An apology

There is a very funny comedian by the name of Demetri Martin who sings a song called "Sames and Opposites." In the song there is a line that goes: "Saying I apologize is the same as saying I'm sorry... unless you're at a funeral."

That being said, I was a bit of a Johnny Raincloud in that last post, and I am sorry for all the complaining.

Here's something much better than reading what I have to say:

Therefore since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith to this grace in which we stand; and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces perseverance, and perseverance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

Romans 5:1-5

To conclude:

"A musical is the same as a burlap sack. I wouldn't want to be in either."

-Demetri Martin

A small update on the last 3 months of frustration

Review of the summer: The Cascade Surge was a giant disappointment. They promised that we would be involved with rescue missions, prison ministries, and work with at-risk youth. I was even told that I wouldn't have time to do an internship at a church because we would be too busy. Instead, soccer was at 8 pm every night, and my days were completely free. For the first month, this means I sat alone in my host family's house all day. It was terrible. The second month, after Austria, we did fun things like go cliff jumping and swim in rivers. It was fun, but it wasn't at all why I went to Oregon. Soccer was quite frustrating as well, more or less because I am not a PDL caliber player... yet. 

Gordon soccer: I sprained my ankle on the first day of training, and I still can't play. It might be another week or two still before I can play. It gets more frustrating every day. Our team is very young, with 12 freshman, and 4 or 5 of them starting. We've played 3 games so far, winning the first, losing the next 2. Our first conference game is Saturday, and it will be difficult to watch, being it was the game that I had made a goal to return by.

School: I have a very difficult semester, with two of the hardest classes of my major. Constant work, piling and piling up. On a (seemingly rare) positive note, I absolutely love the kids I live with this year. I live in a 4 person on-campus apartment with 3 awesome dudes, two of which are named Dan. 

I was going to try to start a fundraiser for the Not For Sale campaign (read about it... http://notforsalecampaign.org/) , but because Gordon is corrupt (...maybe, don't quote me on that) campus organizations can't raise funds for non-Gordon charities or organizations. They shouldn't have people speak at chapel calling us to act, and then not allow us to act. Anyway, we might be able to do it for an on-campus ministry or something. We'll see.

Next semester: I am applying to go to the Uganda Christian University in Kampala, Uganda in eastern Africa to do the Uganda Studies Program. Basically I will take classes at UCU, live with a Ugandan family, travel around the country and to Rwanda, and have my entire way of viewing the world shattered and rebuilt. I'm excited.

Maybe there will be some updates soon, to recap: my summer was terrible, my ankle is busted, school is impossible, my fundraiser has hit major roadblocks, and I'm excited about next semester.

Parting words from 1 John 3:16 (the other John 3:16): 

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.

Peace y'all, keep the faith.