I'm applying for more colleges. At least another one tonight hopefully. Tomorrow we have a game against Cocalico, which is our first step if we want to think about districts. Homecoming court was anounced today, and I'm going to be Ashlee's escort thing. That should be cool. Only five soccer games left in my high school career. This year has gone by quickly, and the next few weeks look as if they may go even faster.

We just beat Lancaster Catholic. It was a hard fought game and I am really sore. But I am also running on a lot of adrenaline right now, so I won't be getting sleep any time soon. If we get three more wins, we make districts. That would be the first time in a while for our boys soccer team, and it would be amazing to show the world what a couple good coaches can do for a team. We play another tough team on Wednesday, but if we pull it together for a full 80 minutes we can definitely win. I am really sore, hopefully I can sleep that off. Tomorrow we're going to the girls field hockey game to cheer them on. It would be awesome to see them pull out a win. Why is the Steelers line horrible?

As I walk into the room in the corner of the basement, the warmth of the room is a welcome contrast to the brisk cold of the mid-September air. The three battered old sofas are lined up in the same fashion they always are; in the shape of a semicircle. The couches have seen more than their fair share of use. The one on right, the largest one, does not have all its legs holding it up anymore. It is very soft to the point of being too soft. The light tan and green colors swallow the youth up, sinking into a deep hole that leaves everyone too low to the ground to be properly comfortable. The middle couch is by far in the worst condition of the three. The couch has only two cushions, but can comfortably seat three people. The center of the couch is missing springs. When someone sits down in the middle, he or she continues to sink, and the resulting position is rather uncomfortable. The couch closest to the door finishes the left side of the semi-circle. This couch is the most comfortable of the three couches. Its outer coating of cloth is the same design as that of the center couch; an off-white body with gray and blue lines running vertically.
The focal point for the semi-circle is a white board, which tonight has been furnished with all sorts of announcements wittily drawn by a skilled artist. To the left and right of the white board there are notes of potential interest to members of youth group. Youth group regulars who end up in the news can be found on the tack board to the right of the white board. Letters from youth group members who have moved on to college also adorn the tack board. There are fascinating pamphlets relating to the various ministries the church is connected with. To the left of the white board there are pictures of the most recent mission’s trip the youth group has gone on. The white board and tack boards are on a removable wall. The entire wall can be pushed down, leaving the basement available for fellowship meals. On the opposite side of the room there are two windows at ground level. In between the two windows is a gigantic tack board. This one is full of random pictures containing members of youth group at events. Many of these pictures are old, a reminder of the youth group that existed in the past. After seeing the people in these pictures and the twenty or so people currently populating this room, it is clear that some changes have occurred. The people in the pictures show a playful spirit, and an easy to get along with attitude. Throughout the room the story is different. A girl puts her hood up and then pulls it down over her eyes, as if no one can tell she just wants to sleep. A boy on the sofa to the right rolls his eyes in a condescending manner. The noises that now fill the room are not same as they were a few years ago. Multiple conversations go on all at one time, with few people caring what someone on the other side of the room might be saying. Where there was once unity, now there is separation. Where there had been love, now there is dislike. A boy with turrets has an outbreak of noise, and the boy on the tan sofa imitates him and snickers.
There is a table near the door. On it there is a Staples set of easy organization drawers. Inside there are pens, pencils, markers, crayons, scissors, note cards, and a plethora of other activity supplies. Also on the table is a plastic container with a red screw on top that is used to collect the offering. Between the center and right couches there is a small bookshelf full of Christian music and literature. On top of the three and a half foot bookshelf there is a radio. To the right of that shelf lies a stack of large pillows. Some of the pillows are already in use around the room, and more will disappear from the pile as people try to make sitting on the floor as comfortable as possible. As everyone settles in I realize that this youth room is home, and it’s peculiarities are part of what makes it so special.

Which team will win the Super Bowl this at the conclusion of this season? This is a difficult question because only a few games have been played so far this season. Many people will exhibit a bias towards their favorite team, since every team is still in the running for the national title. The results also demonstrate a potential geographic bias- people are more likely to pick the team they live near and read about in the newspaper every day. In this situation, the ‘hometown’ teams are mainly Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Baltimore. The survey asked high school students in Lebanon County who would win the Super Bowl.
ESPN.com has a power poll. This poll basically shows what teams are doing very well, what teams are very weak, and what teams fall in the middle of the pack. This power poll can help people see who is playing the best regardless of record. These listings are subjective because they are the opinions of analysts. The polls can also shift quickly because of injury and other issues. The record of the Patriots, for example, began at 2-0. However, their power poll rating dropped dramatically because of the season ending injury to Tom Brady. Likewise, teams that have a poor record currently can still find themselves high in the power poll ranks because they have the player talent and ability to keep up with the best teams. One such team would be the Chargers, who are relatively high in the rankings even after a poor 0-2 start. People know that they are better than their record was showing, so they still had respect even without a win under their belts.
The top five teams in the power poll this week are the Cowboys, Giants, Eagles, Titans, Steelers, respectively. These are the teams that are at the top of their game and have the ability to control any game. The Chargers are 9th even with their poor record. There are eight teams below them who have better records. This poll puts things in perspective because it shows what teams are expected to do well even with poor starts. When compared with the team’s record, this can be a great tool to pick who is going to continue to do well as the season goes on. The official NFL website (nfl.com) also is a great resource with many articles and tons of video footage of games and highlight reels. These allow people to see for themselves how good they think the teams actually are, instead of taking an ESPN commentators word for it.
With all of these things considered, I would expect the Eagles and Steelers to get numbers of picks to win the Super Bowl. I would also expect teams that got off to fast starts to be high on the list. These teams would include the Cowboys and the Packers. The Packers had a poor showing this past week, but during the first two weeks they were quite impressive. Because Lebanon is generally considered Eagles country, I would expect votes for the Cowboys to be lower than they would in many parts of the United States. The Eagles and Cowboys are rivals, so even if an Eagles fan knows the Cowboys are good and have a good shot at winning, they will be reluctant to pick them as winners because of the intense rivalry.
The results were relatively unsurprising. The Steelers, Eagles and Cowboys had the highest scores, with Green Bay, the Giants, and the Chargers scoring the next level of votes. The Steelers and the Eagles were fairly obviously going to be on top. Both teams are in state and are playing pretty well at the moment. Miami registered some votes even though they are not a great team. A large part of that is the thumping they gave to the Patriots this past week. The Steelers ended up with the highest number of votes, although a majority of their votes came before this past week’s loss to the Eagles. The Eagles were the second highest team, and a bunch of their votes came after beating the Steelers. Early on in the survey they were not receiving many votes, probably because of their devastating loss to the rival Cowboys. The Cowboys were third highest even though in many parts of the country they would have received the highest number of votes.
The Giants are the defending Super Bowl Champs, and they stand undefeated at this point so they received the next highest number of votes. The Packers got votes early after a great week by their new starting quarterback, Aaron Rodgers, but their votes dropped off after the loss last Sunday night against Dallas. They also had a star player get a serious injury, so if the survey were to be redone at this point I would anticipate an even larger drop off in votes. The Chargers got a decent amount of votes even with a poor record. They lost two close games that they should have won, including one game lost from an officiating controversy. Not many people are counting them out of the race yet, even with a poor start. The statistics would show that they are still a dangerous team that can win on any given Sunday. The Titans are the surprise of the year so far, standing undefeated at 3-0. Many people are still used to them being a shabby team, so their votes were low for an undefeated team. A big surprise to me was the absence of many votes towards the Colts. They were an incredibly talented team a few years ago, but now find themselves hard-pressed to capture a victory.
The results for this type of survey would change on a week to week basis, so it is difficult to clearly find the answer to the question. Because the survey was local, it is difficult to capture an unbiased vote. However, the question was addressed to high school students in Lebanon County, and the majority of the students seem to feel that the state teams are going to do quite well this year, along with the NFC East Division (the Eagles, Cowboys, and Giants are all a part of the NFC East). Could there be an interstate Super Bowl? We can only sit back and observe in order to see how accurate the votes were.

Ms. Darrup came into our English calss to talk about college. We are supposed to start applying for college and college scholarships. Last night I applied for one, so I guess I'm sort of on target. I need to apply to a couple other colleges before too long. Hopefully I get a lot of scholarships so that I don't have a huge debt coming out on the other side of college. I am pretty sure that I know what I want to major in, but it would be nice to get some conformation for that if that is the direction God wants me to go.

I just applied to my first college. I am just about one hundred percent sure that I won't go there, but my mom wanted me to apply a few places anyway. Tomorrow is going to be a tough soccer game. They always sport a fast competetive squad and they are tough to beat. Then our schedule is easy for our Thursday game before getting hard again for last year's state champs on Saturday. We should definitely come out of the week with at least one win, maybe even a tie on top of that.

We tied last night two to two. We went into overtime and couldn't come out with a winner. We played decently as a team, but still had some issues finishing the ball. For us to win Tuesday we need to finish every opportunity we get. The Steelers lost today to the Eagles, which made me sad. But honestly I haven't really cared about football as much in the past two years as I used to. I don't know why, but it just seems that there are a lot more important things in my life. So I'm not too upset with the loss.

Today our football team has an away game. Hopefully a bunch of us can get out there to support our boys. It should be a big win for us, and we shouldn't have any issues staying undefeated. I am in English class right now. We are talking about naming and talking about details and that type of stuff. The Steelers play the Eagles this weekend for the Pennsylvania bragging rights. The Steelers won the last matchup by a large margin. Hopefully I will get to watch the game with Dave, who is an Eagles fan. That would be fun. Last night we lost to LS 5-1. Nik scored from half field 13 seconds before half time. The game wasn't really as far apart as the score showed. Hopefully we can pull out a win on Saturday night. That would be good for our confidence.

A leader is someone who guides. A leader exemplifies the qualities that he is asking his followers to show. A leader does not always need to be at the focus of the group. The most important duty of a leader is to work himself out of a job.
A leader is a guide. He does not stand back and tell other people what to do; instead he blazes the path when the going gets tough. A leader is not a boss, who tells everyone what to do. A leader uses himself as an example for others to follow. A leader will not be a hypocrite, saying one thing and doing another. A successful leader does not need to lead from the front. He can simply be a good example, realizing that those around him respect him and strive to do the things he does.
A truly successful leader is happy when his followers do greater things than he ever dreamed. When a leader works himself out of a job, and does not feel the need to hang on to the power that has been entrusted to him, the leader has been successful. A leader who is power hungry is dangerous, because instead of working to better those around him, he works to better his own position.
Some of the most effective leaders are servant leaders. They look to serve, and to help and encourage their followers to grow in every way possible. Leaders are examples, role models. By this definition, we are all leaders. According to a statistic I heard over the summer, there are twenty-six people that you have a significant influence on. That is a large responsibility.
We are not only the leaders of tomorrow, but we are also the leaders of today. People look up to us and watch what we do. Honor Society magnifies this idea. We have the responsibility of being good examples and watching what we say and do.
Leading is not necessarily a position. Leaders can simply be respected members of any group, who other members of the group look to as an example. Part of our responsibility as leaders is to be examples in our actions as well as our words. We owe it to the twenty-six people looking up to us to do the right thing and make the right choices. It is time Honor Society members became leaders instead of merely having a good thing to write on college applications.

A couple of girls from the soccer team have gotten or are getting surgery this fall. Two more will get surgery this week. Hopefully everything goes well and they can be back on their feet in record time. Today was a pretty crappy day. I don't really know why, except for our loss last night against a rival team. We shouldn't have lost by 3-1. Tomorrow we play LS, who is usually a much better squad than the team we lost to yesterday. It will be a tough, physical game. Coach gave me the Crunch Award, which is sort of like the game ball, but I don't really feel like I earned it. Since I play defence, I'm not satisfied with three goals scored on us. That isn't acceptable against a squad that we can beat. Our offense didn't have a great night either, and our mids didn't control the midfield, so I don't even think anyone should get an award for our performance. The second half went much better, and hopefully the next time we play them we can show them we are for real.

We are testing the internet in English class right now. That basically means we aren't doing too much. Manchester United is coming out with a new third kit, which is all blue. I think I might get a Reds jersey. We'll see. Today was the Tuesday morning Bible study, and it went pretty well. Next week someone else will be leading it, so that should be cool. Tonight we have a big soccer game and I am excited for that. We played volleyball on Saturday and that was pretty fun. I can't wait to play again soon.

The Steelers always seem to get at least one game each year that is played in hurricane conditions. I don't know why, but it has happened a few times over the past couple of years. Last night was this year's hurricane game. The Steelers played the Browns in Cleveland, and Hurricane Ike was overhead, creating gusts of 35 mph wind. That makes it really difficult to throw the ball. And since both teams knew that the other team would have to run, it was difficult to do anything. The Steelers won though so it's okay.
Tomorrow the soccer team plays ELCO. We don't like them very much, so it would be nice to pull out a win against a rival school. Last year they beat us twice, but hopefully we can turn that around the other way. We beat Pequea Valley 4-0 and they only beat them 1-0, so it looks like we've got a chance.

I got the bad guy part in the class play this year. I was hoping that I would get the chance to play a bad guy, and now I have that opportunity. It will take quite commitment because I have soccer on top of memorizing a lot of lines. It should be really fun.
I don't understand why someone who wants me to help them with math would be mean to me. Really now, if you want my help, try being nice. And I wouldn't be opposed to bribes. Or you could just pay attention in class so you don't need to be tutored outside of class. Now there's a brilliant idea.
Applying for college is really boring. I might only apply to one, it was actually that bad. Of course my mom won't understand, and I will end up applying to three or four.

For quite a few years, students at my school have been having a coffee shop Bible study before school. The tradition has been passed down from class to class. However, the coffee shop we had been going to closed because of the owner's health. So we finished off the year last year at someone's house instead of the coffee shop. Last year we spent most of our time socializing and not a whole lot of time was spent studying the Bible and praising God. This year things will be different. I am deciding to be responsible for once during my senior year and help to lead this early morning activity. I didn't even really get voted in, I sort of appointed myself and then asked for everyone's consent. So really I'm a dictator for life of this little time with God. Anyway, I was deciding what to do with this next Tuesday's cafe experience when I felt God laying love on my heart. Not erotus, the Greek word for love between a man and woman in marriage(physical). Instead God will be meeting us in a discussion about the kind of unfathomable love that God shows us. The love between a father and son, a mother and daughter. The kind of love that does not ask anything of anyone. Jesus tells us in Matthew that all of the commandments can be summarized into one: love God and your neighbor and yourself. How awesome is that? I can summarize the entire message of how to live a Christian life through a lesson on love. Jesus died for us when we were still sinners. There is no greater love than to be willing to die for someone who is disrespectful to you. In Sparticus, all of the guys are willing to die for their leader because he is an amazing person. But would you or I be able to die for someone who wanted us dead? Would I be able to honestly say that if I would have the chance, I would lay my life down for Adolf Hitler? Jesus did that. He died for us all. Hitler did awful things, and Christ loved him anyway. This unconditional love is incredible also in its infinite proportions. The love of Christ does not give us a certain amount of chances until we're done and doomed to hell. God gives us infinite, unconditional forgiveness through his incredible, unfathomable love. That is why love is the purest motivation for everything we do. It's late and i need to get to sleep, but God is good, and He loves us where we are at. And if we only remember one thing when we relate to other people, it should be the words from a Shaun Groves song. "When we love the least, we love Jesus." When we love those who annoy us, we love God. Keep that in mind the next time you want to flip out on someone. That is a challenge for me everyday. Okay, enough rambling. Peace in Christ who loves and died for all.

Mr. Miller
English Comp. Pd. 3
A Reminder that Life is Good
I remember so little of my seventh grade year. I know it was different from anything I had ever experienced before, but I do not have many specific recollections. I remember the late winter of that year like it was yesterday. I had just been bowling, a day or two earlier. My right ankle began to swell to gigantic size. I could not put any weight on it because of the magnitude of the pain. My dad was a doctor, and he requisitioned some crutches for me to use until I could walk on my foot again. We were concerned that it could be a spider bite from the rental shoe at the bowling alley. I took some anti-inflammatory drugs, and after a short time the swelling subsided and I was able to return to my normal activities. It was not a big deal; I could forget that experience and move on. However, it was not meant to work out that way. A few weeks later my right knee began to swell to tremendous size as well. My dad decided it would probably be best to head into the emergency to get everything checked out. At the hospital, I had thirty-three cubic-centimeters of thick fluid drawn out of my knee. The fluid came out like molasses on a cold day. The poor nurse was pulling as hard as she could, and only a small bit of fluid made its way into the test tube at a time. The needle that was being used to extract my unwanted fluid from my knee was quite large, and the entire process turned out to be excruciatingly painful. The doctor wanted to take a number of tests to see what type of disease could be causing this unusual reaction. So the nurse drew a blood from my arm, and the doctor checked off which tests he wanted to have performed. My father, also a doctor, brought up a disease or two that he thought it could possibly be. One of the diseases my dad wanted to have me tested for was Lyme’s disease. The doctor had not planned on having that test run. After conversing for a short time with my dad about my symptoms in a confusing and difficult to understand dialect that I call doctor language, the physician agreed that I should be tested for Lyme’s. At that point we did not even consider that a real possibility because I had never found a tick bite; it was more of a precautionary test. I went home from that emergency room visit with no answers. We just had to wait until the results came back from the numerous tests. A longer wait I have never endured in my life. There were so many possibilities. Near the top of our ‘possibility list’ was juvenile arthritis. This possibility scared me more than just about any of the other options, and for a time my parents and I considered it to be the most probably answer. That was an extreme low point for me. I was off my feet and unable to do much of anything, except to consider the possibilities. Juvenile arthritis scared me because it could mean that I was done with competitive sports and active activities forever. As a seventh grader, I could hardly think of a worse fate. After days of waiting, the results were finally in for all of the tests. The Lyme’s test had come back positive, but there was a fairly high percentage of false positive cases with this blood test. So I needed to have another more definite test. As a precautionary measure I was put right on oral antibiotics. The symptoms had gotten worse since that first swelling had appeared. Going into the next test I was tired all of the time and I was weak to the point where all I did was hang out on the couch. The new test came in the form of a spinal tap. When the needle went into my back the pain was phenomenal. My arms flung outwards as I tried to get away from the needle now entering my back. That test took some time to return, but when it did the test turned out to be positive. The news was good and bad. It was bad because Lyme disease is not something that is fun to go through, and we knew it must be in some of the later stages because we had never found the tick that bit me. The news was good because it meant that I did not have juvenile arthritis, which was such a relief to me that I was actually happy to have Lyme’s. My case was one of the more severe cases in Lebanon county, because we had not caught it early. I had the distinguished honor of going to see a specialist in the area, who felt that she needed to educate me in all the ways of Lyme disease. She saw me after I already knew that it was Lyme disease, so when she told me that I did in fact have Lyme disease I was not exactly thrilled that I had wasted my time with her. It was an extremely awkward visit, and I could not wait until she finally was through with me so that I could leave. In many ways the visit to her office was even more unpleasant than the spinal tap and Lyme disease in general. Now that things had been clarified and I knew for certain what the problem was the only thing that remained was for me to continue taking my medications three times a day. I sat at home and did nothing as the pill bottle began to empty. ‘Nothing,’ of course, is relative. Some people from my church loaned me movies and I had a few video games to play, but apart from memorizing the entire Pirates of the Caribbean movie I effectively did nothing. I was even too tired and weak to read on most days. And so I spent much of my time thinking about getting better and dreaming about my future. When the pills began to near their end, I still had not gotten better. At this point we realized that I needed to have a stronger means of ridding my body of this disease. I got an IV line put into my upper chest, and every day I needed to connect a tube and put the medicine into my body. Eventually I began to improve. I started back to school slowly, adding hours each day until I was back to full days. At this point I still had the IV line in my shoulder and I was still receiving injections of the medicine each night even though I was back in school. Finally my time with Lyme disease was over and we could pull out the IV line. I thought that removing the tubes would be painful, but soon it was out and I had not felt a bit of pain. The only sensation was a sliding feeling under my skin. I had been out of school for almost forty school days, and I had had my life put into perspective. I appreciated the ability to run at soccer practice. I understood why people thank God for their healthy bodies. I usually just took my health for granted. I considered it a right, not a privilege. Coming out from an experience like that gave me insight that many people only get after they pass their prime and can no longer run as well as their younger selves could. I discovered how lucky I really am to have a body that functions as well as it does, and how blessed I am to have the opportunity to live in this world and enjoy life every day. I now realize how much grace and mercy God has shown me, as well as how many blessings He has given to me. When I see a sports star that is on the top of his game, I sometimes wish I had ability like that. Then I remember how fortunate I am to be alive and walking, and everything is put into perspective.

Tonight the NL boys soccer team played Pequea Valley. Both varsity and jv had vicories, with varsity winning 4-0. It was a nice change of tempo from last weeks slide. The Braves were a very dirty team, tending not to go for the ball at all on many occasions. Next up for us on Friday is the Lebanon Catholic team. They have been an easy team to beat in the past, but their field is horrible so we will need to be prepared for anything. I am very sore right now and it is pretty late considering I need to be up in six hours, so I am going to get some sleep soon. Go Vikings!

The Steelers won big today, wiping out any early thoughts of a Houston Texan's upset. Willie Parker had three touchdowns rushing while Hines Ward caught two Ben Roethlisberger td's and Jeff Reed tacked on a field goal to give them a huge day scoring. Second year player Lamar Woodley had a fantastic day for the defense, with an interception, fumble recovery and a few sacks of Texans qb Matt Schaub. The Steelers have a really tough schedule, but that was a very good way to begin their season.

Have you ever had one of those really horrible nights where no matter how much you like a person, you're still a big jerk to them? Well, this was one of those nights for me. We lost 7-0 to Manheim Central, and I got injured. Needless to say, I was pretty upset. So after the game I have a bag of ice in my left hand, and with my right arm I am leaning heavily upon my younger brother, Seth. As we near the opposing sideline of the stadium, someone from the crowd says hi to me. I wasn't in the mood to talk. I gave her attitude and walked away after a brief, 3 or 4 second conversation. In the car on the ride home, I realized that this girl had been in one of the K-Teams I had helped lead. Oh crap is right. Here I am, a role model, and I am a horrible person to her. Talk about making me feel like an idiot. I am the person who was supposedly the one who had it somewhat together, and here I am doing the least Christ-like thing possible. I hate when I let myself down, and I feel like a disgrace to the person I love most when things like that happen. As I am writing this, I am talking to her and apologizing for being an idiot. Fortunately, she is a nice person and is still my friend even after I was a jerk to her. It seems like God picks the least opportune times to test me. Why couldn't He let me run into sometime when I'm having a great day? Oh well, I guess I'll learn more from this than I would have the other way. God, give me strength to love everyone and have the patience to lead a life that Christ can be proud of. That is my prayer tonight.

Last night was not good at all. I didn't come prepared for the game, and as a result it took me a while during the game to get mentally ready. They weren't even as good as I originally thought they would be, but we still lost by a score of four to nothing. It was a wake up call for me to come ready to play and give my very best every time I step on the field with my teammates. Tomorrow we play Manheim Central and you can bet I will show up with everything I have to give, so that when Friday comes I will have no regrets.

Cocalico game tonight should be interesting. We haven't played them in recent years so we don't really know what to expect. I decided that my memory influence paper thing for English Comp. is going to be about when I had Lyme Disease. Because that was a memorable experience that I can remember. I switched out of creative writing for a study hall today because I had two writing classes back to back. And aftre soccer, school and God I don't really have time for anything else. So that's all I have to say about the stuff that I am doing. Football season starts this week. Go Steelers!

Tonight I am really tired, and I don't really know when I will have the time to catch up on all the rest I need. Tomorrow is our first section game against Cocalico, which should be interesting. I have lots of stuff to do and I don't know when to do it. Calvin pretty much got it right when he said, "There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want." I'm right with the six year old on that one. I am not a big fan of being with extended family for three weeks in a row. I have a busy day tomorrow. Pasta party right after school followed by a haircut and then my soccer game. I should sleep well tomorrow night!