A View from the Window
It’s always difficult to write consistently – sometimes, I feel like I should write two days in a row, just to express how much has happened in such a short time, and sometimes, it takes weeks for me to feel like there’s anything to share.
And then there’s the second issue: All I can do is open the blinds and allow you a sneak peak at part of my life. For some of you, living here on campus with me, the view through the window is broader. For those back home, it’s the narrow snippets that I share.
To read my posts, it may seem the room of my life to be spiritual to the exclusion of everything else. Through the glass, as clean and as clear as I can make it, you see the struggles that I’ve had in the past few weeks.
But in that narrow view, you miss the fun I’ve enjoyed while being back. Going to the luau, learning how to front flip on the trampoline (I just need to learn how to land…), playing an unfinished song for a friend and being yelled at because it ended right at the climax, walking into ASLI 320 and seeing my entire graduating class – then remembering that I am the only guy… All of these little moments of joy and humor, you miss, through your view through the window.
The views I’ve shared are important – in life altering ways – but they’re still not the full picture. So, with that in mind, let me share what’s been happening here.
First off, let me say that after writing my last blog post, I came to the conclusion that there was no reason to be a Christian – by which I mean, perform the acts of the Christian religion. I knew God was real, and that Jesus saved me, but as far as doing all the stuff that I was doing? The main reason I didn’t commit sin was because I had no desire to – but I also had no desire to truly follow God.
The next day, I was able to have a long talk with Patrick, and we worked through some things. Suffice it to say, I’m well on my way to spiritual health. The last two weeks have been one of incredible closeness with God. Have they been perfect? No. But I’m improving.
That’s the short version. The long version… Well, that’s for another time.
In the meantime, though, I’ve been enjoying life and letting all the adventures happen as they will. Some highlights were the Liberty/Syracuse football game, which was the only game to date that I actually watched most of (we lost 24-0, if I remember correctly).
Slightly more exciting is the fact that my fuel line started leaking last week. There’s a local guy who was advertising around campus, so I called him up and asked him what his prices were. He said $15-20 an hour, depending on how difficult the job was, but told me he didn’t think it wouldn’t take longer than three hours.
So, yesterday, we met up outside my dorm around 2:15, 2:20, and starting working on it. For the first part, we just chatted while he lay under my car, pulling off the protective case and working on getting the lines out.
After a while, I started helping, disconnecting the lines from in the engine. Meanwhile, while trying to disconnect the back, Paul (the mechanic) found that my pipes were so rusted that they broke off, right near the connection. Oh, and there was a special tool needed to disconnect it. So, he went off to buy the tool, and I worked at getting the lines out of the engine.
I was successful, then waited as Paul had to work his way through traffic to get back. Finally, he showed up, and we set into the back connections.
By now, it had been over two hours – and I only had money for three. “Out of curiosity,” I said, “For all the work you’re doing, would you like ground beef as a bonus?”
He laughed, of course.
I explained that my mother had sent me with a lot of ground beef, and I was willing to part ways with it in order to give him a special blessing on the side.
He laughed again, but agreed.
The one connection came off okay, which was great, but the second, which had broken the edge, wasn’t coming. There just wasn’t anything to grab onto and pull on in order to clear it out.
We bounced between putting the front pipes in and working on the back pipes, finally coming to the conclusion that we were unable to get it out. By this point, I had raised his bonus to two pounds of ground beef.
While we cleaned up, he decided to do a redneck connection with some radiator piping, which I haven’t tested against leaking yet, but I will soon. If it holds fuel, I’ll exchange it for fuel line (graded for gasoline) and we’ll be dandy. If not, I’ll just buy new connector and fix it that way.
Either way, Paul had done his best, and was rewarded with his sixty dollars and three pounds of ground beef as a bonus. We had worked on it until nearly 9:00 PM, and he deserved every single thing (if not more) that I had given him.
My friend have since told me that I should set up a bartering system with the ground beef. I’m not sure how far that’ll get, though. Imagine walking into a store and saying, “Excuse me, can I trade this beef for that gallon of milk?” Or even better, “A tank full of gas?”
All in all, it’s been a great start to the semester. I have a great group of guys in my quad, my community group is going to be incredible, my graduating class already is incredible and God is completely in control.
There will be more updates as time goes on. I’m pretty sure this semester (and this year) is going to be the best one yet.
Hopefully, this helps broaden the view through the window. My life isn’t all struggling faith – it’s friends, fun and… well, food, actually. Hopefully not too much, though.