Expert/Challenge at the Arcade.

Sermon on Sunday. I have it done, text is Romans 8:1-11. Yesterday was sweet. I'm putting together a slide show to go with it tomorrow at the church office. I'll miss this church a lot.

The End!

'Til May 10...

This is more of a logistics-based and planning-oriented post, but I'll throw in a Paranoia Survivor AAA video at the end just to balance it out.

Here's what I have left to do this semester:
- At least 1 more meeting w/ my primary mentor & 1 more meeting w/ my secondary mentor
- Read the rest of the Missional Leader book (PT 7220), 4/24
- Read the Trull & Carter book (PT 7210), 4/29
- 4 more Internship Journal entries, finished 4/30
- Internship Paperwork, 4/30
- Research paper on a pastoral leadership topic (PT 7220), 5/1
- Internship Exit Interview (I need to schedule this, too), early May
- Take-Home Exam (PT 7210), due 5/8

Ministry-related
[- No more midweek services to preach]
- Sunday School finished this Sunday (Malachi & Conclusion are left), 4/13
- GMO stuff as it comes up
- Start up Cross Allegiance for 'Season 2' (second burst of videos)
- Article for CF due 4/15
- Put together a curriculum for Spiritual Gift Assessment, 4/15-19
- Preaching Sun. morning at New Hope, 4/27
- Crossroads Baptist, 4/27?
- Inner-city Kids Home, 5/2?

I preach in GA at the conference 'Young Guns for the Lord 2008' on May 16-17. I still don't have a church opening after I leave here on the 11th/12th of May. I might check in with the Salvation Army back home to see if they want to do a Baptismal class & water baptisms with the inner-city kids. I might also need to take a side job, though I'm not sure on that one.

Here's a video of me AAAing Paranoia Survivor:

CF Articles: April

This font is Arial.

Here's the latest Sterf article as posted in the Christian Forums newspaper (starts at http://news.christianforums.com/christian-news-1 and continues on http://news.christianforums.com/christian-news-6).

Poignant Posture

Oftentimes in Scripture, one will find poignant images that stick to the memory bank like glue. In preparing a sermon this week, I was struck by a very short part of the passage at hand, which I hope and pray is an encouragement to the reader, as well. In 2 Chronicles chapters 5 through 7, the new Temple which Solomon built is being dedicated to the LORD for present and future service. The LORD shows His approval in several ways, including saturating the place with His Glory so much so that the priests could not even remain in the Temple to minister! This has consistently been a major point of awe in my own life – really, may we long for the sweet presence of the LORD to fill our own hearts so much so that we cannot help but worship Him! Just as the Temple was present in the Old Testament for worship, today we are built to be Temples fit for the Holy Spirit (cf. 1 Corinthians 3:16; 6:19-20)! Even so, may our lives be as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God (cf. Romans 12:1)!

But this week, I was struck by something else – something new to me. In 2 Chronicles 6:12-13, Solomon gets up on a platform in front of the Altar, a location where everyone can see him and participate in the prayer. As this was a celebration, he was no doubt dressed in his royal garb. Jesus noted the splendor of Solomon in the Gospels (cf. Matthew 6:29, Luke 12:27), and the nation of Israel was at a time of massive affluence. There was one Kingdom of Israel – no split had occurred. In this time of abundance and unity, Solomon arrayed in his extravagant garments was getting ready to pray to dedicate the Temple of the LORD.

What hit me powerfully was the posture that King Solomon took. Although he was up on a platform with royal garments and a crown, he kneeled down in a posture of obeisance (2 Chronicles 6:13). Even more, he spread out his hands before God, showing his dependence on the King of Kings who had granted him the privilege of being King of Israel. Solomon, though blessed with unbelievable wealth, realized his personal inadequacy as well as the true source of Power. This is true worship! I am reminded of Heaven, as we are promised a crown of righteousness for persevering in obedience to Jesus. We will have this crown, but we do not deserve worship. We have a Mighty King, regardless of our own status, and the proper posture is as Solomon’s – one of humility!

In our own lives, when God places us in a position of authority, will we lord it over others, or will we obey Jesus in Matthew 20 where He states that the greatest among you will be the servant of all? Will we be as Herod in Acts 12 and receive the praise of the people without giving God the glory? Or will we be as John the Baptist, who understood, “He must increase, I must decrease” (John 3:30)? As we stand in service to the LORD before His Altar in everyday life, may we remember Solomon’s posture, and may we recognize the Lordship of our Savior Jesus Christ, by whom all things consist. May we have clean hands and pure hearts in approaching Him, knowing that it is only by Him that we can have boldness and confidence (cf. Hebrews 4:14-16). May we be humbled in the presence of Almighty God, who gave His own Son for us, that we might live through Him.

So let us seek Him if we have not yet found Him. Let us also serve Him wholeheartedly in all that we do. Finally, let us give worship to whom it is due – our wonderful Father in Heaven, the blessed Son and Savior, and the Holy Spirit our comforter!

Birfdae

My ultimate Birthday request list to God circa 2008:

(1) A wife!
(2) A flock to shepherd
(3) Ordination
(4) Blessing and amazingly good fruit in ministry

Contingent on (1): A large family
:)

25...

This will be a good year. 24 felt like the worst year of my life. 25 will be full of amazing things.