February 28, 1999 – Sunday – 9:41 p.m.

It’s the last day of second month of the last year of the millennium.  Thursday and Friday night I was the Best Boy Electric on a film titled Smoke Rings.  Saturday morning, when we wrapped, Kerstin and I drove to the beach to watch the sun rise.  It was unbelievable!

I drove to Richmond yesterday so my Dad could help me with my taxes.  While there I saw Elizabeth and Life is Beautiful, two amazing films.  I spent the night and drove back this morning.  I had lunch and hung out with Kimberly during a fellowship dinner after church.  I have such a good friend in her.

All else is…well, it’s not normal, it’s spectacular!  Every minute is brand new and each one is sacred!

God and I are closer.  He makes me laugh.

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February 25, 1999 – Thursday – 8:27 a.m.

I know I haven’t written in a while.  I guess I’ve been sad.  Last week I saw Amy at a missions informational meeting.  We had an okay time, but we both seemed tired.  I called her a day or two later to ask her out again, but she seemed to be blowing me off, always saying she was busy.  I called again on another night, but I eventually got the message that she didn’t want to pursue us.  I told Sterling and Christin about her and they said I shouldn’t have taken her to the ocean front when I asked her out for hot chocolate.  They said taking girls to the strip means you only want to sleep with them.

What?  How was I supposed to know that?  I’m from the mountains!  I took her there because I think the waves sound nice as you are walking along the boardwalk.

Oh well.

I was an actor in a short film called TR.  It was so much fun!  It lasted two days and I had a lot of scenes with two little kids named Jessica and Frank, ages 9 and 11.  We had a great time.  Mark a fellow student who also acted along side me.  I picked him up everyday and we had nice talks as we drove back and forth to the location.  He’s from Minnesota, married, and in his 30s.

On Sunday I went on a location scout for my short film Forever.  We may be having trouble locking it down.

I had a midterm exam yesterday that went okay.  Last night I led the discipleship class and we sort of evaluated where everyone was.  I was disappointed with how some participated.  Hardly any of the kids have been working through the books.  They seem to be stuck in a rut, but I’ve been there many times.

I prayed Matthew 18:3 over all of us, “unless we become like little children, we will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven.”  Little children love to learn and they love to let their fathers take care of them.

Change me oh God!

February 18, 1999 – Thursday – 12:09 p.m.

Instead of just sitting and having hot chocolate, we drove to the beach and went for a walk.  We talked for about two hours.

She has a younger brother my age who is married.  He teaches at Greenbrier as well.  Their mother died about four years ago from cancer.  There are so many stories in her.

Amy amazes me.  She is so complete.  She’s such a beautiful girl with amazing eyes and lips.  I haven’t stopped thinking about her.  I want to learn all I can.  Every little detail.

Lauren said she blushed when she mentioned me to her at school.

I’ll see her tonight, for there is a missions meeting at Rob and Jesslyn’s.

Have your way oh God.

February 16, 1999 – Tuesday – 11:34 p.m.

Let me continue…

During our dance I learned she was not a student at Regent.  She’s actually a teacher at Greenbrier Christian Academy, where she teaches Josh, Charlotte, and Lauren from our youth group.  We met later at the drink table and just talked and talked.  We slow danced twice together before the evening was over.  We discussed God, church, missions, ourselves, and Swaziland, for she used to live during a couple of years in the ’80s.

During our conversation and in the middle of our second dance, I felt God took the veil from my eyes and there She stood before me, she with a capital “S.”

I called her last night.  I asked her to meet me for some hot chocolate at Barnes and Noble.  She giggled when she said yes.

All old things have passed away.  God has thrown a tidal wave over the footprints of the past.  The old me is dead, only Jesus lives in this body.

 

February 13, 1999 – Saturday – 10:43 p.m.

I began writing in these books nearly six years ago for a reason of which I am not really sure.  I only remember beginning them.  When I search myself for the most honest answer, all I can say is that I did it for myself.  Not for the person I was then, but for the person I knew I would become after reading about the time and place which formed me….and to read about it in my own hand.

And thus far, it has all brought me to this day, this hour, this minute.

I have just returned from a True Love Waits rally in Williamsburg, VA, a town I’ve spent many hours in over the years, for it is where we would go when I visited my dad’s side of the family in my earlier days.  My brother Kevin was there.  He’s 24 and looks nothing like it.  He handed me Christmas presents from people I didn’t see since I went chasing after my long lost pen pal, my family of old, and the revival everyone’s been talking about.

I drove one of two Parkway Temple vans to our destination and back tonight.  I used to be one of the kids always riding in the van, but now I’m the one driving it.

Our team performed Masks tonight.  This short vignette is very dear to my heart and has been in existence for nearly as long as these journals.  And I see now what these writings have done for me.  They help me examine my thoughts and feelings and help me remove all the false masks that try to cling to me each day.

There is no doubt that these entries have tremendously aided in forming who I am today.

For today, I am a free man.

And yesterday, on the 12th day of the 2nd month of 1999, I think I met her.

I left youth group a little early last night to attend the swing dance at Regent University.  During one dance where all the girls lined up on one side and the guys on the other, I walked towards a girl and met her in the middle.  There, we found ourselves; my arm around her back, our hands in each other’s, her hand on my shoulder.

We moved to the music.

“What’s your name?”

“Amy, yours?”

“Jacob.  Nice to meet you.”

February 12, 1999 – Friday – 9:15 a.m.

Nate turns 14 today.  My other brother is 24.

And last night, all my thought dwelt on a 25-year-old mother.  Her name is Janie.  I met her a week ago today.  I first wrote about her on the 8th.

I called her last night to ask if she would be my actress in Forever, a short film I’m writing and directing for my Introduction to Film class.  She said yes, and then we just kept talking.  We spoke over the phone for an hour and a half.  Our conversation covered everything from God’s provision to God’s forgiveness.  She is so funny and so beautiful.  I invited her to attend our youth service tonight.

We’ll see.

February 10, 1999 – Wednesday – 11:34 p.m.

I went over to Kimberly’s house Tuesday afternoon.  We went bike riding and swung on swings at the park.  We played Tetris at her house and had dinner with her family.  What a nice time!

Tonight at Discipleship, I led the first ever Parkway Temple foot washing service.  It was just our group, but it was so freeing and redeeming for everyone.  The kids appeared very humbled.

Afterwards, Mary Jo asked me to go swing dancing.  I did and had a delightful time.  I danced with other girls as well.  There is another dance happening Friday.  I hope I can go after the youth service.

God is so good and perfect.  This whole day was a blessing.  I simply wake up and live each day one day at a time.  Thank you for the peace and freedom than can only be found in you Lord.

February 8, 1999 – Monday – 12:47 a.m.

How quickly the weekends come and go.  I spent Friday at Jorge’s apartment on a film shoot.  I played a secret agent sort of character.  I met the most beautiful 25-year-old woman in the world.  She had a bit part, and I can’t recall her name, but she has a 7-year-old little boy named Christian.  She got married when she was 17 and it didn’t work out.  We got to talk in between shot set ups.  It was nice.

I washed my clothes on Saturday and worked on a film shoot until 3:00 a.m.  At church on Sunday, I tried to talk to Christin’s mom about how Christin is doing.  She just hasn’t been herself recently and even her grades are suffering.  I didn’t get any answers, so I hope she’s okay.

After church I went with Josh, Jason, Robin, and Michelle to Waffle House and to see Stepmom.

It’s nearly one o’clock on this Monday morning.  I’ve gotten so used to this area, to the layout of this land.  It’s all so familiar to me now.  My mountain memories of Lees-McRae seem almost like a foreign country when compared to these flat suburbs.

It’s been six months since I returned from Africa.

I’m not ready to leave this place yet.  These smiles and eyes are too pretty God.  These souls are too precious and deep.  Help me love them God.  Help me make a difference while I am here, for they are making such a huge difference in me.

February 3, 1999 – Wednesday – 11:50 p.m.

It’s been a hectic past three days, but God has pulled me through.

One funny thing was that on Tuesday night, while doing sit-ups, I noticed the entire upper half of my body was blue.  I later discovered it from from a new blue shirt I wore in the rain.  At church tonight, I showed the kids and told them that I was sleeping walking while naked and got moon-burned.  A few actually believed me.  Funny!

Last night I talked to both Abigail and Lindy over the phone.  They are so precious.  I miss them so.

God has been doing a number on me recently.  This whole film school thing, this whole life I’m supposed to be living in this huge city has gotten too big for me.  But I think God likes it that way.  It makes me trust him.

 

January 31, 1999 – Sunday – 11:38 p.m.

What an amazing weekend!  Friday, after youth group, Kimberly, Sterling, Christin, new friend Tessa, and a few others went to eat at IHOP.  These girls are the joy of my life these days.  I took Kimberly home afterwards.

Saturday, after going to Northwest River Park to measure a pier I found there for a short film I hope to make, I went to Kim’s birthday party, and everyone just had a fantastic time.  There was so much laughter!

Afterwards, some of us went to the movies and saw She’s All That.  It was definitely a movie for 16-year-old girls, but that’s who I surrounded by, so it was fun.  I took Kimberly home then as well.  I sat next to her in church this morning and felt like a helpless high schooler again.  She’s unbelievable, and I wanted so badly to reach over and hold her hand, but I didn’t.  Sometimes it feels like I like every girl I ever meet.

I went over to Sterling’s this afternoon and we played in her room all afternoon.  At the Super Bowl party tonight at church, the teenagers started talking about potential guy/girl relationships, so I walked away and stayed out of it.  Later Rebekah came and talked to me and asked me if I knew how women wanted to be treated.  I shared my answer and her mouth hung open in disbelief.  She said I was spot on.  My feelings then were bittersweet.  Many women tell me I have them all figured out, yet I don’t have anyone to give share my life with.

David and I talked a bit after everyone left.  He is interested in a 20-year old girl at church.  He’s 26.  It should happen.

February is around the corner, so it feels like talk of love and relationships is in the air.

But no matter how much I dream of Kimberly or Christin, these girls are simply too young for me at this stage of life.  They are Winter Dreams.  I will have moved on from here by the time they are of the right age for a serious relationship to truly go anywhere.

But that doesn’t mean I won’t lose sleep thinking about them now.