Monday, May 17, 2010

Travel time again

So, here I am, writing my last blog for a good month, and possibly even up to three months. My emotions are running rampant, I can't believe it, I can't breathe...

Whatever. You'll get over me.

But seriously, there's a lot going on. I'm going to IRELAND TOMORROW MORNING. Goodbye America. I'm finally going to be able to visit one of my top three places I want to go before I die. I can hardly believe it. I have to go shopping for a bunch of people while I'm there. I'm also hoping to pick up a bit of an accent and maybe some local lingo while I'm gone. When I get back on June 10, I have to head straight to camp for the summer, as I'll already be about a week and a half late.

In other news, I forget whether I announced it here or not, but I got rid of my Facebook account around last November. Currently, I also do not have a functioning cell phone because of bizarre circumstances. I am very out of touch with most of my friends because of this. It feels really weird, and I can't contact many people who I would really like to, but, at the same time, it feels pretty good. I can focus much more easily on what's around me. I believe my mom is picking me up a cell phone for me to have when I get back from Ireland and England, but I won't have one until then, and I really won't have any contact at all with North America while I'm gone. It's going to be awesome. To have no communication with anyone I know via all forms of electronics (except maybe the possiblity of checking my e-mail and blog at some point while I'm there, and also excluding the people I'm traveling with) for a whole month...it's going to be interesting, and I think it will be really beneficial. Being at camp afterward is also going to really help ease me back to normal life, since I'll still be rather limited while I'm there, with little time to be online and comparable reception for my cell phone. I'm banking on me being less reliant on these things by the summer's end, so I have decided to get my Facebook back after camp gets out. I think it's been long enough, and I've learned a lot about how to manage my time properly. I also need to reclaim my title (see the URL at the top of the page), as it seems one of my friends has decided to steal it now that I'm gone.

Anyways, I hope this post finds whoever reads it well-rested and ready for the summer. Hope ya'll have a good one while I'm gone!

Peace.

Thursday, May 6, 2010

Pray for your friends

So, there's a sign outside my room right now which a friend of mine put up today. It's his bill for the school. He owes Spring Arbor a good chunk of money, and wrote on the paper, "PLEASE PRAY OVER THIS!" He didn't ask for money, and he didn't say he's worse off than anyone else; he only asked for prayer. My room is right in front of the stairwell, so when people leave the floor or come up the stairs, they're pretty likely to see it. I've had the misfortune of hearing several people's reactions to this sign. "That's nothing, I owe [insert dollar amount] to the school!" I understand that if you owe a lot more money than someone else does, their problem seems less important to you, but SERIOUSLY. He asked for PRAYER, NOT your criticism and sick pride in your own "poverty." "Oh please, my problems are so much worse than his, he doesn't even have the right to ask for prayer in this matter." That's what I was really hearing from people. If we are going to call ourselves a community of brothers on this floor, then we should be able to look at others' problems and have compassion on them.

Philippians 2:1-4
"So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count other more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interest, but also to the interests of others."

Funny how often we take those words for granted.

Peace.