The Deal....

So I bought an Xbox 360 today. I bought it off Craigslist. I didn't really need one, but it was such a good deal I just couldn't resist (I'm bad with that sometimes). It came with 3 controllers and like 8 games for $350!! I've never bought anything from Craigslist....but it was exciting. Kind of what I'd imagine a drug deal would feel like haha. Me and my roommate were driving across town in my Buick Century with $350 of cash in my pocket, meeting up with this tall French guy. I rolled up to the gate and gave him a call "I'm here to make the deal, how can I get in." The French accent returned back "The code is #2715, you'll see me on the inside." Just then my roommate screams "I know this guy!!!!" It took away from some of the excitement, but at least I knew I wasn't gonna get ripped off. He was a pretty cool guy, in a snobby, French type of way haha!!

But this weekend has been pretty solid. No work today since it was memorial day. Yesterday, I hung out with my roommate all day. We went to this party for some people from my Saturday church, which was cool. They like eating vegetarian food and so we had vegetarian ground beef. And to the surprise of both of us, it was actually pretty good! Now, was it really more healthy for us? The world may never know. But after that, we went to church at the Austin Stone where they are still preaching on the 7 sayings of Jesus on the cross. This week's message was on the saying that Jesus cried out "My God, My God, why have You forsaken me?" The speaker pretty much focused on the fact that Christ cried that out so that we would know that He was forsaken, so that we would ultimately know that we never have to be, or will be, forsaken by God. Good stuff.

After church, we went to see Pirates of the Caribbean 3. It was pure entertainment. I will admit, I didn't have a clue what was going on....they make the plot so stinking complex and hard to follow. But the pirate action was good enough where you really didn't have to know what was going on to enjoy the flick. And I don't know how, but Keira Knightely managed to look amazing in every single scene.....even in DLP, which is like high definition for movie theaters. And I guess the girls like Johnny Depp. Which I personally will never understand.....maybe it's the whole bad-boy pirate act haha. He definitely makes those movies what they are, though.

After the movie we went and hung out at the girl's house who is a friend of Ricky's. There was a bunch of folks there and I got to meet some pretty cool people. It was weird (in a good way) b/c I had a lot in common with some of these people. One girl was in engineering at UT and is in Engineers w/o Borders, which I am in as well. Another girl was doing a co-op in Austin and had just moved here from Iowa and is new to the whole Texas thing, like me. We both thought tamales were some kind of pepper, before the locals laughed at us. Apparently they're not :-) This other guy I met knew and went to high school with another of my friends from down here.

So I'm pretty happy because it turned out to be a great weekend. I wasn't sure how it would all go b/c we were originally planning on going to the beach....but it was really cloudy and raining most of the weekend. And now I have a short 4-day work week ahead, which is never a bad thing. I just found out that Nate is coming to San Antonio in a few weeks with his family, which is pretty cool b/c we might get to hang out.

Oh, and for those of you who remember my encounters at the lake with the cactus....I finally went to the doctor to see what I could do about the poison ivy and needles in my foot that have plagued me for the last 3 weeks! He gave me some meds for the poison ivy. For the needles, he told me to go get some duct tape and just keep applying it and peeling it off in hopes to pull them out. Apparently they just have to fall out. Needless to say, I might have 11 needles in my foot the rest of my life!! Oh well, something to remember Texas by!!

A Truthful Saying....

I like this:

I am not what I ought to be;
I am not what I would like to be;
I am not what I hope to be.
But I am not what I once was,
and by the grace of God, I am what I am.
John Newton

Two Months Down....

Sunday means it's the beginning of a new week, which I am pretty happy about after last week. Last week was a below-average week on my scale, to put it in a positive way. Monday had it's disappointments. Tuesday was unexpectedly interesting. Wednesday was the longest, most dull day of work I've ever had (ok, maybe not quite that bad). Thursday was not too bad, I guess. Friday was one of those days where you just get something on your mind and worry about it till you literally feel sick and lose your appetite. I don't know why it took till Friday, but it did. But luckily, Friday night is my chill night and I got to spend some good time with the Man....which helped out a great deal.

The highlight of my week was definitely going to this restraunt (<--that's one word I will never be able to spell, along with 'museaum' ....i think i cheated on my spelling test on those words in elementary haha) called Z Tejas (that's Texas in Spanish for all you non-Spaniards and non-Texans) for a friend's 21st birthday. Got to hang out with some good friends there, as well as meet some nice people ;-) It felt amazing to hang out with a group of people my own age...all in college. I can't describe how much I miss that. Oh, and I actually met a girl with a southern accent....it only took 2 months!! She said there are lots of cowboys where she is from in East Texas. This was particularly exciting to me since my secret dream and true purpose for coming to Texas is to become a cowboy.

Yesterday was pretty good. I got two free meals, got to take a short nap, and hang out with some cool dudes around a grill fire and just talk about whatever we felt like. Today was good as well....free IHOP for breakfast! I still haven't figured out what to do with my Sunday's yet. Sunday's are boring when you don't have homework to do or friends to hang out with. I guess I could watch NASCAR :-/

I did go to Austin Stone church tonight...and it was amazing. They are doing a series called 'The seven sayings of Jesus on the Cross'. Basically, every week, they do a different sermon on one of the last things Jesus said while dying on the cross. Today's was from John 19:25-27. Basically, Jesus is dying on the cross, bearing the sins of the world, after just being beaten nearly to death....undoubtedly the hardest and most painful thing He or any one will ever go through. In this moment, He looked down and saw Mary, His mother, and said to her "Woman, behold your son" of John, and to John He said "Here is your mother." The point we miss in all this: even when Jesus was in the midst of such great pain, even when He was performing the most amazing and important act of salvation and grace for mankind, He still took time to look down and see that His mother's needs were taken care of. Even when God is busy doing these seemingly huge and important acts on earth, He still cares enough to see to our needs. Do we do the same for the people in our lives? Or do we get caught up in the big things, even if they are good, and neglect the people with needs in our lives that we pass by everyday. Something to think about.

I got a few nice phone calls this weekend from people I don't talk to often...including one from the man himself, Evan Griffin. Evan makes me laugh....we like to joke around and make fun of each other a lot, but I think there is a deep appreciation for each other under all that. There's not many people I would follow off a bridge, but I think Evan is one of those people.

Hopefully I can update this thing more frequently...although I don't know if anyone really reads it. I think people do. But you know how those things go. People never like to admit they read other's blogs...which I think has become a somewhat funny social norm. I don't mind at all when folks silently stop in, but I also don't mind when they let me know they were here :-)

Don't kick the cactus.....

I've been wanting to update for awhile, but just haven't gotten around to it. Great things are happening here in Texas. I went to Lake Travis today with some friends from work. One guy named Tom, who I've been friends with, another guy named Trevor, who I met back in November when I interviewed, but hadn't seen since, and two new people: a co-op from U of Illinois named Rey and another co-op from UT named Yovita. They were all cool people and we had a great time. We grilled some amazing burgers and sausages and then went cliff jumping. Okay, okay, so some of us were too chicken to jump off the 40-foot cliff, so we ended up finding a 10 foot jump, which was still a bit scary not knowing what was underneath the water. But we've got all summer to work our way up to the big-daddy 40-foot cliff. I accidentally kicked a cactus, though, and those suckers will get you. I barely brushed up against it and I had like 30 pricks in me.

I love meeting new people and making new friends. I went to this new smallgroup on Friday night and met a bunch of cool people there. It's amazing how fast you can begin to feel comfortable and at home around certain people. I especially love meeting people from other countries. Tom is from Vietnam and Yovita is from Indonesia. It's so cool to me to meet and become friends with people that are literally from the exact opposite side of the world. I usually find that we're really not as different as you would think.

Last week I got to share why I follow Jesus with a friend, which was really cool. It was just two friends being real with each other and talking about what we believe and what our experiences have been. I think too often Christians get caught up in trying to convert people...trying to turn people into followers of Jesus ourselves. That's really dangerous because people are smart and usually know exactly what is going on...and that can be a big turn off. Now, I want to see my friends know Jesus as much as anyone because I know how amazing life has been for me. But, I don't believe converting my friends is the exact goal God gives. I think He simply wants me love my friends, and share the hope and joy that I have in Jesus with them. It is completely and solely up to God himself to do any convicting or "converting". As Evan Griffin would say, "I could be wrong, but I'm not!" ;-)

In other news, me and my roommate are going to try to start a Bible study at our apartment complex, which I'm really excited about (not really nervous, yet, at least). We are going to go through the book of John, and pretty much focus on Jesus. I'm hoping that people will come and see Jesus for who He really is. I also want to get to know people better here because I've met very few people who live here. I hope people show up! :-)

Work is going great and I'm slowly getting to know the guys there better. I got invited to my mentor's wedding in August. Hopefully I know people well enough so that it's not awkward!! Haha, this also means I'll have to buy a new suit or bring mine back to Texas when I go home in July.