Saturday, I had a blast at King's Island. We went and rode 6 rides: Delirium, Son of Beast, Drop Tower, Vortex, Backlot Stunt Coaster, and Firehawk (respectively). Firehawk probably had to be the best. You climbed the opening hill laying down, then as it crested the hill you flipped upside down and went careening down the track with just the shoulder harness and locking mechanism between you and the ground. It felt exactly like I was skydiving - very thrilling! Son of Beast was also a great ride with a great opening drop, straight down. It was all very fun - made my heart race and my lips break out into a smile. I enjoyed just being able to have fun with friends - talking and hanging out with Vita, Chris, Cheryl and Leanna.
Sunday was my day of rest and I pretty much slept all day with the exclusion of church and meals. I remember it raining all day long. Again and again I have felt and found that college has really changed things. Mother's day was very different without being home to be with my mom. I gave her a card and called her and she told me that the card made her cry. I was touched. My preference for special occasions is to let people know how much they have touched my life. I use the combination of my writing skills and my love language of words of affirmation.
Monday, I stayed up all morning finishing my reading for a final and then completed that with ease. It's been no problem for me to be awake til 2, 3 or 5 AM during finals week. I study late (with a little help)
and go to class in the morning then find a time to crash in the afternoon. As Matthew Theisson so well transcribes it. "This week the trend was to not wake up til 3 PM and pick a few conscious hours that I chose to spend, and slept away the rest of them."
Today I woke up (which I generally recommend for all those interested in living life) and made a chilled coffee before my Principles exam. I missed two questions that threw me off. As I was handing in my test Dr. Phil commented, "Too easy, wasn't it?" I forced a nervous smile and I think commented, "Yea" before turning to walk out. I mean it was easy, but I can't describe any Brown Test as "too easy." Wow. *shakes head incredulously with a smile*
At lunch we had an interesting topic for our conversation: why praising God comes so unnaturally. Scripture commands us to bless the Lord at ALL TIMES, and for His praise to continually be in our mouth. However, the phrase at GBS has become a euphemism! "Argh, argh, I will bless the Lord at all times (annoyingly emphasized and muttered) argh, argh!" This is obviously not the way things should be. It is very humorous to me at the way we use Scripture, but it also saddens me that real praise does not come naturally. We are fallen creatures who live on complaining and muttering disgust when things don't go our way. We were made to praise and worship our Creator. Our mouths as Christians should be filled with praise for God. Why aren't they? As Jon Foreman puts it, "We were meant to live for so much more. Have we lost ourselves?...We want more than this world's got to offer." I want to be someone that learns how to give praise to God in good and bad times. When things go wrong, so often we cry out to God, declare our trust in Him and claim Him as our deliverer. But do you remember the last time you thanked God for the fun you had with your friends? I think we need to cultivate an attitude of gratitude, by simply thanking God at the end of the day for the good we have experienced and the fun we had with friends. I am so blessed, so why not take time to thank God for it? Have you ever thought of writing God a thank you note?
Well it's early in the morning and we have planned our annual, end of the semester doughnut run tomorrow morning and I must slip slowly into madness before I suffer the consequences. I fear it is already too late. Tiredness has set in. My eyes are losing their focus. I shall depart.
All that fancy nonsense and stuff,
-Sam
2 comments:
been thinking about our lunch conversation and trying to cultivate an "attitude of gratitude" in the good and the bad. Look at David in the Psalms - he was constantly praising God no matter what was going on. I mean God is SO good to us, how can we not praise Him?
Anyway, good post...enjoyed it.
Hey there,
This is pretty random as I'm a stranger but your blog post came up in a google alert I set for all things "Jon Foreman". Anyway, hope you don't mind me dropping a comment. I think it's so true that we need to be grateful and thank God for all the experiences we have, especially the good ones. Because I've personally gone through challenging times lately I've found that I'm even more grateful to God for all the great people in my life. I realize more now how important it is to acknowledge those things and offer thanks. Great post. Thanks.
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