Livin' it up at BU

I didn't sleep a lot last night. I think the cool thing for profs to do is get together and coordinate due dates for big projects, tests, etc. Needless to say, I'm a tad exhausted. And to top things off, I ran the BearTrail a little while ago. I really don't know why I did it. I just hadn't run in a while, so I felt like I needed to.


And I just woke up from a nap in the living room floor. I woke up and kinda freaked out when Ballard started talking to me. Then I just laid there in the floor for a good half hour, staring at the pipes and fixtures 17 feet above my head. For a while, the entire apartment was completely silent. I could hear the air moving. That's pretty sweet.

Things I need: sleep and a shower.

"So that I am near you, I am comparatively happy. It is more than this earthly wretch called Me deserves - you spirit, you disembodied creature, you dear, sweet, tantalizing phantom - hardly flesh at all; so that when I put my arms round you I almost expect them to pass through you as through air!"

-Thomas Hardy, Jude the Obscure

Words are amazing.

Pictures are in! Here's some shots of me and some of my peeps doin' some crazy stuff!

Fun on the road!





Fun in Nashville!









Fun at the zoo!

Ummm, Seth is asleep on my couch. Eleven hours ago I didn't even think I'd see him or Arley for a few months. But the suprise visit has been quite exciting.
We went to the zoo today! We saw big animals and small animals. Some of the big ones were so big, that I can't even fit them on this blog! But some of the little ones can fit - like this dikdik:


Enjoy the weekend. Pet a dikdik.

Today at Barkin' Basement, I purchased this Westinghouse reel-to-reel recorder:





And I'm quite excited.

Someone had an accident.

So I was walking to class today, and I saw some kids I know carrying this huge cross with wheels on one end. They're members of the more charasmatic church here in Waco, and members of the church have done this in the past.

I couldn't help but see it as foolish. When I was in seventh grade, I would have thought that was the best idea ever. But I see now how that might contribute to the "Christian" stereotype, and could possibly be conter-productive in the fight for the kingdom.

Rewind a little bit: I've spent much of the past year or so doubting A) the legitimacy of my religion and B) the fact that I believe in Christianity at all. Neither of those comes from a dislike for Christianity ... I would sacrifice a lot of things to be rid of my doubt. I just doubted my faith based on the fact that I have no urge or desire to win people to the Lord. Mission trips in high school? Very evangelical. I did what I was supposed to, but reluctantly. I had no burden for the eternal fate of others. And coming from my background, there's something wrong with that. I thought, "Am I really a believer, if I don't believe enough to be the evangelical I was taught to be?"

So back to the kids and the cross. For some reason, I felt that this looked silly. I thought it was arrogant to assume that a cross on wheels could change lives. I was critical of these actions, perfomred my brothers and sisters in Christ.

This means either of two things: I don't really believe in Christ's power since I don't wear WWJD bracelets and drag a cross on wheels, OR, I am being discerning, like God made me, differentiating effective from absurd and criticizing a means of evangelism.

Am I less of a Christian for seeing the antics of evangelicals as absurd? Or am I just doing my job? Let's discuss.

FROM THE VAULT: Monday, October 06, 2003

I was thinking on my walk back home today... what if I didn't exist? Not "what if I ceased to exist," but what if I never did in the first place? How would that affect the people I [don't] come in contact with, but would if I did exist?
Like my family... how different would my parents be if I was never even a possibility? Would my brother have developed a different personality? Would another person have come into being merely because I didn't?
And the friends that I wouldn't have... how would they be different? Would they have different interests or political views? Would they run with a bad crowd or become someone that I wouldn't have liked anyway? Who would have been destroyed that I saved? Who would have been saved that I destroyed?
Since I did and do exist, how have I impacted these people? It's the same question, just the inverse. What kind of capacity do I have now to affect those around me? Perhaps I'll never know - but hopefully I have changed people, for the better, by simply being me.

There are people to whom we don't exist, because we have never come into contact with them, even by reputation. When we meet others, may we exist to foster the best and most extreme changes in them. We will impact people, whether it be for better or for worse. Choose wisely.

I'm just chillin' here - second day at blogspot. Seth gave me some advice about posting my list of reading/listening over in the margin there. Thanks, Seth. Someday, I aspire to be just like you in every way possible.

For some reason, I have decided to move my loyalty from the Xanga camp to the Blogspot camp. There you have it. My name is sugardaddyDP and I love you.