no nero, no lions

life's been good, life's been great
God is good, God is great!
(let us thank Him for this food? i know you were all thinking it).

i say God is great, and i bet when people hear me say that they immediately think "what lucky life circumstances have come his way?" it seems that's the way we naturally think, we connect praising God with circumstantial luck. so what, you ask, is my circumstantial luck? ha...well, it's no luck at all. circumstantially poor, in fact. poor in spirit, poor in wallet. i think Jesus says something cool about that place...something about being blessed?

half a year ago i faced a difficulty i haven't had in a while...no travel plans and a depeleted support account. on top of this i went into the most intense youth ministry season to date, while facing a distant-feeling relationship with God. there were also difficult living situations, and family situations. yup, it was piling up.

another interesting, unpredictable, and amazing variable to throw into the mix is DATING! i'm not here to brag about this (though i could go on) but it's actually been another challenge on my shoulders. it's been quite the transition from 27 1/2 years of doing my own thing to incorporating another person into the mix. so my pride, selfishness, and fears have been targeted intensely in the process.

all this to say it's been tough. not much circumstantial luck. and yet i still refer to the beginning of this note...God is good, God is great, and the rest of the childhood ingrained religiosity. It's cool that my church is on this spiritual kick about praising God in the face of difficulty. that's where i've been, too, and God's been so real and amazing to me even though at times distant (mostly due to my laziness). that bible peter guy talks a lot God's blessing in tough times in his letters. and i don't even have a nero to complain about. no lions, either. God is good.

oh yeah, and i'm dating?

something definitely maybe

maybe i'll blog some more.
maybe.
definitely maybe.
DEFINITELY.

maybe.

to step outside a box and into the unpredictable streets of istanbul

so i'm back once again in the niverville action.

and it's awesome to say that this isn't a downer of a statement. my eastern european excursion was incredible and i would've loved to keep on treking (especially in turkey), and yet i was looking forward to being home, too. home hasn't dissappointed me either. i guess it's cool to see that though life is never perfect, there is hope to be content in ALL SITUATIONS.

like my trip, for instance. the enjoyable moments i had were all over the spectrum, and not reliant on my level of comfortability, or the amount of money that was being spent. not being able to eat was exciting (possibly due to lack of relevant currency, or food availability) just cuz it was so out of the norm. or eating cheap czech cornflakes, or eating fancy hungarian cuizine. i enjoyed a luxurious turkish bath, but equally enjoyed the experience of being stranded in some tiny greek-turkish border town while some non-english-speaking official with a gun had our passports and left for an hour to God-knows-where.

there is so much to enjoy in life if we're are willing to step outside our boxes of expectant comfortability. backpacking around the world has become so liberating for me once i was able to accept the possibility (or probability) of sleeping on the streets and the cheapest forms of transportation (like hitchhiking). i find the fear of not having a bed for the night plagues people's travels to an astonishing degree. or the fear of getting to a place and not knowing where to go.

a fond memory of my recent trip was arriving in istanbul at 3:30 am in a small bus-load of romanians and bulgarians (who couldn't speak english). despite the determined efforts of my travel companion, we were unable to secure a plan in advance for what to do upon arrival. so we were dropped off not knowing where we were in that large city...and without a map. i would've liked to tell you all that we slept on the streets of istanbul (i was leaning towards that), but we actually somehow found a bed on a rooftop for next to nothing. i'm not saying that i think everyone should sleep on streets in sketchy eastern european cities; but i am saying that i think we all need to step outside of boxes a little more, broaden our comfortabilies, so that was can experience more in our relationships, travels, past times, and faith.

so now back in niverville, and it's great. not perfect, but great. i love my friends and family (hopefully get to see more of them soon), and now i'm able to get back into playing music again. so...i hope you can all find contentment in whatever comes your way in life, though there will be pain to embrace and tears to shed, there's also laughter and love to be shared.

it's good to be home.

though sittin' in the sun in ancient greek ruins wasn't so bad either :)

i ám the dudapest

just chillin őút ín budápest, ít ís néat. évérything áround oúr hőstel is únder cőnstrúctíőn, wé wéré so búmméd, bút...just őútsíde őf thát ít gőt réálly béáútífúl. AND őúr hőstél is great..ít is cálléd thé gőát. í wőúld wríté mőre bút thís keyboárd is whack.

péácé

our goát hőstél

prague-ably the best place ever

Prague is so awesome. I've been to a good number of european cities, but none that have SO MUCH awesome old architecture. Anyway, I'm doing fine, and I hope you all are as well. Just ate some Chech goulash...good times. Also saw some rebellious monks get kicked out of an ancient cathedral. They were in the middle of some chant while being in some restricted zone (where I joined them), and security came to kick them out (I conveniently sneaked out) but they wouldn't leave in the middle of the chant. Things got ugly.
Peace out.

the life and times of a friesen

so....what's all happened since i posted last?

um...oh ya, i went to see steve and nikki in Hawaii!

came back to the ville to celebrate st. patty's and play some coffee house tunes!

then i left for a vancouver roadtrip with my bro scott to pick up steve and nikki, who arrived from hawaii.

came home and got ready to dance my ass off. we put together a community christian rave for the youth of niverville. booya!
and...now i'm leaving for eastern europe. me and my roommate matt are heading out in a few days!!! not sure exactly what's happening, but right now a friend of mine is cycling through poland to meet us in prague. we'll be in seach of the romanian dracula, turkish cave people, and the sort. so wish us luck and i'll update when i can (maybe when i get back?)

peace.

preparation's my middle name

so...me and my man josiah are playing a good ol' show tomorrow. it's for the kids. impoverished kids around the world. a benefit show for compassion canada...to be exact.

we practiced once or twice. we'll see how it goes. i also have a stupid cold. perfect timing. oh, and to make the timing even worse...i leave for hawaii in a few days. traveling with a cold..fun times. oh wait, did i say i'm going to hawaii? i guess that's pretty sweet. i just bought a ticket, to go see my bro and sis in law, and my man presley. but i've got NO plans as far as what i'm going to do once i get there.

good ol' mark preparation friesen.
wish me luck!

best picture ever

Nathan...when he was a young man in the 60's