Justin Acuff’s Blog

Well Paul has decided he wants to sell the house that I currently live at. I don’t really want to buy it from him because I know how much work that house needs. I also don’t want to go back to living in an apartment either. I’d also really like to get away from paying rent and start building up equity, so it looks like I’ll be buying a house or condo soon.

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OK, now that I’ve finally had some time to rest, I might as well post on the spring break trip. It was a really fun trip for me. Even the work we did was fun stuff. I learned something new about almost everyone I went with and even a little bit about myself. I’d like to give a time frame as to when pictures will appear on my website and the CSC, but there are well over 2000 pictures to sort through, so it might take a while.

We started out by leaving on an overbooked flight to Memphis. The plane was sold as a 50 passenger plane, but actually there were just 44 seats. This left Alicia and Zach without seats. Luckily, they found 6 people to take them up on the offer so that Alicia and Zach could travel with the rest of us. Our flight to Phoenix was also overbooked, but at least we all had seats. We arrived and headed to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. Sunday morning, most of the guys got up to watch the sunrise over the Grand Canyon. It was definitely a cool site. I’m sorry most all the girls were asleep for it. Later that day, we divided up into two main groups. Hikers and Rim walkers. Although I really wanted to hike, looking at the time alloted, I decided to walk around the Rim. We defintely saw lots of things that the hiking group could not see. After the 3.5 hours were up, we all meet up to drive to other parts of the canyon. I bought a Hiking Guide for the Grand Canyon because I SO want to go back. Finally we headed on our way to the reservation.

The NCF is a really cool place. I like how its totally built by volunteers. We had several different jobs going on. A few of the guys installed a drop ceiling; Becca sewed curtains; A lot of painting was done; Some people worked with the childrens home; Baseboard and trim was cut and installed; A lot of cleaning and organizing was done; Cabinets and shelves were sanded and varnished; and a pit for the garabage was dug. On Mondays and Tuesdays, the NCF has open gym nights. It was really cool to play all different kinds of games with people from all different ranges and even play guitarr with the dude that brought his guitar. The VBS also went over really well. In an effort to keep this post down, I’m assuming others will blog on this stuff, or I’ll have a seperate post later on.

On Thursday, after all our work was done, we headed over to Canyon de Chelly for a nice hike down the White House Ruins trail. It was definitely a fun hike. The trail was 2.5 miles round trip and switchbacked its way for the 600 ft drop in elevation. It was a very easy hike that also had lots of little places where you could do some “rock climbing”. After all was said and done, we went back to the reservation to spend our last night in the Hoghan.

I really should pay attention to those Capital One commercials featuring David Spade. Is anybody interested in being one of the persons that operate the projector or runs the sound booth at Laurel?

Last night, a group of about 15 students met over at the house of Dave and Ellen Keim to discuss what we are going to present during class time this Sunday. Whats interesting about this group, was even though you could call us the “college kids” (ages ranging from 18 to 28), we have just as broad a range of views. I’ll explain later.

Last month, after one of Dave Keim’s lessons, a man named Ray Shirley came up to Dave and asked when he teaches the college class. Ray has been in the Church of Christ for over 7 decades. He wanted to present to the college class, why he likes the old songs and why they have meaning to him. He also wanted to hear from the college class, why we like the new songs and that they mean to us. Last week he said he could remember a time when you could hear a lot of people shouting “AMEN!” and people would dance out in the aisles. There was a movement to move the pendulum from the side of emotionalism to the side of intellectualism. He did say, that he thought that perhaps the pendulum had been moved over too far. Last weeks class was very good, but time didn’t permit for all things to be accomplished in just one class, hence the need for this upcoming class.

A part of me would like to fully disclose what we discussed last night at the Keim’s and a part of me wants to hold it back because it will come out in class on Sunday morning. Alicia Routh, John Miller, and Dan Watkins are each going to present on three of the main points we wanted to get across. Like I said earlier, even though we are all relatively close in age, our views were somewhat different. In the group, you had people that have never clapped during worship, you had people that clap every chance they get. Some people in the group will tell you that God will only accept your praise when singing A Capella and others will tell you that God will accept your praise even if your doing it with instrumental accompaniment. As you can see, even among this age group, a wide range of views are held.

Back in 1998 I got to go, with a few other people in a Bible study I was in, to the Generation 268 Conference. Growing up Church of Christ, this was a very different experience for me. It really opened my eyes to what Worship is. Had I just been in a Bible study made up on with members of the Church of Christ, I’m sure we never would have gone. For those of you college students that are reading this and have never heard of this conference, it has changed names a couple of times. Its also been known as One Day and the Passion Conference. I would encourage you to attend the next one in 2006. It will be in Nashville, TN. Many of the big names such as Matt Redman, Chris Tomlin, and David Crowder are associated with the Generation 268. For me, this was probably the first time in my 19 years (at the time) that I actually felt like I was truly worshiping God. Other people shared how they feel when they went to Gateway Getaway/Gulf Coast Getaway.

One of the biggest thing that was shared, that pretty much everyone could agree on, was that the atmosphere on Sunday morning isn’t very pleasant. We aren’t letting the spirit surround us in our worship. We aren’t excited to be at church. It could start with something as simple as putting more energy behind the announcements. We realize also that some people want to come to church to sit in the pews and worship God very solemnly. Several weeks ago, Mike Taylor lead the song “Days of Elijah”. From time to time, the Spirit has been known to lead people to clapping during that song. That’s just what he did too. Afterwards, a lot of people said how “awkward” they felt. Some wanted to join in, but just didn’t. A lot of people wanted to hear from the Elders that it is OK to clap.

Its very important for us to stay scriptural about things, but its also very important for us to have an understanding of what is scriptural and what is just tradition. How radical of a change was it when Jesus came? What will heaven be like? Will we be sitting in pews at the throne of God or will we be dancing and singing around the throne of God?

The past summer, we would play a game called two truths and a lie. The object is to give three statements… two of them are true… and one is not. (Just don’t ask Joey to demonstrate). Since I think people enjoy the 100 Things About Me. I’m going to be a conforming nonconformist on this one. I plan to have 5 games. Each game will contain 20 truths and 10 lies. The object is to guess the lie in each set of three.

1a) I was born in Huntsville, AL.
1b) I have lived in 4 cities.
1c) I have lived in 4 states.

2a) I play the piano.
2b) I play the trombone.
2c) I play the guitar.

3a) I have two younger sisters.
3b) I grew up in a foster home.
3c) My youngest sister is 10 years younger than me.

4a) I’ve played in an AYSO league.
4b) I’ve played in an USYS league.
4c) I’ve played TSSAA soccer.

5a) My first vehicle was a 1986 Ford Bronco II.
5b) My best friend always seems to have the first name Matthew.
5c) I’ve hiked over 400 miles of trails in the Smokey Mountains.

6a) My favorite food is pizza.
6b) My favorite drink is Cherry Coke.
6c) My favorite snack is popcorn.

7a) I failed my driving test the first time.
7b) I’ve never had a minimum wage job.
7c) I’ve got two bachelor degrees.

8a) I’ve only gotten one speeding ticket.
8b) I’ve been in 5 wrecks.
8c) I’ve gone to both Private Schools and Public Schools.

9a) The farthest west I’ve been is Seattle, WA.
9b) The farthest east I’ve been is Dijon, France
9c) The farthest south I’ve been is Sao Paulo, Brasil.

10a) I won the Middle Tennessee Precalculus Competition held at UT Martin.
10b) I won the Middle Tennessee Calculus Competition held at UT Martin.
10c) I graduated in the top 5% of my class in high school.

This weekend was awesome and yet this weekend just sucked and I’m gonna leave it at that.

Friday night Michele and I ended up going to Cozymel’s to grab a bite to eat. When we showed up, Tina Wesson of Survivor fame was also waiting to be seated. I’ve seen her at events that she was brought in for, but never out in the general public. I don’t watch a lot of TV, but Survivor is one of my favorite shows. Afterwards we went to Blockbuster and rented Napoleon Dynamite. I’ve seriously rented this movie like infinity times, so I guess I really should just buy this movie the next time I’m at Wal-Mart or someplace. Its an awesome movie. I thought it was stupid the first time I saw it, but it keeps getting funnier every time I watch it.

Today Michele and I went up to House Mountain. It was a fun little hike, and best of all, its only like 15 minutes away. I love the Smoky Mountains, but sometimes they are just too far away and you lose some of the time just driving. Today turned out to be a great day to be outdoors. The temperature was great and it didn’t rain. We probably could have gone backpacking, oh well.

Here’s a panorama I took from the summit of the mountain.

For the service project last night and yesterday, a few of us were in charge of visiting some of the elderly and shut-ins of Laurel. It started at lunch, when a group (Mer, Audrey, and Todd) went to visit one of the former deaf ministers at Laurel. Last night Jesse D, Adam B, and myself were in charge of the places that would be visited. One person was out in Farragut and the other was just off of Papermill. Since the Farragut group had longer to drive, it only makes sense that two of the three leaders go there. Jesse and Adam went there along with Charlie S. This left just me and Lora to go visit Mrs. Green, who was in a nursing home just off of Papermill.

This lady had been a long time member at Laurel. We showed up and I don’t think she was expecting us. We delivered the fruit basket and the lasagna that was made for her. We talked very little the time we were there, all 35 minutes of it. She would tell us the sad stories of her children. Her oldest son was an FBI agent who was murdered on their back porch and her middle child had run away from home. She went on to tell us stories of her youngest daugther and her grandchildren and her greatgrandchildren. These were a lot happier.

She then went on to talk about her roommate at the nursing home. She’s a heart patient as well. The lady we went to visit has a special string that she can pull (its attached to a buzzer or something) whenever her roommate there at the nursing home feels the oneset of a heart attack or something. Mrs. Green kept talking about how she can’t do much in the state she’s in know, but she can pray and she can still sing.

There was one thing that Mrs. Green kept talking about that had us a little baffled… She kept saying a group from the CSC was going to come visit at 6:00 on Friday. Both Lora and I were convinced that she was just a little confused… In fact, she may not remember that she had visitors last night.

Many of you may remember, a while back the CCG was being redirected to a Bible Mega-Site when she would go to Mer’s blog. Finally, the mystery of why this was happening has been solved.

Its been a while since since the Cuff Daddy went on a detective spree. The last time was probably The Case of the Missing Halloween Partyers. This account is guaranteed to not be near as funny as the last.

Thanks to a call, I got to stay in Knoxville today. Anwyays… last night I discovered the super secret blog site of our own Todd Tarbett. Well given that I don’t have a link to his site, I had to type in http://*.blogspot.com/ to get to it. However, I had made a mistake. Instead of blogspot.com, I had put blogpsot.com.

The mystery of the Bible Mega-Site has now been solved. The conclusion, I can’t type.