Finals week and CFW

In the past 2 days, I have handed in about 150 pages of reports. It's been fun. But now I feel like the semester is finally over. I mean, I still have 3 finals to take, one of which might murder me, but eh, the only thing I have to do is study. And pack. And study.

On another note, I feel kind of abandoned with the whole CFW thing. There's only 4 of us going, and that's sad. And there's no one who really has a legitimate reason not to go (other than Ellie, who will be on the other side of the planet that week). I mean, it's meaningful, it's important, it's an entire week to dedicate just to God. And not going means our chapter is that tiny little chapter that is failing miserably and could only get 4 people to sign up. And the lone girl from that chapter has to sleep in a room full of 13 total strangers. Wonderful. I hope the InterVarsity head honchos don't pull our charter, because we royally suck. Not going because you want to go home and see your family or because you'll miss your girlfriend is not an excuse. Guess what, I want to see my family too. I would have gone even if I had a boyfriend who I would have missed. It's only a week...ONE WEEK...and it's a week dedicated to God. As a chapter, we need to get over ourselves.

Pretty much I feel abandoned. Like nobody cares. Like the whole chapter played a game of "nose goes" and I was the last one without my hand on my nose. I have to go. And I will go, because I care about what happens to this chapter.

I guess I shouldn't be concerned about what other people thing about us, or what I'm going to do being alone in a girl's dorm, I should be more concerned about how God is going to be at work in me that week. And He will be. I just wish other people would see that and want to come. Oh, and there's hot chocolate. Mmmm.

Today

I was kind of sad today. No reason really...okay there are reasons, several of them. But since I have to be awake and making omelets in 6 hours I should go to bed instead of discussing them.

Hanging out with just boys is difficult. If it's not the ones who are making crude jokes all the time, it's the really adorable ones who like other girls that are driving me crazy. Leaving the REDC for the summer will be good for me.

Peace.

Holy week

I love Holy Week. There's something about it that's just so humbling that puts everything in perspective. It's easy to forget the reality of what Jesus did for us. Like. He suffered. A lot. In a serious way. And we forget it a lot of the time.

On Wednesday I went to hear Father Larry give his famous "Passion Talk," a talk he gives every year right before Easter to reflect on the passion story. That church was absolutely packed...standing room only...it was insane. He's a marvelous speaker (type "Father Larry Richards" into a youtube search, you'll find some of his stuff). At the beginning he stressed the importance of confession and forgiveness, and how we don't decide the rules, we decide whether to follow them or not. So often we choose not to follow them (or decide to make up our own rules). But Jesus died so that we can be forgiven when we mess up. And yet, instead of being grateful for that and trying to be better people, we choose over and over again to disobey Him because we are flawed and human and like things our way.

Jesus was scared , so scared that the night before he died his sweat "was like drops of blood falling to the ground" (Luke 22:44). That can actully happen, by the way...if you get really (and I mean REALLY) stressed out, your blood vessels will constrict and cause some blood to come out of your body like sweat. Pretty gross, huh? The point here is that he was feeling intense anguish...enough to sweat blood. He also had all the power in the world to stop what was going to happen. But the fact that he LOVED us enough to want to spend ETERNITY with us was enough for Jesus to go through with the intense pain that would happen to him in the next 24 hours. Every time we sin, we pound another nail deeper into the hands and feet of our Savior to put him on that cross. Luckily, our God is bigger than that, and could overcome that death and rise again, saving us from all of our past and future failures at the same time. Whoot.

I also went to Holy Thursday Mass on campus and got my feet washed. That's humbling too, and reminds me of my role to serve others, but also to let them serve me too. I have problems with the second part of that sometimes...

This is (was) Holy Week, a time to reflect on all of that. The suffering Jesus had to go through, the fact that he went through it for our sake, the fact that we're flawed and hurtful, and the fact that Jesus offers us forgiveness all because of the cross. We need to remember, and frankly, be grateful. We don't deserve a single ounce of it. It's the greatest gift. Ever.

Here's some lyrics to a song that has been in my life for a long time. The lyrics reflect perfectly what this week is all about.

I know a place, a wonderful place
Where accused and condemned find mercy and grace.
Where the wrongs we have done and the wrongs done to us
Were nailed there with Him there on the cross.
At the cross, He died for our sins.
At the cross, He gave us life again.

Have a good Easter, everyone :-)

What I like most about Holy Week is that it makes Easter seem so much more exciting... the transition from humble remembrance to joyful celebration is extremely powerful. Easter is all about rejoicing because He overcame the cross. All of the terrible suffering had to happen in order for the real party to begin! Not only did Jesus die, he ROSE FROM THE DEAD! Celebrate! We have a new life because of this day. Rejoice in your God, because he is pretty awesome!

Engineering students

I love this. People wonder how I can be one of three girls in a class of sixty boys and still be single. This comic totally explains everything :-)

Enjoy!

http://www.btinternet.com/~knutty.knights/eng_students.html

So I found this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r68BatMJO0g&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fvideo.aol.com%2Fvideo-detail%2Fprotect-our-kids%2F1146181660&feature=player_embedded

How perfect is the love that the little girl displays for her brother?

One more month ...

It's officially that time of year...the same time last year when I was laughing at all of my junior engineering friends who wouldn't set foot outside of the REDC because they were doing homework. They complained about their workload, and said that the last month of junior year was the worst ever, and no matter what I did, none of them would hang out with me. I didn't believe that they had to work on homework 10 hours a day every single day in order to get it all done. It simply didn't make sense.

It does now. I have 2 gigantic projects that are due in the next month that have just kicked off. I have a lab report due the next 2 Mondays, and another due sometime the last week of school. There's another slightly smaller project, a speech, a paper, and oh yeah, the whole regular homework that is due EVERY SINGLE DAY. There are also a lot of tests to take, and according to the system dynamics syllabus, another big project. All of this in ONE MONTH.

No way.
No.
Freaking.
Way.

And I still have to actually go to my classes. Ugh.

Dear Jesus, please help me to manage my time. Amen.

What's the name of that guy who slept for 20 years?

I totally slept 24 of the past 48 hours.