God does have a plan, and he does work things out. When things seem like they’re falling apart, the walls are caving in around you and nothing makes sense–take heart, God is in control. It won’t seem like it at the time, but he is working things out according to his plan. And what a plan it is. He loves us and has the best planned for us. We just have to let go and allow him to lead.
Now if I just keep telling myself that, I’ll be okay.
So you thought you’d check in and see if I updated my ponderings for the past two days? Well, sorry. You know how I said I was still writing them everyday? Well, when the girlfriend shows up for the weekend on a whim, I tend to put things off. Oh well.
Many dealings a foot here in Chicago. My roommate moved in this weekend, along with some $1000 furniture that the company he’s interning with bought. So my room actually has some stuff in it now. Like me, my roommate is just living at Judson because he has an internship in town and it was convenient. Unlike me, he doesn’t come from a Christian school. So he’s not used to Judson and all the rules, and to be honest, I’m not used to him. Now I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with him. He’s a cool guy. Just look at the situation. I’ve been living at a Christian school for the past two years. I’ve been living with Christian guys. Now throw me in with an agnostic and you’ve got a little bit of culture shock.
Now very little of this has to do with my roommate. It more deals with the situation he’s been forced into. And I have to give him credit for the way he’s handled it. He hasn’t tried to hide anything about himself, and he’s not acting confrontational about anything. This morning I asked him if he wanted to come with me to church, more being nice than anything. I expected a simple yes or no. Essentially he summed up his current view on religion as an answer. He was very open about it.
What bothers me, is the Christian bubble. I’ve been locked away (so to speak) from the real world for long enough that now when I’m with someone who doesn’t live by the code of the bubble, my eyebrows tend to raise. Where is the bubble getting us? We have all these rules, and my school is a lot less strict then almost every other Christian school I’ve heard about, and where are they getting us? Making us look like weirdos to the rest of the world. I see the need for certain rules. But how much are we alienating ourselves from the world? Non-Christians don’t want to hang out with us, because we have all these rules. What will my roommate thing of Christianity after this summer? Will all of Judson’s picky rules scare him away? I suppose the big question is what will he see in my life?
My third day of cooking, and the dorm is still standing. Aw yeah.
Today I began reading C.S. Lewis’ Mere Christianity. I got through the preface and the first chapter (not even 15 pages), and already it’s Daily Ponderings worthy. C.S. Lewis was talking about how there are definite moral standards in different cultures that are relatively the same. People have debated how many wives you should have, not whether you should be true to one woman. People have debated who to consider most before yourself, your family, your country, or your friends? But no culture values selfishness. However, I look at today’s generation, and I can’t help but wonder. Selfishness may not be valued, but it is accepted. And few people see the need to be faithful to the opposite sex. Times they are a changin’ Mr. Lewis.
How sad is it that because girls don’t look just like some swimsuit model, they don’t think they’re attractive. They don’t think they’re sexy. Let me tell you, a woman is a woman. No amount of plastic surgery, silicone implants, liposuction, or computer graphics will ever change the way God made men and women and how they’re attracted to each other. The standard of beauty has already been set, and man’s cover model perfectionism can never change it. Now if only the rest of the planet would realize that.
A quick word on the updating of these ponderings: I don’t have daily internet access, so these will probably not be updated everyday. But I will do my best to still write them everyday and update them when I can. You may have noticed some problems today, but hopefully those have all been corrected. Sorry for the inconveniences. Let me know if you notice any problems with the page.
On tonight’s menu, Dinty Moore Beef Stew! And I didn’t ruin it. He’s just a regular Chef Boyardee. (that’ll be tomorrow’s supper)
So many ideas, so many possibilities, so many things to accomplish. I have all these ideas brimming in my head. I wonder where they could go. Henry Ford once said, “You can’t build a reputation on what you are going to do,” (from the wall in ReAL Media Group’s office). I wonder what ideas will come to fruition, and which will be cast aside, never to be.
Hooray for the return of inteligent ponderings! [sic]
Your body screams yes, but what does your mind say? She’s a woman–a beautiful woman, and look at how you treat her. You shouldn’t be kissing her just because you want to kiss somebody. Do you let your lust speak for you, or does your heart value her as the precious angel she is? I know my answer, and it’s served me well. There’s something precious, something passionate, something loving that I just can’t seem to explain. Why has the rest of the world missed it in its lusty pursuit of cover girl bodies and self gratification?
Welcome to life in the Real world. Today my internship at Real Media began, and things went pretty well. I learned that publishing isn’t always writing, editing, and layout. Sometimes you have to do some tedious stuff. Today I learned phone etiquette and how to use the fax machine. But it went well. I had fun.
Life on my own continues to be fun. I spent most of my evening trying to figure out how to make local phone calls and get on the internet. It turns out Judson makes you pay for local calls. How nice. So getting on the internet has been a little difficult lately. I must apologize for the lack of updates to these ponderings. But at least I’m still writing them. They’ll get uploaded eventually, you’ll just have to be patient.
Tonight I cooked for myself. I never thought you could mess up grilled cheese, but I found a way. Now stop laughing, I didn’t ruin it. It came out just fine, and when the RD came to introduce herself, she commented that it smelled good in here. So there. Anyway, this place has one of those gas stoves. So I turned it on, and the knob has three settings: OFF, HI, and LITE. So I fired it up, and turned it down a little and set the pan on the burner, you know, let it warm up a little. Not even a minute later I slapped my cheese and bread on there (yes, butter side down), and that puppy started frying! Wow! In two seconds flat half my grilled cheese was nearly burnt cheese. With the flip of a spatula I had it saved, and one side was done. But the other side took a little longer, so the cheese actually had time to melt and it all came out okay. It was pretty good eatin’ if I do say so myself. Certainly not mother’s cooking, but food you can live on. See, the boy can feed himself. And you had doubts.