Flash! In the news!

We interrupt this bit of monotony to bring you a special news bulletin! We have it from a very reliable source (code named M.O.M.) that the results are in for a certain students Chemistry grade, and it's an A, a Four-Point-Oh, a success. The student is reportedly very happy about the grade and wishes to thank all the people that were praying for him during this rough period.

Admittedly the teacher did have a bit of a lower standard for an A in the class, but still, it is exciting for me. So that dreaded "B" is still looming out there somewhere, waiting to nab me...

I guess that last post really wasn't the last post for a while, in fact, it didn't last long at all as a last post. Due to an expression of interest in the continuing of the blog, I shall try to continue during the next few weeks while I'm away. That's not a promise though, it's just a good possibility. It's flattering to know that someone enjoys your blogging (really, what is it more than a diary of ordinary events?) but at the same time it's a bit intimidating. Now I have *gasp* EXPECTATIONS to live up to! So Gus;, this is for you.

My family should be arriving in about an hour or so and spending the night here in the camper with me. It will be slightly crowded but I always did enjoy a "close" family nyuk nyuk. Today I did a bit of laundry and sent some e-mails out and then got one from Boromir saying that he and the boys were free to come over (I had offered to bring them over to play some games sometime). So I gave them a "buzz" and soon headed over to bring them back. We had a jolly time smashing eachother to bits. Boromir was the best at Super Smash Brothers, probably because of his naturally violent tendencies ;)
After getting pummeled for a while (it's really not my favourite game, though everyone else loves it) I suggested we play Mario Party! It's something like a board game, with a little bit of strategy and skill involved but the main game centers around these crazy little mini games at the end. For example: There might be one game where all four of the players are running wildly around on an icy pond (sliding all over the place) while snowmen throw snowballs at you, if you get hit by a snowball, you're frozen! Last player who can move, wins!
Another one (since this is winter after all) has all four players skiing down a slope with an avalanche tumbling behind them, nearly everybody trips over a rock and then gets swallowed up in the avalanche but the player who gets to safety first, wins! The other players are stuck inside snowballs with just their heads showing. It's ridiculous fun and right up my alley (I can't keep serious for very long it seems).

I ended up winning that one by a wide margin so the other boys voted for going back to Smash Bros.
When I play that game I feel like a pinball or a punching bag, getting tossed from player to player as they take turns beating me up. My brother should be coming tonight and I'm hoping to take him to the CY game night and er... turn 'im loose on a couple of boys, he's much better than I am at the game, perhaps the best player I know personally. I'll just sit back with a smug smile on my face as I watch Boromir get pummeled as soundly as I was this afternoon :D
He shall crack thy pate and give thee a sound knock upon thy back!

After some recent correspondence and just my own thinking, I decided to write a little of how thankful I am to be in the church here. To give a little history.....
I was tired of the language and other things going on at the junior college I was attending and was thinking about a Christian School. I looked at going to Bob Jones University and asked someone who had graduated from there. He said that yes, the school was strict but there were certain things that went on. Some examples had to do with something of a work-based theology. He started quietly discussing it with a few friends and someone "turned him in" (apparently it's encouraged to do that to your fellow students). He simply said he didn't think that wearing a collared shirt or something like that was necessary to being a believer. Well, he was put on the "black list" (literally) and given a paper that said he was unfit to lead any Bible studies on campus. From what he described to me, it was nothing bad he was doing at all, he still wore collared shirts but just didn't think it was necessary that you HAD to. So I did NOT want to be in a school such as that. Of course that is just one person's story.

Next I thought about LeTourneau University, down in Texas, there were good reports so I actually went and visited the campus. The campus itself was beautiful and I enjoyed being around it, I stayed in an apartment with four other guys (who were hardly there, a couple were always out somewhere until 1:00). The first night they had some kind of a rock concert. Now I don't know about anyone else, but I actually feel physically ill with that very heavy bass beat and the screeching guitars, my entire frame feels as though it is being torn to pieces from the inside out.
But I could avoid that. One thing that was required was "chapel" everyday. I thought that well, that was kind of neat, until we visited it. The first day there was a rock band there and then a very short, shallow "sermon" about how if you downloaded illegal music it was.... well... illegal and if you were convicted of this in your conscience, you should go home and erase it. One of the roommates I had said that he didn't like it because you can't MAKE people come and worship God. The classes opened with prayer, which I enjoyed (I was able to sit in on a couple) but then you have good professors and you have bad ones. The people at LeTourneau are not very strict as to what kind of Christianity comes in, so you have some conservative people to the really liberal ones as well, all under the banner of Christ supposedly.

The last day were were there, it closed with professor being asked to speak and he gave something of a sermon and then said "I feel that God wants to speak to us today, so I want three people to give me a Bible verse that comes to mind."
One person timidly spoke up and quoted it, so he marked that down, another person said some other verse, and finally a third person spoke up. Then this man took those three verses and certain words and phrases out and pieced together what "God is trying to tell us this morning." I was very angry at that! I couldn't believe someone would do that, it's almost like doing the ol' "let the Bible fall open where it will and let your finger fall on a verse to seek God's will" sort of a thing!

Then he said that he was also sure, he felt in his heart that someone had a question they wanted to ask, God was telling him so. And he sat there and waited for a few minutes but no one said a word. Then (with regret) he said that he was still sure and would wait around afterwards and closed.

That was the last straw for me, I went to the University asking God to show me if I should really go there, I went away with a definite answer: NO! When I asked to stop the application process I was given a sheet of paper with a spot to give comments on the process and why I wasn't going to go to LeTourneau. There wasn't enough room on the front so I covered the entire back of the sheet with the reasons why I wasn't going, and the entire argument centered around Chapel and the "freedom" that the professors had, to teach Christianity as they wanted.

I decided that I would much rather go to a secular school where one could very easily discern the truth, than go to a "christian" school where the truth was diluted to the extent that it was barely recognizable.

So when my family moved to Oklahoma, it was a choice between two schools really, OSU and OU. I liked the idea of a more "laid-back" or "hometown" feel that I kept hearing was in OSU and then they had a better engineering program it seemed, so I applied to there and that is how I wound up in Stillwater. I must say that all of these "random" circumstances have led me to this church here and I think that it is one of the main reasons I was led to come to this college and I mean that very seriously.

The doors opened, there were a couple of minor scholarships, I applied for residency rates even though I was about 3 months short and was accepted. I had been talking to a friend of mine (that I met through video game competition) and he was studying theology at Reformed Theological Seminary (rts.edu) in North Carolina. I had always told people I was a "biblical" christian because I didn't want to put myself in a box, but he told me I was "reformed theology." Something I'd never heard of before. So after moving up here and looking for a church that Sunday and having just "happened" to be discussing that with him recently (after almost no e-mail contact for a year) I did a google search for "reformed stillwater church" and guess what was the first result? The more I looked through the pages (which had much more information than any other church website I'd been to) the more conviced I was that I was going there that Sunday. My mother had told me of some churches that other people had recommended in the area, mainly recommendations from people from the Southern Baptist church down where my family lives. I listened to part of a sermon too and was glad to see it was biblical. I could hear a very young girl in the background, so I must say that I heard young Miss Y before I ever saw her!

The first Sunday was truly a blessing, I arrived for the Sabbath School, stayed for the service, went through lunch, and then continued on into the afternoon service. Mr. Y said he was surprised I stuck all the way through it but I was in ecstasy, finally, a church where God's Word was taught with devotion and reverence. The Psalm singing was new to me but now I feel as though I have been missing something very great all my life. I had never thought of it before but when it comes to singing something to God, what could be more honouring than Scripture? Scripture: that which reveals God perfectly as nothing else can!

By the time the service was over, I was ready for next Sunday. I came home and wrote excitedly to my parents about it. We have been in some good churches before but they seemed to be few and far between and most of the time the Word was watered down and the congregation didn't know what they were missing.

I have already been growing a lot here and very grateful for what I have found and the graciousness of the people. Within a week or two, Mr. Y had told me, rather gingerly, that there was another congregation that had some former members of this church here and they seemed to like the worship style better. He personally thought the teaching here was unparalleled but he didn't know my tastes and just wanted to let me know about it. I had to suppress a huge grin because even though I was struggling in my own life with an issue that had arisen (one that I had never considered before) there was no way I was going to leave a treasure after I'd just found it! I appreciate the genuineness I see, it's not just a "godly face" put on Sunday that you never see the rest of the time, it's genuine!

I love being here, I do believe I am growing here. I am very grateful to have been brought to this congregation and hope to continue here for at least as long as I am going to school. I just cannot describe how wonderful it is to be among brethren like this. I have felt that I was truly among people who cared for me and I for them, not just a face I politely say "hi" to every Sunday morning.

Now this is seriously all I can write for at least a few days. I will be out traveling for a bit and probably not near a computer for any real length of time. Hopefully the length of this post will last for a little while anyway :S
I tend to be long-winded when I have the time.