Tops...

Ok...so I've come to the realization recently (with help from various people in my life) that I am a bad blogger. I rarely blog for a few reasons: 1) I am busy. (Lame excuse I know) 2) Sometimes I just don't have anything that I feel is "blog worthy." 3) When I do have time to blog, I find myself doing other things like playing online games or watching TV.

I'm going to try to do a better job of blogging more. I really enjoy reading the list of 15 blogs that I follow as often as I can, and find myself wondering why people don't blog more so that I can read them. Then I realized that I might be making some people (if anyone actually reads my blog) feel the same way...wondering every night why there isn't a new post on Cody's Contemplations for their reading enjoyment.

Well folks, today is your lucky day! The wait is over! You blog dreams have been fulfilled!

I'm in a weird mood right now and I decided that its time for a random blog. So today's theme is...

TOPS: My top 3 list...of top 5 lists!

I am going to try my best to compile my top three list of top five lists regarding how things rank (or ranked) in my life! Woot!

Number 3: My top 5 favorite foods regardless of genre or whatever thats called for food...

5) Sesame Chicken- This is my all time favorite chinese food dish and the one that I find myself ordering regardless of the restaurant. The best sesame chicken I have ever had was from The Wonderful House in Scottsbluff.

4) Chili- I'm not really a huge soup fan...so it's a good thing that I don't really classify chili as a soup. There are 2 chili's that each have a separate place in my heart forever. First, Cristina Sander's chili is the best chili that I have ever eaten...I love to eat it with fritos, lots of shredded cheddar cheese, and a little bit of sour cream. Second, my mom's chili. Many of you might think that this is very weird but I eat my mom's chili just like my dad does...by dousing it in sugar. Yes you hear correctly...SUGAR. Try it sometime...I wouldn't recommend it with a really spicy chili though. Reserve it for a really mild one.

3) Smothered Enchiladas- Favorite mexican food of all. I get these at any mexican restaurant that has them. Cheesy enchiladas covered in spicy pork chili is to die for! If you are ever in Scottsbluff, you have to try the smothered enchiladas at El Charrito for the are muy muy bueno!

2) Cheeseburgers- The best grilling out food ever. I could eat burgers anytime and anyplace. You can find cheap burgers for a dollar at various fast food places to satisfy your hunger. Or you could dive into the world of gourmet burgers for a pretty penny. Regardless of where you get them, they are sure to fill you up...some more than others though. The only things that could possibly be better than a cheeseburger (other than my number 1 food) is a cheeseburger with BACON!!!

1) Pizza- The chameleon of foods. Think about it...they make breakfast pizza, mexican pizza, veggie pizza, dessert pizza, taco pizza, cheeseburger pizza, mac and cheese pizza, and the list goes on. Like a food but are wondering how to make it better? Try making it into a pizza! I eat pizza fresh, day old, hot, or cold. I simply don't get tired of it. The best pizza that I can think of might surprise some people. Little Caesar's Hot and Ready. Cheap. Take it home and douse it with Frank's Red Hot Sauce then dip it in some ranch dressing and you could almost call that heavenly.

Number 2: Top 5 best of the worst pick up lines ever...

5) If you were a new hamburger at McDonald's, you would be McGorgeous.

4) How you doing? (said in a sleazy Joey Tribbiani voice)

3) Your graphics are so beautiful that they rival Doom 3.

2) There's this movie I really want to see, but my mommy said I can't go by myself...

1) Do you have a boyfriend? [No] Want one? [Yes] Well, when you want a MANfriend, come and talk to me.

Number 1: Top 5 things that I played with when a child...

5) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles- I used to be obsessed with the TNMT. I collected all the action figures and would play with them on a daily basis. My favorite thing to do with them though, was to line them up in 2 lines facing each other, then grab my dad and have a war by shooting a rubber band at the other side. The first person to knock all the TNMT's down on the enemy side won. AWESOME!

4) Basketball- When I was younger, I could almost always be found outside playing basketball. Whether it was by myself, with my dad, or with the neighborhood kids...I did it all the time. That part of me hasn't really changed much. I still do that quite a bit.

3) My Bike- Riding around the neighborhood racing other kids, timing myself to see how fast I could ride to my grandma's and back, making ramps and trying to jump over things, crunching a pop can and putting it on the back tire to make it sound like a motorcycle, riding through the gutter to make all the water shoot out behind you, and trying to make the longest skid mark on the sidewalk...ya my bike riding days were the best!

2) Legos- This probably consumed at least 6 months of my life if you add all the hours together. If you were to ask me what I wanted for Christmas when I was younger, I probably would have said legos. And the few days after Christmas and my birthday...you would know where to find me...I was in my room building all the sweet legos that I had received. I had so many legos that my mom got me a huge tote to put them all in. It was big enough to fit me in it. I had lego parties that lasted for days. Best days ever!

1) Dirt- What little boy didn't play with dirt? I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that a boy would actually be a girl if they didn't play in the dirt at least once in their life. I lived outside in the dirt. I was REALLY into building forts and those always required digging a trench somewhere in the back yard. I think the time that I realized I didn't like dirt so much was when my dad put me to work digging little holes to make a walkway of stepping stones in the back yard...dirt went from play...to work. Sad day!

Welp...I hope that you enjoyed yet another trip into my head for a moment...see you next year!

So Much...

I realize that I haven't posted in a couple months. For some reason I seem to have fallen off the blogging bandwagon. I really had no intentions of doing so, but I guess things just caught up with me and I fell behind...really far behind. I apologize to everyone that follows my blogs...if there is anyone. I will try to do better at blogging more often.

These past few months have been great. I'm always amazed at how God seems to work in my life even though at times I don't think that I deserve it. When I think back on my life, God has always taken care of all my needs and even a lot of my wants. He blessed me with a great family growing up, an awesome youth group through Jr High and High School, great friends at home and at college, and a great church family wherever I have been.

He has also blessed me with various material blessings. My very first car, a 1987 Ford Bronco II was given to us as long as we could get it running. My second car, a 1990 Nissan Maxima, was also given to us so I would have a more reliable car for college. When my computer stopped working this last year during my internship, some families in the church got together and bought me a new one. When I was at school it was not uncommon to get a note in my mailbox saying that someone had made an anonymous payment towards my school bill.

Things continue to go well for me in spite of me seemingly screwing things up occasionally. Right now in my life, my family is still awesome and continues to support me in everything that I do. My friends are also still awesome, keeping in touch for the most part even though I'm 4 hours away. I just recently got a wonderful girlfriend, Meghan Splattstoesser and she is seriously amazing! I also just recently got a new truck, which I have wanted forever. I have a great job doing what I love as a youth intern. I will be going back to school starting next fall and am super excited about that. God has really taken care of me.

I guess the reason why I'm writing all of this is because most of the time I fail to give God the glory for all the things that are happening in my life. I like to take the credit for myself. So right now I just want to stop and say thanks God for blessing me even though I don't deserve it.

How has God blessed you in your life? Do you give Him the glory for those things?

Character...

I enjoy reading. Although I rarely find the time that I would like, to indulge in some sort of reading. My reading usually consists of one chapter every night before I go to sleep. But sometimes I will come across a section in a book or magazine that I don't want to put down. It speaks to me more so than other sections and chapters that I have read. I find myself making extra time during the day to continue on in the story or dig deeper into the subject that I was reading. My most recent occurrence of this happened earlier this week. I just finished a book called "Next Generation Leader" by Andy Stanley. He divides this book up into five sections, the last of which is on the topic of character.

This topic is one in particular that has been hammer home to me over and over again during my time and Nebraska Christian College. I learned that effective ministries will only thrive if they are operating out of an abundance of good character. This also is directly related to your personal relationship with God. The ultimate goal is to strive to become so close to God and spend so much time in prayer and in His word, that you have no choice but to operate out of your overflow or abundance of Him. (I also want to make the point that since the word "plethora" means to have "too much" of something or an "excess", that it should not be a word that is associated with God...because I don't think its a possible to have too much of Him rather we are always trying to get more)

This topic of character, has been something that I have been thinking a lot about lately. In his book, Stanley encourages his readers to live a live of constant integrity and really sit down and think through your values and beliefs. His theory is that there will be one time in your life where you will encounter something that will be a major test to your character. You will have to choose to do what is right, or choose the opposite and suffer a major blow to your ministry and also to your integrity and character. This may seem to be the case when I think back to the various stories that I have heard of people in ministry positions that have compromised their integrity and because of that, have ruined their ministry and how people view their character.

I would like to take this one step further. While I agree with the statement that each person will have to deal with one large scale happening that will be a true test of character, I also think that it is something that we have to deal with on a smaller scale and on a daily basis. While there may be that one monumental event that you look back on saying that was the true test of your character which you either passed or failed, I believe that there are smaller battles that if you don't fight, you will face the same outcome over time. You see, I believe that the choices we make on a day to day basis shape the way we will handle that one large happening. I believe that Satan is trying everything he can to attack our character. He is crafty and will try to start habits in you by attacking the small areas of your life and then desensitize you when that large happening occurs. Choosing to tell a lie, or swearing, or lust, or something else that we might deal with daily could be just as important for us to watch out for as something huge.

What I have been challenged with over the past week, is to strive to not give the devil a foothold in any area of my life. Whether it be telling a lie, or cheating, or lust...anything. I don't want to give him the opportunity to smash my integrity or character. All it takes is one event to ruin your ministry forever.

At the end of his book, Stanley tells a story of his kids. Every night before bed, Stanley would pray with his children that God would them the wisdom to know the truth and the character to always follow it, even when its tough. (This is my paraphrase because I don't have the book next to me for direct quote purposes) That has become a constant prayer in my life, that God would give me wisdom to know the truth and character to always follow it, even when its tough.

How about you?

James 1:5 and Proverbs 11:3