Might as well blog about it

You ever have those times you don't save something because you have a temporary lapse of importance, or even worse, you don't even remember deleting it? Well, that just happened to me. My first lab report of the year is going swimmingly, as I was about halfway done and it got deleted. That qualifies as about the most frustrating thing on this side of sin. It feels like I totally wasted my evening that I could've been hanging with friends during to instead do a lab report that isn't even there anymore. Sweet...

Visionary

This is a post in stream of consciousness. It'll be interesting to see what is written.

My first thought is that the Illini played well today. Not fantastic, but well enough for me to think we could win the next 3 games.

Second thought. Ty Grigg talked tonight at SNG about the walls that we put up between ourselves and God. He used the analogy of the Berlin wall. Some people were ok with the wall and some saw the injustice of it and got out. There was a woman that escaped from East Berlin to the west and when she got out from under the fence, she found out that she had nothing but her clothes on her back. She left everything behind for freedom.

Finally

The meat of the post. I have been thinking a lot recently. Not that I don't think other times, it's just that recently has struck me. The church in the hope for the world. Jesus called it to help the poor, orphaned, and widowed. We even talk about it a lot. But the thing I see us doing is being fantastic visionaries. "What if we instituted this program? What if we got involved with this organization?" And yet we seem to be more concerned with straight cold evangelism when I believe that the Gospel, when lived out, is enough to transform people (this isn't to say we shouldn't evangelize). Too many times we are the people inside the Berlin wall saying that it was bound to happen. Perhaps we should see the injustices and fight them with all our strength. Let's take the vision of the church and put it into action. I love the idea, and it's really a driving force for me right now. How can I help the poor? Living simpler. SO that means examining what I have and seeing what I need to get rid of what I don't need so the money can go to the poor. Let's see how this goes. Implementing the ideas and making them action. Vision can change the world...we must make sure it does so.

High School Football

So tonight I watched the Friday Football Frenzy. This is the first time in a couple years I took a specific time to follow high school football in the area. It was a fantastic experience. It brought back such fond memories about the days I played football. And I don't mean to be somebody that is intensely nostalgic, but I do want to say how much I enjoy remembering what those days were like.

It was fun to sit and think what if (I know, Uncle Rico moment). But I love to imagine what it would've been like to advance just a little further in the playoffs. It is pretty cool. But on that note, we move to Illinois football season. This starts tomorrow against Mizzou. The Arch Rivalry game. It is gonna be a blast. Tune in on ESPN2 at 2:30 tomorrow afternoon central time!

Ninja Warrior

So my housemates and I have seriously spent many moons discovering the greatest show on television...Ninja Warrior.

This is a show that takes place in Japan (there it is called Sasuke). There are 18 total 'seasons' that have occurred. This show chronicles the competition to be the next Ninja Warrior. These tournaments keep swallowing the competitors. There have been 2 winners in 1800 competitors.
I highly recommend watching this program becauseof it's awesomeness, the intense athleticism of some competitors, and the ridiculous failing of other competitors.

I just really wanted to get the name out there. Check it out!

Think with me

Before I get into my thoughts, I wanted to say that my computer is back! And not only that, but as I look through the backup that I performed a while back, there are far more files on it than I initially thought. That means that a lot of the music and pictures I thought I lost, I didn't. I even have many of the notes I thought I'd lost. NOW, it is disappointing that my notes from the Spring 07 semester as well as photos from the summer and recent music are lost, but rejoice in backing up.

Anyway, this was presented to me today in my literature class.

A man and his son were out rock climbing and the son fell in a freak accident. The father rushed his son to the hospital, as it was thought he broke his leg. In the emergency room, the doctor looked as gasped, "This is my son!"

How is this possible?




Our initial thought is to label the doctor as male, but the fact of the situation is that the doctor is the boy's mother. Interesting commentary and example on gender issues.

Back at school, still no cpu

I'm in a computer lab in MEL today telling you that I am back on campus at the U of I and I am in classes. Well, I had one class today, but my classes did start.

The only class I had was my Comparative World Literature class. But it was interesting. The class is specifically on eastern literature of the past. We'll be focusing on epics, religious texts (my most excited part), and drama.

The professor started the class today with syllabus stuff, but she also talked about the comparative approach to literature. Check out this whack thought process. It is fairly intriguing, and I believe it applies to my faith.

If you live in one room all of your life, you will know a lot about that room, however, you will know more about the room if you leave the room and see what else is out there. Knowing what else exists helps you to better understand and describe what you have. So for me, I don't consider this a liscence to leave Christianity (why would I?), but I do see it as something Christ's followers need to do. Let's know what else is out there to better be able to articulate our beliefs and what we know about our faith.

081707

So I haven't posted in a while...

That's because my laptop started malfunctioning whilst my family was visiting me in Colorado and I haven't been able to see any progress until today.

Today is the day that I got the phone call.

Like a doctor calling to tell me an update on a relative, the service person called and broke the news to me.

[

Your hard drive is dead.

What, what do you mean by dead...?

It doesn't work anymore.

It won't work and getting your data could cost you $5000 dollars.

Oh.

Thanks for checking it out for me.

]

So that was pretty sweet. All my good music is gone. The majority of my pictures are gone. My notes from classes are gone. My movies made with friends are gone. My internet bookmarks are gone. It's a pretty devastating thing.

GO BUY AN EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE AND BACK UP YOUR DATA RIGHT NOW!

I really am learning though. God is like poking me saying that I shouldn't store up treasures here. But the tough thing is that those are Godly things. He gave us (especially me) the ability to connect with Him through photography and music. SWEET. I just lost all of that. Yet, I still feel him there. That's a good feeling, but it's still rough that this had to happen.

This sucks, I won't try to paint it any other way.

I feel kinda like this kid. Sorta. I guess I just feel bad for him.


Well, what good has happened. I'm back in Illinois and enjoying (loosely used) the humidity here. I also really am getting a kick out of being lazy. lol. I really want to get to campus. Fresh starts are great. It will be good to move into the house I will live in with 5 other guys. It should be a lot of fun.

Now I sleep though and know that God provides a new day. That is so good.