Well, here's to a year or so of random blogging on giddybrown.com.

My new random blog site is now up at What the John Brown! It will consist of random ideas, life adventures, and anything else I can think of.

This site will be transitioning more to a children/youth ministry blog, focusing on gathering my experiences with the aforementioned and sharing them with those interested.

Life is in progress...

Two new jobs have put my focus elsewhere for a bit. Some plans for the blog in the future include:

Turning this into a youth/children's ministry blog

My personal blog/adventures will move to whatthejohnbrown.com when completed.

Business ventures will center around studiogiddy.com (still under construction).

As always you can keep up-to-date with me on Facebook which I use daily and sometimes on twitter (@giddybrown)

There was a shepherd and he had 100 sheep. One went missing one day. His friends told him not to worry about it was just one sheep. He refused to listen and left the 99 in the fold and went searching for this one lost sheep. He found it, smiled, and then threw it off a cliff.

There was a woman whose dowry (all she owned as a wife) was 10 coins of great worth. She lost one. Instead of ignoring it, she turned her house upside down until she found it. She then went outside and threw it down a well.

The church is is all a pitter patter with the boots of construction works and the walking shoes of volunteers. It's been quite the experience as a new hire being thrown right into the chaos of a building project. Moving my share of boxes and furniture has given me a plenty of opportunity to get to know members of the church and fellow staff workers. Working alongside others has given me a different perspective on people outside the routine of Sunday worship. Everything is just about complete and is looking amazing. (And I may get an office soon too! :)

Looking back on Rome and how it has shaped our present civilization can be like a younger brother looking up to an older one. The younger idolizes the older, often ignoring flaws and striving to that perfect ideal. The Roman Republic is such an older brother. Even though the Republic didn’t always aim for the ideal, western thought looks to the Republic as an ideal government, a mature system run by representatives of the people. “[Rome represents] the grandest symbol of the ideals of universal peace, law and order” (Muller 201).

The ideals of Hebrew civilization have been a careful gardener of the wild development of western civilization. Ideas such as absolute justice and universal community have cut down dangerous outgrowths and nurtured buds of societal enlightenment. The touch of this gardener to other ideas has transformed them to servants of a higher purpose. Its purifying influence has and will continue to shape the world. This paper will first describe core Hebrew beliefs and then show how these beliefs have impacted the development of western civilization.

Natives played a vital role in the Russian American period of Alaskan history. Their influence is often overlooked both individually and corporately. Lydia Black and James Gibson highlight this unique position in their papers, “Ivan Pan’kov: Architect of Aleut Literacy”, and “Russian Dependence on Natives of Alaska.” Although the focus of Black’s paper is narrow, on an individual’s effect on the era and Gibson’s more general, on the tribal contributions, both agree on the necessary role of the native.

Imagine a house next to a popular place of entertainment. Hundreds of people a week flock to this venue and in the process trample upon and leave litter all over the carefully tended lawn. A fence is erected to keep the unwelcome guests away. The lawn is in better shape. Imagine now that this “lawn” is the mind, specifically that of a child. What type of “fence-building” or gatekeeping would one employ to protect it?

The summer days move so slow
If only I had a lawn to mow
I'd watch the grass stretch and grow
Feel its blades against my toe
All before the winter snow

Posted below is the route I took today in my bike around Buffalo. 20.1 miles and it feels good. Headed out around 10:25 and got to Layfayette Presbyterian Church at 11:00 for a meeting. Along the way I noticed they're almost finished with tearing down the old arena downtown. After the meeting I left for my circuit back home at 12:00. I decided to head toward Fillmore/Bailey and take them back to South Buffalo. Cutting through Delaware park and by the Buffalo Zoo I made my way across North Buffalo and then headed south.