Picking up the Hammer

back again at the ol' desk at Purdue.  Such mixed feelings as I sit here, anticipating the upcoming semester.  Part of me is ready to get going again, the other is dreading the library.  This always seems to be the delima.  A month at home was plenty enough time, and perhaps slightly long, although I will never say that directly. A strange phenomenon happens when I go home: I check out.  No responsibilities, no worries, no discipline... in a word I get really lazy.  So the past month I have been checked out and lazy, which is nice for a little while, but it is time for life to start happening again.  Again the other side is dreading another reading, assignment or lecture.  It is interesting the tole that finals week really does take on your mental state.  That last week zaps any reserve energy you had left, and getting back into the grind is not a happy thought.

So as I am preparing for the new semester, I know I need to continue to keep a balance of school, spiritual, social, physical and psychological.  It is easy to get buried in books and let your mind go to mush before the semester is over, especially in the spring as most of the semester is shrouded in dark and dreary winter days and spending much time not inside or behind a desk is difficult. I plan to utilize Purdue's amazing co-rec much in the upcoming days, and already am planning on getting out early tomorrow morning.  If weather stays fair, then I think I can bust the bike out a bit, at least for getting to the rec center. 

Anyway, each step is taken in faith.  God has taken me this far, and He will take me on through.  He is more than a semester and bigger than a university.  I again place my life in His capable hands and trust as I take yet another step into the unknown.

2014

On the day of our Lord January 5th two thousand and fourteen I find it appropriate to contemplate the upcoming year. Another blessed year has passed not without adventure, and yet as I look forward the next year seems more daunting and exciting than the last.  Where faith has always been important to my daily life, I believe this next year will put the very fiber of my faith to the test.  A few things that will come to pass in the next 365 days:

1. stepping into the work force.  No longer shielded by the university I will finally have to step out and put everything that I have learned in the past 23 years to good use.

2. New living arrangements.  I have made the decision to move out of my apartment of 4 years at Purdue upon completion of this spring semester. 

3. Internship.  A prelude to the first issue I would guess.  Perhaps these will work together.  God knows.

4. Social Circle.  As is inevitable with a college group which has become my circle in recent years, we graduate, as will I.  Year to year this group changes, and as I move away I believe that I will be partially removing myself from this group as well. 

God is faithful and always has been.  He will continue far past this year.  There is excitement and apprehension as these next steps will come and pass.  How thankful I am for a constant God in an ever changing world.  I am excited to see where this journey of faith will take me. 

Right now I am looking out the window into winter storm Ion.  The snow is coming down heavily and the wind is beginning to pick up.  Temperatures are expected to drop to -17 with windchill of -35 and of 5-8 or more inches.  This makes me thankful for a nice house to be sheltered from the weather outside. 

Tornado Dodging

So this story is a little bit belated, but I think it is still worth sharing.  So everyone I'm sure still remembers the storm system that contained the extremely destructive tornadoes that hit Washington.  Well on the same day, after church and a wedding reception in Latty Ohio we (Alyssa Knobloch and I) were heading to Bluffton from Latty after visiting the Klopfenstein family who was up on furlough.  I had been warned of the potential for really bad storms that day, and as we were leaving Latty church, I began getting texts from the Purdue weather service and Lafayette weather services of tornado warnings.  I also knew that tornadoes were very spotty and that we still had to get home.  So we decided to take the trip and be cautious as we drove.  The weather at church was fine, even pleasant as we began the journey.  Up ahead, we could see some dark clouds, although they did not appear to be anything out of the ordinary besides a storm system.  As we continued to drive, things started to become more ominous, although nothing was significantly out of place.  We could tell that the system up ahead could be serious.  It is at this point where praying seemed like a good idea.  So as Alyssa drove, I said a prayer for safety from the storm.  Then the power lines began to dance in great wavelengths between the poles.  It was a strangely surreal sight.  There was little wind, and the sky was not overly dark, but obviously there was something going along down the line.  We continued on and proceeded to approach the system.  I look to our right and see a flat wall of rain.  For some reason this fact did not merit a comment.  I just looked at it, slightly intrigued and I wondered how long it would be before it hit us.  Turns out not too long, and hit us it did.  The weather went from fairly calm to flat-line winds and torrential rain in a moment.  Branches were flying sideways at our car, and we could not see the road.  Alyssa hit the brakes and we came to a stop.  We had just passed a house.  I knew that vehicles are unsafe in a tornado, and I knew that there were tornadoes in this system. so I told Alyssa that we should back up and stop at the house.  We pull into the driveway and run up to the door and knock.  after a couple of knocks someone comes to the door.  Feeling slightly sheepish I ask if we can come in out of the storm.  After slight hesitation, they graciously invite us in.  There we introduce ourselves and meet the family.  They had just finished up their dinner and were tracking the storms on their television.  It turns out that we are directly in the middle of the tornado zone.  Then the television goes black, with just a banner that reads "Tornado Warning."  I was so glad to be inside.  As we talked with the family, and explained that we were visiting some friends who were back from Haiti, they expressed that they too were believers, and that they were looking for a new church.  We were in Ossian, just a few miles north of Bluffton, So I gave them the address of the church as well as the elders number.  The next few minutes consisted of them asking us questions about our beliefs and sort of  'testing' us out with pointed questions over topics such as infant baptism, submersion baptism, and various others.  I guess we passed, because they seemed content with the answers we gave, and seemed excited to talk to the elder.  By this point, the storm had passed, and we decided to be on our way.  we thanked them, and we all agreed that God had sent us there for a reason.  God protected us, as well as sent us to a home who was searching for a church.  I don't know if they ever contacted the elder there, or if they will attend the church there in Bluffton, but perhaps someday I will go to church there and meet them again. 

Another bites the dust!

My how time flies.  It's really amazing that this semester is over already.  I was not sure at all what this semester would entail, and was not sure what to expect.  Now it is over, and what a blur it was!  Standing on the other side, it feels slightly as if I just skipped through time. 

God has been teaching me a lot about trust these last few months.  If I'm learning anything, it is a simple and complete reliance on Him.  It's not easy, but He has been teaching me that when He says "Trust Me," to take Him at His word. 

I read in revelation 3:8:
I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name.

A little strength is right, but I trust that the door will be open when I get to it.

So I am writing this on Friday after my last final.  I had 6 finals, and unfortunately got the flu, or something similar to it yesterday before my fifth final.  Overall they went pretty well I think, except for the one today.  I was going to study yesterday for it, but did not feel well at all and had a hard time processing a whole lot of information.  Even though I had 6 finals, I think I did better on most of them than I have ever done on finals week.  Now I just wait for transcripts.

Now for a time of letting my brain repair itself, and then I get to do it all over again! Yay... 

Grinding into the Boilermaker Routine

So with the first week of classes nearly done, I have to say it was fairly typical of a first week.  Where switching back into school mode has been tough, I think it should be an ok Semester.  I went through and looked at all of my homework requirements for classes so hopefully I can avoid missing assignments this semester (I'm really good at doing that).

I just bought a new bike to replace the one that was stolen this summer.  Where getting something stolen is never fun, I actually really like my new bike.  It's in the shop right now for some minor repairs, the chain broke yesterday, and the sprockets are showing some wear.  This time I bought a heavy duty chain that can't be easily cut.  I've had 3 cables cut so far, so I'm done with those.  I had a friend who had to cut someone Else's bike off of his because they looped their cable around his bike. He did it with a leatherman tool.  So yeah I decided if I like this bike I'm going to upgrade.

I used an online scheduling aid for classes this semester, and then used that for my schedule.  Well apparently it made some mistakes in that it gave me the wrong room for one, and then one of the recitations are not on there.  So I nearly missed one class, then DID miss a recitation already.  I emailed profs though, and everything is still in order.  Trying to get into a french class.  I have been having trouble with getting the necessary permissions, and with finding an opening in the class.  But I think a place will open up in a bit, So I have been going to it without having to do the HW yet.  Not a bad deal I don't think.

Getting to know my new roommate too.  It has been interesting, but he is pretty willing to fit into whatever we want.  We told him that the freshman did all the dishes, and he shrugged his shoulders and I think would have done it.  Not sure why we didn't just go with that... Who needs a dishwasher?

So anyway things are starting to get rolling.  A few hiccups here and there, but all in all fairly smooth.

It's A Whole New World

I am now writing again from my desk here at Purdue.  So Thursday night we had an amazing evening with the missionaries and translators.  We had a dinner at the Klopfenstein House, then dessert at the Lugenbuhl's then a campfire in the newly dug pit back at Klopfensteins.  That was an amazing night of fellowship and it was definitely the way I wanted to spend my last day there.  Bazelais (sounds like bozly) showed off his amazing guitar skills as us Americans roasted marshmallows.  It was a really neat way to spend the night together. 

We had to be leaving the compound at 3:15 in order for me to catch the bus to the airport, which meant getting up at 2:45, which meant that sleeping wasn't going to do a whole lot for me that night, so we didn't.  We stayed around the campfire for a while, then hung out and then headed up to the roof for one last look at the Haitian starts before heading back to the states.

The trip went smoothly, there was a slight amount of confusion finding the right bus.  We got my stuff loaded up, asked if it was the bus to Port-au-Prince, they assured me it was, and then we asked if it was the voyager II, and thankfully we did because it turns out it wasn't our bus.  Anyway we caught the next one and all was fine.  I was able to do a lot of napping on the way back, which was especially nice for the 4-5 hour drive to Port... Not my favorite ride, especially at 4 in the morning.  But all went well.

On the plane back, I was looking forward to not talking to anyone, but it turns out that the guy next to me didn't have the same feeling.  It turned out fine though, he was a neat guy and we had a good conversation about our faith.  One nice thing about that flight is that most white folk are missionaries, so spiritual conversations are easy to have. 

In our conversation he asked me, "where is home for you?"  My immediate response was "I don't know."  We chuckled a little bit, and explained that I grew up in Indiana, go to Purdue, such and such.  But as the saying goes, Home is where your heart is, and I have to say that part of my heart was left in Haiti.  So now the journey continues as I walk in faith.  It is amazing that 3 months ago I was dreading going to Haiti, then a few days ago I was dreading leaving.  I have to say I left extremely blessed.  So many great relationships were formed, and good times had.  I am thankful that God called me down, and I just pray that His will has been done through me.  Even through my mistakes, shortcomings and weaknesses, I know that He is more powerful.  May God be Glorified.

Now here I sit, in a completely different world.  The transition has been pretty tough.  It's hard to get my mind wrapped around school work again.  I'm so thankful to have such warm memories to look back on.  I know that I am still where God has put me.  He is still guiding me, and for that I am thankful. 

Pictures

Soccer game

Jonas

Beach

Taking new generator to hydro

Road to baraderas (negotiating care of child)

One of the many times we walked and the gator drove