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billgrip
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Name: Bill
Location: Nebraska, United States
Birthday: 1/23/1988
Gender: Male
Interests: I like writing, making movies, hanging out with friends, playing video games and physical activity.
Expertise: I am pretty good at listening when I am not talking. But I am pretty good at talking, sometimes too good. For serious though, God has blessed me with good communication skills, creativity, and keen writing abilities.
Occupation: Student
Industry: Other
Message: message meEmail: email me
Website: visit my website
MSN: billgrip@hotmail.com
Member Since:
5/7/2006
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| My wife and I are nearing our 2 year anniversary this month. In the past 2 years, I have gotten married, moved out to a Bible camp, and my wife had our first son, Judah.
Living at Maranatha Bible Camp has been interesting. The camp is great, and the people here are greater. This place really is like a big family, and I have nothing to be unthankful for. But it hasn't always been easy. There were many times in the past year and a half where I didn't want to be here. There were many times when I wanted to be doing something "greater." However, I have come to see that this "greater" something I was looking for is merely a mirage, because there is nothing "greater" than serving and obeying God, regardless of what the world says.
Still though, I wonder what is to come. Will I be here 5...10...30 years from now? I don't know. Up until a few months ago the thought of being here for another year was not a pleasant thought. God has been working in my life, and I'm slowly starting to abandon hope in myself and what the American dream might have for me. Rather, I am starting to see that life is a roller coaster ride that God is in control over the whole time. It's best to simply accept that God is in control and let the ride take its twists and turns.
I think that as a Christian I've truly struggled placing my identity in Christ. Looking back, I see now that all I've really tried to do was put my identity in anything but Christ. The most glaring example of this is my persona on YouTube. When I first started making a lot of videos and uploading them to YouTube in the summer of 2007, it didn't take long until I allowed what people said about my videos to affect who I was. People liked my videos, and it made me feel good. My audience was growing, and a shot at fame motivated me to press on. Unfortunately, that fame never really materialized as good as I wanted it to. Even so, fame can never be satisfied. At first I thought I would be satisfied with 100 subscribers, then 1000. Then I thought I would be satisfied if I had a video get over 20,000 views. Lag in Real Life now has 530,000 views, but it isn't enough. Even the most famous person alive probably will not be satisfied because of the fear of losing that status or the realization that whatever we do in this life will probably not be remembered beyond a few generations at best.
Off of this hopeless hope for fame, a few other identity's branched off, and some became more evident that were already pre-existing from within myself. My videos are based on humor- making people laugh. There's nothing wrong with laughter or making others laugh. In fact, making others laugh brings me great joy, and I am confident that there is nothing wrong with that. But if you make your identity in making people laugh, then problems arise. I felt the pressure to always be funny. If you begin to feel like you exist to entertain people, you realize that you'll never make it. There will always be someone else that's more funny. And then there's real life. I'm cranky in the mornings and my breath stinks. My bank account barely has enough to get me and my family through this month. I have to work 8 hours in a day staring at a computer screen. When I leave work I don't want to talk to anyone and I usually have a headache. Real life by and large isn't funny. Certainly there are times when I'm not feeling funny. Clearly I should not allow myself to find my identity in being funny. It isn't me.
I've found my identity in Husker football. That's an idol if there ever was one. Unfortunately they lost 3 games this season, and even if they had won the national championship, it wouldn't matter next year. A loss next season would stink just as bad if not worse. What's more is the fact that the only reason I root for this team is because I grew up in the state of Nebraska, and the team itself is full of college athletes who are probably just as confused and flawed as I am. I've found my identity in fantasy football. I'm pretty darn good at fantasy football, but only because I spend hours and hours more time following it then anyone I know. I have won a fantasy football league 3 out of 4 times. But so what? That amounts to nothing, and I know that no one cares. Heck, I barely even care.
Sometimes I feel like I'm trapped, like my life is already over. I don't know how many days, months, or years God has left for me on this earth, but I need to start living differently. I need to place my identity in Christ and go from there. All these other things I have tried to place my identity in have failed or will fail.
There are so many questions running around my head as to what I want to do. Do I want to keep working at Maranatha? Do I want to become a teacher so I can impact kids and the next generation? Should I pursue writing...and if so, should I be a sports writer or a regular journalist? Should I keep making videos...and if so, what type of videos will they be? I can't be fake anymore in that area and try to hold on to a sense of humor that I've out grown. Should I just be content with my life here at Maranatha? Should I start a business doing media on my own? Also, I know I need to be a better husband and father, but how do I incorporate that desire with whatever else it is that I'm doing?
I'm 22 years old. If I live to be 76 like the average man, I still have plenty of time left. I'm getting older, but I'm still young. I don't think I'll ever be famous, and I hope I can learn to be okay with that. But will my life make any sort of dent? | | |
| I suck at titles. Unless it is song titles, then I'm really good. Unfortunately I possess no musical talent whatsoever, so me thinking of song titles is like an anorexic thinking about pizza hut. Not gonna happen. Luckily, I own a macbook and am able to create music with garage band with no musical talent. So my song names may come to use after all...Here's a few examples-
The Future is Purple
Chickens can't fly, so let's eat them
The Coming Paradox
Blue Light Special on Acid
and if I ever went hardcore...
Screaming into Deaf Ears
Tight pants, no underwear
Loud noises that don't make sense
Tina Turner wore Prada
Eating a Beating Heart
Moshing Bugs Bunny to Death
Too bad they don't hire guys just to write song titles. I'd be a millionaire. And now it's time for the boring part of the blog.
Lately there's been some H1N1 (Swine Flu) going around at Maranatha Bible Camp...for rizzle my nizzle. Now before you all freak out and run around screaming saying "OH NO WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!!!"... please know a few things. H1N1 isn't even as deadly as the REGULAR flu that no one seems to worry about every single year. The epidemic is the people who freak out over nothing. You just get a fever, cough, and sore throat for a few days and that's about it. It CAN be worse, but usually isn't. I'm pretty sure if everyone in this country got it, way fewer people would die than do every single day by abortion. So lets worry about something that actually matters.
However, because we are a Christian camp, the leadership felt that it was best to shut the camp down for a few days to try to prevent the spread because it has been hitting our staff...almost half the staff has gotten it now. I haven't yet, but still could. The staff who did get it last week were isolated and we took all precautions to prevent the spread, but it was still spreading. It first came to camp two weeks ago with some campers from Texas. It was an unfortunate time to have this occur, because the 4th of July is a pretty big deal at Maranatha Bible Camp, and usually over 1,000 people are out here for an all day bash that ends with a big fireworks show.
But this year it was just staff, and Lindsay and I got to plan the activities. It was a really fun day with sand volleyball, powerboating, a cookout, a movie, and then we still did the fireworks show.
The fireworks show was the best. I got to help light the fireworks, and I expected this little tiny show of lighting 1 or 2 at a time with for 10 minutes and then doing 3 or 4 at a time for the grand finale. I was VERY wrong. It was insane. There was 7 guys who each had their own station and a set of fireworks to shoot off. For a half hour it was "fire at will" and it basically consisted of huge explosions all around me as I frantically ran back and fourth trying to load my station and light it as quickly as possible. It was a great adrenaline rush and I felt like I was in a war zone risking my life...which the risking my life part was partially true, lol. We had a few that blew up a little early...which meant they blew up about 3 feet from us. It was intense, but tons of fun! I can't wait for next year.
And that concludes my update. Pray for the camp that the flu will go away and we can carry on camp like normal the rest of the summer. Thank God for the wonderful things He's doing out here. Pray for Lindsay and I as we continue to adjust to life out here.
Thanks!
-Bill
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| Alright so I need to be running the climbing wall in about 5 minutes, so I'll make this short.
What's been going on in the life of Bill and Lindsay Griepenstroh lately? Oh not too much, just living life at Maranatha Bible Camp. Now that I am well acquainted with this place, things are going quite well. Every day here is a little bit different, and for those of you who have monotonous jobs, you'd understand what a blessing that is. The people here are very kind, and they really love each other. In fact, I dare to say that I really haven't seen this much love from people that barely know me anywhere in my entire life. But then again, I haven't really been around people that don't know me very well very often.
I like my job here, right now I mostly work with people, and not so much media. It has been nice though, to have a little break from media, because making 100's of videos can get old after a while.
Speaking of video, I haven't had too much time to make youtube videos lately, although I have wanted to. It is a bummer though, to see youtube change from the great community site into the website it is now where half the videos that are force-fed to you on the homepage are with slutty chicks because they get more views and sell ads better. But whether or not they know it, youtube still needs people like me, smaller people who make videos with good clean humor and don't really care about making money.
Blah blah blah, I could go on for days about youtube but I will spare you. Ummm, I saw a mountain lion. I actually talk about it a little in this video that no one has watched- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiA5jGSu2dk&feature=channel_page so if you are bored watch that.
Yesterday I did a mini-triathalon. I swam about 1/4th of a mile, then I biked 3.2 miles and ran 2 miles. It was sweet. I have really been obsessed with exercise since I moved here, and I usually run around 3 miles per day. I'm not really losing any weight unfortunately, because the food here is so good. But the way I see it I would be way fatter if I wasn't exercising so I guess I'll keep it up.
If you want to pray for us, pray for the summer staff out here that we remain united for the rest of the summer and that true conversions will be made out here rather than fake ones that people hold onto as their "salvation moment" as they continue to live in sin. I hope everything is going well for all of you out east, and hopefully once the summer is over Lindsay and I will get to come home and visit several times!
In Christ,
-Bill
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| As most of you know, Lindsay and I took a job out at Maranatha Bible Camp near North Platte. Its hard to believe that this is already my 4th night here, but there are many more on the way. First I'll write a little about my first few days here, and then I'll right a little about my personal feelings...because everyone loves to share their feelings :D
So last Thursday was moving day. Our parents came and helped and Lindsay's dad brought his trailer. I also recruited a few friends to help, but mostly I just wanted them to come along to hang out. Moving out was a breeze, and it took us like 20 minutes to load all of me and Lindsay's five possessions into the trailer. We arrived at Maranatha a few hours later and it didn't take too long to get everything unloaded. Then everyone hung out for a while and then everyone left us. Lindsay and I then kinda looked at each other and realized, "This is really happening." It was really hard for me that first night unpacking everything and realizing that I wasn't going back to be with the people I have lived near all my life for quite a while. That night we had supper and met a whole lot of new people, most of whose names I still don't know.
Friday we woke up and kept getting our house in order. Once we reached a stopping point, we went into town and did various important things, like getting texting on our cell phones, making a deposit at the bank, and spending three hours in Wal-mart. That evening was pretty relaxed.
On Saturday we got up bright and early around 6:00 AM and helped run the booth for Maranatha at a local 5k event. We brought paintball guns and let anyone who wanted to try shoot some bowling ball pins. It lasted several hours. Then we went to Wal-mart again, and came home to work on our house and I got to take a nice nap.
Today we went to church in North Platte at the Berean. Afterwords we went to Wal-mart again and then came home for lunch. Then it was time for the staff to arrive, and we spent the next 7 hours over in the dining hall area waiting for the staff to arrive, cleaning, eating supper, and playing ice breaker games. It was fun.
Anyways, now for personal feelings time. To be honest, it has been a hard transition to make so far. Things are just different here. I don't know anyone. I'm sure that eventually I will make friends with everyone here and that I will be able to build some strong friendships...but not yet. That takes time.
Coming here, I had no idea what to expect, and I still don't know what to expect. I miss my home and my friends that I have been blessed to be around for the first 21 years of my life. Most people don't get to have the great friends that I have had and the great family support that Lindsay and I have both had. I love being at camp, but this isn't Covenant Cedars and I miss Covenant Cedars. This is really the first time in my life I have ever really truly been out of my comfort zone, and it just isn't all that easy for me. I know that God has great things for us and that above all things we will glorify God in this place, but it will take time for me to adjust, and I feel that there will always be a part of me back in Central City, back in Hastings, and even back at Nebraska Christian that I will miss. However, this is where God wants us, I am sure of it, and this is where I will stay and where I will grow in my faith. Please pray for us here, and come out and visit sometime!
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| I love Saturday mornings. I get to sleep in, walk around the house in my underwear, and write a good long blog entry. In about two hours the NFL draft starts, and I am going over to watch it with my friends while eating some donuts. Woot!
Lately my life has been in a repetitive mode. I'm not saying its a bad thing, because sometimes its nice to find some rhythm in life, especially after being married 4 months ago and going through the single biggest change I have ever experienced. People still ask me, "So how's married life?" And my answer is still, "It's good" and I mean that. It started out awesome and it keeps getting better every day.
So let me tell you about the rhythm in my life right now. I work Monday at 10:45AM-(app.) 3:00PM. Then the rest of the day is mine...usually I watch heroes at 8:00PM and hang out with the wife all evening. Tuesday- I have class at 1:30 PM and 5:00PM and I workout inbetween. I get home from class around 8:00PM and hang out with the wife. Wednesday, usually I work in the evening, but lately things have been going on on wednesday. Like last wednesday Lindsay and I went to Lincoln for a special dinner for All USA scholarship nominees at the capitol building...Lindsay was a nominee from CCC last semester. Thursday I have class at 1:30 PM and thats it. Friday I usually work in the morning and sometimes I work in the evening too. Saturday I work in the evening. Sunday I go to church in the morning and work in the evening. I like my life right now...my schedule is fairly laid back.
But thats all about to change. Lindsay and I have a job waiting for us at Marantha Bible Camp 2 1/2 hours from where we have lived our entire lives. We will be moving there in less than a month and leave everyone we know here and meet an entire new set of people. It is a little scary, but we know it is where God wants us and we would be fools to run from it. I'll be putting my two weeks notice in at work tomorrow. Crazy how life can change so fast. But time always keeps moving, bringing us all ever closer to the judgement.
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