Today and tonight simply have been spectacular.

Things God’s blessed me with:
• life
• joy
• amazing friendships
• hope
• wisdom (Bible, Holy Spirit, some manly influences in my life [Matt W., Phil, Chase, Ray, Dennis -- you guys rock], and MANY other people)
• peace
• a future

Tonight was the Navigator’s Halloween Par-tay. Prior to that was a one-hour Nav Nite with six different workshops, 20 minutes each, pick 3.

I picked Meditation, Sabbath, and Spiritual Warfare. A couple of Navigator staff from Africa lead the Meditation and Spiritual Warfare workshops. Both of these were interesting.

The Meditation workshop used an analogy about scripture I hadn’t thought about before: taking the scripture, reading it, defining words, inquiring, and looking at the content and the emphasis are part of finding a rough jewel and polishing it into a dazzling gem which reflects light and beauty.

Jenny lead the Sabbath workshop. She brought up a lot of good verses on finding rest in God, having a Sabbath day, and that it’s a gift. It’s something she’s been learning about lately and she did a good job of conveying it.

The Spiritual Warfare talk held my interest. The presence of demonic activity and demonic influences isn’t something given much credit in America, or is usually ignored. I found it interesting that some of what people dismiss as pscyhological problems could be a spiritual struggle. Nelson’s also going to email information and scripture about it to me.

After all of that, the Nav Halloween Par-Tay commenced. I got up there, paid, went in, and Jenny asked if I’d go get something to eat with her since she hadn’t eaten dinner. “Sure.” Jenny, a girl from Kauffman, and I went over to Amigos, got some food, and had good conversation.

Then back to the Par-Tay. Dancing, etc. Only one country-swing dance while I was there, but it was enjoyable. Lots of techno. Different. Jenny and Jake shared their testimonies and talked about how knowing God has changed their lives. They both did a good job.

Eventually I left and came home. Now I’m tired. I’ve had a good conversation with Mandy (my cousin) on IM(Instant Messenger) and that’s been nice.

I’ll be going to bed soon. G’night.

Costumes of Note:
• Jake – Scary Uncle Jake
• Jenny – hispanic dancer
• Tracy – woman in a Poodle skirt (I never realized a poodle image was actually supposed to be on the skirt.)
• Phil – 80s Army Man w/ short shorts
• Hatfield – William Wallace
• me – McDonalds employee or after-work McDonalds employee

Categories: Life, Religious
Tags: Jake, Jenny, McDonalds, Navigators, Phil, Tracy

Updated: 4:46AM, 08/08/2003

Matt says (paraphrase), “I was scraping the second story bedroom window and I saw a bunch of things that looked like slugs on the paint. I kept scraping and scraping, and thought to myself, ‘it really smells funny right here.’ Then I looked up and saw a bat on a shutter. I thought, ‘maybe the smell is coming from that dead bat.’ I poked it. It hissed at me. Then I got down the ladder before it could knock me off. I’ll get it later with a hose. Those slugs were probably bat poop.”

The ppl we’re housesitting for get back on Tuesday. Whoops. We didn’t think it was that soon. Mad rush to get out! We need to finish painting the windows, too.

Two One shifts left at McDs. I’ve got a telephone survey job lined up for the school year. The manager didn’t guarantee the job would exist, but it seems likely.

Tonight, Travis is going to look at my car for me. Hopefully we’ll figure out the break situation and be able to repair it in the next few days. I have hopes of going home for a week starting next Wednesday. The car situation ended up well. $40 to fix the rotors. I need to have a couple other things checked out at a car shop just in case, but this fixed the immediate problem.

My dad’s laser eye surgery went well today. It takes some time to heal up perfectly, but his far-sight should be better now.

Yo estoy… entonces… err…. uh…. consado? Solamente hablo un pocito de español.

Today’s Link for Luebbe
The Dane – August 6 and July 21, 2003 are notable

Categories: Life
Tags: 4L, Luebbe, McDonalds, The Dane

Online pizza delivery is ultimately lacking. I tried last night and none of Lincoln’s Pappa Johns or Pizza Huts support it yet, although the companies official web sites provide the service. What’s the deal, yo? So instead of being incredibly lazy, I had to log off, call them, and wait around for the food. I think I’m codependent on the internet (Luebbe…. Luebbe….) so it was a good excercise in non-dependence.

I’m proud to say I’ve recovered from yesterday’s sleep deprivation. It probably helped to sleep on my bed instead of one of the couches.

Chase is in town again. Whee. A bunch of people went to The Mill for coffee after Bible study last night. It was fun, but I felt like it ended too quickly. Seriously, who’s ready to go home and sleep at 11pm? </sarcasm>

If you want any McDonalds at 3am tonight you know where to find me. Latez!

Categories: Life
Tags: college, Lincoln, McDonalds, pizza, sleep, The Mill

My interview yesterday went well as far as I can tell. It doesn’t pay much better than McDs, but the hours and work would both be better. I’ll find out in the next week or so if I get the job.

Isaiah 53 is a great passage which prophesies about Jesus and several things related to his death and crucifixion. I read it this morning and it served as a reminder of what Jesus did for me and anyone who trusts in him.

Categories: Life, Work
Tags: McDonalds

I’ve got orientation at McD’s in half an hour. I’ve always wanted a Lancaster County Food Handler’s Permit, and now I’ll get it. Now I can handle food without supervision. Then again, whenever I say I’ll make some girls dinner, they usually just laugh at me and say “whatever.” I don’t know what the deal is. I need to bust out some of my mom’s recipes and start practicing.

Update: It was a simple enough experience. I did all the paperwork, got my foodhandler’s permit, and my McD’s “outfit.” Next week I’ve got 12 hours over three days of training. (Oh, and of course Wally World called back today — finally, but it would’ve been the overnight maintenance shift and I wasn’t quite sure about doing two jobs at once.)

Categories: Life, Work
Tags: McDonalds