The game Friday night, once I got there, was a blast. We beat Fort Wayne by a lot but they only had seven guys and no coach. Then after the game, some of us guys all came back to the dorms and enjoyed a few beers and watched a movie. It was so much fun and I do not think I have laughed that hard in a long time. It was a much needed let loose Friday night.
Saturday morning, I slept in and spent the afternoon laying around my room, relaxing, and doing some reading. Saturday evening I spent several hours going over liturgy multiple times in my room and preparing everything for Sunday morning. I felt ready but knew I would still be nervous. I was kind of worried about how well I would sleep Saturday night since I was already getting nervous, but I actually slept pretty well.
Sunday morning started off in a shaky way. I had forgotten to set my alarm Saturday night, and Lord willing I woke up on my own at 7:45. We leave for church at 7:55. Luckily I had preset the coffee maker and laid out my clothes the night before. I went to the bathroom to make sure my hair was OK and I did not have major bed head or anything since I did not really have time to shower. I got dressed as quickly as I could, grabbed my hymnal and alb and headed out the door. Luckily the sheet of ice that had covered our cars Friday night had mostly melted off Saturday, so scraping Sunday morning was easy enough. I pulled around about 7:59 and the guys had just gotten there. After that everything else went a lot better. We made the drive and got there in plenty of time. I got suited up in my alb and pastor and I walked up front and he announced the opening hymn. During the last verse of the opening hymn, I was literally shaking in my seat I was so nervous. I made my way down in front and felt I was doing well. I had memorized the first half of the service so I did not have to look down at my hymnal. I still had my hymnal in my hand and it turned out to be a good thing. During the absolution, I froze. I looked down and found my spot and continued on, but the mistake was made. However, after I made that first mistake, it actually calmed me down quite a bit and I was able to make my way through the rest of the service.
I told all the guys Sunday afternoon when they asked how I did that my church asked me to never come back. But the truth is I got many compliments and they were all very understanding, encouraging, and supportive. I did have some say that I was not loud enough, but the organist in the back said she could hear me. I also had some tell me that they could tell I was nervous and stiff, but again others said I looked really comfortable and peaceful. Pastor told me I did pretty good for my first time, and I am doing it again in three weeks.
At Sunday school, Tim, the fourth year, and I taught a class because the teacher had gone home sick after church. We were going through the tenth plague in Exodus and the Hebrews leaving Egypt. It was very interesting to see the story of the first Passover and leaving Egypt from a young child's point of view. I told them all about the Seder dinner I was a part of last year, and they were actually interested in how it works and what each part means.
After church and Sunday school, Pastor had to go get ready for a Circuit meeting, so Tim, James, and I decided we would still go out for lunch without him. I felt weird since I still had my clerical on from doing liturgy that morning. Now, I know I was and still am against students wearing their clericals, but I was told we are supposed to wear them when we are either doing liturgy or preaching. So I broke down and wore it.
Sunday afternoon, I hung out with the guys for a little bit, played basketball with Chris and Lee for an hour, and then actually accomplished quite a bit of homework last night. It was funny though, I was in my room working on homework with my door closed. I had three different people come knock on my door just to see what I was doing cause they either needed a break from studying or were just avoiding homework all together. I just had to laugh because each time I would really get going on a train of thought, and each time it was derailed by another person knocking. However, that is one part of dorm life here I cherish. I am making such great friends here, and it gives me great hope for the future of our church, but I also realize I probably will not see most of them very often after we leave here.
Today, I worked lunch and then played basketball with Chris right after. We wanted to play early so we could have this evening for homework. We were playing some tough and physical basketball, not giving any easy shots and making each other work for every point. However, we both ended hurt. He tripped on my foot going after a rebound and hit his elbow on the floor pretty hard. Going for a different rebound, I landed on the top of my foot and rolled my ankle pretty good. It would not have been so bad, but it was the same ankle that I landed on when I fell off the roof two summers ago. It doesn't hurt too bad but I think is going to be tender for the next couple days. I was mostly upset because now I will not be able to play intramurals tomorrow or basketball and running with Chris for a couple days. So with my shoulder being stiff and sore and now my ankle it has been a rough weekend. Hopefully they both heal quickly and I would appreciate any prayers for them.
My thought for the day comes from Chris and I talking while playing basketball. I could not go to chapel this morning since I worked lunch. However, Chris went and said it was a really good sermon on distractions. The preacher was talking about everyday things in our life that distract us from our relationship with God. I guess he even included wives and families. Now I do not believe he was arguing for celibacy for ministers, or trying to say wives and families are bad things. I think his point was that even these things can distract us and occupy our time to the point where we start shorting or skipping our daily devotions or time spent in prayer and His Word. Chris was thinking about this a lot since he is engaged and looking to the future to his new marriage. I do not have to worry about that yet, but is still something we can all think of. According to Chris the preacher's main point was that if you put God above all else and submit completely to your relationship with Him, everything else will fall into place and line up where it should be. My comment was that that is a lot easier said than done. We all want to be perfect Christians, but we are all also sinful by nature and will. No matter how hard we work at putting God first and above all, we will always fail and fall short. But I get his point that just because we will fail as sinners, we should never give up or stop trying. So I will continue to try my hardest to be the best Christian I can be, because I do want to put my God and faith in Him above all else and always above all else. I hope you do too, and I pray that we may all be strengthened by His Spirit to live such faithful lives. All Praise be to Him who calls us His own and desires a relationship with us.
Dear Heavenly Father,
Almighty God, You sent Jonah to forewarn the sinners of Nineveh and they turned from their evil ways. Please let Your Word be our warning to turn from our sinful ways. Give us grace that we may cast away the works of darkness and put upon ourselves the armor of light from now until the day You have promised through Your Word. That final day when our Savior Jesus Christ will come again to call us home. Also, God of all grace, govern our hearts that we may never forget Your blessings but steadfastly thank and praise You for all Your goodness in this life, until with all Your saints, we praise You eternally in Your heavenly kingdom; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Man, you need to take better care of yourself. How am I gonna call you to Worms if your body is falling apart?
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