Jesus, Savior, Friend

I wrote a poem on Sunday.  I'd written the first two verses several weeks ago, but I'd gotten stuck and hadn't had any further inspiration until this past Sunday.  Then the rest of it just...came to me on Sunday.  It's a little rough, but I like it.  I hope you enjoy it too.

Jesus, Savior, Friend

A humble plea, a bitter cup
Unspeakable agony;
Great drops of blood shed for the world
In the garden Gethsemane.

A crown of thorns, a purple robe,
A cross upon a tree;
Nails pierced His hands, a spear pierced His side
On a hill called Calvary.

He suffered all our sins and pains
And fell on bended knee.
He was the only one who could—
This man from Galilee

He died upon the cross because
He, only, had the key
To break the bands of death and hell
And thereby make us free.

I didn’t meet Christ on this earth;
The cross I did not see.
And yet I know that what He did
Was done for you and me.

And though I don’t deserve this gift,
I’m trying prayerfully
To be the worthy servant that
I know I ought to be.

Oh Jesus Christ, my Lord, my God,
I’m grateful unto Thee
For all that Thou has done for us,
For what you’ve done for me.

Please help me do all that I can
To serve Thee faithfully.
Thou art my best and truest friend;
I’m coming unto Thee.

Celebrations and Snowballs

Yesterday was such an awesome day!  The first part of the day was pretty nondescript---I just got a bunch of different tasks and such accomplished.  And I donated platelets, which is always good.  I was quite proud of myself when the nurse missed my vein on her first attempt on my right arm and had to try again and it barely fazed me.  It definitely still bothered me a little, but not as much as it would have five years ago!  :)

So the fun stuff of the day started at 7:30 when Jill and I hosted our joint half-birthday party.  Our birthdays are in July, but since neither of us will be living here on our birthdays, we decided to celebrate our half birthdays.  It was so fun!  A bunch of our friends came, and we all had a blast!  First we took turns playing several rounds of Mario Kart, passing the Wii remotes around so everyone had a chance to play a round or two.  I completely made a fool of myself, but it was still super fun.  :)  Then we played Disney "Scene It?", and I revealed just how much of a Disney nerd I can be.  :)  Then we just sat and chatted before everyone left.  I thought it went really well over all.  I'm always worried when I host parties that they'll be dull or that people won't enjoy themselves, but I'm pretty sure everyone had a good time, and that makes me happy.  :)

After that, Jill and I decided that we wanted to go out and play...in the first real snowfall Provo has had all winter!  We'd been lamenting the fact that the "Provo Bubble" had seemed to include not only culture but also weather---every city around Provo was getting snow, but not us.  But we finally got snow last night!  So we went outside to play in it.  We had one of the most intense snowball fights I'd ever participated in.  It was so fun!  I'd come out in a jacket, but by the time we were done, I'd even taken off the jacket because it was too hot.  My clothes were completely soaked!  But I thought we were fairly evenly matched (though Jill probably hit me more than I hit her :)), and it was such a blast!  It was the perfect end to a wonderful day!  I love my life!

Titanic

Well, I can finally say that I've seen the movie Titanic.  I was too young to see it when it came out, and by the time I was old enough, I'd forgotten about it.  My roommate had seen the movie several times and wished that I could see it.  I remember her saying months ago, "I have it on VHS.  If we had a VCR and three hours of spare time, I'd suggest we watch it."  :)

Since I knew Jill really wanted me to see it, I decided to put the DVD on hold at the library.  It took a couple of weeks to become available.  When it did, I picked it up and brought it home but didn't say anything.  Then yesterday afternoon (I can't remember why), the subject of Titanic came up again, and I dropped the bombshell and told Jill I currently had the DVD in my possession.  She got so excited and asked if we could watch it last night.  I agreed, and we did so.

I have to admit that that movie took my breath away several times.  Despite the inappropriate scenes (which Jill had never seen but knew when they occurred, so we were able to censor them :)) and an overdose of swear words, I thought the movie was very well done.  The first half was adorable, and the second half had me completely riveted.  I cried at several points throughout the second half, and I cried hard.  Not that it's hard to make me cry in a movie :), but this one was a particular tear jerker for me.

It's always been at the back of my mind that I eventually wanted to see Titanic.  Now I can say that I have, and I'm quite glad.  :)

Reunion

This afternoon something wonderful happened.  For one glorious hour, I got to spend time with my former roommate Allie.  She was passing through Utah on her way home and made a detour through Provo in order to have lunch with me and Jill.  It was so much fun!  I wondered whether it would feel weird or different at all to be interacting with her in person after six months apart, but it felt as natural as if she'd never left.  We laughed and shared stories and teased each other (well, mostly the other two teased me :)) just like old times.  The only thing I didn't like about it was how short it was.  It felt like we'd only been there for a few minutes when the hour was up and it was time for Allie to be on her way.  It was hard to see her go again, but that just makes me that much more excited to be able to see her again when Jill and I visit California this spring.  :)

Road trip, anyone?

Randomness Incarnate

Right now I'm sitting in the living room with all three of my roommates.  First of all, the fact that we are all here together is an anomaly in and of itself---it never happens!  Secondly, I haven't laughed this hard for a long time.  :)  Suffice it to say that 1) I love signing with Jill, 2) Becca always knows exactly what to say to get me laughing, and 3) Rachel's sense of humor is sometimes startling but quite hilarious.  I love my roommates!  :)

Information Overload

Well, I survived the first day of classes---my last first day of my undergrad career.  How weird is that?  And I made the mistake of scheduling all of my classes for Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, with the majority of those classes being only Monday-Wednesday classes, which means they're half again as long as Monday-Wednesday-Friday classes.  Not that I had much choice---there was only one class that I could have moved to a Tuesday-Thursday slot, and that wouldn't have made much difference to my overall stress levels on Mondays and Wednesdays.  But all choice aside, the fact of the matter is that I got a double whammy yesterday, because I had to go to every single one of my classes in one day instead of half one day and half the other.  So let's just say that there are two words to describe my mindset by the end of the day: information overload.

Thankfully I went to the temple this morning (which always helps with any problem), and because I don't have any classes today, I've been able to kind of re-group and get things organized so I won't go completely insane this semester.  A word to the wise: don't ever schedule all of your classes for two days of the week unless you have a very good reason for doing so.  Or, at least, if you do...don't pay too much attention the first day of class.  :)

He's Watching Over Me

Well, I’m back in Provo and pretty much ready for the new semester, and all I have to say is that the last 24 hours have been…utter madness.  And also that I’m grateful that the Lord has obviously been with me every step of the way.  I know this based on at least three separate occurrences.

The first was that yesterday I finally finished the arrangement I’d been working on for weeks!  I’m going through some serious creative let-down right now, but I’m so grateful that I finished it and that it sounds just like I’d hoped it would.  I know it wasn’t my own abilities that brought it about; the Lord has been inspiring me every step of the way.

The second instance was that, even though I completely forgot to park my car that doesn’t have a parking permit outside the parking lot of my apartment complex, my car wasn’t towed before I was able to go out and move it.  It’s unheard of for cars to last more than five minutes past the towing curfew here, and yet mine was there much longer and was never towed!  Of course, I was already in bed when my roommate remembered and came to get me, but at least my desperate rush outside was to move my car and not to find an empty parking space.  Thank heaven for that!

The third instance was that I found out that the new “semester” bus passes that UTA does only work until the actual end of the semester.  The reason the Lord was watching out for me on this one was that the person driving the bus I was trying to ride to get to school in order to renew my bus pass didn’t make me pay the fare since I told her I was planning to renew my bus pass that day.  Well, now my bus pass is renewed, and I won’t make that mistake again (even if I had more semesters at BYU in which to make such a mistake!).

Well, like I said, it’s been a crazy 24 hours, but everything’s starting to settle down, and I think I’m as ready as I’ll ever be for  the semester to begin.

Bus pass: check
Textbooks: check
School supplies: check

Preparations to begin the final semester of my undergrad career: CHECK!!!