Illegal Immigrant

Illegal Immigrant - a rhyme written after the inspiration of YCT culminated upon my mind. They hosted an illegal immigrant day at UNT and handed out literature about the drain that illegal immigration is to our economy and a threat to national security. We don't mind other people coming to America, as long as they do it legally. Most of this was written during my political science class. Enjoy. Get angry. Get inspired. Agree; or not. What thinkest thee?

There is a family that lives south of us/ their roof is leaky, their floor is dust/ they're a strong family, four mouths to feed/ but they are powerless, for they lack sufficient means/ America, the best on earth/ No, not perfect but invaluable in worth/ here freedom and opportunity reign/ just ask the family living in the south in pain/ the know opportunity lies in the north/ they long to cross the river and get on board/ they risk imprisonment and death just to have a life/ a life that isn't determined by throw of dice/ but the Hernandez family can't cross the river/ they've been shut out by the freedom giver/ how base of the U.S. to deny the inherent right/ to pursuit of happiness, liberty, and life/ Why would they do this?/ How could it be?/ that the most charitable nation won't give everything/ the U.S. was open/ it trusted other nations/ it was hurt on 9/11/ and forced to replace the/ open arm policy/ with doors bared closed/ it's lenient airports/ were now fear homes/ thousands of lives/ had fallen from thousands of feet/ as a dolorous request/ for higher security/ But wait, what's this?/ The borders are still open it seems/ for in yonder river/ Mr. Hernandez is swimming/ will he be caught?/ will he be shot?/ will he be imprisoned for doing that which he should not?/ No, it seems/ Yes, the guard has been doubled/ but so have the immigrants/ and with them brought trouble/ America loves Mr. Hernandez/ and feels his pain/ but he must enter legally/ or he is the same/ as a terrorist with a bomb/ strapped to his back/ who's next target/ could be more devastated than Iraq/ Mr. Hernandez lived here three years working hard/ as a PHD/ post hole digger in yards/ he sent all his money home/ to wife and kids/ and he himself lived on welfare/ even though he didn't pay taxes/ he drains the economy by taking what isn't his/ but thankfully its not as bad/ as it could have been/ he could have been an extremist/ with a sandwich size bomb/ headed to Washington D.C./ were he would deliver his arms/ and turn order into chaos/ life into death/ love into hate/ joy to sadness/ Keep the border tight/ let them in/ but let them in right/ do we not hold life so dear?/ as to protect us from those who bear fear?/ keep the border tight/ sleep well tonight/ keep the border tight/ preserve American life.
Josh Inge

Jan. 21 2nd day

2nd day -
College has started. It has been destined that it shall consume me for the next 3 to 4 months. I will rise and do homework. I will lie down and do homework. I will memorize formulas while driving. You know how it goes. But, to be fair, it is as one friend said about me, "He's a glutton for punishment." I signed up for 19 hrs. Here's a quick run down of the 13 hrs. of courses I'm taking at UNT:
9:00 British Literature from 1790 - present: this is the class your mom warned you about. The prof. lady is a relativist and assigns some disturbing readings.
10:00 Engl Comp II - not so bad. Pretty cool teaching, but I have arrived at the dolorous conclusion that there's going to be a lot of smart people in hell, namely proffesors.
11:00 Physics - need I say more?
12:00 Political Science II - good class. easy.
All of these are on MWF. Once I drudge through the lectures, I grab a quick and danty bite to eat and hightail it to the recreation center. I usally spend just under 2 hrs. in there playing basketball, stretching, weightlifting, and sometimes swimming. It's nice to be back really, just challenging. I don't think I could survive without some kind of challenge.
So, the other 6 hrs. I'm taking from Weatherford College. A Wed. night CAD intro. class, and an online trigonometry class. This trig class is proving to be the hardest.
Well, I'm sure it was tons of fun reading my schedule, but, it is my life.

Jan. 17

College starts in two days, I'll have plenty of material to post then. I'm just enjoying the last days of rest before embarking on the longueur. Friday night was great, went to my friends, the Shepherds, house for a worshipful/rockful experience. Sat. I just hung out, which is really different than most Sat. of my life; usually I spend them working around the house, but now our house is close to being completed. Sun. we had an intense home church. Good worship, mom taught on the tabernacle, Dad put in his two cents (rather, more like two dollars), and watched a Ken Ham video on defending the existence of God. And we had some enlightening family discussions on church and the meaning thereof. Well, much more later.
Josh Inge

College

A short essay on college and the meaning thereof,
DAY 1 - Feels like D-Day. The invasion has begun. The attacker is strong, in mind and heart. He is rooted and grounded in the faith. All concepts of passiveness have been eradicated by the resolutions of the warrior. The warrior is shod with peace, truth, the Spirit, faith, righteousness, and salvation, and thousands are waiting to be captured. The warrior makes a fatidic statement that this semester he will show the power of the Lord to at least 10 people.
The enemy - Satan. Father of lies and calumny. Angel of light and god of this world. Legions of demons and henchmen at his command. How can a solitary warrior survive? Well, he has God on his side.
The target - liberals and conservatives. Atheist and Buddhist. Cosmic humanist and Marxist-Leninist. They disagree with one another so avidly that they couldn't imagine that they have anything in common, but they do; they are wrong. Their minds have been deceived into anything but believing in the one true God, and it is up to the warrior to reveal truth unto them.
So what does the warrior do on day one? He walks into class, receives his syllabus, and goes on to the next one, and finally home. Didn't talk to any one about Truth; he wants to wait until he gets to know some of his classmates before he starts witnessing to them.
DAY 2 - Gets homework. Scans classroom to see who he could talk to. "Well, I don't want them to avoid me the rest of the semester, so I'll tell them at the end of the semester. Also, I hardly have an opportunity to talk to any of them anyway." By the end of the semester the warrior has found it easy to not talk to these people about Truth. The zeal and resolution has been eradicated. The battle for the classroom is lost.
DAY 3 - "I'll just talk to the people who are walking around outside," he thinks. With every person the warrior comes up with a very good excuse of why he can't approach them. This inkhorn of Biblical concepts just keeps all that he has been given inside. As the semester wears on, the hiatus enlarges between desire to speak and desire to be silent.
The enemy is intimidating, make no mistake. The warriors fears are not unfounded; he probably will be laughed at, mocked and ridiculed. As a matter of fact, this is promised unto him. But he must over come his fear and desire to be dear to the world. Lay down the pride fool.
College is a preparatory stage for "the real world". If you don't witness now, you won't do it later. College is the ideal place to learn, everything. Storm the towers of the enemy; if you aren't taking ground you're losing it because the Witch-King is always advancing. That is the meaning of college, to learn. And the most important thing to learn is how to share with others your faith. First, by reading and being instructed. Secondly, by doing it yourself. And last, teach it to others. Ezra 7:10, Romans 1:16.
Josh Inge

Jan. 14 "mmhmm"

Sorry, computer had issues so I couldn't get on to write to all you wonderful people, whoever you may be. Well, I got the new Relient K cd, I dig it. The first thing I did when I got the cd, before I ever listened to it, was scan the lyrics. I was disappointed; I didn't see the name Jesus anywhere and God not to often. I'm sick of bands starting out Christian and then abandoning Christ once they have their money, power, and fame; like Chevelle and possibly P.O.D. But, the reconciled themselves. As I listened to the cd I found it was full of Christian ideologies and concepts. It rocks.
I finished "Can America Survive?". The gist of it - there are many hardcore liberals, (not all liberals), who do not believe in equal opportunity. America is the land of opportunity. What liberals believe is in equal rewards. As Marx infamously said, "From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs." Liberals want to give equality to everyone, as long as they are the ones defining and controling what equality is. Also, America is the best; let the world know. How many liberals jump on a boat and head for Cuba? None. Why? Because Cuba is a crapper because of comunism, which is, for some devilish reason, what liberals want to turn America into.
Started the book "The Unhappy Gays" by Tim LaHaye. It's somewhat explicit, recommended for older audiences, but vital in today's homosexual culture. We must understand the enemy to defeat him.
Skateboarding is rad. Gotten good at rock and rolls, and 50-50 stalls on the top of ramps. Still need to ollie higher.
I think I achieved a much greater level of skill on the guitar over the break. Got down the opening song to Napolean Dynamite "Fall is here, hear the yell..." Relient K's "Still waiting for".
At any rate, the highlight of my week would be the Navigators bible study last night. Enlightning, challenging, and encouraging is the best way to describe it. Prayer. It's important. Enough for the moment,
Vote Conservative, Josh Inge

Jan. 10

Slow day. Got up early with great aspirations, did some Tae-Bo and threw some weights around, and everything went downhill from there, as far as getting anything done. I read World magazine, which always consumes an hour of my time the day it come in the mail. I mastered the Relent K song "Getting into You", and did a few chores. The rest of the day seemed to slip away. Lesson learned: Get up, make a list of goals, DO NOT stop or slow down until the objective is obtained. Messed around with editing home videos, that was fun. I found out how to make still images from video footage; it's awsome. Stills of me and my friends getting air on skateboards and dirtbikes. Makes us look alot better than we really are. Sleep well.
P.S. Watched a Ken Ham video tonight during family devotions, more meat to chew on. Great stuff defending the Bible, esp. Genesis.

Jan. 9

So, I fulfilled some of yesterday's goals. I learned the Delirious song Touch and ollied out of the ramp onto a piece of plywood. Didn't work on Taj Mahal though, and I went witnessing with Colten today instead of yesterday.
The streets of usually boisterous downtown Ft. Worth are quite and sparsely populated on a Sunday afternoon. The city gets its day of rest along with the people. Two young men walk out of the looming parking garage that rests on the East side of the city. One of them is 18 yrs. of age, short in stature, and overall, young looking. The other has breathed, without stopping for any extended period of time, for some 16 yrs., is thin, and towers over the elder by some 9 inches. They're on a mission. They drove just under hour to these quite city streets for one reason, to tell others about Jesus. To bring conviction and sight to the hearts of numb and blind people is their goal. The walk blocks searching for someone to talk to, but there are few people to chose from, and the few that are there are already engaged in a conversation or hurriedly walking by. Both of their hearts are flutter a little when they see a lonely black lady walking toward them, first opportunity of the night. The opportunity jumped at them. The lady asked, "I'm trying to get enough change to get on the bus, could you spare any?" Haveing been witnessing before Josh knew to leave any money he didn't want to give away in the car, but he brought one dollar just for such a thing as this. He gave it to her, even though her eyes were so bloodshot it was unlikely she would use it to get on a bus. "Excuse me mam", said Josh, "Do you know the ten commandments? "Well I know them, yes, not in order though," the lady said. "Well do you believe that we are all sinners and need Jesus to save us from our sin because we've broken his law, such as the ten commandments?" Josh continues. "Yes I do", she responded. "Do have the ten commandments in one of those?" she asks, addressing the stack of gospel tracks he is holding in his hand. "We'll I might", he responded he gave her three different ones, hoping that one of them did and Josh and Colten walked on.
This first encounter wasn't ideal, but it was a start. Josh should have dug a little deeper. Next opportunity. A man walking alone. Colten and Josh hastily approach and catch him right as the pedestrian sign turns to "walk". In the middle of the street while they're walking Josh asks, "Do you believe in God?" "What?" the man inquired. "Do you believe in God?" Josh repeated. The middle age man snickered, looked at the two as if to say "idiots", and said, "I believe I'm hungry." He made a sharp left turn and took off double time. The first diss of the night.
Then there was an older black man sitting down, just wasting time on a city. A golden opportunity. Colten takes advantage of it, "Excuse me," Colten says while easing himself onto the bench next to the man, "I heard a statistic the other day that ten out of ten people die. What do you believe happens to you when you die?" Awsome. Josh sat next to Colten and let him do the talking. Only a minute later a homeless man, but not quite so desperate looking as most walked by and was eager to talk to me when he got wind of what we were doing. Mr. L, (I forgot his name, but it starts with an L) was a struggling Christian. He seemed a Christian in the things he said and the insite he showed into his understanding of Christianity, but he needed strength. He told Josh he had a situation; his mom had died and he needed to get back to New Mexico. Heard it dozens of times before, oldest story in the book. But, when Josh told him he'd just given the rest of my money away, he said, "Oh, no. I don't want your money. Some people think it's all about money when the greatest thing is the Word." Sure he wouldn't have minded some money, but even after he found out Josh didn't have any he still seemed hungry, for the Word. Josh shared with him some encouragement, and then prayed with him. First time Josh had prayed with someone he'd witnessed to. He started crying and seemed truly grateful. Hopefully he will pursue after God harder now. Now Colten is still carrying on with this other man, whose name is Chester. The man had just said something and there was some dead air for about 5 seconds. "What's that?" Josh said. Chester and Josh were soon deep into it. Basically, Chester believed in God but couldn't believe that Jesus was the only way. Josh addressed some other issues and made some headway on those, but honestly was stumped on Chester's objection. Josh just said, "Well I can't prove it to you, but that's were faith comes in." It went on, a kindly and interesting conversation. Josh was thinking, "I can't argue with this guy, I just need to tell him the message and what I know, the rest is up to the Spirit." Once he had, Josh said, "Well, I hope you're not wrong." Chester said, "So do I." They shook hands and Josh and Colten were on their way home.

Jan 8

Good morning. Nice Saturday. Started a book this morning called "Can America Survive?" by Ben Stein, good stuff. Goals for today: #1 Ollie out of the 20in quarter pipe I built yesterday (Amanda can already do it on her roller blades). #2 Play guitar alot - learn some Switchfoot, blues, and Delirious?. #3 Work on my leather project (trying to carve a picture of the Taj Mahal into leather, kinda rough.) #4 Go street witnessing with Colten.
Thoughts for the day: #1 There are people who hate America and America is in worse trouble than I thought, mainly with God. When a country rejects God he turns them over to the burning desires of their flesh, and I'm afraid this is what has happened to America. I am optimistic however on the condition of America, our President is a Christian, we still have all our freedoms, but the church is, as Keith Green said over 20 yrs. ago, Asleep in the Light. Therefore, today I will pray for the condition of America, and especially the church as well as try to go and talk to people about it.
#2 thought: Be exceedingly grateful and humble to the point of tears. Two nights ago I watched a documentary on a man named Nellie. He has never been able to use his arms or legs and has suffered more torment than I could ever imagine, but he loves others and keeps going and has strong faith in God. Also, last night I watched the movie Radio again. I have absolutely no reason to ever lose my temper or feel like I am treated unfairly. I'm thankful just for the use of my limbs and mind. I have no rights, I am a bond servant to Christ. Josh Inge

Day 1

Good Day. Yes, it was. I've already realized the dangers of blogging; I write down my impulsive emotions and read them later only to think, "That was stupid. That was bad grammar. I could have said that better." I'll probably look back at this and think, "Nobody wants to read about that." But, here in lies my point and foreward. This is like my journal or diary. I've never kept one before, but now I think it would be beneficial to. This is a fun and useful way of accomplishing this goal. Here's a sample of what my typical blog will look like:
Got up early (6:00), Bible time (One Year Bible, Oswald Chambers, Ray Comfort, memory verses), finished When Character was King (God bless Ronald Reagan all idealogical Reaganites).
I'm on break from school, so I take my time doing things. Worked on some projects around the house for mom, played play-dough with my 3 yr. old sister (Allyson), skated on the 2ft quarter pipe I made yesterday ("You got like 3 ft. of air that time" Napoleon). Watched awsome videos tonight; way to intellectually stimulating. Documentaries on how gay San Franciso really is and other films from the San Antonio Christian Film Festival (I do not any way shape or form condone all or half of the films from this organization; the majority of them are retarded, but there are a few gems) .
Maybe this was a way to detailed blog therefore not typical. Once school starts I'll be doing good to write anything; then again, maybe not. Only time will tell.

2 hrs. in

This is really cool. Now everyone who wants to can get to know me even if we never see each other. A kid named Blake inspired me to start this blog. I met Blake in the Aug. 2004 when we went on a trip together with Texas Right to Life to Washington D.C. We were roommates for a week and found out we had some mutual friends. At any rate, I haven't seen Blake since then, but I found out he had his own blog page. After spending half an hour reading his archives, I new more about him than I do my current best friends. Jesus not only died a sacrificial death; he lived a sacrificial life. He was humble, got to know people, reached out. I strive to be like Him and I believe this a powerful tool to fulfill that mission. Also, Hebrews 10:24-25 says, "Consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, forsaking not the assembling of yourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, so much the more as you see the Day approaching." I've found that even Church can be the opposite of exhorting. I hope this is a way to always stay in touch with friends and brothers and sisters in Christ.
Waiting for the DAY (I'm stoked about IT) Josh Inge

Do You Know?

Do you know Josh Inge? He's this kid who's like, 18, looks like he's 14, and has recently done something that is surprising to even himself. Inge has started writing. The same kid who wouldn't construct a sentence unless mandatory to a good grade in school has become interested in recreational writing. Maybe you noticed that as you grow older you have more ideas, and that you want to express those ideas to others but don't always have the opportunity. This is what happened to Inge, and he has now found a method for communicating his ideas and passions and humor (dry and sparse as it may be) to others. Writing.