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| May 2, 2000 | May 7, 2000 | May 8, 2000 | May 10, 2000 |
May 2, 2000 8:00 pm
Hehehe... I'm almost all done. I have a Sociology test tomorrow, and my Chinese take home stuff, and that's it. :-) wheeee! :-)
The P-chem test yesterday was bad though. I mean, it was HORRIFIC. I left several questions blank, or mostly blank, with some made up answer on the quantum part. The professor pulled some questions out of his behind. I mean, he asked stuff that wasn't in the notes, wasn't on the homework, and wasn't on the old tests. Oh well. It's over.
On several of the message boards I frequent, we're getting back into the discussion of Roman Catholicism that we always do every couple of months. It's inevitable. And in case you want to check them out, it's The Mead Hall, and The Back 40. Jase and Sknapper are the local resident Roman Catholics... They often visit both boards. Richard and I are the pretty hardcore "ain't never gonna be Roman Catholic without a major act of God." Not that Roman Catholics are inherently bad, but we can not bring ourselves to accept certain doctrines that they have, mainly having to do with the authority of the Church and Her Traditions.
Lisa and I spent a good part of last night trying to figure out what we were going to do when she comes out to visit in a couple weeks. We figure that we have 7 full days, one of those days being Sunday, so it's really only 6 full days. Of those 6 days, I think we've sorta figured out what we want to do. In no particular order:
Sunday will also be cool. I hope. I realize a lot of people have graduation that day, so they may not be there. I think Sam is graduating that evening, so I plan to go.
I guess I should get back to my soci studying.
Just thoughts.
May 7, 2000 11:55 pm
It's good to be done. I've been done for a couple of days now, and it's VERY nice :-) I'm enjoying my time greatly. I've been done since Thursday, and I'm enjoying my free time. I've been goofing around, playing computer games, surfing the web, sleeping :-) and just random things like that. I've packed up all my notes and books, just about. I've cleaned out most of my desk. I still need to figure out what I'm going to do with my clothes. There's no point in taking it all back. I also need to decide whether or not to take my suitcase back. This suitcase has been with me everywhere, and it's dying. It went to East Asia with me, and it made it there, but then one of the wheels broke off during the flight down here in August, and so I'm not sure what I want to do with it. I may just throw clothes in it, and leave it here in Houston. We'll see.
In a week, I'll be home :-)
As noted on the SFC BBS in the Christian Discussion Forum, under the Jaywalking thread, I have again, tried to wean myself off of illegal MP3s. I'm keeping the ones where I also own the CD. But everything that I didn't have the CD for, is gone. And it's aobut the 30th time in college that I've resolved to do this, too. It's just so convenient and nice to be able to listen to the music that I want to listen to when I'm studying/doing HW or something. At the same time, that does not justify my breaking the law.
And so, it's something that I didn't particularly want to do, on one level, since I know that I'm probably not going to get in trouble for having them, but my conscience demands that I submit myself to the governing authorities. And I do want to honor God by obeying Him. It's just one of those things, where I want to justify it by saying, "It's not that big of a deal, and no one really cares."
Also, this summer, I'm thinking about picking up another instrument. Probably the harmonica or the hammered dulcimer. The only thing is, the hammered dulcimer is EXPENSIVE. The cheapest one I could find is $190, and that's for a smaller, backpacker version. A full size one costs $250. And then there's all the teaching stuff I'd have to buy, since I don't know anyone who knows how to play it. I dunno. We'll see. And I could at least learn the harmonica with Sam. :-)
I've also made it through most of Desiring God by John Piper, and I'm really enjoying the book. It has a lot of challenging stuff, especially about suffering. Someone else noted this on the SFC board, and I just happened to be in/just finishing that very chapter. It is definitely challenging, in that it presents the idea that maybe we SHOULD be looking to suffer for the cause of Christ. There are several reasons for this. One of the first, and most applicable in today's society, especially the US church, is to wean us from our self-reliance. Another reason is because we are called to it, as Philippians 3:7-11 suggests. He even has a quote from George Otis at the Lausanne Congress on World Evangelism from 1989.
Should the Church in politically or socially trying circumstances remain covert to avoid potential eradication by forces hostile to Christianity? Or would more open confrontation with prevailing spiritual ignorance and deprivation - even if it produced Christian martyrs - be more likely to lead to evangelistic breakthroughs? Islamic fundamentalists claim that their spiritual revolution is fueled by the blood of martyrs. Is it conceivable that Christianity's failure to thrive in the Muslim world is due to the notable absence of Christian martyrs? And can the Muslim community take seriously the claims of a Church in hiding? ... The question is not whether it is wise at times to keep worship and witness discreet, but rather how long this may continue before we are guilty of "hiding our light under a bushel" ... The record shows that from Jerusalem and Damascus to Ephesus and Rome, the apostles were beaten, stoned, conspired against, and imprisoned for their witness. Invitations were rare, and never the basis for their missions.Piper continues to say, "Our sufferings make Christ's sufferings known, so that people can see the kind of love Christ offers." That makes sense, and it challenges some of the ideas that I had about missions before. Not that everyone is called to be a martyr, nor that everyone should be stupid and proclaim to the Gospel to the imam down the street in Iran. But maybe we are being too cautious. I don't know. I'll have to think about it some more. And it's not to seek suffering for the sake of suffering, but to seek it to find the joy in it. Yeah, joy and suffering sound like they don't mix too well, but that's what Christ did. That's what was so cool about His love. The suffering was nothing compared to the joy that He found in it, because He knew that the suffering wasn't just because it was cool. It was because He loved His people, and wanted to provide salvation for them. And in the same way, we should seek the joy in suffering, because our mindset should be one that the benefits far outweigh the costs.
Just thoughts.
May 8, 2000 8:30 pm
Look! New pictures!
Just thoughts.
May 10, 2000 8:59 pm
Oh my goodness. I just got an email not ten minutes ago from a friend of mine in east asia, telling me that she's engaged. Wow. Engaged. ACK! People are getting married all around me! :-) Granted, these people are two years older than I am, but it feels so strange. These are my peers. [shudder]
Yesterday, Lisa and I took off in the afternoon for San Antonio to see the Alama and the Riverwalk. It was pretty cool. The Alamo was pretty impressive. They still have some of the original buildings standing from when it was first built several hundred years ago. And it was an impressive monument to some 200 odd men holding off an army of thousands for 13 days. Shows you what determination people fighting for their homes can have, and how they can be remembered for their sacrifice. It helped that famous men died there, too, most notably, David Crockett. :-)
The Riverwalk was a bit touristy, but cool to see nonetheless. It was just nice to get away from Houston, and hang out with Lisa and just talk. We had a great time. :-) I just enjoy talking to her, and spending time with her. :-)
I'm almost all packed up. Most of my "stuff" is packed up, and all I really have left is my clothes and bedding. I have a little bit of cooking stuff left, but that should disappear tomorrow, since I'll finish off my food tomorrow, I hope. :-)
Just thoughts.