DStilled

Crash and Burn

OK, so that is not me, but I did have a hit and run car accident. Don’t worry, no one is even close to hurt and neither car is even that damaged. Here’s how it played out. I had just had dinner at Kelly Scott’s house with friends and his family. I was sitting in the driver’s seat and Jonathan in the passenger and we were waiting on Casey cuz he need a ride home as well. He’s just finishing his conversation at the door and as he starts to walk toward us, there is this very loud scratching noise followed by two long, loud honks, and Kelly yelling, “Follow Him!!” That’s because while we were sitting in my car (PARKED) this 2003ish silver Saturn whipped around the cul-de-sac, cut it way too close, hit the right front corner of my car, ripped out the whole headlamp, started to slow down, and sped off. When he started to slow down, Jonathan and I got out of the car only to jump back in when he didn’t stop. We had to get his license plate otherwise his gets away. So we chase him down around a couple of stop signs and get to the end of the street where both right and left are blind curves. I chose left and he evidently chose right cuz he was gone. We turned around to go the other way but by then he was long gone. We went back to Kelly’s house to wait for the police officer and told him what all happened. Since we didn’t get the license plate, we couldn’t even file a real report. ALAS! something else that needs me to spend money on…

I have been quite busy as of late. With school work piling on, I have also played more basketball lately, and my weekends have been SO full! Lots of birthdays around, parties, bonfire, church, and this weekend was the craziest. Thursday was three hours of racquetball with Heather, Pav dinner, Agape, ice cream social, eat out with Kelly and Jason, and then DDR party. Friday was football cheerleading, dinner with Christa, CHoosE concert (Christian a capella), Haunted path, and movie night (yeah Hunchback!). Saturday was dinner at the Scott’s, getting my car hit by a young Asian man, pumpkin carving party, triple birthday party/game night, and drunken madness Halloween party (met some folks there, didn’t stay long). Sunday was racquetball with Kelly, dinner at Runk, First Year Players’ show Pippin, and surprise kidnapping and bday party of Sharon. I got like 25 pages read this weekend. Oh well, Happy Halloween! What costumes did everyone dress in? Were you an :alien:, a :cowboy:, a :jester:, a :monkey:, or simply :yikes:?

Good things aboundin’

Last night something “amazing” happened. I qualify with “” because in the grand scheme of things (i.e. eternally) it doesn’t matter AT ALL, but for the here and now, it’s pretty big. The University of Virginia Cavaliers BEAT the #4 ranked Florida State Seminoles. One, this is only the second time in history UVa has beaten a top 5 team. And two, the other time was in ’95 and it was FSU. So all y’all ‘Noles, sorry to blow your chances at a national title and perhaps even an ACC title.

Speaking of football, on Friday after prayer 14 or so men from Agape played shirts and skins tackle football. As always I end up being a lineman and spend nearly the entire time pushing another person as he pushes me. So while I did other things like the tank I am, I am INCREDIBLY sore. My feet, legs, abs, shoulders, and neck all want to deny my movement. Which wasn’t ideal for yesterday as Agape people worked the concessions booth for the game making hundreds of scholarship dollars for Agape.

On Thursday night something AMAZING happened. We normally meet for Agape in the old chapel for our weekly meeting. However, this past week we invited Prof. Elzinga (famous economics professor) to express another issue of passion for himself. The topic was “Why do we need God when we have it made?” This is strikingly poignant for a campus like UVa where success is the only goal and failure is unacceptable. So Elzinga spoke about how God through Jesus allows us to conquer our fear of failure, how God through Jesus alleviates the pressure of when we fail, how God through Jesus transforms our life by turning what we want into what He wants, and how we are all going to bow to Jesus in the end anyway. There were a lot of references to scripture and his own stories of salvation and struggle were powerful. We met in the largest meeting room in the school and were overflowing! 600 people! Several dozen filled out cards about follow up and even that they wanted this Jesus for themselves! Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

The fastest week EVER!

I can’t BELIEVE what insanity feels like? Can you? On a different note, I am thoroughly enjoing Google Earth. I’m a geography buff and I have found it very exciting to roam the world “traveling” in my own way. This picture is of Lake Atitlan where I took this picture in real life in GT this summer!

So this week really flew by. First off, Fall break was awesome! Eastern Shore Madness 2005!! My good friend Jason Turner was born and raised on the ES of Virginia (a little peninsula across the Chesapeake Bay). He family is really big into wildlife, nature, and he was able show us a little why this weekend. Ten of us went: Jason, Anastasia, Matt, Heather, Dane, Rachel, me, Cari, Laura, and Amanda. We stayed in a house circa 1780 on 1200 acres of land which include swamps, marshes, forests, beaches, and the bay near their coastline.

Friday night four of the ladies and I got there and met the other five (the scout group) for an adventure. Jason said we were on a need to know basis and everything was an adventure. So we go to the bay, canoe out to a sandbar island, stargaze at the most amazing sky I’ve EVER seen, bonfire with s’mores, canoe back to the house, and sleep. Saturday, we eat breakfast (scrapple if you’ve ever had that), go back out to the sandbar beach and just enjoy being out there for like six hours, and go back to the house to change. Next came hiking through the marsh and needle grass from which we have many scars, knocking over incredibly rotted trees with our bare hands, showers and dinner where we all developed family roles, saying goodbye to Rachel, Cari, and Anastasia who had to go back for a wedding, chillin’ and then sleep. Sunday morning, off to Jason’s church we go where we meet his family, get to see his house, have lunch in the middle of his town outside on picnic tables, and back to the house. I took a nap and read while the others went fishing and canoeing. When they got back I had spaghetti ready for everyone and we ate, cleaned house, packed everything in Rachel’s minivan, and came home. It really was a fantastic trip!

The rest of the week was SO busy with work, reading, classes, and some mild chill time, that suddenly it’s Friday night and the Agape 80’s party is about to begin! Just know that prayer is on the minds of many people here, especially me, and if you need some let me know. Also, there’s another page of UVa pics.

Finally, HAPPY BIRTHDAY KATIE!!! As my sister, I wish you long life, happiness, and a relationship with Jesus that never grows luke-warm.