http://blogs.targetx.com/pbu/Tyler/ en Copyright 2009 Wed, 13 May 2009 10:44:48 -0500 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss This important news update just in.... IM GRADUATING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ON SATURDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! http://blogs.targetx.com/pbu/Tyler/2009/05/im_graduating.html http://blogs.targetx.com/pbu/Tyler/2009/05/im_graduating.html Wed, 13 May 2009 10:44:48 -0500 Senioritus set in at the beginning of the semester, it was a big struggle but this whole semester was caked with big struggles. I sit here now, after not updating in twenty days faced with two count downs. I have less than three weeks left as a college student at Philadelphia Biblical University, and I have 62 days left as a civilian before entering the Army. I was approached today but someone who means a lot to me about the fact that I have no updated my blog to which I responded with a shrug 'I have nothing to write about'. That couldn't be farther from the truth, the truth is I have been up and down on a physical, emotional, and Spiritual roller coaster. I have been sad, angry, frustrated, annoyed, frightened, happy, content, joyful, blessed, broken, and lost over the past semester. I have learned a myriad of things over my time at PBU but very few really hit me like the reactions to the events that unfolded this semester. 21 June 2009, do you know what that is? That is the last day that I am a youth pastor at Elkins Park Presbyterian Church before handing it over to someone else. Am I scared to join the Army? No. Am I scared to be deployed and go to war? No. Am I scared that I did not serve to the utmost of my ability and some how handicapped or took away from what God wanted to do in these student's lives? Yes, deeply terrified. I have spent 4.5 years, including a semester at PSU Delco to play hockey while doing my Pastoral Internship, learning and applying what I have learned at PBU to ministry. Even while playing hockey I found myself in Biblical conversations in the locker room and leading the team in prayer before games and before periods. When I worked as a bouncer over one of the summers I was continually barraged by men and women who were seeking answers and some how got in a conversation with me about studying the Bible. I would talk for hours to these people as they ordered drinks and I checked I.D.s about God, Scripture, Church history, everything. I have been a youth leader just leading small groups, a discipleship group leader, 4x4 ministry leader, a youth pastor, pastoral intern, I have done special needs ministry at a summer camp, been a camp counselor at a secular camp and found ways to share the Gospel still, and I have written Bible studies for 4x4 clubs that want to start Bible studies. I have been on a missions trip to N. Ireland, Trenton, NJ, and Philadelphia, PA. I have done volunteer work all over the greater Philadelphia area. I have read through the whole Bible, a book I never read the Old Testament of before coming to PBU, 4 times now and about to finish my 5th time through. I have enough credit hours to almost have a double major, I have no enjoyed every class and every professor but have loved the majority. I have pulled all nighters writing papers I forgot about, printed two copies and tore one up after being so frustrated while writing. I have cursed at the syllabus on the first day of class dreading the course load and pleaded for more on the last day. I have befriended professors, sat in their office and shared personal problems seeking advice, I have prayed with and for my professors as they have with me and for me. I have been prepared and I have been tested. In 4.5 years I have done more than any of my friends at any other University that I have talked to. I have more life experience, ministry experience and real world maturing than anyone I know but still I feel lacking. I love those kids, each and every one of them. Their faces, names and stories are burned into my mind and I will never let the memories go. I would go into hell to grab them out if it came down to it, they are important and have become like family. Still I worry that I fell short. The one thing that has encouraged me through this is the fact that many people around me, friends in particular, are in ministry and we have worked together. I have prayed over everything from big outreach event plans to one of my student's mother's losing a job, with a friend here at PBU. Though they never met my youth group and I never met theirs we are connected through prayer to each other's ministries. I am also confident in Carly, who is taking my position. PBU has prepared her and over the last year of doing ministry side by side I have seen the youth group attach to her. When students become like family we are willing to push past worrying about 'what will they think' or 'what if they don't think I am cool' because what is most important is the eternal. I hope that one day I get to see all their faces in heaven, hanging out and playing some games and talking about memories of youth group together. In case I don't blog again, Thank you PBU. - Tyler Meade http://blogs.targetx.com/pbu/Tyler/2009/04/3_weeks_left_in_my_pbu_career.html http://blogs.targetx.com/pbu/Tyler/2009/04/3_weeks_left_in_my_pbu_career.html Mon, 20 Apr 2009 19:24:27 -0500 Our bravery can improve the world By Col. Robert Howard When I joined the military in 1956, I was like many young men my age who enlisted. I wanted to protect the ideals of this country and also build a career. Little did I know that my experiences would lead to a Medal of Honor, and how poignant those lessons would be even now — 53 years later — during our current national hardship. Just after Christmas in 1968, I was on a mission to rescue a missing American soldier in enemy-controlled Vietnam. We had just left the landing zone when we were attacked and many of us critically wounded, including me. For the next three and a half hours, I had one choice: to lie and wait, or keep fighting for my men. If I waited, I gambled that things would get better while I did nothing. If I kept fighting, no matter how painful, I could stack the odds that recovery for my men and a safe exodus were achievable. Today, on National Medal of Honor Day — an annual tribute that I and other recipients humbly appreciate — I encourage Americans to recognize that, in untenable situations, selfless people make the difference. The Medal of Honor has been awarded only 3,448 times since the Civil War, and I’m reminded regularly by my fellow recipients (only 98 are living today) that extraordinary things can be accomplished by ordinary people from all parts of America. Hard times ask us to put a greater good before our own interests. It is sometimes physically or emotionally painful. Yet, throughout history, you will find common men and women who fought selflessly in a variety of ways for something so much larger than just their own benefit. Today, we’re fighting terrorism and the spread of tyranny. We’re challenged by market upheaval, joblessness and perhaps hunger. But the human spirit is resilient and can withstand more than sometimes we are able to immediately comprehend. It’s up to each of us not to lie and wait for better days, but instead look for opportunities to make the lives of those around us better. National Medal of Honor Day is not a celebration. It is a solemn time to reflect on the freedom we enjoy, its price and how our own bravery can improve the world around us. Retired Army Col. Robert Howard is a Medal of Honor recipient and president of the Congressional Medal of Honor Society http://www.fayobserver.com/article?id=321970 I never knew who this man was until 5 minutes ago, but to know there are people like this out there should give us the encouragement we need to not sit idly by while the world around us falls apart but we must be proactive in faith, hope and love. ]]> http://blogs.targetx.com/pbu/Tyler/2009/03/national_medal_of_honor_day.html http://blogs.targetx.com/pbu/Tyler/2009/03/national_medal_of_honor_day.html Tue, 31 Mar 2009 17:04:26 -0500 The sun is out, its going up to 65 degrees today, there is... one cloud that I can see outside off in the distance and I am here, inside my apartment writing a paper on the movie Psycho that we watched in my class last week. My biggest issue in writing papers is not that I do not enjoy syntax, but my style of writing is like my style of talking. I have a large lung capacity so my ability to speak in run on sentences is very easy, therefore it translates onto my computer screen which by the ability of modern technology, finds itself embodied on a piece of paper (or three) and being handed in to the professor who promptly relieves his pen of ink as he corrects my syntactical misconceptions. YIKES! I just got a call from one of the leaders in my 4x4 ministry that I run that our website has crashed, so being the webmaster I must make leave and go fix that in conjunction to working on three papers and the newsletter for the youth ministry today... YIKES! http://blogs.targetx.com/pbu/Tyler/2009/03/sun_shining_blue_sky_and_paper.html http://blogs.targetx.com/pbu/Tyler/2009/03/sun_shining_blue_sky_and_paper.html Tue, 31 Mar 2009 10:58:11 -0500 WITHIN TWO MONTHS OF GRADUATION! I CAN SEE THE FINISH LINE!... Oh Lord give me strength, endurance and the will power to do all my work, not to grow complacent and to be prepared for the end of this chapter of life and the beginning of a new chapter in a new place with new people... http://blogs.targetx.com/pbu/Tyler/2009/03/i_can_see_the_goal.html http://blogs.targetx.com/pbu/Tyler/2009/03/i_can_see_the_goal.html Tue, 24 Mar 2009 14:31:43 -0500 Now I am attempting to learn guitar... OH HELP ME LORD! ]]> http://blogs.targetx.com/pbu/Tyler/2009/03/revenge_of_messy_game_night.html http://blogs.targetx.com/pbu/Tyler/2009/03/revenge_of_messy_game_night.html Mon, 23 Mar 2009 13:28:52 -0500 ]]> http://blogs.targetx.com/pbu/Tyler/2009/03/wedding.html http://blogs.targetx.com/pbu/Tyler/2009/03/wedding.html Mon, 16 Mar 2009 19:47:23 -0500 If you have never experienced such obstructions to happiness than you are the luckiest person I know. These little stupid bugs find their way into my house some how even though i leave doors and windows closed and locked while I am up at school. I come home and SHIZAM there are at minimum 10 in my room at home! I have no idea how they are getting in but it is driving me nuts, and they SMELL! PREPOSTEROUS! Anyways, today I am going in search of a wedding present for a friend of mine. He is getting married on Saturday in upstate new york so myself and two of my friends will be taking a road trip up to my cabin friday night from PBU then spend the night fishing and hanging out then head up to the wedding from the cabin Saturday morning. NIIIIICE Alright I will keep you guys updated on how that goes, I am going to go fight stink bugs now. GRRRRRR http://blogs.targetx.com/pbu/Tyler/2009/03/stink_bugs_yuck.html http://blogs.targetx.com/pbu/Tyler/2009/03/stink_bugs_yuck.html Thu, 12 Mar 2009 09:34:14 -0500 I was the first one with a lift ticket, and first one on the slope besides ski patrol. Regardless I was able to make first tracks on three different trails! YEAH! And this was good snow too, it was actual powder, things that I had only seen once a decade in PA or when I made trips out West to go snowboarding every few years or so. No lift lines, I didn't even share a lift with another person until around 10:30 which is when people started to come. I left at 12:30 because I only bought a morning pass (college students are poor you know). The wind chill was crazy early in the morning. It was 7 degrees with 15 mph winds and sub-zero wind chills, but it was worth every second, I just wish I had more than a t-shirt under my jacket. So then I worked on my project Tuesday night but was dealing with some things that got me distracted and for some stupid reason had the idea that I was not going on Wednesday because everything would be pushed back a day. You know what they say about when you assume right? eh... google it. So I was ill prepared Wednesday but I was given an extension... AWESOME! Wednesday night I went home to help clear out the rest of the house for my mom using my muscles and a plastic snow shovel that no longer is flat on the ground.. ugh. But, my favorite thing about winter at my Mom's house is that we live in the valley and a lot of snow blows into the valley and just sticks at our house. The dogs love it, I love it and it is super sweet. The sun hits our roof and our driveway but that is about it so we get killer ice cycles all over the place which I love seeing. It is like all those paintings and pictures but living on the East Coast you don't see it much, at least around Philly. So then I get back to school Thursday evening after doing work with my Dad and helping my Mom. I find myself a little downtrodden because I realize that I am horrible at power point so I youtube power point tips. I made my power point which ended up being 40 slides, and I mean full slides of at least 6 bullets each! I only have 15 minutes to give my presentation. (Also, I was planning to wear a kilt because it is Irish History class but that didn't work out because it was too short and I showed a little too much leg... and its winter I don't even have a base tan SHEESH!) Anyways, so I decide, I am going to pull an all niter and get this done no matter what, but to prepare I need to go to wawa and get a hoagie. (its now 12:15) and I have 20 slides but they all look like something a 3 year old put together, oh why did I not pay more attention in high school when I learned to make a PP presentation?!?!?!?! Anyways, 2 am, I decide to take a power nap, 3 am I am up and ready to go. I kill a liter of Mountain Dew and chew on some gummi bears (that combination has gotten me through many all niters and long drives through the night) . It is now 5:30 am, I have 33 slides that are packed, 4 are title slides with pictures that accent the topic quite well if I say so myself. BUT! It is Friday, 5:30 am on Friday Jesse and I go to the YMCA to lift weights (you might recall from my Monday post about my morning trips to the YMCA). So we head to the YMCA, I am going on 1 hour of sleep with a hoagie, bag a gummi bears and a liter of mountain dew in my system, I am running on some sort of power that cannot be seen or understood. Somehow not only am I awake and active but my times on my cardio and my strength output has all increased. I added 200m to my 5:00 row. I didn't feel pain in my shoulder for the first time, since my PSU Delco hockey injury, while benching. I added 20 lbs to my bench press in a week. (And I didnt get to bench on Monday). Then we finish, I ran a mile then hopped on the rowing machine again and added another 200m onto my 5:00 time and this is after lifting for an hour and running a mile at a #10 incline! Then i come home, here I am 2 hours later my presentation is all done, by the grace of God I got it down to 53 slides with 3 title slides. Over the night I have read over 50 printer pages (10 pt font) full from different resources. Killed a highlighter. Drank a liter of Mountain Dew, a pack of gummi bears (the Haribo Gold-Bears ones in the Gold pack... the best) drank 2 liters of water, re-did my slide show 3 times, spent some time with God in prayer and reading and lifted weights. I am going strong and still have a lot of energy as I wait for my 11 am class to start... and it is only 8:55. But on a side note, do not procrastinate and do not consume mountain dew and gummi bears at the same time if you plan on lifting weights and doing heavy cardio. Also, if you want to read something interesting look up The Rebellion of 1641 Conspiracy Theory... no joke, some of those theories are out there, but still were entertaining to read.]]> http://blogs.targetx.com/pbu/Tyler/2009/03/bad_choices_mean_late_night_wa.html http://blogs.targetx.com/pbu/Tyler/2009/03/bad_choices_mean_late_night_wa.html Fri, 06 Mar 2009 08:38:00 -0500 So let me tell you an awesome story about today. So I get up at 5 like usual, you know, grumble at my alarm, shake my fist at my second alarm before lunging out of my bed, across my room for my hoodie (it was cold). Go through the usual routine, brush, dress, fill my water bottle (it can really only be classified as a canteen because it is stainless steel and over a liter but is shaped like a bottle). Go outside... shoot, 6 inches of snow on my car, I joke around with maintenance because they are shoveling the side walk in front of my apartment window... so I pretend they woke me up and throw a barrage of spherical shaped snow their way. (Its my buddy John so he knows I am kidding) The snow is a nice packing snow but the bottom layer is ice... dang I am going to have to scrape and wake people up, its okay because by the time they get dressed and come outside I will be gone. Regardless, I make a snowball and keep it on top of the hood of my car in case someone comes out in pajamas to make a big deal. I get in my car, turn on country music... dang its morning talk, 4 things that all relationships need to stop doing? I don't care, I put my Drop Kick Murphys CD in. Time to go. Because of my slightly aggressive style of driving I find that my tires are a little low on tread, I learn this as I go to make a right turn and am steering as I stare out my driver side window. I start to imagine I am in a rally race and play it off like I meant to do it to the car behind me by doing it again on the next turn... um... on purpose. Long story short, Penndot decided to plow the roads and by plow I mean take all the snow off that I could have used for traction and leave ice. Being a fan of ice hockey I praise them and long for my skates instead of a Subaru Impreza. I see a light ahead of me turn red, to my surprise even after I hit the breaks I still seem to be going 35. I honk some primitive form of morris code with my horn which was roughly translated as "oh hi, I am coming through." Luckily the truck and car waited for me to run the light sideways, and I waved as I went by since the front of my car was facing them and again I was steering out of the driver side window anyways. I get to the YMCA and notice the back parking lot is empty, I do a few donuts for kicks and giggles since I no longer have to worry about telephone poles or other cars. I pull to the front parking lot and realize that they are closed. I get out, throw a snowball at the building get back in and drive back. The drive back is all up hill so it is a little easier to control. I get back here and decide that I wanted to share my story so here it is http://blogs.targetx.com/pbu/Tyler/2009/03/what_a_day.html http://blogs.targetx.com/pbu/Tyler/2009/03/what_a_day.html Mon, 02 Mar 2009 07:07:14 -0500 I haven't had it in so long! So I went to Redners and bought some London Broil steak, oh man was it good! Had some mixed veggies and a re-heated roll from Bertucci's it was an amazing dinner. I also had some fresh strawberries, so they really helped to cheer up my otherwise stressed out day. I am having trouble right now with my MAC, my external hard drive won't register... bummer. I need to edit the video of messy game night to play in Church tomorrow morning but perhaps we will not be able to do that if this doesn't start working asap. What a superb Bummer. http://blogs.targetx.com/pbu/Tyler/2009/02/steak.html http://blogs.targetx.com/pbu/Tyler/2009/02/steak.html Sat, 28 Feb 2009 21:10:15 -0500 ]]> http://blogs.targetx.com/pbu/Tyler/2009/02/greatest_night_of_ministry_yet.html http://blogs.targetx.com/pbu/Tyler/2009/02/greatest_night_of_ministry_yet.html Mon, 23 Feb 2009 15:49:08 -0500 I will get some pictures of the messy game night up here some time or another. Tyler]]> http://blogs.targetx.com/pbu/Tyler/2009/02/i_dont_want_to_admit_it.html http://blogs.targetx.com/pbu/Tyler/2009/02/i_dont_want_to_admit_it.html Wed, 18 Feb 2009 16:50:11 -0500 Well... it has happened, the phone that has lasted the longest for me in my life time has finally passed on. Don't worry, he went quickly. It lasted a staggering 7 months and in Tyler years that is around a decade. But I was lucky enough to get a Samsung SGH-a837 which is military spec in its protection so perhaps this one will last longer. It has GPS already in my plan apparently so we will see how well that works if I should ever find myself getting lost. But lets have a moment of silence for the newly deceased red phone. . . . . . . . . Thank you... Well have a great day! - Tyler http://blogs.targetx.com/pbu/Tyler/2009/02/rip_mr_cell_phone.html http://blogs.targetx.com/pbu/Tyler/2009/02/rip_mr_cell_phone.html Tue, 10 Feb 2009 11:21:17 -0500 or just say good luck to the screen, either or. Anyways, have a great day and stay out of trouble... yeah, I am talking to you... stop looking around, your the only one sitting there.... haha later. Tyler]]> http://blogs.targetx.com/pbu/Tyler/2009/02/heading_home_for_the_night.html http://blogs.targetx.com/pbu/Tyler/2009/02/heading_home_for_the_night.html Fri, 06 Feb 2009 09:50:21 -0500