"He who has so little knowledge of human nature as to seek happiness by changing anything but his own disposition will waste his life in fruitless efforts." Samuel Johnson

Monday, March 8, 2010

Victory!

So I really needed a victory today and at two I got to my class room for my Sign Language class to find a closed door and a note that said there was no class today.......Victory! It was so refreshing and rejuvenating, I was in the middle of a very busy and stressful Monday and Boom no more late paper because we didn't have class today, no sitting in class for fifty minutes, an extra fifty minutes to try to be productive towards other things, and it was just a wonderful moment of disbelief that I was actually free from class.

I was reading a blog entry of mine from last fall and it is just crazy to me how long ago September feels like it was. I was just thinking about how horrible the first two months of last semester were and then it hit me that it was just last semester.

Today is the worst kind of weather. The sun never came up and it has just been gray all day. This weather honestly gets me down. That is a big reason why I need to leave Iowa. I think I am more of a California weather kind of guy, always sunny and 70. Yeah that sounds pretty good.

So now that I am positive I am going back to Eagle Lake it has been a really good motivator to be spending more time in the word and more time working on gaining a better understanding of the bible as a whole. Right now I'm reading through "How to study the bible" By John MacArthur. It is different then what I expected but I have enjoyed it for the most part. I am really excited for all of the time this summer that I will be spending in the word with campers, other counselors, and time spent alone up in the mountains.

Father I pray the staff this summer would have a deep love for each other and that would be the focus of our staff to love one another and for your love to overflow from us to each other and our campers. I also pray right now for all of the people who are making decisions right now on if they are going to be coming to Eagle Lake or doing something else this summer and that you would lead them in that decision and that they would use and enjoy this time to examine their life, their relationship with you, their priorities, and what they really want out of this short time we have here.

Sunday, March 7, 2010

This moment.....and maybe others ;)

So I'm sitting in Panera right now. I really enjoy going to coffee shops and pulling out my computer and putting my headphones in. I don't enjoy Panera as much as the average local coffee shop. It is just a little to busy for me.

Sunday's are stressful days. Sunday is usually the day I start to see how much I have going on during the next week. It is also the day I plan on doing a lot but usually do not get a lot done. Sunday is usually a big cleaning, organizing, laundry-ing?, and overall just "busy" day. I like to do things that make me feel like I'm being productive as I am putting off doing school work. I think ideally I would wake up early on Sunday but I usually don't wake up till ten (Church is at ten thirty) lol, I feel like a lot of people would read this and be saying "Oh yes that makes perfect sense". But since no one is reading this I will just have to say it to myself.

Anyways I was actually pretty productive on Saturday morning and was able to do all of my laundry, cleaning, and organizing. So that was rally nice and I felt good about the rest of my weekend. Also today I am skipping the Panthers Tournament championship game to be at panera "doing things". So I call that a victory.

As far as other moments are concerned. On Friday I had an interview with a Real Estate company in Cedar Falls to discuss an internship. The interview went very well and I am 90% sure they will be offering me the internship next week. This was my number one option so I am extremely thankful.

It is amazing to me how over the past month and a half God has delivered so much. First I was contacted about going back to Eagle Lake as a crew counselor when I had already written it off, then I spent time praying asking for prayer, the conversation with my parents was terrible, then I asked for direction and prayed at warrior training and the man leading told me my parents were in authority and I should obey their decision so we prayed for God to change their hearts, then my father said that he thought it would be a good thing for me to go to Eagle Lake but he just wanted me to get an internship, so I decided to be obedient to my parents and search out an internship that would allow me to work at Eagle Lake, then there was the discussion about Tommy's wedding and the alcohol commitment, then in a happy birthday letter my parents said they were hoping I would be able to go to Eagle Lake, and now this internship which was my first choice looks like it is going to work out. How many times did I think I had closed the door on this summer and then prayed for God to open it if that was his will and he has continued to open the door. I don't think I have actually realized how incredible this whole thing has been until just now.

Thank you Father for leading me so strongly. I have such a hard time realizing your hand leading me until I look back and see how faithful you are and how obvious your work was. I pray that first and foremost your love would pour through me to these young men and women this summer. I pray that I will not spend one hour thinking that this is my love and I need to love them better or try harder, but that I would know it is your love and my job is to allow you to love me and for that love to overflow through me.

There are so many more things but I am going to take a break. Hey, 2 blogs in three days. Seriously that might just be a new record for me, it feels good.

Thursday, March 4, 2010

I knew this would happen

Well I think I can say "I told you so" because I knew this would happen again where I would start a blog and then not blog forever. The worst thing about blogging is I feel like there are way to many things I want to share but they are usually fleeting thoughts so by the time I'm actually at a place where I can blog, I have thought about something else.

I really had to force myself to blog today. It would not have happened had I not been reading Andrea's blog.

Well lets see what has happened in the last month that is memorable. School has been churning along, I turned 22, the weather has been getting warm, the days are getting longer, I have had a few interviews for internships but have not been able to get things finalized yet, I'm pretty sure I'm going to spend my summer at Eagle Lake as a Crew Counselor, life has been busy with Intramural sports, the Fraternity has been keeping me busy, and I have been enjoying time spent with my roommates.

School is not worth talking about except for my Intro to American Sign language class is pretty cool, I have enjoyed learning another language, and learning about Deaf culture and history.
I am also working on a team of Real Estate students that is putting together a land development proposal in Minneapolis. I think this project will be very cool because it will give me a good chance to get a better understanding of what working for a developer would be like.

Turning 22 was good. I think I liked being 21 better but oh well. I had a pretty good time going out to dinner with some of my friends and then going out that night with a group of old roommates, current roommates, and friends. I think I was a little disappointed this year just because I felt like last year my roommates made a bigger deal out of my birthday which was really fun. I think part of that is your 21'st Birthday is a much bigger deal than your 22nd.

Weather oh my goodness. It is nice and sunny outside today and it is above freezing! I have realized a lot more this year how much the weather impacts me. I really think the winter just gets to me with all of the cold and never seeing the sun. That is honestly a big part of the reason why I want to move somewhere with better weather than Iowa. I just feel like there is more of a spring in my step (lol Get it?) and that I'm just in a better mood when the sun is out and the days are warmer and longer. Spring break you are so close, which means daylight savings time is so close!!!!

Well I have a second round interview with a life insurance company in Cedar Rapids, Ia. The opening for that internship is the fall semester, so I would have to take a semester off. Also there is a company from Kansas City coming in April and I will probably schedule and interview with them. They want someone to work summer and fall but I will see if they would be alright with me starting in August. Kansas City would be pretty cool and I know another guy who is applying for one of the two internships there.

There is also a company here in Cedar Falls that I have been trying to get in to their office to have an interview with. We have emailed and they came to our Real Estate club to talk. They seemed really excited about me interning with them but I think they have just been very busy. Which has been very frustrating for me because I'm trying to finalize summer plans and I don't want Eagle Lake to have waited this long and then have me say I can't do it. If things worked out with the company in Cedar Falls that would be the best case scenario, because I could do a part time internship as well as taking classes. Also I would be able to intern with them for a full school year.

Finally, there is a company out of Des Moines who is coming up to our Real Estate club at the end of March who wants to talk about a possible internship. Which I am thinking about asking them if they would be open to me interning from August to December in Des Moines. Which I would be alright with because I know a lot of people in Des Moines and Tommy might be back in Des Moines for a year.

This has been a hard semester for me in the Fraternity. I have thought about quitting many times. I'm torn because I don't think quitting on something is the right way to do it, especially since I am in a leadership position. But at the same time my heart just is not in it. I think mostly it is because I don't really have any close friends in the Fraternity and I have a handful of guys I enjoy spending time with in the Fraternity. I just think it was a really bad decision for me to run for a leadership position, I just do not want to put in the time and I don't really care. I would say I'm pretty burnt out with the Fraternity.


Well this has been a long blog and I need to work on consistency not length. So until next time....