Hey, I made it home safely. A quick seven hour drive and now it’s time to get ready for dinner! Booyah, we’re heading over to the house of dad’s friend from work. He’s an Indian guy so we’ll get some Indian food for dinner.
Yesterday was a lot of fun. (Thanks for hosting, Tracy!) A bunch of people headed over to Tracy’s house. The apartment saw much baking, cookie decorating, and spending time with friends. It’s the highlight of the week.
It’s been a swell weekend. Tracy’s birthday was on Friday (happy birthday to youuuu…). Also, Nav Nite and afterwards went to Jacob V.’s for cards and hanging out. Today (Saturday) I painted windows for an hour before my hands got too numb to continue. 4L was around for a while this afternoon. Video games attracted a lot of attention during the day and night including Half-Life, Diablo 2, and Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2. Tyler, Phil, Jake, and Luebbe all involved at various points of the day.
Around dinnerish time, headed down to Chipotle and watched Matrix: Revolutions with some other Navigator’s and some of the freshman guys. The fajita was tasty and kept me full for a few hours. The movie … I liked it, but… nothing beats the first. Smith is the most dynamic and interesting character. The plot resolves itself to an extent at the end, but… nothing beats the first. _shrug_ Oh well. It’s hard to keep the momentum going for three movies.
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
I registered for classes this morning. I logged onto eNroll and discover a hold on my account. In the midst of frustration, I dressed and quickly walked to the administration building, removed the hold by letting them know I was caught up on payments, and then left. I signed up for classes in the Union and got all that I decided upon. Everyone tells me 18 credits is a nasty semester. After seeing my schedule, I agree with them.
The whole process was done in 20 minutes.
On Saturday I went to the NU vs. Iowa St. game courtesy of Miss Tracy with a K. The game entertained me well for the first half. The second half was more boring, but we won 28 - 0 and that’s always good. I’m begginning to feel like a Husker fan.
Then I painted windows for a couple hours.
Sunday I woke up at 10:06 AM, rushed to get ready, and got downstairs by 10:25. Nobody was waiting in the lobby as I’d expected, so I decided they left already. I got in my car, drove to church. Everybody was in the sanctuary and Stu was talking, so I assumed Sunday school was in progress. I sat down. A few minutes later, I realized it was the end of the early service and that Daylight-Saving time ended.
Highlite: Romans 4, Dinner at Tracy’s
Lowlite: twinge of tiredness, sore tendons
It’s been a splendid day. Only one class today do to cancelation of the other. In the class I did have, the professor unexpectedly provided a guest speaker due to his absence. Oh, the United Nations… what a tangled yet oddly tantalizing organization. Idealism wrapped around humanism and political maneuvering. Some noble goals, but I think it fails to live up to any higher purpose due to negligance of The Absolute.
I bought a few poetry books today. I’ve got a few which I’ve largely been forced to buy for poetry classes. Two of the books I bought today serve the same purpose, yet I got to choose myself. I purchased a T.S. Elliot book as well. Talented and includes aspects of Christianity in his works. I glanced through a few of the poems and look forward to seeing more.
Dinner happened at Tracy’s apartment tonight. Yay for Tracy’s pasta and Bunny Track’s ice cream! Seriously. Good stuff. I enjoyed seeing my friends there and wish the time lasted longer.
Romans 4 was our Bible study this week. It reveals an amazing amount of things about faith especially when viewed as part of the overall argument Paul is building in Romans. Interesting crossreferences and tangents include Hebrews 11, I John 4, and Genesis 15.