Now i lay me down

Now i lay me down to sleep,
This unsettled feeling i still keep,
Too soon until i must awake,
Before then please, these worries do take.

Excuse me... do i know you???

Ok this is by far the craziest/weirdest thing that has happened so far in my on-campus exeperience. Last night Matt, Dan and I were all out at our Alpha meeting for a few hours and got back to the apartment around 9:30. I was the first to walk in the room and I almost had a heart attack right there.....

Sitting there was a guy and girl - who none of us knew at all - cuddled up with Dan's blanket on our couch watching our tv. I stopped dead in my tacks right inside the door with the most confused/upset face. So the guy on the couch looks over at me and mumbles something like "Oh, we're friends of Ryan's." He never got off the couch to introduce himself and his gf just kept giggling to herself...

Now, a little background on Ryan. He is "officially" the 4th member of our apartmetnt, however he has never spent a single night in his room and hasn't been in the apartment for longer than 30 min. at any given time. He lives in his girlfriends apartment a few buildings over, which works out fine for me because that means i have a bathroom all to myself! Anyways...

So there is this really sketchy-looking skinhead guy looking at me with his creepy girlfriend. I'm sorry, this might be mean since I dont really know her, but she seriously looked like a crack-whore. Immediately me and Matt went into my room and started doing that whispered panic with our eyes bugging out of our heads. "Who the f#@& are they!!!!!" I think was Matt's direct quote. Dan came in a few minutes later and had the same reaction.

Immediately we gave the phantom roomate a call. "Did you let 2 people into our apartment while we were all gone??" Well the good news was that yes, he had let these two creeps in our apartment. He then came over with his girlfriend and proceeded to tell us the bad news. "Sorry I didnt mention it to you guys - my friends Mom just died and he needs a place to sleep for the night so he's gonna be in my room." Great.... 2 random people who have never said more than 10 words to me are going to be staying in our apartment for a day or so bumping uglies on the ohter side of my wall.

For the next hour or so, us 3 core residents had an emergency meeting outside to discuss this invasion of privacy and personal space. Needless to say - we just decided to let it slide for the night. I guess it was only fair because Ryan said we could let any of our guests stay in his room if we wanted to.

Let's hope there isnt too much excitement like this in the future.


P.S. They slept with the Dan's blanket that had been on the couch... I think he might be throwing it away later.

Quick Story

Tonight I made borritos for me, Dan, Rachel, and Alexi in our apartment. Everything went well and we just hung out afterwords watching tv. After a glass of champagne (courtesy of Matt) and 4 Brazilian beers (courtesy of Dan) - i went into my room at around 9pm and fell asleep on my bed.

The best part is - i never said goodnight to anyone and i was supposed to make up a song list with Rachel before she left tonight. I just woke up a few minutes ago at 1am (courtesy of my bladder) and realized everyone else went to bed/home. Haha.... OOOPS! I'll have to apologize tomorrow :)

Fresh Perspective

Its Monday night... slightly less depressing than Monday morning - still have 4 days of classes left :/ Things have been going well at school after being here for 2 weeks. It still throws me off when i go home on the weekends and then go back to campus a few days later. I think it'll be a good balance though - plenty of time to hang out with people during the week and then I can see friends from home on Fri and Sat night. ... and everyone thought i would forget about them in plymouth - what little faith.

so i've been thinking a little bit about the future lately. the funniest thing, watching Home Improvement reruns today actually made me start to think about it. In one episode, Brad had broken his leg and was worried that he wouldn't be able to go to college on his soccer scholarship and that it would end up totally ruining his life. Of course, Wilson, in his infinite wisdom told him that you cannot get upset when life doesnt turn out like you thought it would. I wish i could remember some of his profound advice but I can't seem to remember any of it now.

I guess you just need to prepare the best you can for the future, but dont be suprised when things dont work out like you wanted and people let you down. I suppose that is why God does things in our life that take us by suprise. He doesnt want life to be so predictable that we feel like we dont need Him.

I cant seem to get this verse out of my head for the past few months: "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." 2 Corinthians 12:9 This seems like kind of a weird verse when thinking about the future - but it really does apply if you think about it. The more life goes by our plans, the more we think we are in control of our own lives and dont need God. But in the middle of instability and a shakey future, I think that is when we can really see how God "comes through" (so to speak). When we are at our weakest point and feel like everything has/is going wrong - thats when God does some of the greatest things. I wouldn't have chosen a lot of the events that has happened in the past year, but I know that everything has made me who I am. I am constantly reminded that no matter how much I plan out my life, I really have no control over my future.

In the verse, I am starting to realize that the word weakness doesnt just mean "shortcomings" or "flaw". I think that weakness can also mean "vulnerable" or "powerless". I am just starting to see that God not only works through our problems and faults, but He also shows His power as Almighty God when I have no power over my own life. I dont just have "weaknesses" - but I am totally dependant on God for everything.

So sorry to get "preachy" or whatever that was, but that really hit me today and was a fresh new perspective on my dependance on God. Even typing this helped me to sort my thoughts! So I guess that I really dont need to worry about things working out how I planned them because I suppose they never will - which might not be such a bad thing in the end...

My New Pad

This is Joe Doherty reporting from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth campus. It was a wet and cold day but students here have managed to move into their respective apartments to begin a new scholastic year. After spending a few hours moving furntiure and creating the perfect audio/visual environment, I have realized that the bed behind me is still covered with clothes, bags, towels, etc which have not been touched. And yes you can also see bottles of juice plus that Carol so generously gave to me.

So I guess this is where i'll be living for the next 9 months or so. Luckily i'm exhausted, otherwise i prob would have a hard time falling asleep tonight. Lots of stuff goin through my head right now. I've got a bittersweet feeling that i just can't shake...