Old Friends and New Beginnings

Ok...so this is probably going to be the shortest post I have ever left. I am leaving soon to go to a New Year's Eve party and then I depart with a group from Mobap for Passion '07! I am really excited about this opportunity for growth and renewel...more on this when I return.

So yesterday I got a chance to catch up with a friend of mine that went to Mobap last year, but transferred out to California. I hadn't seen him since April so it was a lot of fun. Another friend and I surprised him by showing up at his girlfriend's house where he was staying with her and her family. We then "borrowed" him for the afternoon and went bowling...it was a lot of fun. We had a chance to catch up and have a good time in the process...and, I would like to add that I bowled very well for myself...while a 136 doesn't sound impressive to you, it was quite good for me.

He's Still the Christ of Christmas

I love Christmas time...unfortunately like most others, I tend to enjoy it for all of the wrong and selfish reasons most of the time. Therefore I am going to throw in my plug right here: Christ is the reason for Christmas. We need to remember to put Christ first at all times, especially at this time of the year. This can come out in our actions too, by showing compassion to others and assisting those in need. Lets try to make Christmas Day less about what we received from our friends and family and more about what we received from our saviour, the gift of salvation through unwarranted grace. Repay His love with love for others. For they will know we are Christians by our love for one another. Have a safe a Merry CHRISTmas and a Happy New Year!

Finals Finale

Well, I am officially finished with school for the semester! I have three whole weeks of not having to worry about any papers to write, projects being due, or tests to study for. Three weeks of relaxation...or something like that. Generally for me, breaks are not all that relaxing as I spend most the time in my car driving from one place to another. This year, however, I will be staying at my apartment for most of the break so I won't be doing as much traveling. But I digress. What I really wanted to talk about was the Christmas Party that I attended yesterday. The Math and Science Club got together and had our annual Christmas Party. Everyone brought food and we ate, which always makes a party that much better. Food was followed up by a fast-paced game of "rob-your-neighbor" where we took turns rolling dice to see if we could steal a present from a friend. The most contested present, the one wrapped in metalic silver wrapping which found it's way in to almost everyone's hands at one time or another, wound up being a necklace box full of pencils. There was also a box of macaroni in the mix somewhere. The party concluded when a few of us discovered the half-full bucket of ice and decided to "dispose" of the contents. We went around campus throwing pieces at peoples windows...the admissions office thought that ice was still melting and falling off the roof. Good times...good times!

Oh and I want to thank those of you who are leaving me comments...I haven't quite figured out how to reply to you other than in the blogs themselves. So keep the comments coming and I will attempt to blog on topics of your interest.

Once Upon a Mattress...

If you live anywhere near the St. Louis area, then you know that we were hit hard by some good ole winter weather on Thursday and Friday. I think Dave Murray was calling it the worst winter storm in St. Louis is over thirty years! That kind of shocked me because I remember some bad ice storms in the past, but, of course I was younger at the time so things seemed much greater back then...but I digress. Anyway, so Mobap closed early on Thursday so we could get home before the weather made it to dangerous to go home. Being the "immortal" college students that we are, my roommate and I decided to head back to school later that evening in the middle of the storm. This decision wasn't completely unwarranted; we knew that things would be jumping at the dorms and we didn't want to miss out on the fun. So we arrived around 7 o'clock and started recruiting friends to enjoy the weather with us. I want to give a shout out to the Resident Directors for their assistance in providing plastic mattresses for our enjoyment. Jon and Lisa even took part in the festivities. The hills around the dorms were filled with close twenty-five or thirty students surfing on mattresses, dog-piling on other mattresses, forming human sleds, playing ice-football, just plain having a good time. The real fun began when the mattress sledding moved to the hill that ends abruptly in a creek. Not to drop names, or anything, but a certain RD previously mentioned was the first to try this new path. The real thrill of the game was to get as close to the creek before bailing out as possible. My friend John (not to be confused with Jon) bailed out just a second too late and went flying into the creekbed. He was alright, but he come out just slightly more wet than when he went in. The arrival of lightning and a heavy batch of freezing rain ended our outside fun do to our extreme wetness, so we headed in for some hot cocoa and some movies. College life is amazing! p.s. I will add pictures once I am able to download them.