a laundry story..

hello everyone!

wow...i have not posted here (nor checked your xangas im afraid) in a LONG while. my apologies everyone; it has been a rough year and God has been recently showing me more about what ive been experiencing and His sovereign plan through it all. haha of course, through the trial it was difficult to see it. anyway i hope to post somewhat on that later, but i want to think things through first before offering my life to you all.

haha i actually just wanted to share with you something funny that happened. i promise that if you bear with it you will laugh at me a lot. hahaha i was laughing too afterwards.

so you have to know that the laundry in my apartment building is ALL the way on the other side of the LONG apartment complex. kind of like in the dorms walking from one end all the way to the other (or maybe longer). anyway today i am out of underwear after playing ball so i decide to do laundry. which i enjoy doing anyway. so usually laundry is $1.25 for wash, $1.00 for dry and i need to do two loads so i take some quarters and head on over to the laundry room with a full basket of dirty clothes. when i get there, i notice that the washing machines have changed; they are now costing $1.50 to wash! in addition, both washing and drying machines are card operated, meaning you put money on a card to use them, not coin operated. so i leave my laundry there and go all the way back to the apartment to ask my aptmates if they have a card.

none of the aptmates have a card so i walk all the way back to the laundry room to see if there is a card machine there. there isnt. so i go all the way down to the first floor (i live on the third) to see if the office has anything. but its late on a friday and the office is closed. so i walk all the way back up to the third floor (elevator was broken) and then i get a brilliant idea to visit the other laundry rooms to see if people there can help me out. so i walk down to the first floor laundry room, which is next to the gym and directly underneath the laundry rooms on the other floors. a girl is there, who tells me that the card machine is in the gym. but i need my keys to get into the gym. so i go back to the third floor, back to my apt, grab my keys and walk back to the gym. on the way back to the gym i thought to myself  "it would be really funny if God made it so that the machine doesnt accept coins" (remember, i have the original quarters in my pocket from before) and of course, when i get there, i see the machine doesnt take coins, although it is indeed the right machine, so praise God! haha so i take another elevator back up to the third floor, walk back to my room all the way across the hall, grab my wallet, and go back down the hall, down the elevator, and back to the gym. i press the button to get the "new card" process started and it says "please insert $10 bill to purchase your card." i look in my wallet. i have 3 $1 bills.

alright. i go back to the third floor laundry room because that particular laundry room closes early (at 10) so i dont want my laundry locked up for the night. i therefore bring it down to the second floor laundry room where that rule doesnt apply. i then go back across the hall, back up to my apt and ask aptmate for a $10 bill which, thankfully, he has. however, when i go back to the gym, it doesnt accept the bill like 3 times before finally accepting it and spitting out a carsd. i take the new card back to the laundry room and find out that the card doesnt give me $10 credit but $5. basically, they charged me $5 for the card. oh well, its just enough to do two loads, praise the Lord.

the whole ordeal took like 45 mins to resolve, all the time im walking back and forth in the halls and feeling really tired cause i just got back from basketball. hahaha God is good, everything that could have gone wrong, went wrong, except my laundry getting stolen haha.

and if that was a long post, wait till next time haha.

God bless,

erick

i lost my nalgene bottle today. the pink one that i found last year and have had for about a year now. i brought it to china and everything! :(

i think God is saying a couple things through this:

1. my bottle wasnt attached to my backpack like usual cause i brought my messenger bag cause i wanted to bust it out and since rally is a good time cause i dont have to bring a bunch of stuff, i brought it then and just carried the nalgene. haha the lesson is to not place so much emphasis on trivial stuff like that. looking good and stylish is an idol haha.

2. i think i really miss the bottle because of the memories attached to it. i brought it to kyrgyzstan and it was really useful cause we didnt have bottled water; we had to use brita filtered water and every day id freeze the bottle in the fridge and have ice cold water during the 100 degree weather days. praise God for that. and the kids scratched off the label on the bottle cause they didnt believe it was indestructible. haha and i miss being able to tell the story of how i found the bottle and watching people get grossed out. haha and i guess being made fun of because of the bottle because it was something that was mine ya know? i dont mind being made fun of something i have come to call my own.

however, maybe the Lord required it of me because of that. i think for me, materialism is less about owning cool stuff and more about holding on to stuff that has some sentimental value. for example, i would hate to lose pictures or stuff on my hard drive, because of the memories attached to them. i think memories are beautiful. but at the same time, i think that sometimes i may hold on to those memories tighter than i hold on to God, valuing the memories too highly. i ought to rely on the Spirit and trust Him to remind me of everything i need to know (john 14:26, 1 cor. 2:2). cause we dont really have much control over which memories we retain and which we lose; i think i need to trust that the Spirit will remind me of those times when God was good or when God led me through something that shaped the way i am today. or maybe the memory is stored deeply to be brought up at another time when i need reminding of something else. but at any rate, not to worship the memories or the good times, but praise the Lord for them and trust that if He wants me to enjoy the memory of those times again, even when that particular object that triggers the memory might be lost, He can and will do it.

even so, come quickly, Lord.

haha havent been on xanga in a while. ill post again over spring break but in the meantime, im holding on to these passages for the end of this quarter:

Psalm 73:25-28

Whom have I in heaven but You?
And besides You, I desire nothing on earth. 
My flesh and my heart may fail,
But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
For, behold, those who are far from You will perish;
You have destroyed all those who are unfaithful to You.
But as for me, the nearness of God is my good;
I have made the Lord GOD my refuge,
That I may tell of all Your works.

2 Corinthians 4:7-12

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves; we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death works in us, but life in you.

and this byron poem is beautiful...stupid poems....

She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that's best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes:
Thus mellowed to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.
One shade the more, one ray the less,
Had half impaired the nameless grace
Which waves in every raven tress,
Or softly lightens o'er her face;
Where thoughts serenely sweet express
How pure, how dear their dwelling place.

And on that cheek, and o'er that brow,
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
The smiles that win, the tints that glow,
But tell of days in goodness spent,
A mind at peace with all below,
A heart whose love is innocent!

sigh.....

haha they say im always about competition (which is not true!) but i have to say it.

our third year sisters are the best. you guys rock socks! or sock rocks..

praise God for the fellowship that He brings us for us to enjoy! man, it struck me today how really beautiful it is when brethren (and sistren) dwell together in unity (psa 133). haha no one but God brings about the bonds of fellowship and everything He does is beautiful and good. mmmm what a blessing it is, and what favor God shows us through the encouragement of our brothers and sisters! haha praise God from whom all blessings flow!

every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow. - james 1:17