Thursday night, the 18th, I finished getting ready for a long weekend up north going on adventures and photographing Hannah Cowden and Tom Mishler’s wedding. Tom is the younger brother of Joe Mischler, whom I graduated high school with in 2007. He is married to Mandi, whom I also graduated with. Once I was all ready I drove to a bonfire Alex Hiltunen, his sister, mother and mother’s boyfriend were hosting over in Bloomington. Evan Moyle rode his rode bike over there. We ate smores over the fire, had a little other food, a drink and enjoyed each other’s company! Was approximately 10:30pm when I left from there and headed up north.

Maia Hiltunen

Alex HIltunen

I got to the northern section of Duluth and pulled over into a nearly empty parking lot (one other card), pulled out my guitar, walked across the street and found a spot along the rocks and shore of Superior to write some music. It was approximately 1:00am I believe.  Below is a recording I made while on the rocks looking off into the endless lake of water.

On my way back to my car, just as I was entering the driveway that led to the parking lot two wolf cubs trotted in front of me maybe 75 feet. Naturally it was cute to see the little furballs, but I was instantly aware of the danger I was potentially in and acknowledged I could get into a messy situation with their parents. I calmly continued walking towards my van contemplating the best way to defend myself against a wolf or wolves, and ended up planning on using my guitar case with the guitar in it as my weapon, perhaps being loud and continuing towards my van.

Luckily no parent’s visited me 🙂

So onward I drove, and it was about 2:00am by this point. I drove for perhaps one more hour, then pulled over at a rest spot. Did my best to sleep, but would wake up every 30 or 50 minutes the first couple times, then got in maybe a full hour. I was up by 6:15am for the day, and continued the journey!

Stopped at a gas station, filled up, then went to Gooseberry Falls.

Amazingly gorgeous!!!! I loved hiking around with my bag/camera equipment, observing both the beauty and the potential for nature and modeling photography. So I whipped out my professional cameras and began shooting! Here is a professional photo I took:

And here are a few photos I took with my phone:

After Gooseberry I stopped by Split Rock and Split Rock Lighthouse. I went to an area a little south of it so I could see it from a distance, as I figured that would make for better photos and also save me some money with not having to pay the parking fee of going to the actual location. While I was there I came across a 3 story wooden lookout tower and made an attempt to climb it but climbing a nearby tree. When I was right near the top of the tree I deemed it simply too challenging of a jump, especially considering what I’d be grabbing onto was really iffy and totally looked like it could break. So yes, I wanted to be extreme, but I also was using my common sense and realized there was too great of a chance of it not working out, therefor sending me 30 feet to sharp metal as well as grass. So I climbed down, then pulled out my bike and went riding down a steep and winding bike trail to get to the lake to see the lighthouse from that perspective.

I went through a couple trails carrying Babe as well as my camera equipment that was in my backpack and came out to such a gorgeous sight! I captured some photos of Babe (my bicycle) in the rocks, then of just the scenery with the lighthouse in the backdrop. I then turned around and shot what looked like a really neat island that would be fun to kayak, canoe or swim to sometime, perhaps with someone or some people 🙂

I then drove up to Tettagouchie Park where I got a map and figured out my routes.

First I rode my bicycle down some trails to a place where I could see shovel point well. Fun riding, then hopping off the bike to carry it while running down stairs, then keep jogging, then hop on again for a moment, etc. I got the Superior, left Babe safely behind some rocks then hiked over to a further spot along the shoreline to get a better view of Shovel Point.  Captured this beauty with my cell phone!

I then went to shovel point itself, at least the highest portion of it anyway, where students from St. Johns and St. Bens  were preparing to rock climb/repel down the cliff side. Here’s a selfie of me there:

Then biked back to the visitor center where I then road down some roads to a trail, then was on foot running through the woods/trails towards The Cascades… naturally with my backpack of gear and my bike in my arms haha. Still could run pretty quickly! I’d also put the bicycle down and ride it the brief moments I had the option of doing so.

Long jog, but I finally made it! Upon arriving there was a middle aged lady reading a book. I sneaked up behind her and just feet from her loudly said “SO BEAUTIFUL OUT HERE!”. Yep, she jumped and yelled in fright but then immediately laughed about it. We spoke briefly, I informed her that I was a professional wedding photographer up here to shoot a wedding and came up a day early to see all of the gorgeous places the North Shore has to offer. She mentioned how her son may be getting married in the next couple years so she took down my info. I then took photos of Babe posing ever so elegantly, then went climbing into the rapids area.

The Cascades

Quite the challenge rock climbing with a heavy backpack and while carrying a bicycle! But I prevailed. A Bosnian boy took a video of me doing a backflip near the rapids. Video below after it uploads!

After this I managed to jump from one side of the river to the other which was pretty intense, as I was a good 18 feet up and if I fell it would have been onto rocks and a deadly current… that would have pushed me through many more rocks and a waterfall… yeah not good haha. I successfully made the jump, but the jump back was just too far and difficult to risk, so I decided to run up the side of the river until I’d arrive at the High Falls, the largest waterfall in Minnesota from what I heard. I did so, and it took me quite a while! I ended up sprinting along some trails towards the end as fast as I could, as I was trying to be quick because I left my bike and camera things back at The Cascades (partially hidden and difficult to get to due to some fairly difficult climbing).

The high falls were magnificent! I didn’t have my phone or camera with me so I didn’t take any photos, but it was quite the sight. I did however do some rock jumping out into the water with a father and his two children haha. I then went down the river a bit towards the Cascades away from view, then stripped down into my boxers and shoes and RideMN shirt and crossed the river. I then trekked back down the river near the shore, in the water. It was pretty chilly! 50 degree air temp and no idea what the water temp was, but totally bearable not as bad as Superior. Took a long time to get back, and I even had to hike through woods without trails, climbing steep hills, etc.

Then it was the trek back to the visitor center where I had my van, then off to Cliff Dwellers hotel in Tofte where I’d be spending the next two nights.

Gotta go to National Camera Exchange and get ready for more work, so I’m leaving my overnight job now and will continue this later!

I woke up at 8:00am and got ready to head out to the Factory to get some practice in before heading to Over The Top Skatepark, also known as Bluff Valley, as it is located at Bluff Valley Camping Grounds.

Bluff Valley Campgrounds

61297 390th Avenue

Zumbro Falls, MN 55991

United States

I had a few tricks I wanted to nail before heading to this jam, one in particular the most. There was some hype created by Karl Hinkley, the owner of NoWear Extreme Clothing for a special trick I’d be throwing down, which is a no-footed candybar backflip.

I could stick it most of the time into the foam pit, but my only worry was whether or not I’d be able to clear the box jump at the skatepark while doing a flip. I have a tendency (ok, pretty much every time haha) to blast vertically as opposed to horizontally when I do a flip on bmx. This means I need to go faster off of a jump to make it to the landing than a normal trick, and go higher naturally. Unfortunately, I am currently unable to gather enough speed inside of the Factory to flip and make it to the landing with both wheels. This means super hard landings and a danger of twisting my ankles. I wound up practicing 360 tailwhips, 360 no-footed can-cans and a few flip trick variations into the foam before heading out from the Factory at 12:00pm with Jon Wodziak and Tanner Drews. Naturally we had one of us ride illegally, and that guy was Jon. I had removed the seat from the back of the van and have another one folded down as to allow the most possible room to transport things. About halfway there I really wanted to remove my foot brace for a bit as it was really starting to get uncomfortable. With the vehicle on cruise control (and conveniently with all of my safety gear already on, including a full-face helmet), I climbed out my driver side window (at 69 mph), opened the sliding door and got into the back of the van. While I did this Jon moved from behind me into the driver’s seat and took over. I did capture this on my GoPro and will upload it onto here when I get the chance!

We get there, start riding, and I was purely focused on getting flips over the box jump successfully, without casing. Unfortunately, no one (other than Colton Walker, a local bmx legend at the current age of 17) could flip it successfully. I tried for so long to gather as much speed as possible, but it just couldn’t happen. I would case the landing every time and with a lot of force, as I would blast pretty high off of the box jump. None the less, when the time came, I attempted to land this trick. I probably gave it 7 or so tries and JUST about landed one of them, but I called it quits because no matter what, every time I flip it I’m landing super hard as I can’t get enough speed to make it to the landing, and was risking injuring my ankles on the uneven mellow flat top/roll area of the landing. I had a hilarious crash in which I didn’t feel right in my flip, so I ditched my bike and casually rotated the remainder of the flip without it. When I was landing and sliding down the landing area I looked back for where my bike was and instantly the bike fell onto my head! It had actually fallen from just a foot or less from the ceiling and slammed me. Funniest crash I can think of that I’ve been involved in. Video below! Also the video of me almost landing the no footed candybar backflip. When I have access to a decent jump with a long enough runway (or more speed at least) I’m totally going to be landing this trick!!

Below is my hilarious crash

Below is me nearly landing what possibly would have been the world’s first backflip no footed candybar on a bmx bike.

In the end we all had a terrific time. Ried Bleymeyer did a flip and hit his head on the jump on the way up. He doesn’t go fast enough (he’s just a 9 year old now, small bike, small body, etc.) and does a super quick rotation with little air at all and lands atop the deck, always close to hitting his head on the jump on his way up. This time it got to him and we were all worried. He was perfectly fine after getting up after a minute or so. A lot of people crowded around him to check up on the little stunt man.

 

MORE TO COME! NOT FINISHED WITH HIS POST!

1999- Attempted my first backflips. I attempted somewhere between 15 and 20 throughout the course of a few weeks if I remember correctly. I carved a jump out of a dirt pile approximately 4′ tall near my neighborhood. Kept landing upside down.

2006 – (pretty sure) Did my first backflip at Centennial High School (where I went to) on a semi-large dirt jump approximately 5′ tall with a distance of perhaps 8′ to the landing. I tried a solid 12 earlier that day and kept crashing hard, even having to carry my bike to Sunset Cycle to fix it up. It was when Phil Book told me not to pull back hard, but rather go with the curve of the jump, that I finally landed one. Phil Book, Derek Peterson, Tim Bertrand and a large number of other people were there, either as bmxers, lacrosse or soccer players nearby.

2014 around Christmas time-I finally started riding a training facility with larger ramps than the free ones at local skateparks. This training facility is known as the Twin Cities Fantasy Factory. From here on my trick vocabulary was about to explode from where it previously was.

Arial Tricks Prior to 2014

-360

-x-ups

-barspin

-No hands, No feet, one hand, one foot, no footed one hander, nothings, one hander one footer, etc.

-Superman

-Can-Can

-No Footed Can-Can

One Handed no footed Can-Can

Backflip (once, at CHS dirt jump)

-tire grab

-360 tire grab

-turndown

-360 turndown

-frame stand lander

2014 Arial Tricks

-Relearned flips after 7 or 8 years

-Superman Seat Grab

-Superman to No Footed Can-Can (Washington County Fair, inspired by Dallas Wiemer)

-Superman to Pendulum (Washington County Fair)

-Superman to Tuck No Hander

-Nothing superman

-nothing superman to can-can

-nothing superman to no footed can-can

-nothing superman to pendulum

-Super Flip

-Turndown Flip (First show I ever did. Open Streets of Minneapolis)

-Can-Can Flip (I think Milaca County fair… the one with the terrible wood/sand runway. Also where I did an interview for a radio station and sported their sticker on my helmet [still on there])

-No footed Can-Can Flip

-Pendulum Backflip

-No handed Flip

-No hander to no footer Flip

-Nothing Flip

-Peacock Backflip (This one got my name out there in the bmx world. Mat Hoffman reposted this on Facebook, Instagram, talked about it to a lot of people and even sent me a personal email congratulating me on it! Receiving that email was one of the most fulfilling moments in my bmx career, if not the most.)

-Double Backflip (Last show of the season in front of Penn Cycle in Richfield. I had just learned the heart-breaking news that my grandfather [my best friend and whom I’d lived with, in addition to my parents, bro and dog, since I was 8] was unresponsive on my way to the show.  I hadn’t even tried one in the foam pit in probably over a month. I was in a different state of mind during that show than I’d ever been while riding a bike. I believe that had a lot to do with me throwing a double flip.)

-Double Fork Grab Backflip

-Double Fork Grab to no hander Backflip

-Double Fork Grab to Nothing Backflip

-360 Flip (ALMOST LANDED! Put a foot down so technically it didn’t count)

-one handed can-can

-tire grab can-can

-tire grab no footed can-can

-Pendulum

-One handed Pendulum

-Triple no footed Can-Can

-One handed triple no footed can-can

-Double Pendulum

-One Handed Double Pendulum (last show of the season. Same day I landed my first double backflip. In front of Penn Cycle in Richfield.)

-360 Double Tire Grab

-360 Tuck no hander

-360 No Footer

-360 one hander

-360 one handed tabletop

-360 one hander no footer

-360 one hander to no footer

-cliff hanger

-Cordova

-ALMOST LANDED a cordova backflip. Rolled away

– Cannon Ball

-One handed Cannon Ball

– One handed no footed frame grab

-No footed double frame grab

-Tailwhip

2015 Arial Tricks

-360 Tailwhip (1/20/15 at the Factory)

– Bar spin

_ Truck Driver

– Truck driver to no footer

-one footed x-up

-360 One footed x-up

Kisses From Katie:

My rating of this book:

My summary of the book:

This is a nonfiction book written in first person.

A teenage girl with all kinds of wealth, Katie Davis leaves a life of luxury to live in one of the poorest locations on Earth, a place infested with diseases and pain. She relies on God, devouring the Word like it was as important and precious as air, and constantly gave thanks to God for the promises he made in the Bible about what was in store for her should she obey Him diligently. Miracle after miracle occurred, and this INSANELY hard working, overwhelmingly loving and faith filled girl ended up courageously and powerfully changing the lives first of a couple villages, then after word spread about her she changed the lives and hearts of many many thousands of people.

One of my all-time favorite books. I purchased a couple so I could borrow one out here and there.

Some summaries/descriptions of this book by others:

What would cause an eighteen-year-old senior class president and homecoming queen from Nashville, Tennessee, to disobey and disappoint her parents by forgoing college, break her little brother’s heart, lose all but a handful of her friends (because they think she has gone off the deep end), and break up with the love of her life, all so she could move to Uganda, where she knew only one person and didn’t even speak the language?

A passion to follow Jesus. 

Katie Davis left over Christmas break of her senior year for a short mission trip to Uganda and her life was turned completely inside out. She found herself so moved by the people of Uganda and the needs she saw that she knew her calling was to return and care for them. Katie, a charismatic and articulate young woman, is in the process of adopting thirteen children in Uganda and has established a ministry, Amazima, that feeds and sends hundreds more to school while teaching them the Word of Jesus Christ.

New York Times Best Seller Kisses from Katie invites readers on a journey of radical love down the red dirt roads of Uganda. You’ll laugh and cry with Katie as she follows Jesus into the impossible and finds joy and beauty beneath the dust. Katie and her children delight in saying yes to the people God places in front of them and challenge readers to do the same, changing the world one person at a time.

“I have absolutely no desire to write a book about myself. This is a book about a Christ who is alive today and not only knows but cares about every hair on my head. Yours too. I’m writing this book on the chance that a glimpse into the life of my family and me, full of my stupidity and God’s grace, will remind you of this living, loving Christ and what it means to serve Him. I’m writing with the hope that as you cry and laugh with my family you will be encouraged that God still uses flawed human beings to change the world. And if He can use me, He can use you.”

Currently attending Hope Community Church

Eagle Brook Church is also amazing, but a little further than I would like to drive now that I moved to Eden Prairie. Hope is a bit of a journey too, but reasonable. Both of these churches offer online sermons!

Hope Community Church was founded under the verse Isaiah 57:14

And it will be said, “Build up, build up, prepare the way, Remove every obstacle out of the way of My people.”

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2014 Dec 07 (last weeks message, 2014 Nov 30)

The Birth of John The Baptist

Gospel of Luke

1:58

Genesis 19:19
Your servant has found favor in your eyes, and you have shown great kindness to me in sparing my life. But I can’t flee to the mountains; this disaster will overtake me, and I’ll die.

Ruth 4:14
The women said to Naomi: “Praise be to the LORD, who this day has not left you without a guardian-redeemer. May he become famous throughout Israel!

Luke 14:12
Then Jesus said to his host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid.

1:59

Genesis 17:12
For the generations to come every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised, including those born in your household or bought with money from a foreigner–those who are not your offspring.

Leviticus 12:3
On the eighth day the boy is to be circumcised.

Luke 2:21
On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise the child, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he was conceived.

Philippians 3:5
circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee;

1:60 But his mother answered and said, “No indeed; but he shall be called John.”

Luke 1:13
But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John.

1:61 And they said to her, “There is no one among your relatives who is called by that name.”

1:62  And they made signs to his father, as to what he wanted him called.

Luke 1:22
When he came out, he could not speak to them. They realized he had seen a vision in the temple, for he kept making signs to them but remained unable to speak.

1:63 And he asked for a tablet and wrote as follows, “His name is John.” And they were all astonished.

Matthew 8:10
When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, “Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith.

Luke 1:13
But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John.

1:64 And at once his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he began to speak in praise of God.

Exodus 4:11
The LORD said to him, “Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the LORD?

Ezekiel 33:22
Now the evening before the man arrived, the hand of the LORD was on me, and he opened my mouth before the man came to me in the morning. So my mouth was opened and I was no longer silent.

Luke 1:20
And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their appointed time.”

1:65 Fear came on all those living around them; and all these matters were being talked about in all the hill country of Judea.

Matthew 2:1
After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem

Luke 1:39
At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea,

Luke 5:26
Everyone was amazed and gave praise to God. They were filled with awe and said, “We have seen remarkable things today.”

1:66 All who heard them kept them in mind, saying, “What then will this child turn out to be?” For the hand of the Lord was certainly with him.

Acts 11:21
The Lord’s hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord.

Colossians 1:5
the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel

Random notes

Much more about John the Baptist below

Also known as: Joannes Baptista, John the Baptizer, John the Forerunner, Juan Bautista, Yahya the Baptizer 

Memorial: 24 June (birth) – 29 August (death)

John the Baptist is regarded as a prophet by three religions: Christianity, Islam, and Mandaeanism. He is the forerunner or precursor of Christ and forms a link between the Old and New Testaments. He is considered the last of the Old Testament prophets and the first of the saints of the New Testament, where his story is told. John was the prophet who preached the coming of Christ as the Messiah.

He was born in a priestly family, but he didn’t become a priest as expected. All four Gospels say that John came as a prophet to prepare the way before Jesus. He was the son of Zachary, a priest of the Temple in Jerusalem, and Elizabeth, a kinswoman of Mary who visited her. Jesus Christ and John the Baptist were related. Their mothers, Mary and Elizabeth, were cousins.

John the Baptist was born 6 months before Jesus Christ (as Zachary was ministering in the Temple, an angel brought him news that Elizabeth would bear a child filled with the Holy Spirit from the moment of his birth. Zachary doubted and was struck dumb until John’s birth). Thirty years later, in the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caeser, corresponding to what we would call the year 26 A.D., John began a ministry of baptism. He was a priest and priests began their work when they were thirty years old,  wearing a leather belt and a tunic of camel hair, living off locusts and wild honey, and preaching a message of repentance to the people of Jerusalem. He converted many, and prepared the way for the coming of Jesus.

John was in a wilderness area on the Jordan river. People came from all over, especially from Judah and Jerusalem, to hear John preach and to heed his call to repent of their sins and be baptized. Baptism shows that a person wants the old sinful character to die and be buried and to rise up out of the water a new character, forgiven of their sins and beginning a new life of overcoming sin. The people who were baptized were apprehensive about John’s message. They knew that it was very near the time the Messiah was prophesied to appear. The people asked him, “What shall we do?” He answered, “He who has two coats, freely give one of them to someone who has none. He who has food, give some to someone who has none.”

Seven hundred years before the birth of Jesus, the prophet Isaiah wrote how the Messiah would be “led like a lamb to the slaughter” as a sacrifice to take away our sins (Isa. 53:7). That is why, when John saw Jesus coming toward him, he pointed to Him and said to his disciples, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! He baptized Christ in the Jordan river, after which he stepped away and told his disciples to follow Jesus. John the Baptist is a different person from the apostle John, for whom the Gospel of John is named… In speaking of Jesus, John said: “I have baptized you with water, but He will baptize you with the holy spirit”.

John had publicly reprimanded King Herod for taking his brother Philip’s wife, Herodias as his own, so Herod had him imprisoned. Herodias held a grudge against John for this and greatly desired to kill him. Herod too wanted to kill him but he also considered John to be a just and holy man and the people considered him a prophet so he was afraid to kill him. He also liked to listen to John though he became quite upset when he did.

About a year passed after the Forerunner’s imprisonment, when Herod celebrating his birthday gave a banquet for his courtiers, and officers, and a thousand leading men of Galilee. Salome, the daughter of Herodias and stepdaughter of Herod, also came to this banquet. She danced for Herod, which pleased him and his guests. The dance so delighted Herod that he swore to Herodias, daughter that he would reward her with anything she asked – up to half his kingdom. She didn’t know what to ask so she went out and asked her mother. Herodias told her to ask for John’s head on a platter. So she went back in to the party and demanded John the Baptist’s head. This barbaric request startled the tyrant himself; but governed by human respect he assented and sent a soldier of his guard to behead the Saint in prison. The soldier fulfilled the order of the king, brought the head of John the Baptist on a platter and gave it to Salome, and Salome gave it to her mother Herodias. Afterward John’s disciples buried his body, and went and told Jesus (Matthew 4:3-12; Mark 6:17-29).

Thus died the great forerunner of our blessed Saviour, some two years after his entrance upon his public ministry, and a year before the death of the One he announced.
When his disciples heard of the death of John the Baptist, they came, and took his body, and laid it in a tomb. The date of John the Baptist’s death, 29 August, assigned in the liturgical calendars can hardly be relied upon, because it is scarcely based upon trustworthy documents. His burial-place has been fixed by an old tradition at Sebaste (Samaria). His relics are in Saint Sylvester’s church, Rome, Italy, and at Amiens, France.

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Recordings with my new microphones/editing software

Recordings with my Android Cell Phone

Punk 1

Acoustic 1

Electric Clean + Distortion 1

Acoustic Song, one of the first I ever wrote

Electric Clean 1

Acoustic 2

Electric Distortion 1

Electric Clean + Distortion 2

Electric Clean + Distortion 3

Acoustic 3

Acoustic 4

Acoustic 5

Acoustic 6

)

Cassy and I are both competitive people and get pumped up about competitions. Being that we both attempt to pursue healthy lifestyles, we figured some fitness/diet challenges would be great! So here it is, two weeks of blood, sweat, tears and healthy eating in an attempt to not only get in better physical shape, but to see who can make the greatest noticeable improvements beginning last night, 12/03/14.

Cassy claims she is going to easily take the win, but I assured her I would be the one snatching the gold in this competition! I have a fast metabolic rate and when I implement a rigorous routine I can produce a lot of results quickly. She claims to be the same, but we’ll see who comes out on top 😉 .

I quickly grabbed some of my lights, my camera, made some room in the lower living room and we had a blast doing a quick photo shoot to kick off the challenge. We took full bodied photos being very relaxed and flexing our hardest so that we will be able to check our results better a couple weeks from now when we do the same set-up.

Relaxed

Flexing

Relaxed

Flexing

She spent the night and we actually got more sleep than usual! None the less, I know we will do a better job in this department (usually, that is… ha) as time goes by.

Another great time for both of us!

-Kyle Heaser 12/03/14

Ever since I was a little kid I was raised under the beliefs that there is a God, a devil, angels, demons and a God-like man named Jesus Christ. When you are a child and you are learning things for the first time, it’s very easy to accept them as factual. Heck, most of us will believed in tooth-fairies, Easter Bunnies, Santa, Leprechauns, etc. So God was another one of these extraordinary faucets that exist.

In elementary school (I believe it was 3rd or 4th grade) I learned about the Holocaust. I found it impossible to believe we had a God who loved us or gave a damn about us if something that terrible could actually happen. The worst mental images I received were those of thousands of Jewish people being placed in over-sized stoves… alive.

While all I needed was that one horrific example of evil and torture to dismiss the possibility of “God” or at least the one that most of the prominent ones in America worship, I would come to learn about many more tragedies that have had extreme and terrible impacts on people, as well as other creatures on Earth. There are so many nightmares now and in the past that I don’t even need to go into this, as we all know plenty about them. To me it was a no-brainer. A loving God cant exist, and possibly no “God” at all.

That opinion began to not be so concrete anymore. In 4th and 5th grade, predominately 5th grade, an invisible visitor would manipulate things in my room. Generally it would, in what seemed like a furious rage, slam my door so hard it shook the room. This happened quite frequently. No, there were no windows open, no one else would be around, my dog would be sleeping on a couch…. you get the idea.

On one occasion it blew up my lego collection from under my bed. Legos shot out in every direction with incredible force, scared the shit out of me! My bed is too low to the ground for my dog (Blaze was my dog at the time) to have gotten under there, much less any family member.

Another instance included my blankets thrashing on top of me (I slept on the bottom. At this point in time my brother had his own room downstairs and the top one was unoccupied… unless by this ghost of sorts haha). I remained relaxed and calm and the thrashing came to a halt pretty quickly, probably after only 6 seconds or so.

The most convincing story experience I had with this supernatural being was my last experience with it. I was in 5th grade, laying on my stomach doing math homework when my mother walked in and cranked open my large window, suggesting I should get some fresh air in there as it was a very nice day outside. My mother and I were the only two in the house. She proceeded to head downstairs, open the door that leads to the garage and shut it with her on the other side. That exact moment I heard rapid squeaking right above my head, coming from the window. Sure enough when I looked up my window was closed tight. All of my other incidents with this “ghost” occurred at night so even I was skeptical as to whether or not I was dreaming this stuff up. When that happened though, while I was wide awake and immediately following an specific action (my mother exiting the home leaving just me there), I knew it was real. This crank window can not be pushed shut, for it would break. There wasn’t much wind that day, something had cranked it shut with exceptional speed above my head and it wasn’t something visible to the naked eye. I had a ghost in my house.

I casually got up and went into the garage and told my mom about what had just happened. She was pretty relaxed about it too, as this “ghost” has never attacked or really hurt any of us. Trying to decipher what the closing of the window may have meant, one hypothesis was that it was symbolizing it’s departing from the house. I wouldn’t be surprised if it is just a coincidence, but that was the last time I experienced anything supernatural in my home.

My comet story (described in another blog post) could also have been affiliated with a supernatural event. It was almost as if something communicated to me to drop my toys and sprint over to the window and open the blinds. The instant this happened I saw a comet flying through the night sky.

What does all of this mean? What is the true significance of a supernatural world to me? It is the fact that it opens up doors to other possibilities, such as a God, a Devil, Angels, Demons, etc. The way I looked at it was, if there can be invisible entities throwing legos, slamming doors and cranking windows shut… there could be a God.

Fast forward to my junior year in high school. I was riding my bike at my local (and small) skatepark when all of a sudden I felt like packing up and going for a random cruise. I drove through Centerville and up 20th Ave. I came across a large building that had been under construction for some time, a fairly new Church building. Eagle Brook Church, Lino Lakes Campus.

I figured what the heck, it’s been years since I’ve been to a church. I walk in and check the place out. I love adventure, exploration, seeing new things. Low and behold, right as I was walking in a service was just beginning. I walked up to the front row and participated in my first non-denominational church service. I was blown away! This place was so different from the Catholic Church I was used to (years before) and felt like I really connected. After the service I went up front to receive some prayer and the people up there who spoke/prayed with me were none-other than Krista T’s (She got married so I forget her current last name) parents! She was a girl I had classes with in elementary school and I had met her parents a few times during field trips.

The odds of everything falling into place like it did and so spontaneously… kind of reminds me of the comet story. Almost as though something possibly communicated for me to get in my van and drive there at that instant.

I’ll try and wrap this up as I’m at my overnight gig and want to head back home to work on my photography I need to get to my clientele. I may even revisit this blog post and add more to it.

Over the next few years I began seeing and feeling connections between extraordinary events, the name Jesus Christ, God and the Bible. True, Jesus or Christ are not the names used in the Bible but simply how we have translated them  (From what I’ve observed Yeshua [Hebrew יֵשׁוּעַ] and eeaysoos [Greek Iησοῦς] are apparently his actual name(s) written during his lifetime on Earth as a human ).

I used logic. First off, being that there are invisible creatures there is more to life and physics than what what simply can be seen (and most likely scientifically observed). So what are these invisible things? What are they affiliated with? After seeing actions and reactions with the name Jesus Christ, prayer, the Bible, God, etc. I concluded that, despite all of the horrific evils of the world, despite all of the doubt so many people have, despite how crazy it is to believe in Him after everything that goes on (and doesn’t go on), He still is the most logical explanation.

From there I went on to further my Christ following endeavors by reading in the Bible, doing a Bible study (even leading one. Really enjoyable! Would love to do it again someday), doing some Christian Conferences, etc. Century College and the Christian movement there played a big role in the growing of my faith.

Each of those topics listed in the paragraph above could make for loads of great blogs, so I may do that at some point.

Don’t get me wrong, I still have many doubts about God, Christ, the Bible, etc. from time to time. Sometimes it’ll be a longer season than others in which I struggle with my faith, but I never fail to pray to God and attempt to include Him in my daily life. I apologize regularly to Him for things I do, say, or neglect to do or say.

Anyway, in a super shortened summary of how supernatural (and potentially supernatural) events led me to believe in Christ, God, that the Bible is a holy book etc…. There you go.