Well-Aware of Awareness

Being in college, I have been hyper-exposed to issues from world hunger, to global warming, to a children's war in northern Uganda.

And I think being aware is great . . . my question is will this ever go away? Is college a hub of current news of its own, where we hoard all of these things to ourselves or are things like fair trade coffee, osfam and the ONE campaign known by all?

Just wondering.

Tornadoes and Such

I am sitting in the hall of McKinzie dorm. We are under a tornado warning. I wonder what the homeless do in a tornado warning.

I have been thinking quite a bit of how to engage in the world of poverty. Living in the Christian bubble sometimes causes me to forget that the poor exist and are in fact all around me. In the neighborhood right across from the school, under the bridge a few blocks away and at the stops signs by wal-mart.

Saturday I went out to a community park that is located in "the ghetto" or one of the ghettos in Abilene. A friend and I took the hall's grill out there to cook burgers and play basketball with whoever was out there. We found ourselves with predominately two types of people. The first were children who said that they come out there everyday. Although there parents care very much for them in many cases, they must work and have no way of providing any kind of care. They were more than happy to see some new faces. I had a wonderful time playing with Malaysia, Diamond, Anthony, Owen, Trey and all of the others, but it was interesting how cool they commented on the other crowd that was at the park. They really like the cars and loud speaker systems of those who sat in the parking lot with cars in a circle and most likely all a part of a gang. I offered them burgers as well and they too were very appreciative of the offer however left before we finished lunch.

I never engaged in lower income people's lives in high school, which is something I regret. The experiences I did have with guys on my basketball team were wonderful and I gained a lot from those experiences.

One of the challenges Brad and I gave to the youth group over the retreat was to engage in people's lives that are normally overlooked or made outcasts by society. I wonder if they will be able to see, as I did not, the dozens of God's kids across the street from the church in Round Rock.

May we ever seek ways in helping those who are in need - emotionally, physically and spiritually.

Patch of Blue

The semester is winding down and by that I mean it is super crazy. Today God provided me with an extra bit of peace though so for that I am thankful.

Brad and I are still excited about the retreat coming up this weekend and I would like to ask for your prayers.

The following weekend on Friday I am going to a Nickel Creek concert with friends CJ and Tommy and galfriend Katie. It should be a doozy.

And Jason, it's always a joy to drive by the ole Taylor house and remember some odd boy stories!

Stressed

Do I have the right to be stressed? Either way I have been level 10 this week, but when I start to think of my situation in comparison to others namely, the rest of the world, I feel like I should in no way be complaining or stressed because of some college assignment.

I'm excited about Easter, I get to go home and be with family. This doesn't happen as often because of my summer's being spent away and being an RA you do not get many days off including holidays (I had to spend thanksgiving in the dorm).

We also received our invitations from Russia, which we are super pumped up about . . . and we are planning to carefully fill them out and send them in really soon. We took our pictures for our 2x2 photos the other day at walgreens, and naturally all three of us went together (because that's what we do?) and I am proud to say Brad and I made Garrett smile or more smirk in his picture.

Final four was pretty fun, going into it I didn't like either team, but as the game went on I really appreciated the intensity of Florida and their incredible defense. I think it will be interesting what the coach decides to do in terms of staying or going to Kentucky (I don't see how he can turn it down).

CJ finished up the spring break video and its just under an hour long with the adventure and weirdness of the combination of Matt Z, CJ and I. It was really well put together, even if you don't enjoy odd boy humor.

If you have read Brad's blog I am also in the class writing a paper. The topic I decided to tackle was presenting God in a different way than father or friend, but as a lover. It's been interesting and I have been in the Song of Songs chapter 2 looking at specifics of that text.

Today in my mentor group, I was able to think about what I want to work on/ask God for (obviously much more asking God) in the next year/right now. It's nice to step back and think about that every once in while. I would love to focus on making prayer more than prayer time, but a way of life, almost like breathing where God would walk hand and hand with me all day long, in the midst of studying, hanging out with Katie or ministering in the dorm. I also really want to be able to listen to God and hear him speak . . . that would be amazing.

I was also able to meet with the professor, Dr. Shilcutt, I will be peer-leading with next semester. We are super pumped about the incoming freshman and were able to go through ideas for next year over lunch. It's really cool to be a part of the freshman experience as an older (supposively wise) person.

My brain is fryed, but I hope the Easter weekend is a blessing for rest and mediation on the sacrifice of our father and savior.