On the other blog I used to post on, I was once accused of being a Christian and “openly condoning sin.” I found it ironic that the comment came from the campus pastor at my former high school. While the comment originally was quite offensive, and he didn’t have the nerve to leave his name or e-mail, but I used IP tracking and time records to tell who posted it. I came to realize that despite the fact that I and the pastor were both Christians, we had differing beliefs and that led him to insult me personally, when he should have addressed what I said, not who I am as a person. I still haven’t recieved an apology, but I still forgive him.

I recieved an e-mail from a fellow Utah blogger, notifying me that he had linked to my blog, and was hoping that I would reciprocate. I obliged, and started reading his blog. He’s a fellow Christian as well, and happens to hold some beliefs that are contradictory to my own. I almost removed him from my blogroll and was tempted to ask him to remove his link to my page as well, but then came to an important realization. If everyone held the same beliefs and convictions that I do, then there would be no reason for me to even express myself. While many think that I am quite “non-patriotic” or “unpatriotic,” I point them to this quote:

“Dissent is the highest form of patriotism”
Thomas Jefferson (American 3rd US President (1801-09). Author of the Declaration of Independence. 1762-1826)

This goes to show that some of our founding fathers intended us to be able to use our voices to change things in our government that we disagree with or don’t like. Dissent isn’t an example of people hating the United States, it’s an example of people investing in their government. So, the people that don’t agree with the way I think our country should be run should merely see me as an equal or a contemporary. No two people completely agree on every issue.

I believe that Christians, regardless of political beliefs, moral beliefs, or beliefs otherwise should unite, but at the same time, keeping their own identities. There should not be such monumental amounts of hate between Christians. For as a popular hymn reads, “They will know we are Christians by our love.” If we aren’t showing love to fellow Christians, what will that portray us as? We will be cast aside as legimate Christ followers. Christ loved everyone, and thus we should also love, if we are claiming to be following Him. In conclusion, let us be like Christ. Love and be loved.

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Green grass is what currently makes up my lawn. Even on December 29th, when show would normally blanket our front yard of my house. The weather is around 50 degrees Fahrenheit in Salt Lake City, and so I thought I would head downtown for some photos.

Thus far, this break has been rather eventful, Christmas included. As lame as this may seem, I’m going to now list off the gifts I recieved and from whom I received them.

1. Creative Labs Zen Micro (5gb) from my parents. photo here
2. Camera Accessories (A tripod, mini tripod, and a bigger camera bag) from my parents.
3. $15 iTunes Card from my sister
4. Clothes from my parents, all of which fit this year
5. A Paul Reed Smith guitar t-shirt from my grandma
6. Mocha with Max, a book by Max Lucado from Alison
7. A handmade beanie, also from Alison
8. A large assortment of candy and gum in my stocking

I hope your Christmas break was as wonderful as mine was!

Snow has finally gotten to the point where it is impossible to pretend it isn’t there anymore. Twenty minutes prior to writing this post, I was sitting at a University of Utah Campus Shuttle stop, as the wind was blowing snow directly into my face, while I was watching for the bus to come. In addition to that, my cotton hoodie had decided to go the way of a sponge, soaking up all the snow it could, before being permeated with the frozen water. In case you’re wondering the extent of the snow, I have some pictures on my Flickr, which are also available on the sidebar. The snow has been falling at this point for about 2 hours, with no signs of halting. If you’re interested in seeing some of the photos, click the link below.

In addition to the snowfall, this week is seeming to be what Alison calls “The week from hell that never ended.” Finals are coming up, so this week has either been spent starting/continuing/finishing projects, or studying for finals. I’ve gotten off fairly easy, with only two formal finals. Most of the other finals have been projects or papers. I appreciate everyone’s prayers, and I hope my hard work will pay off.

Don’t forget to check out my pictures:

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I’ve finished a rough recording of my song “Falling.” If you’re interested in hearing it, you can navigate to this page:

http://www.myspace.com/sawyerpangborn

Take note - it’s a rather rough as far as recording is concerned, I’ll have a better version up soon. Thanks for all the encouragement. I welcome any comments on the MySpace page or here. Suggestions, comments, smart aleck retorts, sarcasm. Anything to let me know how people like or dislike it. Thanks for staying around.

Say goodbye, say goodbye
To the you I knew before
Say hello, say hello to a new beginning
Say goodbye, say goodbye
To the you I knew before
This is your genesis (Joy Williams - Say Goodbye)

I was tempted to post this at first with a post password, limiting it only to my friends, but I’m going to be open and let people understand how I work. Tonight, I became single again. Oddly enough, I’m not fretting about it or scared of what to do. On the other hand, it feels wierd to be with someone for that long and suddenly be mutually apart. I’ve come to the conclusion that relationships are a wonderful thing as long as they last. Once they’re gone, you can’t worry about them, you just have to live life like any other day, which is exactly what I plan to do. Despite the pain and/or awkwardness that this will eventually cause, I’m determined to keep a positive outlook. I was given a quite interesting quote, and I’ve decided to live by it.

“If you love someone set them free, if they return, it was meant to be.”

Thanks first to God for a great relationship that He blessed me with. A popular Christian song goes,

“You give and you take away, my heart will choose to say, blessed be the name of the Lord” (Tree63 - Blessed Be Your Name)

I want to thank Ashley for a wonderul 18 months. You were more than I ever could have asked for. I will cherish my memories with you. I hope your future is bright and successful. I hope that we can continue to be friends.

This has been a great learning time in my life. Thanks to everyone who gave me wisdom and insight, for you are who I look up to. I pray every day that God will give me wisdom like you have. I couldn’t ask for better friends. Thank You.

Today was equally interesting as the first day in Seattle. I woke up and headed to breakfast at Great Harvest, where I had a delicious cinnamon roll and some milk. I then went back to my brother’s apartment, and proceeded to go to the Public Market Center, which is also where the Farmer’s market is. (See flickr photos) This place, so far, was the most interesting part of Seattle. There is a culture there that is quite reflective of our society. The area was quite diverse, filled with seafood venders to fruit and flower venders to professional photographers. Forrest, his girlfriend, and I then headed to the University of Washington Village, where we visited the Apple store, looking at Mac mini’s and even the new iPod Nano. After heading to a bookstore, we headed back to Forrest’s apartment and to a restaurant/pub called the Elliot Bay Pub/Restaurant. I had fish and chips because, after all, what else is there that one should eat when in such a Western port city? We headed back to Forrest’s apartment and watched Hotel Rwanda. My next regular post will likely be about this movie, so as not to spoil it now. Pictures from today are on Flickr.

As promised, I’m now writing this post from my brother’s apartment in West Seattle. My flight, which left at 9:50 AM (Mountain Time) landed in the Seattle-Tacoma airport at 10:50 AM (Pacific Time). At first glance, the flight would appear to only be one hour long, although the flight is actually a two hour long event. I’ve done a little walking around West Seattle with Forrest’s girlfriend who kindly met me at the airport to take me to Forrest’s apartment. She would have picked me up, but that’s a different story. I went to a good bagel shop for lunch, as it was pretty good. On the way back to my brother’s apartment, our bus was involved in a car accident, so Forrest’s girlfriend and I walked the rest of the way back to Forrest’s apartment. I’m enjoying the scenery, and I’ll be taking some pictures from the roof of his apartment, which has three nice views. Look forward to pictures posted later, as I realized while I was writing this post that I neglected to pack my USB cable for my camera. I’ll likely add more to this post later today, so look for updates.

Update: Photos are now up on Flickr.

Next week will be the best week of college. Before you start disagreeing, think of this. Three days of class, then four days off. That’s right. Fall break seems to come very early this year. To celebrate this wonderful occasion, I’m headed up to Seattle to visit my brother. My siblings UEA Week (a time of year where Utah students get some days off) doesn’t have any of the same days as my break, and they’re going to Disneyland. So, as a bit of a consolation, my parents are sending me to Seattle. It should be great weekend in Seattle. My brother is currently working for RealNetworks, and living in an apartment in West Seattle. Of course, I’ll have to go to a Starbucks, as there are hundreds of them in Seattle. I’m going to be taking a lot of pictures, so keep your eyes open for them. I’ve also got some new photos from campus that are going to end up on Flickr, so browse on over there and check them out.

On a different note, there’s an incredibly smart guy (Matthew Schinckel) over at Paint the Tiger, Carve the Swan who has been doing some incredible things with Blogsome Blogs. I’ve attempted to implement his comment preview, but I seem to have botched something up somewhere. He’s also created bits of code for Gravatars for Blogsome, and a Catchpa.