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| long time no seeSo, I'm not sure if anyone reads this, but here goes nothing. Life has changed a lot in the past four months since my last entry. If you are still wondering what happened to my pictures on here, I now post them at www.flickr.com/stephenn6289 because it's easier and faster. So, if you want to see them, go there. In other news, I worked at a camp in Tennessee all summer. It was pretty awesome, but exhausting. It's nice to be taking a break now. I look forward to this coming semester. I'm taking 2 religion classes, 1 philosophy class, 2 PE classes, and an art class. Pretty exciting stuff.
If anyone is getting sick of all this meaningless babble, I'll spare you any other useless information and jump ahead to things that matter. Please pray for me that I continue to hold fast to the truths that are daily becoming more real to me. Also, pray that I budget well as I'm trying to be responsible and pay for school. That's pretty much it. | | |
| the grass that wasn't greenerI loathe the perpetual desire for that which I do not have. It seems that life is a great playground filled with children. Each has a toy and some have more than others. But everyone has an eye on the toys they aren't playing with. Some people have toys that a prettier than ours and we want those instead. So we take it from them and ignore their tears. Eventually this toy becomes boring. You see, it's not a shiny up close and some new toys have come to the playground. Across the room, we see something else catch our eye and we take that too. Eventually we get bored again and wonder if there is any perfect toy. We keep searching, but can't find it.
Is life nothing more than Plato's restless ruler? He goes from one passion to another, never devoting his life to anything. I know it isn't, I just wish I would see it more than I read it, live it more than I dream it.
It isn't just materialism that afflicts me, it occurs all the time. Today is beautiful, but I caught myself wishing for the beauty of autumn. WHY? it just became spring. I find myself wishing for different seasons, different days, different food in the caf, different books, and different people. Why can't we find contentment. I believe some do, but I see so many that don't. We set ourselves up with impossible expectations and then wonder why life never seems to go as we plan. We seek the good, but don't live it ourselves. Life can be so disappointing.
I had a rough morning. It's just another day. It will pass. But I will only live for about 30,000 days if I'm lucky, so I'm kinda upset that one is going bad. Especially when I think that 7,000 of those are already gone. Of course my days are pretty good compared to those in Haiti, or Iraq, or China, or just about anywhere in the world. Who am I to complain? What makes me think that I deserve anything better than those slaving away in the rest of the world. I plan to have a wonderful day and not let the little annoyances of life affect me. It's just frustrating. Life goes on.
I thank God that I am not alone. Life is too precious to waste. I pray that I will share my toys and give them away instead of trying to get more. The latter hasn't worked out so well yet, both for me and for the world. I pray that the reality of the cross will come to life and change the way we see the world. I pray for love; a love that rises above self-centered living. Amen.
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| Project Birmingham Hello all, it has been a while since I have written any updates here. I wanted you all to know that I am doing well. I've had a little bit of a more difficult time this semester, but I think I doing much better now. I am enjoying my classes and especially this past week, spring break. I had planned to go on road trip, but after that fell through, I decided that exploring Birmingham and taking pictures would be a much more enjoyable and profitable way to spend the week.
I explored the city more than I have to date and found some cool places. I also met some very interesting people downtown in Linn Park. Yemane, a homeless man in his fifties was especially interesting to me. He is a very nice man, and a philosopher. He spends most of his time in the library reading classical literature and thinking about current issues. He is disappointed that all the other homeless prefer to spend the day drunk or playing cards. I found him fascinating to talk to. That was the highlight of my week.
This weekend was nice. Hannah surprised my by coming up to Pell City to spend Easter with the family. It was nice to have her up here. So, life is good. I am still wrestling with some person issues, but I am optimistic about the future. If you would like to see some of the pictures from this past week, go www.flickr.com/stephenn6289, I have uploaded a few of my favorite shots there. Happy Easter. | | |
| SpringIt is fun living in a place with distinct seasons. I sat in my hammock and enjoyed the beautiful weather we had today. It was sunny with a high of 75 with a gentle breeze. It was absolutely perfect. I saw something that I have rarely taken time to observe. Tiny green leaves were sprouting from a dead looking tree. It was beautiful. I'm sure this happens in Florida too, but I was always to busy to notice. I'm trying to not be busy. Here are some pics of me in the hammock
I like this
I thought this was a cool perspective
Thomas and my feet in front of the library | | |
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